Compared to the Early 2011 model of the bigger MacBook Pro 15-inch, the small guy still lags behind, mostly because of the slower processor and lack of a dedicated graphics card. In terms of performance, it manages to put on a good show, but is nowhere as good as its bigger brothers. For refresh though, you can barely call it that, since hardly anything has changed, since the ‘Early 2011’ model. Overall, it feels well rounded, although we do miss a dedicated graphics card. OS X Lion runs buttery smoothly and the new gesture motions are quite simply fun. The brightness levels are more than adequate and the viewing angles are very good, so your friends will enjoy watching moves with you. The 13-inch screen, however gets a decently sharp resolution of 1280 x 800 and the LED backlighting ensures even brightness throughout. We wished Apple would have given you the option to add a discrete graphics card as well. Sadly, this is where the differences end as everything else is identical to the Early 2011 models. The Late 2011 model also comes with a larger capacity hard drive, as default 750GB as opposed to 500GB from before. Due to the slightly higher clock speed, the Turbo frequency has gone up to 3.5GHz. It’s actually the Core i7-2640M, a dual-core processor with four threads built on the same 32nm fabrication process. They sent us their high-end 13-inch Pro, which gets a processor bump from a 2.7GHZ Core i7 to a 2.8GHz Core i7. Like tradition, all new refreshed Apple products come with slight improvements, but for the exact same price as the earlier one. Overall, the finish and build is just what we’ve come to expect from Apple, nothing more, nothing less.

Just like the others, the battery is internal, so it’s not user replaceable. The backlit keys are incredibly comfortable and so is the giant glass trackpad that begs to be stroked. The only thing that’s shaved off is the speaker vents from the sides, which are now underneath the keyboard. Although it’s a smaller-sized notebook, the 13-inch Pro receives the same sized keyboard and trackpad as its bigger brothers.

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