Apple launched its 17 inch screen dual core MacBook Pro today, claiming the new machine bests the performance of its PowerBook G4 by a factor of five.

The £1,999 laptop runs a 2.16GHz Intel Core Duo processor, and comes with a gig of 667MHz SDRAM, which can be ramped up to 2GB. Video is via an ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 carrying 256MB of GDDR3 memory. A 120GB hard drive rounds out the core hardware spec.

Other goodies including an x8 SuperDrive, built-in iSight video camera, AirPort Extreme and Bluetooth.

Claimed battery life for the 17 incher is5.5 hours, according to the firm’s website. Whether this is at full pelt, the website don’t say. That up to five times performance boost is based on the SPECint and SPECfp tests.®