So its been almost two weeks since i have switched over to a Mac and i have decided to share some of my views with others.

I recently picked a Macbook Pro [ 1st model ] for myself. Being confused whether to pick a Blackbook or Macbook Pro, i decided to post in this section and after numerous suggestions and opinions, i finally picked a Macbook Pro for myself. Initially i wanted a Glossy screen Macbook Pro since everyone suggested that the display is a lot more better on glossy screens but due to numerous delays, i finally got a Matte screen MBP.

As i mentioned that Apple delayed my order a lot so basically when i went to collect my MBP, these guys apologized and offered me goodies worth 200$
The best part about this was that i could pick anything from iStore which could be accessory, MobileMe subscription or an ipod too. This really impressed me tbh because i have never seen anyone offering free stuff so i think this gesture was really nice. Just so you guys know, iStore over here is not owned by Apple but by a Company called Reliance which is one of the Top 3 companies in India but have tied up with Apple to sell Apple products over here since Apple doesn't have its own stores over here.

For explaining my stuff, i am dividing the whole thing into various segments :

1) Packaging
I think the packaging of MBP is very nice. It comes in a nice colorful box instead of a boring dull brown box and the whole thing has been packed pretty well. I was really excited to unbox the whole thing. I think one of the best part about the whole packaging thing is that everything is very neat and sleek. I mean there are three cables, a charger and a small kind of box which has manuals, instructions and recovery discs. I also liked how the whole MBP was packed in this grey cloth kind of cover.

2) Initial Impression of Leopard
When i switched on my MBP for the first time, there was a video which i think was really nice. I mean i don't know about others but these small things really impress me. I felt a bit of confidence and excitement. I mean they could have straightly introduced me to a boring screen asking for details and all but instead they chose to do that after the video.

3) The Hardware
The whole laptop is very slim and sleek. Everything built feels solid and good. I mean when one actually starts using it you actually don't mind spending 2300$ on the laptop. Some of the things like various sensors are quite awesome. The brightness of the screen adjusts by itself depending on the external light and the keyboard lights up when there is no light. Slot loading drive is also a nice addition to the laptop. One of the really cool things that i found on MBP was that i could check how much battery is left without actually opening the laptop and running the OS. Apple has simply provided a button on back of the laptop which displays these LED's to show how much battery is left.

I found Magsafe connector quite nice which also made me wonder why the hell did we not have anything of this sort earlier ? I mean its such a neat concept. I am staying with three other friends and i can easily say that so many times these guys walk across when my laptop is charging. If Magsafe was not there, my laptop sure would have fallen.

I also like how my battery runs for so long. I mean once i charge it, it easily runs for 2-3 Hrs with wireless, music turned on. MBP also comes with Multitouch trackpad but i don't use it on daily basis so i find it a bit useless but this could just be me.

4) Full Impression of MAC OSX Leopard
I am a long time Windows user but due to Vista being such a sucker and linux not working out so well for me, Leopard was really welcomed. The whole thing is so damn easy and simple. Being a long time Windows user, i initially was not very sure whether i would adjust to Leopard or not plus with no full screen maximize, i was kinda feeling a bit nervous but Leopard proved me wrong. The whole concept of Mac OSX is very simple and easy. Spotlight is really awesome and helps me find things very easily. I have to admit, i hated iTunes on Windows but on OSX its not bad at all. On Windows i was sick of running an antivirus and anti spyware but i don't have to worry about any of these things.

The OS feels very fast and smooth during usage as such. The thing that i love most about Leopard is that it shuts down within 2-3 seconds and doesn't take very long to start up compared to Vista.

5) Applications
This is a very crucial thing to everyone since everyone asks one common question which is will i be able to find similar or same applications which i use on Windows ? The answer is yes and no. While there are some applications which remain same on both platforms and there are some which perform better on OSX than Windows and vice-versa, the real answer in my opinion is to adjust yourself to the new applications. Some of the applications which i miss quite a lot is Ftprush, Mirc, Msn Messenger etc but i have already started using substitutes like Adium and all plus there is always Vmware Fusion to run Windows applications. I run Leopard + vmware fusion in unity mode and still have 700mb of free ram out of 2GB which is really nice.

6) Awesome Support
Apple support rocks. I have called them only once but my experience was really good.

Some hiccups with MBP and Leopard
1) I tried updating from 10.5.2 to 10.5.4 through software update. Software Update downloaded the file and notified me to install it but somehow when i started to update, it kinda froze. It keeps hanging on 30% and i have tried everything. A little Google search showed that i am not the only one facing this problem which makes me ask why the hell is this happening and why Software Update or OSX was able to detect that the combo update could be corrupted.

2) Random crashes
I have so far experienced some random crashes which i have no idea of. For example, one day when i was working on my project on MS Word, Leopard just froze. Nothing worked and hence i had to hard reboot.

3) Speakers
I have a feeling that my speakers are no longer loud than what they used to be. I took my laptop yesterday for the first time and i handled it well and all and infact hardly used it but when i came back and was playing some music, the speakers didn't feel that loud than what they used to be. I will be visiting Apple store to get them checked.

Besides these problems, i have not really faced anything great or big.

Overall i am enjoying my MBP. After using Mac for the first time, i have decided that when i go back home, i will get my parents to switch over to a Mac and get rid of the PC. I think one of the best part about Macs is that it just works. I also appreciate Apple being loyal to their customers and not ditching them or making them by new Macs when they release new OS.

I would like to thank all Neowin members for helping me pick a Mac and also with softwares and all.

You Guys rock

Glad you're enjoying your MacBook Pro! Told you that you wouldn't regret it.

As for the crashes... Microsoft Products, even on the Mac, are the number one (or two if you count Adobe) products that can still cause random crashes on your Mac...once again...you aren't alone.

About your update problem... Give this a shot.

http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/mac...omboupdate.html

This is the manual Apple updater, should allow you do download and update a fresh copy of the 10.5.4 update without any further problems.

If we can help at all, let us know... Neowin has a GREAT Mac community. 

That's Microsoft Word for ya.

Excellent review mate! I have been a long time Linux user and was envious of Mac users.. but finally got the $ and bought myself a Mac Mini.. It's been love ever since

Hope you get your sound fixed.. and well done on the purchase

Exactly. Half the time I attempt to open it, it freezes and I have to force quit it. The other half of the time, it freezes when I try to open a document. I just gave up and use Pages now.

Agreed, Microsoft Office 2008 was the worst waste of money ever, SP1 even stopped my student licence from working.

Pages is really good but i've recently become rather fond of Bean, has almost all the same features as Office 2008/Pages but it's free and has a TINY memory footprint.

But Congrats on getting your Mac dude. Glad to see you're another person who can vouch for the OS X experience.

Just a small tip - download the OS updates from the website; I tend to do that and save the updates 'just in case'. I've never liked the idea of delta updates - too many things can go wrong.

Regarding Office 2008 - I'm running it now, updated from SP1 to the latest update now - and no problems. If you are having problems, then you need to talk to Microsoft about your licence because either they have made a mistake or someone has sold you a pirated copy,.

My Mac has been updated to 10.5.4 . After which i ran Onyx for general maintenance and everything is working smooth. I just Love OSX

It just works heh

Glad to hear that you are enjoying your MacBook Pro, make sure that you calibrate your battery once a month so that you get the most out of it.

Mac ftw =)

Nice, makes me want mine even more now >_<

Gotta love the Windows trolls that rate mac threads 1 star.

Don't you?

I know. It's silly.

What about the Mac fanboys that rate all Microsoft threads one star?

Not near the amount that the mac forums get.

Nice review! I am a windows only user but its nice to see a company having such wonderful support.

So it seems to me the best company with customer support is pizza places (just call them and say something is wrong and they send u a new pizza right away) and apple these days... Kinda sad... that is the only ones with that level of support and understanding.

What about people like yourself - Windows users, who hang out in Mac forums. Seems a little strange if you ask me.

Absolutely. A few people I know always say to me that for the spec I could've got a £400 Asus instead of a £900 MacBook with the same spec. Then they actually use it and see where all the money went. Only problem is that I've started justifying other purchases by saying I'm paying for quality

One reason I prefer Microsoft Messenger for Mac is Personal Message support, unless that's changed in Adium?

Hmm I add one but I don't see them on my contacts when using Adium.

To be honest my only gripe with OSX is the LACK OF DECENT MSN iSight support.

How hard is it Apple hmm?

you can use aMSN

Don't worry. Right now Microsoft is going to change the video protocol in the next version of Messenger in favour of the same one they use in their communication server product - so it makes little sense developing support for a soon to be obsolete protocol.

Why is it Apple's fault?

The assumption I assume he has is that because Apple has AIM support, they should also have MSN support. The problem is that he ignores the fact that Apple were able to get the AIM specifications. Microsoft on the other hand don't want to give those specifications out - or atleast out freely.

Except that he has a Mac too.

I chopped in a PC and a Mac Mini a few months ago to buy myself an iMac.

Aside from the poor video card onboard, i've been very happy with it. The only 'quirk' i've had to far was the system just not wanting to wake from sleep (about a week after I got it) no matter what keys / mouse buttons I pressed. It even ignored the power button so I had to resort to pulling the mains. It's been fine ever since that!

Leopard is just superb. Truely. One of the best operating systems i've ever used - I never struggle to find the functionality that I want and it never does ANYTHING that makes me raise an eyebrow and speak nasty words back to the computer, like Windows was increasingly making me do.

Rock on Mac!

Hey there,

I am a long time windows user, lately however I've been thinking about getting a MBP and using vmware for development (I develop on Windows Servers). I think some of you might be able to answer the questions I have:

1. How is the performance when running Win 2003 server or XP on a virtual machine on Mac? Parallels or Fusion, which one do you use?
2. Is there a new MBP hardware upgrade in the near future? I have read in a couple places about this, obviously if it's in the very near future, I'd rather wait 1-2 months.

Thanks

Why use vm's, you could use native install of windows server/xp

I use most of my time developing software, if I were to use bootcamp and install XP directly on the hardware I would be spending most of my time in XP/Win 2003 which would defeat the purpose of me getting a mac. I want the mac to use OS X.

So you're an advocate for segregation, eh? Maybe Quillz found the post the same way I did... It's on the front page recent post list.

I don't use either personally but i've heard very complimentary things of both Fusion and Parallels and the performance they offer.



If he's doing OS development then stands to reason he wants to sandbox them so would still need a host OS to then stick additional VM's onto?

I am not doing OS development per se, but I work with .NET and IIS, Active Directory etc. Long story short, I have to run the entire suite of windows applications to develop. I want to be able to use Visual Studio and all of this on the laptop, and have my Mac OS X on the attached monitor at the same time, such that I can browse/chat/check emails/listen to music on the OS X while still doing development in Windows in the VM.

Use Fusion, just rememeber to max out the RAM then.

Download the trials of both VMWare and Parallels and see which one works best for you, they both provide the ability to do what you're wanting.

For what you're doing I might suggest throwing as much RAM as possible at your VM as well, out of the 8GB I have on one system I drop 4GB into my Windows VM to insure that I don't have any shortages there.

I am using Vmware Fusion and running Windows Xp on it. Just allocated 300mb of ram but thats because i just mirc and ftprush on it.

We need a decent Msn Messenger for Mac. I kinda agree to this. Adium is nice and all but

a) I can't display my personal message
b) I can't see other persons msn message status

I have tried all three VM solutions that I am aware of for the Mac. While they all do the same thing, the main deciding factor for me is the integration mode where they integrate the windows from XP or Vista into the Mac's work environment.

VMWARE Fusion:

Fusion mode is great in the fact that it doesn't show the windows task bar. A big plus for.

Parallels:

Their integration mode is fine, but shows the taskbar. - You can autohide it or tweak Windows to remove it.

Virtualbox:

Same as Paralells as far as the integration mode.

You can turn off the Taskbar in Parallels.

One thing to bear in mind is that you can only put 4GB of RAM in most Mac's apart from the Mac Pro (I think) - sounds stupid but if you're using Virtual Machines, that might not be enough

Thanks for the replies. It looks like I will have to get 4gb of ram on this machine. Can anyone confirm that new macbook pros are on the horizon? (Drastic hardware changes)?

Hmmm...didn't know that or even go that far with it with exploring the options. Good to know!

As secretive as Apple tends to be, the only person on this forum that might even have a clue would be Cara...

Yeah - really no way of knowing whether updates are on the cards other than guesswork There have been new Macbook Pro enclosure pictures leaked so they certainly seem to be in development!

I believe that the Santa Rosa chipset used in all MacBook Pros from late 2007 onwards allow up to 8 GB of RAM (keep in mind that 8 GB of DDR2 SODIMM's are still pretty expensive at this point), however I am not sure if there are any limitations in the hardware (or possibly in the EFI firmware) that would limit the machine to 4 GB of memory. Cara, would you be able to provide any clarification on this?

Just FYI sourc3, this was on Mac Rumors this morning..

http://www.macrumors.com/2008/07/18/apple-...tebook-refresh/

To be honest there is NEVER a good time to buy Apple hardware. When it's brand new it often has a few quirks / bugs and when it's matured it's always at risk of getting the chop and getting replaced. And because Apple have no public roadmap your guess is as good as anyone elses when that might be.

I'd say just get it and not worry about being on the bleeding edge. My iMac came the DAY they updated them a few months back but I was happy enough with it as it was

I doubt it; from what I understand, there are only a small number of people who know when the refreshes come through - even the resellers alot of the time are left out in the dark. I've got a few mates who work at the reselling end - and normally I get a heads up on what is happening; all they know is whether or not they can order something in.

No, the fact that I don't go into the Windows part of this forum and jab people in the eye with my ego. Its called giving people their 'space'. The whole point with the seperation is to avoid conflict between Windows, Linux and Mac advocates.

As I said, I don't go into Windows forums jabbing people in the eye - could Windows users therefore do likewise in the Mac forums.

As for Mac refreshes, even with major changes to the design the old Mac's still have a certain something rather than looking like any other laptop.

Yes, it looks like I'll end up getting a MBP 2.4 gHz and actually install the 4gb ram myself. Does this void the warranty?

Thanks a lot for your replies. I checked the mac rumors site and as the site name suggests, it just looks like a rumor. Although I'm wondering how MacBook PRO can be any more aluminum that it currently is? Am I missing something?

One last question to current MBP owners, how is the battery usage? I looked at the apple store specs, but I bet those numbers are just idling the computer not real usage.

Thanks again.

-installing ram does NOT void the warranty
-Battery times are awesum, and accurate!

Nothing like a win-tel laptop..these batteries actually last!!

Although this might be "rare", it's still something to worry about: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?t...01&tstart=0

Honestly, that issue is the only thing that is scaring me from getting a MBP in the future.