[Woodsea]

I am a proud owner of a new computer.  This is my first Mac, though once I purchase Vista home premium it will be boot camped.  So far, I am liking it.  There is a definite learning curve, mac and pc think differently.  The reason I purchased this one is because the Asus A1s similarly configured will never be able to run OSX.  I like to have as many bases as I can covered.  Also, I will be in living in Cuba in two weeks, and the Lenovo 61p is not out yet and they are cruelly always late on delivery.  I was told not to trust the pouch for delivery of a computer, makes sense.
It is a good size and plenty of space for my hands.  It is a lb lighter than the Asus as well.  LED will make the battery life at least 30 minutes longer.
Oh and on a side note, outside of the mac store in Clarendon is safe.  My kids were never verbally assaulted, nor was I ever in fear of having to turn the other cheek 

[jqp]

Wow nice. Did you get a Santa Rosa version?

[Woodsea]

Yeah, no glossy (my wife has it on the macbook, don't care for it), 256 for the vram.   I splurged, now I gotta figure out my portfolio to get  the odyssey amp to cover the blown right front channel on my H/K.  Gotta do it by tomorrow, I am on a timeline, they haul my crap away on the 18th. 

[tvad4]

Did you get a Santa Rosa version?

What's a Santa Rosa version?

[jqp]

Here's a nice summary

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/intel/what-you-need-to-know-about-intels-new-santa-rosa-platform-258885.php

[tvad4]

Gotcha. Thanks.

[NealH]

The new LED version of the glossy screen looks excellent.  It provides the most vivid colors and sharpest  display, I think.  Still, it is susceptible to glare so, it's something that has to be considered.  But, it doesn't appear as susceptible as the previous MB glossy screen. 

[Tyrro]

BTW, if anyone interested I'm selling my MacBook Pro for $2800.

It's top of the line MacBook Pro with Core 2 Duo Processor in almost brand new condition. Bought in November of 2006 and it's still under warranty. Pictures available upon request.

The specs are all top of the line:
----------------------------------
I have upgraded to 3GB 667 DDR2 memory, upgraded hard drive to a faster 7200 RPM 100GB drive. All other specs are standard. This is a 17-inch screen notebook.
I'll leave all software pre-installed.

Here's a partial list of what's pre-installed:

1. Parallels Desktop for Mac - it will allow you to run any flavor of Windows (XP, Vista), Linux, and OSX simultaneously without rebooting.
2. Adobe Creative Suite 2
3. Apperture 1.5.3
4. iDVD, iMovie, iPhoto, iTunes, iWeb
5. iWork'06
6. Macromedia Dreamweaver, Flash, Firefox, Contribute
7. MS Office 2004
8. RapidWeaver
9. Soundtrack Pro
10. Sorenson Squeeze
11. Toast 8 Titanium
12. Transmit
and some others.

So if anyone interested, drop me a line.

[Pez]

Lol I'm sitting in the apple store right now with a genius.  Turns out my wife's Bonjour is corrupted.  When we try to start it we get cryptic messages. Yet another great reason to buy a mac, something goes wrong you talk to a real live person who actually knows how to fix things.  So far no one has tried to punch me,but I've olnly been here for a few minutes.  BTW the new led screens on the new mac book pros look supberb.  I sort of wish I had waited, oh well my MBP is amazing regardless!

[NealH]

I will agree, the new LED displays are stunningly good.  I went in to our Apple store a couple weeks ago to look at the new machines and, expecting to see an improved display.  However, I didn't expect to see such a vast improvement.  It was virtually jaw dropping - especially the glossy screen.

This ended up being a healthy upgrade without changing the cost.   A stronger video card, addressable  memory up to 4GB (I think the predecessor was pretty much limited to 2GB regardless of how much you stuffed it with), firewire 800, etc.

It's time to retire my G4 and bring home a MBP.     

[tvad4]

Is the new LED display also offered on the standard MacBook?

[NealH]

Is the new LED display also offered on the standard MacBook?

Not yet, probably late this fall or early next year according to the rumor mill.  But, Apple knows how to be aggressive so it might happen earlier. 

[tvad4]

Is the new LED display also offered on the standard MacBook?

Not yet, probably late this fall or early next year according to the rumor mill.  But, Apple knows how to be aggressive so it might happen earlier. 

I suspected as much.

I'm apt to wait anyway until Leopard comes pre-installed.

[Woodsea]

I am so glad I got the non-glossy.  I mean, I like myself and all, but I don't need a mirror for a screen.  I am to busy with my move to try any gaming, of course my discs for windows are shipping to Havana now.  So then I can dual boot.  Macs have relatively nothing for games as compared to Windows.   
There latest OS is much better than xp.  I can't wait to get Leopard and Vista ultimate on this bad boy and really let it fly. 

[Imperial]

My brother has a iMac 20". And it goes like stink!!! He's had i for a year now... so..
I'm getting a Mac myself this year. I'll get Parallels Desktop too I guess! I still want my windows!!!
But do I need the Pro? Or can I get by nicely with a MacBook with say 2.16Ghz and 2Gig ram?
Can it run Parallels with dual system good enough?

Imperial

[Tyrro]

In short, yes, you can.
It's just the more memory you can allocate to your windows installation the better, especially if you plan to run vista.
I have 3GB, so I leave 1.5GB for OSX, and the rest 1.5GB for Windows.

My brother has a iMac 20". And it goes like stink!!! He's had i for a year now... so..
I'm getting a Mac myself this year. I'll get Parallels Desktop too I guess! I still want my windows!!!
But do I need the Pro? Or can I get by nicely with a MacBook with say 2.16Ghz and 2Gig ram?
Can it run Parallels with dual system good enough?

Imperial

[Levi]

I just bought a new MacBook Pro, 15.5" 2.4Ghz, 4Gb RAM and 256MB video ram.  I am glad that I bought it with the MAC OSX 10.5 Leopard.  Saves me another $129.  Definitely there is a learning curve here.  Probably going to be "boot-camp" soon with XP Pro. 

I just found out you can get 4Gb memory ram in NewEgg for $200!  

[modwright]

I have been lusting for one of these for a while.  I am an old-school PC guy and have been since college.  I am SERIOUSlY considering a Mac as my next move however.  I am tempted to get a Mac Book Pro as my main shop computer soon.  I have two PC notebooks and a compact desktop right now.

The cost is higher, but the 'Pro' is a VERY nice looking laptop and I am tired of Windows...

In addition to Bootcamp, there is also a program called 'Parallels' (I believe that is what it's called).  I bought an iMac for one of my consultants as a gift and I installed this program to allow for the use of PC programs to be run seemlessly within the Mac OS.

Please email me at your convenience and let me know what you think and how it works with your PC software.  One of the only hesitations that I have is that a lot of my software is PC-based of course.

Take care,

Dan Wright
modwright@yahoo.com

[TomS]

Dan,

After many years of Wintel laptops, I bought a MacBook Pro and a MacBook for my teen daughters (one in college) and haven't looked back.  Parallels is good for almost all of the Windoze apps without problems.   Another option is VM Fusion which is a worthy competitor to Parallels lately.  It will run dozens of other OS's virtually as well.  I tried Clarkconnect Linux 4.0 that runs my SlimServer on it and it actually ran fine in the background.  One nice thing about the iWork and Parallels packages is you can get a 5-pack family version for less than $100 each!  Try that with Microsoft.

Overall, love the MB's and wish it was in the budget for Dad to get one too

Tom

[Levi]

Definitely the MacBook Pro has the WAF factor.  The keyboard feels really nice as if it is hugging my fingers when I type.  It is also backlighted so easy to see in the dark. 

I will keep you guys up-to-date.