The loss of 60 pixels vertically was probably to fit in the iSight. That said, it doesn't much matter, this is a first run product and probably sucks aside from the speed in certain applications.

I didn't realize that the Flip4Mac went free because of MS subsidization. In any case, I paid my $10 for the player version just last week, so I'm feeling... odd... about it.

- modem and svideo/composite out are now just optional accessories. usb modem costs $49, dvi -> svideo/composite will probably cost $19 (same as current model for imac, powermac g5)

- i agree that loss of fw800 is a weird one. cost issue or admittance that fw800 is losing out to usb2?

- 1440x900 is at least true 16:10.. but i do really like 1440x960 vs the old 15" resolution.

- loss of DVD-DL. could this just be cost? why not make it a BTO option? maybe so they can add it back in 4 months and call it an upgrade?

- performance and battery life.. those remain to be seen. as a first gen machine, even if 1.5x faster, i'd be happy. hopefully it'll ramp up at a similar rate to PC counterparts.

even if not enough to make you upgrade from the last powerbook model, it's definitely a good sign that apple got an intel 'powerbook' out there.

now only if they fixed the stupid name...

I've seen people look forward to using the remote when doing Keynote/PPT presentations.

I'm tempted by this machine, warts and all . . . Would be quite a step up from my 12"/867 guy. But I might wait a bit longer.

Not sure if they will include a dongle but you will at the very least be able to use a DVI to SVideo dongle I am sure. Not ideal, but at least the option is still there (albeit at an extra 19.99).

First off, i have to agree with rinsewind on the fact that this is a first run model of a computer. So just like buyers should be wary about buying the first model year of a car, so us apple fans should be wary about buying the initial release of a computer. That said, if you have a nice relatively new Powerbook or iMac on your desk right now, why do you care about what the new ones do, unless you are one of those people who has to have the newest toy they day it comes out?

Next, some things to think about...
•What FW800 devices do you have besides a Bigger Disk Extreme? (which would make me envious) I mean there really aren't that many, but since they got rid of the FW800 port they should have given us a second FW400, alas.
•Screen size: Well, Apple, and Steve love to tout about H.265 and HD video, why not give us a screen with a 16x9 aspect ratio on these new machines? Who wants to watch their HD footage in letterbox? So in my opinion, loosing a few lines of pixels brings us slightly closer to that ratio.
•Front Row and the remote: Well, i have to say, i would use the remote, there are times when you get to your hotel and want to watch that movie you have and lo, there is no DVD player in your room so you set up your book climb in bed and watch a movie. If you loose the remote it is your own fault.
•The iSight: ok, it may not be useful for everyone, but it is cool, a nice toy, a selling point. With the growing popularity of VoIP and video conferencing, and the fact that it is free and easy, people will want it.
•No modem: not really a problem, i can't remember the last time i used mine. If you stay in a hotel that doesn't have internet in the rooms somehow, chances are the hotel next door does, or if you need it, spend $45 and get the USB modem.
•DVD DL is here and there. I can live without it, most people can, since DL media is often 2x the price of non DL media does it really matter? If you need the capability, wait, what else is there to say?
•I am kinda bummed that there is no PCMCIA slot, so i have to go buy a new CF adapter to transfer my photos? Why?
•The Name MacBook: hey, it might not roll off your tongue right now, but that is because of two, maybe three things things, one you are stubborn and just can't get over the fact that Apple is moving on and you don't think you approve, and two because you think Mac is just Mac OS, the third is more sentimental, i just think of it as a throw back to the good old days of Macintosh, remember that Mac Classic you have in your basement? Think of MacBook as retro or something, be proud you are a Mac owner!

That's all I got. I think we will see more good coming soon (i hope). Thanks Apple for great stuff!

here's the link to the apple article that states that s-video/composite is actually available:

http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2006/jan/10macbookpro.html

Guys, you don't seem to understand that the MacBook Pro is replacing the PowerBook, not the iBook! Your justifications (for the most part) are valid if you think of this machine as a new iBook.

DVD DL is "here and there" you say? There's no such thing in the Pro world. Such a thing is a must.

No need for FireWire 800? Google up "Fireface 800." Yes, we're talking Pro here.

Any true pro users here? Show of hands: who'd trade the built-in iSight and remote control for a DVD DL burner and a FireWire 800 port?

The dial-up modem? What Rosyna said.

60 pixels are no big deal? Why, I could really use that space for Logic Pro's transport window (we're all pros here, aren't we?).

And Intel chip for real-time video/3D/audio? Give me a break! AltiVec was designed with DSP in mind. I really want to get my hands on the universal binary of Logic Pro. If two bounces of the same arrangement made in the PPC and x86 version do not cancel each other out with the phase inverted—Apple's in trouble. Oh, wait, it's not Apple who's in trouble it's those "Pro" guys!

So, how do we make an ugly name like MacBook sound better? We add "Pro" to it.

I don't even know what made me decide to read your blog tonight, but something did, and I'm glad. This is an excellent and thorough piece, and cuts through the RDF about as well as iPhoto '06 scrolls through your photos.

I, too, am lamenting the loss of FW800, but had completely overlooked the lack of s-video or a modem. No modem? What the hell kind of company makes a laptop without a modem? Sure, most of us probably overlooked it because we rarely use it, but it's for those rare times that we do need it that make having one available so important. I'm sure somewhere out there, in the next few months, a happy new MacBook owner will suddenly be tearing his hair out in some shabby hotel, with an important deadline looming, because he just now noticed that his new laptop had no modem. I think Apple really dropped the ball on this one.

The lower pixel count is understandable and excusable. Just a few months ago, the best you could do on a 15" Mac screen was 1280x854.

As for power consumption, I think we'll have to wait until February for the verdict. I don't trust the menubar meter and I don't think we can be reading too much into the new battery and power adaptor. I'll wait for the real world tests. And even then, given the brighter screens, personal mileage is sure to vary.

Front Row sounds goofy to me too, but Keynote compatibility makes it understandable. Still, if the unit is supposed to be great for giving presentations, why no s-video?

All in all, the whole thing is a tad sketchy. Thanks for the great post. If this gets more widely published, I think you'll see a lot of would-be early adopters waiting the 6 more months they were all prepared to wait in the first place.

You said it skipped frames while playing back an H.264 trailer. I find that hard to believe. I didn't check myself, but my friend did, and he said it played back a 1080x?? H.264 trailer with no lag at all, and that apparently the ATI Radeon X1600 graphics card supports hardware-accelerated decoding (and encoding!) of H.264.

That's definitely what I saw, without a doubt. There was no question that frames were being skipped. What trailer did your friend play? And I think you mean ??x1080. But this is the problem, your friend experienced it. But did you?

You can't possibly trust that as a benchmark. Just think about it. Do you honestly think a G4 with a Mobility Radeon 9700 will outperform a Core Duo with a PCIe Mobility Radeon X1600? H264 is a new technology, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if it isn't yet optimized for those new chips.

Thanks for saving me some bucks... At first I was really thrilled about this release, especially since my TiBook may need replacement sooner or later, but thanks to pointing out the weak points of this first version I'll save my money for later ;-) I'll just stick with my PowerBook for the time being

if the remote is usable for Powerpoint / Keynote presentations. then it suddenly becomes incredible useful!

ok so you have to buy and use the usb-modem, and the dvi-svideo adapter... but those are not huge pain, you've had to carry around the dvi-vga adapter for the last 3 years anyway.

lack of fw800 sucks.

how about netboot, battery life, dual boot...
i guess we'll have to see.

the thing which most confuses me, why is there no public list of rosetta compatible applications ?!
i naively assumed that they're mostly alll work, but since apple reports their own pro apps won't work...
what about the adobe CS suite, the Macromedia suite, etc?!

also, imagine the lack of DL dvdr is because the new machines are so thin they require different optical drives that previous models. still, that sucks.

alex, I tried to address the dual boot question in an update to this post. Second to last paragraph.

As for the remote+keynote thing, then why remove S-Video? I also am not full of having a drawer full of adapters in my laptop bag.

All applications should be rosetta compatible, unless they specially code against it (and what to charge money for an update) like Apple's software, have bugs in their software that are triggered by Rosetta (these are the same types of developers that needlessly blame APE for their bugs), or they access hardware directly and are unable to do so in rosetta. Also, any application that has self modificating code is supposed to not work (this is not very usual at all and is very, very difficult for most people to do in the first place).

Also, alex, Steve Jobs implied heavily that the loss in height in the new portable ICBM was due to switching to x86. If they got the extra height decrease because of using a much thinner burner, then obviously what Jobs implied cannot be true.

Well thanks for insightful comments by a professional developer. Believe or not, I have like 40 mac www site bookmarks and I participate in IRC networks, never seen single guy mentioning the facts you tell about.

Also thanks for "daring" to speak something against a new thing, if we people don't speak our minds and stay like ""Steve Jobs is god, genius, whatever he does, it is right" it will be end of Apple computer. Maybe it is what Mr Jobs want? I don't have clue.

I was using Amiga in its best days which I can easily say, 5 years ahead of its competitors. When someone bitched about anything, we blamed him/her being zealot. Of course, those times Amiga 500/2000 was selling like iPod does today. "Nothing they do can be wrong". I especially remember the arguments over closed , propetioary ROM. Lets give full example. When you said something about it, people would reply "haha, you want command.com?"... :)

The S Video part is amazing. Current comparisons against poor PPC (I use G5 1600 here with 80% of Unsanity products and folding@home) is plain lame and sad.

I forgot something. The amazing mistake. People hate car comparisons but it is a thing having second hand market.

What if Ford CEO came out and said Ford Focus 2002 was very bad, their engine/parts suppliers didn't keep up with time? All Ford Focus 2002 owners would sell it like "dead horse" and they would never, ever buy a Ford again.

Even the lame of lamest 16 yr old Dell trolls didn't do comparisons Apple currently does.

If you want real info about how HUGE PowerPC market is and how suscessful modern architecture is, head to

http://www.power.org

Or accept every word coming from a company claiming their product is 4x faster than a product they sold 3 days ago.

The "loss" of AltiVEC isn't all it's made out to be. SSE3 is very comparable, both feature- and performance-wise. The hardware support is there now, though the software may take a while to catch up.

Jason Evans

Jason, have a look at http://www.simdtech.org/altivec/archive/msg?list_name=altivec&monthdir=200506&msg=msg00037.html (which is linked to from the article). The performance of AltiVec is 2x-4x faster than using SSE3.

> Or accept every word coming from a company claiming their product is 4x faster than a product they sold 3 days ago.

Check the Applestore, they are still being sold, side by side.

Most of you people are pathetic. You are speculating, damning, and praising a machine that isn't even in production yet. Wait until the computer is out in the wild, then start tearing it to pieces - praising it. Until then, why not talk about something you know shit about!

I really have nothing against x86 architecture, actually was looking forward to the new x86Books. I think the lack of a S-VIDEO port will keep me from getting one in the near future. Other than a proc switch, it sounds like there's nothing compelling about this new system to make me switch. Can Linux boot from EFI?

Dennis:

Who cares if it can boot Linux. There is no support for airport extreme in Linux. Until that changes Linux on an Apple laptop will be a useless endeavor.

> http://www.simdtech.org/altivec/archive/msg?list_name=altivec&monthdir=200506&msg=msg00037.html
[...] The performance of AltiVec is 2x-4x faster than using SSE3.

Without more detailed info, I don't trust the authors to have put equivalent effort into both versions of their code. The message you linked to is full of invective and anecdote, which isn't a useful contribution to understanding the performance issues. At a minimum, you are making the mistake of over-generalizing if you use Dave Thorup's message as the basis of your performance comparison between the vector processing implementations.

As a separate data point, I've written both SSE2- and AltiVEC-optimized versions for some of my own software, and both versions were able to saturate the memory bus (a substantial performance improvement over the straight C implementation). The only thing that could have caused issues for me is that I needed every available SSE2 register, whereas AltiVEC had registers to spare.

Potentially, AltiVEC has some implementation advantages. Intel CPUs actually use a 64-bit data path (part of the FPU) for the 128-bit SSE2/SSE3 registers, which means more than one micro-op is necessary for each instruction (2-cycle latency is typical). (Also, this implementation detail shows up in the form of a couple of strange quirks in the instruction set.) In practice, whether this matters depends on a number of factors, and only benchmarking specific apps on specific hardware can tell you which platform is superior for your particular needs.

Jason Evans

Unsanity;

I had this very conversation last night. I am preparing to do some on the road video work (my income/job) and could not be more disappointed in the new Apple offering. Besides the infantile name change that new (mac)book is useless to myself and a myriad of people like myself. I bought my newest powerbook in mid November for a reason... I knew the new Intel based (mac)books would only be buggy and crash all my software (since this has happened in the past with every major upgrade). Now I know they do not have the hardware I have/want (dvd-dl, s-vid, fw 800, lower power, screen res.) I've been and avid mac user since '89 and have made a decent living with just my powerbook, I've enjoyed the freedom of lifestyle it's helped me achieve. This newest offering should never be called or considered a "Pro" model. I'm glad to see a developer of such a good solid software offering has made a stand in stating this as well. I find the newest upgrade to be a sad embarassment. An iBook replacement, sure. A powerbook replacement, sadly, NO.

To address the comment that DL DVD burning may have been left out because of the reduced thickness: the PPC 17" PowerBook was the same thickness and had an 8x DL burner.

Lots of complaining, one or two good points.... blah, blah, blah.

There is a driver for airport extremem in linux, ps.

http://digg.com/linux_unix/Finally,_a_linux_driver_for_the_Airport_Extreme_

Your blog has an insane font size... please make it grow!

Dennis, about the airport extreme not being for linux. http://bcm43xx.berlios.de/
Currenly there is a working driver for it.

I must agree with everything the post said, except a few things.

I do think the Centrino Duo is faster than the current PBG4 (perhaps maybe AltiVEC but hardly apps use that except the "pro" apps)
The missing s-video, well its not missing its just not onboard, buy the dongle (I still think they could have included that for the price)
Missing FW800, well I think they figured out that FW800 isn't used anywhere except some fast disks. But who needs FW800 on a laptop, if it were missing on a desktop that would be another thing.

Still think this ICBM is a rush job, I'm going to wait for the next rev B before I buy one. Still loving my "old" POWERBOOK 1.5Ghz.

C'mon mac zealot, give up and embrace all that is good, according to your higher power (Steve)...

Good remarks. However, the SPEC suite is not a synthetic benchmarks suite, the benchmarks are real-life apps.

Listen to all the buyer's remorse...

Regarding the benchmarks, Apple's been using the same benchmarks all along to show how the powerpc chip was faster than whatever Intel had. IT was the PC users decrying that benchmark as artificial and meaningless, and you fanboys were defending it. It's nice to see you've finally seen the light.

No firewire? Oh, boo hoo. It doesn't have a parallel port either. Nobody cares about firewire - every peripheral uses USB.

And the complaint about the pixels? Give me a break, it has fewer pixels in a larger screen area does mean lower dpi, but it also means the pixels are larger, and the screen is brighter. But I guess if you have a website written in 8pt font, you need ultra small pixels...

I wouldn't buy one of these. Lack of S-Video and no modem port kills it for me.

good article, its easy to get blinded by the hype and anticipation surrounding new apple hardware releases, and an article and discussion like this help keep things in perspective.

• i am pissed about no fw800 - i for one have a lacie extreme disk.
• dissapointed about no dvd dl - okay so the discs are twice as expensive, but i pay that to just to get more data on ONE disc instead of two
• what, no s-video!?! - an s-video port is surely more useful to a 'pro' user than a remote control? aside from presentations, its only other uses seem a little gimmicky.

- the guy who said above about the i-sight sums it up for me:

"..but it is cool, a nice toy, a selling point."
- since when did anybody want to pay this kind of money for 'toys'? - i would happily trade the i-sight for the extra screen space at the top, fw800 or an s-video port.

i have been a happy powerbook user since the g3 pismos, and have never had any bad experiences with my powerbooks.
but i think i can wait a little longer to upgrade this time round..

and no matter which way you say it or you try and defend it, "MacBook Pro" just sounds.. wrong.

I enjoyed reading your opinion of the new MacBook. You always point out such interesting facts. I'll bet Apple was hoping nobody would notice these down-sides in the shadow of the main attraction (Intel inside).

Before the keynote I heard a (now confirmed) rumor of a "MacBook Pro". The name was so stupid that I immediately dismissed the rumor as unlikely. Trying to reconcile the name change, we guessed that maybe it was because of the Power in PowerPC but you wisely point out that PowerBooks were around long before the PowerPC.

So should we start a pool and bet on when us developers will start getting our first Intel-related customer support? :)

"What the hell kind of company makes a laptop without a modem? "

Your pretty lame if you still use a modem. You must be living in a 3rd world country.:) Same thing was said when apple removed their 3.5" drive and went to a cd burner. Apple purposely pushes out old technology that in their minds no longer is necesary. They make the trends.

What's really gonna suck for you "pro" guys and the people who really like the old architecture is the fact that the prices on ebay for these old machines is gonna freakin' skyrocket. you might as well buy another one now before "they" realize the coming surge in demand for them. Maybe i shouldn't have mentioned this, huh? Oh well.

I just bought the 15" Powerbook with the high-def display about 1.5 months ago. I love it! At the moment, I think I have the better machine than the macbook. The next-gen macbook may be something more impressive.

I'm a recent grad, just started working for a tele-com company. As such I decided to wait until the new Macintel's came out to make my switch over to Apple. (Two of my buddies have apple laptops and I completely fell in love with them) The new powerbook was going to be my main computer for atleast months if not up to year, before I build my own desktop, I even forewent the student discount to wait for the new Macbook. As such, reading this article kind of makes me stray away from them at the moment, and question if giving up my 10% off student discount was a good idea.

S-video, FW, the name doesn't mean a lot to me. I just graduated college and I won't be doing presentations. Nor do I have any devices that ONLY support FW.

DL burning, while sucks, isn't a killer for me since I didn't plan on shelling out the cash for DL disks anyway. Not when I don't need the extra storage.

What does bother me though is the performance issue, battery life, heat of laptop, and running noise. My current laptop gets rather hot after running for awhile. It also has horrible battery life, and a loud fan inside. My hopes were to be rid of all this with the new Macbook. I'm not looking for huge performance, I just want to beable to run Photoshop, Play WoW (I'm 20 yrs old. cut me break about playing games =D ) , and watch H.265 videos. I wanted a minimum of 3 and 1/2 hours battery life, I'd perfer 4+. I didn't want it to get super hot while running programs or playing WoW. And I wanted it to run quite.

My question being: Did I just wait for a product that isn't going to live up to all that? If so I'd be terribly disappointed. This was going to be my big switch over to Apple and I was looking forward to it.

On a side note: Even if the hotel you're at doesn't have wireless BB, every McDonald's I've been to, and every Starbuck's I've been to does. If you really have to send something out over the net, go grab a coffee and use Starbuck's free wifi.

"And the complaint about the pixels? Give me a break, it has fewer pixels in a larger screen area does mean lower dpi, but it also means the pixels are larger, and the screen is brighter."

I don't know what you're trying to say here, CanIWhine, but I think you just proved your own point. The display has 60 fewer pixels vertically, end of story. The MacBook Pro (uggh, that name) is a pro-level laptop that has a smaller screen than the laptop it's replacing, therefore for people who actually use all the pixels on a screen when doing work, we're losing a toolbar window, or the bottom part of a Photoshop image, or part of a timeline, or whatever.

There is no way in hell that if I was asked if I was willing to give up 60px vertically just so I could have a brighter screen I would say yes. That's like asking users if they'd give up their big toe if it meant they could have nicely polished nails on the other nine. It's just not worth it, especially since the previous screen was hella bright as it is.

"Who cares if it can boot Linux. There is no support for airport extreme in Linux. Until that changes Linux on an Apple laptop will be a useless endeavor."

Hey Mark, have you seen this website?
http://bcm43xx.berlios.de/

You mention that the Macbook does not have two processors. This is accurate in the strict sense but pedantic. You will find that as multi core becomes the norm, multi processor will be the normal description of multi core.

Also I get the feeling you do not fully appreciate the advantage of multi core, so here is a nice description. Please familiarize yourself with it before posting on the subject of multicore in the future.

kthxbye.

Dual Core vs. Dual Processor

Dual processor setups were the only way to go for many years if you were in need of serious computing power. Architechs, engineers, graphic artists, and even gamers desiring the ultimate in power could utilize a dual processor setup. In such a setup each core is able to perform computational tasks so long as the application supports two processors. These processors communicate with eachother through a bus on the motherboard in their sharing of loads. Intel and AMD have both realized the performance limiter in any dual processor setup was the communication lag between the processors. Each company has sought to eliminate that lag by encorporating another processor on the same die, thus eliminating 99% of the lag time in communication. The difference between AMD and Intel is that Intel stopped there and AMD thought ahead. Why eliminate the communication gap between the processors when there also exists a significant lag in commincation between the processor and the memory controller. With the launch of the AMD 64, AMD incorporated the north bridge into the chip thus greatly improving memory bandwidth and lowering memory latency. The move to dual core brings all of the benefits of a dual processor setup and also the elimination of considerable bottlenecks and latency.

what about a new version of SS;)

May I just ask what is wrong with everybody? Apple went crazy trying to release the first two machines in to use a BRAND NEW hardware architecture, not only new to Apple (intel-based) but new to the world (yonah dual core). They made some decisions which may not be 100% suited to every user, but they HAVE to market the positive points of their new machine.
For me, the positives FAR outwiegh the negatives. firewire 800? who cares, I don't have any firewire 800 devices. do you? I use firewire to connect my digital camcorder to my computer. What do you use it for? Do you really WANT your ipod connected at the same time you download videos of your family vacation to Hawaii?
dual layer dvd? that is just strange. Not really important (whoever above said it's required for business is wacked - I'd like an example of how dl dvd is used in business). It's just a wierd omission - either the size, cost or power consumption of the drive made it impossible to deliver. Probably the cost... big deal.
modem? My dell laptop has a modem built in. So does my compaq. I've never used either one - I have to carry around the modem (inside the laptop) all the time, and never use them. It's extra weight and size that could have gone toward something like speed (such as that found in the new macbook pro). I'd rather have speed than a modem thanks.
missing pixels???? seriously?? it's just a different aspect ratio screen, and obviously a tradeoff for having a high performance built in cam. who cares either way? I'm a professional user, but I can definitely see the advantage of video converencing rather than chat. It's the way things are going these days more and more, might as well deal with it. It's very convenient to be able to hold up a new product you're working on to show it off for a business partner around the world. I'll take the cam thanks. And it doesn't hurt to have some fun once in a while anyway... I'd rather have one computer I have play with and work with thanks - owning 2 is very annoying (I have two now, dell laptop, home built pc for home /games/chatting etc).
This new macbook pro is definitely faster than g4 models, it's obviously much better except for the above changes which shouldn't affect any one of us (modem is external if you want one, video output uses the now standard cable converters rather than the older style build-everything-into-the-laptop methodology (which is why my compaq laptop is so freakin heavy)).
SSE2, SSE3, Altivec. All different ways of doing the same thing. Altivec is a better design (considering how it works with the rest of the g4 chip). But sse3 stuff can perform just as well if the coder knows what he/she's doing. I wouldn't worry too much - after all, PCs are just so famous for the poorly performing games right? and mac graphics are so much faster right? ooooooook. What altivec gave coders was a nice way to achieve their desired results. Now coders must use the same techniques as windows developers - that isn't a big negative, just a small one, and for end users the results will be the same. Great speed combined with osx's superior display tricks (quartz, core, etc) and voila - a great performing notebook.

And as for the video skipping frames... hell, I've been using a preproduction version of OSX on my noname PC for months now and it plays fullscreen h.265 video footage perfectly without skipped frames. Using Intel Extreme graphics (sucky junk). If my machine can do it, so can the real deal. Don't always trust your eyes... try to find out what's really going on behind the scenes. There could have been a zillion reasons why it wasn't playing the video well... or the video could have been crap quality or badly encoded in the first place, or it could have been streaming over the net or a network. All user error, not the machine's fault. so who knows - don't base much on that one experience that wasn't controlled properly.

The new machines are incredible for brand new architecture and completely new company partnerships - just wait until rev.2 comes along and the bugs will be worked out.

PS - osx on intel is VERY stable and much faster/more responsive than windows xp. I now use it as my main OS and only boot into xp when I absolutely must (one or two apps that are xp only).

Cheers everyone - please don't be disappointed in the new machines, try one for a while and I expect you'll savour the improvements and forget the past completely.

We are a Fortune 100 Company that is *very* interested in the new Powerbook's just because of the iSight camera. iChat is far better than anything available in the Windows realm and may power a large part of our distributed workforce in the next year or so.

We are a Fortune 1 company, I don't want to disclose our company name on this forum, but let me tell you that we will be selling the Macbook Pro very soon.

You heard it here first.

I disagree with many of your comments, but many of them come down to how you use your powerbook

1) You are speculating on power consumption and speed; we know very little at this point about either

2) I guess I'm not a "pro user" (whatever that is) but I don't care about the missing S-Video output, the Modem, and the FW800. I use FW400 to transfer dv from a camcorder and every hotel I've been in lately has wireless or network access. I haven't used a modem in 8 years. When Apple stopped including floppy drives, eveyone bitched but at some point it makes sense to drop features whose usage in decline. I can readily understand how heavy travelers still use modem, but they can still take the (very small) usb modem provided as an option.

3) Slight decrease in resolution; so what?, hopefully this screen won't have the horizontal line problem and many people have reported it is substantially brighter.

4) Dual layer DVDs. It is a shame that Apple did not include a DL drive, although it's typical (this will be billed as a 'feature' of the second generation MacBook). From my point of view, it doesn't matter, however, as I am not buying DL disks until they come down in price. I don't even use DL disks now even though my Powermac has a DL drive.

5) I personally am excited by the built in iSight. I used to have to drag along an external camera so I could do iChats with friends from Hotel rooms while on the road. I gladly trade the built in iSight for the missing modem.

The comments many people made are perfectly reasonable but, just like my comments, it depends on what's important to you whether the MacBook features are a step forward or a step backward. In many ways it's too early to comment on it. it could turn out, for example, that these babies are blazingly fast and battery life is amazing. To me, the choices Apple made for what to include or drop are very reasonable.

I think the reviewer is trying too hard to dislike the Macbook. There is a lot of potential in a dual core laptop with pci express video card, SATA drives ,etc.

Look guys, you fiddle with the kernel and think that's harmless? I see. It's everyone else's fault but your own. So you flail out in childlike rage at anything that doesn't go your way. Apple this sucks. Apple that sucks. You know the minds of all pro developers. The Macbook sucks because it's not perfect for a 1.0 product. Do you realize how unprofessional this makes you look, and how much less-inclined people are to buy your products with this kind of childish whining beneath your corporate logo? Bad move, Unsanity.

just to add an on-topic comedy interlude..

http://www.youtube.com/p.swf?video_id=Y3xKhLlhzfM&l=124&eurl=&t=Jobs

Wow all the bitching about no S-video port and it being a deal-killer. Someone started saying these laptops were for pros, what pro doesn't have a projector with them if they're going to do presentations? S-video is 800x600 at best and I can understand why they saved space and instead require you to BUY AN AVAILABLE ADAPTER.

Also, about the 56k modem, it's probably so rarely used by "pros" that they're all using wifi, gig-e, and evdo.

I honestly think the biggest gripe is the lack of FW800 which probably will be replaced by eSata external drives connecting sata adapters using express/34.

The cam was a very nice touch, I think all laptops should have them regardless if they're often used. I'm hoping the new laptops are cooler and don't scorch your thighs like the older ones did and that the battery lasts longer than 1-2hrs.

"...

No firewire? Oh, boo hoo. It doesn't have a parallel port either. Nobody cares about firewire - every peripheral uses USB.

...

Posted by: CanIWhineToo? on January 11, 2006 01:02 PM"

Uh, you're obviously not someone who has a lot of money sunk into FireWire devices. AKA, you're probably not the "pro" user that the new Pro 'Books are aimed at.

I read everyone else's opinion, so I may as well put mine out there as well.

Just for the record, I placed my order last night.

No Firewire 800 doesn't bother me personally, I don't have any Firewire devices anyway. USB2 is good enough for me. I do sympathize with the Pro users out there who have FW800 devices.

The lack of a modem is not an issue for me. If you're spending 2k or more on a laptop spending an extra $50 for a modem won't break the bank. I can't remember the last I was at a hotel that didn't have Ethernet or Wi-Fi. I don't buy the emergency situation either, how many Wi-Fi hotspots are out there anyway?

The iSight camera is a gimick. I may find a use for it, but most likely it will be a novelty feature.

I don't see the screen size/resolution issue to be important to me. I'd rather have the text be a little more readable anyway. If it really is brighter and has a better contrast ratio, that is far more important to me.

No s-video is a minor annoyance, but having DVI out and being able to convert that to s-video, component, vga, rca, hdmi, etc is more flexible anyway.

I have a remote with my current HP Pavilion laptop and absolutly love it. Definitly a selling point for me.

I don't have a dual layer DVD burner now, so I guess I won't miss it -- it would have been nice to have though. On the other had, we'll all need a Blueray or HD-DVD burner in a year anyway.

I REALLY hope there will be a way to dual boot with Windows XP. I bought this under the assumption that it would be replacing my current Windows notebook AND my iBook. However, I would be satisfied if there were some kind of decent virutual machine though -- VMware, Virtual PC, anyone?

I don't buy that it wouldn't be able to decode a high def H.264 stream. Are we talking 720p or 1080p? I think there must be another explanation here -- it is pre-production hardware/drivers after all.

Yeah, I think the name is kind of dumb, but it might grow on me.

As of right now I'm still happy with my decision. I realize it's not the right product for everyone, but it fits my needs just fine.

1. Power: Who cares. Battery life still rocks comparable PC notebooks on the market.
2. Parts Missing:
S-Video- Yes, that's bad.
Modem- Who cares?
FW800- Ok, not great, but we'll forgive them. I've never even considered buying a fw800 device.
3. Visually Unimpressive:
This baby is not visually unimpressive. The screen is 60% brighter. You can live without the pixels.
4. Burning Issues: This is the only serious flaw I see.
5. Arbitrary Additions:
I love the additions
6. Performance:
Ok, it's a little slow in some things. It scream in others. We'll forgive them.

"I don't buy that it wouldn't be able to decode a high def H.264 stream. Are we talking 720p or 1080p? I think there must be another explanation here -- it is pre-production hardware/drivers after all."

How about the speed of the built in hard drive? POrtable drives are not known for being fast....

I've always been a bit slow on the upgrading scene when it comes to computers. I am still using my "Macintosh PowerBook G3". Shorten Macintosh to "Mac" and PowerBook to just "Book" cut off the G3 and add Pro and what do you get? MacBook Pro. Sure sounds a bit funny to say at first but so did saying "Nintendo Gamecube" or "Xbox 360" but now they sound normal to say. Just give the name some time.

I love the upgrades I see in the MacBook line compared to the PowerBook line. I don't need FW800, heack I don't have ANY FW devices. I don't need a S-video port, if I haven't used the port on my Lombard by now I doubt I ever would. I would LOVE to have the iSight built in.

But hey, I'm just a college student who still has trouble beliving that someday in the next year or so I prolly won't still be using my lovely Lombard...

I may agree to everything except modem being 3rd World thing.

Guess what? Business professionals need to go "3rd World" to sell $400 million contracts and sometimes only option is a phone line.

Also ask to people who lost every broadband option in hurricane Katrina and needed basic e mail functionality.

If it is for teenagers have bored with their whatever iPod generation, don't name it "pro". If you call it "pro", put features pros sometimes can't do without.

For ultra new, hi tech guys: There is NO seperate modem chip anymore. Single chip does LAN and Modem connectivity (a bit like HFC).

Not mentioning "fax" even. Oh yes, Fax is so old, not needed.

If it is targeted to teenager iPod listening people, just don't call it "pro". I am a professional TV worker and really try hard not to get into SVHS (Y/C) part and excellent display devices having only that port.

If we get into "who is hi tech" game, if giving up SVHS for being "modern", give people SDMI output then.

Could it be that what Apple considers to be the "Pro" market has changed? Maybe they're not interested in chasing after a niche market anymore, and want a new system that has a broader appeal?

All this moaning over the lack of an S-Video port, and claiming that somehow if you're a "pro" you need it... I can't understand. This thing has DVI out. If you're a pro, you're working in higher resolution than S-Video can even hope to output. S-Video is going the way of the Floppy Disc drive.

Clearly the lack of a dual layer DVD is just Apple being it's usual cheap self. It'll be a nice upgrade at twice the price in a few months. Just like their prices on RAM and Hard Disc tend to lead the market average by a 50% mark up. Nothing to do with the system being based on an Intel CPU. In fact at CES several laptops were demoed with HD-DVD, and Blu-Ray DVD drives (based on the same CPU from Intel).

Hmm, Altivec is an arguably nice implementation of a SIMD instruction set - especially compared to the competing SIMD instruction sets on x86 (SSE/1/2/3, and 3D-Now!). I think someone already covered those issues in an earlier post - but suffice it to say it's unlikely that Altivec optimized code in OS X has been re-optimized for SSE. I suspect that once it is you'll be suprised at how fast it is.

Intel chips seem to do just fine at realtime Audio, Video, and 3D. In fact I'd say they do substancially better at the 3D work given applications which exist for both platforms seem to run consistently faster on x86 chips from AMD.

I think this is a notebook well tuned to professional business use. Video "pros" are not the only professionals out there - and in fact make up a relatively small segment of the overall market. It may be that Apple is changing their focus somewhat to broaden their base - and the video "pros" may suffer some by not being over-catered to as they have been in the past as Apple's largest market segment.

Remote and lack of S-Video. Umm presentations on projectors should work fine with a DVI output unless you're still using some old-school 800x600 projector with an S-Video input - but I thought you were all "Pros". It might be time to upgrade that projector to one of those new DLP based ones, with a DVI input so you can display 1440x900 without scaling. And that remote will come in handy, allowing you to move around on stage while you present. Oh - you mean your "Pro" presentation was in a little room hooked to a TV? Well I guess that's not so "professional" then, is it?

IIRC - the ATI graphics card in the new MacBook Pro supports H.263 acceleration - making playback a non-issue for the CPU. It is probable that Apple hasn't developed the drivers that support that video acceleration for OS X on Intel yet. In general in the PC world on hardware from ATI and nVidia that supports H.263 acceleration you see an average of 15% cpu utilization on older CPUs than this new one. I'd suspect that with tuned drivers, you'll observe a 10% or less CPU load while playing HD video.

Just my two cents (or a little more).

So what you're saying is, I have to be a "pro" to have the right to buy this laptop? That's sort of arrogant. There's plenty of people that want a good looking laptop that performs well for personal use. I'd be willing to bet that Apple sells the majority of these "pro" laptops to people that use them in a "nonpro" environment.

I'm not taking either side of the arguement. "This is an amazing laptop. blah blah blah." "This laptop sucks. blah blah blah."

All these "pro" and "nonpro" people sound just the like Sony and Xbox fanboys, dogging each others opinions. The truth of the matter is, just like it's stupid for PS3 fanboys to say that their games look better, since no actual ingame footage has been shown - it's stupid for People to say that this laptop has crap performance, etc. since there hasn't been any production models reviewed. Until a trusted website I know reviews the Macbook I'll hold my judgement.

Though the battery life, heat issue still bothers me - knowing Intel's run hot and use a lot of power.

while everyone is complaining about the lack of a dual layer burner, I have to think that if one was included, people would just complain that it was too slow. I think the good news regarding DVD burners is that OS X 10.4.4 is compatible with a large number of enternal DVD burners. So if you already have an external drive that you enjoy the speed of, and would hate to sacrifice that speed when using your new Mac, you could just hook up the external and move on with your life.

Come on people, I have just seen some posts stating there is USB 2, who needs Firewire 800!

Look to USB 2 versus Firewire 800 here:
http://www.barefeats.com/usb2.html

Here is a company makes living selling external HD (Lacie)
Max Sustained Transfer Rate :
FireWire 800: up to 82MB/s
FireWire 400: up to 41MB/s
Hi-Speed USB 2.0: up to 34MB/s

http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?pid=10725

Dare to speak about HDTV cameras making into homes? Or as it is "Pro", what about Ikegami stuff etc? You know the data required to pass to computer on such Mpeg2 stream?

Firewire 800 does not exist because Intel's never taken serious by pros technology, USB 2.0 needs a push.

With this transfer rates it will never be taken serious, people will go and buy Sony Vaio.

I have a colour laser printer here with 196mb of RAM, I seriously plan buying a NIC add on because USB 2.0 (Hi Speed!) makes me wait minutes until data transferred to printer.

It is amateur technology.

Your lack of imagination (no doubt related to the general churlishness displayed in this grumpy piece) regarding the usefulness of new features on the Macbook don't necessarily constitute flaws or "arbitrary additions".

You liked the svideo output and you can't make the jump to the usefulness of a remote?

I hope Rosyna does not see "apple shares record hit" story by AP just 50 mins ago. As compaining like:
"This is a dual core processor and no, unlike what Steve Jobs stated, this does not have two processors. "

AP says http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060111/ap_on_hi_te/macworld_apple

"Apple's historic shift to Intel microprocessors came months earlier than expected as CEO Steve Jobs debuted Tuesday an iMac desktop and a notebook based on the chip makers' new TWO-BRAINED processor, the Intel Core Duo."

Yes! :) Two brains!

My camcorder comes with a remote. Why do you think?

It looks like that article said that the windows boot loader is what will be supporting EFI in Vista. So it sounds like it should be possible to boot windows using a boot loader that does support EFI, maybe Apple's or a Linux one.

The reason for removing dual-layer DVD burning support was simple - no one uses it yet!
It's a sad fact, but no one is using dual-layer discs because of the fact that they are MUCH more expensive than single-layer discs, and they still have some burning problems with them.

Some guy way up there said that 'nothing much uses Altivec except for Pro apps' (or words to that effect) - that is total rubbish! The Whole of OS X takes big advantage of Altivec when present, as do the iLife apps (believe me iDVD couldnt encode in a month without it).

Second, I have it on good authority (from my video editing colleague) that the MacBook Pro can play H.264 trailers at the highest res on the site (eg Da Vinci) with perfection - perhaps the problems noted were more to do with available internet bandwidth? Apple do make a point of listing 1080HD support on the site (maybe not H264, but dam intensive!)

Finally, I too Hate that ridiculous name. Think I'll stick with my last-of-the-best 15" PBG4.

Hi Christopher, just seen your post - sorry but Lots of people (mostly pro video field) Do use DL DVD burning - and certainly here in the UK blank media cost has plumeted in pro circles.

You guys are being ridiculous. Yes it is called the MacBook PRO, but it is not really the pro model. You know what it is guys? It's a transition model. Obviously they are going to call it pro because the next generation will have the same form factor and they don't want to kill sales on this generation.

Look at it this way, intel macs weren't supposed to be out until June anyway. This is a bonus, stop whining about a bonus. When June hits and they (if) update the macbook pro and it still doesn't have these features, then you can bitch.

Also the modem and the S video complaints are silly. If you REALLY need a modem, buy a portable one. The DVI out is a much better way to go. If you are buying a 2k + computer and can't dish out the 20 bucks for an adapter, then I pity you. OK the FW800 isn't very useful to the average user, but to a pro user I see that it could be. Unfortunately, I don't see this happening with the next generation. So that is complainable.

This current version of the Macbook Pro is a bridge to intel notebooks. When the whole product line is intel, I imagine these specs will be of the ibook and the REAL Macbook Pro will have more of what you're looking for.

This is an early model and therefore has a premium. And Apple can't put a premium on something called the iBook.

Ever done something in life where you know you could've done a better job if you had more time, more money, or both?

For chrissakes, give Apple a break. People begged for an Intel-based Mac and it's been delivered. It's v1.0. It's bound to get better.

The overanalysis is unjust and unwarranted. If you want or need one, buy one. If you don't, let step aside and let others who do want one get one. Nobody needs to read this incessant rambling about how the sky is falling because the first Intel-based Mac is not perfect.

I guess being a full-time sysadmin and developer doesn't qualify me as a member of this illustrious "pro" world that so many people here talk about, but:

* I've never burned a dual-layer DVD
* I can't remember the last time I used a dial-up connection
* I don't have any Firewire hardware beyond my iPod, which I generally use USB2 for anyway
* Every projector I've plugged my laptops in to in the last five years has taken either VGA or DVI. Perhaps we haven't been using "pro" projectors?
* I know first-hand just how much faster a single Pentium M is than a G4 for the vast majority of tasks, let alone having two of them to throw jobs at
* I'm not too fussed by 60 pixels of screen height -- it's still a lot better than my old Tibook, and I'm very glad to hear that it'll be much brighter too

Until real people get final hardware for extended testing, any talk about power consumption is pure speculation. Similarly, while Altivec is a potential loss, we won't know how big a loss it really is until people have a real chance to play with these systems.
Personally, I think that for every bit of ultra-Altivec-optimised code we see in Apple-centric apps, there'll be half a dozen bits of SSE code in less Apple-centric apps that the developers, who wouldn't have bothered with lots of Altivec code, can now move over wholesale from their Windows/Linux versions. Maybe Mac users will finally get to play some modern games with performance comparable with their Windows counterparts, for instance, though I guess that doesn't count as a performance comparison because games aren't "pro" apps.

I really should reserve judgment on this, because I'm far from an expert on the technical end. But reading what I've seen here and other places, it sounds like my current iBook (12"/1.3Ghz) is way better than this machine.

Maybe in a year or two, they'll get all of that streamlined a bit better.

About the name: Mac Book might be to differentiate between other PC manufacturers and Mac, anybody can now see it is a mac (i suppose it also has text on the casing) and it will bring the Mac brand to a larger public. On the issues you mention in the article i'm with the more subtle comments here, give Apple a change.

1440x900 is the same resolution as the iMac 17"...

Ahem, g5 macs were ahead of Intels and Intel has just reached 800Mhz FSB which is offered in ENTRY LEVEL G5 1600 (mine!). Dual G5 2700 offers a 1.3 ghz FSB which is unheard in PC world (gaming)

Carmack and others talk about slow as molasses G4 FSB while speaking about hardware, a PORTABLE. I really wait for game results too, on portable systems (mactels) compared to 7200 RPM SATA HD equipped, no power caring desktops.

For decent game support you need a decent gaming SDK, decent tools to optimize games and a responsive support department. At least responds to developers themselves.

Now, try something for me. Report distortion (random memory bits) instead of samples when audio output (OS) setup to 48khz sampling rate to Apple, as a developer. Tell you use OpenAL framework and clients have latest updates. See if you get a reply.

The problem with Mac and Games is:
1) No SDK, layer like DirectX.
2) Using OpenGL while a very optimized and propetioary directx exists on Intel/Windows
3) Choosing Creative's "be nice to geeks" toy, OpenAL and not fixing its PowerPC bugs.

"Maybe Mac users will finally get to play some modern games with performance comparable with their Windows counterparts, for instance, though I guess that doesn't count as a performance comparison because games aren't "pro" apps."

A nice unified game development framework would certainly help -- SDL seems like a decent solution, but I'm not sure how well supported it is on OS X.

Performance-wise though, comments from game porter extraordinaire, Ryan "icculus" Gordon (http://www.insidemacgames.com/features/view.php?ID=355) suggest that being able to transfer SSE2 optimisations over directly rather than having to recode them for Altivec should be a big win for gaming.

Also, I have to correct a couple of points: Intel have had an 800Mhz FSB available on the Pentium 4 since the "C" Northwood revision in April 2003, so they certainly haven't "just" reached that point. In fact, that predates the first PowerMac G5s. Intel can't compete with the 1.3Ghz FSB on the top G5s just yet, but AMD can -- Hypertransport and AMD's Direct Connect architecture transcend the need for an FSB with shared data paths altogether, and everyone in the PC world knows that AMD is the current king for gaming.

Unfortunately for Apple, AMD are the kings for x86 server chips as well, partly thanks to Direct Connect, which is a huge win on 2- and 4-way systems. Nothing Intel has coming in the near future has infrastructure that can compete with the Opteron, so any Intel-based XServes are going to look a bit timid in comparison to Opterons from HP/IBM/Sun.

What is don't understand and consider very un-Apple is the inclusion of the ir-sensor for the Apple Remote. The MacBook has built-in Bluetooth support. First of all, it means you don't need to have eye-of-sight when using the remote.
Also, it would spare a component in the MacBook it self which could be used for something else - say SVHS output.

Hopefully users will be able to get S-video and composite RCA video via a dongle that attaches to the DVI port, much like the G5 towers and Mac mini.

Hmm, I'm a little confused by the insistance that the powerbook/macbook is targetted solely at 'pro' users. Most people I know who own powerbooks aren't pro users, they just like powerbooks better than ibooks.
On the other hand I *am* a pro user, and I'd replace my dell notebook with a resolution of 1680x1050 with a macbook in a heartbeat. (Yes there are still windows apps I need to use - but this release could fix that problem, and I seem to get by alright on my powermac g5 at work) For me screen resolution is the number one consideration when purchasing a notebook, but hey, if you're a pro then like me you're probably plugging into like a 23" cinema display @ 1920x1200 - it's a pain doing serious graphic work on a notebook screen, mostly because of the awkward angle you have to view it at. It's fine for small bits and pieces when you're on the go, but really, 60 pixels off the bottom or not, you're going to feel cramped in photoshop or illustrator.

As for people complaining that they liked using the svideo connector for presentations, come on! Ewwww. Get a data projector for your presentations if you're really a 'pro'.

I have to agree with the author! Same thoughts I had.
I DO have FW800 devices. I DO use both FW ports at the same time. USB-2 sucks compared to FW... I've done a lot of testing, and the difference is significant. Those who say there's no need for FW with USB2 around ARE NOT pro users, period! I'm very upset about the loss of FW800/second FW port.
I DO have to use modems. Taking it out was not a good idea.
Losing the SVideo is also a pain. I use this all the time. Also, from what I can see, THERE IS NO ADAPTOR FOR SVIDEO FOR THE MACBOOK!! (If someone can prove otherwise, please post a URL)
ExpressCard ? Give me a break. Totally useless at this point. And I was just getting excited that the P2 card would fit in the Powerbook's PC Card slot. Not possible with ExpressCard.
Downgrading the burner from 8x to 4x and losing DL? Stupid, stupid, stupid.
iSight? It's a toy, I don't need it, give me back my FW800, modem and Svideo.
This should have replaced the iBook, not the Powerbook. I certainly hope that Apple gets its act together for Rev. 2, because this is very dissapointing.
Not staying with the ancient BIOS and going with EFI is nice, but it's a real bummer that Win32 won't boot from it. I'd love to use an intel-Mac for crossplatform development. Hopefully some eager young hackers will figure out a way to do so and help us avoid the kludge that is Vista.

Do you people read other comments before you post?

There is a modem avalilable!!!
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore?productLearnMore=MA034Z/A

There is an S-Video Adapter!!!
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore?productLearnMore=M9267G/A

Firewire 800 anyone?
http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20060111005167&newsLang=en

Those are things that a smaller percentage of Mac users use, why build them in when they can make them optional just for those users who really need it? I know a lot of people with PowerBooks who don't use their DVD burner, so they don't care about DL. Besides, a true professional would have a faster DVD-DL drive on Firewire anyway. DO you really burn that many discs that you need to carry it around with you? You are the minority.

Smaller resolution? Hell, I'm just glad they scrapped those lousy LCDs that plagued the last batch so much. It's hard to find one WITHOUT problems. I'll take it a hair smaller if it's a better screen any day.

Just my perspective, your mileage may vary.
=)

I think just the fact that people are having gigantic arguments about wether the removal of FW800 and lack of FW400 ports is a good or a bad thing is proof enough that it indeed is a bad thing.

Face it. Sure, there are a lot of people out there who have never used FW800 and only use FW400 either for their iPod or iSight (which now isn't needed). HOWEVER, there are also an amazing amount of people who use FireWire (of both variaties) ALL THE TIME for a multitude of uses. The fact of the matter is, USB 2.0 is not as fast as FW400, and is so far behind FW800 that it's not even funny. Until they start coming with eSATA ports standard, nothing is going to be as good as FireWire.

Yes the MacBook Pro supports S-Video with a cheapy adapter for the DVI port (it's mentioned in the Apple press release for the Mac Book Pro). One thought that occurs to me is why doesn't someone make a 'breakout' adapter that includes VGA, S-Video & Composite on the same bit of plastic so I wouldn't need two adapters. For me the requirement to get an adapter isn't much of a problem as I have already been carrying one to provide composite output for older TVs.

Cheers, Chris W.

FYI: To those of us who have previously purchased the Flip4Mac WMV Player ($10) - it appears that upon installing the new Microsoft-subsidized version 2, the old version 1 serial number is recognized and allows you to upgrade to any version of Flip4Mac WMV that has more functionality at $10 off. As long as they will give me $10 off an upgrade, I think it's a pretty fair trade. And I hope that all of us who bought in at $10 proved to MS that the Mac market wanted a QT plugin for WMV all along, not a slow, buggy separate player.

(Hopefully, with Microsoft backing F4M's WMV a little more closely, Flip4Mac programmers can iron out the rest of the bugs, and then add support for Windows Media DRM 10.)

I must admit it is also nice to have a Mac software developer actually *support* WMV playback on the Mac. MS WMP9 support seemed to amount to a newsgroup posted to by volunteers, and not much else.

Did I really see someone make a post about how USB 2.0 is not as fast as FW400...

Umm FW400 = 400Mbit/sec.

USB 2.0 = 480MBit/sec.

FW800 = 800MBit/sec.

Unfortunately the pure MBit/sec rates don't tell the whole story. I find that while FW400 and USB 2.0 have similar transfer rates - FW tends to use slightly less CPU while transferring (I'm talking about USB using 1.77% versus 1.34% for firewire).

In general USB 2,0 is fine for iPods, and even prosumer digital cameras. But for HD digital video cams, FW800 is the way to go. But considering the number of people bemoaning the loss of the S-Video port - can it be assumed they aren't working in HD? If they're not working on video in HD resolutions, then FW400 or USB 2.0 is more than fast enough to transfer that content from a digicam.

I thought the idea was to carry less stuff in the bag - I frigging hate adaptors. At least once a month I am in a hotel that either does not have wifi access or it's "down" or it's $10 to check my frigging email from the office and check a couple of web sites? Someone mentioned "free wifi" at starbucks - wtf? Yeah - if you have tmobile deal for how much per month? Guess I will use my motorola pebl as a dial up connection due to lack of internal modem - oh - no support yet for pebl. Apple must have been too busy to bring isync up to date.

I am a pro user - as in I use my pb to make a living - that's a pro correct? All you vidiots (and I mean that with all due respect) that are talking about dumping footage from you camcorder in your hotel room may be 'porn pros' but you are not "real" video pros. Sorry. I have made my living in the broadcast video industry, besides film projects this is all I have ever done (side note - I do not do video as in camera, I do art direction and production design). Do you think NBC has their field people take laptops to the hotel to digitize footage? Do you think MTV uses usb2 drives? Ever been in a broadcast truck? Even been to a real edit suite? I will agree fw800 is the standard, fw400 is good and usb2 is not going to cut it unless it is there for ipod transfers only.

Here is the deal - when I stumble and drop (hint hint) my current 1.5 ghz ppc 15" pb I will buy what they have. I don't care if it's called macbook pro or quid pro quo. Isight will be used just as much as my svideo out is on this model - um - never. Loss of pixels - whatever. No dual layer burner - um - whatever. What are you doing - mastering your hotel room porn? I use my burner a ton for backups of vital docs and sharing drawings with others. Site photos to a cd and in a fedex and off to nyc for buyoff. I will not be upset at whatever speed it burns - to me it's a bigger better floppy drive. Most users agree I would bet. All I care is I can play a rental dvd on the plane or in the room.

I am happy. It's new. It's whatever they have to offer. Either buy it and shut up or don't buy it. If you "pro/experts" are so smart whay don't you open a company and build some fantastic laptop and sell them.

Don't we all have some work to do? I thought so. Act busy - here comes your boss.

Actually the Starbucks over here (atleast the ones in the bookstores over here) all provide free wifi without any tmobile device. Well, as of a week ago. I haven't checked since then. But McDonald's I know provide free WiFi. (again. . .atleast the ones around here) If nothing else, burn the data you need to a cd/dvd/drop it on a thumb drive and then go to the hotel lobby and use the PC they have set up there. Or just drop the extra few bucks on the adaptor. Omg whining about not having FW102834018234 for you PROFESSIONAL uses, yet you're too cheap to buy an adaptor to use dial-up? Omg that's sad. Even if the adaptor was $50 bucks, that'd make our monthly note go up, what? $1?

Thank you for taking some of the sting out of the MacBook announcement; I bought my Powerbook on October 19th of last year.

As for the screen resolution decrease: it's a small annoyance, maybe, compared to the previous resolution, but 1440:900 is the industry standard 16:10 ratio, the same ratio Apple uses for all three cinema displays and the 17" Powerbook.

Switching to that standard, rather than making room for the iSight, was probably the reason for the change in resolution, and Although I personally find vertical space to be at a premium more often than horizontal space) it's probably a good change.

I won't be buying this particular MacBook (that name, that name...) for a few reasons: 1. it is a Rev. A product, therefore worth waiting through the shakedown. 2. I'd like to see some real, objective numbers regarding performance, including battery life which was curiously omitted from the keynote, lit, and specs (couple that with the heightened power draw...?). 3. I'm really quite happy with my Powerbook 15" from the revision before last (staying bleeding-edge at this rate is an expensive addiction!).

I'm greeting this new model without having experienced dual-layer burning (never a specific calling for it), 1440x960 pixels (if only I had 900 tall! and hey, at 900 it's closer to wide), a need for Firewire 800 (no specific need) or a modem (never been that stranded). These things would be nice of course, but not everyone will feel these particular burns.

Still, this kind of "leap forward" marks good progress on the switch to Intel, while making me wonder how to quantify the new wave of obsolescence we'll be meeting when it comes time to resell and join the future. These two new Intel machines have their flaws in comparison and are as yet unproven, but Apple has beaten their time estimates to ship Intel Macs by six months. It does make me wonder what we'll be talking about when that time comes around. And it is encouraging seeing the rate at which developers are reworking their wares.

That name, though... Compared to Powerbook, it reads like a diminutive, a loss of dignity! Without the "Power-", I'd kind of like to see the full word Macintosh called to service once again.

Go PowerBook G4!!! Once I heard the news of the MacBook Pro I placed my order immediately. My first-gen iBook G4's hard drive had just died and the specs looked good, great in fact...and then the glitz wore off.

I really started to think after reading this article and realized the features I needed were all in the PowerBook and the ones I'd never need were in the MacBook Pro. And the name? Why? Oh God why? One odd thing though, Steve harked so hard on the performance per watt and battery life (yada yada) of the G4 but made NO MENTION of it with the MacBook Pro. When ordering the MacBook Pro over the phone with Apple I asked the rep what the battery life would be, his answer, "They're still testing it but, uhh, equal to or greater than the PowerBook G4." Interesting, very interesting...

I canceled my MacBook Pro order and instead ordered the last great PowerBook G4 (15" 1GB RAM 100GB 7200RPM HD), saved nearly $400 and countless headaches. The PowerBook isn't dead--yet.

just the other day i did the little survey on mactopia. and well

the flip 4 mac thing for free, or a new thing from microsoft, was exactly what i had asked for!

and now look here it is..

thank you.. thank you, hold the applause..

When I saw the presentation I was upset I had bought my PowerBook in November...but now, after collection more info on the new MacBook Pro.. I'm not upset anymore.
-I have several external FW800 disks I use often.
-I travel to many countries and hotels, and sometimes I need the internal modem and I don't want to add weight to my luggage.
-I have to send faxes once in a while, I sold my fax machine and use the PowerBook instead.
-The large amounts of video information I collect on my FW800 disks are back-upped and made available for my colleagues on DL DVD's. Yes, they are more expensive, but they're also cheaper to mail and take up less space.
-S-video I use sometimes for video presentations, but since my projectors also use other connectors, this is not a big problem, for me at least.

There are also some positive sides..

+The remote is actually rather nice, if I watch a movie on my PB I always put it further away from me, and to pause/play when answering a call, the remote comes handy.
+The build in iSight is a very nice feature. I do a lot of video conferencing and no longer would have to carry the external iSight with me, saves weight and space in my luggage.
+The machine is faster, although not YET with my Pro apps.

All in all, I wait for the second generation and hope some of the issues will be adjusted.

An I forgot to add.. I don't like the name MacBook Pro... PowerBook was such a good name!

Small correction: Windows Media Player IS NOT DEAD.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/mp10/mac.aspx

The QuickTime components are just offered as an extra. WMP stiil exists (even though it sucks) and Microsoft nowhere says that WMP will be abolished.

Good blog real good one. A link to it is being published on a Swedish mac-newssite and that’s why I'm here.
As being a potential switcher, was dreaming about the new iBook that wasn't released, this new MacBook thingy kind of put me back a few steps of becoming a Mac user.
Anyways I am glad that someone finally spoke up that they don't think that this is as good as it may first seem. I am too skeptic about the removal of the modem, why. Mentioned this in a Swedish forum and got the replied that everyone uses their cellphone or some sort of broadband and I am really sure they do. I've been places where I would have needed that modem, and that’s what a notebook is all about, not having to carry around an extra bag full of adapters and shit. This stuff should be built in for Christ sake! The lack of DL-burning and the s-video are down this same road. Personally I have no FW stuff what so ever, remember I'm on PC we kind of haven't adapted that yet, but I guess the same goes for that one.
The remote I could buy, if it was usable for presentations, but as I have scrolled thru the comments on this blog, it seems that it is not.
The built in iSight may be fun, but is it pro? The other thing is frontrow, is that pro? I kind of think that many companies buying laptops don't want they’re employees to have the smallest bits and pieces of "Media center" in they’re computers.
So at last, I am willing to say that this is more of an iBook replacement, many of these features must end up in the new iBook as it is more a consumer product like the iMac. Although as being this more like an iBook it still has that expensive PowerMac price tag that not everyone can or have the possibility to pay.

Changing powerbook to Macbook is bad.

Powerbooks have been around for 15 years. Most people know they are macs. And it would take less marketing to tell those who don't than to introduce
an ugly new name.

Even one of the people demonstrating the new laptops said he was still slipping and calling it a powerbook. He agreed it was a bad move, but said he was only an engineer and they weren't consulted.

Another person doing a demo said they can't tell the battery life yet, because they weren't production units. They'll do the official tests in the next few weeks.

They should have Firewire 800 and whatever larger laptop they introduce had better have it.

"Powerbook". Now that's a name. When Powerbooks first came out, people wanted them even without realizing they were Macintoshes. When I sold computers 10 years ago, I used to have customers come in the door and say "I want a Powerbook".. when I started walking them to the Mac section, they'd say "No, I want a Windows Machine". They never understood the difference, and it was one hell of an opening toward getting them to buy a Macintosh. Now people have learned and getting a Powerbook means you're buying a Mac laptop. It's been excellent marketing for years an it's just like saying you're getting the Kleenex, or Xerox or Lexus of computers. It's a brand you can't forget.

Enter "Macbook". That's not a name. It's sick, nasty and useless as a marketing vehicle. Why fix what's not broken? Just reinvent the meaning of the word Power. So you're not using the PowerPC chip, so what. Nobody remembers that- they only remember the style, the look, the feel, etc.

Sure you've got a problem where folks don't understand the real differences between the iBook and the Powerbook, but so what? That's easier to deal with than going back to Apple II land calling your next big thing "The Lisa".

Whatever. Steve's come full circle and he needs to retract back to the name Powerbook while he hasn't wrapped himself hardcore into the name.

Are you guys for real? Yeah the MacBook Pro is missing some nice features which could be useful to some but hey, it's a first generation machine which was probably rushed out in a hurry to give software developers a real machine on which to develop and test real-life applications. if you ain't happy with it, PLEASE DON'T BUY IT. This is the year that apple will deliver it's whole product line based on Intel processors and I'm sure this first step is only a preview of what is to come, don't you think so?
Personally I hate people who just have to find something to bitch and moan about like "it doesn't run windows!!". Why the hell should it? It's an Apple machine and it runs an Apple OS, for feck's sake. If you want windows or linux then you know bloody well what to do: go to your favourite pc store and buy a friggin' windows machine.
I bought the 1,33GHz iBook 12" just two months ago and I'm very pleased with it, out the door with my old XP laptop. And about professionalism, you seem to think you're "pro" only if you edit HD video for a living or give powerpoint/keynote presentations using a big-screen TV as a display with an s-video cable, how retarded is that? I'm a professional sysadmin for several customer environments and also need to do on-site work, what the hell is amateur about that? Why am I very happy with my iBook? Huh? Get out of your sandboxes and get a clue about things, idiots.

Why are people writing blogs and commenting on them all so dumb? Does nobody READ the spec sheets anymore?

You guys carrying powerbook have ALWAYS (since DVI) had to carry two adapters. One for DVI -> VGA and another for S-Video -> Composite. Or perhaps you'll all try to tell us that the projectors all had S-Video but not VGA, so you could carry no cables. I mean seriously - what is the problem? If anything using the DVI to get the S-Video out may even result in better quality!

And as for Firewire 800, maybe the reason Apple are dropping it is because they COMPLETELY BUNGLED it's introduction and adoption. You all need to read this white paper from someone who KNOWS what's going on ( James Wiebe, CEO
WiebeTech LLC): http://www.wiebetech.com/pressreleases/firewireevolution.pdf

In summary, the FW800 chips in the Powerbooks were rubbish anyway, and Oxford - pretty much the only people who made the pata-firewire bridge boards gave up on the business because of the issues with Apple's drivers wiping drives etc... Oh, and he predicted FW800 being dropped in 2006. And he was right.

So in short, what are we loosing here? Um.. 60 pixels & a PC card slot (which is being replaced by the new standard mind you - think of this as equivilant to when Apple dropped NuBUS for PCI. There were no cards available, but once developers got on board with the new standard, it was MUCH better. Apple have a proud history of pushing development. Dropping SCSI for USB. Dropping PCI for PCIx. Dropping VGA for DVI. This is just another development.)

What are we gaining here? A computer that will actually be able to RUN iPhoto & all the pro applications at full speed. Amazing I know, but the only thing wrong with the powerbooks for the last two and a half years is that they have been SLOW. They have hardly increased in real world speed since they hit the 1Ghz G4 mark in the titanium G4 3.5 years ago.

We have a brand new chip, with 2 (Read it, TWO!!) megs of cache with a 667mhz bus in a laptop. We will finally be able to actually USE iLife and iWork etc. If you've ever used a G5, you would realise that there has been NO apple laptop worth buying for YEARS. They have all been utterly gutless.

Why can't you people understand that? It's not rocket science. The powerbook is ALREADY great, just so slow it's not workable. You can barely even RUN motion or aperture on them. But not for much longer. The future is here and I'm stoked about it!

Anyway - this turned out a bit longer than I expected! But it frustrates me when people (especially people 'in the know' like the Unsanity guys) make such utterly bone headed statements & comments.

John

you are a fuktard and a total moron. go run win98 and program cobol for a year. it's what you deserve.

How come nobody has mentioned the weight of this beast? 5.4 lbs for a portable? Especially when the Intel switch was hyped as bring us slimmer and lighter laptops. This is a joke!

USB commitee, check their logos cycling
http://www.usb.org/members_landing

Intel does not even exist in huge member list of Firewire (iee 1394) http://www.1394ta.org/About/Members/index.htm#i

Yes, it is the reason why a technology like Firewire 800 which makes USB 2.0 a joke does not exist in Mactels.

Firewire 400 can even offer higher speeds (REAL LIFE) then USB 2.0 '"Hi Speed"

It is just beginning of consequences being bed with Intel.

If you need high transfer rates with your HDTV camera etc on your laptop, go buy a Sony Vaio.

Like "I-Book" is the pinnacle of marketing genius. Logic would suggest a new J-Book. At least Mac is a brand.

In the world of science there's something going on; it's the egg potato phenomenon......

Bitching: Its what's for dinner, breakfast, lunch, brunch, snacks, etc. The nit picking that is being done is unreal. Seriously. Dell puts out a craptastic update you don't see 8 bagillion posts about it online. Apple puts out an update, that it’s been criticized forever for not doing, and all people do is bitch. Are there some features missing? Sure. There is NO denying that. But let's be at least reasonable. Bitching about having an 85 vs. the old 65 watt AC adapters? To quote the author: OMGWTF?
And questioning speed on a system you probably haven't even been in the building with? That is just moronic.

The only key thing missing is the DL burner and I suspect it's because there are probably no laptop sized DL DVD-RW SATA burners on the market. I guess Apple could have make a cheap *** system and mixed EIDE in with SATA but they probably decided it's better to move the entire system to SATA. In no way shape or form am I going to fault them for that.

Then there is FW800. This can and will be available via ExpressCard in probably less then 6 months. The truth is there are only a handful of devices that REALLY take advantage of FW800 and practically speaking if they can drop 2.5-3 grand on a computer they will be able to afford a $150 FW800 card. It's not as if FW400 is slow either. For most tasks I've found FW400 to be damn fast.

Finally what Jobs said was there are two processors in it. If you want to get REALLY technical there ARE two processors. Both cores act the same as what you would get with two CPU's the difference being they share the same die, L2, and are sharing the same bus path. Its marketing spin. The same crap you get from Microsoft, or any other company for that matter.
Sounds like people are bitching for the sake of bitching. Stop being a tool. Apple gave you a faster system. Again something that people have been bitching about for years. STFU already or at the very least trim the complaints down to a reasonable, sane, level: DL DVD-RW is really the only legit complaint in the list. Crap if Apple hadn't announced this thing people would be bitching about that as well.

Note: This post brought to you by someone who doesn't even own an Apple yet.

Give it a rest people.

As John said, most if not all of the posters here have had no experience what-so-freaking-ever with the new Powerbooks.
Dual layer DVDs cost a fortune and are already a technology under fire.
No modem? Even in deepest Africa there was internet access via bluetooth and a cellphone.
No S-Video? What projector has only S-Video? None at all.
A remote? Incredibly useful for presentations.

Enough already with the end of the world scenario. Jeez.

I've ordered a powerbook and waiting for it to be delivered. I was thinking about cancelling and ordering a macbook pro. Well, I think I won't finally.
Thank you for this review.

The best news about the Mac Book is that you can find a 17" Powerbook for $1800. And that thing rocks. 800 FW, modem, gorgeous screen yadayada.

I never thought I'd see a modem listed a must-have feature again, but you'd think it was cutting-edge technology after reading these comments. I have a PowerBook G4, and it is obsolete technology. The only notable omission on the MacBook Pro is FW800. If you absolutely have to have a modem, then buy the $49 USB modem. If you absolutely have to have S-Video, then buy the $19 DVI-Video adapter (heck, you'll even get composite output!). By the way, you now get a state-of-the-art, mobile, dual-core processor instead of the 7 year old G4. The remote and iSight are 100x more useful than a modem and s-video port. Oh, the bus is 4X faster, and it has dropped the PC Card slot for PCIe-based Express Card slot. Plus, all of the drives are SATA-based. If you're really a pro, then the speed is the important part of the equation. The PowerBook G4 is not a pro machine. It cannot run pro apps sufficiently. In March, this machine will look like the long-awaited PowerBook G5 on the performance front. That is what matters, not $68 worth of adapters that weigh less than an original iSight. And if the battery life on the PRODUCTION models doesn't exceed the inflated numbers on the G4, then I will buy everyone a USB modem.

This is a perfect example of the software being ready before the hardware. Remember, this machine is SIX MONTHS early. It is much more of a publicity coup than a usable portable workstation.

Many rumors abound: inside sources say "don't buy this one"; a constrained supply of Core Duo's kept other models from being introduced; more amazing things are in the works from the Vaio team. Don't be fooled by this rush job-- cause that's what it is-- and denigrate the platform. Wait till the REAL portable iron ships in June to start yer complaining!

Faster. Four times faster than what? Might the bus speed have a bit to do with this? My G4 PB has a paltry bus speed of something like 167 mHz, as oppsed to 667 mHz for the MacBook.

BTW, I agree that the screen size/number of pixels is a real beat, though I hear it is incredibly bright. When will we see lumiled displays in a laptop? And NO PC CARD SLOT?!?!?! Wait a minute, what is this sh&*^%#@#$%%!!

I don't understand why people can just use that nifty little USB modem that Apple introduced with the iMac a few months ago. It's so small and it couldn't be any trouble to bring around to your 3rd world country ;) lol

Y'know, when I first heard the name 'MacBook' I also detested it (and still do). However, it dawned on me that when the time comes to get one, if Apple hasn't responded to the backlash about the awful name, I'm gonna continue to call it a 'PowerBook' regardless of what anyone else does. After all, the PowerBook line predates the Apple's use of the PowerPC chip and (in my mind, anyway) will always be synonymous with their portables line.

sorry, i meant "...why people can't use...".

I have been seeing posts all over the 'Net saying that (a) Grub supports EFI, and (b) Grub can boot Windows.

I would love to have a Mac with Grub and a menu that lets me choose amongst Mac OS X, Ubuntu, and Win XP.

I'm amazed at how flippin upset people get over having to buy a $50 modem. I would like to think apple is not completely stupid, and if the majority of people needed a modem, they would have provided it.

Next time I'll make sure Steve calls you up before he decides to ship a new MacBook. God knows you will need your little special tweak installed so that you can do your one obscure thing that 99% of the rest of us don't do.

I just wanted to point out that I've used both my S-Video and modem ports in the past few months. OK, so the modem WAS in Peru (the Sheraton in Lima has free internet, but it's via a modem, and there isn't a single HINT of a wireless network anywhere around the hotel), and I've used the s-video to watch dvd's on bigger tv's. Are those "pro" applications? No, probably not. Could I live with dongles/USB modem? Probably. But I've got enough crap in my travel bags (admittedly one of those things is an isight). I guess I'll just shut up and keep my 1.67 Ghz PB for a while longer.

60 Watt-hours doesn't seem like *that* big of a deal. My GHz TiBook had a 61 Watt-hour battery.

P.S. I'm surprised that Apple went with a 1440x960 screen in the first place. That's got to be more expensive than the 1440x900 screen, and 99% of purchasers wouldn't know the difference.

What surprised me about the new Macs are:

1) Loss of the modem (not that I ever use it, but some business users I know still use it for faxes).
2) Loss of dual-layer (not that I ever use it).

The exclusion of Firewire 800 and S-video didn't really surprise me though. If you really need Firewire 800 you may be SOL, but I'm sure someone will create an ExpressCard FW800 add-on. S-video is not a huge issue, although dongles are irritating. None of the business users I know use S-video though. For Macs they use an add-on adapter anyway, since they don't use DVI most of the time.

Show of hands:

How many people have a FW800 hard drive and a PowerBook and get more than 50 MBps?

"The sky is falling! The sky is falling!"

This entry had some points, but they're overshadowed by things I disagree with or are flat-out wrong.

The name is one of the few points I mildly agree with; the name isn't that bad, but it does sound amateurish, at least for now.

Power: Geez, people, why not wait until we have some actual tests before complaining about battery life? Or at least some official figures? Come on, you're not that hard up for topics, are you?

S-Video: As many people have pointed out, it's available as a breakout adapter from the DVI port (along with composite video), and if enough people really complain about it someone will probably make one that's a simple plug and not a dongle on a string. Me, I think the last time I used s-video was hooking up to a TV in a hotel room to watch a movie - and that was using the s-vid to composite adapter anyway.

FW 800: I feel a minor twinge at losing the potential, but I never actually bought a FW 800 device; my needs were never stringent enough to overcome the price barrier.

Modem: Again, I feel a twinge at the loss; when you need a modem, you really need it. But I think the last time I actually used mine was sometime in 2004, so this is more of an emotional reaction than a real 'need' for one.

Screen resolution: The sound you hear is me singing hosannas! I hated the prev-gen PowerBook's display, I thought they were much too aggressive in pushing the resolution, I found it very hard to read text at the point sizes I typically use, and I am very glad they backed off to something a bit more reasonable.

ExpressCard: Again a factor for concern, but at the moment more a theoretical one than a real one. I can't remember ever using the CardBus slot on my 15" AlBook, and rarely used the one on its predecessor TiBook. The current meager selection of ExpressCard devices worries me, but with any luck it'll be like USB and the iMac - successor industry standard that no one actually used until Apple forced the issue dropping the older standard. We'll see, though I'm cautiously optimistic.

Dual Layer DVD: As one or two people suggested, I think it's the lack of a DL mechanism that would fit the new case. (We won't know for sure until someone actually gets one and opens it up, but I'd bet the internal layout has changed considerably from the AlBooks - might be an explanation for the missing FW 800 and S-Video ports, too, they were on the same side of the laptop as the optical drive.)

Performance: Again, I'll wait to see some actual real-world tests before I get too excited about this one way or the other. I suspect they'll end up being faster than the current models by a significant margin, but not nearly the massive numbers Apple's touting. A lot is going to depend on whether your applications come in a universal binary, how well they take advantage of multiple processors... any number of factors, just like the current situation on the G5 towers, in fact. The trickle of reports I've seen from the show floor suggest they feel pretty speedy, but I take that with a grain of salt until people get the chance to play around with their own set of apps.

Lack of 12" and 17" models: Eh, call me when it's late summer and there still isn't one. There have been very long lagtimes between updates in one size and updates in another - remember how long the 12" and 17" AlBooks were out before the 15" TiBook was replaced by an AlBook?

No new form factor in the case: I wouldn't be surprised if this were a deliberate nod to continuity and not scaring off buyers worried about the transition, instead of a lack of imagination or a rush to production.

EFI vs BIOS: I'd call this another 'legacy cruft' issue. Why the heck would Apple saddle themselves with a jerry-rigged, kludgy antique like BIOS, especially when EFI (from everything I've seen) is a lot more comparable to OpenFirmware? To support legacy software they never had? To support something they've officially stated several times that they're not going to support, even if they're also not going to hinder it? (And that I think they'd have to be insane to officially support, just from a support resources standpoint?) As for 'significantly harder to make OS X run on a stock PC without EFI'... well, duhhhhhhhh! If they've officially stated several times that they're not going to support but not going to hinder booting Windows on a MacTel, how many hundreds of times have they stated that they will NOT allow booting OS X on commodity x86 machines? Criminitely, how many stakes in the heart will it take for this issue to die?

Ack, sorry for the double-post.

This was a fairly sloppy report, at least with regards to the screen quality and performance. Apple has had actual, real-world performance comparisons on the website since the machines were announced, and (shock) they confirm that the Spec results weren't pie-in-the-sky. Everything (native) is massively faster, and more intensive apps do quadruple the performance of the old systems.

And the screen is simply a higher quality unit all around -- take a look at them, or at least compare *all* of the specs. That resolution is more than adequate on that display size -- it's damn near perfect.

Svideo is a throwback to the 80's but if you want it, you can get an adaptor if it is not included with the Macbook. Modems are also going the way of the dodo but you can get a USB modem as an extra.

It does have FW400 contrary to rumour reports. The problem with FW800 is the lack of devices and that the connector is different from FW400 making use of FW400 devices more inconvenient.

The use of EFI is a bold move as is the expresscard slot.

I'm not shocked to not see DL burners as the Blueray burners are around the corner.

Really people. Stop complaining. It's a great upgrade. People complaining about the loss of 60 pixels should get a life. How quickly we forget that January 2005's PowerBook G4 17" has exactly the the same resolution whch is 1440 X 900. The new MacBook Pro is now a true widescreen like the old 17".

I don't mourn the loss of S-video because that's old technology. Going forward all HDTVs and projectors will have VGA and DVI connectors. S-video resolution sucks anyway. And the modem...Tell me how often do you use a modem? Hardly ever. And it's not like you can't have it if you want it. Same with the S-video cable.

The missing FW800 port might be a point of contention to some, but its not that bad since the expresscard slot is there to replace it. The bandwidth of the xpresscard slot is many times higher than that of FW800. So it's not a big deal. And I am glad that Apple picked EFI rather than BIOS which is technology that is as old as the hills.

Hell I'd get one if I could afford one right now.

Hey guys!

I think you misunderstand something. Macbook pro in my opinion is a replacement for the iBook (not for the Powerbook). Steve only compared it to Powerbook because it's stronger.
But on the peripherials side it's more an iBook.
I bet we'll see something stronger in the future.
The Power stuff (PowerMac, PowerBook) will change during this year.
and I hope 12" will come back!)

People who don't care about the missing modem, don't forget it works as a fax machine, too. That's $300 savings right there for someone who faxes and receives only sporadically, and as an added bonus I always have a fax machine with me.

pete, that'd be a lovely conjecture if not for the fact it has the word "Pro" in it. It's also $700 to $1300 more than the top of the line iBook. The price itself means it could not be a replacement for the iBook.

I've had a 15" Aluminum PowerBook for the past year, and I've never used the FireWire 800 port, the S-video port, or the modem. I do use the PC card slot to transfer pictures from a digital camera, but I could just as easily use a USB cable for that. So, this would be a great machine for me.

I'm concerned about the name, though: what are they going to do when they take the PowerPC chip out of the Power Mac? Is it going to be called the Mac Mac?

Wow...

Some of you need to get a real job and join the real world ...

I think most of my fellow pros have addressed the FW800 and DL Superdrive enough... but..

My need for a modem makes me a non-pro user?

So I should carry a $2000.00 projector on every trip I take to europe? Or perhaps I should demand that all of my clients dispose of their conference room TVs that only offer S-vid and composite inputs? Or no, I should carry a bunch of extra dongles with me and maybe even 2 or 3 extras in case things go missing while the idiots at TSA strip search me and look at my PowerBook like it's the damn monolith in 2001!

And modems? Guess what.. I need a 56k connection when the retard at the front desk refuses to get me in contact with the "tech guy" to discuss the VPN blocking, or the fact that the wifi network is down all together! And I'd love to see you get an evdo connection in the mountains in Italy where one of my clients has their home office... It's them, 800 people, and the cows... Yep, lots of WiFi and evdo to be had there.... Perhaps I should tell them that their money isn't good enough for me because they don't have WiFi in any of the local hotels? Or perhaps I should drive 3 hrs or so between there and Torino every day I travel there in order to have a hotel with WiFi?

Just because you and Jobs never travel outside either a wifi or evdo cloud doesn't make that reality for other pro users.

Yeah it's faster and lighter and smaller... But by the time I add all the damn dongles to make it *useful* my laptop bag will weigh 3 lbs *more* than before! What an "upgrade"!

MacBook "Pro" A Downgraded name for a downgraded PowerBook...

This is an outrage! Where is the floppy disk drive! Huh? Sometimes I need a floppy drive...and it doesn't have a floppy drive! This is innovation? This is taking a step back!!!

And where is the SCSI port on this thing?!!! Sometimes I run into people who live in Europe who are 20 years behind and they have a SCSI Syquest cartridge drive. I can't use it because I don't have a SCSI port!!! Sure, I can get an adapter for the FireWire port, but that weighs 10 ounces and takes up 2 inches of space in my bag!

I want a laptop that weighs 1 pound and is 1/4" thick and has a 20" screen and fits in my pocket and has every single peripheral integrated into it, including a 256 bit scanner.

And sometimes I need to scan those film slides, so put a film scanner into it too!!!!

I never ever need a web cam, but I do need 30-year old technology in a modem.

Stupid Apple! All you do is give me a laptop that's at least twice as fast as its predecessor and has a screen that is as bright as a desktop monitor. Is that all you can do?

I want laser light shows in my hotel room!!! It's 2006 and you still haven't given us laser light shows?

You suck!!

Floppy comparison is not funny at all. Also about SCSI: It is not outdated technology, it is just not for home users anymore.

Must add one thing and I am off from comment posting:

Apple should thank developers like Unsanity who are making unmatched quality products for OS X or I would really give up Macintosh right now and move to windows. It is what Apple tends to do in 1-2 years, just remember what I said.

"Did I really see someone make a post about how USB 2.0 is not as fast as FW400..

Umm FW400 = 400Mbit/sec.

USB 2.0 = 480MBit/sec.

FW800 = 800MBit/sec."

USB 2.0 is NOT as fast as FW400. Those figures are the theoretical max transfer rates for each connection. However USB 2.0 hardly ever reaches it's max whereas firewire reaches it much more often.

As for the whole complaint about the MacBooks. Yes, compared to the latest PowerBooks they are a downgrade. Though that won't stop me from getting one when I have the money which will probably be the 2nd or 3rd rev

I found out by inquiring at the Apple Expo booth that there is NO CLASSIC mode on either of the Intel Chip Macs.

Not that I use classic that much, but some folks do.

I asked if could I install OS 9 from one of my several os9 or osX system disks, they said NO, Classic cannot be installed at all on any Intel Chip Mac.

I asked why - no one I asked was exactly clear on that - some thought it was a 'technical' issue, some thought a marketing or a 'force the user base to get off Classic' effort.

Anyway, just another 'feature' that is not listed.

The discussion about whether this is replacing the PowerBook or iBook is interesting. I believe that the MacBook supports monitor spanning, and that was always the key distinction between the PowerBook and iBook for me, so by that logic I'd call this a PowerBook replacement. (And it's selling for the PowerBook price.)

I do wish Apple would let us in on their future plans so we could make informed purchasing decisions, but I know that's not their style.

Dear Mac Users,
I would like to formally apologize to each and every last one of you for the disappointment that is MacBook Pro. For years now, you've all anticipated the rising of the PowerBook G5...but I just couldn't pull it off. Every time, they just melted and the last one got so hot it spit flames! Knowing how eager you all were to have the power of a G5 processor in the slick body of a PowerBook, I went scrounging and scrambling to every Japanese microprocessor manufacturer on the planet, desperately avoiding the inevitable begging I would eventually have to do for my longtime nemesis...Intel. Once I bowed down and kissed their feet, they were actually quite accomodating to work with. They delivered a very fast processor that is even FASTER than the G5...unfortunately it came at a price. Craig knew that I simply swapped out the G4 processor from the PowerBooks with his nifty new Yonah Core Duo, that I would win! Craig would never allow that so he offered me a bargain. He said he would let me put the Yonah chips into the new notebooks, but in exchange for his generosity I would have to remove the S-Video out, FW800, degrade the resolution, not offer DL DVD burning, only initially release a 15" version, and last but not least...remove the beloved modem. After endless days of watching the Apple hit counter climb and counting of ipods sold (100 per minute) I finally decided to give into Craig and present to you the fastest notebook computer in the world...the Powerbook 2! But just when I thought the deal was sealed...Craig added one last thing. He took index cards and had me write down my favorite "Apple" phrases...one on each card. He then took all the cards and threw them into a hat and mixed them up. He blindfolded me, then kicked me in the groin and told me to draw three cards out of the hat. Blindfolded, I followed his commands. Suddenly Craig began laughing uncontrollably! He laughed so hard, he began to cry. I had to see what all the fuss was about, so I quickly removed the blindfold to see three index cards laying side by side. They read "Mac" "Book' and "Pro." Craig smiled and told me that if I ever wanted to see a Yonah chip in a Mac, I'd do exactly as he instructed and do so ASAP!!!! Originally, he wanted me to release this monstrosity at Christmas, but we just couldn't do it. Not with all the video ipods I was manufacturing that lacked a built in radio and still camera. So I held out for MacWorld...and now you have it! Sometimes dreams do come true!

I also see the loss of Altivex a big concern. The intel duo that is replacing the G5 on the iMac is still not 64-bit! The PM's processor using the dual-core G5 is more powerful then any desktop processor that Intel has or will have for quite a while now. It is also interesting that the new laptop requires a 60 watt battery and an 85 watt power adapter. If it requires less power then why is this? Also something I have wondered for a while...Why intel? Maybe AMD would have been a better choice with their powerful dual-core 64 bit processors that seem to be light years ahead of the Intel CPUs. I mean if the G5 could not be fit in a laptop then why didnt IBM and Moterola work on a PowerPC chip specifically designed for laptops? I heard a rumor some time back of a dual-core G4 with a faster system bus that could have been a temporary replacement until something better came around. I also feel that having Windows being able to work on a mac a big mistake. If every mac user has a copy of Microsoft windows on their machines then then why will software developers see any incentive to produce OS X versions of their software?

It's not very strange to have a 60 W battery and a 85 W power adapter. The power adapter should supply more power than the battery because it should also be able to recharge the battery while running the laptop.

It's also possible that the MacBook Pro dims the screen a bit while running on the battery (Thinkpads do this) or that the processor runs at a lower clock speed (like Pentium M processors).

Andy, the current PowerBooks and iBooks do those as well, have for a while (the dimming of screen while on battery and the speed stepping) the latter is what the "Automatic" and "Reduced" Processor speed settings are in the Energy Saver preference pane.

Not that i totally disagree from the author's comments about this release, however i notice from him something that i also find in many Mac owners that i would describe as a frustration for seeing a new release that takes the crown from their models. Don't take me wrong, i also would feel bad if i knew that i own a piece of hardware with no big future. Thing is, i don't think it's normal to make a description of this laptop without mentioning, for example, the stunning graphic card ATI x1600.

Besides, you say that MacBook Pro won't run Windows XP as a fact. Well, it's possible but i don't take it as the most probable thing. As soon as it hits the big market there will be geeks all over the world hacking around to make it possible. Besides iEmulator already stated to be the first to put x86-native Windows on Intel Macs and it's not emulated (allthought the name it's not an emulation).

Maybe it's not a frustration and the author doesn't own an Apple PPC machine but i feel it that way and it would be the first i would be wrong about it.

I do not say it is a fact it won't run XP. I say that XP cannot boot off a machine unless it has a PC BIOS. Which can be added (or emulated) to EFI via a bootloader.

Francisco, indeed, I do not own an Apple PPC machine.

I quite like the idea of having FrontRow and remote included in the new MacBook Pro. Perhaps I am the odd one out but I often have my iBook plugged into the TV so that I can watch movies.

Actually watched MacWorld keynote on the TV which was brilliant. Much better than watching on the screen. Now with FrontRow there would be a way to control things.

No more having to walk up and down to pause/play movies, mp3s, etc.

Everyone, please stop saying, "Who cares?"

It's quite obvious a lot of people care that new features were added (remote, iSight) and some features were removed (FW800, dual-layer DVD burning).

I hope that we can all agree that more options are better than being restricted. That way, the most people could enjoyably make this computer work for them the way they wanted.

Apple probably has some legitimate reasons for doing what they did. Now was probably not the best time for the company to make the arguable changes. Until Apple tells us why, we have to live with what they sell to us, or send the right messages (and guys, commenting - bickering back and forth - on this blog entry isn't really sending the right message).

Quote: "Small correction: Windows Media Player IS NOT DEAD"

Yes it is:
http://news.com.com/Music+stops+for+Mac+Windows+Media+Player/2100-1047_3-6026715.html

Any time table for Intel compatible haxies?

No one has commented on this and it is a HUUUUGE factor in my decision. Not only did they not include the same dual layer super drive they are shipping in the newly updated powerbooks, but the superdrive they are shipping with the macbook pro is 4X and the one on the powerbook is 8X. WHY THE HELL would they do that! Unless they add a hd-dvd drive or bluray drive in the coming months, I see no point. Is there a shortage because they are continuing to sell them in their powerbooks? Did they end their contract for the old regular 8X superdrives minus dual layer? I have the 1.67 powerbook before they updated it with dual layer and brigther screens and it's superdrive is 8X. Burning a advd at this speed STILL takes a very long time. Going back to 4X is going to kill someone who spends a lot of time backing up raw photos or data files. And Rosylan, the drives are not lower on the new macbooks. Only the 17" powerbook has the drive towards the top, the 12" and 15" have it centered as does the macbook 15". So your argument is debunked.

Who is Rosylan?

These *are* thinner drives being used. And no, they aren't centered they're on the bottom most part.

I saw the new Macbook Pro on Tuesday at Macworld Expo. Here's what I came away with...

Let's see, first, take away the modem (which i do have to use sometimes), a slower DVD RW drive, no FW800, (because Unreliable Serial Bus is sooooo much better...), a card slot that won't use my current PCMCIA cards makes this a value why?
Second, No one from Apple was to be able to tell us what the battery life for the Macbook is.
Third. Several visitors making the same comment that "There's no software made to run directly on the Intel Macs without Rosetta".
Fourth. They say it's four times faster. Faster than What, a previous model running a single core processor with a much slower Memory? What if the Macbook had a duel core G4, and equivalent enhancements, and not lost some of the things the Powerbook G4 had?
And how would a comparison of the Intel Duel Core iMac to a Duel core G5 iMac look? Judging by the processor speeds, a faster G5 duel core is available (1.83Ghz Intel vs 2.5 Ghz G5)?
And just wait for the software incompatability problems to come.

I don't know what was going on when you think you saw the MacBook dropping frames whilst playing H.264.

Just go here:

http://forums.appleinsider.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=60294&perpage=40&pagenumber=2

And scroll down until you find a long post by Xool. The MacBook can play 1080/23.98p H.264 flawlessly with only 45% processor utilisation.

"I hope that we can all agree that more options are better than being restricted."

No, as a matter of fact, I don't think we can all agree 'more options are better'.

Every new option is a trade-off between added functionality, cost, and complexity, and needs to be evaluated on that basis. Sometimes the feature doesn't add much in cost and complexity for anyone - a no-brainer. That is not always going to be the case.

Look at iPods vs. the successive crops of 'iPod killers,' none of which has gone anywhere - each new pretender is touted as having 'this feature the iPod doesn't have,' or 'does (x) that an iPod doesn't do,' but in the end none of that has mattered. The iPod's simplicity and clean design has won out in the marketplace.

Likewise, look at PC laptops. They've always tended to be 'busier' than Mac laptops, with extra buttons, keys, indicator lights, and so forth, but of late there's been a trend to make them even busier - added buttons to play CDs and DVDs when the laptop is closed, for example. Aside from them being ugly and further breaking the clean lines of a laptop, they add extra failure points and extra complexity, for a feature I think is fairly pointless. No, thanks. Added media reader slot for SD? Great, but what if you have a CF or xD card?

Bringing things back around to the MacBook - every design decision we've been discussing here has been the result of a trade-off. You can argue the value of a trade-off, certainly, but too many of the posts here seem to assume Apple could just wave a magic wand and put in whatever they like - and that just ain't so.

Those bemoaning the fact that the new MacBook does not have a FW 800 port should keep in mind that it does have a ExpressCard port which means that FW800 or SATA (even better for disk drives) can be added. Sure it costs extra but it's an option.

One note about the screen: at least Apple is reigning in their aspect ratios. The new screen is 16:10, *finally* the same as all their other widescreen displays. In fact, now *every* Apple display is a 16:10 widescreen, save for the 4:3, 1024x768 screens on the iBooks and 12" PowerBook. The previous 15.x" screens (all the way back to the first PBG4) were 3:2. Apple also used to sell a conventional 1280x1024 17" LCD which, with a 5:4 aspect ratio, gave Apple a total of four aspect ratios in concurrent production. Now that they're (almost) all the same shape, maybe they can move towards resolution independence and 200 DPI screens.

Personally, I greatly prefer 4:3 screens,* though I'd accept the wide ratio to get all the real estate of a 30" display if one were to appear on my desk. The dock and menu bar have this thing called "height" and squishing a screen vertically is not always the best idea. From the top of the screen, I have the menu bar, Safari's title bar, then its buttons, then my bookmarks, then my tab, and finally my browser window. That's a lot of chrome. When it comes to displays, I say "the taller, the better." (Until you get past 20" or so.) Count me among those who will bemoan the loss of those 60 pixels at the bottom. The good news: 15" PBG4s should be cheap soon. :-)

* Besides the more favorable shape, my 20" 1600x1200 LCD has 9% more pixels (1.92 million vs. 1.76 million) than a 20" widescreen display. No sense mentioning it also cost a lot less and has inputs for composite video (VCR), S-video (TiVo), and VGA (B/W G3) in addition to DVI (Mac Mini). :-)

Apple simply promise... " Software just works. "

We change the slogan to a question.... " Software just works? " is no a desireless is a real need.

www.maZintel.com

OK...
Any speed increase over the powerbooks is a major thing. But I wouldn't do any pro audio on ANY LAPTOP PERIOD!

Is it really a speed increase? Read on...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nf/20060123/bs_nf/41123

Jebus H Crist,

Holy crap people.

You want S-Video == Pick up the freakig adapter
You want FireWire 800 == Pick up a freaking FW800 Express Card
You want a modem == pick up bloody USB modem.

You want DL Burners. OK that kinda sucks but really. In my life I’ve never seen such bitching, moaning, and generally acting like a bunch of babies outside of a daycare setting.

As I notice a rather "hostile" approach to the Intel transition, does that mean that Universal Haxies are going to appear 2009?
Since you don't answer any e-mails on timetables.

We don't give timetables. Any company that does always seems to miss them unless they give them REALLY far out in the future (even then they are likely to miss them). See http://www.unsanity.com/support/ for information.

I don't see anything in the support section. Only red dots.
I understand that you were cought by surprise when Intel Macs were introduced ahead of schedule, but also you have to think of paying customers that want the products they bought from Unsanity to be functional. I hope this is not going to be another lengthy situation like from Jaguar to Panther or Panther to Tiger.

The red dots are the answer. Just keep looking at that page until they turn green. That's the only time table we have. Patience is a virtue and we aren't going to rush them out the door without very, very thorough testing.

I understand that perfectly. Just a side-question so I understand the situation better, is porting ape and the haxies to Intel Tiger more or less difficult than it was to port them through the past OSX versions? Is there something "ugly" in the Intel version? (Should I keep my G5 or get another one and dumb the Duo? :-)

porting APE is almost a complete rewrite of APE. That makes the move from Puma to Panther seem like child's play.

Is there at least any beta program to participate in?
I prefer to have buggy versions of Fruitmenu-Silk-Shapeshifter than not have them at all! ( I am a registered user and have an iMac Core Duo 20'' with 256 VRAM and 2 GB RAM).

It was much more cool as powerbook :(

You know, I actually think a child could have come with a much more creative name, cause as you stated... "The new name really sounds like a good name for Accounting software, not a machine.". Some stuffy guy in a suit probably named it.

Apple states that the MacBook Pro will be up to 5x faster than the old G4.
It actually is up to 5x faster but that doesn´t mean it will deliver up to
5x more performance since it uses a totally different architecture.
While the G4 uses RISC technology the Intel DuoCore uses CISC which
requires much faster clock cicles to deliver the same performance.
Remember those old Apple Commercials where they compare IBM against
Intel CPU´s and they always smoked the Intel´s while running at lower speeds!

Intel Pentium M and Yonah (core duo) - they give more performance per cycle than G4 - sorry. G5 is a different story but those don't come in a powerbook. Faster is faster.

This reviewer makes a good argument but thats all it is - technically he is just like a kid going I want this and I want that. There is little justification.

They put the camera in because they want people to make use of iChat and that will force people to use macs. People choose one computer of the other seemingly minor reasons.

There more to it than RISC and CISC - there is pipelining and cache - FSB. The shared L2 cache can actually reduce use of the FSB - so there are upsides to having the two processors on a single chip. Read toms hardware if you want to know the speed benchmarks - not just some fool who says things with no supporting information. This person doesn't even understand what a compiler is as opposed to a benchmark utility.

Ahem - I am buying one just so I can put linux on it - PPC versions of linux are not as complete as the intel versions. There is always something that doesn't work. I will of course use the MacOS too. Virtual PC should be a screamer.

I am sorry Jaba but there is a huge difference between RISC and
CISC. REAL pipelining is only possible with RISC CPU´s because
each instruction requires only one clock cycle to execute and is
therefore much more uniform in the amount of time needed per
instruction than a CISC CPU. Of course, the Intel CoreDuo will be
faster but I am just trying to say there will not be that much of
a difference in performance than Apple actually says.
Read http://cse.stanford.edu/class/sophomore-college/projects-00/risc/risccisc/ for more information.

OK, please stop complaining about the modem. I live in Mexico, a so-called "third-world country" and you hardly ever use a modem. Even in mexico there are hotspots in almost every hotel/cafe/etc. It's just a move-ahead like it was to remove the floppy disk.

And I may not be a "Pro" user, but remember this is a laptop! It is not a desktop replacement. If you are a real Pro user who needs firewire 800 and 60 stupid pixels on your screen, go for the PowerMac and buy a freakin 30 inch display!

Personaly, the screen issue is minor. It does have a nice clean image. ...But, just about everything else is underwhelming. I need a machine that will run software I have already, at a reasonable speed. From what I've read up on, the Intel Macs do not deliver (I recomend you read the lab tests in the March 2006 issue of macworld, pg.64).
As for the modem, I still have to use it because many hotels, cafes, and convention centers don't provide wireless, and many hotels charge you a small fortune for high speed connection as well.

All I can say is that Marylin Manson had it down pat when he wrote:

"When all of your wishes have been granted, many of your dreams will be destroyed"

Take a look at Intel's EFI documentation and demonstration app. It seems to show windows 2003
as a boot option.

Shouldnt be that hard to make an efi loader to handle winodws on an "ICBM".

http://www.intel.com/technology/efi/help/efidocs.htm

Windows 2003 runs on the Itanium platform (IA-64) and requires EFI on that platform. The ICBMs use the IA-32 platform, which is the same thing Windows XP Home/Pro run on. IA-32 and IA-64 are not binary compatible.