 "Apple for now, Linux in my future??" | 2008-10-06 |
| - Reviewed By User: ALJGXOJOM145S |
| This is a good product as laptops for this price range go. I have the 2.2 ghz model.br /Pros: br /1) Backlit keyboard is awesomebr /2) Apple software works seamlessly with 3rd party applications - MS is still trying to catch up. I have no trouble downloading/installing software.br /3) Unix available at the command line levelbr /4) Free iLife 08 including useful appls like iTunes, iPhoto iMovie, and GarageBandbr /5) Safari is a v. good browserbr /Cons: br /1) Screen does not display color as well as a PC (color dithering scam on its notebook displays). If you don't believe this - compare a PC and Mac notebook side by side. Ever wonder why Apple products are segregated from others (e.g. at B. Buy)?br /Scrolling in some windows may have glitches (see inet forums for details)br /Ditto dragging in the mouse pad. br /2) Leopard plug-ins/updates are still not all complete from some popular application programs. Fortunately I have 2 mac notebooks and the old one has Tiger on it. Tiger runs everything.br /3) Battery is still not as efficient as other laptops but my Dell 700 is even worse...br /4) Apple is almost as bad as MS at being proprietary about their software. br /a) The Apple educational discounts have become progressively lower over the past 5 years. The Apple discounts on software are nowhere near as good as many others.br / I can buy Lightroom 2 for a lot less than Aperture 2 via educational storebr /b) Upgrading is also pricier.br /5) Apple phone support is really sucking recently and stay out of Apple retail stores- their 'geniuses' in support are not even marginally intelligent in the 2 stores in my area. br /6) Apple quality control from the 'golden' days is nonexistent today. Just see the web forums for all the problems that users are having with ALL Apple products.br /7) Bluetooth keyboards do not have powered USB ports. Why not??br /br /Bottom Line: Still a cool product but it could definitely be better. |
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 "The Computer" | 2008-09-25 |
| - Reviewed By voiceoverthewall |
| This was always my dream computer. It is the perfect laptop in many ways. br /br /Things I love about this laptop: First of all, it is Apple's "pro" laptop. There's a certain prestige-factor associated with the Pro. The aluminum casing is attractive. This Mac is fast (but this is relative) and I like the response from the keys when I press them. I prefer thet way they feel over my company-provided Lenovo Thinkpad T61. br /br /Its a Mac. It runs both OS X and Windows XP/Vista. I don't see myself ever needing to run Windows on my Macbook Pro, but I have the option and that is nice. The features of the trackpad are awesome as well...two finger scrolling, right-click with two fingers, etc. These are useful features I wish I had elsewhere on other laptops computers.br /br /What I don't like: The aluminum casing smudges and shows fingerprints way too easily. I also do not like how diffeicult it is to replace the hard drive. Check out [...] for guides on how to do this. Why Apple would make it so easy with the Macbook and so difficult with the Macbook Pro is beyond me. Perhaps with the upcoming inevitable revamp of the Pro line (rumors and spyshots are all over the web), they will change this. Upgrading the ram is easy enough on this laptop.br /br /Overall, I am a Mac fan and consider this to be my primary computer. As I said, there's a certain prestige-factor associated with the Pro, but...If I were to buy another laptop today, it would be a Macbook instead of the Macbook Pro. I like the ease of replacing the hard drive. This is critical to me, as it is easy to run out of space. br /br /If you are looking for dedicated graphics to play games or to want to offload some processing to the video card (which Adobe Photshop CS4 is rumored to do by default), then go with the Pro. Just be sure to get yourself a large external drive and to max out the internal hard drive space (if your Pro is custom configured). |
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| "Very happy with this buy" | 2008-09-25 |
| - Reviewed By User: A33BSHVU4VUSL5 |
| I bought my MBP on Amazon last July and up to now I am ecstatic with it's results. I have read extensively around the web for user reviews and experiences and although some negative ones made me frown I went ahead and bought one. After years of PC use and a lot of frustration because of crashes (especially with graphic design programs I use) I saved up the (chunk of ) money and bought the MBP.br /br /I have worked with Mac's previously but that was such a long time ago that when I first turned on my MBP and saw the bright screen and colors and the power this machine has while I run heavy software, listen to music AND watch videos, it just blew me away! Apart from me being a specific user because of my line of work I think this MBP is also very suitable for less higher end user, although maybe the price could be an obstacle for buying one. Still it is worth every penny in my humble opinion.br /br /Can't wait to see what the rumored new batch of MBP's will bring, and well hope I will not be tempted to upgrade this one myself. I'm a fan! |
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| "Now this is a laptop!" | 2008-09-24 |
| - Reviewed By danilo-1 |
| This MacBook Pro is a terrific machine. It rivals the performance of my Power Mac G5. I loaded Adobe LightRoom and Apple Aperture on it to work on photos that I have dowloaded from my cameras. I shoot in RAW mode. Yes, the files are large but this MacBook Pro accomplishes the task of processing this file very nicely. I highly recommended for any processing task at hand. The performance this machine outputs and the features this laptop has will make you smile. Read up on the features this machine has. "You will be impressed". |
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| "Sleek, fun, fast" | 2008-09-21 |
| - Reviewed By User: A1AK356546890Q |
| I have had my MacBook Pro for three weeks now and am enthralled with it. It is light -- easy to carry -- which is a plus since, as an academic, I carry a lot of files and books with me at any give time. It is lightning fast. I've been using a G4 laptop and G4 desktop and the leap to this computer is noticeable and worth every penny. The feel of the keyboard also strikes me as a strong selling point -- keyboarding just feels easier and, dare I say it, more fun.br /br /Also notable about this Mac is the ease of adding memory. I've added memory to other Macs before and this is the easiest I've ever done. The memory cards slide in easily and I don't have to fiddle with them to get them at the right angle. I have always loved the intuitive feeling of the Mac and I think that Apple gets this right again. br /br /I have noticed that the computer runs hot -- but apparently that is expected -- and I've had no problems with performance whatsoever. The isight camera is fun too -- and creating presentations feels a whole lot easier as well.br /br /I highly recommend this product: it is exactly what I want in a computer and the new operating system, whose ins and out I'm still exploring, makes it even better. |
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| "Love it!" | 2008-09-20 |
| - Reviewed By User: AFDE6XM0NNK1K |
| Absolutely love this thing! Quality and performance are outstanding. Super easy to use and setup. Applications perform smoothly and without the typical Windows 'lockups, crashes and slow shutdowns' many of us have had to endure for years.br /I use VMware's Fusion with 4GB RAM as I still need to use several Windows based applications. Performance of the Virtual Machines is smooth and very robust...the additional RAM is really a requirement if you are running Virtual Machines. |
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| "I wasn't expecting this great performance" | 2008-09-19 |
| - Reviewed By ta_trader77 |
| I was hesitating between Vaio and MacBook Pro. I am know satisfied and never regreted to buy Mac. a wonderful piece of work ... will be one of mac big fans. |
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 "Tough conversion" | 2008-09-18 |
| - Reviewed By User: A1T2OIMWVTIE12 |
| While I'm enjoying the speed and other capabilities of the MacBook Pro, converting from a pc was not a joyful experience. After a month and a half, I'm still frustrated with some of the nuances of the change. There are printer compatibility issues, for example, and iTunes ratings and playcount data did not transfer over from my pc. Navigating pages is also slightly different, and after years of doing things the pc way, old habits are dying hard. I was also led to believe that the Mac never crashes, which is a myth. They are less frequent than on the pc, but they still do happen. I guess, at the moment, I'm planning to be ecstatically happy about this purchase, but I'm not there yet. |
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| "A great product..........if you can afford" | 2008-09-17 |
| - Reviewed By User: A24P6GYJA23C8X |
| br /It is a great laptop if you can afford it. The price, to my belief, is still ridiculous high. I spent 1768 in total after the rebate and it is already considered as a great deal.br /br /If you do alot of film/photo/music editing, this is da choice for you. If you are a pc geek who always do P2P freebies, programming and stuff then mac might not be a good choice for you.br /br /The touch pad is a great innovation which that you cannot elsewhere. The new LED screen is also fabulous. The build is solid and metallic look is another plus.br /br /Weight-wise it is heavy but not that heavy for a 15.4" laptop. Heat problem is still there, one should down load a fan controller software always.br /br /4/5 |
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| "Everyone should own it..." | 2008-09-15 |
| - Reviewed By gpowers01 |
This is not just an appliance computer, as some Windows fanboys would have you believe. I work with computers for a living, which means everything from RHEL file servers, to Windows Citrix servers, and everything in between. The nicest part about the Macbook Pro is the fact that this machine can either be just an email appliance for your wife or mother-in-law, or a serious Unix machine and professional workstation (read: command line tools, development, audio production, multimedia production such as photoshop, etc.).
Both my wife and I bought identical machines (Macbook Pro, 15" matte screen, 2.4 Ghz Processor, 2 GB RAM, 200GB HD, etc...), and we both absolutely love these machines!
Besides the fact that they are just amazing to use on a daily basis, the fit and finish is beyond compare (IMHO) to any other laptop on the market (aluminum case, great lcd, decent video card...although beware to NVIDIA GPU CUDA developers, the 8600 mobile chipset isn't the best...still decent, but there are better for strict GPU computation)
As with anything, there are cons to this machine....first and foremost, it runs HOTTTTTT! The case is aluminum, and therefore conducts heat amazingly well. When running vmware inside the Mac OSx, the computer will become incredibly hot. Second thing that I personally find rather disappointing is the web based multimedia capabilities out of the box...quicktime just isn't up to par with Windows Media Player. And finally, the lack of support for mainstream games can be a little annoying, but running windows xp under bootcamp usually solves this issuee...although, I don't like that I have to boot into another OS to play games.
Anyway, overall, I would say that everyone should seriously consider owning this machine. The price is a bit high for most people, but I can honestly say that I would have happily paid another $500 for this machine, as I believe that you get what you pay for, and Apple has done a great job when engineering the MacBook Pro. |
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