It says a lot when the same laptop design survives numerous refresh cycles. For years, the only changes to Apple's MacBook Pros were mainly platform upgrades, with perhaps an LED-backlit display and switch from ATI to Nvidia graphics. In the final quarter of 2008, however, the Cupertino company has managed to wow the world with its latest MacBook Pro. Not only has this been given an image overhaul, there are changes under the hood which are just as impressive. Take a closer look and see if you should chuck out the older MacBook Pro.

Upside
Laptop bodies were traditionally made by layering pieces of metal and plastic. When Apple made the MacBook Air, it changed the manufacturing process and instead created a unibody enclosure from a single block of aluminium. This process has now been applied to the new MacBook Pro, allowing for a sleeker design. All ports are now located along the left edge of the laptop, with only the DVD Super Drive gracing the right flank.

Adding to the aesthetic factor is the use of a glass panel covering the LED-backlit display all the way to the edges. We first saw this as the infinity screen on the HP Pavilion dv5. One of the drawbacks of this design was that the glass overlap tended to create numerous reflections, making the display harder to read. Hopefully, the backlights are bright enough to overcome this obstacle in the new MacBook Pros.

The trackpad has also undergone a major overhaul. By doing away with the button, the new touchpad is 39 per cent larger and covered with glass for a better tactile feel. To perform a click, just press on the entire trackpad. The multi-touch gesture controls have also been updated to detect up to four fingers. Besides the well-known two-finger movements, swipe with three digits to flip through photos and four to switch between programs, open all windows or return to the desktop.

There are also exciting developments under the hood. Instead of using Intel's GMA-integrated graphics engine, Apple has worked with Nvidia to put in a GeForce 9400M video processor directly on the chipset. This graphics engine previously existed only on discrete video cards. As such, the Cupertino company says to expect up to five times more performance compared with Intel's solution.

But if this is not enough power for you, switch to the high-end GeForce 9600M GT GPU with its own 512MB VRAM to handle more intense eye candy. Running on the integrated solution will net you five hours of use on a single charge, while you need to give up only an hour of uptime when the discrete GPU is activated. For greater power savings and a hardier storage solution, a 128GB SSD drive is available as an option as well.

Downside
The native resolution of the display is a little disappointing, topping off at 1,440x900 pixels. Considering that MacBook Pros are one of the more expensive mid-sized machines around, we expected to see a high-res 1,680x1,050-pixel screen, if not a full-HD panel. Hooking up to a larger display is also a bother. Unless you have Apple's new 24-inch Cinema Display, you'll need to purchase an adapter for the mini DisplayPort. According to Apple, the reason why DisplayPort was chosen was because HDMI is unable to drive its 30-inch high-resolution monitors. However, most users are unlikely to have such a large external display and will likely appreciate a VGA or HDMI connectivity more.

Unlike Centrino 2 and AMD Puma platforms, switching between the integrated and discrete graphics is not automatic and requires the user to log off and log back in. Not very convenient, but hopefully we'll see automatic graphics profile switching in the future. Lastly, while most mid-sized machines sport a full-size ExpressCard/54 slot, the MacBook Pro has only the ExpressCard/34 version, which may preclude the use of some external peripherals.

Outlook
With a brand new design and powerful integrated and discrete graphics under the hood, the MacBook Pro is a compelling purchase even if you already own the older model.