TechRadar is here at Macworld Conference & Expo in San Francisco, the Mac faithfuls' annual gathering, where the public can get hands on with the latest Apple announcements and products.

While the new iLife '09 and iWork '09 gave the Mac addict plenty of reasons to be cheerful this year, there were slim pickings on the hardware front, with only the new 17-inch MacBook Pro being announced.

At £1,949 the 17-inch MacBook Pro ships in 3-4 weeks in the UK, but we were able to get our hands on one here at the show. If you're already familiar with the 15-inch MacBook Pro then the new 17-inch model won't give you any surprises.

It looks pretty much identical, utilising Apple's trademark unibody enclosure, cut from a single piece of aluminium.

And in your hands, that's exactly what it feels like - a bigger version of the 15-inch MacBook Pro. It's sturdy, elegant and a real work horse. You get the new glass Multi-Touch trackpad with all the gestures built-in and a similar array of ports to the 15-inch model, which means there's only a FireWire 800 port, and no FireWire 400 port. You do get an additional USB port though.

There is one visual addition worthy of note: the MacBook Pro comes with a high-res 1,920x1,200 pixel LED-backlit display, but it seems like Apple has been listening to its 'pro' customers who hated the more consumer-friendly glossy screens and it is giving you the option of selecting either a standard glossy display or an anti-glare display.

The glossy screen comes with the black bezel around the edge, like the 15-inch models, while the matt display requires a completely different screen and has an aluminium bezel around the edge (like the old-style 17-inch MacBook Pro).

Despite the new screen options, the only real changes here are under the hood. Many things remain the same - for instance you still get the same choice of graphics chips available in the 15-inch model - an Nvidia GeForce 9400M integrated processor for everyday use, and a discrete Nvidia 9600M GT for even better performance when you need it.

You can switch between both chips to achieve the right balance between performance and battery consumption.

Many were hoping for a quad core Intel processor, but instead it uses the same Intel Core 2 Duo inside, but this time processor speeds have been bumped up slightly from 2.53GHz on the 15-inch MacBook Pro to 2.66GHz on the 17-inch MacBook Pro. That's not going to make much difference in terms of performance.

There's also no Blu-ray drive, which is going to disappoint many, so what exactly has changed?

The answer is battery life. The new 17-inch MacBook Pro has a stunning eight hours of battery juice in it. While we couldn't test this from our hands-on at the show, we have no reason to doubt Apple's battery claims, as they are usually accurate.

The new battery has been completely redesigned by Apple's engineers to mean the longer battery life doesn't increase either the weight or the size of the notebook - the sacrifice necessary to achieve this is that the battery can't be removed by the end user.

While this will instantly flag warning signs for many people, who may have experienced a dead battery or two in an old Apple laptop, it's worth considering that the new MBP's battery will take 1,000 charge cycles before it starts to fade.

That's not 1,000 chargings - charge cycles are different - many chargings can add up to a single recharging. Apple estimate that the average laptop battery can withstand 300 charge cycles, and that the 1,000 cycles will last the typical user five years. After five years you'll probably be wanting to upgrade your laptop anyway.

Of course, Apple is also pushing its new green credentials, and have a recycle program in place to help you dispose of your laptop, or battery, if you want to upgrade.

Compared to the 15-inch model you really do notice the larger screen when you're using the new MacBook Pro. Professional users will really appreciate the extra room on the screen, but we suspect many people will find it hard to justify the extra expense. Very little has changed and the cheaper 15-inch model is capable of running pro-level apps just as well.