Hands-On Report--Apple's New MacBook Pro
First, let me correct an incorrect statement in our keynote report. The PowerBook G4's are not gone but are still offered, at least for now. An Apple employee told us that they thought the 15" PowerBook G4 would be withdrawn once the inventory is sold out, i.e. the MacBook Pro would soon replace it. They were unaware of plans for the 12" and 17" models. Of course, they wouldn't tell us if they knew or a bolt of lightning would likely have zapped them as they spoke....
The MacBook Pro looks almost exactly like a PowerBook G4, the same general form factor and aluminum material and color. Note the camera in the top bezel between the two latches--the MacBook Pro has two latches like the 17" PowerBook G4. The infrared port for taking commands from the new Apple Remote is by the latch bar in the front of the bottom case.
The MacBook Pro is slightly wider than the current 15" PowerBook G4, 14.1" vs 13.7", but the same depth, despite the camera, and the same weight at 5.6 lbs. However, the screen is 15.4" rather than 15.2" and 1440x900 pixels rather than 1440x960 so with the lower aspect ratio it really looks more like a 17" PowerBook G4.
The screen inherits the balancing assist mechanism of the 17" PowerBook G4 so tilting it is much smoother and easier than the 15" model. The screen is also very bright, some 67% brighter like the Cinema Displays according to Steve Jobs, and it looks it to us.
There's no modem. It's old technology so just like the 3.5" floppy drive, its gone. If you think you are going to get stuck staying at a no-tell motel in nowheresville without broadband, you will need an external USB modem and Apple makes one.
There's no FireWire 800 port. We are not sure why. It seems to us that fast FireWire could have been the future for high-speed data transfer. However, with Apple abandoning it, it looks like it's dead.
While there's no s-video port, s-video is available through the DVI port with an Apple video adapter.
There's a new ExpressCard 34 slot that replaces the standard PCMCIA slot. According to an Apple employee, this is the latest technology that provides higher bandwidth. While it's not backward compatible, companies are expected to update their technology rapidly. But if you depend on a wireless cellphone network card in a PCMCIA slot, you will probably want to wait for the new cards to come out before getting a MacBook Pro.
Finally hardwarewise, the MacBook Pro comes with a lithium-polymer battery, like those used in iPods, and an 85-watt AC/DC power adapter. It will be interesting to see how battery life holds up. The new AC/DC adapter is 20 watts higher than the previous one--will it recharge faster or does the lithium-polymer battery need it? There is a small green light on the magnetic connector rather than a ring around the pin. We believe the green light will turn amber when the MacBook Pro is charging.
The bottoms of the MacBook Pros we felt were very warm, actually bordering on hot. The tops were fairly warm as well. Both sides were much hotter than those on our 867MHz 12" PowerBook G4. Look out bare-skinned laps.
The MacBook Pros on display were the top end 1.83GHz dual-core models. They were all generously populated with 2GB of RAM. Our perception from launching and running applications is that they are fast, very fast. We tried Adobe Photoshop and it ran fine in Rosetta as did Microsoft Excel.
Using the new Apple Remote, calling up Front Row and moving among the categories of iTunes, iPhoto, iDVD and iMovie was very fast and fluid.
In summary, our impression is that the MacBook Pro is a definite winner. With it, Apple has seized the laptop cutting edge at reasonable $1,999 and $2,499 price points. We are pleased that Apple kept the thin aluminum form factor. It is beautiful and still stands out among all laptops. If you need a new laptop and are a heavy user of cellphone wireless internet cards, you might want to wait for them to catch up to the new ExpressCard 34 technology but otherwise, we see no reason to hold off. Applications seem to run fine on Rosetta and Apple's pro applications will be Intel native shortly after the MacBook Pro begins shipping. No one could answer the question if the MacBook Pro would boot off Windows XP but we expect someone to try it soon. [Bill Fox]
Saw something? Send a tip
The archive ran on reader tips. What did you see, where, and do you want the credit?