I got a new MacBook Pro for a week now, bought together with a 500Gb Time Capsule.
I love it.
Right out of the box, everything works fine. Transferred the files from my prehistoric iMac and set up the Time Capsule, extending the wireless network in my place with an airport express. Now I can go virtually anywhere in the house and I’m still connected to the interwebs.
Prior to this, I read a lot of reports on the Apple discussion boards that there were a lot of problems with the new MBP. I’m happy to say that mine was fuss-free in every single way. I’m half-convinced that most people who are having trouble with their macs either installed too much junk on their machines or they’re expecting their new macs to do what windoze does.
The MBP is beautifully designed, and having Leopard work so blazingly fast is such a luxury. Safari launches in one dock-bounce. All the widgets on my dashboard fully loads in 2 seconds.
Wireless. Wow, I never thought it meant such a big deal until I use a machine that is fully wireless. I surfed the web in the living room, study room, kitchen table and even while taking a dump.
My only issue with it is that the battery life isn’t fantastic. And its not a fault of Apple, its simply due to the current technology. The MBP already has slightly better battery life compared to its predecessors because of the Penryn chip which consumes less energy. Ideally, I’d love a battery that lasts at least six hours of intensive use, but well maybe in a couple of years’ time.
If you’re careful, I believe that you can get a lot more out of the battery. Here’s some of my own tips for you.
1. Don’t keep your laptop plugged in all the time. Plug in, charge until full then pull out the plug.
2. Wait until the battery is almost empty before plugging back in to charge.
3. Turn off everything that you don’t use. Every little bit counts. Turn off bluetooth if you don’t need it. Eject any disc that is idling inside etc.
4. Dim the screen to the lowest most comfortable level, and turn off ambient keyboard lighting if you don’t need it.
Read more about batteries here.
One last thing, I’m having waaaaaay too much fun with photo booth.
I’ve heard about a lot of people that got a Mac and ran it right put of the box. I did that with my new Dell INSPIRON but it sounds like your Mac is waaaaaaay faster. It takes about 5 minuets for my Dell INSPIRON 9300 to fully boot! I’m getting really tired of that.
Maybe you could separate some fact from fiction on my website through your experiences on my page PC V.S Mac? Thanks.
After years of following the PC vs Mac debate (I’ve been a mac convert for about ten years), I’ve concluded one thing:
To each his own.
There are some things a PC can do that a mac can’t, and definitely vice versa. There are endless debates about whether a mercedes benz is better than BMW, but both brands command their own loyal following, zealous in their own right. But no one can say for sure who’s right or wrong.
For me, I like it simple. One software for music, one for photos, one for browsing the web. I don’t like to read reviews of a hundred softward that does the same thing to decide on which one. Just one good one is enough, and I appreciate that the good one is pre-installed. I don’t really care about what’s underneath the GUI, as long as it works. The more invisible these things are, the better. Ease of use is my top priority.
Most PC zealots I know have never used a mac, and I never bothered to argue with them simply because they’ll never see it from my point of view. I use a PC at work for 9 hours a day, and it frustrates me everytime something locks up, or an automatic update requires me to save everything and restart the machine – 3 times a week. I just like to go home and use a machine that just works.
So, fact from fiction – you’ll have to do some digging yourself, to find the truth that works for you. At the end of the day, you should use the machine that truly works for you.