Apple Macbook Pro 13in

At the end of last year, Apple updated its Macbook range of laptops, giving them a shiny new aluminium design so they looked very similar to the company’s more expensive Macbook Pro models.

The new design was attractive but the new models were considerably more expensive than the original white plastic ones. Amid the recession, Apple decided to keep the old white plastic Macbook on sale as well, in order to provide a less expensive alternative.

A few months on, Apple has dropped the price of the aluminium laptop range and renamed it the ‘Macbook Pro’, a name previously restricted to higher-end laptops.

That means that the only remaining non-Pro Macbook is the white plastic model.

Prices for the new Pro laptops start at £899, the price of the model we’re looking at here. It has a 13in screen and 2.26GHz Core 2 Duo processor.

The previous bottom-end model cost £949 and ran at a slower 2GHz speed, so it’s good to see that Apple is being more realistic with its pricing this time around. The new Macbook Pro has a webcam, DVD burner, a 160GB hard disk, 2GB of memory and wired and wireless network access.

One new feature tucked away on the left-hand edge of the unit is a slot for an SD memory card so you can quickly transfer photos from a digital camera. Although this has been standard on Windows laptops for years it's new to Mac computers.

Perhaps the most interesting new feature is the new battery, which was previously only available in Apple’s top-of-the-range 17in Macbook Pro. The new battery is sealed inside the laptop’s body, which means you cannot simply take it out and replace it with a spare, which is a hassle for those who like to work on long journeys.

However, Apple reckons the new battery can last for up to seven hours, enough to make spare batteries unnecessary for most people. We got about four hours of battery life when playing DVD films on it.

That is a relatively demanding task, though, so it will manage at least another hour if you are using the computer for less-demanding work such as typing letters in a word processor or browsing the Internet.

The improved performance and battery life are welcome improvements, and although the cost cut may seem relatively modest we suspect that the new £899 price will be attractive enough to ensure that the new 13in Macbook Pro is a greater success than its predecessor.