Apple finally announced that they were bringing out an update to the Macbook Pro line using the latest intel i5 and i7 processors in the 15" and 17" models and that was the trigger for me to get my credit card out and place an order. Of course deciding between exact models is never an easy task and I had a budget to stick to and so I had to go through the options list making mental trades between a number of attractive options. I even put out several requests on Twitter for advice - do I go for more RAM or a faster processor? How about the choice between the 5400 rpm hard disc or the more expensive 7200 rpm version? In the end I went with the 2.4Ghz i5 processor with 8Gb of RAM and the impressive high resolution anti-glare screen. Budgetary concerns dictated that I stayed with the 320Gb hard drive spinning at the standard 5400rpm.

All of that happened about a month ago (it would have been sooner but the delivery was delayed by the volcanic ash cloud that closed UK airports) and I'm now nicely bedded in with the new machine. There is no doubt that it is faster - especially when crunching large numbers of CR2 RAW files in Adobe Camera RAW in Photoshop CS4. I downloaded a trial version of CS5 and it was fractionally quicker but it did not quite have the performance edge for me to spend £185 right now. The high resolution screen was very easy to calibrate and it displays images very well indeed. I have had to modify a few of my viewing font sizes - especially in Mail - because the higher resolution screen displays each work that bit smaller - I'm getting older by the day ;-)

I'm not really into doing reviews of technology - I'll leave that to the magazines and web sites who revel in that kind of thing but I am very happy with the new i5 Macbook Pro. It does the job far quicker than the old one and the battery life really is very good indeed. I had a few issues with the multi-gesture trackpad but I seem to have worked those out too.

If I have a disappointment with the new laptop it's that the pictures of the Macbook Pro on the Apple site show the screen being black right up to the edge whereas mine has a silver bezel that's even wider than on the old one. I don't know if that's because Apple have changed the laptops without changing the pictures on their site or whether I have got something unusual. It could even be that the high resolution screens have this trim - I don't know, it just doesn't look as sexy as having black right up to the edge.

If you are about to do the same thing as me and upgrade between Macbook Pro models I have one tip for you... if you are going to do the data transfers using a firewire cable, make it firewire 800 and it will happen an awful lot faster!