I ordered my MacBook Pro on March 1st, and with an Est Shipping Date of March 29th, and an Est Delivery Date of April 5th. Received it yesterday and was playing it for hours on in at home.
I am writing this to any prospective MacBook Pro buyers. I, for one, started to worry that when my MacBook Pro arrived, it might end up DOA, or with hardware problems. I will give my opinion and address any worries that people may have because of it being a Rev. A product.
First of all, I just wanna say this is my first mac, and my first major computer purchase in years. I did not have any previous laptop such as a PowerbookG4 to compare the MacBook Pro to but I still want to write an unbiased overview of what I have experienced so far. I've been using Macs for a little less than 2 years now so I'm not a completely new user here. And keep in mind, this is based on about 5 hours with the machine.
WHINING NOISE
From when I first turned it on to having the desktop completely loaded, I'll admit that I was not keeping an ear out for the whining noise. BUT, if this 'whine' was so bad and unacceptable (as some people have deemed) to begin with, it should've caught my attention right off the bat. Then when I had everything loaded, I tried to hear the whine, no luck. I put my ears next to the left speakers and all I could hear is the fan. I had the MacBook Pro in my room, with the door closed, and still could not hear it, even when TRYING to hear it. Now, I did not go to the Apple Store or had any other MacBook Pros to compare it with so I cannot say that it wasn't there. So in the case of any sort of noise coming from the machine (other than loading a disc or when reading a disc), I could hear no peculiar noises. Only the fan. Now, you can definately hear the fan, but it's not enough for me to return my MacBook Pro. If the fan isn't making noise, it's broke right? For me, I just think of the fan as doing its job: keeping the cpu cool. If it's too quiet, it isn't working hard enough, that's just how I look at it. The whine/buzz noise was one of the biggest concerns I had. Nope, no complaints here.
AIRPORT RECEPTION
My desktop PC with a wireless network card was horrible. It kept dropping connections. The MacBook Pro had AMAZING reception, and only dropped the connection once, which I quickly reconnected. I never had less than 4 bars. It is completely receptive of my Linksys WRT54G (B+G) router signal. The first thing I did was update all software with the Software Updater tool. It downloaded and installed with no dropped connections. For the record, I have OS X 10.4.5. Firmware version, that I would not know but would gladly let you know if anyone can tell me how I can find out. Again, no problems with Airport reception or constant uptime.
SLEEP
I read that people were having trouble with the sleep function of the MacBook Pro. I put my laptop to sleep at least 5 times. The first time I did it, I closed the lid, and the hard drive (and fan maybe?) became completely quiet within about 5 seconds. I waited a good 10 seconds and opened the lid but the screen did not wake. I tracked around on the trackpad, with no luck of waking. Then I pressed space bar, nope. Then hit Return, then it woke. From the time I opened the lid to having the screen wake, was probably about 10 seconds. The screen woke, but the OS was unresponsive, I thought it froze. Then about 5 seconds later, everything was back to normal. I tried this about 2 more times, and I did not encounter any of the preceding problems. I left it sleeping overnight to test again. I woke up and opened the lid and it loaded everything before I could say "Holy cow it's gorgeous outside." No sleep problems here, and it also did not disturb any other functionality of the computer, such as Airport (did not drop connection or reset).
LID
Right when I took the MacBook Pro out of the packaging sleeve, this was the first thing I looked for. I have read how the lid did not close flush. I.E.: left side higher than right side, lid tilts..etc. My MacBook Pro did not flush either. The right AND left was not flush; they both kinda was about 1mm (maybe less) up off from the wrist surface. The middle, where the latch is located, is lower than the sides when I get really critical and look at it. What are my thoughts? None, I am perfectly unfazed by it. Everything about the exterior of the MacBook Pro is just too good. I personally think this is very, very random. Some will have it very bad, some will barely have it like mines. The average person will never see this, ever. The MacBook Pro is too beautiful to let a mm of spacing ruin the entirety of its design.
KEYBOARD
It's basically almost perfect. The eject button seems to be a very very slightly tilted up on the right side. I seem to have a problem with the Delete key though. Most of the time when I press it, I hit it more on the right half of the key and it doesn't work. But when I press it more on the left side of the key, it works. Maybe I'm not pressing it hard enough (which I don't wanna do, my MacBook Pro is new!), or the hardware under the key is located more towards the left side of the key, rather in the middle. If I press it hard enough (and not pressing it like a girly girl) then the button registers and works fine. I think it's just that the hardware key under the button is located more to the left. I'll just press harder next time. Not something to nitpick about, but some people might want to know.
SCREEN, TRACKPAD, ETC
I know some people are disturbed and have complained about the screen being brighter at the bottom. Mines is also, but it is soo slight that, again, does not bother me. No horizontal lines (if there any was a problem like this on the MacBook Pros).
Trackpad works. But the button is not flush. It is raised up and seems pretty bad. Now what is the main concern of the button being raised? It being pressed against the screen when the lid is closed right? This was exactly what I was concerned about. So I closed the lid, and looked to tried to see if the button was pressed against the screen or not. It's about a hair from touching the screen, really. But, I currently am using the keyboard cover that came with the MacBook Pro and all should be well.
iSight works fine. Photobooth works.
CONCLUSION
I am very very satisfied and happy with my MacBook Pro. It's my first Mac and first Apple product, but definately won't be my last. With this in mind, I am in no way a raw die-hard long-time user of Macs, or Apple products, for that matter. No company is perfect, no product is perfect. There will always be a few...um, bad 'apples'. My MacBook Pro is not perfect, nothing is. The trackpad button, by many mac enthusiasts would be considered "unacceptable". It's the one thing about my MacBook Pro that stands out as a problem in build quality, unless it's meant to be that way, which I wouldn't know. But the overall experience of this purchase was is still so good, that sending my MacBook Pro back because of a trackpad button would be utterly silly.
I understand different builds will differ in build quality, and some may think I am just a lucky few who has a problem-free MacBook Pro but I'm sure there are many others here who probably have a better mac than mines.
If you're someone who has held back because of the known issues, I understand why. But I don't think any of these issues are bad enough to really deter the functionality and overall experience. It was definately worth the wait for this thing. WOOO
I will post pics later tonight. If there is anything anyone wants me to try that won't damage my Mac, feel free to let me know. Pictures, software, etc. I want to try to make clear anything people want to know about the MacBook Pro.
Hope this helped anyone. Thanks for reading!
"One more thing..", when I wrote "there will always be a few bad 'apples'", there was a pun intended
.....PUAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAA..ok that was dumb. have a good day
I am writing this to any prospective MacBook Pro buyers. I, for one, started to worry that when my MacBook Pro arrived, it might end up DOA, or with hardware problems. I will give my opinion and address any worries that people may have because of it being a Rev. A product.
First of all, I just wanna say this is my first mac, and my first major computer purchase in years. I did not have any previous laptop such as a PowerbookG4 to compare the MacBook Pro to but I still want to write an unbiased overview of what I have experienced so far. I've been using Macs for a little less than 2 years now so I'm not a completely new user here. And keep in mind, this is based on about 5 hours with the machine.
WHINING NOISE
From when I first turned it on to having the desktop completely loaded, I'll admit that I was not keeping an ear out for the whining noise. BUT, if this 'whine' was so bad and unacceptable (as some people have deemed) to begin with, it should've caught my attention right off the bat. Then when I had everything loaded, I tried to hear the whine, no luck. I put my ears next to the left speakers and all I could hear is the fan. I had the MacBook Pro in my room, with the door closed, and still could not hear it, even when TRYING to hear it. Now, I did not go to the Apple Store or had any other MacBook Pros to compare it with so I cannot say that it wasn't there. So in the case of any sort of noise coming from the machine (other than loading a disc or when reading a disc), I could hear no peculiar noises. Only the fan. Now, you can definately hear the fan, but it's not enough for me to return my MacBook Pro. If the fan isn't making noise, it's broke right? For me, I just think of the fan as doing its job: keeping the cpu cool. If it's too quiet, it isn't working hard enough, that's just how I look at it. The whine/buzz noise was one of the biggest concerns I had. Nope, no complaints here.
AIRPORT RECEPTION
My desktop PC with a wireless network card was horrible. It kept dropping connections. The MacBook Pro had AMAZING reception, and only dropped the connection once, which I quickly reconnected. I never had less than 4 bars. It is completely receptive of my Linksys WRT54G (B+G) router signal. The first thing I did was update all software with the Software Updater tool. It downloaded and installed with no dropped connections. For the record, I have OS X 10.4.5. Firmware version, that I would not know but would gladly let you know if anyone can tell me how I can find out. Again, no problems with Airport reception or constant uptime.
SLEEP
I read that people were having trouble with the sleep function of the MacBook Pro. I put my laptop to sleep at least 5 times. The first time I did it, I closed the lid, and the hard drive (and fan maybe?) became completely quiet within about 5 seconds. I waited a good 10 seconds and opened the lid but the screen did not wake. I tracked around on the trackpad, with no luck of waking. Then I pressed space bar, nope. Then hit Return, then it woke. From the time I opened the lid to having the screen wake, was probably about 10 seconds. The screen woke, but the OS was unresponsive, I thought it froze. Then about 5 seconds later, everything was back to normal. I tried this about 2 more times, and I did not encounter any of the preceding problems. I left it sleeping overnight to test again. I woke up and opened the lid and it loaded everything before I could say "Holy cow it's gorgeous outside." No sleep problems here, and it also did not disturb any other functionality of the computer, such as Airport (did not drop connection or reset).
LID
Right when I took the MacBook Pro out of the packaging sleeve, this was the first thing I looked for. I have read how the lid did not close flush. I.E.: left side higher than right side, lid tilts..etc. My MacBook Pro did not flush either. The right AND left was not flush; they both kinda was about 1mm (maybe less) up off from the wrist surface. The middle, where the latch is located, is lower than the sides when I get really critical and look at it. What are my thoughts? None, I am perfectly unfazed by it. Everything about the exterior of the MacBook Pro is just too good. I personally think this is very, very random. Some will have it very bad, some will barely have it like mines. The average person will never see this, ever. The MacBook Pro is too beautiful to let a mm of spacing ruin the entirety of its design.
KEYBOARD
It's basically almost perfect. The eject button seems to be a very very slightly tilted up on the right side. I seem to have a problem with the Delete key though. Most of the time when I press it, I hit it more on the right half of the key and it doesn't work. But when I press it more on the left side of the key, it works. Maybe I'm not pressing it hard enough (which I don't wanna do, my MacBook Pro is new!), or the hardware under the key is located more towards the left side of the key, rather in the middle. If I press it hard enough (and not pressing it like a girly girl) then the button registers and works fine. I think it's just that the hardware key under the button is located more to the left. I'll just press harder next time. Not something to nitpick about, but some people might want to know.
SCREEN, TRACKPAD, ETC
I know some people are disturbed and have complained about the screen being brighter at the bottom. Mines is also, but it is soo slight that, again, does not bother me. No horizontal lines (if there any was a problem like this on the MacBook Pros).
Trackpad works. But the button is not flush. It is raised up and seems pretty bad. Now what is the main concern of the button being raised? It being pressed against the screen when the lid is closed right? This was exactly what I was concerned about. So I closed the lid, and looked to tried to see if the button was pressed against the screen or not. It's about a hair from touching the screen, really. But, I currently am using the keyboard cover that came with the MacBook Pro and all should be well.
iSight works fine. Photobooth works.
CONCLUSION
I am very very satisfied and happy with my MacBook Pro. It's my first Mac and first Apple product, but definately won't be my last. With this in mind, I am in no way a raw die-hard long-time user of Macs, or Apple products, for that matter. No company is perfect, no product is perfect. There will always be a few...um, bad 'apples'. My MacBook Pro is not perfect, nothing is. The trackpad button, by many mac enthusiasts would be considered "unacceptable". It's the one thing about my MacBook Pro that stands out as a problem in build quality, unless it's meant to be that way, which I wouldn't know. But the overall experience of this purchase was is still so good, that sending my MacBook Pro back because of a trackpad button would be utterly silly.
I understand different builds will differ in build quality, and some may think I am just a lucky few who has a problem-free MacBook Pro but I'm sure there are many others here who probably have a better mac than mines.
If you're someone who has held back because of the known issues, I understand why. But I don't think any of these issues are bad enough to really deter the functionality and overall experience. It was definately worth the wait for this thing. WOOO
I will post pics later tonight. If there is anything anyone wants me to try that won't damage my Mac, feel free to let me know. Pictures, software, etc. I want to try to make clear anything people want to know about the MacBook Pro.
Hope this helped anyone. Thanks for reading!
"One more thing..", when I wrote "there will always be a few bad 'apples'", there was a pun intended
.....PUAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAA..ok that was dumb. have a good day
