Does anyone actually like their unibody MBP???

[Phil A.]

I've only had my 15" MBP for a week but so far I think it's the best notebook I've ever owned - it's fast, quiet, solidly built and light enough to be truly portable. On top of that, the keyboard is superb and the new trackpad simply awesome - this is the first notebook I've had where I haven't felt the need to carry a mouse around with me.
I've had a lot of Apple notebooks (PB 12", iBook, MacBook 1st Gen, MacBook Pro 1st Gen, MBA) and loved every one of them, but the new 15" MBP is in a class of it's own...

 

[Grimwall]

+1 for loving the Unibody Macbook Pro. I got in during Christmas and have been amazed with it ever since.

Performance, stability, style, all-in-one.

(By the way, there was a cool statistic that had to do with complaints, saying that a person is X% more likely to complain than go out of his way to make a positive comment. That easily led to a ratio of satisfied customers per dissatisfied ones, but I can't seem to find it right now...)

 

[bay2sacto]

I bought my MBP a couple days after they were announced. I absolutely love it. It is a desktop replacement for me and I haven't regretted buying it one bit! It was my first Mac after owning Windows PCs for 13 years. I had been waiting and saving for a Mac for a few years so to finally get one was bittersweet. I've experienced a few minor issues, but those have been ironed out now by the several updates pushed since launch. And any computer is bound to have some minor little issues. None of mine have been showstoppers. Is it perfect? Of course not, but its pretty close. Plus I can't imagine going back to windows. Of course I have some things on my wishlist for it but really those can wait for my next machine.

Go ahead and get one, you won't be sorry.

 

[Goona]

I love it...up until I find a hardware related problem and back it goes. I share the same frustration with others, the more Apple gets "bigger" their QA falls. PowerBook > MacBook Pro in terms of QA. Sure OS X is an awesome OS but then you add the hardware...I hate saying it but having gone through 3 MBP's (something that I thought I would NEVER be exposed to, once/blue moon type thing) but it's really disappointing. Take away the hardware problems and you have a pretty solid portable regardless of price.

Any hardware problems is overblown, the quality is still the same just they are selling more units so you tend to hear about more problems.

 

[Talon-]

As a 1st gen MBP owner who had to turn the old one in for a new Unibody, there are definitely some pros and cons. I means there are only a handful of differences: the keyboard, touchpad, the screen, and the casing.

I preferred the matte screen and the touchpad on the older one simply because the lack of a standalone button is just flat out silly. The latter isn't too much of a problem anymore, but it can be annoying when you're trying to drag items. I just wind up using tap controls the whole time, so you'll get over it quick enough.

The build quality of the unibody's case is much better though, IMO. It still scratches more easily than you'd think (I dropped a cheap ballpoint pen from maybe 6 inches away and there's a tiny divot), but the new case makes a difference. I don't have to worry about unsightly bulges in the front being an inevitability or wondering about creaks (although the screen hinge squeaks every so slightly). Keyboard's really a push even though I think the older one wasn't as noisy.

I'd recommend the unibody just for the sake of the case's build quality.

Any hardware problems is overblown, the quality is still the same just they are selling more units so you tend to hear about more problems.

Perhaps but it's still ****** when my logic board blows out twice and my screen dies in between.

 

[Phil A.]

I preferred the matte screen and the touchpad on the older one simply because the lack of a standalone button is just flat out silly. The latter isn't too much of a problem anymore, but it can be annoying when you're trying to drag items. I just wind up using tap controls the whole time, so you'll get over it quick enough.

I personally think the new trackpad is an amazing innovation - you can continue to use it like a "traditional" trackpad by pressing down where the old button used to be or can ignore the button completely. What is it about the new trackpad you find annoying?

 

[Talon-]

I personally think the new trackpad is an amazing innovation - you can continue to use it like a "traditional" trackpad by pressing down where the old button used to be or can ignore the button completely. What is it about the new trackpad you find annoying?

The lack of a button. The whole trackpad as a button doesn't work for me, especially for tap controls because the mouse jumps sometimes.

Don't get me wrong, I love multitouch. I've always used tap controls for right clicking and whatnot, and, quite frankly, it works better than traditional trackpads in terms of scrolling and whatnot, IMO. I just would have preferred to have had a wider trackpad with the button still being there.

I just think it's hilarious how we keep on losing buttons. Anyways, I think it's silly, but, it's just a case of personal taste.

 

[shoppy]

I love mine, I have owned every revision since 2002, and this is by far my favorite machine. I always had to wait and BTO glossy, now it comes standard.

One of the coolest running machines I have owned.

 

[paradicio]

Love my 15ich MBP! Now that I've almost solved my wireless issues, it's been great. I've also got a 24ich iMac 3.06Ghz, and a 2Ghz WhiteBook. The MBP is light years ahead of the WhiteBook, and almost as fast as the iMac. It's just an awesome laptop.

 

[polaris20]

I absolutely love my MBP; it's a fantastic laptop. I got mine right after they were announced, and I don't regret being a Rev A. tester at all!

 

[rukus]

i love mine.
i ordered the day it was announced. i was dissapointed that it was glossy, but im getting over it. too many other good things about it.

 

[Anuba]

This was a glorious derail of the topic. Terminator, Star Wars, and Hitler all in the same paragraph. Godwin's Law invoked less than 20 posts into the thread.

+1 for entertainment.

...and Godwin namedropped just 3 posts further down.

 

[MrCairo]

I am stuck deciding between an early 2008 15" MBP and a newer 15" unibody one.

I was aware that the performance differences were not that huge but the selling features for me were:
-more durable structure (I am rough with my laptops)
-Faster FSB
-easier to upgrade the HD
-and better graphics card.... so I thought until I read some threads on here.

On this site all I see are a long long list of complaints and issues people have with the new unibodies. No one seems to be raving about how much they love their laptop.

I was planning to pick up the unibody (used) from someone I know tonight at a good price. Should I not waste my money and get one of the early 2008 models instead??

Does anyone actually like their unibody MPB???

I have both - one is an old PowerBook G4 from 2005 which shares the same case design as the early 2008 MBP models. Between the two, I really like the Unibody MBP - maybe its the screen, maybe the keyboard, I'm not sure but the bottom line is I like the newer Unibody MBP over the older style. Go to an Apple Store and play with it for a while. Some people absolutely hate the new style. Fortunately, you are at a point in time where you can still buy the older models new.

 

[pdxflint]

Does anyone actually like their unibody MPB???

See this thread.

 

[eron]

I LOVE mine.

 

[martindfw]

I just picked up my first ever Mac about four weeks ago, and it happens to be a Macbook pro unibody and I absolutely love it!!!

A little background: Many years ago I laughed and scoffed at Apple's and Apple owners and was a die-hard Windows user. However, somewhere along the way, perhaps indicative of growing old and impatient, I just want my computer to work and not have to futz with countless settings and drivers. That is not to say that I'm not quite capable of setting up any computer software combination, I'm 3 classes away from a Computer Science degree but I went to law school instead, but I digress, I've owned countless PC laptops and setup numerous networks for friends and family, as such I consider myself quite computer savvy.

As my laptop from law school started becoming slower and slower I took a look at all the options out there: including Apple since I've had such a fantastic experience with my iPhone over my old Windows Mobile phones. Moreover, our office recently acquired some Macs (we use them to redact police videos for trial) and I've really enjoyed the slick OS X experience with nary a crash.

After a few visits to the Apple store, I finally pulled the trigger and bought a 15" MBP. I can categorical state that this has been my best purchase EVER it's a rock solid laptop that is quite, stable, fast, looks great, and is easy to carry. Honestly the only problem I've had was a random Microsoft Office crash about two weeks ago.

Sorry to have gone rambling, but the short of it is that the MBP unibody is a fantastic laptop worth every penny.

 

[intellijel]

Well I decided to go for it and I picked one up the other night.

The screen is excellent and the glossy finish will give me a more accurate representation of on-screen graphics.

The overall build feels relatively solid but I worry that the painted aluminum finish will wear with time...I am definitely going to invest in a speck seethru satin case asap to preserve this as much as possible.

For $2K they have been incredibly stingy with accessories. If they are going to save themselves (not us) costs by reducing the number of ports on the machine they could at least compensate us with some inexpensive adapters.

The track pad feels amazing and I love the integrated button! It took me no time to get used to at all. I worry the glass will break by accident but if it is the same material as the iphone then I am not concerned.

Aesthetically it is ok but looks like any generic pc laptop to me. The absolute worst feature is the placement and look of the speaker grills!!! As a designer I cringe at their placement relative to the keyboard and outer edge...not a balanced design or pleasing shape at all. They could have been way more creative and elegant without compromising it's functionality or internal position.

The keyboard feels great but the black keys are ugly to me. Apparently the old silver keys were prone to color wear so maybe these will show less finger oil damage.

Overall I am happy but I feel like this was a default option not a prime choice. It is a default because it is the only laptop in production that runs OS X and has firewire.... that is an ultra freakin' sad state of affairs imho.

 

[Pika]

My Unibody MacBook Pro 15" 2.66GHz (Rev.B) is build to be flawless & idiot-proof.

Love it.

 

[atheros07]

To put this in perspective, I'm a longtime Windows user who's been reading these forums every day since the new Unibodys came out in October. Yesterday I finally took the plunge and bought a unibody 2.4 Macbook Pro to replace my aging Dell laptop.

What I've found is that the nature of forums like this is that they make you absolutely paranoid. When I first unboxed my Macbook Pro yesterday, I did a fastidious check for dents, scratches, slanted keys, gaps, and found.... nothing. I also started to get worried when I checked the serial number and found out my MBP had been manufactured back in January (I bought it from a university store that keeps only large stocks of inventory at a time). I then wondered about how many little defects or problems Apple hadn't yet gotten to correcting in January. And then when I started it up and found out I had the 9C85 screen, I was disappointed... but then realized the screen looked brilliant and I couldn't tell the difference between the 9C85 and 9C84 screens anyways.

Basically, after one full day of use, I've now forgotten about all these worries and am finally enjoying the switch from PC to Mac. The MBP is solidly built, lightning quick, completely silent, and Mac OS X is clever and has been an absolute joy to set up and work with after years of getting used to Windows. The only small problem I can find is that the right speaker does rattle a bit if you're playing certain sounds at a high volume (piano or other high frequencies).