Expert's Rating
Pros
- Classic design
- FireWire 800 added
- Gorgeous screen
- Ample RAM and hard drive capacity
- Fast performance
- Faster SuperDrive supports double-layer burning
Cons
- No internal modem option
- Pricey
- Few cards available for ExpressCard/34 slot
- No PC Card slot
Our Verdict
Apple swapped out the processors on its MacBook Pro line, exchanging the original Core Duo chip for a next-generation Core 2 Duo processor. In addition to boosting performance while mantaining battery life, the Core 2 Duo also doubles the amount of L2 cache to 4MB. What’s more, Apple bumped the processor speeds on the MacBook Pros; this low-end model now runs at 2.16GHz, up from 2GHz. Also, Apple added a FireWire 800 port to all MacBook Pro models; previously, only the 17-inch offering had the FW 800 port.
Apple’s latest update has made great laptops even better. Even if you make heavy use of Adobe’s Creative Suite or other applications that still don’t take full advantage of Intel processors), you will benefit from buying the Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro.