Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Hands-on with the new MacBook Pro
C-Net News ^ | 10/17/2008 | by Peter Glaskowsky

Posted on 10/17/2008 1:33:45 PM PDT by Swordmaker

When Apple announced its new notebooks on Tuesday, it said the new machines would be in the company's retail stores the next day.

So I went to the Apple store at the Westfield Valley Fair mall in Santa Clara, Calif., after work on Wednesday. I got there a few minutes after 6 p.m. and discovered that an Apple technician was in the process of replacing an old MacBook Pro with the first one of the new models. I positioned myself authoritatively about a foot from the tech's left elbow, so when he was done, I was the first customer to get my hands on the new machine.


Apple's new MacBook Pro. - (Credit: Apple)

It looked as good in real life as it does in the pictures. The tapered edges make it look thinner than it really is, considerably more svelte than the older MacBook Pros like mine.

A few things struck me about the new design. There's no latch for the lid, but some kind of cam in the hinge keeps it snugly closed unless it's opened on purpose. I don't think this would work as well with the old lid style because there's enough of an edge on there for incidental contact to overcome the hinge tension. But with the new extra-thin edge, the lid seems to resist accidental opening.

Unfortunately, like older MacBooks and PowerBooks, the machine starts to turn on when the lid is opened only slightly. I've never understood why these switches are so sensitive. It seems to me it would be better to wait until the machine is opened more like two or three inches to avoid accidental actuation, especially when there's no latch.

The trackpad was very nice, easily the best I've ever used. It also doesn't look or feel like glass. I can confirm that Apple thought of the same thing that I did in my previous post--a click with one finger generates a left-click, and a tap with two fingers generates a right-click. Awesome. So now Apple has the world's only two-button mouse that doesn't have any buttons at all, and it isn't even a mouse!

(I also tried three- and four-finger taps, but I couldn't see any difference in the behavior of the Finder. I wonder if that's something applications can detect, though.)

Too glossy
As for the new glass-face display: I'm sure it'll be great for watching movies in a dark room. I'm sure it'll be fine for most purposes, if you're in a dark room. And wearing dark clothing, and nothing shiny. But wow, I really don't like to see windows or lights or my clothing reflected in glossy displays, and the only way this new machine's display could be any more glare-prone is if it were mirrored like a highway cop's sunglasses.

I picked the machine up and turned it around in my hands, somewhat constrained by the attached power and Ethernet cables. It felt good in my hands. The surface finish is good-- not slippery, but not rough either. I gave the machine some light tweaking between my hands--both the lid and the base separately, as well as the whole machine with the lid closed--and in all tests, the new machine seemed to offer more torsional rigidity than my old MacBook Pro. So that says the new manufacturing techniques have paid off, at least in that respect.

The bottom covers for the battery/HD and RAM felt very securely attached, not rattly, and the seams were remarkably tight. I hope they stay that way over time, always a difficult thing to achieve with sheet aluminum, which is not the most stable material. (Cars, for example, could be built with even smaller gaps between doors and frames, but makers don't do that because the inevitable shifts over time would then be more conspicuous--and most cars are made out of steel.)

Apple used its snazzy technology for nearly-invisible indicator lights on the sleep indicator; you basically can't see the light unless it's on. (The same technology is used for the "on the air" light next to the Webcam on older MacBook Pros like mine, and it's really almost like magic.) Oddly, however, there's a short slot next to the indicator on the new machine that compromises the clean look Apple was presumably seeking with this design feature. I don't even know what the slot is for! My only guess is that it might have the infrared receiver for the Front Row remote control behind it.

Out of respect for the store, I didn't pop the battery cover off, though I am curious how that latch works. The latch is at one side, but it has to seal tight across a very long edge. That's usually difficult to arrange.

Sharper feel
The edge of the aluminum around the keyboard and palm rests does, indeed, feel sharper than the plastic on the older MacBook Pros. Not physically sharper, but the low friction of the old plastic makes the edge feel smoother because skin is less likely to hang up on it. Skin doesn't slide over the new aluminum edge nearly as easily.

Since the new machine had accumulated quite a crowd within just a few minutes while I examined these elements, I turned to a couple of guys on one side who had arrived shortly after I did, rubbed my palm across the edge of the new MacBook Pro a few times, did the same on the older model next to it, and asked them to do the same. Then I asked "does the new one feel sharper?" Both said yes. But we all also agreed that visually, they appeared to be about the same, so I think the answer is that Apple ought to round over this edge just a bit more.

And with that, I stepped back and let the rest of the crowd fight over the new machine. I didn't see any new MacBooks on that visit (and I couldn't get my iPhone power adapter replaced under the recall; they were out). But seeing the new Pro was enough to justify the visit. I love the looks, but I can't justify buying a new laptop right now. So I'll wait for the next refresh and hope those machines still look this good.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Computers/Internet
KEYWORDS: ilovebillgates; iwanthim; iwanthimbad; microsoftfanboys
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-35 last
To: Swordmaker

Nice lookin’. But I really just stopped in to read the idiotic anti-Apple rants, because I need a good laugh.


21 posted on 10/17/2008 6:58:07 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/_______Profile finally updated Saturday, October 11, 2008 !!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Swordmaker

Nice capsule review, but the author is incorrect on one point. If you check Precision Machine Design by MIT’s Alex Slocum, you’ll find aluminum extolled for its material stability.


22 posted on 10/17/2008 7:04:27 PM PDT by RightOnTheLeftCoast ([In the primaries, vote "FOR". In the general, vote "AGAINST". ...See? Easy.])
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Terpfen

I certainly never expected to be confronted by someone with such a major stake in glossy screens!

I will tell you that it is a FACT that LCD screens were made mate for exactly the reason I gave.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matte_Displays

Beyond all that, the reason why glossy screens seem to have become popular, especially with notebooks, is that they offer better outdoor readability.

Moreover, just for the record, my post wasn’t a complaint so much as it was an explanation for those who care to increase their understanding of the facts.

I don’t own a glossy screen any more, computer monitor or television, so I have nothing to complain about.

Perhaps if I buy one of the new Mac laptops, I will buy one of the films you suggest. Thanks.


23 posted on 10/17/2008 7:56:48 PM PDT by John Valentine
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: John Valentine
I certainly never expected to be confronted by someone with such a major stake in glossy screens!

I certainly never expected to be confronted by someone with such a major stake in refusing to go out and buy a matte filter or an anti-glare film for 10 bucks, then claiming he has no stake in an issue he's now complained about multiple times.

By the way, claiming you have hold of "facts" and then linking to Wikipedia is a self-defeating tactic.
24 posted on 10/17/2008 8:01:07 PM PDT by Terpfen (To all you knee-jerkers: remember Rick Santorum.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: Terpfen

Spoken like a wannabe no-nothing. Check the photography websites. The derision is universal. A non glare film would be a stop-gap measure at best.

Go buy a glossy high-intensity screen machine. Enjoy our eye strain and headaches.


25 posted on 10/17/2008 8:13:53 PM PDT by gost2
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: antiRepublicrat
Apple has outdone itself with its obsessive-compulsive level of attention to detail. I mean, the attention paid to just the sleep indicator light? Spend two months getting the track pad texture right? Go though hundreds of versions of the thumb scoop where you open the display to get it right? It’s insane, and I love it.

I’m trying to think of any other manufacturer of anything in the world that does this and all I can think of is maybe a high-end Swiss watch maker like Patek Philippe.

But at the same time, when Apple decides you don't need a feature, come hell or high water, you will NOT get it!

I've just been issued an iPhone 3G from work, and I'm somewhat hard of hearing. I simply can not hear the email received alert on the phone when I'm more than about 2 feet from the phone. That's the main thing I use it for when I'm out of the office. And you simply can NOT change that tone without "Jail Breaking" the phone - and since it's not mine, but my companies, if I do Jail Break or otherwise try to hack the phone (which is something I'd sort of like to try), it's grounds for termination.

I've contacted Apple, and requested (practically begging) this feature. I've never seen a data phone that wouldn't allow you to assign different tones to different alerts!

Mark

26 posted on 10/17/2008 8:47:53 PM PDT by MarkL (Al Gore: The Greenhouse Gasbag! (heard on Bob Brinker's Money Talk))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: John Valentine
"At the very least, give us a choice!"

How about glossy with an antireflective coating?
27 posted on 10/17/2008 8:49:39 PM PDT by RightOnTheLeftCoast ([In the primaries, vote "FOR". In the general, vote "AGAINST". ...See? Easy.])
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: Terpfen
As for the gloss, well, TVs have been glossy for seven decades and no one's complained.

Huh? People HAVE BEEN COMPLAINING THE ENTIRE TIME! Just ask anyone who sells TVs! But people have just gotten used to the idea that they don't have any choice other than to reposition the TV or other furniture, and make sure you draw the blinds!

Mark

28 posted on 10/17/2008 8:49:57 PM PDT by MarkL (Al Gore: The Greenhouse Gasbag! (heard on Bob Brinker's Money Talk))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: MarkL

Yes, there’s such universal backlash that manufacturers have not taken advantage by offering matte TVs, but have offered matte computer screens for years. Okay.


29 posted on 10/17/2008 8:54:24 PM PDT by Terpfen (To all you knee-jerkers: remember Rick Santorum.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: MarkL

That is a down side to Apple sometimes. That and their legal department.


30 posted on 10/17/2008 10:01:25 PM PDT by antiRepublicrat
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: Swordmaker

What do you think of the new MB, Swordmaker? I want one.


31 posted on 10/19/2008 1:00:17 AM PDT by IreneE (Live for nothing or die for something.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: antiRepublicrat; Swordmaker
You do know that this is why Jonathan Ive, Apple's head designer, who created the original iMac G3, the iPod, the Titanium Powerbook, the iBook, the Powermac G5, the iPhone and the G4 Cube (in the Metropolitan Museum of Art) — was knighted?

He is a pre eminent post modern industrial designer. Up there with all the dead guys from Bel Geddes.

Ive has been known to be a big fan of the Braun industrial designs of their electrical components from the 1960’s, and the Eames era Kartell plastic designs of the mod 70’s. This is what the white iBook was all about.

The industrial design of the first modern Powerbook, Ive's Titanium Powerbook G4, is an ode to forties modern. He eschewed this on the latter model “Aluminum” Powerbooks with their aluminum colored keyboards; extended this through the first generations of Mac Book Pros.

But he brought back that forties look with the Mac Book Air and now the newest generation of MacBooks and Mac Book Pros.

I think he is a genius and I mentioned to some art people I know that he deserves a major show of his work. Function/form = modernism. He is really a great designer. He would make all the early 20th Century designers like Mies/Corbusier/Bruer — even Charles Eames — proud.

32 posted on 10/19/2008 1:10:01 AM PDT by IreneE (Live for nothing or die for something.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: IreneE
What do you think of the new MB, Swordmaker? I want one.

The specs and pictures look good... but I have yet to actually see one and try it out. I may go to the Apple Store in Sacramento this week and take one for a test spin...

33 posted on 10/19/2008 9:47:32 AM PDT by Swordmaker (Remember, the proper pronunciation of IE is "AAAAIIIIIEEEEEEE!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 31 | View Replies]

To: IreneE

Sounds like you know your design. Yes, Ive is a genius. But that is mixed with hard work, as he tends to make hundreds of design variations before arriving at the final one. It used to be clay and such, I’ll bet he had a CNC machine all to himself to play with variations on the new MacBook/Pro case.


34 posted on 10/20/2008 6:41:07 AM PDT by antiRepublicrat
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies]

To: Terpfen
I guess the Windows side has been asleep for the last 2 years. Has this guy not heard of Apple's magnetic latches? They've only been in use since 2006.

In the MacBooks, you're right. But with the MacBook Pros, one still had to slide a button to open them.

35 posted on 10/20/2008 8:09:23 AM PDT by libravoter (Live from the People's Republic of Cambridge)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-35 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson