Apple Macbook Pro 15in

Apple's laptops come in two ranges: there are three basic Macbook models, from the cheaper white plastic model costing £719 to the gleaming new aluminium model priced at £1,125.

All three of those computers have the same 13in screen, so if you want a larger one you’ll have to step up to the more expensive Macbook Pro range, which is primarily aimed at business users who need a laptop that is powerful enough to replace a conventional desktop computer.

The Macbook Pros have also been updated recently, so we decided to look at the cheapest of the three new models, which costs £1,369 with a 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 15.4in screen, 2GB of memory and a 250GB hard disk. That makes it the least expensive 15in Apple notebook at the moment.

There’s also a model with a 2.66GHz processor, 4GB and a 320GB hard disk, priced at £1,700, while for a thumping £1,949 you can get a model with the same specification and an impressive 17in display.

All models share the same 'unibody' design, in which the lower half of the machine – the half that holds the keyboard – is housed within a single sheet of moulded aluminium. This gives the Macbook an attractively streamlined appearance.

It measures less than 1in thick when folded shut, and the streamlined style is further enhanced by other features such as the button-less trackpad (instead of having separate mouse buttons below the trackpad, the surface of the trackpad itself acts as a button, allowing the user to press down on it physically to click on objects on the screen).

Other features include a built-in webcam, access to wireless networks, including the latest and fastest 802.11n standard, digital audio input and output, three USB ports and a high-speed Firewire 800 socket that can be used to connect camcorders or external storage devices. And, as with all Mac models, the Macbook Pro also includes the latest version of Apple’s iLife software suite, which includes programs such as the excellent iMovie video editor and Garage Band music software.

However, the Macbook Pro’s most unusual feature is that it has two separate graphics cards inside it. Most of the time, you’ll run the Macbook Pro using its Nvidia Geforce 9400M graphics processor, which provides perfectly good performance for day-to-day tasks such as browsing the web or running Microsoft Office.

But if you need high-speed 3D graphics for playing games or running demanding video-editing programs, you can go into the machine’s Control Panel and switch to the more powerful Geforce 9600M GT chip, which is about twice as fast when running 3D games. The faster GT chip does drain the battery more quickly – cutting about an hour off its normal four-and-a-half-hour battery life – but at least you’ve got the option of switching back to the less powerful graphics card if you need to conserve power.

At £1,369, the 15in Macbook Pro will appeal to creative users in fields such as video-editing or music recording who can really exploit features such as the Firewire interface and high-speed graphics. That said, for most home users it is probably too expensive, which means that those on a budget will have to look at one of the basic Macbook models with a smaller screen.