This is my first Mac computer. My first four computers ran Win 3.1, Windows 95, XP, and Vista (from about 1995-present). I have quite a lot of time spent on each of them. Switching from Windows to Mac is not difficult, but it can be a bit frustrating for a week or so. There are Windows features that you will miss, but they are mostly overcome by overall advantages in my opinion.
I've spent two weeks with this machine now. If I had written this review after one day, I would have probably stated that I regretted the switch to Mac. After getting more proficient with the machine and realizing how well it works, I would definitely recommend it to a friend.
This review is going to be a mix of my impressions of both the hardware and the Mac operating system from a new Mac user perspective.
The only difference between my machine and the one on this product page is that I ordered directly from Apple and upgraded the hard drive to 250GB (from the 160GB base option). I am using 2gb of ram and the lower-end processor.
My Mac OS impressions:
The biggest thing I missed from Windows at first was the task bar. Mac uses the "dock" to replace the task bar. The dock is kind of like the quick launch toolbar in Windows spread out across the entire bar, with large icons. Having used windows with a task bar for the past 13 years, I missed the ability to see all open programs and switch between them with the task bar. The dock has a tiny dot below the icon on running-programs, but nothing else to separate it from other program and folder icons. The dock is not nearly as useful for multitasking as the task bar.
The saving grace that rescues the Mac from awkward app-switching while multitasking is called expose. Expose is activated by either pressing a key or using a multitouch gesture (four-finger swipe). Expose uses the entire screen to display all open windows and allow you to switch between them. It's like alt+tab on steroids. Having used the machine for a couple weeks, I miss using expose when I use my Windows machine. As much as I hated the dock at first, I have to give the advantage to the Mac for managing multiple windows while multitasking.
The controls for open-windows are quite different than in MS-Windows. In Mac, there is a resize, hide, and minimize button instead of maximize, minimize, restore, and close. To close an app on the mac you need to use a menu command or keyboard shortcut. The Mac resize button kind of works like restore/maximize, only it's a bit more awkward. A commenter here pointed out that it resizes the window for ideal viewing without using the entire screen. I find myself resizing windows by dragging corners more than I ever did on a Windows machine. I really miss the ability to maximize, if for no other reason but to avoid distractions. The green resize button may be better on an enormous monitor, but not on a 13" notebook. When you minimize or hide an app on the Mac, it is only available from the dock and is hidden from expose. I'll give the window size-management advantage to Windows in this contest. The windows system is just easier and more logical in my opinion. It isn't a deal-breaker, but I do miss the Windows "window controls." If you are a frequent user of the F11 key while web browsing in Windows you'll have to kiss that feature goodbye. Neither Firefox nor Safari will go full-screen.
Windows Explorer is "replaced" with an app called Finder. Finder is kind of like the start menu and an explorer window all rolled up into one. Compared with older versions of Windows, finder is adequate but Vista's explorer is quite a bit easier and more logical to use. I prefer Vista's preview pane to Mac's coverflow. I miss the "up folder" button. I have found myself mostly using the view that puts files, folders and apps into a column view for easiest computer browsing, and it just isn't as elegant as Windows Vista. The lack of a maximize button has caused frustration especially in the finder, because the finder likes to stay in a very small window unless you drag the corners.
The Safari web browser is nice and quick and has a decent security reputation. I have been switching back and forth between Safari and Firefox. Firefox has crashed a couple of times and I really like being able to use multitouch gestures with Safari, so I'm leaning toward making Safari my main web tool. Reading RSS feeds, and the bookmark toolbar are really well done in Safari. Browsers are so personal that it's difficult to recommend one over the other, but as a Firefox user in Windows I think I have high standard and Safari has met or exceeded them.
I absolutely hate the iPhoto app. Iphoto does not allow you to organize and browse your photos in folders. It imports your pictures and sorts them itself based on time/date stamps on the photos. This works fine for personal vacation snapshots but it completely mixed up the rest of my images. Folders that were neatly organized for work projects, and fun web clippings, and adult stuff were all shuffled into one big mess after I imported my image collection. I ended up just deleting all of them and not using iphoto at all. Right now I'm just using Finder to browse my photos and the preview app to view them. Light editing work isn't possible in the preview app and I still haven't decided what to use for a basic photo editor yet. Vista's photo app is junk but it's still superior to iPhoto if you like to keep your photos organized using your own folder system. I know people who love iphoto. It comes down to whether you want the ability to organize your collection yourself. If you have a big mess of photos, you'll love iphoto's ability to organize them via event and face recognition.
Edited to add: you can organize your photos into "albums" after you import them into iPhoto, but be prepared to spend a lot of time reorganizing everything. Even after you organize into albums, the main library screen gives you views of your entire collection (perhaps things you don't want everyone to see).
I have not used Garage Band or iMovie yet. I'll update later when I get a chance.
Edited to add: I played with garage band a bit and it's pretty powerful. It allows you to import and export AAC and MP3 tracks and record sound in multiple tracks. Very easy to use. The only other audio app i've ever used is audacity and I much prefer Garage Band. I haven't used any of the music lessons it offers yet but plan to soon.
I played with iMovie for a few minutes and it seems pretty nice and very intuitive. I actually don't mind Windows Movie Maker, which is included with Vista. I would not consider it a big step up from Win Movie Maker, but it's a nice app.
The mail, calendar, and address book apps are basic but work very very well. The address app will import common file types easily. It will sync with yahoo out of the box. Address book will only sync with Google contacts if you own an iPhone or iPod Touch.
Everyone has an opinion about iTunes. I'm a big fan of it. It's exactly like the windows version only it runs a bit faster without the bugs. If you have an iPhone or iPod touch, the Windows-iTunes bug with time/date being wrong after the computer sleeps is not an issue on the Mac.
Time machine is the Mac's backup app. It is amazing and very simple. I'm using an external drive plugged into my Apple Airport wireless router, as a backup disk. My wireless disk showed up on my desktop instantly once I plugged it into the router. Time machine noticed the external drive right away and went to work backing up my files (after asking permission of course). Now my machine automatically backs up any changes every hour as long as I'm in range of my wireless access point. Time machine is a big load off my mind. If I ever have a drive failure or my computer is destroyed I have an exact backup of everything without remembering to backup my files. Vista will backup according to a set schedule, but it lacks the ability to easily look through backups for specific files. Time machine is wonderful and make wireless backup effortless.
The Mac disk utility is almost as good as the one in Vista and it's easier to use. It's far superior to the one in XP. I used it to format my external wireless drive because the Mac router couldn't read NTFS formating (although the computer can read NTFS drives via USB for some reason).
The graphics control software is a joy to use. When I plug in my external monitor it immediately extends my desktop to the new monitor. Adjusting everything from resolution to rotation couldn't be any easier.
Boot camp is a utility that allows you to create a partition and install Windows as a secondary boot system (you need to own or buy a legal single-disk 32bit copy of either Windows XP or Windows Vista). When you start up the boot camp utility, it gives you a choice between using either 5 or 32 GB of space for the Windows partition. I learned the hard way that Windows XP SP3 won't fit into 5GB. You need to give it at least the 32 GB (which left me with almost exactly 200GB on my "250" GB drive). Installing Windows using the Boot Camp utility is very very easy. Once you get Windows loaded, your OSX install disk makes quick work of installing drivers for all of your laptop's hardware. It's too bad that Nvidia and HP aren't as good at putting together easy Windows driver packages as Apple. In order to boot into Windows, you simply press the "option" key during bootup and it allows you to choose which OS to run. Windows XP absolutely screams on this hardware.
The hardware:
The hardware is where this computer really shines.
The biggest advantage is stability. My last computer purchase was a vista machine. To say that I had stability and hardware compatibility issues with my HP Vista desktop is an understatement. The main reason I turned to mac for this purchase was the fact that the hardware, drivers, and software are made for each other. This machine has ran flawlessly for the past two weeks. I did have two crashes of the Firefox browser while watching Flash video, but only the browser went down rather than the entire system.
I have connected an external monitor, camera, ipod, USB drive, and router to this machine. All of the drivers were already installed and everything has "just worked." The hardware is a joy to use when it just works. It is difficult to put into words how happy I am with the lack of effort in using this machine.
The speed isn't blazing-fast but it runs very well, even with many many apps and windows running. My Vista desktop has similar specs, but my new Mac feels slightly faster.
One outstanding productivity feature of this machine is the touch pad. I honestly prefer it to using a mouse for office and browsing tasks. I can't say enough good things about the multitouch gestures. Two finger scrolling, two finger right-click, three finger forward and back in Safari, and four finger expose make this machine feel like like it is part of you. Having the entire surface of the touchpad as the button is brilliant, especially for drag and drop operations. The large size of the touchpad makes it very precise.
The keyboard is really nice. At first I thought the keys were a bit soft and the travel was too shallow, but I quickly got used to it and now prefer it to my more "clicky" desktop keyboard. I don't know how I lived this long without a backlit keyboard. The backlight is more useful than I thought it would be.
The display is beautiful. It has good color, a wide viewing angle, and is plenty bright for indoor environments. I would prefer that the screen wasn't glass, but the reflections aren't as bad as I feared. If there is a bright light source behind you, you'll need to angle the screen to reduce the glare but it's workable.
The DVD drive is a DVD drive. It feels slow and makes a lot of noise. I've never owned an optical drive that I considered fast and quiet, and this one isn't any exception. It works well, but isn't anything special.
The battery life is incredible. The seven hour battery life is not an exaggeration if you are using the computer for light browsing and office apps. Expect about 4-5 hours if you're using it for heavy web browsing and a bit of media. Listening to music with the display off would easily last over the advertised 7 hours. Streaming high definition video on netflix using wireless will knock it down to at or below three hours. I haven't watched DVD movies on battery power but I expect it to barely get you through a single two hour film with a bit left over.
The size and weight are ideal for portability. 4.5lbs doesn't exactly feel light until you compare it to similarly spec'd machines that weigh a full pound (20%) more. I wouldn't want a larger machine if I had to lug it around much.
The speakers are quite good for a small light machine. Don't expect much bass, but the sound is very clear with good mids and highs. The speakers are plenty loud for listening to podcasts or music in a semi-quiet medium sized room or office. I won't need to pack external speakers for use in my hotel room when I travel, like my last laptop.
The "magsafe" power adapter is more than just a gimmick, and more than just a way to avoid tripping and breaking your machine. The "power brick" itself is a lot smaller than my last dell laptop. It's exactly the same size as the USB wall adapters that used to be included with ipods. The cord is 6ft long and the brick includes fold-out wings to wrap the cord around. It is very well thought-out for travel. With the cord wrapped up and the plug folded into the body, the power brick only takes up about 2.5" x 3" x 1" in your bag. When you are using it at home or at the office there is an included 6ft extension cord for the power brick so you aren't as tethered to your desk.
The computer runs very cool compared to most laptops. Also, there are no vents where super-heated air blows out. While I'm sure it uses a fan, I've never audibly actually heard it run or felt a stream of warm air from it. I think it may vent through ports and the keyboard but it runs cool enough that you don't notice it. Edited to add: it does get rather warm when watching high resolution video, but stays quite cool when web browsing or using normal office apps. Even when very warm, the fan is still quiet (the only way to actually hear the fan is to hold it near your ear).
The only drawback to the hardware compared to Windows machines is the fact that there is no option to hibernate when closing the lid. It sleeps when you close the lid but it still is using a small amount of power. If you're only going to be away for a couple hours this isn't an issue, but you must completely shut down when on battery power if you're going to be away much longer.
This machine is a lot more expensive than similarly spec'd Windows machines but I feel that it's worth the money. I'm a very satisfied Mac switcher.
Well I must say I am very happy i did not buy apple's first iteration of the 13" aluminum macbook last year b/c they really got it right the second time around upgrading it to a macbook pro! Its nice to have that "pro" stamp on a 13" now! Apple has listened to their customers adding almost everything we have asked for and more, and managed to reduce the price! Thanks Apple!
CHANGES FROM LAST YEAR
$100 less
13" aluminum macbooks became macbook pros
2.53Ghz up from 2.4GHz dual core
4GB RAM up from 2GB
led display has 60% greater color gamut than previous model
new advanced built-in battery that lasts up to 7 hours vs 4hrs
FireWire is back (after all the complaints of first model)
SD card slot (replaces express card slot)
new models now come with iLife '09
separate digital audio input is gone
new model uses the same integrated mic and headphone port as the iPhone
PROS
finally a price cut with a performance upgrade! i knew apple could do it. i was tired of paying for aesthetics and not performance.
new Snow Leopard Operating System comes pre-installed! Same great ease of use with much faster performance!
much better lcd screen! inline with the pro models...still glossy and still some glare but much nicer!
backlight keyboard on all 13" models now! ( i really enjoy this as it can be controlled from low to high)
battery life is significantly better than last year.( i get about 6 hours w/ regular use not the 7hrs that is reported)
the computer is designed beautifully truly a head turner.
iLife 09 suite is superb for pictures, movies, and music. Good software really does sell hardware.
SD card slot accepts SDHC, which goes up to 32GB and works like a charm. (can boot from SD card as well)
CONS
aluminum outer casing does dent easily if dropped. (buy a soft case for it!)
power cord is short and does not reach as many places as I would like...must sit very close to power outlet.
battery can't be removed easily
SD card sticks about half way out of slot. eye sore.
blu-ray option would have been nice but understandable given licensing fees. (many blurays are offering digital copies which help)
Taking into consideration all the great improvements over last year with a nice price cut I can now truly recommend this near perfect Macbook Pro!
Buy Apple MacBook Pro MC374ll/A 13.3 Inch Laptop Now
I just got my brand new 13.3" Macbook Pro in the mail. I customized mine with 4GB of RAM and a 250 GB hard drive, but with the entry-level 2.26 GHz Intel processor. I unboxed it in front of my mother and sister, and they were both oohing and aahing about how beautiful and thin it was. They also loved the magnetic connector on the end of the power adapter that snaps the power cord into the computer nearly by itself. I powered the computer up, went through the Leopard setup screens, and within minutes was logged in. While starting up, the light sensor powered on, the screen dimmed, and the keyboard lit-up automatically. Everything about this computer suggests ingenious design and engineering, with great attention to every detail. It is very light, and since I am using this for school, I am very happy with the size and form factor, particularly the charger. Switching from a large Dell that sported a charger that could be used to bludgeon somebody to death, the small white charger that is about the size of a wallet is a breath of fresh air. This laptop will be a pleasure to travel with.
Are there things this computer lacks? Yes, there is no Blu-Ray player, which would have been nice, but for me was not a deal-breaker. I suspect that the next-gen MBP's will phase out the rotary hard drives and switch to solid state as the standard, and will all have Blu-Ray players. Until that time, this little laptop is more than sufficient.
If I had to come up with a gripe about this computer, there is really only oneand this is true for most of Apple's productsthe iPod, iPhone, and MBP'sI wish that they would not coat portable products with textures that are so easy to scratch. It is apparent that after a few months of toting this to class, it is going to have some scuffs on it. It seems like a bit of a paradox that a company that puts so much value on aesthetics seems only to care about how the product looks when it is taken out of the original packaging. That said, this laptop feels extremely sturdy, and apart from normal wear and tear marks, I am not fearful that it will fall apart, which is a whole lot more than I can say for my previous piece of crap plastic Dell.
In reading other reviews, people seem to be unable to understand that this qualifies as an ultra-portable laptop. It is simply not going to have a peripheral hookup for every type of flash card and five USB hookups. Are people serious with lambasting Apple for merging the audio jack in/out ports into one single port? Really, who gives a rat's a$$? This is a PORTABLE computer, not a media center. If you are a user who favors those things, then you are free to go out and purchase the necessary adapters, but I would rather have a lightweight computer that I can easily tote around. If you want a laptop that is prepared for any occasion, go buy an 8 lb. Dell desktop replacement, and have fun. I for one think people just want a reason to moan or find something to complain about. The fact is that for the money, you are not going to find a better laptop than this one. It costs a bit more than competing PC products, but I have owned Dell's and HP's, and I can tell you, you get what you pay for. If you use your laptop for at least a couple of hours a day, I think it is worth a couple hundred extra to get a really high quality product that makes you happy, and that is why I upgraded to the MBP.
Read Best Reviews of Apple MacBook Pro MC374ll/A 13.3 Inch Laptop Here
There are lots of positives. First, the aluminum unibody design is both gorgeous and practical. The precision construction gives the whole unit a solid feel. Aluminum and glass won't wear out like the plastic on many other laptops. The silver matte finish with black keys looks classy as well.
Fingers glide easily over the large, glass trackpad. The trackpad also operates as a mouse button -it takes a small amount of pressure to click it. Other trackpads I've used often register a click just putting my fingers down -the MacBook Pro's trackpad gives physical feedback which reduces those mis-clicks.
Multiple-finger gestures make it a snap to navigate through documents and websites. Pressing with two fingers instead of one performs the equivalent of a right click. Swiping with 2 fingers scrolls the current window. Spreading fingers apart zooms in; pinching zooms out (similar to the iPhone). Swiping 4 fingers exposes the desktop or switches between applications. These gestures are intuitive and it is hard going back to the Windows laptop after getting used to their convenience (I am really hooked on the 2-finger scrolling).
The keyboard automatically lights up as the room light dims. This isn't an essential feature (especially for touch typists), but is helpful for picking out the correct function keys after dark. It's little touches like this that make the MacBook Pro a pleasure to use.
Apple put a lot of thought into the design of their power supply. It has a special connector that attaches magnetically to main body -so it connects easily and won't cause your laptop to crash to the floor if you trip over it. The connector even has a light that shows it's connected and charging (turning green when the battery reaches 100%). A little plastic clip on the cord helps manage its length. When traveling, the extension cord can be replaced with a retractable plug that goes directly into an outlet, so there's even less to carry. The U.S. plug is included with the MacBook Pro, but you can order plugs for other countries.
The solid body, backlit keyboard and MagSafe power supply are nice design flourishes, but the important feature is the long battery life.
The built-in battery can last up to 7 hours between charges so you can get almost a full day of work out of it. The downside is that the battery cannot simply be swapped out when it gets low or reaches its end-of-life. Apple says their smart charging method allows up to 1000 recharges and batteries should last for up to 5 years. The inability to swap in a fresh battery could be an issue for people that take long intercontinental plane trips, although a HyperMac external battery can keep a 13" MacBook Pro running up to 33 hours.
The MacBook Pro's LED backlit display provides a wide color gamut (Apple says it is a 60% improvement over the MacBook). This is major plus for art and photography applications. A lot of people complain the glossy display is hard to use outdoors -I like its sharpness and mostly work under indoor lighting. However, I can see how this might annoy some users.
Apple has added a FireWire 800 port and support for up to 8GB of RAM. Currently, the cost of a full 8GB of memory is prohibitively expensive, but 4GB is quite reasonable. Eventually memory prices should drop and the MacBook Pro can be inexpensively upgraded to its full potential. The support for more RAM is a welcome feature as we enter the age of 64-bit operating systems. If you are using Photoshop, editing video or running Windows in the background, you might consider extra memory (the manual describes how to upgrade the memory yourself).
The MacBook Pro is a reasonable value for the money, but cheaper laptops are certainly available. I'll leave it to others to argue the merits of one operating system over the other. Because the Macs are Intel-based, they can still be used to run Windows applications, either through Apple's Boot Camp or virtual machine software such as Parallels or Fusion (or Sun's free VirtualBox). The Mac operating system, OS X, is easy to use, so Windows users needn't worry about switching.
The new Macs now ship with Snow Leopard, the latest version of the Mac OS X operating system. If the 13" MacBook Pro you bought came with Leopard, you can upgrade to Snow Leopard for $9.95 via Apple's up-to-date program (be sure to sign up within 90 days of purchase). Google "snow leopard up to date" for details.
What's not to like? This MacBook Pro does not have an ExpressCard slot which limits its expandability. Apple is probably right that most users will be satisfied with the SD slot, but pro photographers might prefer to insert their compact flash card. 3D graphic designers might want to consider one of the higher end MacBook Pros that offer a separate graphics processor. Hard core gamers should probably invest in a PC. And it's no deal-breaker, but a writable Blu-ray drive is still on my wish list. There are rumors that the MacBook Pros will be upgraded with faster processors in January 2010.
The aluminum body is durable -I have had mine for months now and it still look great. Naturally, nothing is totally scratch-proof and scratches on the anodized aluminum case cannot be simply buffed out. Scuff marks happen -true road warriors must learn to accept this as a fact of life. However if it's a big concern, a Speck See Thru Case or InvisibleShield might offer some piece of mind. Personally, I prefer to just be careful and carry my MacBook Pro in a Tom Bihn Ristretto messenger bag (the STM Small Alley Messenger Bag looks like good alternative).
The 13" model is perfect for someone wanting a full-featured laptop that's easy to carry around. The MacBook Air is even more portable, but has less battery life and is not as expandable (plus the Pro's built-in DVD is convenient). To work on a larger screen, plugging into a standalone display turns the laptop into a desktop machine. I can tell you, I would have loved to have a MacBook Pro when I had to march 20 minutes to campus for computer classes.
Want Apple MacBook Pro MC374ll/A 13.3 Inch Laptop Discount?
For the quick and dirty, watch the video, and/or skip to the bottom.
For the record, I am a Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator and a Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist. I've used PCs since before what we know of as "Windows". I have used multiple operating systems and servers from Microsoft over the years, and I am a TechNet subscriber. I also work in an IT/Desktop Support role at my place of business, which is 100% Microsoft. I have four PCs my work Dell, my Gateway P-7805u FX Edition (lovingly referred to in this review as "Big Poppa"), my Gateway netbook from Verizon Wireless, and an Acer AspireRevo that is basically a media server. I have built PCs, troubleshot PCs, installed, configured, and reconfigured PCs, and work with virtual machines all day long.
But something was missing. As much as I love every machine I own, something was missing. I'm not new to Apple my first personal computer was an Apple IIc, where I wrote my first Hello World program in BASIC. At school I used Apple IIe computers where the Games folder was restricted by the teachers. My mother then bought a Mac Performa from the MacMall that used to be in San Diego in the late 80's/early 90's for 2000 bucks, which was my first color computer. When I started working at 18, my exposure to Macs dwindled as I saw companies were always using PCs. It was a shock moving to Windows, but I started to see how intuitive the Windows environment really was. There was a lot of functionality and detail that allowed me to control my environment like Mac never would allow me to do. In the back of my mind I wanted to return to the world of Mac, if for nothing else than the lower maintenance required versus Windows. I never could, because Macs never dropped price. The Performa my mother bought back in the late 80's had 64MB of RAM, a 200MB hard drive (I think), no Ethernet, no wireless, just a built in 56k modem, and a color screen with a plain CD drive and 3.25" floppy drive. It was heavy and ugly.
Nowadays, Apple is selling iMacs and Mac Pros for roughly around the same price as what they used to sell them for. People continue to buy Macs because they're easy to use for the basic home user, but for the advanced IT person it just wasn't practical. But then it all turned upside down; Mac OS (formerly System) went to a more open format, based on standards like Unix, which opened the door for developers to create applications that worked just as good as the Windows counterpart. Not all is perfect, but it's a step in the right direction, and I wanted a piece. Apple started to cut prices on its MacBook Pro line, and it was finally time to reconsider a return to Mac. But it had to be right I needed my Windows environment.
And here I am.
You'll want to understand the differences between the various MacBooks. You can get a regular white MacBook for a grand. In terms of power it's average; it's not going to shock you with its speed, but it will get basic jobs done. You shouldn't have to be too concerned about email or browsing, it'll handle those just fine. Snow Leopard strives to improve on things found in the previous version (Tiger) by making efficient use of the power afforded to it by the hardware, and because it's based on the newer operating system core, it's extremely fast and durable. The next step up is the MacBook Pro line, the aluminum unibody. You've likely heard about this line as the premier part of the laptops from Apple, and for good reason. From little things like aesthetic lighting to larger things like full LED screens that are vibrant and easy to read, the MacBook Pro line is where you want to go when you have more demands than the basic MacBook can handle, like virtualization and multi-tasking.
The MacBook Pro 13" comes in two flavors; the 12 hundred bucks version has a 2.26GHz processor and less hard drive space, whereas this one, the 2.53GHz processor and larger hard drive not withstanding, is 3 hundred bucks more. Whether you really need the increased size and space is a matter of discretion on your part; if you're running VMs you should really opt for the larger version. What determines the need to run VMs? Migration, and that's what my review focuses on...migrating from PC to Mac.
I've had Big Poppa since my birthday last year. It's a beast of a laptop, boasting monster specs and touting itself to be a gaming laptop. For me I just needed the power to run the intensive applications I threw at it and for the most part it took them like a pro. The problem with Big Poppa is that I relied on it so much as a desktop replacement that I did not consider its impact as an actual laptop it weighs nearly 10 pounds by itself and doesn't fit into many bags. The screen was large and vibrant, but might have been causing me eye strain trying to take in all of the real estate. It was also a fingerprint magnet something I didn't mind, actually. It ran hot because of the abuse I was putting it through, and it never shut down or overheated due to its cooling, but it got annoying having to hear its fan during these times. It was then I decided to invest in a MacBook Pro, a smaller machine.
This MacBook has identical specs to Big Poppa, except for the screen resolution and size, of course. Where Big Poppa is nearly 10 pounds, the MacBook Pro clocks in at nearly half the weight. I had my concerns about the real estate of the screen versus the 15", but in actually using the laptop it doesn't feel cramped at all. This is mostly due to the various zoom and sizing options found on the applications with just a swipe of the finger. Those familiar with iPod and iPhone will already know these gestures, such as pinching. Some feel like gimmicks to me like the Expose app but that's probably because Windows has no such feature and thus I find no need for it. What was really impressive was the speed of Mac OS on the MacBook. From dusk to dawn it only slowed down on two occasions, both of which are preventable, and performed significantly faster than Windows on Big Poppa with the same hardware.
My plan for migration was to load up my Big Poppa configuration into a VM and move it to Mac, running it in VMWare Fusion going forward. This plan fell through, because none of the Mac applications I tried were able to effectively get this done. I tried the Parallels Transporter, VMWare Fusion's conversion agent, and even various backup and imaging solutions that VMWare claimed were compatible, but no matter what I tried, the Mac side would not import the file. I was finally forced to build a new VM with the same OS and processor, and do Windows Easy Transfer. Of course, I lost all of my applications and will have to reinstall them. A word of warning to anyone wanting to make this transition it is NOT as easy as it should be. After researching it appears there were two issues working against me. First, it seems the migration tools aren't friendly with 64-bit operating systems. Since these are quite prevalent these days this was distressing and the MacBook Pro's Core 2 Duo is a 64 bit compatible processor, by the way. Second, if you have more than one OS installed on separate partitions, it will fail unless you migrate them all, even if you only want one. This is because it reads the whole drive, not the partition, and will freak if you try to limit it. In Windows it's smart enough to know that you selected a single partition and will take action, but the Mac side does not have the same intuition.
If you choose the VMWare or Parallels route, you'll be able to not only share documents and files seamlessly between the environments, but also applications. So you can dock your Windows applications and they will launch in the VM when you need them, so you don't have to fire up the VM every time you just want to load one application or one file. Also, if you open a Windows document stored on your Mac, it can launch the Windows application from the VM. Using VMWare's Unity mode or Parallels Crystal mode, you can even set it to where these documents and applications open directly in Mac without the need for the VM to be visible. Windows 7 has an analog to this called XP Mode, and it's quite useful if you need that compatibility (which you will).
Startup and Shutdown times on Mac OS are a fraction of Windows 7. Because things only load on startup when you want them to, and because there is no "registry" to preload, nor are there applications that have auto-starting DLLs, it means you are never tethered to the machine for extended periods waiting to get to the desktop. As I said, if you're a quick-and-dirty browsing/email person this computer will do you just fine but then, I would consider the computer significantly overpriced for such an application.
There are some other issues. Like the fact that Snow Leopard does not seem to understand what "hot swap" means. In Windows XP and above, you can configure the OS to allow certain storage media types to be hot swappable, meaning you can plug and unplug them at will without risk of data loss for the most part via USB or SD card slots. Snow Leopard yells at you for unplugging a device without using the right click --> Eject function. This is seriously annoying and I can't express to you all of the reasons why. The whole benefit of USB in particular is the idea that I don't have to eject it. It's not an IDE, SATA or SCSI device. This one nitpick slows down my entire process and forces me to consider other options besides USB like networked devices.
An eSATA port would have been nice, as Big Poppa came with one and I learned to love the increased speed of transfers. USB is down to about 15-20MB/second, eSATA is anywhere from 50-100MB/second.
The touchpad is going to take getting used to and in some ways I wish Mac had stuck with the two button format, even if only as an alternate option. The problem isn't the gestures, it's the click. The entire pad is a button and you can configure one corner to be a "right click", but the problem is that those who are accustomed to just tapping the pad (not me...I hate tapping) will get frustrated with the notion that they now have to press harder to get commands to submit. This is especially problematic when navigating folder structures where multiple double clicks are necessary what a nightmare.
Speaking strictly about the laptop itself, the build quality is solid and it doesn't feel like there are any overly loose parts, although I do find the case design itself to be uninspired. Speck offers a clear case, located here: Speck MacBook 13" See-Thru Hard Case CLEAR which, when applied, gives the laptop a clear aesthetic appeal that is reminiscent of the Mac Mini and the old iMac computers; no idea why they have not designed them this way by default. The screen hinge is large and centered instead of the classic two-prong variety and feels solid, but the screen moves way too easily for my taste. If you lift the laptop by the wrist pad, the screen flops around loosely; something I'm not used to given none of my other laptops do it. I assume they made it easily movable to appeal to those who complain that laptops are hard to open.
You will notice the laptop is extremely quiet with day-to-day regular usage. It won't turn on the fan hardly at all unless you're doing something intensive. These are the times you might notice slowdowns for example, when working in VMWare Fusion, I ran a Windows Experience rating and the laptop was brought to its knees. As I type this, I'm processing a video for this review and the fan came on, getting progressively louder as it continues its process. This isn't unusual for computers, but you should realize that while it will be quiet for a basic user, you will hear some noise as you start putting it through its paces.
Some have commented on the glossiness of the screen. I find it annoying only because of the way the screen was designed. Because it's an entire uniform glass surface, it means the reflective nature of the screen is not shielded in any way like with PCs where there is a non-reflective bezel. In other words, on the PC you'd have to be directly in the way of the sunlight or other lighting in order for it to affect you; on the MacBook Pro it's apparent no matter what you do or where you sit. Clearly Apple tried to counter this by using the LED screen's depth and saturation, but it doesn't work in a brightly lit environment. At night it's a thing of beauty, of course. Just keep in mind that it's not designed for outdoor working at all; there are some antiglare overlays, but unless you got the model from Apple that has it built in, it's going to look like a poor alternative.
In short, the MacBook Pro is a solid laptop still somewhat overpriced, not nearly as much as before, but it is...and your migration path away from PC might be difficult if you were a heavy PC user. If you've never used Mac before you'll want to read all of the documentation you can because you will need to learn most simple things from scratch (Print screen anyone?). If you've used Mac before you should be able to get back into it fairly easily, though some things have changed and not all for the better. I would definitely recommend VMWare Fusion if you are considering a migration, so you can still have Windows available when you need it. There are some things that Windows can give you that Mac OS can't applications that don't have a Mac version.
The computer is overall a decent and good computer. For the price it is a great sized screen and fast machine. I mostly got this to check email, basic graphics editing, skype, word processing, and web browsing.
June 7, 2012 Update: As one person pointed out, Asus is about the release the Zen Prime, or the second generation of the Zen Book. The following review pertains ONLY to the first generation. Some of it may still apply (I'm pretty certain Asus will still include a bucket load of crap bloatware) but as I haven't seen one I feel it's important to note it so I don't confuse people.
I use this laptop for basic thinks like web, word processing, movies, music, etc. It works great and have no complaints on it.
I purchased this exact i5 Helix pre-launch from an Ebay reseller so I've had about a month of use with it. If you don't already know from watching one of those brief Helix ads, it's a tablet convertible laptop with dual batteries. I'll skip all the specs and go to my experience.
Very nice laptop. Thin and light. I've heard the mouse pad can be a challenge but have had no problems with it whatsoever. Windows 8 is very different and takes some getting used to!
Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program This is my first experience with Ultrabooks. Up to this point I have worked with laptops that are designed to be desktop replacement systems or family entertainment systems, so the journey into the land of Ultrabooks is a new one for me. So far, I have mixed feelings about this system, mostly due to HP's recovery media creation tool, but my overall impression is a good one so far.
Just got the PC, initial configuration was quite easy. If you are not used to a tablet environment, windows 8 is going to be a bit challenging, but nothing to worry about. There is a short manual for windows 8 showing some touchpad commands and once you access the first thing you will see is a dashboard, where there is a tutorial.
Not a monster of a machine by any means, but for light web surfing and DVD viewing, it does the trick. Also, with iLife '06 (which I purchased separately), I can record music and do a little video editing. All for a very reasonable price.
This laptop may only have an i3 but it still is really fast. Its super light and really well built. The screen looks great.
took a week to receive the computer. This is my 10th laptop. Not new to computers. I run a business and dont have time for things that dont work. Amazon has been hit or miss. This was a miss. After 2 hrs of charging the battery i press the on button to find the fan kicks on...a few lights flash...and it shuts off! over and over again....Now i dont have the computer I need for my business, my $$ is tied up until it is refunded....and i still have to go out and get a computer. A WASTE OF TIME!!!!!
The delivery was fast honestly. The laptop was a second hand refurbished but according to seller in excellent condition. The first day the "C" key popped out of the laptop. The computer came with a load of spyware. It's extremely hard to connect to wifi network because It loses the network as soon as I move it. all my other devices move up and down my house just fine unless I disconnect them. I have to keep removing my router plug to reconnect to this computer. The keys are not very responsive. the zoom feature is good. the web cam is one of the best I've ever had. The size is very comfortable for me and it's a little bulky compare to most laptops in this class. I'm a student and it's not a bad laptop replacement
I got this laptop after doing extensive research on the cheapest highest quality option about 4 days ago and have been using it for web browsing, blu-ray watching, and gaming. There is almost nothing wrong with this laptop. It pretty much has the top specs in every category with its ivy bridge core i7 processor, Nvidia Geforce GT 650M, 676 gb hard drive space, 8gb DDR3 RAM, etc...