For Apple, integrating nonremovable batteries across an entire product line was a daring move and inevitable after the Apple MacBook Pro 17-inch (Unibody)—the company's biggest laptop—received one. So it's no surprise that owners of the new Apple MacBook Pro 15-inch (SD Slot) can now gloat over its battery prowess while leaving those who carry multiple batteries out in the cold. But adding an SD slot came at the expense of losing an ExpressCard slot—an underappreciated perk that few people cared about, according to Apple. (Even so, my feelings about its removal are a little mixed.) Still, the improved battery life over the previous version, plus a base price lowered to $1,699 (direct), is enticing enough for newcomers. Current 15-inch owners, however, may want to hold off until the next version.

There's no rush in altering a design that inspires others to imitate it, so it shouldn't shock anyone that the 15-inch (SD Slot) has kept the same gorgeous "Unibody" design. Surrounding the entire body with aluminum is an expensive process, a fact that shouldn't be overlooked. The Dell Studio XPS 16, for instance, could only afford to trick out the lid with leather and metals, while using plastics in the base. Likewise, the HP HDX16t uses a plastic in-mold process in order to keep costs down. The 15-inch is not only sleek, but its rigid frame doesn't easily give in to excessive force or wear and tear. And despite transitioning to a bigger battery, the MacBook Pro 15-inch's 5.3-pound frame remains the lightest in its class, with the Lenovo IdeaPad Y650 (5.5 pounds) coming in at a close second.

Raising the color gamut to 60 percent is the only improvement in the MacBook Pro 15-inch's screen, and you can tell the difference only if you have the previous version handy. It's not a brighter screen, but the colors are richer and livelier. The 15.4-inch widescreen, which has a 16:10 aspect ratio, is one that many of its peers (the Dell 16, the Lenovo Y650, and the HP HDX16t, for instance) are abandoning in favor of the new 16:9 screen format, which sacrifices some screen height for a wider view. That doesn't make for bigger screens, but the newer format is more consistent with home-theater displays and HDTVs. The 15-inch's 1,440-by-900 resolution is dwarfed by the Dell 16's and the HP HDX16t's 1,920-by-1,080 options. An option for a higher resolution would've made the MacBook Pro more enticing for avid video and photo editors, as well as movie junkies.

Not much has changed in the new MacBook Pro's typing experience, which isn't a bad thing. The tiled format is one that many laptops have emulated since it appeared in the original Apple MacBook 13-inch. It's a full-size keyboard, and a tactile one, at that. Individual keys, however, are smaller than the traditional ones found in the Dell 16 and the HP HDX16t, but the board as a whole is full-size, thanks to proper spacing. The touchpad is enormous and can potentially be used as a doodling station, if and when Apple includes these abilities. (During the 15-inch's announcement keynote, Apple did discuss Chinese character support in Snow Leopard, Apple's next generation operating system.) And because of its size, Apple integrates the single-click mouse button and a variety of touch gestures that can be triggered by two, three, or four fingers.

The New SD Slot
The inclusion of a SecureDigital (SD) slot (here as well as in the Apple MacBook Pro 13-inch is a shock, considering that this is the first time a memory card reader has been built into any Apple product. I tested several SD and SDHC cards on the newly minted slot, and all of them popped up right away, including an 8GB SanDisk Extreme III (SDHC), a 2GB Lexar Eye-Fi (SD), and a 1GB FujiFilm (SD). And all of these cards worked perfectly in both Windows Vista Home Premium (via Boot Camp) and Mac OS X environments. My reaction, though, would have been more positive had the SD slot not replaced the ExpressCard slot, even though it's a slot few users are aware of. ExpressCard is the ultimate expansion slot, because different expansion devices can be used interchangeably without the cables and unsightly protrusions known mostly to USB-connected devices. For instance, a multi-memory-card reader can accommodate every single digital camera, not just those that support SD cards (the current slot is SD only); additional USB ports, a serial port, or even a TV tuner can also be swapped in; and for the small population of 3G users, an HSDPA or an EV-DO ExpressCard modem can open doors to a ubiquitous broadband connection.

Adding an SD slot to the 13-inch MacBook Pro is a little more compelling, since the 13-inch model lacked any sort of expansion slot. With the MacBook Pro 15-inch, though, deep-sixing a versatile slot like the ExpressCard slot might cause some resentment. So why not include both an SD and an ExpressCard slot? There may be several reasons. One, Steve Jobs is a minimalist, and having two open slots (three, with the slot-load optical drive) is equivalent to slapping a Windows logo on the MacBook Pro 15-inch. The better reason, maybe, is that you have a reason to upgrade to the 17-inch version, which has an ExpressCard slot but no SD. And there might be an ulterior motive for leaving 3G ExpressCard owners out in the cold: Apple has just sanctioned support for 3G tethering in the iPhone 3G, so if you want your ubiquitous broadband connection, your best option is to buy an iPhone. For the vast majority of users, replacing the ExpressCard slot with an SD slot is inconsequential. What's interesting is that every other feature is now comparable with the smaller 13-inch MacBook Pro, including the two USB ports, FireWire 800, Ethernet, and a DisplayPort—strong, but is it enough to justify the $500 price difference? That's where performance comes in.—Next: Better Performance, Battery Life, and Green Credentials

Better Performance, Battery Life, and Green Credentials