Specifications of the MacBook
Pro reviewed
The MacBook Pro is Apple's latest notebook
and their first with Intel's new attempt at notebook dominance, the Core
Duo. It represents the near peak of current notebook technology in terms
of power, making only a few compromises for the sake of a slim profile and a
better battery life. I am a college student who has been lusting over
notebooks for the past two years, but with so many choices and every promising
notebook seemingly always lacking in an essential area I was paralyzed by
indecision (and a lack of funds). I will be attending Law School next
fall and the time has finally come when owning a notebook is no longer an
option. Luckily, notebook technology is better than ever, and I finally had
some notebooks to choose from that represent nearly everything I have wanted
since I first got the idea in my head that I needed one. I have simple needs:
gaming capable graphics card, near desktop power, low weight, bright screen,
decent battery life, and sweet looks (you know, the basics).
Once I saw the Core Duo I knew the day had
arrived and that any laptop I bought was going to have it. I have to have
a laptop before August so that took out waiting for the 64bit Core Duo sequel
that is coming out sometime later this year or early next year (Merom).
The notebooks I considered getting were the W3J,
the Acer 8204, and the new MacBook Pro from Apple, all top of the line machines
which had the Radeon X1600 and the new Core Duo. The Apple wasn't really
an option because the Law School I am attending requires a Windows
machine. The Acer just had too many complaints of a poor screen and other
problems, although I know people who are enjoying the machine just fine.
I actually ordered the W3J last week but was dismayed to discover that my
preorder wasn't made quite soon enough and I was going to have to wait even
longer if I wanted that option. My preorder was cancelled about 4 days
after the announcement of Boot Camp, which was not just a hack, but the promise
of an (in the future) officially supported dual boot program. I'm no
fool, and I wasn't going to spit the notebook gods in the face. I had
been given a sign, and 24 hours later I picked up my (educationally discounted
at $2,299) brand new MacBook Pro.
Specifications of the MacBook
Pro reviewed
- 2.0 GHz Intel Core Duo
- 667MHz frontside bus and main memory
- PCI Express architecture
- 100GB 5400 Serial ATA hard drive
- ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 with 256MB memory on 16-lane PCI Express
- ExpressCard/34 slot
- Dual-link DVI, VGA adapter included
- One FireWire 400 port, two USB 2.0 ports
- Optical digital and analogue audio I/O, built-in microphone and stereo speakers
- Slot-loading SuperDrive
- Illuminated keyboard, scrolling TrackPad
- Built-in AirPort Extreme (802.11g), Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, and Gigabit Ethernet
- Mac OS X Tiger with iLife '06, featuring iWeb
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