To understand where I come from, I had a threat going in the macbook air section and many of you replied (well not that many but enough to make up my mind)
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/732150/
So after much consideration, here I sit in my backyard on a beautiful 80 degree sunny day with the wind whipping around my new macbook pro 13"
I'll be honest if you're on any type of time constraint, this thread really isn't for you, I just thought I'd share my thoughts about this laptop and why I chose it over other models and any concerns I have.
For one, this glossy screen is a pain in the ass. My father has an older 15" macbook pro and the matte screen makes all the difference when you have a lot of light or a light source behind you. I have to keep moving the screen based on the sun peeking in and out of the clouds and the brightness is all the way up (killing my battery life, but let's be honest, this battery lasts forever). Oh and everything in the world sticks to it too, I've been wiping dust particles off the screen all morning.
I seriously considered the new macbook airs for a very long time. Their sleekness, thinness and overall netbook portability was a big deal to me. Going to college for the next four years meant portability was one of the biggest priorities.
But then on the other hand, I'm going into film, so that took priority above all. And that's why I sit here with a macbook pro instead. Final Cut Pro runs beautifully and the firewire 800 makes all the difference in the world with my 2TB external. My only complaint is once again the screen, I'm going from a 24" iMac to a 13" macbook and it really feels cramped, final cut seems to be designed for bigger screens and once you get used to having a giant screen to work with it's really hard to scale down. But that's why they designed the mini display port
Overall I am very pleased with the build quality. This is my second macbook as the first one I got was scratched, dented, and had 4 dead pixels. So 30 minutes after buying it I walked back in and demanded a new one. I'll be honest I have terrible luck with Apple, from replacing ipod hard drives to sending back laptops after they "quality tested" them to only receive a laptop with absolutely no sound. I seem to always get screwed.
Screen quality is great, build quality is great, speakers don't give off enough base in my mind (been playing the kooks and the shins all morning and it sounds nothing like it does on my surround set downstairs). The keyboard really held up to my expectations, considering I was skeptical to begin with after using the old macbook pro's (I'll be honest I still prefer the older macbook pro's but I really like this too). And the trackpad...well the trackpad is great except for when you have to drag something around. I use one finger to click it and the other to movie it and it always seems to drop it somewhere else when I click off because of the other finger. I just can't wait to edit something in Final Cut and drop the file in the wrong place
So what do other owners like or dislike? Anything I should pay attention to or be gentle with? Does this thing have the macbook air screen problem of lines throughout the screen?
I plan to probably upgrade the 4GB of ram to 8GB in probably a year, depends how much snow leopard uses from startup and how much it can use effectively when editing, but 4GB is more than enough now. And I'll probably throw a 256GB SSD in there when the prices become reasonable (I'm a college student, so reasonable means dirt cheap)
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/732150/
So after much consideration, here I sit in my backyard on a beautiful 80 degree sunny day with the wind whipping around my new macbook pro 13"
I'll be honest if you're on any type of time constraint, this thread really isn't for you, I just thought I'd share my thoughts about this laptop and why I chose it over other models and any concerns I have.
For one, this glossy screen is a pain in the ass. My father has an older 15" macbook pro and the matte screen makes all the difference when you have a lot of light or a light source behind you. I have to keep moving the screen based on the sun peeking in and out of the clouds and the brightness is all the way up (killing my battery life, but let's be honest, this battery lasts forever). Oh and everything in the world sticks to it too, I've been wiping dust particles off the screen all morning.
I seriously considered the new macbook airs for a very long time. Their sleekness, thinness and overall netbook portability was a big deal to me. Going to college for the next four years meant portability was one of the biggest priorities.
But then on the other hand, I'm going into film, so that took priority above all. And that's why I sit here with a macbook pro instead. Final Cut Pro runs beautifully and the firewire 800 makes all the difference in the world with my 2TB external. My only complaint is once again the screen, I'm going from a 24" iMac to a 13" macbook and it really feels cramped, final cut seems to be designed for bigger screens and once you get used to having a giant screen to work with it's really hard to scale down. But that's why they designed the mini display port
Overall I am very pleased with the build quality. This is my second macbook as the first one I got was scratched, dented, and had 4 dead pixels. So 30 minutes after buying it I walked back in and demanded a new one. I'll be honest I have terrible luck with Apple, from replacing ipod hard drives to sending back laptops after they "quality tested" them to only receive a laptop with absolutely no sound. I seem to always get screwed.
Screen quality is great, build quality is great, speakers don't give off enough base in my mind (been playing the kooks and the shins all morning and it sounds nothing like it does on my surround set downstairs). The keyboard really held up to my expectations, considering I was skeptical to begin with after using the old macbook pro's (I'll be honest I still prefer the older macbook pro's but I really like this too). And the trackpad...well the trackpad is great except for when you have to drag something around. I use one finger to click it and the other to movie it and it always seems to drop it somewhere else when I click off because of the other finger. I just can't wait to edit something in Final Cut and drop the file in the wrong place
So what do other owners like or dislike? Anything I should pay attention to or be gentle with? Does this thing have the macbook air screen problem of lines throughout the screen?
I plan to probably upgrade the 4GB of ram to 8GB in probably a year, depends how much snow leopard uses from startup and how much it can use effectively when editing, but 4GB is more than enough now. And I'll probably throw a 256GB SSD in there when the prices become reasonable (I'm a college student, so reasonable means dirt cheap)
