By Dan Ackerman, CNET.com
23/06/2009
URL: http://asia.cnet.com/reviews/notebooks/0,39050488,44820739p,00.htm

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 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, 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 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.

Performance And Battery Life

The 2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU in our review unit is a bump up from the 2.5GHz version we saw in the last high-end 15-inch MacBook Pro. The least expensive configuration still has that 2.53GHz version, but an extra S$492.20 adds an optional 3.06GHz processor--the fastest one you can get in an Apple laptop. While our MacBook Pro had a clear advantage over both the 13-inch MacBook Pro and previous 15- and 13-inch MacBooks, most users can feel comfortable using any of the current Intel processors Apple offers for basic Web surfing, productivity and multimedia playback.

Besides that dedicated GeForce 9600M GT, the new Pro also included the same integrated GeForce 9400M GPU found in the 13-inch MacBook. The settings menu has two power options: For high performance or for longer battery life. Choosing high performance turns the 9600M GT chip on, while choosing longer battery life turns it off, leaving you with just the integrated chip. The switch made virtually no difference in our standard benchmarks, although those interested in high-end video and photo editing may see a more practical benefit. One frustration remains about this entire process: Switching between GPUs is simple, requiring only a button press on the power options menu, but the changeover isn't totally transparent. You have to log out and log back in, requiring you to close all your apps and save your data.







The new battery in the 13- and 15-inch MacBook Pros is nonremovable, but Apple claims the system can last up to 7 hours while surfing the Web, and somewhat less for DVD playback. To assuage concerns about the sealed battery, the company says the new models are good for at least 1,000 full recharge cycles--which they estimate to be about five years of use. We were able to run the system for 5 hours 5 minutes on our video playback battery drain test, with the GPU set for the better battery life option. That's about an hour longer than last year's 15-inch MacBook Pro, and an impressive result.



System configurations:

Apple MacBook Pro 15.4-inch (Core 2 Duo 2.8GHz)
OS X 10.5.7 Leopard; Intel Core 2 Duo 2.8GHz; 4,096MB DDR3 SDRAM 1,066MHz; 256MB Nvidia GeForce 9400M/512MB Nvidia GeForce 9600M GT; 500GB Hitachi 5,400rpm

Apple MacBook White (Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz)
OS X 10.5.5 Leopard; Intel Core 2 Duo 2.2GHz; 2,048MB DDR3 SDRAM 1,066MHz; 256MB Nvidia GeForce 9400M; 250GB Toshiba 5,400rpm

Apple MacBook White (Core 2 Duo 2.13GHz)
OS X 10.5.7 Leopard; Intel Core 2 Duo 2.13GHz; 2,048MB DDR3 SDRAM 800MHz; 256MB Nvidia GeForce 9400M; 160GB Hitachi 5,400rpm

Apple MacBook Pro 13.3-inch (Core 2 Duo 2.26GHz)
OS X 10.5.7 Leopard; Intel Core 2 Duo 2.26GHz; 2,048MB DDR3 SDRAM 1,066MHz; 256MB Nvidia GeForce 9400M; 160GB Hitachi 5,400rpm

Service And Support

MacBooks continue to include a standard one-year parts and labor warranty, with only 90 days of toll-free telephone support. This, along with the proprietary nature of Apple's products, makes purchasing an extended Apple Care warranty almost a necessity, at S$629 for three total years of coverage.