MacBook Pro: First Impressions

I have to admit: I'm a certified Mac zealot. I’ve drunk the Kool Aid and nearly shaved my head. I even attended MacWorld this year to pay homage to “The Steve.” I witnessed first-hand his unveiling of the new MacBook Pro (hereafter “MBP”). I oohed and ahed with the thousands of other Mac faithful as he demonstrated the impressive new features and radically improved speed.

I was hooked. I walked out of the Moscone Center and immediately ordered one. Then I waited with anticipation for my new MBP to arrive. I finally received it on Friday, March 10, a few weeks later than Steve had promised in his keynote speech. Oh well, I thought, Apple still delivers products faster than its competitors.

The conversion from my G4 PowerBook was painless. In my past PC life, whenever I bought a new machine, I braced myself for what I knew was going to be a long, painful conversion process. I could usually get my documents copied over with no problems. But then I would reinstall my applications, one at a time (if I could find them), so I could benefit from a clean registry. I would also have to manually find certain drivers and tweak the system. This process usually required a full day for the initial conversion and a week or two of tweaking. As a result, I always had a sense of dread about upgrading.

Not so with the Mac. I have never switched to a new computer so quickly. Apple makes this ridiculously easy. You simply connect the two machines together via Firewire and let the Migration Wizard do its magic. It took about an hour-and-a-half to copy everything to the new machine. But when it was done, I had an exact replica of my old machine. Same applications, same documents, same folder system (even with my custom icons installed), and same startup items. So, I rolled up my sleeves and decided to put the machine through its paces.

First the specs: I bought a 2.0 GHz MBP. I have 2 GB DDR2 SDRAM memory. I have a 100 GB Toshiba hard drive. Everything else is standard.

I have to admit, initially, I was not that impressed. In fact, I was actually disappointed. The machine seemed slightly faster than my PowerBook, but not that much faster. Worse, it was running hot—and I mean really hot! I couldn’t stand to let it sit on my lap, even for a few seconds. Also, it was very warm around the keyboard, so much so that it was uncomfortably warm when I was resting my hands.

However, things seem better today. My guess is that the slowness and some of the heat was the result of Spotlight indexing my system. The system seems much, much faster today. The machine is still warm, but now I hear the fans occasionally kicking in. (They are very quiet. If the air conditioning in my house is on, I can’t hear them at all.) However, I still think it’s warmer than my PowerBook.

I tried to quantify the heat issue by using Temperature Monitor 3.4. However, even though the program is “Universal” (i.e., re compiled to run on the Intel-based Macs), I could not get it to work with MBP. It gave me an error message that it could not find any heat sensors on the machine. So, either the program is not yet compatible or I have a problem with my heat sensors. I’m going to watch this carefully over the next few days. If it continues to be a problem, I am going to send the machine back to Apple.

The good news is that Universal bundled apps are blazingly fast. Safari and iTunes load in about two seconds. Keynote and iPhoto take a few seconds longer, but the load times are still dramatically faster than the PowerBook. They are also very fast to use. Saving a large Keynote file on my PowerBook would normally take several seconds. On the MBP, it only takes a a second or two. This is a major improvement.

Web pages also seem to just “snap” onto the screen. This is, of course, a function of your connection speed, Internet traffic, and the load on the server at the other end of the transaction. But overall, I experienced a noticeable speed improvement. All and all, this makes for a very pleasing user experience.

I have to admit that I was nervous about PowerPC apps (i.e., those not yet re-compliled to run on Intel machines), since they are translated on-the-fly via Apple’s Rosetta technology

I was particularly concerned about how Microsoft Office and Adobe Photoshop would perform. I am happy to report that they work just fine. Honestly, I can’t tell any difference. I had expected a slow-down, but they seem to run as fast as they did on the PowerBook.

The screen is a little brighter. However, I like the resolution on my wife’s PowerBook—the last model before they announced the MBP—better. Still, it’s an improvement over my last PowerBook.

The built-in iSight camera is also great. I especially like the Photo Booth software. It is an absolute blast. I can’t think how this can be really useful, but it is fun. FrontRow is also a nice app. I actually used it last night with the remote to control my music. This is where Apple really shines—anything having to do with the user interface.

I am going to miss my BookEndz docking stations. These won’t work with the MacBook Pro. Although BookEndz says it is “committed to developing a docking station for the new MacBook Pro,” it’s not available yet. I will just have to get used to plugging in and then unplugging every cord as I move my notebook around.

Also, I have to buy a new collection of power cords. The PowerBook cords cannot be used with the MacBook Pro. Bummer. The MagSafe magnetic connector is pretty cool, but this is offset by the fact that the power supply is larger. This is one place where I wished Apple had just left the system alone. And, to add insult to injury, the power cords seem in short supply. I checked two stores here in Nashville yesterday, and neither had them. By the way, speaking of power, battery life appears to be about the same as my PowerBook.

Am I glad I upgraded? Yes, I think so. I am still concerned about the heat issues. Right now, this is keeping me from raving about the machine. If this problem can be solved, then I will be very glad I took the plunge.

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