Apple MacBook Pro 15-inch Review

It has nearly been a year since Apple released its update 15-inch MacBook Pro range featuring the unibody aluminium construction, SD Card slot and a longer-lasting, permanently fitted lithium ion battery.

The new 15-inch MacBook Pro range comes in three standard configurations, all priced within £150 of one another. All three models come standard with 4GB RAM, two graphics processors and a glossy 15.4” inch LED-backlit screen.

However, this time round the main changes are all under the bonnet, both the GPU and CPU have been cranked up a bit. These enhancements include the Intel Core i7 processor, capable of overclocking and moving from integrated to dedicated graphics mode automatically.

Processors

The new 15-inch MacBook Pro range drops the Intel Core 2 Duo processors seen in numerous MacBook Pros in the past and are instead replaced by Intel’s Core i5 and i7 processors which are capable of a few interesting and innovative features. These include hyperthreading which users virtual cores to double the amount of processing cores usable by the operating system. As the processors are both dual cored, the operating system treats them as having four cores as a result of the virtual cores created by hyperthreading. Furthermore, another great Intel i5 and i7 technology is turbo-boost which allows the processors to temporarily speed up, or shut down unused cores and give the resources to the cores in use, when necessary. For instance, Turbo Boost can increase the processing speed of the 2.4GHz Intel Core i5 processor up to 2.93GHz.

Graphics

To give you the best of both worlds Apple have incorporated both dedicated and integrated graphics chipsets into the MacBook Pro range. This means that the integrated garphics chipset that shares the memory or RAM of the machine is used for genera-use applications such as Safari and iTunes. However, when your graphics need a bit more horsepower the processor automatically and discretely swaps to the Nvidia GeForce 330M graphics with 256MB of dedicated graphics memory.

The Nvidia GeFroce 330M supports DirectX 10.1 which means that most of the latest games and all of your old time classics will be handled by this unit without a problem. However, considering it does not support DirectX 11 games and thus not future proofing the MacBook Pro it would have made far greater sense had Apple opted for say an ATI Radeon HD 5650 which is faster, better and stronger.

Design

Just like the MacBook and the 13-inch MacBook Pro the 15-inch range sports the same unique design – carved from a single chunk of metal, apparently. The sturdy, curved -edge, shiny aluminium chassis gives this a classy and modern look. Yet, as a consequence of this beauty it is all but impossible to upgrade individual components, as the entire bottom must be unscrewed. Even though the design may make the MacBook Pro 15-inch sound light weight, nimble and easy to carry around it’s not quite. It weighs in at 2.5 kg, which itself is not to bad, but it measures in at 36.5x24.8x2.54cm and even though this might not sound that big if you ever took this on a flight or a train journey the MacBook Pro 15-inch would take up the entire tray table.

Keyboard and Touchpad

Like other MacBooks this unit featured a shallow keyboard with black, isolated keys that provided solid feedback when typing a word document or a Skype message. The keys are backlit which can be configured or automatically turned on as a result of the ambient light sensor, which will automatically illuminate the keys when typing in low-light situations. The touchpad gestures, unlike other imitations, are faultless not once did the cursor jump around as though it was nestled on top of a pogo stick. Of course, as with other MacBooks, Multi-Touch functionality is built in.

Display, Audio & Webcam

As usual, with any MacBook screen, we loved the bright, crisp and clear display particularly on this unit as a result of the 15.4” inch screen. The speakers situated on either side of the keyboard provided very good sound for a portable computing device. At full volume a bass tester we used, at full blast may I add, sounded crisp without sounding distorted and Bob Marley’s – Redemption Song, featuring the guitar and his vocals filled a small room, again at full volume, without sounding distorted.

A iSight webcam, situated in the normal fashion just above the screen in the centre, proved excellent in a Skye video chat and the embedded microphone also picked up our voice well.

Problems

Just like a number of other users we found that the 15-inch MacBook Pro had a tendency to heat up particularly at the back rear bottom and if you give it a little longer the middle of the underside starts to heat up and the fan kicks in – with an almighty roar that lasts for a while.

The number of ports, or more likely the lack of ports, has always been a problem for any MacBook regardless whether it’s a MacBook, MacBook Pro or MacBook Air and this range features the same problems. On the right hand side of the 15-inch MacBook Pro you’ll find the 8X SuperDrive, exactly where it is on every other MacBook too. In addition, on the left side are two USB ports, a Mini DisplayPort, a FireWire port, the MagSafe power port and headphone and microphone jacks. However, the ExpressCard slot featured on the original 15-inch MacBook Pro has disappeared. Even though there is an ExpressCard slot on the 17-inch MacBook Pro for the money you will have to fork out for just this unit it would be nice to see more connectivity options, not just a ExpressCard slot but also a HDMI port in order to connect the MacBook Pro to a HD ready TV.

Conclusion

Even though the new 15-inch MacBook Pro range gives you very little to complain about, besides the price tag, its ability to overheat, its lack of ports and it not being future proofed in terms of graphics card, it would make sense to opt for the low-end 15-inch MacBook Pro with 4GB RAM, 320GB HD, Intel Core i5 processor and Nvidia GeFroce GT 330M with 256MB GPU and not pay the extra £300 for simply a slightly faster processor.