Remember the Apple PowerBooks? They were pants. Of course, I didn't know this at the time. It's only now, having had the chance to play with Apple's latest MacBook Pro, that I realise that everything that came before it was so dreadfully ordinary. Apple MacBook Pro 15in Apple's MacBook Pro 15in: now with Core i5 or i7 CPU …

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Tuesday 18th May 2010 22:48 GMT Anonymous Coward

If only it had a slightly better screen

I think they're very nice products, but I do think for the premium price I'd like to see a full Adobe RGB gamut screen. I'm slightly surprised, being that nearly every photographer I know is a Mac user, that this update didn't add RGB LED.

I now it's already a good screen, and is more than enough for most people, but it would be nice to at least have the option, like those offered by Dell or Sony. At least Apple does now offer a non-glossy screen, though.

And a tiny bit cheaper couldn't do any harm either.

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Tuesday 18th May 2010 22:48 GMT Anonymous Coward

very nice device

okay..so theres a premium...but as an owner of one of these I have to say its a very nice

bit of kit. and, its also one of the best laptops to run Win7, Vista or Ubuntu on too.

mine runs OSX very rarely...its the best windows laptop I've ever owned (only downsides? the fact it doesnt have VGA connector and you have to use silly dongles...no HDMI output either, it doesnt have a 'nipple' controller - its all touchpad and it doesnt have a Bluray drive)

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Tuesday 18th May 2010 22:51 GMT Prag Fest

Specs shmecs

I've just been using a 'similar spec' Dell machine all day at work, am now at home on my twice the price Mac 'equivalent'.

Am I thinking I was ripped off buying the Mac and should have got the Dell? Am I f**k, this thing is an incredible machine, greater than the sum of it's parts in a way specs and pictures on websites can never do justice.

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Tuesday 18th May 2010 22:51 GMT Anonymous Coward

May have missed it...

But what about Blu Ray?

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1. Wednesday 19th May 2010 09:16 GMT Volker Hett
  
  To watch movies or as storage?
  
  Movies - 42" Telly with Bluray player
  
  Storage - external harddrives on the road, 10TB SAN/NAS in the office, 2TB NAS at home.
  
  I'm very happy with this setup.
  
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  1. Wednesday 19th May 2010 11:44 GMT Anonymous Coward
    
    Yes yes very funny
    
    To make myself abundantly clear, do you get blu ray included in this Macbook for your hard earned and achingly trendy spondoolies?
    
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    1. Thursday 20th May 2010 06:28 GMT Disintegrationnotallowed
      
      clearly
      
      You know the answer to this, of course not, however I am hard pushed to find many laptop that does, Dell sell their Alienware boxes with one as an add on, but the same alienware box (in plastic), with Bluray, will cost you £1700 for the same spec.
      
      Personally I cant see any reason why I would want a Bluray in my laptop, if at home I use my Bluray player, if away prefer something more portable to take with me.
      
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    2. Thursday 20th May 2010 06:28 GMT Volker Hett
      
      OS X does not support HDCP
      
      and without DRM deep in the guts of the OS Blu Ray Movie playback is not allowed.
      
      So I did ask my Apple Dealer if it is possible to mod a Macbook with a Blu Ray drive instead of the DVD drive and they told me, that they can put a Sony NEC Blu Ray/DVD RW combo drive in for another 130 Euro.
      
      So if you have Blu Rays without copy protection, you might even watch the movie, the codecs are there. You can use it as a storage device without any restrictions.
      
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Tuesday 18th May 2010 22:51 GMT Badwolf

PC World

I hear Dell has a sale.....

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Tuesday 18th May 2010 22:51 GMT Anonymous Coward

Discounts

It's worth keeping in mind that you can get good discounts if you're a student, work at a University or are a teacher. I know the current student price is £1517 and the price for Uni staff is normally even better and with 3 years warranty chucked in.

To get these prices you should go to:

http://store.apple.com/uk/browse/home/education_routing?mco=MTIxODk0Nw

I got the previous version of the MacBook Pro and have found it an all round solid laptop. I cringe when I have to use the plastic crap they give us at work.

I hope this post is useful to someone.

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Tuesday 18th May 2010 22:57 GMT uhuznaa

It *is* a bit of luxury

but what is wrong with that? I have the 13" and I'm using it about 10 hours a day. Spending a bit more money on such a tool and then not having to put up with cheap crap 10 hours a day for years is a good idea. I don't work with specs, I work with a computer and details count.

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1. Wednesday 19th May 2010 14:52 GMT Terry Ellis
  
  This ^^^
  
  Totally agree - my work HP laptop infuriates me compared to my 13" MBP.
  
  It's been a revolation to use since I got it a the screen really is one of the best I've seen
  
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2. Wednesday 19th May 2010 14:52 GMT Anonymous Coward
  
  I have a 15.6"
  
  and i only come up for air at mealtimes :)
  
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Tuesday 18th May 2010 22:57 GMT Wibble

Keyboard backlight brightness

You'll be wanting the F5 and F6 keys to raise and lower the brightness.

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Wednesday 19th May 2010 09:16 GMT J. Cook

Meh- It is what it is.

What I would like to see (but will never, <b>ever</b> happen) is to see either Apple license (Gasp, Shock!) the magsafe connector to some other company, or have some other company come up with an equivalent.

My friend who runs a computer shop and who is the only person within 100 miles that has the chutzpah to replace broken power connectors would disagree, but he's not typing this comment. :D

Apple: You get what you pay for: an elegantly designed (if a bit *too* clever at times), tightly integrated hardware and software platform that my mum can use without pestering my every 30 minutes with "how do I do..." questions. and the hardware tends to last a bit longer then the equivalently spec'd out business grade systems from Dell, Toshiba, and others. (I'll not pick on IBM, because they would be #2 under "machines I'd give to my mum without having to worry about the hardware going foom")

Mines the flame-resistant one with the power assist and armour plating.

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Wednesday 19th May 2010 09:16 GMT bex

observations

Macbooks have to only power connector on laptops that can't be damaged by rough handling, sure the power connector it self can go (i am on my third) but its far cheaper than taking your laptop to have the power socket changed.

Macbooks that said are really mean on supplied ports and why can't we have a usb on the right to plug a mouse into.

I love my macbook and use it every day but I still think the UI on vista or windows 7 is better, there are just stupid little things that annoy me.

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Wednesday 19th May 2010 09:16 GMT Piloti

Over priced pap ?

1700 quid for a laptop with not enough ports ?

Save a grand, buy a WINTEL, shove on Ubuntu and be happy and somewhat wealthier!

P.

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1. Wednesday 19th May 2010 11:44 GMT TeraTelnet
  
  Linux?
  
  Ugh, no thanks.
  
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2. Wednesday 19th May 2010 14:52 GMT Anonymous Coward
  
  DIY has disadvantages
  
  I've been using computers more or less since I built an Apple ][, and I've used probably about every OS there is, desktop as well as large scale, and that includes OS/2 and most of the versions of Unix out there. I've used Linux since Slackware came on 14 floppies..
  
  If there is one single lesson over all those years is that computing is not a hobby for everyone - sometimes you just need to get the job done.
  
  These days I recommend anyone to get a Mac. Ubuntu means having to find support and learning about computing (calling GNOME intuitive is only valid for people who have had no previous experience). Giving them Windows is digging a hole for yourself (guess who they'll ask when they nuke the box) and is in any case not a good idea because it's so bloody unsafe right out of the box, it's the equivalent of giving a learner driver a car without working brakes (gripe: by what measure can anyone call Windows 7 production ready if it isn't even safe out of the box?).
  
  Macs are easy. Support? Send them to the shop, it's not your problem. Virus threats? There's a lot less to learn/install/patch/maintain/suffer/{wait/reboot} for. Software? Enough available - and it's even a safer way to run Windows programs if you really have to.
  
  As for the price - start adding up the amount of money you have to throw at a Windows box to keep it safe, the amount of hassle you have to keep an Ubuntu platform supported (I've never found Kubuntu quite as "finished") and the cost of keeping a Wintel laptop battery powered for more than 3 hours and I think you'll find it's actually not all that expensive.
  
  Amazing as it is, I'm not an Apple fanatic - I only bought a Mac again last week - but it's precisely the above arguments that made me switch. I've had enough.
  
  I simply want to get my work done..
  
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Wednesday 19th May 2010 09:16 GMT Sorry that handle is already taken.

We've only been trying to tell you...

" Remember the Apple PowerBooks? They were pants. Of course, I didn't know this at the time. It's only now, having had the chance to play with Apple's latest MacBook Pro, that I realise that everything that came before it was so dreadfully ordinary."

Heh.

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Wednesday 19th May 2010 09:16 GMT General Pance

Three big problems

1. The MacOS is notoriously short of software and drivers. Not much point blaming say Canon for not including Mac software with its camera. Blame yourself for not thinking that was important when choosing an OS. When software is ported across it's usually cut back on features. Compare the Mac and Windows versions of uTorrent, for example.

2. No right-click button. No any click button. Just idiotic. Seriously. Steve Jobs: what an arrogant jerk.

3. Heavy. Stupidly heavy. You'll be lugging an extra KG just for the looks.

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1. Wednesday 19th May 2010 09:52 GMT Tim Cook
  
  No big problems
  
  1. There's plenty of software available for Mac (Valve have even launched Steam on the platform for gamers) and more useful pre-installed software than most people ever have on their PCs. Drivers? Say hello to fully automatic installation, just plug your printer in and it'll download whatever it needs. Canon camera? iPhoto knows it already. Oh, and with Mac OS X it's so much easier to try new software out - apps install by drag and drop, and uninstall just as easily - there's no register to bloat or corrupt.
  
  2. Yes right click-button. Macs have had them since 2001. This particular Macbook can be set to recognise a click on the right of the pad, or (by default) a two-finger click using the wonders of multitouch. The whole pad is a button, it clicks, don't knock it till you've at least heard of it.
  
  3. It's solid aluminium, built to last. It's worth it.
  
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2. Wednesday 19th May 2010 09:52 GMT Sean Timarco Baggaley
  
  Oh dear.
  
  You clearly haven't even seen a Mac since the mid-90s.
  
  1. I *have* a Canon camera. OS X sees it just fine and even offers me a choice of apps to import into. (iPhoto does a pretty good job.) Apple will write drivers for a manufacturer if need be, but most cameras these days use the same USB "Mass Storage Device" standard anyway, so it's not necessary. Oh, and "Transmission" p*sses all over uTorrent, which is crap even on Windows.
  
  2. Er, right-click is achieved using a two-finger click. (Or a [CTRL]+click on really old Macs built in the 1990s.) The current (and previous) Apple mouse support both left- and right-clicking. And you've been able to plug any USB mouse into a Mac since the first iMac appeared way back in the 1990s. How many Windows laptops have *proper* multitouch trackpads? Oh right: that'd be just Apple's Macbook series! Seriously, if you've never tried multitouch, you're missing out. It's the new "right-click".
  
  3. Unlike the 17" Hewlett-Packard laptop my mother has which is the size of a paving slab and twice as heavy. Thanks, but no thanks: I'll stick with my 17" Macbook. It's not hard to find thin and light Windows laptops, but it's damned hard to find one that can match a Macbook spec-for-spec, and for ease-of-use, *for the same price*.
  
  I have to use Windows 7 at work, but I run it in a VM on my 2007-era Macbook Pro. I'm just about to splash out on the new 17" Macbook Pro model, while my current laptop will be sold, second-hand, for about £699 or so. Try getting that kind of ROI from a Dell.
  
  @ the guy who wittered about Ubuntu: You, sir, win the Missed The Point Award. Apple's gear isn't just about the hardware. It's about the *combination* of both hardware and software. Ubuntu is no OS X. (Come to think of it, it's no Windows either. Sure, it's free, but you can see where the money went.)
  
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3. Wednesday 19th May 2010 14:52 GMT ColonelClaw
  
  Nice try
  
  You remind me of those government ministers who criticised the Chris Morris Brass Eye pedo special even though they hadn't actually seen it
  
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4. Thursday 20th May 2010 06:28 GMT Ivan Headache
  
  oh not another one!
  
  How many times has it to be written "Macs DO NOT HAVE a one button mouse" ?
  
  I think Steve ought to pay to have that put up on the Hollywood hill so that even myopic windows users can read it.
  
  Notoriously short of software? Please describe your version of notorious. Some of us use our macs to earn our living - and we do it with the software that is readily available. So far (in excess of 15 years) I haven't been prevented from doing what I need to do by any shortage of software.
  
  What has drivers for a camera got to do with a computer that has an SD slot. I have not connected my cameras (any of them) to my computers (any of them - even those without slots - which is most of them) for over 5 years. Yet the pictures and the movies are all there, ready to use.
  
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5. Thursday 20th May 2010 06:28 GMT Volker Hett
  
  no problem for me
  
  There's all the software I need, Informix, Oracle, Postgresql, Mysql, all the scripting languages ....
  
  My Canon 5D came with Mac Software but I prefer Lightroom.
  
  Only thing missing is a VMware VSphere client, but I can log in to one of the VMs via MS Remote Desktop when I need that.
  
  Instead of right click I have two finger click and much more which makes me wishing for a touchpad with my desktop PC
  
  It's less heavy than every other 15" Notebook with more then 6 hours batterie life and a DVD Burner built in I've ever seen, and I do see lot's of those at work.
  
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6. Thursday 20th May 2010 06:28 GMT Shingo Tamai
  
  General Pance
  
  Actually...
  
  - Canon does have software for Macs
  
  - There is a right click
  
  - Still lighter than an Acer
  
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7. Thursday 20th May 2010 07:33 GMT Anonymous Coward
  
  Re: Three big problems
  
  1. I have a Canon 7D, has always worked perfectly with my 2006 Mac Pro and 2009 MBP. Even the remote software works great in the field (tho I wish the matte display had been available when I bought it - it is now, on 17" MBPs). Bought a new Epson WiFi printer last night, installed without a hitch and the drivers (even tho still Universal binaries - come on Epson!) work flawlessly. Installed the same drivers & Net Config software on my Windows 7 PC and...christ don't even get me started. uTorrent? What do you want it to do? Pour drinks?
  
  2. No right click button? Eh?? Configure you trackpad for two-finger presses or bottom-left/bottom/right left/right clicks. It's INFINITELY better than the effing awful trackpads on my Dell laptop and Acer, which I can't use at all anymore after using the MBP for a year.
  
  3. WTF are you talking about? Are you comparing it to a netbook or something??
  
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Wednesday 19th May 2010 09:52 GMT Ian Ferguson

Three what problems?

1. I use pro Canon cameras all the time with MacOS and Windows. All RAW formats I've come across are automatically read by iPhoto and Aperture. Trying to get them read in Windows is hell on earth.

Sure, there's not quite as much range of software for MacOS than there is in Windows, but for 99% of the time, the software available is of a better quality and sufficient for needs. There aren't many people except for the odd techie who will actually find MacOS restricts their abilities.

2. Uh, it says in the review - push with two fingers to right click. Steve Jobs may well be an arrogant jerk but the old 'Macs only cope with one button' argument is old and wrong.

3. Comparing power for power and battery for battery, MacBooks seem to me lighter than PC equivalents; unless you go for the really cheap budget Taiwanese brands with light plastic cases. These won't last long if you actually move them around!

I use both Windows and MacOS, but Mac laptops are the only laptops I'll buy. Love or hate Apple, they have the selling power to design and sell in bulk really solid, durable laptops that won't crack motherboards or overheat after six months of use.

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Wednesday 19th May 2010 09:52 GMT Columbus

Firewire 800

The firewire port is needed for one of the Macbooks party tricks - Target disk mode, also TCP/IP over IP can be really useful in some locations.

I'm not a fanboi but you do get what you pay for - comparing a MacBook to a plastic PC is like comparing a BMW to a Korean car- they may do the same job with the same features but which is the best one?

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Wednesday 19th May 2010 10:16 GMT Velocity

@General Pance

1. I've never been short of any drivers since using my MBP.

uTorrent for Windows has been in development for many years, the Mac client hasn't. Give it a chance. And why you would choose to use it above Transmission is baffling anyway.

2. There is a right click button too, which the article forgot to mention.

However, they did mention there was a click button though so you might want to actually read next time.

3. People have commented to me how light it is compared to their laptops of a similar size, it's no Air but it's not "stupidly heavy".

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Wednesday 19th May 2010 14:52 GMT Anonymous Coward

Weight

A dell box of similar spec (i5, 500gb, etc) is similarly 2.5kg and that is for a plastic box? You can throw many arguments at the macbook pro but overweight for spec it isn't..

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Wednesday 19th May 2010 14:52 GMT Disintegrationnotallowed

Also

Most Mac owners would keep firewire to be honest, as most have a firewire external connection of some kind (cameras, hard disks, etc).

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Wednesday 19th May 2010 14:52 GMT roundyz

er..

Tobo be honest for this cost, I'd rather a Thinkpad x201. Looks aside that is.

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1. Thursday 20th May 2010 06:28 GMT Volker Hett
  
  X201 is 12" here
  
  but out of curiosity I speced a T500 close to my Macbook Pro at the cheapest online shop I found, I paid some 1400 Euro for a MBP with 7200 rpm 500GB HDD and 4GB RAM and 9400+9600 Nvidia last year, the Lenovo T500 closest to that, i.e. 4GB 1333MHz DDR3 RAM, > 5h battery, discrete NVidia graphics, 7200rpm 500GB hdd and Windows7 Ultimate, cost 2200 Euro today
  
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Thursday 20th May 2010 06:28 GMT Disintegrationnotallowed

On Prices

Similar spec (as you can) Dell box: £879, so yes a full £800 cheaper, but in a nasty plastic box.

IBM x201 - i can understand the liking of it but not comparable really different job? Smaller 12" screen, HD intel graphics only, more comparable to the mbp 13" and more comparable to it in price too, so then it comes downs to osx or win7

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Thursday 20th May 2010 06:28 GMT Lotus 80

Paint wear....

If MBPs are a "premium product" then how come on my travels I see so many with the silver paint worn off the palm rests and keys? Looks awful and from the couple of people I've spoken to with the problem, it doesn't seem to take long to happen.

...but then I guess its not that big of a deal if you're a true fanboi. You just go out and buy a new one, which is precisely what His Jobsness commands of you.

Funny how my low-quality Windoze 17" VAIO BX has been in daily use for three years yet shows no such signs.

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1. Thursday 20th May 2010 07:33 GMT Adam T
  
  Re: Paint wear....
  
  The paint wear you've seen is almost certainly the old Titanium MBPs. The aluminium MBPs have no paint finish - it's a brushed surface, and is easily restored to good-as-new with a damp cloth, even by the most greasy of users.
  
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2. Thursday 20th May 2010 10:39 GMT Trogdor
  
  Known fault
  
  The issue you're describing was a known fault in the previous generation - purely cosmetic but annoying nonetheless - where the metallic paint reacted with finger grease. Unfortunate, but one of those long term manufacturing flaws that only becomes apparent over time, and has befallen plenty of other manufacturers.
  
  The current generation unibody Macbook Pros are the answer to that very problem - not painted silver, not plated, not glued together, but solid aluminium to the core. They'll scratch if you're not careful, but they'll never fade/peel/pit/discolour/weaken/creak or generally fall apart - they're literally carved from solid metal.
  
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Friday 28th May 2010 07:41 GMT Cunningly Linguistic

MacOSX GUI not flexible enough

I have PCs and Macs at home with a Dell Inspiron laptop though if I could afford (and justify) the price of a MBP I'd want it to run Win7. OSX has far too many little niggles, e.g. trying to resize a window from any edge, maximising a window to a genuine full screen, closing a window doesn't close the app... and a few more others all conspire to drive me nuts.

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1. Friday 28th May 2010 21:19 GMT madferret
  
  So do it!
  
  Not much stopping you running Windows on an MBP. I have Windows 7 happily chugging away in Space 3 of my MacBook. Through Parallels, all the Windoze icons are there in the Mac dock. So I have the best of both OSes - have you tried installing Mac OSX on your PC?
  
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