“Apple Computer Inc.’s notebooks have long been highly regarded for their thoughtful designs and leading-edge features. But when it comes to performance, recent models have been lagging behind competitors that run Intel Corp.’s chips. Unable to beat ’em, Apple last year announced plans last year to join ’em. It recently began shipping its first Intel-based laptop, the MacBook Pro, which looks a lot like the old PowerBook G4 line it’s replacing,” Matthew Fordahl reports for The Associated Press. “Like the iMac desktop, which also got a silicon brain transplant, the new notebook is fast with decent battery life. Also like the old PowerBooks, it includes some very nice touches, such as an impressively bright screen, stylish aluminum body, a video camera built into the display’s frame, a keyboard that lights up in a dark room and built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth transmitters.”
The MacBook Pro “it boots up in about 20 seconds. Programs launch without hesitation. The 69 megabyte, high-definition “Cars” movie trailer played flawlessly, to the delight of our toddler, even with other programs running in the background,” Fordahl reports. “What about the all-important battery life? Starting with it fully charged, I surfed the Web, listened to music and engaged in other regular tasks for an impressive 3 hours and 10 minutes before the system went to sleep. Once plugged in, it woke up in seconds, exactly where it stopped. The run time was slightly longer than for an older PowerBook, which I tested under similar conditions a year ago… The MacBook’s result is even more impressive because the Intel chip runs two computing engines at once, instead of just one on the PowerBook’s G4 chip. The MacBook’s processor also runs at a faster clock speed.”
“There are some downsides to the MacBook,” Fordahl reports. “Apple has switched to a slightly slower optical drive for reading and burning CDs and DVDs, and it’s also dumped the built-in modem, which might be an inconvenience to anyone without broadband. It’s also increased the size of the power adapter. Still, those are minor quibbles. The new notebooks may have a new name and brain, but they haven’t lost the Apple shine.”
Full article here.
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Related MacDailyNews articles:
Apple’s MacBook Pro ‘leaps a generation beyond PowerBooks’ – March 08, 2006
Boston Herald: Apple MacBook Pro ‘contender for best notebook on market, comes with a superior OS’ – March 06, 2006
Time Magazine’s Gadget of the Week: Apple MacBook Pro – March 06, 2006
PC Magazine review gives Apple MacBook Pro 4 out of 5 stars – March 03, 2006
Ars Technica: Apple MacBook Pro ‘an extremely solid machine, an important step forward’ – March 02, 2006
Mossberg: Apple’s MacBook Pro gives users a ‘much better OS with vastly better built-in software’ – March 02, 2006
New York Times’ Pogue: Apples MacBook Pro a ‘beautifully engineered, forward-thinking laptop’ – March 01, 2006
Apple MacBook Pro a ‘drop-dead gorgeous laptop’ – February 27, 2006
Macworld posts Apple MacBook Pro 2.0GHz first lab tests – February 22, 2006
Apple PowerBook G4 1.5GHz vs. MacBook Pro 2.0Ghz Adobe Photoshop benchmarks – February 22, 2006
Apple begins shipping MacBook Pro notebook computers with faster 2.16 GHz Intel Core Duo processors – February 14, 2006
Adobe: no native Intel Mac support until 2007; Photoshop could be 14 months away – February 01, 2006
Computerworld: Apple’s MacBook Pro ‘fast, really fast – looks like a real winner’ – January 28, 2006
Analyst: Apple seeing strong sales of iMac Core Duo, MacBook Pro, 5th generation iPod – January 25, 2006
Apple: expect MacBook Pro shortages – January 19, 2006
Use the ExpressCard slot to add FireWire 800 to Apple’s new MacBook Pro – January 15, 2006
Apple MacBook Pro, ExpressCard and EVDO – January 14, 2006
Apple introduces MacBook Pro; up to four times faster than PowerBook G4 – January 10, 2006
3 hours 10 mintues. decent battery life?
are you kidding? even previous last powerbook G4 goes more than 4 hours. I think that management of power consumption is really not making any sense if you rethink intel duo core performance. it should be more than 5 hours.
I love my MBP, but the battery is the one thing that bugs me. Larger brighter screen, it’s tempting to keep it cranked up nice and bright, there’s a huge difference in estimated battery life left once the display has slept a bit, wake the screen up and you’ll see like an extra hour just disappear once the screen starts draining again. Those who talk about great battery life are turning the screen almost all the way down. I leave it halfway so… eh… worth it to me for the power. Wish it was better though. Maybe bigger batteries coming out someday.
Try 2:35 hrs
not acceptable I took it back to Apple and they said they’ll call me on Monday – more later
David, did you calibrate the battery on your MBP?
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=86284
That’s what I did for with PPC Powerbook for long plane trips, etc. Most times you’ll need extended usage of your laptop without an electrical outlet, you know it ahead of time. It’s no big deal to bring an extra battery. BTW, aren’t there also third party vendors who make more powerful batteries? Maybe increased Apple market share would help in this regard.
Jake
“Besides its appearance and performance, there’s something else that’s breathtaking: its $3,199 price tag.”
Anybody who buys the full 2 GB of memory from Apple will find the price “breathtaking.”
MW magic word: “George”; as in by George if they haven’t started new ads that are worse than pop ups!
Okay, now about battery life, I would like about 3:30…
keep in mind that batteries need a couple of charge-recharge cycles before they should be tested. I don’t know why, but rechargable batteries do not work best right out of the box.
the G4 Powerbooks only mange 3 hours of battery life. If you did nothing more than Text then maybe you could get to 3:45. The original battery which shipped with my PB 1.25 never lasted more than 1:45. I bought a new one last year and it reliably gives me 3+ hours
iBook batteries, on the other hand, are amazing
The only powerbook that hit 4+ hours of battery life was the 12″ Aluminum. 15″ and 17″ did about 3 – 3.5 hours. The review is right on.
MDN word: ‘force’ as in “You’ll have to force me to give up my MBP!!!”
Why did I have to look at a Chili’s Ad before I could read this article? Please tell me that you are not doing this. You will force me to spend less time on this site and more time on others that don’t shove advertisements in your face. (I’m well aware of the skip button but it still doesn’t deter from the fact that you’ve put up a road check before I am able to pass through)