MacBook Pro - Worth Waiting For

For years and years I have wanted to make the switch to Mac, but it was never the right time. Almost one year ago I was about to take the plunge, however I heard that a switch to Intel CPUs was around the corner, so I decided to postpone my switch. Good thing I did! Due to a fortunate series of events recently, I suddenly had the opportunity to jump from the Microsoft ship onto the Apple bandwagon.

The MacBook Pro arrived smartly packaged in a slim box - more like a high-tech pizza box than something you would expect a laptop to arrive in. In spite of the minimalist packaging, the laptop was safe, secure and well protected.

Like other Apple products, the MacBook Pro is well designed, from both aesthetic and functional standpoints. It is well designed, sturdily constructed and a pleasure to use.

The laptop is very sleek. It is lighter than my wife's thin Fujitsu-Siemens Amilo Pro v2020, even though her laptop is constructed of plastic. The magnetic hinge that keeps the MacBook Pro's screen closed is flush with the surrounding case, and does not open accidentally. It has a cool blue LED that pulses when the laptop is closed for hibernation.

The keyboard on the MacBook Pro is comfortable, and the keys return with a satisfying tactile feel. One of the neat features about the MacBook Pro's keyboard is that it lights up when the onboard light sensor detects that the ambient light has dimmed. This is great for anyone who types in low-light conditions. Even though I am a touch typist, it is always easier to get a little help.

Apple's oft-maligned 1-button touchpad is not as bad as people make it out to be. I actually like the simplicity - especially on a laptop. I often find that I get a cramp in my hand from using the right mouse button on Windows-based laptops while typing. Because I am a touch typist, I can get right-click functionality by using a key combo - hey, my hand is already there - no extra reach.

Scrolling is dead easy as well - just two fingers anywhere on the keyboard. This technique becomes addictive, as I have found myself trying to do this on my wife's Windows laptop as well!

The glossy finish 15.4'' screen is gorgeous. Unlike some early adopters of the MacBook Pro, my model does not suffer from buzzing or other interference. To date I have not had any issues viewing the screen, even in bright light.

Speaking of bright - the screen itself is plenty bright, and I often turn down the brightness a bit. The automatic light sensor works well, but I notice that it usually stays at the same level, regardless of room lighting, when I am typing.

I ordered this laptop with the faster 7200 RPM, 100GB drive, and maxed the RAM out to 2GB after it arrived, courtesy of RAM from Newegg. Performance is very fast, and I have had no issues (save for MS Office hanging a few times). Even when slamming the system with some CPU intensive video editing tasks, the MacBook Pro was still responsive.

In regards to connectivity, the MacBook Pro has one Firewire 400 and two USB 2.0 ports. This is more than adequate for my needs. Instead of designing the MacBook Pro to be all things for all people, Apple created a laptop with more than adequate features - not an overblown desktop replacement. Some people might whinge that there are only two USB ports, or no SD card reader - but these omissions do not really bother me. I want my laptop to be portable, yet powerful. I think that the sacrifice of some of these features (such as a gazillion USB ports) is acceptable and is in line with Apple's aesthetic policy.

The built-in iSight camera works better than any webcam I have ever owned, and it plays nice with Skype beta. The fact that it is tiny and built into the screen frame is a nice touch.

Of course, all of this wonderful hardware is tied together with Mac OS 10.4, which is a joy to use. It did take me a short time to understand the "Apple" way of doing things, but once I grasped the basic concepts I realised what I had been missing all these years.

The included applications are more than adequate for my needs. Garage Band is fun to use, although it does not have the bells and whistles that ProTools LE has. Safari is a good browser, but I am partial to Firefox. The Mail application is fine for basic e-mails - I am not the type to send out multi-media extravaganzas.

Front Row works great with the wee remote that Apple included, and it even recognises my .AVI films - after a small tweak that I found on the web. Watching films on the MacBook Pro is enjoyable, and the built-in speakers have a surprising range for laptop speakers.

As for the other apps - I really have not had the time to explore them in great detail, but what I have seen so far I really like.

Some people have complained that the MacBook Pro can get a bit warm, but no warmer than some other laptops that I have used.

I have not had to use Apple's technical support yet, but I did stop in to the local Apple Store to pick up a bluetooth keyboard (for our Mini - but that is another review). I did pose some questions to the floorperson there, and they were both helpful and knowledgeable.

Last but not least, I have to admit that one of the reasons that I splashed out on the MacBook Pro rather than the less expensive MacBook is that I needed a powerful system to run some resource-intensive games… in Windows. NHL 2006, Tomb Raider, Half Life II etc.

Installing Windows XP via Boot Camp was easier than I imagined. Boot Camp is an easy to use, well thought out utility. I especially liked the partion resizing utility.

Under Windows, the MacBook Pro flat out flies. Tomb Raider looks great, and the ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 video adapter, with 256MB GDDR3 memory, performs admirably. Thanks to the DVI-out, I could hook it up to my Philips LCD TV for some gaming on the big screen.