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Apple does it again with its MacBook Pro, professional laptop computers, offering ultra-bright LED displays (light emitting diodes), faster processors, a 1920 x 1200 17-inch display option for those working in high definition aspect ratios, and much more. If you?re looking for a workhorse laptop, this is it!
First off, I want to touch upon the LED displays, which are already bright and ready-to-go once you power up the system. It?s also mercury-free, so if it gets cracked, you?ll be all right. Right now, it's available in the 15-inch display.
I also want to talk about the 1920 x 1200 display on the 17-inch model, which makes for working with HD resolutions much easier. It?s a great asset to have, after years of knowing PC users had this option.
The only real downside? Font sizes are much smaller on this 17-inch, native 1680 x 1050-resolution model, so you?ll be making font sizes bigger on your Internet and Email options, if you?re eyes are like mine, even corrected. A small thing when you?re working with HD file sizes or large-format photos and graphics. However, Apple has stated the new OS X 10.5 Leopard will support higher-res screens like the 17-inch, 1920 x 1200 display.
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The computers are very fast, and can handle pretty much what you throw at them, however double-check your software?s minimum system requirements to ensure you have the proper system for what you?re doing. In some cases, a Mac Pro with its four- and eight-processor options are probably your best bet. You can check out my review of the Mac Pro 3.0Ghz Quad here. Here are some speed tests done with the MacBook Pro 2.4 Ghz, 17-inch model with 4 GB RAM, a 160GB drive and the glossy, high-resolution 1920 x 1200 display (configured for around $3,799):
| Results in minutes: seconds Version of After Effects used: CS3 | 17-inch Apple MacBook Pro, 4GB RAM, 160GB hard disk drive |
| Animation: | 2 seconds |
| Video project: | 23 |
| Data project: | 52 |
| Gambler: | 17 |
| Source Shapes: | 1 minute 17 seconds |
| Virtual Set: | 1 minute 13 seconds |
| CineBench 9.5 | |
| CineBench 9.5 Single CPU | 400 CB-CPU |
| CineBench 9.5 multiple CPU: | 746 CB CPU |
| Multiprocessor speedup: | 1.87 |
| C4D Graphics Benchmark | |
| C4D Shading | 482 CB GFX |
| OpenGL SW-L | 1871 CB-GFX |
| OpenGL HW-L | 4056 CB GFX |
| OpenGL Speedup | 8.41X |
MacBook Pro options include:
- 15.4-inch (1440 x 900, native) or 17-inch (1680 x 1050, native) displays with Intel Core 2 Duo dual-core processors, with the 15.4-inch supporting speeds of both 2.2 Ghz and 2.4 Ghz, while the 17-inch display has only the 2.4 Ghz speed option.
- For no extra cost, you can select glossy or non-glossy displays. Glossy can help with graphics, animation, color correction/finishing and more.
- The 17-inch model comes with the option of a high-resolution screen for $100 more, giving you 1920 x 1200 resolution. The keyboard illuminates when a room you?re in is dark. If the ultra-bright display is too much with the keyboard illumination, you can turn down both easily on the keyboard.
- The graphics card in all three models include an NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT, though the standard 15-inch 2.2 Ghz model has 128 Mb of SDRAM, the 2.4 Ghz models have 256 Mb of SDRAM.
- You can select a hard drive that?s up to 200GB on the 15-inch model and 250GB on the 17-inch model. You can pack up to 4GB of RAM on all three models. I highly recommend getting as large a drive as possible and as much RAM as you can afford. These are workhorse laptops, so I?m sure you?ll be doing a lot of work and putting the systems through their paces.
- I/O (in/out) ports: on the 15-inch model, you have two USB 2.0 ports and one FireWire 400 and one FW 800 port. On the 17-inch model, you have three USB 2.0 ports and, again, one FireWire 400 and one FW 800 port. You also have an ExpressCard/34 slot (if you?re a Panasonic P2 camera user, slide the P2 card in here to capture footage).
- Lastly, there?s a DVI port to plug in a monitor (like the excellent Apple 23-inch LCD plus an included VGA-to-DVI adaptor) and a gigabit Ethernet port for Internet. You?ll need to buy a USB Modem if you?re on dial up still.
- There?s the super-fast built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n card, 8x SuperDrive (DVD/CD-R/RW), MagSafe Power Adaptor (which is magnetic and can easily pop off when you?re done charging), Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, built-in iSight camera and much more. Visit www.apple.com/macbookpro for complete specs.
The newest MacBook Pros are perhaps the best workhorse laptops Apple has put out yet, packing in new features including an LED display that?s automatically bright when you hit the power button. More RAM off the bat, faster speeds and bigger hard drives make this a must-have system.
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