Here's how the Core i5 MacBook Pro stacks up against a Core i5-based iMac and my own 17-in. MacBook Pro, which has a 3.06-GHz Core 2 Duo processor and a superfast SSD drive. The iMac -- unlike -- has the 2.66-GHz quad-core Core i5 processor. And, unlike this particular MacBook Pro, it has four physical cores and a faster 7,200-rpm hard drive. (The 15-in. MacBook Pro comes with a 5,400-rpm drive.)

First, I did a quick benchmark test of all three computers using Spiny Software's . The new MacBook Pro returned a score of 152.03 -- solid, but not stellar. (I expect the relatively slow hard drive is keeping those numbers down.) The iMac, not surprisingly, had a 204.18 score, and my own MacBook Pro topped out at 209 -- largely because of the OCZ Technologies SSD I installed right after I bought it last June. SSDs can throw off benchmarks by artificially inflating scores -- although they do make your computer feel darn fast. More about SSDs below.

Next, I used Primate Labs' to benchmark the three computers. The iMac led the way with a Geekbench score of 6,473. The new MacBook Pro turned in a speedy 4,783. And my own MacBook Pro trailed at 4,192. (, in case you want even more data, comparing the faster Core-based MacBook Pros with a Core i7 iMac. The iMac won, by a long shot.)

Although benchmarks can give you a rough idea of how one computer stacks up against others, real-world tasks are usually better for putting a computer through its paces. With that in mind, I opened an 88MB video file in QuickTime and chose the "Save for Web" command. This essentially exports the same video into several different versions at the same time -- and it pegs the processor while doing so. (I use iSlayer's , a great free utility, to monitor what's going on with my computer; it places a series of icons in the menu bar showing you what the CPU is up to, how hot the computer is running, how your network connection is doing, etc.)

Using my own older MacBook Pro -- remember, it has the dual-core Core 2 Duo chip, but a fast SSD drive -- the video export task took 61 seconds. Doing the same thing on my iMac took just 29 seconds. And exporting the video on the new Core i5-based MacBook Pro took 51 seconds.