MacBook Pro 2010 offers major upgrade over the old version

We were excited about the 2010 MacBook Pro updates in part because we were hoping that Intel’s new processors would find their way into this smallest of all MacBook Pros to make a killer laptop.

Unfortunately, though the 15- and 17-inch 2010 MacBook Pros received upgraded Core i5 and i7 CPUs, the 2010 13-incher still has a Core 2 Duo processor that has been bumped to a slightly faster version.

However, there are other modest, but notable, improvements in the 2010 version: for instance, the previous MacBook Pro’s integrated Nvidia 9400M graphics have been updated to Nvidia’s new GeForce 320M processor.

Still not gaming-enthusiast level, the graphics are more than capable of running most games at acceptable frame rates.

Most importantly, the battery life on this new MacBook Pro has been boosted again, improving on the already impressive gains we saw last year when Apple integrated the battery.

After reviewing the large changes that went into the 15-inch Core i7 MacBook Pro, the 13-inch was bound to suffer a bit in comparison.

The lack of a Core i-series processor puts the aluminum 13-incher a step behind its big brothers for the time being, and we’re still lacking wish-list items such as HDMI, Blu-ray, or built-in 3G.

Still, even though the spring 2010 13-incher feels more like an incremental evolution than a true next-gen leap, it offers significant improvements over the 2009 edition and manages to retain the same price.

Looks-wise, this is the same MacBook Pro we know from 2009.

The lines, the keyboard, the weight, the materials, and the screen all feel indistinguishable from the previous model.

The unibody aluminum body is as sturdy and slim to our eyes as it seemed in late 2008, even after a year and a half.

On the other hand, no further engineering improvements have been implemented.

For anyone expecting greater changes, that might be disappointing: after all, last year’s update, though subtle, did include an SD card slot, an integrated battery, and an LED-backlit display.

Even so, a year later, we find the design to be one of the best and most comfortable on the market.

Eagle-eyed Mac users might notice one tiny change: the MagSafe magnetic power adapter cord has gotten a slight tweak, now using a thinner side-attaching cable just like the one on the MacBook Air.

The cable juts out less and, as a result, it should suffer fewer yank-outs.

We liked Apple’s raised, backlit, chiclet-style keyboard before and we still like it now.

The 2010 model’s keyboard feels slightly sturdier, although the differences may be too small to quantify.

The large glass multitouch clickable trackpad we love also remains the same.

We still wonder why nobody else makes touch pads this large or comfortable to use with multitouch.

One welcome tweak, “inertial scrolling,” has been added to the pad’s settings; it allows the trackpad to work much like an iPhone’s or iPad’s screen for flick-scrolling documents with two-finger gestures.

It’s great to use on long Web pages or documents.

It’s a tiny change, that we hope it carries across older MacBook Pros via a software update, and we can’t help but notice that it closes the gap even further between the touch-gesture world of the iPhone OS and the Mac OS X multitouch experience.

Maybe the iPad and the MacBook will grow into the same product someday, but for now the trackpad is their main point of common reference.

The 13-inch MacBook Pro still has an edge-to-edge, LED-backlit, glass-screened display, garnering it uncanny comparison’s to an iPad’s body.

The native screen resolution is still 1,280x800 pixels, as the 13-inch doesn’t have a true 16x9 display.

Viewing angles are excellent, and the screen’s color and brightness are great for movies and games.

The 15- and 17-inch MacBook Pros offer antiglare coating for an extra $50, but there’s no option on the 13-inch to do the same.

From www.cnet.com