Presenting the world's most advanced notebook computer. MacBook Pro is built on the latest Intel mobile architecture, which features the power of two processing cores on a single chip, along with a faster frontside bus, and up to 4GB RAM capacity for incredible performance with high-end creative applications. The NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT with up to 256MB of dedicated memory delivers leading-edge graphics processing. And AirPort Extreme with 802.11n provides up to five times the performance and up to two times the range of 802.11g, as well as compatibility with 802.11a/b/g networks for ultimate Wi-Fi access. Yet with all of its advances, the sleek aluminum MacBook Pro is just one inch thin. So it's a joy to handle as well as to use. Slot-loading optical drive - 8x SuperDrive (DVD+-R DL/DVD+-RW/CD-RW) Expansion - One FireWire 400, one FireWire 800, two USB 2.0 ports, and ExpressCard/34 slot Video - Built-in iSight camera, DVI, VGA (DVI to VGA adapter included) Audio - Combined optical digital input/audio line in, combined optical digital output/headphone out, stereo speakers, microphone Ethernet - Built-in 10/100/1000BASE-T (Gigabit) / Wireless - Built-in AirPort Extreme (802.11n); built-in Bluetooth 2.0+EDR Inputs - Apple Remote; full-size, illuminated keyboard with ambient light sensor; scrolling trackpad Footprint - 14.1 by 9.6 inches / Thickness - 1.0 inch / Weight - 5.4 pounds Software - Video accessories - DVI to VGA adapter included Hardware accessories - 85W MagSafe Power Adapter, AC wall plug, power cord, 60-watt-hour lithium-polymer battery providing up to 6 hours of battery life Comes with 90 days of Apple telephone support and an Apple one-year limited warranty
Amazon.com Product Description
Stylishly and intelligently designed for mobile professionals, Apple's MacBook Pro gets a serious speed bump with the new, powerful Intel chipset (dubbed Santa Rosa), which provides a faster Core 2 Duo processor, longer battery life, and native support for 802.11n wireless connectivity. This model (MA896LL/A) also includes a new mercury-free, power-efficient LED-backlit display measuring 15.4 inches and a state-of-the art NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT video card for more realistic graphics for animation and gaming. This MacBook Pro is powered by the new 2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo T7700 processor and 2 GB of 667 MHz DDR2 memory--the fastest portable computer memory currently on the market (June 2007). But some things haven't changed: the trademark stunning aluminum enclosure that's is just one-inch thin, built-in iSight video camera, and Apple's magnetically connected MagSafe power adapter, which safely disconnects when under strain.
 This MacBook Pro measures just 1 inch thin and weighs 5.4 pounds. |
Intel Core 2 Duo Processor
The Intel Core 2 Duo T7500 processor has a 2.2 GHz processor speed, super-fast 800 MHz front-side bus (FSB), and an enormous 4 MB of Smart Cache, an L2 cache that can be shared between the cores as needed. (An L2, or secondary, cache temporarily stores data; and a larger L2 cache can help speed up your system's performance. The FSB carries data between the CPU and RAM, and a faster front-side bus will deliver better overall performance.)
The Intel Core 2 Duo's 128-bit SSE3 vector engine handles 128-bit computations in a single clock cycle, accelerating data manipulation by simultaneously applying a single instruction to multiple data. And its two execution cores are designed to share resources and conserve power, helping it to achieve higher levels of performance since it uses fewer watts
 The new 15-inch MacBook Pro offers a new mercury-free, power-efficient LED-backlit display with an antiglare finish that's perfect for color-minded professionals. |
The 15.4-inch widescreen TFT (non-glossy) display offers a native resolution of 1440 x 900 pixels and an antiglare widescreen display that's perfect for color-minded professionals. The new MacBook Pro display is backlit by light emitting diodes (LEDs), which gives it a lighter weight and more power efficiency than the cold cathode fluorescent lamps (CCFLs) which most notebooks employ. It's also better for the environment, thanks to its new mercury-free display.
Video and graphics are powered by the NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT card, which is boosted by 256 MB of GDDR3 SDRAM. GDDR3 (Graphics Double Data Rate, version 3) is a graphics card-specific memory technology that's better able to deliver fluid frame rates for even the most advanced games and applications. The GeForce 8600M GT brings a new level of realism to the MacBook Pro with its 16-lane PCI Express architecture, 16x full screen anti-aliasing, 128-bit High Dynamic Range rendering, and a texture fill rate of up to 8.2 billion per second.
Hard Drive and Memory
The 160 GB Serial-ATA (SATA) hard drive (5400 RPM) provides more than enough space to store business-related documents and presentations, as well as offers space for a large digital audio and video library. This SATA hard drive also quickens the pace with a higher speed transfer of data--akin to FireWire and USB 2.0. The 2 GB of PC5300 DDR2 RAM (two SO-DIMMs of 1 GB) have an industry-leading 667 MHz speed, and the RAM capacity can be increased to a whopping 4 GB.
Wireless Connectivity
The built-in 802.11n wireless networking provides up to five times the performance and twice the range of 802.11g, but it's also backward-compatible with 802.11a/b/g routers, enabling you to communicate with the a wide variety of Wi-Fi resources. It works seamlessly with the new AirPort Extreme with 802.11n. Use the built-in Bluetooth wireless technology to connect to your PDA or cell phone, synchronize addresses, or download pictures from your cell phone. You can also use a wireless headset for iChat audio chats and VoIP calls as well as quickly share files with a colleague.
Video Conferencing with Built-in iSight
Artfully placed in the display bezel is an iSight camera, which enables easy video conferencing as well as allows you to snap pictures of yourself and create video podcasts. Using the iChat AV application, video conferencing is integrated into your iChat buddy list, so initiating a video conference is a breeze. iChat also lets you hold audio chats with up to 10 people and provides high-quality audio compression and full-duplex sound so conversation can flow naturally. For video podcasting, you can record a short clip using the iSight camera, then use iWeb to create a video blog entry or post your GarageBand-recorded podcast.
Apple Innovations
 The magnetically connected MagSafe power adapter breaks cleanly away, without damage to either the cord or the MacBook Pro, if you trip over the cord.. |
 Using two-fingered scrolling, you can easily scroll around your documents or open contextual menus with one hand. |
The MacBook Pro has battery life that rivals most notebooks in its class. If you'd like to make that battery last even longer, Mac OS X has a few tricks up its sleeve. Go to System Preferences, click Energy Saver, and change battery optimization from Normal to Better Battery Life. Or tell MacBook Pro to reduce its screen brightness and give yourself a little more time untethered.
And with the included Apple Remote and Front Row software, you can show off your latest photos and access your iTunes music and playlists from across the room. You can also use it to watch downloaded movies and TV episodes as well as control playback of DVD movies. The Apple Remote features a minimalist six buttons--just press the Menu button to activate Front Row and begin to navigate through your media. You can even use the remote to control Keynote presentations in iWork '06.
Other Features
- Two USB 2.0 ports, one FireWire 400, one FireWire 800, ExpressCard/34 slot
- DVI output port; VGA output using included DVI to VGA adapter
- 8x slot-loading SuperDrive with the following write speeds: 8x DVD-R, DVD+R; 4x DVD-R DL (double layer), DVD+R DL (double layer), DVD-RW, DVD+RW; 24x CD-R; 10x CD-RW
- Backlit keyboard with ambient light sensors for automatic adjustment of keyboard illumination and screen brightness
- Internal omnidirectional microphone and built-in speakers
- Combined optical digital output/headphone out (minijack)
- Combined optical digital input/audio line in (minijack)
- 60-watt-hour lithium-polymer battery (with integrated charge indicator LEDs) providing up to 6 hours of battery life
- Kensington cable lock slot
- Measures 14.1 x 9.6 x 1 inches (WxDxH) and weighs 5.4 pounds (including battery)
Included Software
Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard (includes Spotlight, Dashboard, Mail, iChat AV, Safari, Address Book, QuickTime, iCal, DVD Player, Xcode Developer Tools), iLife '06 (includes iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie HD, iDVD, iWeb, GarageBand), Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac Test Drive, a 30-day trial of iWork '06, Comic Life, FileMaker Pro Trial, OmniOutliner, Photo Booth, and Front Row.
What's in the Box
MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2.4 GHz); 85W MagSafe power adapter, AC wall plug, and power cord; lithium-polymer battery; Apple Remote; DVI to VGA adapter; install/restore DVDs; printed and electronic documentation. It's backed by 90 days of telephone support and a one-year limited warranty.
Features:
| • | 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 4 MB shared L2 cache, Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard |
| • | 2 GB RAM (two SO-DIMM) 677 MHz DDR2 SD-RAM (PC2-5300), 160 GB 5400 rpm Serial ATA hard drive, slot load 8x Super Drive (DVDR DL/DVDRW/CD-RW) |
| • | 1 FireWire 400 port, 1 FireWire 800 port, 2 USB 2.0 ports, ExpressCard/34 slot, DVI output with support for VGA |
| • | Built-in 10/100/1000BASE-T (Gigabit); built-in 54 Mbps AirPort Extreme (802.11n); built-in Bluetooth 2.0+EDR |
| • | 15.4-inch (diagonal), 1440 by 900 resolution, TFT LED-backlit LCD widescreen display with NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics processor |
My previous (non-Windows) laptop was a trusty 12" G4 ("titanium"). I loved it, as it was (and still is) of an almost perfect size, and capable to do almost everything I needed to do on the road. But it *was* getting old, and when Apple came out with the slightly speedbumped MacBook Pro (a name I still don't like), I ordered it. I'm reviewing the 15", 2.4 GHz, 2 GB, 200 GB hard drive version.
The first thing that strikes you is how thin it is. My good old G4 was already slim, and the envy of almost every other passenger next to me. However, due to the increased screen size, the new MacBook Pro seems even slimmer (it actually *is* slightly slimmer than the G4 in case you wonder). What is really impressive is that the 12" G4 weights nearly the same as the much larger (and newer) 15" - that's progress! And the 12" G4 is a lot lighter than my Wintel laptop.
The next thing you notice is when you turn it on: the screen's brightness. I've purchased the matte screen, as I'm not really fond of glossy screens (reflections). Still, the (now LED backlit) screen is astonishingly bright, and bright enough to use outdoors on almost any occasion (except in direct sunlight on a sunny summer day). Contrast is good (even exceptional compared to my G4). The screen's resolution (1440x900) is great, and more than enough for most presentation, spreadsheet and word processing work. Since it's 16:9 aspect ratio, it is also great for most image processing (lots of space for your palettes). It is less well suited for coding, as it is not wide enough for two 'real' code windows side by side. Then again, the MacBook Pro comes with a graphics card that can drive an external (additional) 21" monitor without breaking a sweat, and that *is* enough for most coding needs. I should note that Apple chose to make the video connector DVI (luckily a standard connector this time, unlike in my G4, where it is a proprietary connector), and omits a standard 'VGA' style connector. This means that, if you plan on giving a presentation, you should always bring along the DVI to VGA adapter (that Apple thankfully includes in the box).
What I really enjoy about the MacBook Pro is it's selection interfaces. I have rather large amounts of data that I have to move in and out of it (from our production machines that do most of the heavy lifting), and having a FireWire 800 port is a godsend. Using Firewire networking, I can move gigabytes in minutes (limited, it seems, more by the laptop's hard drive than bandwidth). In addition to that, it sports a USB 2.0 (for connecting all those Wintel things, plus iPods), a FireWire 400 port (can be used with older Macs, and many HandyCams), and 802.11 ("Airport") connectivity (b/g/n). Since the 'n' part of the 802.11 is not yet officially ratified, there aren't many hotspots that support it (unless you are lucky enough to be close to a new Apple Basestation).
Sadly, it does not have a slot for memory cards (CF, SD, whatever), but since readers are really cheap today, that's not an issue. On the upside, it also comes with self-sensing Gigabit Ethernet, wich is something that is really important when you want to quickly connect the laptop to a wired high-speed network.
The MacBook Pro also comes with a front-loading trayless DVD (DL) writer. It's not really fast, but it integrates nicely into the laptop, and is decidedly much, much cooler than those flimsy contraptions that I see sliding out of so many other laptops (my Dell included). I know that there are faster writers, but then again, if I want to write large amounts of data, I usually transfer them to a big box that can write at four times the speed.
Temperature-wise the MacBook Pro shares the same problem as most recent laptops: it gets uncomfortably warm for something that is supposedly be used on your lap. I didn't get burned, but did not enjoy the sensation either. So, whenever possible, use a surface you can put it on instead of using it directly on your lap. Speaking of using it - the keyboard is very similar to the one built into my G4. It's OK, but nothing much to write home about (sorry, couldn't resist that pun). The keys are, however, backlit, which is a definite improvement (and looks really, really great). I still have mimxed feelings with regard to the trackpad. It supports the 'two-finger clicks' to simulate a two-button mouse and to implement scrolling, but I havn't much used it, opting for a small two-button mouse instead (purchased separately, and not from Apple).
There are some other things that come with the MacBook, most notably the built-in iSight (which can't be physically disabled short of voiding your warranty), and a tiny remote. I don't plan to use either. Looking for some freebies on the disk, I discovered that Apple, too, had succumbed to pre-installing demo versions of (thankfully few) applications: MS Office, Aperture and iWork (Keynote and Pages). Freebies are Comic Life, iLife (iMovie, iTunes, iDVD, iWeb, Garageband), and Omni Outliner.
It took me roughly 2 hours to completely configure the new laptop the way I wanted it (most of the time taken up by installing Parallels (with Windows XP taking 45 minutes), Final Cut Studio, XCode, Office, Aperture, Freeway, and iWork). I did not take advantage of the 'transfer from other Mac' feature (which I know to work well), because I wanted a freshly set up Mac. Still, compared to the time it took me to install and configure my last (Wintel) laptop, that is next to nothing. Network and Internet setup was a snap, and didn't require much more beyond adding it to our Firewall's 'good guy' list. I then took it on a road trip over the week-end.
I'm happy to say that it passed the trip-test easily. The 'mag-safe' power adapter is definitely more than just a gadget, but also definitely less than revolutionary. It came off twice during the week-end, but both times a normal power adapter would not have snapped. The second time it came off I only noticed because the screen dimmed immediately (to conserve power, as per energy settings).
I never worked with it off the normal power for longer than two hours, so I don't know how realistic Apple's figures are. The battery pack does come with one of those cool green LED charge meters, and after two hours they indicated about 50% charge left (as did the on-screen meter). Working with the MacBook Pro was always good, with all applications being very responsive (except, of course MS Office, as my version is not Universal. It was responsive enough for serious work, though). The wireless antenna seems slightly more sensitive than that from my old G4, but still can't hold a candle against reception in most PC laptops with low-cost (and sometimes drop-dead ugly) WiFi adapters. This may be caused by the metallic casing. BlueTooth reception, on the other hand, is good, and proved no problem with any of the bluetooth devices I tried (well -- I only have two: my phone, and my car).
All in all I'm very happy with my new laptop, prefer it immensely over my Windows-based laptop (which, now that I have an Intel-based Mac, I can safely store in the attic and return it for the regular company-sponsored upgrades), and only feel slightly guilty of purchasing over my old (but still working) G4. The screen size and brightness, the connectivity, and the incredible slickness of the form factor make this a great laptop. It's really a hot laptop. The only downside is that it is also literally a hot laptop, but not more than my Windows-based laptop from Dell. I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone looking for a slick, high-end laptop.
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