The October 2008 MacBook Pro brings with it significant changes to case and trackpad design as well as some drastic performance upgrades. Built using the same manufacturing process used to create the MacBook Air, the new model is supposedly lighter and thinner than its predecessor without sacrificing rigidity. Aesthetically, the machine inherits design inspiration from both the current iMac and the first-generation MacBook Air by echoing the black-framed display and the rounded chassis that includes a magnetic latch. Clearly influenced by the iPhone touchscreen is the 39% larger, all-glass touchpad that has no physical buttons, where the pad itself acts as the primary click and multi-touch tapping is used for secondary clicks; though the touchpad makes better use of multi-touch controls by supporting up to four-finger gestures, it remains to be seen how easy it will be to "click and drag" items. As seems to be the trend with other Apple offerings, the 15.4-inch LED-backlit display will no longer be offered with a matte coating, only in a glossy finish.

At $2,500 (a $2,000 model is also available), the flagship MacBook Pro contains a 2.66 Ghz Core 2 Duo processor with 6 MB of L2 cache and a huge 1066 Mhz front-side bus, 4 GB of 1066Mhz memory, and a 320 GB 5400 RPM harddrive, while the $2000 version drops to 2.4 Ghz with 3MB of L2 cache, 2 GB of memory, and a 250 GB harddrive. Showcasing two of Nvidia's newest GPUs, both makes include Nvidia's GeForce 9400M integrated graphics card and discrete 9600M GT card, though the more expensive model has 512 MB of discrete graphics memory while the lesser gets 256 MB. With 16 parallel graphic cores and data speeds of 54 Gflops, these new graphic chipsets allow the MacBook Pro to perform six-times faster on Call of Duty and almost 3-times faster on World of Warcraft, Apple claims.

In addition to the standard slot-loading super drive, built-in iSight camera and microphone, backlit keyboard, and 802.11n wireless, most of the connectivity options remain the same (including support for ExpressCards), new is the inclusion of Apple's Mini DisplayPort -- found on previously on the MacBook Air -- that can interface with VGA, DVI/HDMI and Dual-Link DVI. Optional updates include a 2.93 Ghz processor, 7,200 RPM drives, and, for the first time in the pro line, a 128 GB solid state drive.

Weighs in at 5.5 pounds, 0.1 pounds heavier than its predecessor.