The sound is equally impressive, with the built-in stereo speakers providing strong, consistent sound, whether tested with the bass rumbling sounds of the Inception soundtrack or pumping out tunes by Jimi Hendrix and Led Zepplin. Thanks to LED backlighting, the MacBook's display is bright, with rich colors, deep blacks, and sharp details. That resolution is a big step up from the standard 1366-by-768 found on most desktop replacement laptops, like the Dell XPS 15z and Toshiba P755-S5269, but there are higher resolutions available, like the 1,920-by-1,080 resolution screen found on the Asus N55SF-A1 ($1,249.99 list, 4 stars). The MacBook Pro 15-inch still sports an impressive 15.4-inch glass-covered widescreen display, with an eye-catching 1,440-by-900 resolution display. Considerably thicker and heavier is the plastic bodied Toshiba Satellite P755-S5269 ($979.99 list, 4 stars), which measures 1.4-inches thick, and weighs in at 5.8 pounds. It's the same weight as the Dell XPS 15z (Microsoft) ($999 direct, 4 stars), but just a hair thinner.

The MacBook Pro 15-inch's distinctive unibody chassis, milled from a single piece of aluminum, weighs 5.5 pounds and measures just 0.95 inch at its thickest point. There may be one or two areas where competing desktop replacement laptops do better, but the total package is put together so well-design, software, and components are so well integrated-that it earns our Editors' Choice for desktop replacement laptops. It ratchets up the components, with all new graphics and processing hardware, and Apple's-award winning OSX Lion operating system. The Apple MacBook Pro (late 2011) ($1,799 direct) keeps the iconic look of previous iterations, with the same unibody design and backlit chiclet keyboard as seen on the Apple MacBook Pro 15-inch (Thunderbolt) ($2,199 direct, 4 stars).

In the competitive desktop replacement laptop category, there's no question that laptop manufacturers have been gunning for Apple's top spot, emulating every aspect of the MacBook Pro, from its comfortable keyboard and clickpad to its thin, under-an-inch profile. Best Hosted Endpoint Protection and Security Software.

Apple macbook pro 2011 15 inch