 One of the fastest Macs... |
| Review Date: March 11, 2006 |
| Reviewer: Stephen Hall, USA |
It's the most stunning idea, isn't it? We talk about usability, but people always want to know about the speed. This MacBook Pro is the second fastest Mac notebook ever, only slower to the more expensive model of this same release.
When Steve Jobs announced the new Macs, with Intel Core Duo processors I was almost certain I wanted to buy one. Why? Macs are well known for ease of use and capabilities, but they have managed all that for years, with processors that are not always top-notch. That all changed in January 2006.
Processor in the new MacBook Pro
The Intel Core Duo processor in the new MacBook Pro is an amazing chip. What have I noticed about the speed of the machine featuring this chip? It is incredibly fast. You'd be surprised by how much faster even web browsing is, when you have a processor as powerful as the Core Duo. However, what I've really been impressed by is doing things such as video encoding. I've encoded videos in H264 as much as eight times faster than my Powerbook G4. Furthermore, the iLife applications that are included on the MacBook Pro fly, with the speed. iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, and Garageband perform like never before. I've really been impressed by the speed.
The Core Duo is a great processor. It offers exceptional desktop PC performance, in a design that can fit in small computers and notebooks. It features two cores on a single die, which effectively gives you the performance of two processors. Don't let the 1.83 GHZ clock speed fool you. This Core Duo Chip will outperform 3+ GHZ Pentium 4 processors. It really is an amazing breakthrough, from Intel.
Video Card
The new MacBook Pro 2 GHZ model features an ATI Radeon X1600 graphics processor using PCI Express 128 MB of GDDR3 video memory. This is one of the best video cards Apple has ever included in a notebook. This graphic processor will work well for most gaming, and it is great for viewing back complex H264 movies, including high definition videos. You can enjoy high definition H264 videos, without drop frames.
Ports -
The MacBook Pro features 2 USB 2.0 ports, 1 Firewire 400 port, Gigabit Ethernet, audio in/out, and Expresscard (34 slot).
Display - Apple touts the display on the new MacBook Pro as bright as the cinema displays, and there is no question: these displays are bright! Depending on your lighting condition, you'll almost certainly not turn the display to full brightness. I had to turn down the brightness, for it was hard on my eyes. However, it is nice to know the brightness is there, when needed. The native resolution is 1440x900 giving you plenty of screen real estate, to keep the applications you need visible.
Video out - The new MacBook Pro has a DVI video output. An adapter is also included to output VGA. There is an optional adapter available to output S-Video and composite video. Furthermore, the DVI video out supports up to a 30-inch Apple Cinema Display (or other comparable display). This gives you great possibilities. You can easily use your MacBook Pro on the road, but plug it into a keyboard, mouse, and huge display, when at your desk. The perfect all around system.
Memory - This Mac is a powerhouse, but the included 512 MB of memory holds it back. You really need more memory in this machine. The MacBook Pro supports up to 2 GB of memory. It uses PC5300 DDR2 - SODIMM modules, so you can order some and install it yourself. Crucial and Other World Computing are two online stores to consider purchasing memory. Amazon does not have this specific memory available.
Applications -
Apple includes iLife '06, which has iPhoto, iMovie, iWeb, iDVD, and Garageband. There is the Safari web browser, the always useful iCal, AddressBook, iChat, etc. Overall, I was pleased with the included software.
iLife 06 is particularly great. I love the new full-screen photo editing, photo comparing, etc. You can now also order calendars and greeting cards made with your photos, direct from Apple, by using the iPhoto software. iMovie has new themes, which helps make professional-looking home movies, and iDVD now supports widescreen DVDs. iWeb is a brand-new applications, which makes it easy to create professional quality webpages, quickly. I can't wait to rebuild by site using iWeb. Apple continues to make it easy to create music, manage your digital images, make movies, and create web sites.
A trial (30 day) of iWork '06 is also included, which includes the page layout program Pages, and the presentation program Keynote (which makes presentations that blow away presentations made by rival Powerpoint).
Hard Drive -
This model of the MacBook Pro includes a 80 GB 5400 RPM hard drive. This is going to be sufficient for most people to hold their photographs and music. However, you won't much video on here. You can always use an external drive, when at your desk. It is also important that you remember to backup your important files to either another external hard drive, or DVDs. I only point this out because today with great machines like the MacBook Pro we're storing more of our great memories on computers than ever before, so make sure you don't lose them, if something happens to your machine. Apple includes a great backup program called Backup 3, if you subscribe to the .mac service. I use it all the time, and it simple interface helps me keep peace of mind.
Superdrive-
The optical drive included with the new MacBook Pro allows you to watch DVDs, listen to music, burn DVDs, and burn CDs. It is a slot-loading drive, so the disks slide magically in and out of the computer's right side. There are no drawers to break off. Note - The drive does *not* burn dual layer DVDs.
Front Row Experience - Apple has included a new software title that at this time is only available on the iMac, Mac Mini, and MacBook Pro. Front Row. Front Row comes with your MacBook Pro, and a remote control is also included. Front row allows you to watch and listen to media items, on your computer, from across the room. Click one button on the remote, and bring up Front Row, for quick access to your music, movies, podcasts, DVD, and more. I like this feature, but I wonder how useful it is, since I'm usually sitting right in front of the computer and can just use a mouse, to access this content.
PowerPC Applications on Intel Machine
If you own a lot of software for Mac, then most of it is probably compiled for PowerPC. Developers are working hard to make titles run natively on both Intel and PowerPC, but many titles are not yet ready. However, many titles you can use on an Intel Mac because Apple has included Rosetta, which translates the PowerPC code into something the Intel machine can read. However, you never see Rosetta for it works quietly in the background and makes running PowerPC applications seamless. Microsoft Office, for example, works perfect under Rosetta. Intensive applications such as Photoshop will run under Rosetta, but it will be slower until Adobe has an Intel compiled version of Photoshop. Rosetta does work and if you add memory to your iMac, you may find such application somewhat equal to how it would perform on a 1GHZ PowerPC G4, from my experience.
Two titles I use EyeTV and Toast 7 are not yet compiled for Intel, but they run fine on my Intel Mac, under Rosetta. Again, you don't have to open anything special to use Rosetta. Your Mac knows when it needs it and uses it.
Wireless- The MacBook Pro can still connect wirelessly to networks using its included Airport Card. Furthermore, it features a Bluetooth module to connect wirelessly to devices.
Design - This MacBook Pro is beautiful, and you notice the quality as soon as you begin to open the box. It is packaged with care, in beautiful packaging. The MacBook Pro is thin, and the display is beautiful. The Mag Safe Power Connector is another amazing design feature on this machine. If someone or something pulls on the power cord connected to your notebook, instead of the notebook flying, the magnet on the connector releases, leaving your MacBook Pro safe.
Overall, I am very excited about the MacBook Pro. It is incredibly fast on Intel-native applications, and it does a very good job running PowerPC applications. If you're upgrading from a G4 Mac like myself, this machine will seem to fly. If you're upgrading from a G5 based Mac, it will be faster on native applications, but the increase in performance will be less significant to you. The Intel machines are the future of Apple, so there is no question this is a good machine, and it is powerful enough to be a good computer, for quite some time. I'm happy with my purchase, and I look forward to continue exploring my Intel Mac in the coming days |
The best portable out there (for both Windows or Mac OS X!)
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| Review Date: April 9, 2006 |
| Reviewer: Grumpytico, San Jose, Costa Rica |
I bought this machine a little over a month ago, it replaced my Powerbook G3 1.5 Ghz. From the moment I have started using it, I have been quite impressed on how well it performs.
Keep in mind that you MUST add RAM to it, the 512 MB that it comes with are nothing. With that much memory, working with Rosetta apps (binaries that were build for PPC) will really slow down your system. I upgraded to 1.5 GB and this thing FLIES. For example, when using handbrake to create an mp4 file from a movie DVD, it took my old Powerbook around 4 hours. The MBP can do it in 45 minutes which totally blows me away.
Keep in mind that at the time of this writing, there are many apps out there (Adobe Photoshop, Dreamweaver) that will not run at full native speed. This does not mean they are unbearable to work with, they are just not running as fast as they could. I use Photoshop on weekly basis for designing web pages. Its speed is like that of using Photoshop on my iMac G5 - so trust me, its not bad at all. As I have mentioned before, cram it with RAM and things will work great.
Performance-wise it is top notch. With the recent release of Boot Camp, you can now easily run Windows on a separate partition. This should really be tempting to some Windows users out there that want to try OS X but are scared of not liking it and then being stuck with a machine they wont use. If you are Windows user, do yourself a favor and get this laptop. In case you hate OS X, just boot under Windows and you will be right at home. Recent benchmarks that I have read of comparable Acer systems leave the MPB as a clear contender even when running Windows XP.
The backlit keyboard, iSight, the remote control are just extras that put icing on the cake. I have never been so happy with a machine in my life. It is so great to be running multiple apps and see the Activity Monitor's CPU usage stay around 10%!
I really can't say more, I love this machine. |
Simply Amazing
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| Review Date: May 1, 2006 |
| Reviewer: tall-latte, Sammamish, WA USA |
We just replaced a Dell notebook and desktop with a MacBook Pro and iMac. OS X is just amazing, and I can't believe that Apple hasn't stolen more market share.
The iMac is perfect. The MacBook Pro has a few quirks to be aware of:
1. When the CPU is idle and the MacBook Pro is on battery, there is a medium to high pitch sound that emits from the computer. This drove me crazy the first two days, but now I don't notice it as much. Apple will hopefully fix this soon via a firmware update. In the meantime, there is an easy workaround: launch and minimize Photo Booth, and it consumes just enough CPU to make the sound go away. Also, the sound seems to disappear about 90% when on A/C instead of battery.
2. The MacBook Pro gets very hot when plugged in. It won't burn you, but it is surprisingly hot. You probably won't want to put it on your lap.
3. The MacBook Pro is heavy, relative to ultra portables.
4. The keyboard is hard to get used to for Windows switchers. It takes two keystrokes to do things like DEL, HOME, END, etc. The iMac keyboard is easier.
For reasons 2 and 3, consider this a "portable" and not a "laptop."
Despite these issues, this is the best portable computer I have ever owned, primarily due to OS X and .Mac.
Also - my first reaction was that I might have trouble getting used to the wide screen and how low it goes. Nope - it is a pleasure to work with.
For Windows switchers -- expect a frustrating first day but also lots of smiles how everything just works first try.
Overall, I would highly recommend the MacBook Pro to anyone not needing an ultra lightweight portable. |
Apple at its best!
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| Review Date: April 24, 2006 |
| Reviewer: B. Lemmons, Modesto, CA USA |
I am a web developer. I have the MacBookPro 1.83 ghz model. I have Photoshop CS, Dreamweaver 8, Flash MX, MS Office 2004, and more installed on this thing and it hasn't missed a beat!
I have read about issues with some of the professional software such as Photoshop and Dreamweaver not being as fast on the new intel chip. I was a little concerned about that, so I installed an extra 1gb of ram so I have 1.5 gb now. Though I am not doing any crazy photoshop work, I don't notice a thing. Dreamweaver runs great also! Fireworks is a bit slow, but I am also running an older version. Microsoft Office is fast. I run most of these at once and have no issues at all!
I also like the battery life. It blows my hp laptop I had away. If you like Macs, you'll like this. The only issue I have had is that is can run fairly hot sometimes when it is cranking out my work all day long. I bought an iLap for it and the heat is pulled away pretty good.
Bottom line, this is a great laptop. I am a user who runs this thing for at least 8 hours a day, with multiple professional apps running at once and it just keeps on cranking out as it should. Oh, it is very quiet too! |
Running Dragon on the MacBook is impressive
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| Review Date: April 16, 2006 |
| Reviewer: Jazzspielen, ER, AK United States |
Ok, so I'm a newbie to Apple stuff, having cut my teeth on IBM PC1 back in the dark ages with DOS. Bought a MacBook Pro; used Boot Camp to install WinXP; installed Dragon Naturally Speaking 8. Have not received my 1Gb RAM yet so I was running on 512. Left my favorite Sennheiser microphone at the office (*Duh*), so I had to use my old Andrea stand-by 'mike,' but....
Dragon literally flies on MacBook Pro. Installation was slick. Everything worked as planned. I dictated normally, and DNS was very accurate. Then I started dictating faster, with longer, more complicated paragraphs, and it did very well -- in fact, extremely well (this is just with the quick ten-minute training session and without allowing DNS to scour my emails/documents to learn my style). Ok, so it missed 'egregious' and gave me 'courageous' -- so big whoop. My wife was amazed at how accurate and fast it was. Even my son, the technogeek, was impressed -- and nothing I do in his tech-savvy life impresses him. Actually, the MacBook was more his idea than mine -- we just decided to try it with DNS for the heck of it.
I have been using Dragon for years, and I currently run it on a Thinkpad Centrino and a dual core Intel PC, and I can honestly say Dragon on the MacBook runs better, faster and more accurately than it does on either of my other machines -- and I was getting good results with them. I have to say I was very skeptical that the MacBook would come close to my other machines, but I was wrong. I realize my testing is subjective without hard, empirical data to back up my claims, but I don't care -- I'm going with the MacBook for now b/c I have a feeling it's going to save me a lot of time, blood, sweat and tears.
The MacBook is an extremely sexy machine, and it has so many cool features on the Mac side that Windows simply can't match. I know we MS junkies are all waiting for Vista to salvage Windows (and Bill's $$$ advantage over Warren), but IMHO it's simply going to be a quasi knock-off of OSX. By then, Apple's OS will be even further ahead. I wish I could say good bye to Windows, but unfortunately, almost all of my work has to be done with a PC b/c very little software that I am 'forced' to use is written for Apple machines. Fortunately, at least I'll be able to dictate using my MacBook running WinXP and DNS.
At any rate, if any of you wonder if the MacBook and DNS (running under XP) might be a good marriage, I'd say yes. I'll do some more testing when I get the other stick of RAM and my favorite microphone installed and get DNS up to speed with all my documents. I know $2000 is a lot to pay for a laptop when you can do it much more cheaply, but I have to say I'm very satisfied so far from what I've seen.
Have not heard the 'high-pitched' whine/hiss others report, but I only got it yesterday. Hope I can slide by that one....
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