MacBook Pro review

Apple's 17-inch MacBook Pro is the Rolls-Royce of the MacBook Pro range. For many users it's overkill. Not everyone needs the power and versatility it offers, and at a hundred pounds shy of two grand (possibly more, if you choose customisation options on the Apple online store), it certainly isn't within everyone's price range.

Yet for high-end users such as video editors and graphic designers, who need the extra screen space and processing power, this top-of-the-range 17-inch MacBook Pro 2.53GHz Intel Core i5 could well prove worth the asking price of £1,899.

The mid-2010 refresh brings a series of exciting new technologies. Automatic Graphics Switching means you no longer have to open your System Preferences to switch between integrated graphics for better battery life or the discrete chip, which is more powerful but heavier on the battery.

The new Core i5 processor introduces Hyper Threading, which gives the chip four virtual cores. Turbo Boost shuts down idle cores and increases the power to active cores, and an integrated memory controller speeds data processing. Physically, it's identical to the previous model of 17-inch MacBook Pro, retaining its unibody construction.

The 15- and 17-inch MacBook Pros introduced with the mid-2010 refresh include a new feature called Automatic Graphics Switching. For routine tasks such as surfing the internet, checking email or using office applications, graphics processing is handled by the Core i5 processor's built-in Intel HD Graphics, which lacks power but saves battery life.

When more graphical power is needed, such as when editing video or running advanced 3D games, graphics processing switches to the 17-inch MacBook Pro's discrete GPU, an Nvidia GeForce GT 330M. This offers more power and greater energy efficiency than the GeForce 9600M GT used before. In the previous release of the 17-inch MacBook Pro, switching between the integrated and discrete graphics processor was a manual task achieved through System Preferences.

Not so now. Instead, graphics processing automatically switches to the discrete chip when a running application triggers an advanced graphics framework such as Core Graphics, OpenGL or Quartz Composer. No user intervention is required. When the discrete processor is active the integrated chipset shuts down, again saving energy.

If you wish to use the discrete GPU exclusively, you can switch off the 17-inch MacBook Pro's Automatic Graphics Feature in System Preferences, forcing the notebook to use the more powerful chip at all times. Somewhat puzzlingly, there's no option to restrict it to using integrated graphics, which could be useful if your battery was almost drained and you were prepared to sacrifice performance for extended use. Perhaps this feature will be introduced with the next system upgrade.

Thankfully, greater energy efficiency gives the 17-inch MacBook Pro a battery life of eight to nine hours, so the problem shouldn't arise often. Like all modern MacBook Pros, the battery is housed inside the unit and is not user-serviceable.

But as the space saved by dropping the connectors and hatches required by a removable one has allowed Apple to incorporate a bigger, better battery. It's expected to last around 1,000 charges or about five years, which is three times as long as a standard battery, making it more cost effective as well as more powerful.