Apple MacBook Pro '09

Launch price £1,400.00

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Stuff says

A real looker and great performer, but doesn’t offer enough to justify the price hike over the regular MacBook.

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The MacBook Pro has long been the best friend of digital doodlers and video editors, but its new ‘unibody’ facelift is its first major upgrade since it replaced the PowerBook almost three years ago. 

Since we’ve already professed our love for the soft, slim features of the new 13in MacBook, you won’t be surprised that the Pro gets the same thumbs up for style.

With its environmentally friendly design, sunken keyboard, large multitouch trackpad and wafer-thin LED backlit screen, it has all the same traits to recommend it. But it has the same flaws too: the screen has a questionable colour quality and low resolution, and there’s no SD card reader.

Wallet buster
It’s also painfully expensive. This isn't surprising – Apple has never been renowned for value – but comparing the specs of a similarly priced Windows machine will make you wince.

The key features that differentiate the MacBook Pro from the MacBook are a larger 15in screen (the older 17in MacBook Pro is still available) and a faster graphics card. Go for the Alienware M17 and you can pick up a larger display with two GPUs that are somewhere in the region of five times better for gaming than this one. You'll look like a terrorist from 24, but at least you'll have a bargain.

Double trouble
Of course, you don't buy a MacBook Pro for gaming, even though there are two GPUs present here. One is the same NVIDIA 9400M that graces the MacBook, and the other is a faster 9600M.

The clever bit is that you can switch between the two for higher performance or longer battery life. Moving to power saving mode takes you onto the slower GPU, which is fine for almost any desktop task you can think of.

In theory this system can speed up programs like Aperture, PhotoShop or Premiere for photo or video editing, and is slightly better for hi-def video decoding. But despite lots of rumours other programs won’t get noticeably faster, and the 9600M isn’t a huge amount quicker than the 8600 chip on the previous MacBook Pro line. 

Design workhorse
Of course, if you’re a graphic designer or need a laptop processor-intensive media work, the MacBook Pro remains a powerful, portable and essential tool. It’s so good for this, you’ll even forgive the glossy screen and meagre provision of two USB ports.

But with the rest of us more likely to keep it switched to power saving most of the time, the newly revamped and better value MacBook is now our pick from Apple’s laptop family.