Apple announces faster new MacBook Pros

The new 15- and 17-inch MacBook Pros now come with the new Intel Core i5 and Core i7 processors which boost performance up to 50 per cent over the previous generation. Based on Intel’s latest 32-nanometer process technology, these are the fastest dual-core processors available and also feature Turbo Boost. If you’re using processor-intensive applications that would benefit from an extra performance kick, Turbo Boost dynamically increases the speed of one or both cores, taking a 2.66GHz MacBook Pro all the way up to 3.33GHz. Built-in hyper-threading allows two threads to run simultaneously on each core, so Mac OS X recognises four virtual cores instead of just two. When you’re running multiple applications at once, the Core i5 and Core i7 processors spread tasks more evenly across a greater number of cores — so you can get more done, faster.

Inside the 15- and 17-inch MacBook Pro models is the new NVIDIA GeForce GT330M discrete graphics processor — the fastest graphics ever in a Mac notebook. With 48 processing cores and up to 512MB of dedicated video memory, this graphics processor delivers even more horsepower than the previous generation. And you don’t have to sacrifice efficiency for speed: The NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M features automatic graphics switching, a breakthrough technology from Apple that switches graphics processors on the fly to give you performance when you need it (when you’re playing the latest 3D game, for example) and better battery efficiency when you don’t (such as when you’re reading email). Since high-performance graphics kick in only when you need them, the battery in the 15- and 17-inch MacBook Pro can last up to 8-9 hours on a single charge.

Finally, to let you transfer your photos and videos to and from your MacBook Pro just as fast as you’re able to take them, there's a built-in SD cardslot.