Apple MacBook Pro 13″

Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo (2.26 GHz) ; RAM installed: 2 GB DDR3 SDRAM ; Hard drive size: 160 GB

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Most notable, the 13-inch aluminum unibody MacBook has been promoted to join the MacBook Pro family. It’s a move that makes sense, as the differences between the two lines were becoming increasingly blurred. To complete the transformation, the 13-inch Pro regains its missing FireWire port, making it even more useful for creative professionals on the go.

New to the Pro line is something we never thought we’d see on a MacBook: an SD card slot. Standard on the 13- and 15-inch Pro laptops, this corrects one of our main MacBook annoyances. We’re also pleased to see the backlit keyboard–previously found in only the more expensive 13-inch versions–filter down to even the $1,149 base model (which is a nice discount from the previous $1,299 entry price).

The 13-inch MacBook Pro performed as expected in our benchmark tests, with the 2.26GHz GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU roughly on par with the 2.4GHz processor in the late-2008 version of the 13-inch MacBook. Trading up to the faster 2.8GHz Core 2 Duo available in the 15-inch MacBook Pro yields a marked improvement on paper, but for most anecdotal use–Web surfing, working on office documents, multimedia playback–any of the current MacBooks will be more than adequate. An even faster 3.08GHz CPU is available on the 15-inch MacBook Pro, but the 13-inch model tops out at 2.53GHz.

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We found the same Nvidia GeForce 9400 graphics as last time–a GPU that redefined the meaning of integrated graphics. The previous 13-inch MacBook gave us almost 60 frames per second in Quake IV (admittedly not the most hardware-intensive game) at 1,024×768-pixel resolution. Only the 15- and 17-inch versions offer the second, discrete GeForce 9600 GPU. But being able to play new games, even at lower resolutions, on this system is a major plus for nonhardcore gamers.