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Apple Announced the MacBook Pro 19 Years Ago Today
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The Powerbook G3 was my first laptop and I haven't owned a desktop since. The problem with that machine were the pot metal hinges that gave out and Apple ignored the claims. I remember the user could swap the RAM and HD easily and options of connections, not so much today.
Why couldn't they retain it? I dont mind the naming change, but worth pointing out it wasnt forced. The name powerbook for apple’s laptops predated using PPC, it wasnt named for the arch, they could have kept using it, they chose not to
Yes, the first gens were ATI and then they switched to Nvidia for a number of years which triggered countless repair extension programs, across the product line.
What do you want, there aren't as many juicy rumors these days. They have to post something.
I think it was… until the Surface Laptop 6, where they phased out Alcantara palm rests and switched all models to aluminium.
After that, it became just another MacBook Air clone—which isn’t even the best design to imitate in the first place.
The PowerBook G4-style or "pre-unibody" design was somewhat easy to repair but the Unibody was the BEST. Just 10 screws, pop that cover, and boom - you have access to all of the important stuff. In it's final days, my 13" Unibody was dual-wielding 1TB SSDs via a $20 Chinese knock-off of an old product called the "MCE OptiBay" which was used by "Power users" back in the day when their work was so important they needed TWO storage disks in their Mac.
the 17" was only 1440x900 pix. At that time I had 1920x1280 pix on my Dell Latitude
I remember like a few weeks before this was announced I was telling my professor they were switching to Intel and he was like "Oooh they would never do that Wintel sucks" and then literally the day of he said he couldnt wait to buy a Macbook Pro lol
I so remember watching this on QuickTime on the day live. It was very choppy and rough compared to todays high speed internet standards (I think I was watching over dial-up at the time) but it was sure exciting! Apple was really a computer company back then.
I bought my 2006 MBP 15" Core 2 Duo at the flagship Apple Store at 5th Avenue within the month of availability.
That notebook's 19 years old! Should've sold it when I replaced it in 2008!
That notebook's 19 years old! Should've sold it when I replaced it in 2008!
They needed to be as they had major overheating issues and broke down frequently. It only got better once Apple moved to the unibody and sorted a lot of the problems out.
It was a big change from the G4 and I remember the excitement and growth they experienced now that customers had the option to install Windows on there in case OS X didn’t fulfil their needs. MagSafe was such a welcome addition too.
Actually just going back to MacIntosh as a name instead of Mac Pro for the flagship would be a nice use of the name.
I used to do quite a bit of repair work on those original MacBook Pros, as well as the PowerBooks that preceded them.
One thing I especially thought was nerdy-cool was the way the two little springy hooks in the top edge of the MBP display bezel would be drawn out of their slots by magnets in the body of the laptop in front of the trackpad as the lid approached the closed position. The hooks would then engage the latch mechanism and lock the lid closed.
Of course, it didn't seem to take much to make some element or other of that opening/latching mechanism fail on those Macs, but still I thought the idea was super cool at the time.
One thing I especially thought was nerdy-cool was the way the two little springy hooks in the top edge of the MBP display bezel would be drawn out of their slots by magnets in the body of the laptop in front of the trackpad as the lid approached the closed position. The hooks would then engage the latch mechanism and lock the lid closed.
Of course, it didn't seem to take much to make some element or other of that opening/latching mechanism fail on those Macs, but still I thought the idea was super cool at the time.
Now there's a computer I have vivid memories of. I bought one of the 17" models just after they were released on account of being functionally bedridden, so for the better part of a year that thing was basically my window to the outside world. Since I also couldn't speak properly for related reasons, it was also quite literally my voice.
I can still remember how downright weird and somehow wrong the idea of an Intel CPU in a Mac felt during the whole lead-up to the transition away from PPC, but I also remember that when the thing arrived and I fired it up it was... just a Mac. The lack of any practical, perceptible difference reminded me that the platform was more about software and the hardware integration than what particular instruction set the CPU used or who manufactured it.
Of course, if you turn that around, 15 years later when I got my current M1 Max MacBook Pro, it also ran exactly the same OS and software as the Intel Mac it replaced, but the complete lack of fan noise, minimal heat, and doubled battery life was a good reminder that the CPU doesn't make a Mac, but it does make a difference.
I also agree completely on the naming--I still remember how absolutely wrong the "MacBook" name felt at the time, and unlike the x86 CPU squick-factor, I never really got over that. Honestly I still think PowerBook sounds better.
I can still remember how downright weird and somehow wrong the idea of an Intel CPU in a Mac felt during the whole lead-up to the transition away from PPC, but I also remember that when the thing arrived and I fired it up it was... just a Mac. The lack of any practical, perceptible difference reminded me that the platform was more about software and the hardware integration than what particular instruction set the CPU used or who manufactured it.
Of course, if you turn that around, 15 years later when I got my current M1 Max MacBook Pro, it also ran exactly the same OS and software as the Intel Mac it replaced, but the complete lack of fan noise, minimal heat, and doubled battery life was a good reminder that the CPU doesn't make a Mac, but it does make a difference.
As you say, the original PowerBook models ran various 68k processors, and the first PowerPC wasn't released until 4 years later. In fact, I believe the PowerBook 100 used a 68000, which was originally released way back in 1979.
I also agree completely on the naming--I still remember how absolutely wrong the "MacBook" name felt at the time, and unlike the x86 CPU squick-factor, I never really got over that. Honestly I still think PowerBook sounds better.
I so agree with you. Love PowerBook over MacBook Pro and still don't get why they had to change it. Power is power and is unrelated to the PowerPC chip.