Jonathan Davies

So I’ve had my Mac for about two months now and I think it’s time that I put down my final thoughts on paper (or in this case electronic paper). I have split this review into different sections covering different aspects of the machine. So, enjoy!

But first, here are the specs for the machine:

2.2GHz Processor

2GB RAM

128MB Nvidia Graphics card

15.4″ Display

Performance:

This machine is fast, and by fast I mean fast. Before I got this machine I was running off a crappy laptop with a 1.66GHz core duo processor and 512MB of RAM and a Intel GMA 950 - not the most powerful machine. My Mac Totally out performs it in every way. The startup take about 25 seconds to get onto the log-on screen, and about 20 from there on while it launches Skype, Quicksilver, Virtue Desktops etc…

As with any mac the ultimate test for a mac power is by how many bounces it takes to open Safari - it doesn’t even bounce, it just appears in the dock (I opened it using quicksilver). Now if I try iPhoto, once again it took one and then just a couple of seconds to open up my iPhoto library of 529 pictures ( I know that that is not very much but I haven’t put any in from before I got the mac. I have ripped a few DVDs since I got my Mac, one was the first part of the Lord of the Rings Extended Edition and Master and Commander, The CPU usage was spread evenly through the cores and I was able to surf the web with no slow down, it took about an hour for the DVDs to rip.

I have also handled about 50GB of High Definition footage which really started to stretch the limits of my Mac. When I imported it from the camera it was burning through the CPU and even when I tried to open up safari it took several bounces. Once I had imported the footage (through iMovie 08) it was a breeze to edit and it took it in it’s stride.

I was very surprised with how little memory my computer used when I thought it to be doing some reasonably intensive stuff, like a fair bit of photoshop, it was only using about half of the 2GB of RAM. In the near future when I upgrade my machine to 4GB of RAM I look forwards to even better performance.

Limitations:

Like all computers the MacBook Pro has it’s limits, I have already found a couple, one I previously mentioned in the last section. The other is the limit of hard drive space, I think that Apple should have given a 260GB drive in the 2.2GHz model as standard as I have burnt through it very quickly. First I but on a 20GB Windows partition and then I imported some HD footage, ripped a couple of movie and installed a few extra apps and soon realized that I had about 17GB of space left on the drive!

Obviously expandability is always going to be as issue on a notebook but there are those nagging issues which I have mentioned before as only two USB ports.

Design:

I think that design is what Apple is all about. For them design comes first then the components, the the graphics card makes it that few extra millimeters thicker then they will go with a less powerful one. There is only one word to describe the MacBook Pro. Elegant. It makes you look at other computers and ask, why did they add that silly bump over there and that are above the screen why does it have to be there? It makes you question every single other computer manufacture and ask, WHY? The MacBook Pro has the classic aluminum finish and a brushed metal appearance. The screws are symmetrically placed and it looks great, the best looking computer around.

Conclusoion:

The MacBook Pro is a fantastic machine, it does everything that I could possibly want it to d at this time. It looks and feels powerful, it makes people look up when you walk by with it in your hand. It’s a great computer that I highly recommend, I’m also glad that I didn’t go for the higher end model as the money that I have saved is going towards a new monitor and some software - All in all I think that is one of the best purchases I have ever made and will be for a long time.

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