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New MacBook Pro
By Andrew | October 15, 2008
I’ve been waiting for a while for the new MacBooks to come out since Apple hadn’t really updated the line in any significant way since the they were using the G4s in PowerBooks. After the announcement yesterday I decided to pick up a new MacBook Pro to replace my aging one.
Before I get into actually discussing the hardware I just need to say that while I usually love buying things at the Apple store, with the free roaming sales people who can check you out right then and there, it doesn’t work that well for new product releases. A salesman was trying to make a list of people, but you could also try to corral anyone in a blue shirt and get them to help you. Getting on a list and then having to find a salesman anyway made the experience chaotic and frustrating.
Initial experience
Since I got to the Apple store before the new machines were on sale, there weren’t any out on the floor to look at so the first time I actually saw the computer was when I got it home and opened the box. The first impression was striking, the top looks sculpted. Apple has the knack of taking last years hot shit and making it look antiquated instantly. The new MacBook is no exception. I’m upgrading from the last model of the MacBook Pro, and even though the design was aging, it still looked modern in the context of other laptops. Not anymore. Even though the new design is evolutionary over the last one, it leaves it in the dust. The curves on the case are much more refined and the black keyboard and screen bezel just looks classy. The case itself is the most solid I’ve ever felt on a laptop. It’s completely rigid with no creakiness at the seams. There’s no flex whatsoever when picking up the laptop. The following image compares the two side-by-side while I was using the (excellent) Migration Assistant to move my data across.
Keyboard and trackpad
The keyboard takes a bit of getting used to after working on the older MBP. The keys there are larger and right next to each other. The keys on the new one are smaller and your typing has to be a little more precise. It’s an easy adjustment that only takes a couple of hours to get used to. The overall tactile response is very good, not as clicky as I’d like but responsive enough. The backlighting on the new keyboard is very good. The black keys contrast really well and I’d almost describe the overall effect as “glowing.”
The new trackpad is really interesting. There have been some concerns about the fact that it doesn’t have a button, but the whole trackpad itself clicks. Really the best advice I can give is to just treat it like a regular trackpad with a button until you get used to it. I actually find it hilarious that, after the years of bitching about apple not providing a second mouse button, they’ve taken away the first one. And to good effect. You can get a right click effect by setting up the trackpad so that a click in the lower right corner brings up the context menu.
Gestures are something new for me. So far it’s working really well, but the four finger gestures seem almost kitchy and just using the corners of the screen to bring up expose works much better. I’d like to see what other applications can do with these though. Working with gestures on photos is really neat, you can pinch and zoom just like an iPhone.
Screen
The new black bezel around the screen makes everything look brighter. The screen itself is insanely bright. Seriously, I think it’s only a couple of lumens away from achieving that effect in crappy movies where text is projected on the hacker’s face. Colors are crisp with great contrast and the LED backlighting gives the screen a really cool temperature feel.
The new screen is glossy, which is unfortunate. You can make up for most glare by cranking the brightness all the way up, but you’ll still have to adjust your viewing angle. Fortunately the new case design fixes one of my main complaints with the old design in that the screen has a much greater range of motion. I could never seem to tip the old screen back far enough when it was balanced on my lap before. Now there’s plenty of motion. One minor complaint I have is that the glass front on the new screen makes it slightly heavier so that it’s more likely to bend on its own as you move the laptop around.
Conclusion
With the new MacBook, Apple has taken their old design and updated it. It’s not a revolutionary change, but it is significant and better in almost every way. I have some minor complaints about the screen moving on its own, the edge of the palmrest is slightly sharper and it digs into my forearms a little bit, but overall the improvements more than make up for any quibbles I have. I’m also amazed by how cool the new MacBook runs. I’ve been sitting with it on my lap for over an hour now and there’s virtually no temperature increase when my old one would have been cooking my lap by now. Overall, I’m really pleased with the upgrade.
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