Review: MacBook Pro 15-inch

[Magnus]

The MacBook Pro 15-inch model that was announced by Apple in January has been available in the UAE for quite some time now, and we've wanted to bring you a review since it first arrived, but it's been hard getting a review unit. Eventually, Apple IMC sent us a MBP for review. Unfortunately it's the now-discontinued 1.83GHz model, and it seems to have the heat and whine issues, but more on that later. The MBP was Apple's first Intel-based notebook and it has a lot in common with the other Intel Macs. Check out our previous reviews of the Intel Mac mini and the Intel iMac.

System specifications

• Intel Core Duo 1.83 GHz
• 512 MB RAM, 2 GB maximum, DDR II SDRAM-667 MHz
• 15.4 in, TFT active matrix, 1440 x 900
• ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 128 MB, 2560 x 1600 on external display
• 80 GB Serial ATA
• SuperDrive
• FireWire, USB, Ethernet, 802.11g, Bluetooth
• ExpressCard/34 slot

Complete system information [text file]

Design
To show you what the MBP looks like compared to the preceding Powerbook G4, I took some shots of them side by side. You can see that they are very similar, with only minor differences. The MBP is slightly larger, but not by much, and it has the built-in iSight camera, a larger trackpad, and the ExpressCard slot instead of the PC-card slot.

The design hasn't change a lot, only details are different. The aluminum look has been successful for Apple but sooner or later they'll have to totally overdo the MacBook Pro design. It was not to be with this first generation though. Still, the MacBook Pro is arguably one of the best looking notebook computers available today.

Heat and whine issue
We've written about and discussed the issue of excessive heat and a whining noise in the MBP here at EmiratesMac and we were curious whether the test MBP would exhibit these problems. Pretty much as soon as I turned it on I heard a noise coming from the MBP that I had never heard before in a computer. Kind of a buzzing noise that you hear from electronics sometimes.

I wanted to try to run the MBP to its maximum to try to see how hot it would get. One to make sure you really put full stress on both cores is to enter the following command once in two separate Terminal windows (one for each core):

yes > /dev/null

This runs each core at close to 100% capacity. What happened instantly was that the whine stopped. I had been told that putting stress on the cores would do that but this was the first time I experienced it myself. Normally you would expect a noise to start when you crank up the workload but not in this case. With an iSight camera I shot a brief movie [MOV 4.8Mb].

After leaving the machine working out at maximum for about 20 minutes, sitting on a desk according to Apple's guidelines, I put my hand on it to feel how hot it was. It didn't exactly burn my hand but it felt hotter than any other notebook I've ever used. Then I did the lap-test. I put the the MBP on my lap and through my pants it was uncomfortably hot. Yes, I know Apple says this is not a laptop and it shouldn't be used on the lap but we all know many MBP users will do just that. This MBP runs too hot to do that, in my opinion, which is a bad thing for a portable computer.

It's obvious that Apple has had some quality control issues with the early MacBook Pros. What we've heard is that the 17-inch models don't display these issues, apart from getting pretty hot, which is good news. Perhaps Apple was too eager to get the MBP out as soon as they could, perhaps it was just a manufacturing mistake. We don't know and we'll probably never know. I think it's too bad Apple dropped the ball on this one and I hope they get their act together for future models.

Expansion and connectivity
The MBP has pretty much all the connectivity you may need. In proud tradition it has ports for USB, Firewire, and wireless support for 802.11g and Bluetooth. The PC card slot has given way to an ExpressCard slot which some seem to argue is a bad idea. But in the name of continuous improvement of their products Apple opted to leave the ageing PC card technology behind. Lack of actual ExpressCards to buy has been noted but it seems like the situation is improving.

Graphics
The ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 graphics processor should provide plenty of power for even the more demanding users. It will run demanding games and applications at high-resolution with smooth animation. Dual link DVI support is welcome as is the maximum of 256Mb of graphics memory (128Mb in the review MBP).

Speed
Even if the review machine was the now-discontinued low-end 1.83GHz model it has more than enough power for pretty much any application. Mac OS X really flies as does the iLife suite (iLife 06 review). A word of advice: buy as much memory as you can afford. That's always been true with computers but as I've written before it's even more true with the Intel Macs. Especially when running PowerPC software in Rosetta emulation the applications really eat up memory.

MagSafe power adaptor
Finally, I'd like to mention the MagSafe power adaptor. As much as I think the Mag thing is a good idea, I hate it that we're required to spend money on new power adaptors. Since I've had Powerbooks for many years at home and at work I've collected a number of adaptors so at this point I have one in every place I usually use the notebook. Since Apple changed their adaptor I will now have to invest in new ones. It's just like with mobile phones - new models = new adaptors. But perhaps in the long run users will make the money back by not destroying power adaptors and computers. I guess if I had a large investment in PC cards I would feel the same way about the switch to ExpressCards as well.

Wrapping up
Despite its shortcomings the MBP is a really exceptional computer. I think it's safe to say that Apple hurried a bit in bringing this first generation of Intel Mac notebooks out and things seem to have improved in the 17-inch version. If you are lucky enough to get one that exhibits few or no of the typical problems, you have a very good work or home notebook computer. It's fast, has a very nice screen, fast graphics card, built-in webcam, and looks gorgeous. My advice if you're wanting to buy one now is to hold off if you can. There seem to be new motherboards out that fix the problems, but it still is a hit and miss game whether you get a good computer without problems or not. There has to be a new revision out sooner or later, possibly later this year, and that should have the problems taken care of.