Apple's MacBook Pro: Using it as a Mac and a PC
by Anand Lal Shimpi on April 13, 2006 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Mac
There are very few configurable options on the MacBook Pro, and the GPU is not one of them. The only GPU Apple offers is the ATI Mobility Radeon X1600; you do however have the ability to choose whether you want 128MB or 256MB of GDDR3 memory. The Mobility Radeon X1600 is a PCI Express GPU, which means that it has a high bandwidth data path to the 945 North Bridge and thus main memory. It sounds good for marketing, but with 128MB or 256MB of local memory the high bandwidth link with system memory isn't all that important.
The old 1280 x 854 panel from my 15" PowerBook G4 has been slightly upgraded to a 1440 x 900 panel. The vertical resolution hasn't been increased much at all but the increase in horizontal resolution is definitely noticeable and appreciated. Although the previous 15" was a good balance between portability and productivity, the 15" MacBook Pro improves on the balance even more thanks to its slightly higher resolution panel. I will say that the uniformity of the brightness of the panel doesn't seem to be as good as on my previous PowerBook; the panel does seem to get darker around the corners than the old panel. Obviously at different resolutions the two aren't necessarily comparable, but I wouldn't call the new panel a huge step forward. It's not bad by any means, but the brightness uniformity was one of the first things I noticed about it.
Just like its predecessor, the MacBook Pro features an integrated DVI output port, while also coming with a DVI-to-VGA dongle if you're connecting your notebook to a VGA display. An improvement over its predecessor is that its DVI output is dual link, meaning it can drive Apple's 30" Cinema Display and Dell's 3007WFP at their native resolution of 2560 x 1600.
The integrated 56K modem is finally gone from the old PowerBook's chassis, although Apple offers an optional USB modem if you absolutely need one.
The MacBook Pro's very tiny motherboard (Click to Enlarge)
For hard drives you can choose between 80GB and 120GB drives, all spinning at 5400RPM, with a single 100GB offering at 7200RPM as an option for added performance. At present, the largest laptop hard drives anywhere are only 160GB, so there's not much incentive to upgrade today. However, if you'd like to upgrade to a bigger hard drive down the road, it's not too difficult to do. Opening the MacBook Pro simply requires a small phillips head screwdriver and a T6 driver; remove all the screws along the outside and underneath the unit and you'll be able to lift out the keyboard.
Beneath the keyboard you'll see the hard drive, which after some careful disconnecting of cables can be removed.
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Sengir - Saturday, July 22, 2006 - link
I'm mainly a PC guy, but while working on Apple notebooks at a Notebook Depot, I've become interested in the Mac OS. Previously I had little to no exposure to it.I will say this. Apple has made alot of improvement with the Macbook/Pro in terms of repairing. Alot easier to get to the motherboard, hard drive, memory or anything.
Unfortunately they didn't redesign for the heat of the CPUs, the ventilation just doesn't seem adequate and as a result, overheating is common.
There are other issues with the hardware, but none I can really go into. I believe people buy Macs for the OS and not the hardware. Since some of the design/materials are cheaper than an HP notebook, for more cost. If I buy a Mac, it will probably be a mini, due to cost. The Macbooks are very nice, but have several flaws that need to be addressed.
redison - Tuesday, September 5, 2006 - link
"I've become interested in the Mac OS ..... believe people buy Macs for the OS and not the hardware"Right on, and check out the Leopard ( OS X 10.5 )Preview on Apples website, even better if you have the time see Jobs Kenote
phillock - Sunday, January 28, 2018 - link
I've also bought a Macbook one week ago, and I also had a keyboard issue... My 'e' button wasnt working sometimes... When i lifted the key off the keyboard i could see the plastic under the key was kind of broken: there was a little crack in it. https://tinyurl.com I went back to the apple shop, and because I only had the laptop for like 2 days they just gave me a complete new one.../y83723wwphillock - Sunday, January 28, 2018 - link
I'm most interested in a smaller model though, so I have to wait regardless. I suspect the smallest model may get a 13" 1280x800 widescreen too, considering that as of the Aperture 1.1 update, Apple https://tinyurl.com/y83723ww has arbitrarily (and very annoyingly) removed support for my 1024x768 iBook G4 12" 1.33 GHz, and is saying that a minimum 1280x780 screen is required, even though no such laptop is available yet from Apple.hasapi - Monday, April 17, 2006 - link
Excellent reading - I just received my 2GHz MBP - and its just fantastic in every way. My only gripe which was noted in the article is the battery life of just over 2.5hrs!, its probably unrealistic but my old PB was getting 3.5hrs - maybe a new third party battery might help but would have been nice to see upwards of 5hrs imo?Eug - Sunday, April 16, 2006 - link
I agree. Moreover, Boot Camp and Parallels' Workstation both will be improved by then, and Apple's pro line of laptops may just have Blu-ray drives as well available as an option. Even if we don't get Blu-ray drives by the time Merom is incorporated into MacBook Pros, in the very least we'll have 8X DVD-R support as well as dual-layer support.
I'm most interested in a smaller model though, so I have to wait regardless. I suspect the smallest model may get a 13" 1280x800 widescreen too, considering that as of the Aperture 1.1 update, Apple has arbitrarily (and very annoyingly) removed support for my 1024x768 iBook G4 12" 1.33 GHz, and is saying that a minimum 1280x780 screen is required, even though no such laptop is available yet from Apple.
tekkstore - Monday, April 17, 2006 - link
http://www.tekkstore.com">tekkstore.comgamehack - Saturday, April 15, 2006 - link
Hi there,I have a question to any owners of a MacBook Pro - Is the keyboard suitable for heavy use? I planning to get a MBP and use it as my main dev machine so I would typing quite a lot.
Kind regards,
gamehack
bertd - Tuesday, April 18, 2006 - link
in my opinion, the keyboard is one of the best keyboards i've ever used on a laptop... and i code a lot of html, php and css so i use it a lot toobertd - Saturday, April 15, 2006 - link
Anand:great review!
I've also bought a Macbook one week ago, and I also had a keyboard issue... My 'e' button wasnt working sometimes... When i lifted the key off the keyboard i could see the plastic under the key was kind of broken: there was a little crack in it. I went back to the apple shop, and because I only had the laptop for like 2 days they just gave me a complete new one...
I've also experienced the 'heat' problems.. the first macbook i had was an 'earlier' version of the macbook : the serial number was W8611*****... With the new one, the one they have given me to replace the one with the broken 'e' key, the serial number started with w8612****, and I've read that macbooks starting with these numbers in their serial should be newer revisions...
The heat problem is not as bad as with the first one, but still the bottom gets kind off hotter than with any other laptop i've ever had...