Macbook is the one book you need when your having more than one (OS)

Model Name: MacBook Pro 17"
Model Identifier: MacBookPro2,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.33 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache (per processor): 4 MB
Memory: 2 GB
Bus Speed: 667 MHz

MSRP: $2,799.00

I started my search for a new laptop searching for the fastest PC I could find. I found out that most benchmarks gave the speed prize to the new Intel based Apple Macbook Pro. But that cost too much.

I wanted Vista, because I wanted the new standard OS. I was alarmed by the 2Gb overall ram ceiling on most PCs, which was the recommendation of Vista. I also wanted more memory than recommended. The recommended amount is never enough for graphics applications. I wanted something as cool as the Macbook, like another Sony Vaio, (which was my existing laptop). I also wanted at least a halfway decent battery life, and something that didn't depend on that hokey Sony system bloated software with pigeon English documentation.

I also like the biggest screen I can find, due to my work with web graphics. I was attracted to Dell Inspirons, like my other 15-inch lcd laptop, but found the price to rocket up quickly on the Dell site to surpass the Macbook levels quickly as I added RAM and Hard Disk space to an acceptable level. With arguments, other than price, evaporating against the Macbook pro running intel, I found my answer in the little known Refurbished MacBook section of Apples site.

- It hit my price point
- Gave me a super fast intel machine
- Upgradeable beyond 2Gb ram for a reasonable price
- Fast Fast Fast

Refurbished PCs are not for everyone... But I have not found an argument other than worry over the unknown, that it might have been someone else's headache... My opinion, is that since it has been tested twice and updated by the factory, with more attention than a PC off the assembly line, you reduce your odds of getting a failed unit. My 1998 G4 is still running 24/7 as the family PC, so I'm not hesitant about the quality of apple products.

The refurbished box was not the cool apple white packaging I expected, instead, it was in a simpler brown box. But there was not much to take out. A remote, power supply, alternative cord, Jaguar CDs, a manual, and the big yet thin, metallic gray beast with the chunk missing apple on the back of the screen. It was lighter than I expected. I turned it on, followed the config wizard and in a few minutes, I was reviewing the estimated 4 hours of battery remaining, new features since my last Mac OS (2001ish), and playing with the function keys to see what automation was provided for my sleek new digital employee. I chuckle every time I use an Apple product, its so friggin' easy! I'm glad the rest of the world is finding out. I had abandoned macs for the most part for the past half decade, but I'm glad to be back, each time I discover some well thought out piece of elegance that has been overlooked on the PC side of things, (until it is copied into the next generation from Apple's last generation, of course).


----- MacBook Software -----

My intention was to get rid of OSX right off the bat, and turn this unit into a PC before it was warmed up. But once I started exploring the system and unloading the trialware (MS Office OSX), I could not let the Jaguar OSX go. It had so many neat and useful advantages over Windows, and ran so quietly,no spyware problems, less chance of viruses.

I quickly began seeking free alternatives to Windows software. I began by setting up my web development environment, (Apache, MySQL and PHP). Most of it was already on the system! I got frustrated trying to configure the unfamiliar setup though, and found a free program called MAMP, which gave me all the web tools with addition of the easy standard drag and drop installation, that makes MacBooks rock. MAMP provides easy configuration and control of my web development environment through a Dashboard widget. Leopard also comes with iTunes, Photo Booth, iPhoto, Garage Band, iMovie, iDVD and other fun and useful media tools that offer near idiotproof management of large quantities of photos, and other digital media.

With a few more free programs from the web, I was converting my favorite DVDs to iTunes and moving them on to my 30 Gb i-Pod.

I then downloaded Neo Office, a free Microsoft Office type software product that made me move farther and farther away from the thought of even installing Windows on this system.

I now use The Gimp as a free stand in for Photoshop. It is somewhat clumsier, but for a $700 dollar software savings and a few tricks that even Photoshop does not offer, it is wonderful as a stand-in until I save a sack of gold big enough to justify $700 to crop photos and save gif files.

---What's missing for web developers---

1. The big hole is that Internet Explorer 7 is not available. Therefore you don't know how your site looks to a large chunk of the Internet market. I have not found a fix for this that does not involve windows. Currently I use one of my other PCs, until I load up the partition with Windows XP.

2. Preview saves as tiff files and does not resize intuitively. This would be a great and useful program if not for these two disabilities.

3. You need dreamweaver and flash if you are me. There's no way around this, they both are reasonable and requirements if you are me.

I'm still exploring applications as needs arise, and finding things like a full Unix system lurking inside terminal, complete with VI editing which are quite useful when I want to play Apache administrator. With windows on it, you'd have a fast Windows PC, super fast Mac, blazing Unix, in short all major O.S.s in one titanium box. And like an onion, donkey, it has layers of complexity. Though it is also like a parfait, in that it is stupid easy for any fool to figure out the basics for whatever computing task they need to do, and gives you basics of almost any computing task you need to do, with a sweet easy cherry of consistent usability on top.



Saving the best for last...

----- Macbook Pro Hardware----

Is there a DVD/CD recorder faster and more reliable than the internal MacBook drive? I don't think so... Nothing I've used, internal or external, has matched up in reading scratchy disks or writing to almost any media you can fit in the hole of the Matshiita, (epinions blocked this name with one "i" for some reason), DVD slot.

The power cord is held to the machine by a magical magnetic connection. This seems like just another Apple gimick that the PC nerds can snicker condescendingly at,( while listening to Sean Hannity & Rush Limbaugh rant on about Hillary Clinton)... They can laugh all they want, until they have a dog, child, or someone not aware of the power cord, trip over it and rip their overpriced Toshiba brick onto the floor with plastic shattering authority. Any stress on the power cord, and the magnet harmlessly disconnects without comment or crisis.

If the power does disconnect without your notice, you may not notice for another 3-4 hours. That is an awesome battery life, without noticeable depreciation in performance. The countdown timer is accurate too. Something that appeared not possible on any PC power calculator.

Little things mean a lot. Like 2 USB ports on the left, and one extra on the right, means you can distribute your devices without running cables around the back of the screen...

Speaking of the screen. 17" is plenty big enough. My only regret is that they shipped the matte lcd, when I ordered the glossy one. The top of the screen contains a little video camera, which I'm tempted to put tape over. I just feel weird having a camera on me waiting until some hacker creates Mac Voyeur. And for the image quality, its right up there with any web cam... Cheese!

Another really cool feature of this system is the keyboard which senses how light or dark it is. Many nights involve tossing and turning, then coming down to finish a site left for the next day. In this instance, the keyboard glows helpfully. I work until the battery dies, or the keyboard light turns off, (morning).

The power supply is a cool retro design, which heralds all the way back to my Mac Duo someone gave me. I used to display it in my office for laughs. It has a switchable power plug that lets you add length for an included AC cord, or just add the prong plug for portability. It has a retractable cord winder wrap hook which is the real throwback design. (Not that portability is factor 1 when you choose a 17" display)...

I should mention that the additional receptacles include external Mac LCD display, two types of firewire (old school mac and PC type inputs). earphone, microphone and Ethernet.

Oh yeah, it also comes with a tiny remote control, which I haven't really used yet. It launches the dashboard, and runs slideshows, etc. It would be great to present with using the 17" display.

I filled my hard disc with content from my various videos, my vacation to St. John, a few DVDs, 4 hours or so of video. It only takes up about half of the cavernous 160 gig hard disc.

It has a "titanium case", which I think is the color not the metal, because I dropped it twice and it has some dents near the AC outlet where it bent. But it didn't break.


© Madpixl 2007