MacBook Pro Review

I’ve done it. I’ve jumped, wait – make that desperately leapt, on to the Apple band wagon. Two weeks ago, I went out and bought a MacBook Pro. Why? Well, I just couldn’t bring myself to invest in another PC. Despite being a student, and having that daunting price, I found that overall, it seemed like a better option. So I went out and purchased the new 13” MacBook Pro. After a little bit of settling in, here’s what I think.

As soon as I turned the MacBook on, I could see the difference. The LED screen is fantastically glossy, looking brighter and more colourful than any other laptop I have used, including the earlier MacBook versions. My pet peeve here unfortunately is the 13” doesn’t have the option of a matte finish, which means it’s reflective like you wouldn’t believe. Luckily, I enjoy looking at my reflection, but in bright conditions – a sunny day for example – it can be a bit of a drag. This can be lessened by fiddling with the screen brightness, but overall it’s not really a big issue for me.

The design of the MacBook is very sleek and has none of the staining problems that I have noticed on the white plastic model MacBooks.  Carved from a solid block of aluminum, the MacBook Pro is much stronger and sturdier, and is unlikely to crack from being carted around. Apple has decided to reintroduce the Firewire port, which was suspiciously missing from the previous models, and there is also an SD card reader, which is a first, even though most pro photographers so not use SD cards anymore.

If you’ve been contemplating the MacBook, you’ll already know about the multi-touch track pad, which isn’t all that new, and the backlit keyboard, which is new for this size. But in reality, what pushed me to the MacBook Pro was the battery life and the graphics card. Reviews on the Nvida GeForce 9400M are impressive, and while I’m not a gamer, the advantages of this for any photographers are obvious. The battery life on this new MacBook is much better than any PC I’ve used, but with my minimal experience in Macs, I don’t really have anything to compare it to.

Overall? I have to say that I’m sold. This is one PC user who is more than happily a Mac convert.

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