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macmenace wrote:

frankly wrote:

macmenace wrote:

Yeah that is why I'm sad. I should have put a happy face then a sad face.

Gotcha!  Well, not to make you more sad but my wife's new MacBook is here. I'll be unpacking it and setting it up as soon as my 3:00 meeting is finished. It is hard to resist opening the box right now. You should have seen how big the box was that Amazon shipped it in. It was hilarious.

Frank

Wow, that shipped fast. How was the unboxing?

I actually bought it from Amazon. The unboxing was good. My first impressions are that I am very impressed with this machine. It is fast! It obviously literally blows away the 12" PB that it is replacing for my wife but I use a 17 MBP on a daily basis and the UI on this new MacBook even felt quick in comparison to it. The screen is beautiful and I think the video card makes a huge difference. Now, I haven't played with it for a long time but what makes me say the video card is incredible is that I have a Slingbox and I launched the SlingPlayer on both my 17" MBP and then on the new 13" MacBook and had them both set to auto. The SlingPlayer picture on the MacBook looked crisp, sharp, clear, and flat-out beautiful. I was amazed because I had been used to watching it on my MBP where the on-screen text was a bit on the blurry side. I thought for sure that the settings must have been set different on the two machines. They weren't. They were both set to auto. Now, I was able to switch the settings to manual on the MBP and get the picture to look just as smooth but I'm assuming that the video card on the new MacBook just has more raw power that its automatic settings were much higher than the MBP.

I will reiterate one thing, I hate that you can't get the $1299 model iwth a backlit keyboard. If the keyboard wasn't black that would be fine but with a black keyboard if you are in a room that is not well lit you will have trouble seeing the letters on the keys. I absolutely HATE that Apple did this. This is much more of a problem for me than them leaving out the Firewire. The fact is that I had no need for the faster processor or larger hard drive in the $1599 model but that would have been the only way to get the backlit keyboard.

The machine is quite beautiful. The screen has slightly more reflection than the glossy screen on my MBP but nothing to worry about. I can not figure out where the speakers are. They are much louder than the ones on the 12" PB but I can't find the grills and I've tried to cover various parts of the machine to see if I can mute them. I guess I'll have to look for a dissection online to see where they are.

The features I most wish that my MBP had:

1) Magnetic latch
2) Awesome new trackpad
3) Incredible unibody case

I will provide more impressions later.

Frank

I believe the speaker grills are in the same location as the previous MacBook. They're actually in the back and are designed to bounce the sound off the display. To actually see them, you'll need to close the lid, but you should see speaker grills at the back with the lid shut.

My brother got his today, and it's very nicely put together. The new trackpad is different, but I could see myself getting used to it no problem. I don't like the fact that you had to log in and out to switch GPU's was annoying (especially when we wanted to play a quick round of Warcraft 3 ), but I'm hoping a future software update (be it point upgrade or Snow Leopard) brings instantaneous switching, because the hardware does support that feature. I didn't get too much to time to play with it, since he wanted to.

glassjane wrote:

I love my new MacBook Pro. It arrived a couple of hours ago. I had to go out and didn't want to. I wanted to stay home and load it and play with it!
Quiet!  I don't hear anything!

Hey, keep me updated on that quiet thing.  I want to know. 
If I keep drinking sherry tonight maybe I'll buy one online right now.  :-p

frankly wrote:

Cobalt60 wrote:

glassjane wrote:

I love my new MacBook Pro. It arrived a couple of hours ago. I had to go out and didn't want to. I wanted to stay home and load it and play with it!
Quiet!  I don't hear anything!

Hey, keep me updated on that quiet thing.  I want to know. 
If I keep drinking sherry tonight maybe I'll buy one online right now.  :-p

Our new MacBook is quiet too. But even better than that is how long the battery lasts. My wife was using it on the couch tonight for about 2.5 hours. When she finished she still had 3+ hours of battery life left. She absolutely loves this new computer.

Frank

Cheers to you!  I'm glad it's a great buy for you.
I'd be interested in the Macbook too but I'm worried that it won't be much of a difference from my 1.83 Core Duo Macbook.  If I'm going to spend the money this time around I think I want an appreciably different and better experience.  To me that means MBP.

I just got my new MacBook yesterday and it's a huge improvement over my previous 1st gen MacBook. The 9400M definitely makes a huge difference. I only have 2 GB RAM in it currently and it runs like a top. This is also my first heavy use of Leopard since I never upgraded from Tiger on my old system. Definitely a job well done by Apple on the new MacBooks. Love the case, display (despite some reflection in the sun) and everything else. The backlit keyboard is sweet too.

Cobalt60 wrote:

Well, I haven't bought  a new laptop yet.  But I have read a ton of stuff on the MB and the MBP.  I also have checked them out in the local Best Buy.  The screen on the MBP is way better than the one on the MB.  It has richer colors and broader viewing angles plus a little more detail.

The screen on the MBP does flop a little bit but I can't imagine it would do so in "normal" usage.

So the question is, "Is the MB screen really that bad?"  I don't think so.  If just looks that way compared to the MBP.  It's probably better than the screen on my present MB.

I don't like the absence of Firewire but the external drive I usually use has a USB port too.

I really would like the MBP but I'm having a hard time with the extra $700.

I love the screen on my wife's MB. It is so much brighter than my MBP screen (bought in January 2007).

Have you looked at the deep discounts on the previous generation MBPs available on Amazon?

macmenace wrote:

the aqua affect is really tessellated and ugly.

Pixellated?

frankly wrote:

Have you looked at the deep discounts on the previous generation MBPs available on Amazon?

I gave Amazon a cursory look but didn't see any super deals.  The thing is, I like the chiclet keyboard, the magnetic latch, and the easy access HD and RAM so the earlier MBPs have limited appeal.

About the screen, a friend just bought a new MBP, and he says the hinges seem a bit loose? For instance it will close by itself under a certain angle..

Do yours have any difference in hinge tension compared to the previous MBP? (or any other Apple laptop since the AluBook for that matter?)

Last edited by pirloui (2008-11-06 10:24 am)

Ok, thanks for the info.
Then his is weird.
The lid slides down by itself on his. Besides, it has a small dent..

frankly wrote:

Cobalt60 wrote:

frankly wrote:

Have you looked at the deep discounts on the previous generation MBPs available on Amazon?

I gave Amazon a cursory look but didn't see any super deals.  The thing is, I like the chiclet keyboard, the magnetic latch, and the easy access HD and RAM so the earlier MBPs have limited appeal.

I completely understand the benefits of the new features. However, check this http://tinyurl.com/678uyf out. This link is the the prior $2499 model and it is selling for $1644 after rebate. I'm sorry but that might be too good of a deal to pass up.

BTW, the RAM is easy to access in the old models. I do agree on the magnetic latch, although I'm not sure it is worth $800. The each HD access is nice for that one or two times in the life of the computer that you need it. However, think about how much easier it makes it for a thief in the meantime.

Frank

Tempting, tempting.  Matte screen... I am a glossy guy.  Thanks for all the input.

Making me drool over the idea of getting a MBPro .. or a MacPro...hmmm...I wonder if...