Review: New MacBook Pro

[editor]

The FedEx guy brought my new 17" MacBook Pro on Monday morning. I've had just about 24 hours to play with it now. Here are a few first impressions:

• Pro: Battery life is stupendous. I ordered an extra battery, but probably didn't need to. I've been doing heavy surfing and photo browsing here at Starbucks for two hours now and the battery meter still says I have 3:56 left. I do have Bluetooth turned off, since I don't have any Bluetooth devices, but the wifi's been getting a workout.
  
• Con: The computer has the same latching mechanism as my old PowerBook G4 -- the same latch that broke on my last computer about a year after I got it and I spent the next four years with a computer that wouldn't close unless I placed it on a desk upside down. We'll see if this latch holds up any better.
  
• Pro: The trackpad is the same as the MacBook Air, so I can make use of the full spectrum of trackpad gestures like swiping with three fingers to advance to the next page of a PDF, or using pinch-and-spread motions to zoom in and out of images, Google maps, and other things like on an iPhone. A neat touch with this is that in System Preferences when you set up these features, there are little videos that play next to the selections so that you can see how to do what you want and what affect your changes will have.
  
• Pro: It came with a nice screen cleaning cloth, like an HDTV does. Nice little touch.
  
• Pro: The keyboard backlight is much more useable on this machine than on the PowerBook. This is probably because it's LEDs now instead of fluorescent tubes. But before I didn't bother using the keyboard backlight unless I was in complete darkness. Now it kicks in if I'm in a moderately dim area, and it really makes a difference.
  
• Con: The S-Video port is gone. The full-size DVI port remains, and it comes with a DVI-VGA adapter.
  
• Pro: The S-Video port has been replaced by a THIRD USB port. Not that I'll ever use it. I'm a Firewire guy.
  
• Con: Dreamweaver MX2004 doesn't work on Intel machines, even under Rosetta. Guess it's time to upgrade.
  
• Pro: The screen. I got the 1920x1200 glossy screen, and it's totally worth the extra hundred bucks. Apple finally has LED backlights in the 17 inch machines, and it's just the brightest, clearest, thing I've ever gazed upon. I can even leave the fonts in their default (small) size because it's so bright and clear. The fonts on my PowerBook look huge by comparison. I guess I made them that way to make up for the dimness of the old display.
  

More to come..

[editor]

• Con: The [Enter] key I'm used to using is now an [Option] key. Time to break a bad habit.
  
• Pro: The overlaid numeric keypad is gone. That means F6 is no longer [Num Lock], and there aren't stray little numbers scattered across the keyboard.
  
• Hmm: There are no Apple logos on this machine, except a small one on the back. They've been removed from the [Command] (Double-Infinity) key.
  
• Awk: The volume keys are now F10, F11, F12 instead of F3, F4, F5. Another habit I'm going to have to break.
  
• Pro: Expose and Dshboard now have their own keys on the keyboard (F3, and F4).
  
• Pro: Media players now have their own control keys on the keyboard. F7-F9 are ow Rewind, Play/Pause, and Fast wind.
  
• Hmm: The Caps Lock light is bright and green now, not dim and yellow.
  
• Hmm: The Eject key doesn't share a F-key. It is it's own.
  
• Pro: The ambient light sensor is much more aggressive. In my old PowerBook it could take a few minutes to notice a change from light to dark. Now the change happens within a few seconds.
  

[Jeebus]

I bought a 15" Macbook Pro about 2-3 weeks ago..

My biggest cons:

• Con: When rendering video, the MBP can reach temperatures in access of 160 degrees internally, and nearly 130 degrees externally (the aluminum casing).
  
• Con: No "Delete" key as found on full size keyboards. Instead you only have the pc standard "Backspace" key, labelled on the MBP as "Delete".
  
• Con:When resting your hands on the keyboard, at the bottom edge where the top and front side meet, and where the bottom of your wrists lay, there is a small (and by small, I mean as thin as a sheet of paper) gap where it can catch forearm hair and painfully & annoyingly pull on them.
  
• Con: No "USB-Card" reader built-in as found on 99% of other PC laptops.
  

My favorite pros:

• Pro: The aluminum casing allows the MBP to be refreshingly cold to the touch after sitting in a cool dark place (ie: laptop case indoors)
  
• Pro: The multi-touch track-pad.
  
• Pro: Instantly responsive auto-dimming screen AND keyboard.
  
• Pro: Intel-chip allowing for Windows native booting.
  
• Pro: "Spaces" the new feature in 10.5 (Leopard) that allows you to have multiple desktops running at one time, with a navigation screen where you can drag and drop, and organize the various screens as well.
  

Of course my list of Pro's is endless, but these are the new "pros" I've found thus far.

[woolie]

The battery life is not stupendous. Give it a couple hundred charge cycles. I'm on my third battery.

[houstonmacbro]

Congrats! Sounds like a sweet machine!

As you know I am also on a new Mac (Blackbook) and love it. Still not in LOVE with the keyboard, but it is not as bad as I imagined or first impressions using it.

I just got bad news ... I hear the MBPs and the MBs are being redesigned in June/July... but heck. That's 2 months away and I needed a new machine now.

I bought a 15" Macbook Pro about 2-3 weeks ago..

My biggest cons:

• No "USB-Card" reader built-in as found on 99% of other PC laptops.
  

My favorite pros:

• Pro: Intel-chip allowing for Windows native booting.
  
• Pro: "Spaces" the new feature in 10.5 (Leopard) that allows you to have multiple desktops running at one time, with a navigation screen where you can drag and drop, and organize the various screens as well.
  

Of course my list of Pro's is endless, but these are the new "pros" I've found thus far.

I wonder why Apple hasn't built more card readers into their machines?

Also I have to agree. Being able to boot Windows natively is a big plus for me. As a grad student I have the occasional need to work in Windows only applications. I can now do that on my MB and booting is a lot faster than I remember on my Powerbook.

I am still trying to understand Spaces, but as yet it hasn't caught on or I am doing something wrong?

[Jeebus]

The battery life is not stupendous. Give it a couple hundred charge cycles. I'm on my third battery.

I've already complete 30 cycles and I'm at 97 percent health. I guess mathematically, at an average of 10 cycles a week, which also consumes approximately 1% health, will give me 97 more weeks, or less than two years before I'll need a new battery at the rate.

Granted, I run my MBP like a 10 year old kid in a south-east Asian sneaker sweat-shop.

[houstonmacbro]

I've already complete 30 cycles and I'm at 97 percent health. I guess mathematically, at an average of 10 cycles a week, which also consumes approximately 1% health, will give me 97 more weeks, or less than two years before I'll need a new battery at the rate.

Granted, I run my MBP like a 10 year old kid in a south-east Asian sneaker sweat-shop.

Question ... what constitutes a cycle? I transport my computer from home to work most days. Does unplugging and replugging (while sleeping) constitute a new cycle? Or only when the charge falls below a certain percentage and you recharge?

[Jeebus]

I just got bad news ... I hear the MBPs and the MBs are being redesigned in June/July... but heck. That's 2 months away and I needed a new machine now.

Not bad news here, I absolutely love this design. You have a black Macbook and still need something newer?

I wonder why Apple hasn't built more card readers into their machines?

Arrogance.

I am still trying to understand Spaces, but as yet it hasn't caught on or I am doing something wrong?

Go to your system prefs to turn it on, then give it a hot corner. Now open a bunch of windows (word, firefox, photoshop, etc etc) and mouse over to that hot corner. Not drag those various open windows to the screen you want, sorting them out. Then finally, click on the screen you want.

Wash, rinse, repeat.

I almost bought a black Macbook, but was too scared of the integrated graphics card, so I instead shelled out the extra to get a MBP. If I didn't do video/photo work, I would have gone with the Macbook with no hesitation.

Question ... what constitutes a cycle? I transport my computer from home to work most days. Does unplugging and replugging (while sleeping) constitute a new cycle? Or only when the charge falls below a certain percentage and you recharge?

I think when it drops below a certain percentage and then you recharge to a certain percentage. In my case, I take it on the road and work until 20%, then bring it home and re-charge back to 100%.

[woolie]

What should constitute a charge is the total amount of lifetime charging divided by the battery capacity. I believe this is how li-ion batteries are rated; two 50% charges is equivalent to a 100% charge. I think it's complicated by the fact that complete discharges wear the system more than half-discharges, though.

The reason Apple laptops don't have integrated card readers is because integrated card readers are a waste of space and stupid. Which formats would they support? This is rightly the domain of a card reader. Personally I use bulky CF cards. I'd rather not have to make that amount of space available inside the case.

Losing the optical drive is a big step in the right direction.

[houstonmacbro]

But Spaces only works with open apps right? Or can I just goto the different 'spaces' when I need and open apps in that workspace?

Also, I would imagine to make it run most effectively I would need more than 1GB of RAM?

[Jeebus]

The reason Apple laptops don't have integrated card readers is because integrated card readers are a waste of space and stupid. Which formats would they support? This is rightly the domain of a card reader. Personally I use bulky CF cards. I'd rather not have to make that amount of space available inside the case.

I don't think they're stupid. How else can you quickly download pictures from your digital camera, or other people's cameras? Perhaps Bluetooth, but not all cameras offer that. The latest integrated card readers don't use that much space, and most are able to fit multiple size cards into one slot.

Losing the optical drive is a big step in the right direction.

I've debated this one as well. I think it's more gimmick than anything. It's highly impractical to expect to be able to install everything from another computer because your computer doesn't have a disc drive. What about those without a second mac to slave off of or connect to via a network? What about making home movies? Data back-ups? Throw-down disk copies to mail (at least until I can buy 5 gb usb drives in 50 packs for 20 bucks)?

The Mac Air and its successors might be great additions to one's digital fleet, but without a "carrier" to base from, it's worthless.

[woolie]

I don't think they're stupid. How else can you quickly download pictures from your digital camera, or other people's cameras? Perhaps Bluetooth, but not all cameras offer that. The latest integrated card readers don't use that much space, and most are able to fit multiple size cards into one slot.

You realize that almost every single camera supports USB mode and allows files to be downloaded directly? This has been standard since at least 2003; almost every camera I have seen since then has a mini-USB connector. So does my phone. Even then... they make small USB card readers. Personally I use the reader integrated into my external monitor.

Anyway, I use my MBP all day long, every day. What I want is a high powered 13" machine with discrete graphics and without an optical drive. The MacBook Air is not powerful enough. We have a couple of them around and nobody likes them.

[Jeebus]

But Spaces only works with open apps right? Or can I just goto the different 'spaces' when I need and open apps in that workspace?

Yes! to both. When multi-tasking I will hot button to spaces, pick a blank window and launch my application there. Sometimes when working with multiple finder windows, I'll hot button to spaces and then spread the work out over my 4 screens. You can have up to 16 screens I think.

Also, I would imagine to make it run most effectively I would need more than 1GB of RAM?

Depending on the app, 1 gig should be fine.

You realize that almost every single camera supports USB mode and allows files to be downloaded directly? This has been standard since at least 2003; almost every camera I have seen since then has a mini-USB connector.

Yes, but that's another cable to mess with. I like cables about as much as you like optical drives.

[houstonmacbro]

You realize that almost every single camera supports USB mode and allows files to be downloaded directly? This has been standard since at least 2003; almost every camera I have seen since then has a mini-USB connector. So does my phone. Even then... they make small USB card readers. Personally I use the reader integrated into my external monitor.

Anyway, I use my MBP all day long, every day. What I want is a high powered 13" machine with discrete graphics and without an optical drive. The MacBook Air is not powerful enough. We have a couple of them around and nobody likes them.

I think the MBA (Macbook Air) has it's place, but not on my desk or in my laptop bag. But I have modest computing needs so maybe it would work just fine as well.

It's funny because when I bought this machine (a refurbished Blackbook, 2.2.Ghz and Superdrive) I had lived without a Superdrive on my Powerbook for so long, all I could imagine is burning CDs. I CAN burn DVDs now, but have absolutely no desire or need for it..

[woolie]

I would recommend maxing out the memory. 2gb is not enough. I'd go for 4gb if you care to do any serious work at all.

I didn't care for "Spaces" when it was called Virtual Desktops in X11, and I don't care for it now.

[Jeebus]

It's funny because when I bought this machine (a refurbished Blackbook, 2.2.Ghz and Superdrive) I had lived without a Superdrive on my Powerbook for so long, all I could imagine is burning CDs. I CAN burn DVDs now, but have absolutely no desire or need for it..

Yeah, unless you're dealing with large files or make movies, the DVD burner doesn't have much use besides installing some software.

[houstonmacbro]

I am not much of a power user. But I am a power 'net addict.

I would recommend maxing out the memory. 2gb is not enough. I'd go for 4gb if you care to do any serious work at all.

I didn't care for "Spaces" when it was called Virtual Desktops in X11, and I don't care for it now.

Yeah, I am planning on new memory later this Spring (possibly summer).

One thing I have noticed is that it seems (no proof) that Leopard uses memory more efficiently than Tiger? Seems like I have much more available memory (with little paging if any) than I ever did under Tiger. Tiger seemed to make my 1GB Powerbook churn like it was making butter.

[editor]

I bought a 15" Macbook Pro about 2-3 weeks ago..

My biggest cons:

• Con: When rendering video, the MBP can reach temperatures in access of 160 degrees internally, and nearly 130 degrees externally (the aluminum casing).

Yeah, Apple has a long history of letting its computers run hot. I guess that's why they call them "notebook" instead of "laptop" these days. When I get around to doing some video work the heat probably won't bother me because I work on a table most of the time.

Con: No "Delete" key as found on full size keyboards. Instead you only have the pc standard "Backspace" key, labelled on the MBP as "Delete".

Actually [Delete] is the correct name for that key. The Windows world borrowed [backspace] from typewriters, but [backspace] isn't the same thing. [backspace] moves the cursor (print head) back one character non-destructively (Back a Space) so that a second character can be overlaid (as in the circle with a slash that computers used to use for zero, or the lower-case B with a slash that was sometimes used to indicate a blank space, or umlauts over a vowel, etc...). [Delete] is for moving the cursor back while removing the character underneath. In the 70's and 80's, computers all had [Delete] keys, and Apple continues with them to this day. The Windows convention of using the [backspace] nomenclature came from when typewriter companies got into the peripheral and IBM clone business and used their old keyboards without updating them for the computer age.
The key you're looking for is the forward delete. There are a bunch of free programs that will remap your little-used [\] key to a forward-delete for you. Check Versiontracker.com.

Con:When resting your hands on the keyboard, at the bottom edge where the top and front side meet, and where the bottom of your wrists lay, there is a small (and by small, I mean as thin as a sheet of paper) gap where it can catch forearm hair and painfully & annoyingly pull on them.

I haven't had this problem, even though I'm pretty hairy in the arm area. It may be because I have the big 17" computer, not the little 15" one, so there's more space between the keyboard and the front edge of the machine. Or maybe I'm not as hairy as you. Either way, that's got to keep you awake while typing! Ouch! Maybe it will become less of a problem as the hairs are removed.

Con: No "USB-Card" reader built-in as found on 99% of other PC laptops.

Doesn't the 15" model have an Expresscard slot?

My favorite pros:

• Pro: The aluminum casing allows the MBP to be refreshingly cold to the touch after sitting in a cool dark place (ie: laptop case indoors)

Except in Summer when you put it on your bare thighs when you shorts ride up. Eeeep!

Pro: The multi-touch track-pad.

Pro: Instantly responsive auto-dimming screen AND keyboard.

Pro: Intel-chip allowing for Windows native booting.

Pro: "Spaces" the new feature in 10.5 (Leopard) that allows you to have multiple desktops running at one time, with a navigation screen where you can drag and drop, and organize the various screens as well.

Spaces isn't exactly new. This feature has been available on computers as far back as the mid-80's. The Amiga was the first big machine to have it, though. The Mac got it in 1986, but then it was dropped from OS X. Glad to have it back again, and I have to say the Leopard implementation is much smoother and more useful than previous incarnations.

Of course my list of Pro's is endless, but these are the new "pros" I've found thus far.

I'm actually really surprised that you're a Mac user. For some reason I had you pictured as a die-hard Compaq/HP/Dell guy. I guess I learn something new every day.

[editor]

Congrats! Sounds like a sweet machine!

I just got bad news ... I hear the MBPs and the MBs are being redesigned in June/July... but heck. That's 2 months away and I needed a new machine now.

Apple is constantly redesigning its computers. If you waited to buy yours every time you heard a rumor of a new one coming out, you'd never get one.

MacRumors has a great web page for telling whether you should buy now or wait.

Your MacBook is listed as "Buy - Product recently updated" so you should be good.

I wonder why Apple hasn't built more card readers into their machines?

The only reason I can think is that on the consumer line (MacBook) -- the people that's targeted to tend to take pictures with their cell phones so why have a big ugly slot screwing up airflow in what is already a very thermally challenging environment. People who crossover can always attach an external reader.

For the professional line (MacBook Pro) there is an Expresscard slot on the side that can accept multi-card readers that cost as little as $10. But most professional photographers use Firewire readers anyway because they're so much faster than either the Expresscard or USB standard.

Also I have to agree. Being able to boot Windows natively is a big plus for me. As a grad student I have the occasional need to work in Windows only applications. I can now do that on my MB and booting is a lot faster than I remember on my Powerbook.

Have you tried Parallels, or the other similar products? Then you can run your Windows apps right on your Mac desktop side-by-side with your regular programs.

I am still trying to understand Spaces, but as yet it hasn't caught on or I am doing something wrong?

Spaces isn't for everyone. I used it for a while, then stopped for a couple of years, and now I find myself using it again. Most people won't even miss it.

I've already complete 30 cycles and I'm at 97 percent health. I guess mathematically, at an average of 10 cycles a week, which also consumes approximately 1% health, will give me 97 more weeks, or less than two years before I'll need a new battery at the rate.

Granted, I run my MBP like a 10 year old kid in a south-east Asian sneaker sweat-shop.

That sounds about right. I got my PowerBook in November, 2003 and replaced the battery in April, 2005.

I find it really helpful to write the date of purchase on the inside-facing part of the battery in Sharpie so I don't get them confused.

I think when it drops below a certain percentage and then you recharge to a certain percentage. In my case, I take it on the road and work until 20%, then bring it home and re-charge back to 100%.

Apple has a web page that explains batteries and cycles.

Here's a helpful image:

[houstonmacbro]

MacRumors has a great web page for telling whether you should buy now or wait.

Your MacBook is listed as "Buy - Product recently updated" so you should be good.

The only reason I can think is that on the consumer line (MacBook) -- the people that's targeted to tend to take pictures with their cell phones so why have a big ugly slot screwing up airflow in what is already a very thermally challenging environment. People who crossover can always attach an external reader.

Have you tried Parallels, or the other similar products? Then you can run your Windows apps right on your Mac desktop side-by-side with your regular programs.

Spaces isn't for everyone. I used it for a while, then stopped for a couple of years, and now I find myself using it again. Most people won't even miss it.

Apple has a web page that explains batteries and cycles.

Here's a helpful image:

Thanks for the info. I am not all that worried about longevity of my machine. I mean, afterall ... I have held onto my Powerbook for 3+ years and expect to do the same with this Macbook unless something else comes along that is just too irresistable to pass up.

Anyhow, I have experimented with Spaces the past day or so and I am intrigued. I think I would like using it better with a mouse though.

Since there seem to be a few of us Mac users here, would you consider a Mac forum category?

[editor]

Losing the optical drive is a big step in the right direction.

Yeah, but Apple will take a lot of flack for being so forward-looking. Again.

Remember when Apple dropped parallel printer ports? The MS-DOS world shrieked in horror and predicted Apple was about to go out of business.

Remember when Apple dropped floppy drives? The Dell-heads chuckled and said it was the end of Apple. Who would ever buy a computer without a floppy drive?

Now Apple's chucking out the optical drive. I can see why. The most recent software I purchased:

-Transmit

-Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended

-iWork '08

-EasyBatchPhoto

All were downloaded, not shipped on a piece of plastic.

I can understand people being worried about having to reinstall their operating system, but that's really just a leftover Windows/DOS fear. In the five years I've had my Powerbook I've re-installed the operating system exactly zero times. In the six years my wife had her iBook, she reinstalled the operating system exactly zero times. Re-installation is as legacy as parallel ports and floppy drives.

Again, I think Apple is way ahead on this and that's why it's hard for a lot of people to see. The future is in transmitted content, not shipped content. Look at the explosion of Video-on-Demand and other streamed and downloaded content (AppleTV, iTunes). Five years from now people are going to look at their Blu-Ray players the way they look at their VHS machines today.

[houstonmacbro]

Yeah, I remember when they dropped the floppy support. People we horrified, but when USB came along and CD/DVD ROMs took off, no one batted an eye.

[editor]

I don't think they're stupid. How else can you quickly download pictures from your digital camera, or other people's cameras?

On a Mac, you just plug the camera into the computer's USB port. It's not Windows, so you don't have to worry about not having the right drivers and software and stuff.

What about those without a second mac to slave off of or connect to via a network?

Slave off a PC. It works on Windows, too.

What about making home movies?

Home movie making is not something everyone does. For those who are into that, they can buy the $99 external optical drive. I doubt that more than 3% of Americans use their computers to make home movies.

Data back-ups?

Are you seriously still backing up your data on optical discs? How many do you have now? 500? 1,000? How do you sort through all those? Backing up a modest 200GB hard drive is 50 discs. Who spends 10 hours backing up their computer? We're not talking future tech here -- most people who are serious about backing stuff up are doing it on cheap, fast, easy external or network drives. That's what Apple's Time Machine is for. Or if you prefer to go the traditional route, Apple still has the regular Backup program.

Throw-down disk copies to mail (at least until I can buy 5 gb usb drives in 50 packs for 20 bucks)?

Mail? How about internet? You'll spend less time uploading a 5GB file to a host than you'll spend duplicating 50 DVDs, packing them, labeling them, and standing in line at the Post Office. And don't tell me about people without internet access. My in-laws live off the freaking grid and they have internet.

The Mac Air and its successors might be great additions to one's digital fleet, but without a "carrier" to base from, it's worthless.

While the Air has some flaws and is certainly bleeding-edge tech for a lot of people, I think it's far from worthless. In fact, for the majority of people who just want to surf, read mail, balance their checkbook, and play the occasional game, it's actually the perfect computer. I don't disagree that it's not the right computer for you, but you're not the average computer user. And the fact that you're using the old Dell Docking Station aircraft carrier analogy shows that you've been a corporate Windows user for a long time.

I would recommend maxing out the memory. 2gb is not enough. I'd go for 4gb if you care to do any serious work at all.

2GB is more than enough for most people. I was doing "serious" work on my PowerBook with 1.5GB. Unlike the Windows world, on the Mac side the solution isn't always throwing more memory at the problem.

One thing I have noticed is that it seems (no proof) that Leopard uses memory more efficiently than Tiger? Seems like I have much more available memory (with little paging if any) than I ever did under Tiger. Tiger seemed to make my 1GB Powerbook churn like it was making butter.

Leopard should work better than Tiger. That's the history of Apple's OS X line. When I bought my wife's iBook it came with OS 9 and a coupon for Puma. Puma was great. Her computer was 500 MHz with 768megs of RAM and a 10GB disk. As we upgraded through Jaguar, Panther, and Tiger the computer kept "feeling" faster. With OS X, the experience gets better. It's not like Windows where you have to add memory or hard drive space or whatever each time you upgrade the operating system.

Sadly, I sold the iBook so we'll never know how it would have performed under Leopard.

[houstonmacbro]

As I've mentioned, I am not sure, but it seems Leopard is very frugal with memory. Same apps, same type of user experience and I often have tons (over 100MBs) of memory available on just my 1GB stick. When I was on Tiger it was constantly churning the disc using swap (?) space.

[editor]

As I've mentioned, I am not sure, but it seems Leopard is very frugal with memory. Same apps, same type of user experience and I often have tons (over 100MBs) of memory available on just my 1GB stick. When I was on Tiger it was constantly churning the disc using swap (?) space.

I guess it's possible. I haven't really followed the memory model for Leopard. It's my understanding that all of the OS X versions prior to Leopard worked under the philosophy of "Free RAM is wasted RAM" and would pre-load as many of your common tasks as possible so they'd be ready to go (similar to Windows' ReadyBoost). Maybe other people had thrashing problems, too, and they changed things.

[woolie]

It doesn't preload anything, it just likes to keep a healthy disk cache in memory. Anyway, I have 2gb (max) on my first-run macbook pro. I do alot of very memory intensive things and I swap *all*the*time.* It is the single biggest factor driving me towards a new machine.

Contrary to others experience, my Mac is very memory hungry. Right now 1.4gb of shared libraries alone are loaded. User programs are using about another 600mb of private memory. If I started up photoshop or any part of office, I'd be pushed into swap no prob.

[editor]

Pro: I can see more colors because of the better screen. I don't know if this is because of the new LED backlight instead of the CCFL backlight, but when I look at HAIF I only just now noticed that every other message is a little darker or lighter than the other -- like the old green and white printer paper. It's a feature I always thought should be in the software, and it turns out it's already there!

This is probably old news for most of you, but odd numbered messages are #EEF2F7 while even numbered messages are #F5F9FD.

I could never see it on my old computer, even though the screen was color calibrated with hardware (Spyder) not just software. I guess it's because the new screen is so much brighter.

[editor]

Here are come pictures comparing the MacBook Pro (top) with the PowerBook (bottom)

Front:

MacBook Pro: IR, Lid latch, DVD

PowerBook: Lid Latch, DVD

Back:

Not much to see here other than the MacBook Pro has two screws and some kind of rubber insert in the middle of the hinge. The PowerBook is uninterrupted.

Right side:

MacBook Pro ports: Cable lock, USB, Firewire 40, Firewire 800, Ethernet, DVI

PowerBook ports: USB, Firewire 400, Firewire 800, Ethernet, S-Video, DVI

So we lost the S-Video link and the cable lock moved over from the other side. Also, the Powerbook has vents where the MBP doesn't. Also on the PowerBook you can see a change in color near the top of the computer -- this I believe is one of the Wifi or Bluetooth antennae.

Left Side:

MacBook Pro ports: Power, USB, USB, TOSLink, Headphones, Expresscard/34

PowerBook ports: Cable lock, Power, Modem, USB, PCMCIA, TOSLink, Headphones

So the PCMCIA port has been replaced by an Expresscard port, the modem has been eliminated, the cable lock moved to the other side, and a USB port added.

Like the other side -- the PowerBook has vents and an antenna while the MacBook Pro is seamless.

Putting the computers on top of each other shows that the new version is slightly longer and than its predecessor. It just barely fits in my bag now, where the PowerBook was a good fit. The MBP feels slightly thinner, but I haven't measured it.

[editor]

Con: It is not possible to hot-swap batteries. I used to do this with the PowerBook all the time. It's simply not possible n the MacBook Pro.

[woolie]

Con: It is not possible to hot-swap batteries. I used to do this with the PowerBook all the time. It's simply not possible n the MacBook Pro.

hibernate before swapping batteries.