A Fortnight With the MacBook Pro

After having the new MacBook Pro for a couple of weeks I have a few thoughts. For the first time in Apple’s history, the recent incarnation of consumer and professional laptops are starting to show signs of being part of the same family. While the MacBook has seen arguably the most impressive bump in terms of comparison to its original feature set, MacBook Pros have also received great treatment.

The screen is gorgeous, the build quality is fantastic and the graphics are screaming. There’s little to fault about the new machine, and I’m thoroughly pleased with the upgrade. The decision to go Pro rather than choose a MacBook was a difficult one, but I feel that the extra screen estate and Firewire ports are worth the extra money.

With the latest MacBook Pro, Apple has created something which looks and feels ‘right’. All the new additions come together to create a system which is sturdy, powerful and innovative. That said, in blurring the lines between consumer and professional notebooks lines to such a degree, they have made choosing a MacBook Pro a more difficult choice.

Pros:

• Stunning and robust build quality
• Gorgeous LED Display
• Very simple to swap the battery, hard drive and RAM
• Two ‘cutting edge’ graphics chips
• Trackpad allows for some very useful new gestures

Cons:

• Initial unit was faulty (likely an exception to the norm)
• Lack of a Firewire 400 port
• Display available in gloss only
• Large price margin between MacBook and MacBook Pro for few additional features