First Impressions: MacBook Pro

By David Ciccone, posted Wednesday, Feb. 22nd, 2006
Reader Comments: 13

Back to battery power Apple says 5-8 hours of battery life but I can tell you on a full charge I was only able to get close to 3.5 hours of battery life. I did have the brightness set to the highest setting and didn't have all the power saving modules setup to maximize battery life. So I would guess the maximum I would think would be 4 hours.

As you flip the MacBook over you will see where the battery is located. Apple has a nice button that you can press which will immediately inform you of how much power is left in the battery without powering the unit up. The other thing that I thought was weird why am I actually seeing a part of the motherboard under my battery? If anyone can clue me in I would greatly appreciate it since it is quite alarming.. (Steve why do you do things like this?). Also users should note a fast 24 second bootup which is available to watch now.

Overall I can tell you I am extremely impressed with the MacBook Pro Duo.. Another item that I really liked was the touch pad. I am not sure if many of you have read the recent patent requests by Apple but one sticks out. Apple originally patented a technique to use two fingers to scroll on a tablet or a possible iPOD. Well as I was using the MacBook Pro can tell if you’ve got one finger on the pad, or two. With two, you can easily scroll around your documents. Now I tried using one finger and no deal it would not work! During the next few weeks I will be taping a view review of the software used on the MacBook Pro since if I were to write, it just doesn't do it justice..

Supplemental Images

Specifications:

MacBook Pro At a Glance
15.4-inch widescreen display
Up to 2.16GHz Intel Core Duo
667MHz frontside bus and main memory
PCI Express architecture
Up to 120GB Serial ATA hard drive
ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 with up to 256MB memory on 16-lane PCI Express
ExpressCard/34 slot
Dual-link DVI, VGA adapter included
One FireWire 400 port, two USB 2.0 ports
Optical digital and analog audio I/O, built-in microphone and stereo speakers
Slot-loading SuperDrive
Illuminated keyboard, Scrolling TrackPad
Built-in AirPort Extreme (802.11g), Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, and Gigabit Ethernet
Mac OS X Tiger with iLife ’06 featuring iWeb, iWork ’06 trial, and more

Software

Mac OS X v10.4 Tiger (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 iWork ’06 (30-day trial), QuickBooks for Mac New User Edition, Comic Life, FileMaker Pro trial, Omni Outliner

Photo Booth

Front Row

Pricing:

1.83 GHz Core Duo - $1,999.00 USD
2.0 GHz Core Duo - $2,499.00 USD

Find out more at Apple

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Magnetic? The latch looks very much like the old 12" G4 Powerbook I once had. Yes, it has a latch! It does have a magnet that flips the hook under the lid. My friend has a TR3, which has NO latch. The magnetic power cord is a good thing. I dropped my PB because I tripped over the cord! It survived the fall but the case's bent. I sold it - thank god just before they announced the IntelMac switch last summer. :) Well, even my old crook cooker has magnetic power cord so I should declare all laptops should have one. :) As for the camera, it's neat - nicely lifted from Sony TR series. With WiFi, video Skype is really fun! Well, it's a nice machine but 15" is just too big for true mobile use. It would be great to move from office to home and vice versa but it would be tough to use in the plane or trains or even starbuck's.

Posted by , Sunday, Feb. 26th, 2006

My old Vaio TR1 doesn't have a latch, doesn't need a latch, and I've never thought about it.

It got about 4-6 hours battery life when it was new, now that's down to about 2-4 depending on the application.

It weighs a bit over 2 pounds, and runs Emule and the K-Lite Codec Pack.

I'm tempted to get a powerbook though, because I'm tired of having uch a light notebook and want to restrict the number of applications I can run.

John

Posted by John Hooper, Thursday, Feb. 23rd, 2006

Ok.. You are incorrect... the latch is magnetically activated as per Apple's direct statement... So maybe you might want to drive to your local Apple store and check it out.. Its pretty cool!

Posted by David Ciccone, Wednesday, Feb. 22nd, 2006

I... don't get it. I don't have an MBP yet, but based on, ya know, looking at the pictures, owning previous PowerBooks, and other hands-on experiences, I think I can confidently say...

"Coming from the Windows side of things I am always used to a latch that actually holds the laptop closed. Not on this one, Apple has used a magnetic enclosure to keep the unit from opening."

Magents? I'm sorry, but you see those two holes at the top of the LCD and the other two holes at the same points on the bottom casing? Those are latches. L-a-t-c-h-e-s. I can even see them doing their ol' latch-y thing in one of the photos you posted. Unless they're like, speed holes or something, those are the latches. That keep the damn thing closed. Hear that little "snap" when you hit the button? That's them latches snapping up and hiding from lame reviewers.

Can't believe that this is like the third "review" I've seen of the MBP where people said "Heh, the thing is held shut with magnets!" That's not magnets, that's Apple pwning you because you can't get around the assumption that if you don't see latches, it must be held close by magic, or The Spice or something. Nope, just Apple engineering the crap out of a mobile electronic.

Sheesh, do I sound bitter? Pay me to do a review, I'll actually, ya know, be accurate.

Posted by Invader J, Wednesday, Feb. 22nd, 2006

I appreciate the feedback but if you read the title it is basically my first impressions.. Which are the first 24 hours with the laptop.. Normally we handle reviews this way with a laptop. Once we continue to use it we will publish a full blown video podcast..I also welcome you both to Mobility Today since I noticed you both registered today..

Posted by David Ciccone, Wednesday, Feb. 22nd, 2006

I would have to agree with ElMongo. Stop gushing over the thing and put it through its paces please. And by paces, I mean jam it full of those real life Rosetta-dependent apps open as many as you can and start using them thoroughly at the same time, and THEN tell us what a great laptop it is. There are thousands waiting to know if they should consider buying or wait 6-12 months until developers are up to speed and even faster Books are out with software that is ready for prime-time Intel compatibility. Now get back to work and produce something informative like a good rev-A beta tester should!

Posted by ch7, Wednesday, Feb. 22nd, 2006

So next time could we try actually reviewing the notebook, instead regurgitating the press release? i mean, I realize you were excited and everything, but the only thing I learned was that it took 24 seconds to boot up. All of the other specifications you mentioned were in the old PBooks, any interesting thing to know about the MacBoook would be performance-based.

Posted by , Wednesday, Feb. 22nd, 2006

I love it - it is usually those little extras that set Apple apart from the rest. The magnetic AC adapter is plain genius.
A dual boot would be great just for us weary "must-use-Windows" for some apps folks.

Posted by acjif98, Wednesday, Feb. 22nd, 2006

WOW - sounds good, but more importantly - it looks good (jk).

Posted by Laura, Wednesday, Feb. 22nd, 2006

I just passed the 1 year mark with m Powerbook G4 1.67Ghz and now I really want to upgrade. But I will resist the urge, maybe next year just can't switch laptops already.

Posted by PPCMD, Wednesday, Feb. 22nd, 2006

Nice candidate for a video review! ;)

Posted by JNGold, Wednesday, Feb. 22nd, 2006

I think Intel Based Macs are a great idea. I'd love to be able to eventually dual boot XP/Vista and OSX so I can benefit from the integrated media stuff on the Mac side.

Posted by CHSpera, Wednesday, Feb. 22nd, 2006

Dave,

Nice review. I am jealous my next unit is going to be one of these.

Posted by Steve Trotto, Wednesday, Feb. 22nd, 2006

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