Archive for April, 2006

Apr 2nd, 2006

Review of the MacBook Pro

There have been several reviews of the MacBook Pro, and they all seem to follow a theme.

  1. It’s hot. Really hot.
  2. It’s fast in Intel stuff, but it’s really really slow on Rosetta stuff.
  3. Battery life blows.
  4. The Mag-Safe connector is cool, but it becomes dislodged too easily.
  5. The screen is a thing to behold.
  6. The selection of ports (ExpressCard, no Firewire 800, no S-Video) is… odd.

If I can, let me hit these points one by one.

It’s hot. Really hot

Guilty as charged. Yes, it’s hot. However, just like the Powerbook G4 before it, it’s a metal notebook. Of course it’s going to be hot. It’s got two processors in there. It’s going to get warm. It is hotter than the G4 (although not by a huge margin), and may be a good deal hotter than the iBooks (which are plastic). Some of the reviews I have read expressed concern for the safety of children around such a hot notebook, or that it could seriously burn your leg were you to actually use it as a �??laptop.�?�

Get a life. It’s not that hot. I used mine on my lap for hours today, and while it may have been a tad uncomfortable had I not been wearing pants… I was, and I didn’t give it a second thought. Don’t use it in a sauna and it’ll be just fine.

It’s fast in Intel stuff, but it’s really really slow on Rosetta stuff

True. But with the exception of Adobe and Microsoft software, the vast majority of what I use is already native. If you happen to be the type of person who compiles some of your own packages (say Ruby) the speed is truly spectacular. On certain types of tasks, Apple’s claim that the MacBook is 4x faster seems to be a bit on the conservative side.

On other tasks, it’s actually not as fast as I expected. It plays World of Warcraft really, really well (but then again, so did my G4). I kind of expected to see constant framerates in the 80-100fps range. I don’t. But it looks and plays terrific.

Battery life blows

This one I just can’t figure out. Battery life on my G4 has always topped out at about 3 hours, with extremely conservative use of the machine, and the screen brightness all the way down.

Under the same circumstances, I got 25% longer battery life on my MacBook. I’m extremely pleased with the battery life I have seen… and when you compare the MacBook to some of the Dell Core Duo notebooks, the difference is really obvious… the Dells are larger, klunkier, and have batteries twice the size. With the same life.

One strange side note, in VERY quick testing… disabling one core in the MacBook does NOT seem to extend battery life. It may even shorten it. Further testing needed.

The Mag-Safe connector is cool, but it becomes dislodged too easily

Isn’t that the point?

I mean, what are these people doing while typing an e-mail? Playing rugby? I tend to sit still while using my computer, even if it’s on my lap, and the Mag-Safe has not become dislodged even once.

And yes, the connector is cool.

The screen is a thing to behold

True.

Looks every bit as good as my Dell external LCD. And so much better than the G4, it’s difficult to compare the two. The G4 is difficult to look at after being on the MacBook for a while.

The selection of ports (ExpressCard, no Firewire 800, no S-Video) is… odd

While I agree, I don’t think it’s too much of a problem. I will admit I was disappointed that the ExpressCard port was not the wider one, so a CompactFlash card would fit inside.

However, the two eliminated ports that are generating the most criticism are:

  • The FireWire 800 port. I’d like to have one, but I have to admit, the one on my G4 has never been used. Not even once.
  • The S-Video port. Again, I’d like to have one, but the S-Video port on my G4 was used one time, in three years, and that was to show off, �??Hey, look, I can hook it to a TV!�?� Besides, you can add this port for $20 with an adapter.

All in all, I could not be more happy with my MacBook. Well, I could, it could be cooler, have a wider ExpressCard port, and it could have been free. But other that that, it does everything I want a portable computer to do (including booting Windows… I may hate it, but it’s a necessary evil), and it does it very, very quickly.