The good: Price cut from previous version; new SD card slot; keeps the same solid unibody construction and oversized trackpad.

The bad: Loses the ExpressCard slot; switching GPUs not as seamless as it should be.

The bottom line: Apple's 15-inch MacBook Pro makes only minor tweaks to the previous version, but cutting prices and swapping the ExpressCard slot for an SD card slot are enough to make it a solid improvement over its predecessor.

Read full review of the Apple MacBook Pro 15-inch »

By Dan Ackerman, CNET.com
Jun 23, 2009

The latest round of MacBook revisions are nowhere near as radical as the aluminum unibody construction rolled out in late 2008. Instead, the 13-inch MacBook has been promoted to the Pro family, while the 15-inch MacBook Pro gets a handful of minor component upgrades. More important than that, however, is a series of price cuts for all of the base model MacBook Pros, including this S$3,688 version--the comparable 2008 version originally costs a few hundred more.

Now that the 13- and 15-inch models have the same basic feature set, including Nvidia's excellent integrated GeForce 9400M graphics, a high-capacity (if unremovable) battery, an SD card slot, and FireWire connection, the main points of differentiation are minor CPU speed boosts, a bigger screen, and the availability of a separate discrete GPU (the GeForce 9600M GT) that can be turned off if needed to improve battery life. Our review unit had the 512MB version of the GPU, while the S$2,788 (US$2,020.29) version has a 256MB version.

Most users will be ably served by the less expensive 13-inch MacBook Pro, which starts as low as S$1,988 (US$1,440.58), but the combination of a faster CPU, better battery, larger 500GB hard drive, the SD card slot, and price cut makes the new 15-inch MacBook Pro a solid improvement over its predecessor.

Editors' note : This review is based on tests done by our sister site CNET.com. As such, please note that there may be slight differences in the testing procedure and ratings system. For more information on the actual tests conducted on the product, please inquire directly at the site where the article was originally published. References made to some of other products in this review may not be available or applicable in Asia. Do check directly with your local distributor for details.

Design

The aluminum chassis is essentially identical to the last 15-inch MacBook Pro. The construction starts with a solid block of aluminum which is carved down, rather than a thin outer shell which has had support struts added to it. The result is a light and thin yet strong chassis that feels solid and substantial. Except for the S$1,598 (US$1,157.97) white polycarbonate MacBook, Apple's entire laptop line now uses this type of body.



We're especially fond of the larger trackpad that uses multitouch gestures similar to those found on the iPhone. It offers a much larger surface area than most laptop trackpads, thanks to the elimination of a separate mouse bu tton. While the entire trackpad depresses like a button, simple tapping, as on a Windows laptop, will also work once you turn that option on in the settings menu. Of the multitouch gestures, most useful perhaps is sweeping four fingers: Left or right brings up the application switcher, while up hides all your active windows. Once you get used to that, going back to a regular trackpad is difficult.

Features

The 15.4-inch widescreen display offers a 1,440 x 900 native resolution, which is standard for premium 15-inch screens (cheaper 15-inch models are often 1,280 x 800). All of the MacBook Pro displays are LED-backlit, which allows for thinner lids and provides some power-saving benefits. We like the look of the edge-to-edge glass over the screen but it's also very reflective, and we wish Apple would offer a matte screen option on all its systems, and not just the 17-inch MacBook Pro.



The biggest news is probably that Apple has at long last embraced the simple joys of the SD card slot. After claiming for years that photographers could just use an external USB adapter to access their SD cards, the 13- and 15-inch Pros now include this very common component. The cost, however, is the ExpressCard slot. Now it can be found only on the 17-inch Pro. Most people used their ExpressCard slots, if at all, for card-reading adapters or mobile broadband antennas. While we use SD cards, even in our dSLR camera, several pro photographers have reminded us that CompactFlash cards are their preferred format.

Tags: Apple MacBook, Intel Core 2 Duo, Laptop Computer, NVidia Corp., Expresscard

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