My girlfriend being the Amazing woman that she is has bought me one of these laptops and all i can say is WOW:eek: (both to the computer and my Gorgeous Girlfriend:D:D:D)

Being an avid windows user for about 15 years i was reluctant to change to Apple. However all i can say is that i am astounded at the power, speed and efficiency of this laptop. Everything starts virtually instantly. It takes 28 secs from pressing the power button to be fully up and running and on the internet:D

If anybody is thinking about buying a new Laptop/Computer then i would seriously seriously consider an apple. I used to think it was all Hype by apple users as to how good they are. But they really are THAT good.

So here is my mini review after using the comp for a short while.

Speed - in everything from Loading programs to encoding HD Video is massivley quicker than anything windows can offer. OSX doesnt hog system resources like windows does

Ram - Whatever you have installed (4GB of DDR3 in my particular comp) is what you get not like windows were you get 3.2gb max no matter what you got installed

Virus' - Well apart from there only being about 4 written for mac's it will always remain virtually virus free. Reason is nearly all viruses are written on Linux and as OSX is based on linux it would kinda be like ****t*ng on your own door step.

Looks - Apple are renowned for making beautiful creations and this MacBook Pro is no exception the LED screen is astonishing for its level of detail etc.

Battery - Astounding. I can quite comfortably watch 2 dvd's on 1 charge. on average daily use the battery lasts around 6.5 hrs

Power - With a 2.6Ghz Intel dual core processor its extremely fast. A friend of mine has a Quad Core Alienware laptop (for those in the know they are extremley fast custom built windows based computers) in a recent "race" we both encoded the same 36 minute video clip from AVI to MP4 using Itunes. His computer took 17 minutes 12 secs mines took 3 mins 38 secs. :eek::eek:

Sound - Again my mates Alienware has Harmon Kardon speaker system and mine has the standard Speakers that apple provide. Sound quality is awesome dont get me wrong my mates laptop sounds good but even he conceded that this apple sounds better. I havent found a song yet that the laptop can't play full whack and distort the speaker sound:D

Software - with the ever growing number of Mac users more and more windows based software is becoming compatible. However i have found that Apple do there own version of most windows Apps. iWork being the equivalent of Microsoft office. in the limited experience of this program that i have I've found it to be faster and better in terms of amount you can do with it. Keynote wipes the floor with powerpoint.

Wireless - Has built in wireless N and is very very fast using safari.

iPhoto - Awesome programme that you can do a lot of stuff that with windows you would need to purchase photoshop for.

iMovie - Windows Movie Maker equivalent but so so so so much better and easier to use

Time Machine - Constantly makes backups of the Laptop. But its so good that you can search through it in an iTunes style interface and pick out an individual file to a full restore at any given time. all this is done without any noticeable drain or slowdown of the PC. as im writing this i can see the Time Machine Icon spinning to tell me it's backing up

Languages - Can change to any language in the world and it doesn't matter where you buy an apple you can change it to English without paying any extra for a specific language pack.

Games - may be a slight down side here if you are an avid gamer. However there are a lot of titles available and the demonstration of call of duty 4 that i have seen on the same laptop as mine is just as good as my mates Alienware

Touchpad - Just been playing with this today (15 Dec) and i love the way it can recognise wether you have 1 2 or 3 fingers on it and you can do various things. For example:

1 finger = normal touchpad double click etc

2 fingers = used in a drag motion to scroll down pages. Also pinch together to zoom out and open apart to zoom in. Also keep one finger on and make a turn motion with the other and you can rotate stuff

3 fingers = used to flick through documents or photos as if you are turning the pages of a book

May sound trivial but it makes it very useful to look through docs etc and it amused me when i found it did it :D

Customer Care - here apple really do excel. They have workshops which run in any of there stores (see individual stores for details) and they are free for you to go in and spend an hour learning how to do something on your computer or how to use a certain programme better. You can also take your computer into any apple store ask to speak to an iGenius (basically a member of staff who for all intents and purposes has probably been built by apple themselves) and ask them to help you solve a problem or use a programme more efficiently and its free. You can also pay a discounted fee if you are an apple owner and have lessons with the iGenius that turn you into an iGenius.

Can't really think of much else to say at the moment due to limited time of ownership however all i can say is im mightily impressed and i doubt i will ever ever go back to a windows based machine again. The only slight downside i have seen is price however its the same with anything you only get what you pay for. having said that compare it to a windows based pc and you have to spend a hell of a lot of cash to get anything near the power and speed of an apple. Take my mates Alienware. it cost him just over £3k. My apple cost my GF around £1900 and it (in my mates words) wipes the floor with his machine.

Seriously folks Apple Computers are one hell of a machine and after about 30 mins of getting used to keyboard shortcuts and the slightly peculiar way the OS works you find yourself getting to do things far far quicker and the system is far more intuitive than any windows system i have ever used. Put another way. all the fancy stuff that windows vista does now apple OS were doing around 6 years ago.

I will edit this review as i go along until i can make a full detailed mini review after a few months of Ownership:thumbup:

Carl

Edited 15 December, 200817 yr by Mater

Welcome to the "Fruity" side mate, I converted to a MacBook Pro earlier in the year for my work laptop and would not go back to a windows laptop again.

I take great pleasure in going into the office here at MS and firing it up, which I shall be doing in about half an hour

If thou needest applications ..... nudge ...wink .....cough

Wish I had a wife (or girlfrried for that matter) who would spend £1900 on me - I'm lucky if it's £19 :(

Whatever buttons you're pushing, they're clearly the right ones

Nice little report BTW and now that Apples are getting more like PC's, the changeover isn't what it used to be. Plus they do look nice - I could (almost) be tempted.

Whatever buttons you're pushing, they're clearly the right ones

Don Juan has Foook all on me

Another welcome from an Apple nerd, your enthusiasm jumps through my screen.

The only problem for me is my frustration at the shortcomings of the PC & Windows gear at work, it's like stepping back in time.

What is she going to get you for Xmas? A Vrs, Scout, Superb Tdi 170 4x4 SE ??

Still only your girlfriend?

I think it will be Apple for me next

Still only your girlfriend?

For now

Carl glad your enjoying your machine but those guys who are built by Apple as you call them are Genius and Creatives

Also the lessons are the same price for everyone. If you need anything though drop me a PM

I know they're very nice bits of kit to use.

Question on the processor though. Thought the quickest MBP currently available was the 2.6Ghz dual core?

And the screen is a backlit LED, not an OLED. While very nice to use and produces a good picture, at the moment a 17" OLED would cost a lot more than the whole of the machine put together

Steve

I took 'the Bite' last year and would never go back windows at home.

I have no option at work but it bugs me every time i start it up.

You will find it harder to find the 'right software' on some occasions but persevere and you will find them better in the long run. Besides, its so easy with almost everything you need already there to start with.

I know they're very nice bits of kit to use.

Question on the processor though. Thought the quickest MBP currently available was the 2.6Ghz dual core?

And the screen is a backlit LED, not an OLED. While very nice to use and produces a good picture, at the moment a 17" OLED would cost a lot more than the whole of the machine put together

Steve

apple fanboys concern themselves not with facts or details :P

they do something like 2.4, 2.53 and 2.8 in the MBP. what they don't seem to do is >4GB of RAM, despite the hardware being capable of supporting upto 8GB the OS (currently?) doesn't :thumbdwn:

despite the bull**** merchant that is Steve Jobs, I quite like OSX and fancy one of the new MBs myself

Question on the processor though. Thought the quickest MBP currently available was the 2.6Ghz dual core?

And the screen is a backlit LED, not an OLED.

Steve

Oops Typo on processor and Mistake with Screen

Duly changed

Andy the 2.8GHZ only comes on the 15.4" MBP so Wardy was indeed correct to point it out.

With regards the Ram. OSX can support upto 32GB of DDR3 Ram its the physical limitation of room on the MOBO that is the problem. If you dont believe me go and configure yourself a Mac Pro (i.e. tower) and you can have upto 32GB of ram in that. It still uses OSX

See Here

Configure - Apple Store (U.K.)

You can also configure a Mac to have 2 yes i say again 2 3.2Ghz quad core processors

Carl

Edited 15 December, 200817 yr by Mater

I

You will find it harder to find the 'right software' on some occasions but persevere and you will find them better in the long run. Besides, its so easy with almost everything you need already there to start with.

In the limited time i have been using and also the 12 months or so of reading up up and umming and arrring i couldnt find a programme that either wasnt compatible or apple did an equivalent for

Carl:thumbup:

Carl glad your enjoying your machine but those guys who are built by Apple as you call them are Genius and Creatives

I wasnt criticising i was just pointing out you could go to see an iGenius in an Apple store and they would help you out:thumbup:

As for the discount with lessons i should have mentioned it was for Students and Forces

With regards the Ram. OSX can support upto 32GB of DDR3 Ram its the physical limitation of room on the MOBO that is the problem. If you dont believe me go and configure yourself a Mac Pro (i.e. tower) and you can have upto 32GB of ram in that. It still uses OSX

weird, cos 4GB DDR3 SODIMM memory modules are available and NVIDIA states that the chipset in the current MBP will support upto 8GB but Apple say the maximum supported amount of RAM is 4GB. and when people have installed 8GB of RAM into a MBP the hardware recognised it all but the OS didn't use it all :confused:

oops bloody typo again (note to self sharpen fat fingers :P)

32GB DDR2 800mhz

That better?

as for the capacity i was saying that OSX is capable of supporting 32GB in a MAC PRO not a MBP as it has 8 slots available for RAM. As for the MBP support of more RAM to be honest i'm not not in the know. all i know is i got 4GB and its bloody quick. until they design a programme/game that requires more ill stick with it.

One point to note is OSX Snow Leopard (due mid 2009) will support up to 128GB of RAM apparently so maybe that will enable a MBP to recognise 8GB we will have to wait and see

Carl:thumbup:

Fanbois!

I have OSX installed on my PC "just coz" and tbh i dont see what all the fuss is about.

Fanbois!

I have OSX installed on my PC "just coz" and tbh i dont see what all the fuss is about.

Is pretty

Te OSX Java VM handles swing much better than Windows (accelerated, perhaps?) but the gripes still outweigh the pros for me at the moment. I mean, why does pressing the "enter" key try to rename an object in finder rather than opening it?

Virus' - Well apart from there only being about 4 written for mac's it will always remain virtually virus free. Reason is nearly all viruses are written on Linux and as OSX is based on linux it would kinda be like ****t*ng on your own door step.

Actually it's based on a BSD not Linux and far from it many viruses are written on windows as they need access to the libraries to be able to compile against them

Actually it's based on a BSD not Linux and far from it many viruses are written on windows as they need access to the libraries to be able to compile against them

Only going off what the iGenius at the Trafford Centre Apple store told me. So i wont argue

Another Apple convert Welcome to the no-hassle side of computing!

I haven't had the misfortune of using a PC for about 10 years now - wouldn't be without my mac(s)!

Only going off what the iGenius at the Trafford Centre Apple store told me. So i wont argue

Got to love sales people hey

far from sales mate, most of them could tell you the price of anything, just trust me on that as i have that job title as well