Apple MacBook Pro MA464LL/A 15.4" Laptop (2.0 GHz Intel Core Duo, 1 GB RAM, 100 GB Hard Drive, SuperDrive)
I will introduce you to
This day I'll introduce you about Apple MacBook Pro MA464LL/A 15.4" Laptop (2.0 GHz Intel Core Duo, 1 GB RAM, 100 GB Hard Drive, SuperDrive) from amazon website you can see now
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Macbook Pro... Thoughts from a life long PC user.
After the hype of the Keynote in San Francisco in January, I decided to finally take the plunge and revisit the world of apple after an absentia of >20 years. Yes, my last apple was a 48kb IIE.
So here is my mini-review after 1 week of use.
Packaging and Aesthetics : Excellent, light weight, fantastic build quality.
LCD Display: Nice, but not as nice as the Fujitsu/Sony's
OS: Very nice OS compared to windows XP. Easy to use. But one big caveat. I am surprised that OS X took up so much space! Found a 2GB folder with nothing but printer drivers. iWorks is 2GB NB MS office is only 561 MB. On a fresh MBP, almost 20 GB of harddisk spaced used at the outset....So for all those who think Windows is bloatware think again.OS X might be worse in this respect.
Battery life: Average 3hrs of use. 2hrs + if playing a DVD.
Features:
Pros: iSight built in. Magsafe to prevent my 4 year old from tripping. Remote control!
Cons:where is the FW 800, Dual layer burner and my modem!
Performance: Fast with optimized universal binary software.
Packaged software:
Pros:iLife 06- Great!,Front Row- Fantastic, Dashboard!
cons: should have bundled iworks for free rather than just a trial.
Software availablity: Most stuff that you do on a PC is available. One big hole is in the games dept though.
Overall, my conversion to the Macworld has been an easy one although I have to admit I won't be throwing away my PC as the workplace remains PC only.
Conclusion: A solid 4.5 Stars
The Fastest Mac Notebook Ever
It's the most stunning idea, isn't it? This top of the line MacBook Pro is the fastest Mac Notebook ever, and probably one of the fastest Macs period.
When Steve Jobs announced the new Macs, with Intel Core Duo processors I was almost certain I wanted to buy one. Why? Macs are well known for ease of use and capabilities, but they have managed all that for years, with processors that are not always top-notch. That all changed in January 2006.
Processor in the new MacBook Pro
The Intel Core Duo processor in the new MacBook Pro is an amazing chip. What have I noticed about the speed of the machine featuring this chip? It is incredibly fast. You'd be surprised by how much faster even web browsing is, when you have a processor as powerful as the Core Duo. However, what I've really been impressed by is doing things such as video encoding. I've encoded videos in H264 as much as eight times faster than my Powerbook G4. Furthermore, the iLife applications that are included on the MacBook Pro fly, with the speed. iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, and Garageband perform like never before. I've really been impressed by the speed.
The Core Duo is a great processor. It offers exceptional desktop PC performance, in a design that can fit in small computers and notebooks. It features two cores on a single die, which effectively gives you the performance of two processors. Don't let the 2 GHZ clock speed fool you. This Core Duo Chip will outperform 3+ GHZ Pentium 4 processors. It really is an amazing breakthrough, from Intel.
Video Card
The new MacBook Pro 2 GHZ model features an ATI Radeon X1600 graphics processor using PCI Express 256 MB of GDDR3 video memory. This is the best graphic card Apple has *ever* included in a notebook. This graphic processor will work well for most gaming, and it is great for viewing back complex H264 movies, including high definition videos. You can enjoy high definition H264 videos, without drop frames.
Ports -
The MacBook Pro features 2 USB 2.0 ports, 1 Firewire 400 port, Gigabit Ethernet, audio in/out, and Expresscard (34 slot).
Display - Apple touts the display on the new MacBook Pro as bright as the cinema displays, and there is no question: these displays are bright! Depending on your lighting condition, you'll almost certainly not turn the display to full brightness. I had to turn down the brightness, for it was hard on my eyes. However, it is nice to know the brightness is there, when needed. The native resolution is 1440x900 giving you plenty of screen real estate, to keep the applications you need visible.
Video out - The new MacBook Pro has a DVI video output. An adapter is also included to output VGA. There is an optional adapter available to output S-Video and composite video. Furthermore, the DVI video out supports up to a 30-inch Apple Cinema Display (or other comparable display). This gives you great possibilities. You can easily use your MacBook Pro on the road, but plug it into a keyboard, mouse, and huge display, when at your desk. The perfect all around system.
Memory - This Mac is a powerhouse and 1 GB of memory (thats included) will get you started nicely. However, you may consider adding even more memory at some point. The MacBook Pro supports up to 2 GB of memory. It uses PC5300 DDR2 - SODIMM modules.
Applications -
Apple includes iLife '06, which has iPhoto, iMovie, iWeb, iDVD, and Garageband. There is the Safari web browser, the always useful iCal, AddressBook, iChat, etc. Overall, I was pleased with the included software.
iLife 06 is particularly great. I love the new full-screen photo editing, photo comparing, etc. You can now also order calendars and greeting cards made with your photos, direct from Apple, by using the iPhoto software. iMovie has new themes, which helps make professional-looking home movies, and iDVD now supports widescreen DVDs. iWeb is a brand-new applications, which makes it easy to create professional quality webpages, quickly. I can't wait to rebuild by site using iWeb. Apple continues to make it easy to create music, manage your digital images, make movies, and create web sites.
A trial (30 day) of iWork '06 is also included, which includes the page layout program Pages, and the presentation program Keynote (which makes presentations that blow away presentations made by rival Powerpoint).
Hard Drive -
This model of the MacBook Pro includes a 100 GB 5400 RPM hard drive. This is going to be sufficient for most people to hold their photographs, music, and some videos. However, others will need more space, so you can always use an external drive, when at your desk. It is also important that you remember to backup your important files to either another external hard drive, or DVDs. I only point this out because today with great machines like the MacBook Pro we're storing more of our great memories on computers than ever before, so make sure you don't lose them, if something happens to your machine. Apple includes a great backup program called Backup 3, if you subscribe to the .mac service. I use it all the time, and it simple interface helps me keep peace of mind.
Superdrive-
The optical drive included with the new MacBook Pro allows you to watch DVDs, listen to music, burn DVDs, and burn CDs. It is a slot-loading drive, so the disks slide magically in and out of the computer's right side. There are no drawers to break off. Note - The drive does *not* burn dual layer DVDs.
Front Row Experience - Apple has included a new software title that at this time is only available on the iMac, Mac Mini, and MacBook Pro. Front Row. Front Row comes with your MacBook Pro, and a remote control is also included. Front row allows you to watch and listen to media items, on your computer, from across the room. Click one button on the remote, and bring up Front Row, for quick access to your music, movies, podcasts, DVD, and more. I like this feature, but I wonder how useful it is, since I'm usually sitting right in front of the computer and can just use a mouse, to access this content.
PowerPC Applications on Intel Machine
If you own a lot of software for Mac, then most of it is probably compiled for PowerPC. Developers are working hard to make titles run natively on both Intel and PowerPC, but many titles are not yet ready. However, many titles you can use on an Intel Mac because Apple has included Rosetta, which translates the PowerPC code into something the Intel machine can read. However, you never see Rosetta for it works quietly in the background and makes running PowerPC applications seamless. Microsoft Office, for example, works perfect under Rosetta. Intensive applications such as Photoshop will run under Rosetta, but it will be slower until Adobe has an Intel compiled version of Photoshop. Rosetta does work and if you add memory to your iMac, you may find such application somewhat equal to how it would perform on a 1GHZ PowerPC G4, from my experience.
Two titles I use EyeTV and Toast 7 are not yet compiled for Intel, but they run fine on my Intel Mac, under Rosetta. Again, you don't have to open anything special to use Rosetta. Your Mac knows when it needs it and uses it.
Wireless- The MacBook Pro can still connect wirelessly to networks using its included Airport Card. Furthermore, it features a Bluetooth module to connect wirelessly to devices.
Design - This MacBook Pro is beautiful, and you notice the quality as soon as you begin to open the box. It is packaged with care, in beautiful packaging. The MacBook Pro is thin, and the display is beautiful. The Mag Safe Power Connector is another amazing design feature on this machine. If someone or something pulls on the power cord connected to your notebook, instead of the notebook flying, the magnet on the connector releases, leaving your MacBook Pro safe.
Overall, I am very excited about the MacBook Pro. It is incredibly fast on Intel-native applications, and it does a very good job running PowerPC applications. If you're upgrading from a G4 Mac like myself, this machine will seem to fly. If you're upgrading from a G5 based Mac, it will be faster on native applications, but the increase in performance will be less significant to you. The Intel machines are the future of Apple, so there is no question this is a good machine, and it is powerful enough to be a good computer, for quite some time. I'm happy with my purchase, and I look forward to continue exploring my Intel Mac in the coming days
Totally Blown Away!!!
Before I begin this review I'd like you the reader to know that this is my first Mac - I've been set free from the PC world for the most part now and it is awesome! I brag to my co-workers about how nice it is to use the MAC OS over Windows. I can see now what everyone before me has talked about in their reviews of Apple's computers. It take a little patience to learn the Apple OS, but in no more than one week you should be feeling confident while moving around in the Apple world.
The MacBook Pro has essentially everything you could want in one, well-designed package. To say this is a really great computer is an understatement. I highly recommend it. I enjoy all the little additions that apple has put into it the design that make it so user friendly.
Major features of this computer are the illuminated keyboard, the built-in iSight camera (which is really fun especially with kids), built-in Bluetooth, and its ultra-sharp LCD screen make it very attractive to someone looking to buy a new computer. I am also amazed at how slim it is, especially when you consider how much it has inside it. When it's connected to my Logitech 2.1 speaker system, I find that the sound quality I get when using iTunes is outstanding!
There are two areas of improvement that I am eager to see overcome. One is that I wish there was more available native software that works on the Intel-native MacBook Pro. I've been reading that there are software companies working on updating/revising their products to work on the new system so I don't really see this as being a long-term problem, rather just a minor annoyance (all the old software works, but the speed is much slower than when using a native Intel app). Second observation is this machine can get very hot. I had to buy a notebook-cooling pad so it doesn't overheat. I have a ThinkPad I use for work (not by choice), and when comparing the heat it generates compared with the MacBook Pro I realize how hot the MacBook Pro can get compared to other computers.
In the end, I looked at a lot of other computers and decided to get this one. I am glad I did.
About Apple MacBook Pro MA464LL/A 15.4" Laptop (2.0 GHz Intel Core Duo, 1 GB RAM, 100 GB Hard Drive, SuperDrive) detail
- Amazon Sales Rank: #1147 in Personal Computers
- Brand: Apple
- Model: MA464LL/A
- Dimensions: 19.50" h x 7.60" w x 19.50" l, 5.60 pounds
- CPU: Intel Core Duo 2 GHz
- Memory: 1000MB SODIMM
- Hard Disk: 80GB
- Graphics: ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 256MB
- Processors: 1
- Native resolution: 1440 x 900
- Display size: 15.4
Features
- 2.0 GHz Intel Core Duo processor with 2 MB shared L2 Cache
- 1 GB (single SODIMM) 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM (PC2-5300); 100 GB 5400 rpm Serial ATA hard drive; slot-load SuperDrive (DVD±RW/CD-RW)
- One FireWire 400, two USB 2.0 ports, and ExpressCard/34 slot; no FireWire 800 slots
- Built-in 10/100/1000BASE-T (Gigabit); built-in 54 Mbps AirPort Extreme (802.11g); built-in Bluetooth 2.0+EDR
- 15.4-inch TFT widescreen display with 1440 x 900 resolution
Apple MacBook Pro MA464LL/A 15.4" Laptop (2.0 GHz Intel Core Duo, 1 GB RAM, 100 GB Hard Drive, SuperDrive) Description
You've seen improvements in notebook performance before - but never on this scale. The Intel Core Duo powering MacBook Pro is actually two processors built into a single chip. This, combined with myriad other engineering leaps, boosts performance up to four times higher than the PowerBook G4. With this awesome power, it's a breeze to render complex 3D models, enjoy smooth playback of HD video, or host a four-way video conference.Intel Core Duo is the first chip built using Intel's groundbreaking 65-nanometer process - resulting in transistors so small, you could fit a hundred inside a single human cell. With smaller distances for electrons to travel, and two processors designed to share resources and conserve power, Intel Core Duo achieves higher levels of performance as it uses fewer watts. Which is what makes it possible to design a super-powerful MacBook Pro that's only one inch thin.When Mac technology makes something easy, it's hardly news. So here's more non-news for MacBook Pro owners: software just works. If you see the Universal logo on a new application, that means it will run on Intel- and PowerPC-based Mac computers. For most existing applications, you simply do what you've always done: double-click them. Thanks to the Rosetta technology in Mac OS X, they look and feel just like they did before.
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