I’m still mad at Apple for not resurrecting the PowerBook model line when the Mx chips came about. We could’ve had PowerBook M4 these days…
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Apple Launched the MacBook Pro 19 Years Ago Today
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I sat in the audience when Steve Jobs introduced the switch to Intel and left everybody speechless when he told that three employees had been sitting in a small building in the corner of Apple Campus and developing all their software cross platform for years
I had a 2006 MacBook Pro. It was fine. The keyboard was fine. The battery life wa snot. (lol, typo. Not fixing it.)
I didn’t care for the plastic edges and the metal palm rests clicked when the adhesive underneath slightly let go in the corners. I like the magnetically pivoting latch that appeared when the lid was brought down to the keyboard.
I felt that the Alumininium Unibody design was great. Of course, I had the 2011 which had the failing video chips. Haven’t had a laptop since. Been using an iPad Pro 13” since 2017, but not as a laptop, just as a surfing pad.
I didn’t care for the plastic edges and the metal palm rests clicked when the adhesive underneath slightly let go in the corners. I like the magnetically pivoting latch that appeared when the lid was brought down to the keyboard.
I felt that the Alumininium Unibody design was great. Of course, I had the 2011 which had the failing video chips. Haven’t had a laptop since. Been using an iPad Pro 13” since 2017, but not as a laptop, just as a surfing pad.
It's been 19 years, give it a break. They did the best with the resources they had. Mine failed in 2016, but I moved on. Things don't last forever
No kidding
I was at the gym last night and just amazed (saddened really) how people are getting on their phones in between SETS of a given exercise
It's so dystopian to me
(my phone stays in the locker .. just an iPod + Airpods for music for me)
I had the 15" model and loved it. I agree with others in the thread, the keyboard was amazing.
And while today's models are a much better experience and the designs more refined, there was a charm in the "industrial" look of it - with exposed screws, the speaker grill was much less elegant, all the visible ports, the lid mechanics were exposed, etc. that created a product that felt like a true "professional" tool.
And I wish Apple would release their laptops with matching color keyboards like this one. It was a single tone and gorgeous.
And while today's models are a much better experience and the designs more refined, there was a charm in the "industrial" look of it - with exposed screws, the speaker grill was much less elegant, all the visible ports, the lid mechanics were exposed, etc. that created a product that felt like a true "professional" tool.
And I wish Apple would release their laptops with matching color keyboards like this one. It was a single tone and gorgeous.
I had the mid 2012 retina 15” MacBook Pro used it for 9 years, what a improvement from the port heavy earlier unibody models and that retina screen was so much better. Then I transitioned to the 16” M1 Max MacBook Pro and absolutely loved the redesign with mini-LED display, now when came to replacing my iMac I just got a 14” M4 Pro MacBook Pro And ASD. Yeah best things ever. Congratulations on their 19th birthday.
The same could be said about moving to Intel from PPC. It truly was a dead end.
Now we just have to hope they stay at the cutting edge with ASi, as they'd never move "off" their own chips
Still have mine. Ordered within an hour of the order page going live - the top-end model. 1.8 GHz Core Duo, 2 GB RAM, 100 GB 7200 RPM hard drive. Before they actually shipped, Apple bumped the speeds up, the 1.8 GHz became 2.0 GHz. At the same time, they offered an upgrade to 2.16 GHz. I got the upgrade.
Minor detail - though those were the announced configurations during the keynote, they never shipped that way.
The shipping models had the processors bumped from 1.67/1.83 to 1.83/2.0 in a rather unusual move for Apple.
You still had to buy the discs. You can buy movies now too. It was a horrific waste of space that could have been used for a battery.
I wonder if they’ll recycle the product name PowerBook.
Apple launched the original MacBook Pro 19 years ago today.
Jobs announced the MacBook Pro at the Macworld Conference & Expo in 2006. It was the first Mac notebook to transition from PowerPC processors to Intel's Core Duo architecture. Designed to be an Intel-based replacement for the PowerBook line, the MacBook Pro took a similar aluminum chassis and added an Intel Core processor, a webcam, and the MagSafe power connector. Its display was 67% brighter than its predecessor, matching the luminance of Apple's standalone Cinema Displays.
Apple claimed that the Intel processors delivered "up to four times the performance of the PowerBook G4." The transition was supported by Rosetta, a software translation layer that allowed PowerPC applications to run on Intel-based Macs.
The original MacBook Pro came in two configurations, both with 15.4-inch widescreen displays offering 1440 x 900 resolution. The entry-level model featured a 1.67 GHz Intel Core Duo processor, 512MB of DDR2 RAM, and an 80GB hard drive, while the higher-end model boasted a 1.83 GHz processor, 1GB of RAM, and a 100GB hard drive. Both models included ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 graphics cards. The 15-inch model weighed just 5.6 pounds and was only one inch thick.
It also featured two USB 2.0 ports, a FireWire 400 port, a Gigabit Ethernet port, and an ExpressCard/34 slot for expandability. The exclusion of FireWire 800 in the initial 15-inch models drew criticism from some users, but this port was later restored in subsequent revisions. Initially only available with a 15-inch display, Apple introduced a 17-inch variant in April 2006.
Over the years, the MacBook Pro line evolved through various design and technological iterations, including the unibody construction in 2008, the Retina display in 2012, and the controversial Touch Bar in 2016. The transition from Intel to Apple Silicon in 2020 marked the end of the Intel-based MacBook Pro era, as Apple moved to its proprietary M1, M1 Pro, and M1 Max chips.
Article Link: Apple Launched the MacBook Pro 19 Years Ago Today
I believe this was the keynote where I had the chance to sit in the VIP section. I was attending on a student scholarship, and my friend managed to convince a young Apple employee -who worked in corporate but was volunteering at the event - to let us take some of the empty VIP seats.
Apple launched the original MacBook Pro 19 years ago today.
Jobs announced the MacBook Pro at the Macworld Conference & Expo in 2006. It was the first Mac notebook to transition from PowerPC processors to Intel's Core Duo architecture. Designed to be an Intel-based replacement for the PowerBook line, the MacBook Pro took a similar aluminum chassis and added an Intel Core processor, a webcam, and the MagSafe power connector. Its display was 67% brighter than its predecessor, matching the luminance of Apple's standalone Cinema Displays.
Apple claimed that the Intel processors delivered "up to four times the performance of the PowerBook G4." The transition was supported by Rosetta, a software translation layer that allowed PowerPC applications to run on Intel-based Macs.
The original MacBook Pro came in two configurations, both with 15.4-inch widescreen displays offering 1440 x 900 resolution. The entry-level model featured a 1.67 GHz Intel Core Duo processor, 512MB of DDR2 RAM, and an 80GB hard drive, while the higher-end model boasted a 1.83 GHz processor, 1GB of RAM, and a 100GB hard drive. Both models included ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 graphics cards. The 15-inch model weighed just 5.6 pounds and was only one inch thick.
It also featured two USB 2.0 ports, a FireWire 400 port, a Gigabit Ethernet port, and an ExpressCard/34 slot for expandability. The exclusion of FireWire 800 in the initial 15-inch models drew criticism from some users, but this port was later restored in subsequent revisions. Initially only available with a 15-inch display, Apple introduced a 17-inch variant in April 2006.
Over the years, the MacBook Pro line evolved through various design and technological iterations, including the unibody construction in 2008, the Retina display in 2012, and the controversial Touch Bar in 2016. The transition from Intel to Apple Silicon in 2020 marked the end of the Intel-based MacBook Pro era, as Apple moved to its proprietary M1, M1 Pro, and M1 Max chips.
Article Link: Apple Launched the MacBook Pro 19 Years Ago Today
After the keynote, Steve came over to greet the VIPs, and I’m pretty sure we got a Who the hell are you? kind of look.
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My first MBP 15” is from 2009 (I owned a white MacBook before that) and was really a good experience. I stop using MacBooks in 2020 when Apple basically transformed them into disposable products.
The heat was within spec. The issue was ultimately due to the Radeon GPUs being faulty. MacBooks of the era had that didn't use specific Radeon GPUs were not affected.
I remember at one point there were laptops which had modular expansion bays. You could swap in a hard drive, optical drive, or extra battery.
Not really. There were some thin and light laptop back then has these ExpressCard Slots.
However, I found the Unibody MacBook Pro were good compromise. It has all the removable parts, including battery. It is very user serviceable. At least, you won't end up with piece of brick if SSD dead (which happened to lots of M1 Macs).
I think average Apple users now days, don't really know what PowerBook is. MacBook Pro, MacBook Air is more recognizable name for lots of new Apple users.