Convince me to click the 'place my order' button

I've just kinda been sitting here on the final screen at the Apple Store for about 15 minutes now. I just can't bring myself to click the button. It's for a 2.2Ghz 15" MBP, stock with iWork and Apple Care. It's kind of a temp rig until I'm ready to pull the trigger on an ultraportable, and a chance to explore another UNIX and learn some Adobe software.

So do what it takes, help me into the RDF!

 

That's awfully expensive for a temporary rig. Are you going new, or refurb?

What ultraportable are you waiting for?

 

You should get something cheap if it's temporary...that way you can go all out on your next notebook.

 

That's really expensive for a temp. I would recommend not doing that. If you really want to click on a temp rig Mac, then look at a refurbished Macbook or something. Small and portable (not an ultraportable) and MUCH cheaper.

 

If you're waiting for the ultraportable MacBook Pro , there's no indication its going to arrive until 2008. I'd say expect it at WWDC 2008.

And Afterburner22, you're right, that is a very good point. A good thing that the MacBook Pro has quite a resale value, so you can sell it for quite a high price as long you were careful with it (no dents or very significant scratches, etc.).

 

Well, it's more than temporary, or I'd get a Macbook, or I'd have gone for the HP 6910p I was eying last night. (running Linux, OS X isn't as huge an improvement)

But I work IT in the printing industry. I'm in a Windows shop now, but I don't want that to last, so OS X experience will be nice. Plus I want to get into design some, and photography too, and Linux isn't well suited to that. That and I just like tinkering with new operating systems, and appreciate good hardware.

And no computer is temporary, I'm a huge geek and I'll always find a use for a rig for years to come. If nothing else, I'll pass it on to my parents this December instead of the iMac I've been planning to get them.

I'm waiting for an Apple ultraportable, a new Fujitsu P model, or a Sony TZ refresh. Most likely a Fujitsu or Apple, Sony is just... bad.

 

I hear you all, but I think if I got a Macbook it really would be temporary. It's little more than an ultraportable inside, but with 2-3x the weight. The MBP is a mobile workstation, for when I need it on the road but need some power.

Plus I loathe glossy screens.

 

Very well, Ethyriel. I think you convinced yourself into getting the MacBook Pro .

Go for it, its a great choice.

 

Damn you all and your reverse psychology!

Yeah, I think I'll do it, I mean, it's only like .4lbs heavier or something, and it seems to get better battery life too.

 

Well, if you're looking for a mobile powerhouse, they don't get much more mobile than a 15" Macbook Pro. It is after all the thinnest 15" on the market and packs pretty much the most power too. I'd say go for it. I would if I had money growing on trees.

 

Just one quick question before I do this thing...

I had a T60 for awhile, with the Flexview screen. Two things annoyed me about that machine. First, the backlight bleed, which seems it won't be a problem on the MBP. Second, it creaked, constantly, seemingly no matter what I did. Does the MBP creak much? I mean, the T60 was solid, it didn't flex much at all, it was just very loud. Actually, make that three things, there was that nasty buzz on battery power, too.

 

As would I. Actually, I nearly bought one this time last year...

Ethyriel, the MBP is a very solid choice. I have used many PB G4's (same chassis) and MBPs over the last few years, and none of the ones I have encountered have made any noise (like creaking). The new MBP screen is an excellent one, because it has an LED backlight that uses less power and is brighter than the regular CCFL backlight.

 

Hey Ethyriel, welcome to the Apple forums

Well persuasion hrm...

1. Great audio quality so I hear (no pun intended). Okay so maybe it's nothing special, but the laptop itself is deathly quiet, so at least you'll be able to enjoy your audio in peace .

2. iLife is neat. I haven't had a chance to try out iLife 08 that just came out 2 days ago, but the previous version was definitely a lot better than the bundled stuff you get with Windows. Probably not something you'd use on a professional level, but since it comes free with your MBP, it's quite the incentive.

3. The MBP is lightweight. It's the thinnest 15" (thinner than many 14" at that), and the lightest 15" laptop on the market, and consequently the most portable 15".

4. Screen is gorgeous! The LED backlit screen is quite impressive - the matte screen especially.

5. Long battery life - you can easily get 4-5 hours on the 6-cell battery which doesn't stick out anwhere.

6. Style - it's pretty.

7. OS - you can use OSX legitimately, as well as Windows and Linux. OSX is really a nice OS, but if after your "test period" you decide you'd rather go back to Linux or Windows, you still have a way out.

8. Full 9-pin firewire ports: 800 and 400, for all your audiophile needs

9. Best tech currently possible on a 15". The GPU is quite decent for a 15".

10. Better software. Many programs for the Mac tend to put a heavy emphasis on form and interface (which can be bad if it's at the expense of functionality, but thankfully this isn't as common as you'd expect) - which means in general, it's a pleasure to work on the MBP (as opposed to Windows, which is quite bland). A lot of the Mac programs have little features here and there that just don't seem to make it into Windows counterparts. That said, there are more choices on the Windows side.

11. Fewer concerns about spyware and viruses and other random maintenance, although this probably isn't much of a problem for you even in Windows.

12. Good customer support.

13. Expose!

14. Quicksilver!

15. Dashboard!

16. If you're an iTunes fan, you'll love OSX since iTunes is integrated into it in the same level that WMP is in Windows. If you hate iTunes, you're out of luck because your only alternative is Songbird--although it's a good program in its own right.

It's actually hard to just list random pros of the MBP.

 

Backlight bleed can occur on any screen (whether it's CCFL or LED doesn't matter). But Apple has been very good about letting people replace laptops with defective screens - and especially since you mentioned you'd get AppleCare, you can replace it if you do happen to be unlucky enough to get one with some light bleeding.

The MBP hinges do not creak.

As I mentioned in the above post, the MBP is incredibly silent. Most of the time, you won't even be able to tell that it's on just from the sound (or lack of). There is no sound from the fans at all (which default at 2k rpm), a very very minor hum at 3k, a bit more at 4k, and at 6k it's very audible. However, very rarely will you hear the fans at all unless you set it to run higher by default (the MBP actually runs pretty hot, so this might not be a bad idea though).
Just as a comparison, the Zalman ZM-NC1000 cooler, which advertises itself as being able to reduce noise with its quieter noiseless fans, is actually much louder than the MBP fans.

 

Actually, I think that the MBP is the thinnest non-ultraportable notebook. And weight-wise, it is very comparable to most 14" notebooks. For example, the Dell Inspiron 1420 (from the review posted today) weighs 5.39lbs, compared to the MBP's 5.4lbs

 

It's thinner in some areas than all 14", but not in all areas. A lot of 14" tend to be thicker on one end than the other, so part of the notebook would be thicker than the MBP, and the other end would be 0.1" thinner. Although if you were storing it, you'd probably end up having to measure for the thickest part of the notebook anyway, so yea, the MBP is still the thinnest for portability

 

Alright everybody, thanks for the help. I think I've decided to pick up a MBP (sound issues still have me considering a Macbook), but my common sense has returned. I think I'm going to wait for Leopard.

 

Sound issues?

But yea, might as well for Leopard if you're in no hurry. Apple has this tendency to roll out minor upgrades to accessories and other stuff unannounced, especially with their major releases.

 

The hissing and tones I'm hearing reports of. If it's there, it's going to bug me.

 

Odd...never noticed any such problems on mine or really heard of people complaining about that really...I doubt it's an issue really - and it's certainly not a widespread one.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=139085

 

Hrm, I guess I'll have to play around with mine a bit more since I haven't heard much of what they're referring to.

You probably have a whole collection of USB and Firewire sound cards anyway though

 

I have a few, but it kind of sucks to have something dangling from the side of your laptop. I gather that's one of the nice things about Apple laptops, traditionally, the excellent sound quality without an external. Hell, you can't even use a PCMCIA card from Echo anymore.

Maybe I'll just take the opportunity to pick up some nice high resistance Beyers.