The new Pro laptops sport Core 2 Duo Mobile processors at 2.2 and 2.4GHz, faster Front Side Bus (800MHz), 802.11n wireless networking, power-efficient LED display backlighting, and the new nVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT mobile graphics system.

All in all, an excellent and long-awaited upgrade but not quite dramatic enough to make owners of previous Macbooks feel behind — even the latest 2.4GHz MBP is only modestly faster than the original Macbook/Pro models in most operations with the exception of FSB bandwidth (~10-12%), wireless networking (50-125%) and graphics performance (35-60%).

Display sizes remain 15 and 17 inches with 1440×900 and 1680×1050 pixels respectively.

The actual panels are not significantly different from previous models, according to internal technical documents provided to Rumors in the days leading up to this revision — but have merely had their backlights switched out for LED models which are “Greener” and offer substantially better energy performance.

After all, the largest energy drains on a laptop are its display backlight, optical drive and hard drive; things like memory, CPU, GPU, fans and other internal components draw far less energy — even collectively.

We are very excited indeed to begin receiving Reader Reports about these new portable beasts….from what we have been told by reliable sources in Cupertino, real-world battery life is substantially improved. Currently, Apple’s Tech Specs claim “up to 6 hours” for the 15-inch model and “up to 5.75 hours” for the 17-inch model.