new MacBook Pro

[Kadarin]

The Valley Fair Apple Store in San Jose had a 17" hi-res matte finish 7200rpm unit in stock, so I of course just had to pick it up (along with the Applecare warranty and a copy of Parallels). So here I am posting from it...

Monday I'll grab a copy of either XP or Vista, along with Office, and I'll have fun installing all that along with extra memory if I manage to get some over the weekend.

This is a very nice machine, and I don't see anything wrong with it so far.

Anyway, this blog entry has been brought to you by Astaroth33, and the number 42.

 

[Kaido]

Congrats! 2gb stick for $120 here:

http://store.mcetech.com/Merch...MMBPRO&Product_Count=0

 

[dighn]

Nice. I'm seriously considering buying a MacBook for portable use at home. I already have a good desktop so I don't need the power of the MacBook Pro line. I've always wanted to try out MacOS X too.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Originally posted by: dighn
Nice. I'm seriously considering buying a MacBook for portable use at home. I already have a good desktop so I don't need the power of the MacBook Pro line. I've always wanted to try out MacOS X too.

I bought one about 6 months ago after not using a Mac since the 1980s. I love it. I am inclined to think I will probably only buy Macs from now on (particularly since I do nearly all gaming on a console nowadays, and that is really the only area in which PCs are markedly better IMO).

 

[flyboy84]

I'm about to go to mac for the first time as I return to graduate school in the fall. I'm probably going to order the 15.4" MBP 2.4GHz with 7200RPM HD from the educational store tonight.

 

[TMoney468]

Congrats on the new MBP. I just got my first Mac and MBP last Christmas and I've loved using it. The only thing I semi regret is that mine is the pre-Santa Rosa model so it can't natively access 4GB of ram (all though I think it can read 3.3 GB). I've been contemplating getting 2x2GB sticks anyway as I need to run Parallels/Fusion almost every day

 

[flyboy84]

And I just ordered mine Mac book pro, here I come!

 

[Lord Banshee]

I that the one with the LED LCD? If so how does it compare to normal LCD screens?

If only the mac's came with a trackpoint like IBM machines Overall though a mac just might be my next laptop when my t42 decides to go on me.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: Lord Banshee
I that the one with the LED LCD? If so how does it compare to normal LCD screens?

If only the mac's came with a trackpoint like IBM machines Overall though a mac just might be my next laptop when my t42 decides to go on me.

Nah only the 15" has LED right now. Also, have you used a trackpad on the new Intel Mac laptops? They're the most amazing touchpads I've ever used. Huge size, really easy to use, lots of nice goodies. I hate trackpads but I actually like the Mac ones. I miss trackpoint too

 

[Kadarin]

Originally posted by: Lord Banshee
I that the one with the LED LCD? If so how does it compare to normal LCD screens?

If only the mac's came with a trackpoint like IBM machines Overall though a mac just might be my next laptop when my t42 decides to go on me.

The 17" currently does not have the LED; it uses the older fluorescent lighting. It works fine, however, as far as I'm concerned. The screen looks great.

Trackpoint? That's that little round thing that controls the mouse? I hate those, as they're just not accurate (unless you practice a lot, I guess).

One thing I love about the Mac is the support for certain gestures on the trackpad. If I tap with two fingers, it's the same as rightclick, and if I drag two fingers up or down, it scrolls the current window (regardless of mouse position). My guess is that there's third party sofware that will offer more capability, too.

My work laptop is a T43, and the MacBook Pro is far, far superior.

 

[Tegeril]

Wow, the little red nub on the keyboard is probably the worst mouse interface imaginable I can't imagine anyone wanting to use that over a trackpad. I might go so far as to say that I'd prefer a trackBALL to that stupid dot.

 

[tRaptor]

I love my MacBook Pro. My only complaint is that I wish Apple would give in and put 2 buttons on the dam thing! They will cave, eventually. Did you see they caved on letting non-pro quicktime users use fullscreen!

 

[TheStu]

The only people that I see complaining about the 2nd button seem to be people that want to run windows on there... this is coming from a previously die-hard windows desktop user... the trackpad and button scheme on the IntelMacs is just about perfect. One button to worry about hitting, place a second finger on teh trackpad to click or scroll, its simple, its intuitive, and it is perfect.

 

[Oil]

Originally posted by: TheStu
The only people that I see complaining about the 2nd button seem to be people that want to run windows on there... this is coming from a previously die-hard windows desktop user... the trackpad and button scheme on the IntelMacs is just about perfect. One button to worry about hitting, place a second finger on teh trackpad to click or scroll, its simple, its intuitive, and it is perfect.

The trackpad on my Macbook is my favorite thing about it. It is so easy to use that I rarely use a mouse with the laptop anymore

 

[Kadarin]

Originally posted by: TheStu
The only people that I see complaining about the 2nd button seem to be people that want to run windows on there... this is coming from a previously die-hard windows desktop user... the trackpad and button scheme on the IntelMacs is just about perfect. One button to worry about hitting, place a second finger on teh trackpad to click or scroll, its simple, its intuitive, and it is perfect.

This is true. The only drawback is that I miss the scroll wheel / middle mouse button to open a new tab in Firefox. Maybe there's a way to set a shortcut for that?

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: tRaptor
I love my MacBook Pro. My only complaint is that I wish Apple would give in and put 2 buttons on the dam thing! They will cave, eventually. Did you see they caved on letting non-pro quicktime users use fullscreen!

I believe if you CTRL-CLICK it acts as double-click. However, I prefer to double-click on the trackpad using 2 fingers, super easy. You can set it up in the mouse prefs. I LOVE 2 finger-scroll, too!

 

[TheStu]

Originally posted by: Astaroth33

Originally posted by: TheStu
The only people that I see complaining about the 2nd button seem to be people that want to run windows on there... this is coming from a previously die-hard windows desktop user... the trackpad and button scheme on the IntelMacs is just about perfect. One button to worry about hitting, place a second finger on teh trackpad to click or scroll, its simple, its intuitive, and it is perfect.

This is true. The only drawback is that I miss the scroll wheel / middle mouse button to open a new tab in Firefox. Maybe there's a way to set a shortcut for that?

Hold Apple while clicking, that will act as a middle click in firefox and safari and every every place, unless of course that application doesn't allow it.

 

[DnetMHZ]

Originally posted by: tRaptor
I love my MacBook Pro. My only complaint is that I wish Apple would give in and put 2 buttons on the dam thing! They will cave, eventually. Did you see they caved on letting non-pro quicktime users use fullscreen!

I was the same way for a while, now I can't live without the 2 finger right click/scroll.

Any time I use my GF's Dell XPS I find my self trying to scroll with 2 fingers and getting pissed when it doesn't work.

 

[TheStu]

Originally posted by: DnetMHZ

Originally posted by: tRaptor
I love my MacBook Pro. My only complaint is that I wish Apple would give in and put 2 buttons on the dam thing! They will cave, eventually. Did you see they caved on letting non-pro quicktime users use fullscreen!

I was the same way for a while, now I can't live without the 2 finger right click/scroll.

Any time I use my GF's Dell XPS I find my self trying to scroll with 2 fingers and getting pissed when it doesn't work.

I am the exact same way. Anytime I use any other laptop I try to scroll or right click with 2 fingers, and it fails miserably. I am going to try to install the Apple trackpad drivers on my buddy's Inspiron to see if that will get him 2 finger scrolling and right clicking... if it does, then there will be hope for those of us that use non-Apple laptops on a semi-regular basis.

 

[Kadarin]

I installed an XP partition using Boot Camp, and am also using that same installation as a guest OS in a Parallels virtual machine. It's pretty slick and responsive, and the two-fingered scrolling and right-click work. For some reason, there's no way to tap the trackpad in Boot Camp and have Windows recognize it, but you can right-click by placing two fingers on the trackpad and then pressing the button.

Coherence mode (where Windows and OSX applications blend together on the same desktop) will take some getting used to, but I think it will work well.

 

[TheStu]

Originally posted by: Astaroth33
I installed an XP partition using Boot Camp, and am also using that same installation as a guest OS in a Parallels virtual machine. It's pretty slick and responsive, and the two-fingered scrolling and right-click work. For some reason, there's no way to tap the trackpad in Boot Camp and have Windows recognize it, but you can right-click by placing two fingers on the trackpad and then pressing the button.

Coherence mode (where Windows and OSX applications blend together on the same desktop) will take some getting used to, but I think it will work well.

You should check out VMWare Fusion, it went Release Candidate recently, and the Unity Mode (their version of Coherence) is quite a bit more polished than Coherence. Since Fusion has officially dropped yet, you can get it for free right now, and they have a 50% off voucher if you buy it before it comes out.

 

[raystorm]

Originally posted by: Kaido
Congrats! 2gb stick for $120 here:

http://store.mcetech.com/Merch...MMBPRO&Product_Count=0

I assume you bought from there before and can vouch for the quality??? My macbook pro has one 1 gig stick of ram so I have space for another stick.

I never added ram to a notebook before (this is my first notebook computer and apple product) so what do you say of the difficulty in adding ram?

 

[TheStu]

Originally posted by: raystorm

Originally posted by: Kaido
Congrats! 2gb stick for $120 here:

http://store.mcetech.com/Merch...MMBPRO&Product_Count=0

I assume you bought from there before and can vouch for the quality??? My macbook pro has one 1 gig stick of ram so I have space for another stick.

I never added ram to a notebook before (this is my first notebook computer and apple product) so what do you say of the difficulty in adding ram?

Well, it is pretty difficult ... you will have to remove the battery, and then remove 3 screws to get to the RAM compartment. More difficult than your average Dell or similiar since those only require the removal of 2 screws and the battery can remain in place.

It really is not bad at all. You may have to pull the existing RAM chip to get to the other slot since I think they are stacked as opposed to being in tandem, but its no big deal.

 

[raystorm]

ah ok.. thats cool. I'll purchase the ram early next week and give it a try.

 

[Kadarin]

Originally posted by: raystorm
ah ok.. thats cool. I'll purchase the ram early next week and give it a try.

Don't worry... It'll take you all of about 2 minutes to get that RAM installed.