Apple MacBook Pro Review (pics, specs) Discussion

[crazyguy]

Home Skillet....now you have been smoking the doobies. You are praising the goodness of notebooks that haven't even hit the states yet. The only thing Asus has that comes close to the MBP in terms of power and portability is the W3J. The V3J has a ****py video card (geforce 7400). You don't even know what the W3J clocks its video card at. Since the W3V had serious heat problems (my friend owns one and likes it but for that reason) I wouldn't be suprised if they don't underclock the stock as well. It also has no DVI port , which is a deal killer for me. It also has a smaller screen, less resolution, is thicker, and....all that for the same weight as the MPB. Now I love Asus, but at least support a machine you have actually held with your own hands.
PS...I second Valkyr comments.
PPS...I almost bought the W3J so it's not like I don't think Asus puts out the goods. I just like my machine just fine.

[wipeout]

Apple specs for the MacBook Pro say it's a 60Wh Lithium Polymer battery. I'd say 3:15 hours is decent depending on how bright half brightness actually is since the screen can go up to 300nits. The Acer 8204 gets about the same battery life even with a huge ~90Wh battery and the screen's max brightness is only 185nits (with the Samsung panel).

crazyguy, would it be possible to take a pic of the MacBook Pro on a desk with an AA battery as a height comparison?

Ok. I'm asking because I have a 47Wh battery, and I get about that, 3:15 with medium brightness.

It's close, but a bit more power hungry

[xAMDvsIntelx]

Hmm...

Doesn't the 2.0GHz Core Duo model come with 256MB VRAM, not 128MB?

[bran]

I'm not real sure why you're posting here lol .. you seem to have a complete disdain for Apple.

If you can come up with a PC that offers the same form factor, interoperability, silent operation, performance, aesthetic appeal, and battery life as the MBP then by all means offer your suggestions. If I wanted a PC that could game I would just upgrade my desktop. I wouldn't be purchasing the MBP to be my sole gamign platform, instead I'd like to have something that I can sit on the couch with, browse the internet, maybe play a few games, instead of being glued to my desk and chair as I would be sitting in front of my desktop. Something about just plugging in the DVI cable to my HD and using my wireless keyboard and mouse to have a 30" widescreen experience just sounds cool. Apple offers the experience, both from an application and gaming standpoint, as well as quality necessary to fulfill my needs. Sure if I wanted shear gaming performance and 3d benchmarks that would make anyone envy I'd opt for an Alienware or Dell, but they weigh almost twice as much, cost more, and offer two-thirds the battery life.


I never did get an answer to my question tho. Will waiting til December change my options availible in MBP? I know they intend to offer a 17" version, which is too big IMO, as well as a standard Macbook to replace the iBook, but I'm wondering if anyone thinks they'll be upgrading the 15" MBP by years end.

[edit]Nevermind. Seems I was able to answer my own question by reading the following article which talks about the reduction in price of the dual-core processors.

http://www.geek.com/news/geeknews/20...0413035791.htm[/edit]

You forgot one very important thing: keypad. MBP keys have no travel at all, no spring-like after-touch effect, when you type you never actually know if you typed something or not. Conclusion? Since it cannot compare with competition in gaming (underclocked x1600, poor Windows performance), in business (poor anti-business keypad, absolutely impossible to type for long hours), what remain is media/entertainment category thanks to its absolutelly gorgeous OS. But that aspect alone is not sufficient to make MBP a winner, must-buy laptop (unfortunatelly).

[Ephman]

Hey new to this forum but just purchased the MacBook Pro and have a few questions for those who also own:

1) Does your macbook get hot??

2) Does your macbook make a high pitched noise??

Just curious as to whether or not this is normal - if not I will take it back and get a replacement.

Thanks!

[defsquad]

Hey new to this forum but just purchased the MacBook Pro and have a few questions for those who also own:

1) Does your macbook get hot??

2) Does your macbook make a high pitched noise??

Just curious as to whether or not this is normal - if not I will take it back and get a replacement.

Thanks!

It would seem as though you didn't read crazyguy's review completely; his DOES get hot, but his DOES NOT have the "becoming all too common" noise problem. I have read about the noise issues on other forums and websites, but it seems to be completely intermittent. I was thinking about selling my 2 month old Acer 5672WLMi and getting a MBP; however, the big thing that I use my Acer for is a "desktop". I built a little dock type thing to hold my 21" gateway lcd and some external hd's and finally my acer slides underneath everything, however since it doesn't actually have a docking station mode unless you purchase that horrible POS that acer sells as a docking station, there is no real way to turn off the lcd monitor and also heat dissipates through the keyboard i found out one day when i had to boot up the laptop after it was shutdown; it literally blistered my finger. WHOA i said, I need to see about getting a different laptop.

Anyway, crazyguy, have you had any experience with shutting the laptop, and using it as a desktop with an external mouse/keyboard/monitor?

Please advise.

Thanks for the awesome review, and this gives me a valid excuse to get an Apple based computer again.

-defsquad

[pixelator]

In response to this being expensive considering the 3DMark 05 score I will say that this machine does exactly what I want it to better than another notebook on the market. You get what you pay for. The heat generated by the X1600 and the 667MHz ram is tragic yes. The underclocked GPU is also sad. However, going back over my positives, I will point out that form factor and wieght are even more important to me. I also love the fact that I can run OS X and WinXP. The fact is that I can run WoW at 30fps+ with all graphics turned on maximum. Considering that this is about how fast my desktop (AMD 3000XP with x800PRO) runs it, that's not too shabby. If you want a 20lb notebook that has two GeForce 7800s in it and a 19" screen you can go that route. I wanted a pimp, slim, quiet (oh so quiet), extremely fast ( 2.0 Core Duo takes care of that) machine that plays the games I like to play. I still wouldn't trade my MacBook for an 8204 if I could. You can take your 1000 3DMark points and i'll take my MacBook Pro.

I'm late to this party, and I think the review is quite well written, but the bit about WoW here is a little deceptive.

I have a 2.8GHz desktop P4 with 1GB DDR400 and a 256MB 9800XT ATI. It puts out a similar Pi score to the MBP, but in WoW with everything on maximum, it can definitely bog -- It has everything to do with where you are and what's going on around you. I have a feeling this system will show at least a little slowdown in, say, a heavy melee in Alterac Valley.

Furthermore, some folks' Mac 'evangelism' factor here seems a tad high. Yes, it's sleek, yes, it's quiet and light. Build quality? I'm on the fence with Apple considering their history with batteries, heat, screens and iPODs. As for 'pimp' - huh? How can folks be dismissive of raw performance for games or biz and so hooked on a glossy white coating or a light-up Apple?

Thing is, my girlfriend's new $1260 (shipped w/ tax) E1705 trumps the MBP performance wise (dead quiet, too), at the cost of .6" thickness and 2lbs. I think that this really boils down to image-conscious... People just want to be seen with a slick looking Apple and are willing to convince themselves they don't 'need' better performance or that it 'does what I want just fine', even if it's over a grand more than a more powerful or specced Wintel note. So then you're paying for a look and for OSX, basically. And before the Apple fans pack their warchests, I'll be the first to say OSX trumps WinXP for everyday ease of use, stability and aesthetics. I just don't think it warrants a $1000+ premium and it doesn't have the best software support.

Boot Camp looks promising, though. With the inclusion of a more robust graphics adapter something like this could be worth switching for, maybe. And yeah, you do look snappy sitting in Starbucks with an Macbook. By comparison, my XPS makes me feel like I'm driving the note equivalent of a blinged-out pickup trick with chrome spinners and neon ground lights.

[Puffin_Fresh]

I saw my mates mbp last night and oh my gosh it such a hot laptop talk about bling bling LOL I would know coz I'm a chick talk about smooth to the touch and the design it HOT! My mate had the biggest grin the whole night it was a huge compliment for him hehe

I;'m still tempted to get a toshiba but ill have 2 honest they r certainly not good looking laptops unbelievably conservative looking and they r made or hard plastic. They look so cheap and kinda tacky. To compare their designs 2 a samsung, apple and sony they fall right down the bottom for wot you have pay for them. But i guess looks are not everything.

One of my poor friends bought her mbp just a few weeks ago with the 1.83 ghz and now they have released a 2.0GHZ with same educational discount.

The only reason why im still incredibly unsure to purchase the mbp is that i use alot of auto desk software products eg AUTO, VIZ, MAX which r not compatible to macs system. I just dont understand why autodesk r so against using MAcs systems to support their programs as well. I also use adobe products which apparently they work better on apple mac system than windows.

But to know about bootcamp i guess its encouraging but still my instinct still tells me i should get another machine.

Has anyone here got a mbp and has install any of auto desk products and they still function normally without any gliches? I dont want to buy, install boot camp and windows and then auto cad and it doesnt function properly or it keeps crashing! Will they continually improve bootcamp?

[pixelator]

Autodesk doesn't develop for the Mac because it would cost them and they're not sure they'd see an adequate return. They would also have to expand their tech support and sales.

Adobe products don't 'work better' on Macs than they do on Windows.

[NomadaNare]

Thanks for the review, I was looking for a detailed review of the MBP, as I am in the same position as you. I am in the market for a laptop, but one that can play at least next generations games. I was really surprised to hear about the X1600 in the MBP, but saddened to hear that it was underclocked. You said that you overclocked yours, how did you?