Wise Rhetoric

I think the best way to justify getting a higher end notebook like a MacBook Pro is to think about how long you sit in front of the computer each day. Most of us rely on our notebooks a lot more than a few years ago, and so if you get this kind of mileage out of a computer, doesn’t it make sense to spend a couple hundred dollars more on it? We throw away money every day on useless junk, but a computer is such a necessity, doesn’t it make sense to get a high quality one?

Speaking of high quality, a MacBook isn’t just all hype and marketing. It’s mostly in the engineering, and it definitely is well thought-out and flawless. The aluminum unibody is amazing and sturdy, and you feel the quality on every edge and laser-etched surface. The precision is astounding. The keyboard is tough and elegant, and the little features and attention to detail are marvelous.

The screen is a huge selling point for this notebook. It is absolutely stunning and vibrant. Not owning other LED screen products, this one definitely got to me a bit more than usual, and it beats the heck out of LCD technology, far and away. Viewing angles are great and the color gamut lends itself to an awesome amount of depth in images that I previously had not seen with such realism.

THE best feature of the computer’s hardware is definitely the multi-touch trackpad. Never have I come even close to feeling that a touchpad was anywhere close to the ease and intuitiveness of a regular old mouse. However, Apple has truly done it here. In many ways, the trackpad is superior to most other pointer devices on the market, including mice. It’s so large that you can move around the screen in one swipe no matter where you start on the pad. The multi-touch is a feature that is so easy to use and so useful, you will want it on every computer you own and ever use. The ability to start expose is fantastic, and so handy that you won’t miss the Windows taskbar one bit. Also, the trackpad’s surface is so smooth with its brushed glass finish, it’s a joy to use.

Aside from all of the cool hardware features, the OS is fantastic as well. This is not a computer for gamers, and everyone knows that. The most I would play on this would be simpler games and RTS games. If you’re a fan of graphics-heavy shooters, then you should be looking into easily upgradeable desktops or larger notebooks anyway, not a tiny 13.3″ computer of any kind. If you’re a moderate gamer but otherwise a user who wants lots of productivity tools, seamless multitasking, and apps that just work, this is a great solution to your woes.

I use lots of the packaged software that OSX has, like iMovie and especially Garage Band. I couldn’t believe that such a powerful program would come pre-packaged with my Mac, but it totally blew me away. I record my electric guitar straight through the computer, with so many software loops, and not to mention with tons of apps loaded in the background. The interfaces are incredibly easy to learn to use, and the entire OS is just fun.

All in all, I don’t understand all the complaints about the price premiums. If you can’t afford a Mac, it’s not even part of your discussion, so it’s a moot point to argue against it anyway. If you can, it’s worth checking out because of the quality of the product you get. Ultimately, $300-400 of a price difference isn’t a whole lot when you think about how much computers are integrated into our lives. For such an incredible machine, it’s worth that price premium, because in the long run, it’s just a few cents a day that you’re spending in order to avoid headaches with system issues, slowdowns, and time spent just stressing over why your computer isn’t doing what it’s supposed to.

I have been a PC user for about 6 or 7 years, mostly because it was cheaper and utilized more business logic. But when I noticed my PC starting to fizzle out, I knew I needed to upgrade my computer and decided to get a laptop – and to further it, I went with a MacBook. I was hesitant, but went with it. I purchased the Apple MacBook Pro 13.3-Inch Laptop MB991LL/A.

So it has now been a year since I bought it, so I think it gives me a fair appreciation of the Mac instead of my initial knee-jerk reactions. Of course, upon using it, I was trying to do all the controls of a PC on a Mac, which is like trying to text on a rotary phone. I dont know if thats a fair analogy. Some of the ways that the Mac was set up seemed alien at first. Everyone talks about how easy it is to use and how great it is, etc. But I was skeptical and almost disliked it at first. The OS functioned differently, I had a hard time finding items. Mac seemed to have folders already in place for everything, most of which I was unfamiliar with. All of the programs seemed to want to commingle with each other, which was also weird.

But as I got to play with it more and more, I realized the brighter side of it. The best part of the Mac that I have found versus the PC is the stability of the OS. I have probably needed to restart the computer about 10 times in the past year, and thats all due to either an installation or just to refresh the system. The system has NEVER crashed. Whereas the PC, it would be standard operating procedure to crash once a day. The fact that the Mac OS is that stable speaks volumes! While there is always room for caution, I dont have to be as paranoid about spyware or any deadly viruses. Where the PC, you are seemingly an open target for every website.

The track pad on here does take time and effort to get a handle. Its quite sensitive and the space is small to work in. Its not ideal to do any graphics work, but moving around on the internet and the system is very easy once you get a gist of the controls. Be careful of your finger placement thought, it picks up the subtlest touch – even when your other hand is seemingly out of the way! I preferred the right click on the left bottom side than the default right bottom side. It still needed practice to use the double click within the same area you are moving your cursor. But its so much easier than older Macs that have a button to click. At least, when I use someone elses Mac and there is a button to click, I am ill-adjusted to that form of tracking. But if you get this now, there are system updates that fix some of the hardware issues concerning the tracking.

Adding media, such as printers, cameras, scanners is very simple. Its literally plug n’play. Very nice and compatible with most stuff. And it knows what to do with the content as well – or you can direct it once and it takes it from there. It was unfortunate that my Epson R300 printer is not compatible. This did not mean I was unable to use the printer, it only meant that I cannot tell which color is out of ink when it did run out. So thats something to be on the alert.

The major flaw that I have found, and I wish they would work on it, is Safari. While its a good browser, its the one program that crashes on me the most. It also seems to lag more than any other program. Initially, scrolling up and down would set it off and the timer would come on. Now, I watch a lot of hulu and they introduced the new tabs with pre-destined web pages with pictures, it will invariably crash. I understand that its a conflict with the Flash program – but still, you think its been taken care of by now. I like Safari, but I think its time to push the browser technology one step further (IMO).

So after a year of using the MacBook, I have found that A) I love the traveling with a computer!! B) It is a super-stable system. If you are thinking of getting a Mac, my best advice is to look at them and see if you like the design, the look, etc. It might help to know someone who has previous knowledge of how to navigate well on the Mac. Also, be patient in your transition. Don’t expect everything to be as smooth as creamy butter at first because it wont. Its gonna be frustrating because you will want it to perform and function like a PC and it will resist that.

Keep in mind that I don’t feel that there is a strong “Mac vs PC” competition as they both perform well. I do believe the Mac edges out Windows in terms of OS. Design-wise, Mac may also have the edge. But we are also at the stage of technological advance where its coming down to preference and fashion. While there is more available for Windows, it also comes with a boat load of spy/ad/mal/ware. So Mac, in my mind is more secure. On the other hand, there were programs I enjoyed on the PC that are not available for the Mac – so there is a sacrifice! I am not a Mac addict, but I do appreciate the products they do release as they are high quality stuff, which you will pay for. So take that into consideration. I do recommend this MacBook or any of their laptops primarily because of the OS. To me that is the bottom line for the computer. Mac has shown they are a very stable system, on top of looking great!

It cost quite a bit for this lap top and I am happy with the purchase I made.

(as an aside – the Snow Leopard OS upgrade does make small changes that seemed to affect 3rd party hardware. I noticed my Cannon digital camera could no longer be read once I upgraded. Although I assume some of those kinks will eventually be ironed out, it is a little on the frustrating side).

Tired of doing the computer exchange game? Searching for a good computer? Check out the Mac!

My wife and I have been Windows Pc users for many years, we have never tried the Mac systems before. We went to Best Buy to check the Mac systems out. Wow we were amazed. An Apple Sales Representative was showing us the systems.

We went home, did some more research on the web on Mac systems, read a lot of reviews and decided to purchase the Mac.

Went back to Best Buy, a sales lady came up to us (had a Geek Squad shirt on) she knew nothing about Mac computers! She went to get some numbers, came back with a list of prices. The New iMac 20″ and warranty, plus many others! Totaling between $1600 and $1800. She said that they need to do some tweaking on the system for better performance (which was downloading updates) she said it would take 4 hours to do and it would take longer for you to do them at home, (took 30 minutes for all at home). Also installing the Snow Leopard OS and iWorks. She made it sound like the normal PC user could not do these things at home. Well needless to say, we turned around and walked out without a Mac! We was questioning our ability to work a Mac???

Did some more looking at the Apple website and watching the tutorial videos. We couldn’t see how the Mac would be so much harder to work with. So decided to go ahead and purchase the MacBook Pro. We wanted to test it before purchasing the iMac for my wife.

We decided we were not purchasing our Macs from Best Buy! We found the MacBook Pro 13.3″ 2.53 GHz. on the Amazon website for a good price, so purchased it with the Apple Care Protections plan. Price and shipping was good!

I am a truck driver and I use a notebook while away from home. Purchased the MacBook Pro to replace an HP Notebook. So glad I did! The MacBook Pro is lightweight, LED Screen is amazing, viewing is great! Great colors and picture! The sound quality, wow! (The Hp had a premium sound upgrade, the volume and sound quality was no comparison to the MacBook Pro.) Set up was a breeze and software updates went quick (lol). The Mac system is easy to learn and easy to use. We love the MacBook Pro so well that we purchased the 21.5″ iMac for my wife, and she is so satisfied with it, she loves it!

I recently bought the new MB Pro 13 inch. Having used the White MB (Late 2007 release) in the past, the differences between the two in terms of quality are immense.

The White MB I owned was a poor quality product, the polycarbonate body was prone to cracking, it suffered random hardware failures for no reason and the screen on it was horrible – pathetic viewing angles and color reproduction.

On the other hand, the MB PRo feels like a high quality product (externally) The Unibody construction process has resulted in a computer that feels built to last. These are the features that make it a compelling purchase.

The LCD screen. It is glossy and that can be a problem in some environments but if you use your notebook regularly instead of connecting it to a external monitor, it really is a very good screen. The MB Pro screen has a 60% greater color gamut and it beats the MB screen easily in terms of black levels, color depth and accuracy. It’s great for watching movies or viewing and editing photos.

But I have to add that it may not be for everybody. Online reports on Apple’s MB Pro support forums have indicated that the new LED screen causes tremendous eye strain and headaches for some people. A few users have said that they cannot use the computer for more than an hour at a time because of the eye strain and headaches.

These are individual cases but the possibility does exist that the screen may not suit you and cause eye strain and other health issues. At the same time, you may not face any of these issues. My advice would be to use the MB Pro as a notebook extensively within the fourteen day return window and if you face any of these issues, do not hesitate to return the product. If you do not face any of these issues, then please enjoy using your MB Pro.

The glass trackpad is a pleasure to use for navigation due to it’s design. Unlike the old MB Pro trackpads, this is a single large glass trackpad with no visible buttons – the whole trackpad can be used as a button once it’s configured in System preferences. Scrolling, clicking and dragging all happen effortlessly once you’re used to it and, once you’re used to it, it will be hard to go back to using regular or smaller sized trackpads on other notebooks.

Firewire 800 is another addition – for media professionals who need a better and faster way to transfer data than USB 2.0

Bluetooth 2.1 – easy to transfer your phone data to the macbook by using bluetooth.

SD Card slot – finally Apple realizes that consumers may want a convenient way to download their photos or videos without using an external card reader. An SD card slot is built in – tough luck for Pro’s who uses other card formats or who need an express card slot but something is better than nothing.

Backlit keyboard wth chiclet keys – good for typing in dark rooms and comfortable to use for long periods of time.

Built in battery – 7 hours of power as advertised by Apple, your mileage may vary but it allows you to be mobile for 5 to 6 hours. It’s an Inbuilt battery so once it’s exhausted, it’s back to the Apple store or an Apple Authorized Service Provider for replacement. However, Apple states that the battery will hold 80% of it’s charge for up to a 1000 charges which means approximately 3 to 4 years of daily use. So it should be a while before you have to go in for that battery replacement.

A few things to take into account before you make your decision –

Whatever you do, please buy the Applecare.Protection.Plan AppleCare Protection Plan – For Portable Apple Computers 13.3 Inches and Below. Unfortunately what most customers don’t know before they buy their first Apple computer is that if you don’t have Applecare and a product malfunction occurs after the first year, the repair / replacement charges are much higher than other PC makers in most cases.

Apple’s products are as prone to failure as any other PC because Apple sources components from manufacturers just like every other PC maker. But If something goes wrong with a Mac, and you don’t have the A.P.P, you’ll be paying exorbitant fees for getting the hardware repaired. Keep in mind, the A.P.P. only covers hardware failure – not accidental damage so it’s still expensive for what you get but it’s better than paying Apple’s prices for repair/replacement parts.

You will also NEED to upgrade your ram from 2 gb to 4gb if you plan to do any image processing or video editing.
With the standard 2gb of ram, my machine starts to stutter the moment I try to open up a large image file and listen to music simultaneously. That’s being cheap on Apple’s part, considering a customer has just bought a computer for $1200 and it has only 2 gb of ram. This is not a netbook, its supposedly a “PRO” notebook. For the ram, that will be another 80 to 100 dollars.Crucial CT2KIT25664BC1067 4GB 204-PIN PC3-8500 SODIMM DDR3 Memory KIT (2GBx2)

If you’re a datajunkie, the 160 gb that Apple includes with the MB Pro is woefully inadequate so factor in another 80 to 120 dollars based on the hard drive you may buy to replace the stock drive with

The MB Pro has a mini display port, you’ll have to buy a MiniDP to VGA convertor or MiniDP to DVI convertor if you ever feel like connecting your MB Pro to a larger monitor – since Apple is nice enough not to include it with the machine it will cost you $30 more IF you buy it from Apple. Here’s a cheaper option – Mini DisplayPort to DVI Female Adapter Cable for Apple Macbook, Macbook Pro, iMac, Macbook Air, Mac Mini Laptop

Your total cost would actually be $1200 + $200 A.P.P + $80 RAM = 1480 dollars + applicable taxes. I’m counting the ram as a mandatory upgrade if you want to avoid a sluggish user experience.

Taking all of that into account, the machine is still good for me – well built, fairly capable and it works well. It could have been great if Apple stopped diluting a supposedly premium product experience by being cheap and skimping on the ram and hard drive capacity. However, if you are buying a 13 inch MB Pro I recommend buying the standard 13 inch MB Pro instead of the high end MB Pro 13 inch and upgrding the hard drive and ram yourself. (Instructions are in the manual and you’ll need a Philips #00 screwdriver. Videos are also available online showing you how to.)

It works out to a much better deal. I wouldn’t recommend the regular polycarbonate Macbook based on my experience with it.

Rumor Alert – In January or February 2010, Apple probably will be updating the MB Pro’s with Intel’s newest processors (the Arrendale series) If you can wait till then, you should. But if you do need a MB Pro right now, buy the standard 13 inch model.

I planned on buying a new Imac, and took my wife in to help me decide between the 21.5 or 27 inch screen. Instead, my wife fell in love with the MacBook Pro.

Latest model with SD card, firewire. I purchased this refurbished off the Apple site, and am using the savings to buy Applecare protection from Amazon. Amazon’s price is great.

As a longtime and reasonably proficient Dell user, I am stunned by the quality of the Apple. My refurbished Dell is almost 5 years old, but I have suffered plenty. Ignore reviews about long learning curves on Apples. Simple to use. I had never used a wireless connection, but the Apple immediately walked me through the connection to my Linksys router. Worked immediately. My wife can now surf from the kitchen table – her big wish. I did have a few questions. I sent Apple a support request, and they immediately called me on my phone. Sixty second wait on the callback. Person was clearly a US type-with perfect English. A wonderful treat.

I had a few other minor questions, and we drove 45 miles to the nearest Apple store. What a treat. A tech person immediately showed us how to do a few things, like enlarging the print. I then realized that since Apple designs both the hardware and software, all questions are handled in one call – or visit. No jumping between hardware and software providers. If any problems do arise, I can drive down to the Apple store, and they will fix it while I wait, or send it away for me. As I said, I am buying the Appleware Protection plan, because it also provides 3 years of phone/store support.

Another treat-I tunes. I never expected to use it. As I said, I’m retired, and never could understand why I Pods were so popular. I do now. I have downloaded 20 of my favorite songs, exactly the songs I wanted, many hard to find. Even one great Robert Palmer video song, Simply Irresistible, for $ 1.29. I don’t use my computer with productivity software, but I’m sure having a blast. Love the built in mouse. But-when I got started, I used a regular mouse for a few days, while becoming familiar with the computer. My inexpensive Logitech wireless mouse worked perfectly.

First the pros:

- amazing build quality, nothing else comes close.
- keyboard allows very fast touch-typing
- now supports up to 8GB RAM, making it more future-proof
- very thin and portable
- SD + Firewire 800
- fast performance, both video watching and regular tasks
- so sleek it makes windows laptops look like plastic lunch boxes

Now the cons:

- USB ports have been crowded together to make room for SD slot
- LED backlighting is kind of blue, cold, and gray like an overcast day
- much stronger pixel-walk / pixel-inversion 30 Hz flicker than on my 12″ Powerbook
- quiet but annoying “funk” or “pop” sound every 20 seconds (using OSX 10.5.8)
- line out + audio in are now in same port, meaning you need an audio interface to record line-in while headphone monitoring
- glass layer on screen means very high glare
- turning up brightness to eliminate glare hurts the eyes, turning down brightness creates disorienting glare
- smells bad when the fans turn on

A word about the glossy screen. It’s not glossy like the plastic screen of the white macbook, but a mirror-polished glass surface that gives much brighter reflections. If you’re sensitive to motion sickness, this may create mild headaches and nausea because each eye sees a different reflection, and the reflection bounces if you’re typing on an unsteady surface. Couple this with the brightness or cold grayness of the LED backlighting and a slight 30Hz flicker (which I measured using a solar cell and oscilloscope) and you have potential problems.

Some people have complained of burning, achy eyes, and headaches and slight queasiness. You can somewhat minimize the problem by turning brightness down to half, calibrating using advanced settings with gamma around 2.0 and color temps around 6300k, but the reflections will still be an issue. Yet other people have no problems at all. Just take this into consideration, as it can be a deal breaker: what’s the point of having a powerful beautiful machine if you can’t even use it for more than ten minutes at a time…

So, if the screen works for you, you’ll be thrilled with this machine. If you are sensitive and get eye strain and worse, then you’ll regret your purchase. I am of the latter group, and really hope Apple eventually offers matte/anti-glare option for the 13″ MBP.

If you’re in the market for a 13″ MacBook, I think it’s well worth every penny to spring for the Pro version. The plastic cases on the regular MacBooks crack of their own accord after a few months, and the keyboards on the Pros are much, much nicer feeling. Contrary to complaints, the edges are absolutely not sharp, and if you’re pressing your wrists against the thing while typing then you’re going to give yourself a crippling repetitive stress injury anyway.

But there are plenty of negative issues to take into account as well. Number one is the screen. Average users will probably never experience the frustration of professional monitor calibration, but photographers and pre-press folks are in for a whirlwind of hurt getting anything approaching a good profile out of these LED backlit screens, and the color shifts one gets off-axis are substantial. While no one in their right mind should ever consider soft-proofing on any laptop screen, it’s nice to know you’re at least somewhere in the ballpark–won’t happen here.

Furthermore, it’s often too bright. Even the absolute dimmest setting is pretty harsh in a darkened room. This is more of a technical limitation of the LEDs which Apple can’t do much about unless they want to make the display flicker noticeably, but it’s something to consider nevertheless.

On the plus side, contrast is phenomenal–blacks actually look black rather than very dark grey–and the battery lasts a long, long time driving LEDs instead of bulbs. I get a good 5 hours out of mine with normal use.

My number two problem is the trackpad. It’s weird not having an actual button, and while you kinda get used to it after a while, I still have issues getting it to do what I want every once in a while. Enabling the “tap to click” feature just results in way too many accidental clicks for my hands.

Of course, aluminum, being an excellent conductor of heat, also gets hot. Not hot enough to burn you, but a lot hotter than plastic by far.

And lastly, there seem to be some QA issues going on at the factory as mine was dead out of the box. I work on these things for a living, so I was able to get it booting after about ten minutes worth of fiddling around with the nvram and re-installing the OS, but the average user probably would have ended up spending five hours of their life sitting on a hard wooden bench at the Genius Bar. That’s a painful experience any way you slice it.

I should start this review with a warning. I had a major issue with my Macbook Pro, which I detail in the last paragraph of this review. I have not let this issue affect my rating for this laptop because I believe my situation is rare and not to be expected with the majority of 13″ Macbook Pro’s purchased.

The 13″ Macbook Pro is an excellent choice for consumers looking for a portable, sturdy, beautiful, and easy computer to work with. The build of this laptop is by far the nicest you’ll find of the 13″ variety. At 4.5 lbs this laptop is very easy to carry around. Perfect for a college campus or someone who is often on the go with their laptop. The screen is glass from edge to edge, providing rich and vibrant colors. With wifi on, bluetooth off, Itunes open, and some email along the way, I was able to squeeze out 5 hours on a single charge. VERY impressive. Firewire 800 has been included now on the Macbook Pro which is excellent if you plan to use your computer for video editing, etc. Also, Leopard as an operating system is fantastic and blows Vista out of the water.

The only thing that I wasn’t thrilled about on this laptop is the glossy screen. Glossy is a love/hate thing for me. The glass screen looks fantastic when the sun goes down, but indoors you need to be very careful during the day if you are sitting in a room that has sunlight coming through it. Glossy is notorious for picking up glare in said situations, so be warned. The truth is matte screens are more rare these days in laptops, so this is often an issue for any laptop you will purchase. If you want a Macbook Pro and want to go for a matte screen, it is an $50 additional charge and only available on both the 15″ and 17″ models via Apple’s online store.

Now to the issue I had with my Macbook Pro. Be warned, I don’t believe this is a common issue, however from reading online forums like Mac Rumors and Apple’s, other users have had this problem too. My Macbook Pro would often get the dreaded “beach ball” a couple times every hour. It would last for about 20 seconds during very simple applications like web browsing. My laptop also made numerous clicking noises when I would move the laptop side to side. This is an issue with the sensor motion. I ended up returning my Macbook Pro because I’ve read this issue can be found in the 15″ an 17″ models too. Again, this should not be a concern to you, but just be careful in case your Macbook Pro has the same problem I had.

I just got my brand new 13.3″ Macbook Pro in the mail. I customized mine with 4GB of RAM and a 250 GB hard drive, but with the entry-level 2.26 GHz Intel processor. I unboxed it in front of my mother and sister, and they were both oohing and aahing about how beautiful and thin it was. They also loved the magnetic connector on the end of the power adapter that snaps the power cord into the computer nearly by itself. I powered the computer up, went through the Leopard setup screens, and within minutes was logged in. While starting up, the light sensor powered on, the screen dimmed, and the keyboard lit-up automatically. Everything about this computer suggests ingenious design and engineering, with great attention to every detail. It is very light, and since I am using this for school, I am very happy with the size and form factor, particularly the charger. Switching from a large Dell that sported a charger that could be used to bludgeon somebody to death, the small white charger that is about the size of a wallet is a breath of fresh air. This laptop will be a pleasure to travel with.

Are there things this computer lacks? Yes, there is no Blu-Ray player, which would have been nice, but for me was not a deal-breaker. I suspect that the next-gen MBP’s will phase out the rotary hard drives and switch to solid state as the standard, and will all have Blu-Ray players. Until that time, this little laptop is more than sufficient.

If I had to come up with a gripe about this computer, there is really only one- and this is true for most of Apple’s products- the iPod, iPhone, and MBP’s- I wish that they would not coat portable products with textures that are so easy to scratch. It is apparent that after a few months of toting this to class, it is going to have some scuffs on it. It seems like a bit of a paradox that a company that puts so much value on aesthetics seems only to care about how the product looks when it is taken out of the original packaging. That said, this laptop feels extremely sturdy, and apart from normal wear and tear marks, I am not fearful that it will fall apart, which is a whole lot more than I can say for my previous piece of crap plastic Dell.

In reading other reviews, people seem to be unable to understand that this qualifies as an ultra-portable laptop. It is simply not going to have a peripheral hookup for every type of flash card and five USB hookups. Are people serious with lambasting Apple for merging the audio jack in/out ports into one single port? Really, who gives a rat’s a$$? This is a PORTABLE computer, not a media center. If you are a user who favors those things, then you are free to go out and purchase the necessary adapters, but I would rather have a lightweight computer that I can easily tote around. If you want a laptop that is prepared for any occasion, go buy an 8 lb. Dell desktop replacement, and have fun. I for one think people just want a reason to moan or find something to complain about. The fact is that for the money, you are not going to find a better laptop than this one. It costs a bit more than competing PC products, but I have owned Dell’s and HP’s, and I can tell you, you get what you pay for. If you use your laptop for at least a couple of hours a day, I think it is worth a couple hundred extra to get a really high quality product that makes you happy, and that is why I upgraded to the MBP.