I decided to treat myself to an early Xmas present since I've been needing a new laptop for several years. So when I was able to finally buy one, I decide to buy a Mac.

I've been using Macs for several years after I bought an eMac for my kids, so I was familiar with OS X. Having decided long ago that I didn't care for the headaches of Windows, I moved to a Mac and Linux arrangement which has been working great.

But onto the Macbook Pro. I debated for a while about getting the cheaper Macbook but decided that I really liked the 15" screen on my old Sony laptop so I wanted to stay with the same size. I also liked the idea of a backlit keyboard. Plus I could use my educational discount to save 10% so it wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been.

The Case
The Macbook Pro (MBP) has an aluminum case. This has several implications. One, it doesn't feel as flimsy as some of the other laptops on the market; there's no plastic parts to break off unexpectedly and it feels a lot sturdier than other computers. There's also no flaps or covers to be removed when adding peripherals.

Two, the case conducts heat very well; the heat that is generated inside is transferred to the case. This is good and bad. The good is that the internal fan doesn't turn on often and when it does it doesn't sound like a leafblower. However, it also means that your body is now in contact with warm metal. If you like to use your laptop on your lap, then you really need to invest in a laptop cooler, preferably one that has additional fans installed. The wrist rest doesn't get too bad but you have to be careful about the left-hand speaker; this is where most of the heat is so it makes your hand uncomfortable to rest there.

I'm not sure if it's the case or the hard drive type, but when the hard drive is working, it's nearly inaudible. You hardly notice it, even when it's thrashing around during application loading.

One thing you'll immediately notice about the MBP is that it doesn't have any indicator lights. The only display lights are the one on the power cord (indicating whether it's charging or not) and the Apple logo on the top of the lid. There is no hard drive activity light nor a WiFi connection light. Though it's not a major inconvenience, I do like to know when the hard drive is working at times.

Connections and Media
The MBP has many of the normal connections and devices on Windows laptops. One of the nice things (I think) is that all the connection points are on the sides of the case. There is nothing in the back to interfere with the lid or to accidentally forget about when picking up the computer.

The computer comes with 2 USB 2.0 ports, 1 Firewire 400 and 1 Firewire 800 port, and 1 ExpressCard/34 slot. Personally, I find the USB ports limiting. I like to use an external Logitech Marble Trackball and a laptop cooler with my laptops. With the addition of TimeMachine in the new Leopard OS, it also makes sense to have an external hard drive attached for automatic backups. Hence, I had to buy a small USB hub so I can have all three items connected at the same time.

Since Firewire devices aren't that common, except for digital video and certain external hard drives, I'm not sure how much I'll use the Firewire ports. I do have a Firewire drive at home connected to the old eMac but it requires an external power supply so it's not the easiest thing to keep with the laptop.

Finally, the DVD/CD drive deserves mention. Unlike other laptops I've used, the MBP comes with a slot loading drive. There is no tray that pops out, which is actually great because there's one less thing for you to accidentally break off. I do wish the slot drive was more like the Wii's drive. The Wii "detects" when a disc is present almost when the slot is touched; it just sucks the disc in with little pressure. The MBP, however, requires the user to force the disc in until it's nearly fully inserted before the motor will take it. And it's also noisier than the Wii; it scared me the first few times because I thought I had forced the disc in too hard and damaged the motor.

Keyboard
The keyboard is somewhat standard, at least for a laptop. Many of the keys do double duty, such as the number pad, the arrow keys, and the backspace key. There isn't a dedicated forward delete key; you have to hold the Fn (function) key down and then press the backspace key instead. The arrow keys use the Fn key to control page up/down, home, and end, which actually wasn't to difficult to get used to.

The F1-F12 keys are set up to control Apple-specfic functions by default. For example, the F1 & F2 keys control the screen brightness. To actually use them as "F1" or "F2", you have to hold the Fn key as well. This behavior can be changed in the keyboard settings so the user can decide what works best.

Finally, the keyboard has a built-in backlight. White LEDs are placed underneath the keys and show up through the actual letters and numbers on the keys, with a little residual light glowing in between the keys for clarity. Both the screen and keyboard brightness auto-adjust to the ambient light levels so as it gets darker in the room, the brightness of the system will lower so you aren't blinded. Naturally you can adjust the light levels yourself or turn the backlight completely off if you wish.

Screen
The MBP comes in either 15" or 17" display sizes, though I personally think the 17" screen is unwieldy unless it's kept on a desk.

The 15" display has a native resolution of 1440 x 900 though it can "down scale" to lower resolutions. It's also a wide-screen so you can play wide-screen movies without having the black bands.

The integrated video chip is a NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT. This chip allows simultaneous display on both the laptop and external monitor. I don't have an external monitor so can can't say how well this works, but it's nice to know it's available.

The new MBPs have replaced the fluorescent lights with LEDs which gives a more even lighting and color display, IMO. It also makes it easier to adjust the brightness; it can even go completely black if you desire.

Comms
Wireless networking is included on all models as is the usual Ethernet port. Wireless includes both WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity. I don't have any Bluetooth devices yet so I can't say if there's any issues with it.

The built-in Airport Extreme support 802.11 a/b/g/n and automatically detects all local WiFi signals. Connecting to a signal is just the matter of choosing the one you want and entering the password, if necessary.

When I was using a Linksys router for my home network, the connection would drop unexpectedly for no reason. I would have to continually be aware of whether or not I was still connected when I was on the Internet. However, when I bought an Airport Extreme Basestation, all my problems went away. I don't know why I had so many problems with the Linksys router (I also had problems w/ a DLink router previously) but be aware that some non-Apple hotspots may have connection issues.

The Ethernet port accepts 10, 100, and 1000 Mbps connections. Not much else needs to be said except that configuring networks (especially with all Macs) is extremely easy compared to when I tried it with Windows.

Finally, the MBP includes a small camera in the lid at the top of the screen. This means you don't have to buy a separate webcam to chat with other people. Just use the included iChat software and you can use it like a video phone.

Software
You can't really talk about Macs without talking about OS X and other Apple software. Since you can't get Apple software for non-Macs (except iTunes), I'll briefly talk about what comes with the MBP.

I bought my laptop about a week after Leopard came out. I won't give a major review of the OS; you can find many other sites that do that. I will give a few thoughts that compare it to Tiger (which it replaced) and how it feels compared to Windows and Linux.

Cosmetically, Leopard doesn't change a whole lot. The Dock is now 3d-ish and replaces the black triangles (which show open applications) with glowing blue dots. Though others have complained about the new Dock, the only thing that bothers me (and it's not that bad) is the blue dots. I think they are more difficult to discern because of the "shinyness" of the new Dock. You can hack the system to change the Dock back to it's Tiger "goodness" but it's not really that bad.

Stacks, which is a new way of showing items in a docked folder, is interesting. Not bad but not great. I do like the idea of seeing what's inside a folder without actually opening it. You can also change the behavior to "normal" if you like.

One thing I don't like about the new Dock is that any folders you put on it now try to show what's inside via the icon. That is, if you drag your Applications folder to the Dock, instead of displaying the default Applications icon, it shows you the first item that's inside the folder. If you have several folders that have similar items inside, such as several .dmg files, each one will have the same icon. You can't tell which is which unless you mouse over the icon and see the name. You can fix this by making a dummy file that has the same icon as the folder you want and making sure it's listed first inside the folder, but you really shouldn't have to do that. This is simply a bad idea on Apple's part.

For those who haven't used OS X before, installing applications is easier than Windows. When you get a .dmg file (essentially a disk image), you just open it then drag the program icon inside it to your Applications folder (or wherever). That's it; the program is now installed. You don't have to mess with installation wizards or configure anything.

There are some programs that use an Apple package file that is closer to Windows but again, it's easier to use. Mostly it involves agreeing to the license agreement and then tell it which drive to install to. Rarely is there any configuration required.

Compared to Windows or Linux, OS X is prettier (by default). This means it's easier to find what you need. There aren't half a dozen menus to sort through to find the program you want. Preferences are simple and straightforward and rarely require additional explanation. The icons are scalable and look gorgeous at maximum size; this also means people with poor eyesight don't have to mess around with adaptability settings for some of their work.

Linux has some things that are better (like apt-get installs or Beryl windows enhancements) but most people are too scared to use it. Therefore, using a Mac is an easier transition.

So far the only "virus" in the wild is a trojan that requires people to input the admin password; there are no known email viruses or other malware targeting Macs. You don't have to spend extra money on antivirus software or antispyware programs; this issues don't currently exist on Macs.

Final thoughts
Though many people consider Macs to be expensive, they aren't when you consider what you get. You don't have to buy AV software or worry about malware, you get the power of a Unix workstation with the ease of Windows, and you get an integrated system where the software and hardware are designed together. Plus you get the whole iLife package which is probably worth several hundred dollars to some people.

One final cool thing about the MBP is that it can run operating systems other than OS X. Because of the Intel processors, Macs can use any OS built on the x86 platform. Using virtualization software or Boot Camp, you can install Windows, Linux, OS/2, etc. on you Mac and use them just like normal. That way, you just need one computer to run nearly any OS you desire. This also makes it easy to keep your vital Windows programs while still having the joy of using a Mac.