Product Reviews

We were all set to start this review by talking about how Apple had finally put some clear water between its MacBook and MacBook Pro ranges by fitting Core 2 Duo processors in the latter, when it announced that the MacBook range would also now feature Intel's finest mobile chips. In that context, it's almost wrong to talk about the MacBook and MacBook Pros as separate ranges: they are, to all intents and purposes, one range that changes colour in the middle.

So why would you invest the extra dosh in a Pro portable? Well, for starters, its not that much extra: there's £350 between the black MacBook and the cheapest MacBook Pro. For that, you get a slightly faster processor, an extra 2in of screen, a better graphics card, a FireWire 800 port, and the opportunity to add another 2GB of Ram rather than just 1GB. In other words, although there may not be a performance jump between the MacBook and the Pro, there are extra features that make the Pro worth considering.

In isolation, at prices from £1349 to £1899, the three machines that make up the MacBook Pro range are fantastic portable Macs. Take your pick of a business-like 15.4in display with a resolution of 1440 x 900 pixels, or that beast of a lid that measures 17in across its diagonal and has a native resolution of 1680 x 1050 pixels. The 15.4in model

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ships with either a 2.16GHz Core 2 Duo or a 2.33GHz chip, while the 17in model comes only in 2.33GHz flavour. Standard Ram is either 1GB in the lowest-priced 15.4in MacBook Pro, or 2GB in the other two models. In all cases, it can be upgraded to 3GB. The hard drive on the two 15.4in models is a 120GB Serial ATA, 5400rpm drive; 160GB in the 17in machine. The maximum upgrade option is a 200GB drive, but its spins at only 4200rpm. In the 15.4in MacBook Pros, there's a 6x SuperDrive, which is bumped up to 8x in the 17in version. All three models have an ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 graphics chip with 128MB of Ram in the low-end model and 256MB in the other two.

All machines have a FireWire 800 port, iSight camera, MagSafe power adaptor, built-in AirPort Extreme, Bluetooth, Gigabit Ethernet and ExpressCard/34 slot. Also included in the box are an Apple remote and DVI-to-VGA adaptor.

We were slightly disappointed that the Core 2 Duo version of the MacBook Pro features the same case design as its predecessor. It's not that it's a bad design - it looks great and works beautifully - it's just that, well, it feels like time for a change. Maybe next year.

In our test results, the Core 2 Duo compared well with the Core 2 Duo Xeon Mac Pro in most tests, despite the Mac Pro's four cores. In both Photoshop tests it's performance fell between that of the 2GHz and 2.66GHz Mac Pros. The only exception was in the Cinebench dual-processor test, for obvious reasons - it only has one processor.

In all, the MacBook Pro remains a superb professional laptop. The model we tested offers great performance and features at a sensible price. It doesn't warrant upgrading from a Core Duo MacBook Pro or even a Core Duo MacBook. However, if you've been putting off that notebook purchase, delay no longer. The only decision you have to make is whether to go for a MacBook Pro or its less shiny sibling.