No one can reassure you more than yourself. However, just know that the total number of MacBook Pros sold is vastly larger than the total number of whiners here. People will always complain more than they'll praise and those who try to praise will find that their opinions aren't exactly shared among forums.
Why waste your time saying things are good right? The problems you see around here may exist to some extent but since you were rather in specific with your concerns I would say that buying now or buying tomorrow will not change the amount of "issues" that you see on the internet.
I love my Macbook Pro 13" 2.53ghz, 4GB of RAM. Fastest computer I ever used. No problems. Screen beautiful. All the ports I use work (haven't checked firewire and mini-displayport). Sound is wonderful. OS is genius. Need I go on?
I have been a long time Windows user and about a year ago my dad (long time mac user) talked me into getting a MBP 15" instead of another Windows based laptop.
Have to say was the best thing I ever did. Little more that I was wanting to pay at the time. My only regret was that I didn't get an iMac and sell all my PC stuff. I am currently putting that right and now I am going 100% mac.
I agree with others here. The complainer tend to have the loudest voices in these types of forums. Overwhelmingly, most Mac users are completely satisfied and love their Macs.
Sure, every computer/device has some kind of issue. But I wholeheartedly recommend Macs anyday.
Youll be fine with a mac. Noone I know has had any problems with them. (Myself included.)
Heres the problem with internet forums:
1. Most "issues" are user error.
2. There are a TON of trolls on this board who hate mac and will post bad stuff all the time.
3. As others stated, most people don't come on here and say "My mac works flawless! I love it!" If they did you would rarely see the "issue" threads.
Get your mac. You'll love every minute of it
I switched a year and a half ago and haven't looked back.
I have an early 2009 2.4ghz White MacBook. I have put that machine through hell and back, dropped it and traveled all over the country and not one problem.
By the way, my mom has had 2 Dell laptops in the 2 years I have owned my Mac. I would go to Consumer Reports not a MacRumors forum to get reassurance of quality. MR has a lot of very anal Mac owners who will complain if the hinge barely creaks or the bezel is off one millimeter. However, that is the reason I love this place.
You will always get a large percentage of the population on places like this with problems than not. When people have an issue, they come somewhere like this, but that doesn't mean the problems are widespread.
It's sorta like going into a hospital, there are loads of people with problems there, but that isn't indicative of the population as a whole.
ive had macs forever. Recently I have found it a good deal to buy applecare, everytime ive had a problem apple has taken care of it for me. Seriously Apple has proven themselves to me over and over again. Just take care of it and dont spill coffee or liquor on it.
I'll admit that I have had some problems with the Early 2008 MBP that I had. Enough that Apple eventually replaced it. However, they did replace it, and I'm happy so far with what they gave me.
So even if you do have problems, Apple will take care of you.