Even though the processor speed has actually decreased from 2.53GHz in the previous entry-level 15-inch MacBook Pro to 2.4GHz in this new entry level model, the new system was 23 percent faster in our overall system performance test suite, . The rather than the Core 2 Duos previously found throughout the MacBook Pro product line.

These Core i5 and Core i7 processors have a few interesting performance features, including Hyper-Threading, which uses virtual cores to double the amount of processing cores presented to the operating system. These Core i5 and Core i7 processors have dual cores, but OS X treats them as having four cores. Another Core i5/Core i7 technology, Turbo Boost, allows the processor to speed up for a short period of time (when necessary) or shut down unused cores and give the resources to the cores in use. Turbo Boost can increase the clock speed of the 2.4GHz Core i5 processor up to 2.93GHz.

The new entry-level 15-inch MacBook Pro features a 320GB, 5400-rpm hard drive, up from the 250GB, 5400-rpm hard drive found in the model it replaces.

The 2.4GHz Core i5 MacBook Pro was a little more than 10 percent faster than the mid-2009 2.53GHz Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro in our Photoshop test suite, 26 percent faster in the Cinebench CPU test, 29 percent faster in Aperture, and 38 percent faster in the MathematicaMark 7 test.

The 15- and 17-inch MacBook Pros feature a new graphics switching technology that automatically and seamlessly switches between Intel HD integrated graphics and discrete Nvidia GeForce GT 330M graphics. Apple claims that this graphics subsystem is much faster than Nvidia GeForce 9400M integrated graphics found in the previous entry-level 15-inch MacBook Pro, which did not have a second discrete graphics chip. In our Call of Duty 4 test, the new 15-inch 2.4GHz Core i5 MacBook Pro impressed us by displaying 3.5 times as many frames per second as last year's entry-level 15-inch MacBook Pro with the 2.53GHz Core 2 Duo and Nvidia GeForce 9400M graphics.