This is my first post and third day with the C2D MBP... I am a new switcher from a tiny Dell Latitude L400 and by comparison this machine seems big. I think I would be in the camp of people wanting the 12" MBP, but that's not available and my decision was to get a laptop before Christmas which I will use to finalize my thesis on.
I called the store in Delaware on Tuesday and asked if they have them in stock. Initially my plan was to wait the initial wave in case something goes wrong with their design, but after reading about the delay in shipping from Apple, I realized first reasonable impressions will not come till next year. The store said they are not allowed to tell me if they have much stock, but they guy was like "Today, though, is a good day to come in..." So I drove down from Philadelphia and got myself a new white mac with a free printer (well $100 dollar mail in rebate). 2 GHz, 1Gb ram with 2 Gb in the mail from Newegg.
So far, I cannot say I am impressed, but neither do I think it's a bad machine. I do like OS X, even though now I think it is somewhat of a hard drive hog by comparison to XP. The computer comes with 75Gb HD, and 14 is gone right from the start with the preloaded software. The applications folder is about 4 GB which to me means the OS is about 10, but I maybe wrong. My XP install with MS Office under Parallels took only 3.5 Gb space. So at the end of the day I am left with 50Gb space for my stuff, after also installing most, not all, the software I need.
The system is fast. I compared it to the PB 12" with G4 1Ghz, and the system is fast. However, programs do have a delay after you hit the icon on the dock. In windows they come out right away, even though still not usable for seconds. So time to operation is probably the same, perhaps slightly shorter in Mac, but that delay is just foreign to me.
OS loads really fast, did not take a time, but it goes up within 30 seconds. Windows in Parallels goes up within 30 seconds, which is much faster boots than usually reported natively on a Dell for example. Since I talk about Parallels, I am impressed how fast Windows is under parallels. Basically Windows is much faster then comparative PC with P4 that I have at work. OS X is much slowed down when I run parallels, but windows runs amazingly fast. We'll see when I upgrade to the 2Gb RAM which OS X desperately needs under such conditions...
Back to OS X - I am amazed at the easy install process of applications, even though a bit frustrated with lack of control. I installed Photoshop, and then deleted it by dropping it in trash, which may have been a wrong move. With spotlight I still found like hundreds of files across the system left from Photoshop. So question:
IS THERE A DISK SWEEPER OR CLEANER FOR OS X?
I downloaded Adium, which is great, but not as good as Trillian. I love Keynote. I did not play yet with iLife much (remember I come from a PC, and actually I represent the PC commercial - those are fun things, I need it for work... The reason I went to Mac is for it being much more stable, less viruses, less adware risk, and at the end, the way things are done at the processing level make sense to me. I hated the registry which lately was forcing me to erase the hard drive and put clean copies every 6 months. Even though XP with SP2 has done huge moves to avoid spyware and viruses, so in the last 6 months without antivirus protection full time I never had a virus or spyware. Still the systems bogs down and slows down with time.).
IMPORTANT: Heat issues I believe have been solved, even though they bother me. At start computer always iddles at 48C, right now running a couple programs like Firefox and the temperature sensor the computer is at 52C. The fan is on even though very subtle, so you can barely hear it. If I start parallels, the systems goes to 62C or so, no change in fan speed. However, from 62C with time on the machine it slowly climbs to about 68-70C. That's when the airplane takes off, and I really mean it, it sounds like an airplane takes off... That forces the sensor to quickly go up to 73C and then the airplane goes on till temperature drops to low 50s. From there on the system never goes under about 55-59C, and with time, even if running minimum things on, it stays at those temperatures. The bottom of the case never goes beyond 33C, in fact that seems to be standard temperature for it. The temperatures I am talking about are CPU diode with the individual cores being slightly lower. The range of temperatures is usually 48 min and 72-73 max, even after running multiple things.
So, this computer is NOT HOT compared to even my P3 12" Dell which is scorching. THE PROBLEM I HAVE IS THE AIRPLANE - at home it does not bother me, in fact I'm happy it keeps things cool... I am just concerned with it taking off while I am in a meeting. Of course I will need to do much more work on it to know exactly what the appropriate temperatures would be, as the last couple days I've been installing stuff - oh yes, when I install something, temperatures right off go to like 70 and the airplane comes on... I don't know if this is just a OS X dependent thing.
Also, in principle, even though not really, it bother me that I have the fan running on, even though very low, right now when all I have on is Firefox and the temperature reading program. Temperature now at 53C (slowly climbs on about 1C every 30 min of use if just peacefully browsing? True for the initial time, even though the climb stops at about 58C, from there requiring something more to push it over)
Another negative point - the superdrive is the loudest thing I have ever heard. I have not played DVDs yet, but when installing things, it is very loud.
Overall, I like it, there's much more that I need to do to say that this machine will work for me, but I have another 11-12 days to figure that out. I still think maybe I should have got a Dell, but that's normal considering my PC background as I started using them with MS Dos with HD of 1MB (that's right) and 10Hz processor. So, in Windows, I am able to take it all apart and make it really fast (I feel that for basic running, my 700 MHz P3 will outcompete the full of stuff P4s at over 2 Ghz out there that my friends have...)
I'll report back on everything else going on. I hope I did not deter switchers from joining along. It is a great machine, build quality is very good. I would have liked if they used smaller bezel and smaller form factor for the 13 inch as there is way too much plastic around the screen and the keyboard, but few PCs have that form factor, and they usually loose in performance due to using more stream lined processing hardware...
I love the two finger trackpad, as minimized what I have to do. Two finger click, two finger scroll, it's amazing for a trackpad. I no longer need two hands for those functions... The trackpad is great, sometimes finicky, but very good compared to what I used previously.
Keyboard - still getting used to it.. Keep missing letters in my text, even though 1 in 100 probably or even less... I'm getting used to it. This is the first long text I typed on it...
Anyway, I'll report back as my experience moves along.
PS. What is the warranty for Apple... I am still concerned with Random Shut Down etc down the road let's say couple months from now. Limited phone is only 90 days. The rest is 1 year. Will they take care of it if it comes down let's say 10 months from now? Please explain...
Also, for those in science - I use Ref Manager extensively... As far as I figure, there's not Mac version of it.. What do you suggest?
