Apple has made its first update to the venerable MacBook line since the introduction of the MacBook Air. Regular 13-inch MacBooks get the usual CPU upgrade, but the MacBook Pro line gets a notable internal overhaul -- including new Penryn-class Intel CPUs, new touch pad gestures (lifted from the MacBook Air), and finally a backlit LED option for the 17-inch models, something already standard for 15-inchers.
Design
As we've come to expect, the new configurations hit the same price as the now-discontinued ones. More power for the same money is always welcome, but at AU$3,399 (we looked at the higher-end of two 15-inch configurations), we still think the cheaper 13-inch MacBook is better overall value, outweighed only if you need either the larger screen or Express card slot, or you can't live without the touch pad gestures.
Physically, the refreshed 15-inch MacBook Pro is identical to its predecessors, still only 1 inch thick, but now that we've had time to get used to the thinner, lighter MacBook Air, it feels positively huge in comparison.
By now we're very familiar with the minimalist layout -- open the lid and inside you'll find only a power button, a full-size keyboard, stereo speakers, a sizable touch pad with a single mouse button, and a built-in iSight camera. Despite our love for a clean look, we've also become used to having at least a few media control keys -- attractive touch-sensitive media controls now regularly pop up on even the cheapest laptops.
Features
Possibly the biggest change is how the revamped trackpad now works with multitouch gestures, much like the MacBook Air. Originally, you could do things like use two fingers to scroll through documents -- now Pro users can use three fingers to go forward and back in Safari's browser history, and use a thumb and forefinger to zoom in and out of documents and photos -- much like on the iPhone. We hope Apple will roll this out for the 13-inch MacBooks sooner rather than later.
The move to backlit LED displays happened in the last MacBook Pro revision, at least for the 15-inch models. This time around, the 17-inch models have it, too -- but only as a AU$150 add-on. The 15-inch display is 1,440x900, while the 17-inch is either 1,680 x 1,050 (standard) or 1,920x1,200 (LED). Apple touts the backlit LED displays as being both energy efficiency and mercury-free.
The MacBook Pro remains the only laptop we can think of with a FireWire 800 jack (along with the more common FireWire 400), useful for digital video fans, but we still think adding a simple SD card slot would be a huge plus for the Pro (and let's get that on the regular 13-inch MacBook, too, while we're at it).
With the newest Penryn CPUs, the MacBook Po offers an excellent boost in performance over the previous mid-2007 Pro revision in our benchmark tests, although a pre-Penryn 13-inch MacBook from late 2007 was nearly as fast, reinforcing our opinion that Intel's Penryn CPUs, while more energy efficient, don't offer much of a performance boost. The MacBook Air was well behind -- its custom Intel Core 2 Duo CPU, designed to fit into the Air's extra-thin chassis, is slower than the typical Core 2 Duos found in most laptops.
Performance
The Nvidia GeForce 8600M GT graphics card allows for some basic gaming -- although if you plan on playing games on the MacBook Pro, you'll probably want to install Windows on a separate partition through Boot Camp. Running Quake 4 at 1,024x768, we got 88 frames per second, compared to only 65 frames per second from the 2007 version of the MacBook Pro. Both systems had identical graphics cards, so we credit the CPU.
Despite our initial concerns that the revamped MacBook Pro offered less battery life, we got an impressive 4 hours and 23 minutes with our battery drain test -- that's 47 minutes more than the older version of the MacBook Pro, and 20 minutes more than the MacBook Air.
We're still not fans of Apple's nearly obligatory extended warranty upsell (so much so that we've simply copied this complaint from our last MacBook review). The default warranty for the MacBook is one year of coverage for parts and labor, but toll-free telephone support is limited to a mere 90 days -- well short of what you'd typically find on the PC side -- unless you purchase the AU$579 AppleCare Protection Plan, which extends phone support and repair coverage to three years.
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raz
05/08/2008, 09:43 PM
rating
9/10
Very Nice Macbook.
Pros: Good Design, wide Screen,Better Battery,Good Speed,Camera Resolution better
Cons: USB Port-2,No SD Card,
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Kvasiir
02/08/2008, 07:45 PM
rating
9/10
I recently picked up a MacBook Pro for my photo editing needs.
Simply amazed by the speed and ease of use of this product, very glad I made the switch to mac!
Pros: -fast
-light
-design is very sleek
-software is simply amazing
Cons: -not enough USB ports
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pixelperfect
22/06/2008, 12:21 PM
rating
10/10
Just bought one to replace my macbook - can't wait to use it.
Pros: Beautiful, Fast, Light, Thin, etc. Everything you'd expect from Apple!
Cons: I would have liked to see three usb ports on the 15 inch model - only the 17 inch model has 3.
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macenthusiast
10/05/2008, 04:32 PM
rating
9/10
Would love to buy it soon.
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razeshkale
02/05/2008, 09:40 AM
rating
9/10
Amazing STUFF, i just love it
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chrigo
14/03/2008, 04:33 AM
rating
10/10
abselutly the best macbook ever!
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Woo
06/03/2008, 05:26 PM
rating
9/10
Great product. is there going to be the new Macbook review anytime soon??
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