So, now I own a new MacBook, have had it for a couple weeks now, so I believe, having owned all of Apple’s current MacBooks and the MacBook Pro, that I’m qualified to comment on and compare them here.

First off, let me admit, I’m not a fan of the glare on Apple’s new machines. I spend a lot of time staring at a computer screen and that bright light staring back at me gives me headaches, plus the reflection is distracting. That’s why I bought the 17 inch Macbook Pro with a non reflective screen. In many ways it was a dream machine. Fast with a 2.8GHZ processor and 4GB of ram, it’s all the desktop most people would ever need, especially if, like me, you get it with a 500 GB hard drive. One big advantage of using this machine as a desktop is that it is portable. If you don’t need a laptop on your person 24/7 like I do, you can have your cake and eat it too with this machine. I would have kept this computer forever, had I not needed more screen real estate. I could have added a Cinema display to the machine, but a friend, who is in love with the new glossy Apple screens, sold me his two 23 inch displays for a ridiculously cheap price, so I sold my MacBook Pro on eBay and bought a Mini, which drives the two displays beautifully. Sadly, it’s not as fast as the 17 inch Macbook Pro, but sometimes you can’t have everything. Apple claims this machine gets eight hours on the battery, but I can’t verify that, because as it was on my desk, it was always plugged in.

I was using the 15 inch MacBook Pro as my laptop and this a dream machine. I had the glossy screen changed out to a non reflective one. You can do this without voiding your warranty for a couple C notes by sending your computer off to a company called TechRestore. You can find them online. Sadly, right after I changed the screen out, Apple came out with a non reflective screen for the 15 inch MacBook Pro for only fifty dollars more. I guess I took it in the shorts on that one. However, I will say that my upgrade had a black bezel, whereas the Apple version has a grey one and ascetically, I think the black border around the screen just looks better. I can’t think of one bad thing to say about this machine, other than it’s smaller sibling is lighter and, of course, smaller. For many, this could be the only compter you need. I had the 2.8GHz version with a 500GB hard drive, which was the mirror of the drive on my 17 inch MacBook Pro. Most people would have been happy with these two machines and looking back, maybe I should have just purchased one of those Cinema displays and saved myself some money, but I didn’t.

The fastest 13 inch MacBook Pro runs at 2.53GHz, slower than the MacBook Pro I sold to get it, but the size and weight were the major factors for me. Like with the above 15 inch, I changed out the screen. I also upgraded the hard drive to 500GB and to make it even sweeter, after I got it back with the new screen, I sent it off to MCE in Southern California and had the DVD drive swapped out for a second 500GB harddrive. They not only put the second drive in my MacBook Pro, but they put the DVD drive into a nice little case, so that you can hook it up to your MacBook Pro via USB 2.0. This was my dream laptop. I took it with me everywhere and I can’t, absolutely can’t recommend this machine highly enough. Then someone stole it.

So now I had that Mac Mini with the two displays, but no laptop. And sadly, I’ve got a lot less money now, because I’m getting a whole lot less work, because of the downturn. So, this time around I can’t afford to trick out my machine to just the way I want it. I had to settle. So I bought the new unibody MacBook. No Firewire and at first I thought I’d be pretty cheesed not having it, but my external harddrives all use USB 2.0 as well and you know, I’m not really missing Firewire at all. Of course I can’t use target disk mode, but that’s the breaks. Also, I did have to upgrade the memory, come on Apple, everybody who’s ever put fingers to a keyboard knows 2GB or ram isn’t enough. But I’m living with the 250GB harddrive. The 2.26GHz processor doesn’t really seem all that much slower than what I had on the stolen MacBook Pro and I really like the rubberized bottom. I called TechRestore to see if they have an upgrade to a matte screen for these machines yet and they do and I will probably change out the screen, maybe, but maybe not, because I’m finding if I move the computer around a bit and turn down the display, I can almost live with the glossy screen. We’ll see.

In conclusion I’ve got to say, having owned them all, that they are all great and wonderful machines. I hope I’m not sounding like an Apple fan boy, because I’m not. They could have made the machines better, by offering a matte display to those of us who wanted it for no extra money on the 15 and 17 inch one. Also you don’t have to be a professional with a lot of money to be bugged by glare, they could have offered a matte display on their two 13 inch models. They could have put 4GB of RAM into the MacBook, but they wanted to keep the price under a thousand dollars. Still, even with those gripes, these are the best laptops out there. Besides, consider the alternative, Windows 7, horror of horrors.

The only option I went with was the antiglare display, which is bright, clear, and easy on the eyes for a full day at a time. Everything else — even a baseline 4GB DRAM and 500GB drive — was already included.

It’s been interesting to compare this machine to the new Dell that I acquired at work in the same week, running the same processor and the same amount of memory at half the price, over the three months that I’ve been using both machines. The Dell falls tremendously short elsewhere in the specs department, but to be fair, it is just a business clunker. Sure, it cost half as much… but you absolutely get what you pay for. This MacBook Pro is a masterpiece of hardware design and engineering. I’ve posted a more detailed comparison at [...], if interested.

This review is supposed to be about the computer, or I’d have to comment on Snow Leopard (Mac OS X 10.6), too. Suffice to say, it’s elegant, ingenious, and spectacular.

BATTERY LIFE:

Apple, like most other manufacturers, tends to be misleading in touting its technology. That’s the nature of marketing, so be it. Getting 8 hours out of this battery just isn’t realistic. I have traveled many times with this computer, and if I watch mpeg4 movies (not DVD) for 2 hours on two flights, my battery is usually toast at the end of four hours, if not sooner. This being said, I turn the display brightness way down, and the LED keyboard off (wireless/bluetooth as well). The mpeg4 movies tax the processor(s), yes, but I was very let down by the battery life. It barely outperforms my T series 9 cell Thinkpad when it was new. Apple breaks technological barriers by print, nothing more. If their 8-hour battery were real, it’d be a great leap in technology… problem is, its just not there, its simply a statement that people believe and no one calls them on it. See my review on the 27″ iMac… if you’re open minded, you’ll start to understand.

I’m also a little frustrated that apple has not released a quad core unit. The quad core will use quite a bit more power, which will blast their “8 hour” feature.. hence, even the flagship desktop replacement pictured here is only available in a core 2 duo. Three words describe this – antiquated $2500 laptop. I can’t hold it against the product though, the core 2 duo performs great and most folks will never notice the difference provided by two more cores. Obviously folks that buy the 17-inch MBP aren’t as concerned with the mobility as much as those who would purchase the 13.3″ MBP… so why not offer the quad core in the 17-inch? Core power management would still allow nearly the same battery life.

On the glossy/matte displays:

If you are going to watch lots of movies, mostly at night or on planes, get the glossy display. If you will be working in bright offices with lots of fluorescent lighting, or working outside at all, you need to get the anti-glare display.

Docking stations?

Why oh why has apple not manufactured a docking station for their flagship mobile computer? Apple’s greed bothers me. They won’t produce the dock station, because they don’t want anyone replacing their imac or mac pro with a mobile solution that will do both. It would also require another hole in the body for the docking port, which we all know is a major problem for Jobs… he hates holes.