Apple today introduced the latest version of its 15.4-inch MacBook Pro, as well as the 13.3 inch MacBook. (Click on the image at right for a closer look at the new MacBook line of notebook computers.) Both sport a body style built of a single piece of aluminum. Apple calls it a unibody, and claims it leads to a thinner, lighter-weight and sturdier notebook. (Take note: The prior MacBook Pro we tested actually weighed slightly less at 5.3 lbs.; the new one, according to Apple, weighs 5.5 lbs.)

New graphics technology from Nvidia is also incorporated into the laptops. The innovation here that both integrated and discrete graphics are built in. The integrated graphics saves power when you're performing less-demanding tasks. For gaming and other activities that tax the graphics, you can switch over to the discrete processor. We're not sure yet how you move from one mode to the other, but we'll check that out once we start testing.

Another new touch is the glass trackpad. The new MacBook Pros and the MacBook use an expanded version of the multi-touch gestures originally introduced in the MacBook Air, but now the pad is made of glass. Apple CEO Steve Jobs says they've "optimized the friction on the glass." We'll see exactly what that means when we test the laptops ourselves, but the most notable feature of the new touchpad is the absence of buttons. The entire pad is now clickable; if you need to right-click you can use two fingers or program a section of the touchpad as the right-click area.

The display is an LED-backlit screen, with edge-to-edge glass. The frameless displays we've seen in other laptops tend to be more prone to glare than other glossy displays; it remains to be seen how well Apple handled this.

For $1,300, you can get the 13-inch updated MacBook (click on the image, above left, for a closer look), or for $1,000 you can get the same older model.

The new 15.4-inch MacBook Pro (click on the image at right for a closer look) is available in two configurations. For $2,000, you get a 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB of memory, a 250GB hard drive, the new Nvidia graphics with 256MB of memory, and DVD burner. The $2,500 version features a 2.53GHz Core 2 Duo, 4GB of RAM, 512MB of video memory, and a 320GB hard drive. A solid-state hard drive is also an option.

The company also added a 128GB solid-state hard drive option to the MacBook Air, and upgraded the graphics. You can also now get a standard hard drive that’s 120GB instead of 80.

We'll keep you posted as we test these new models. In the meantime, if you're shopping for a notebook, check out Consumer Reports' laptop computer Ratings and Consumer Reports' Quick Recommendations for notebooks that performed well in our latest test. (Ratings and recommendations are available to Consumer Reports subscribers only.)

—Donna Tapellini