MacBook Pro 15" Custom

[Xenon]

Apple MacBook Pro - Custom Configuration
Purchased at: Apple Canada Online Store
MSRP: N/A, Bought for: $2,839.00 (Reduced by $150 for Student Discount)
Rating out of 5: 5/5

Pros:
- Easy to setup
- Intuitive and Efficient Hardware
- Great OS, Really BRIGHT LED-Powered Screen

Cons:
- Needs a Memory Card Reader



I recently bought a custom-built MacBook Pro from Apple's Online Store.

I must say, I've very impressed with it. Looks nice, hardware and software are flawless. Overall a good shopping experience. I had the MBP in a "saved shopping cart" for a few days. And within 24 hours of saving that cart, an Apple Rep emailed me and called me asking if there was anything he could do to help my purchase, asking me questions and figuring out if there are any further discounts I could get. Very professional (and might I add unexpected) service they provided.

I placed the order on September 21st, it was Delivered on October 5th. Not too bad considering it was a custom order.

All in all the notebook cost $2,839 plus taxes. Free Shipping. Yes it is a little on the expensive side, but it is the highest end MacBook Pro you can buy in 15".

Specifications (Items with an asterisk (*) are items that were custom ordered):

2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
2 GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2 667 MHz RAM
160 GB Hard Drive @ 7200 RPM with Sudden Movement Detector*
256 MB GeForce 8600M GT*
15" Glossy LED-Lit LCD Widescreen Display Panel*
Slot-loading 8x Dual-Layer DVD+/-RW
Back-Lit Keyboard
Automatic Brightness Control for LCD and Keyboard
Built-In iSight Webcam & Mic

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v492/xenons3/Forum%20Linked%20Pictures/P1000402.jpg
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[eqlso]

Automatic Brightness Control for LCD and Keyboard -> how is that btw? I have an auto adjusting contrast on my LCD at home and it pisses the hell out of me. Everytime I stand up and the shadow goes over, it would readjust the brightness.

And how's the battery life on it? Any chance to test that yet?

[EvilDeadFan]

A co-worker of mine (we work for Dell, ironically) just bought one of these recently and brought it to work. He wanted a system that was super slim and could dual boot, legally. ;)

[bluntman]

How do you like the glossy screen? I purchased the 15" with a 2.2GHz C2D and a matte screen; I personally couldn't stand the glare from the glossy screen.

[EvilDeadFan]

It was excellent looking! Dell computers call it the true life screen. It makes the contrasts look darker.

[Xenon]

Automatic Brightness Control for LCD and Keyboard -> how is that btw? I have an auto adjusting contrast on my LCD at home and it pisses the hell out of me. Everytime I stand up and the shadow goes over, it would readjust the brightness.

And how's the battery life on it? Any chance to test that yet?

Automatic Brightness Control...It's not bad at all. You can obviously turn it off and manually adjust everything. However, i find it does a good job in determining how to brighten and dim the keyboard and LCD. I don't find it an annoyance at all.

As for battery life, a standard MacBook Pro (with a 5400 RPM drive and the 128 MB Graphics Card) has a battery life of about 6 hours. Because of my higher RPM Hard drive (I have 7200 RPM) and the upgraded graphics card (128 vs. 256 MB) my battery life average has been about 4 Hours, which to me is amazing considering the horsepower this computer has.


A co-worker of mine (we work for Dell, ironically) just bought one of these recently and brought it to work. He wanted a system that was super slim and could dual boot, legally. ;)

I have VMware Fusion installed on my Mac. Kinda like Parallels, but I like VM better. It doesn't require a partition to be made and gives a few more options on porting over hardware while running Windows in Mac. Currently I Have Mac OS X Tiger, with Windows Vista Business running on VMware.


How do you like the glossy screen? I purchased the 15" with a 2.2GHz C2D and a matte screen; I personally couldn't stand the glare from the glossy screen.

The Glossy screen isn't as bad as some of the others there. The screen itself is so vibrant because of the LED backlight, that it's virtually glare free (at least that's how I perceive it). It's Glossy, which enhances the colours, but at the same time, I think it's more of a semigloss, because it's not as reflective as you might think. It all boils down to personal preference. Originally I thought the glossy screen would be really bad. But now that I have it, it's not bad at all.


It was excellent looking! Dell computers call it the true life screen. It makes the contrasts look darker.

The TrueLife Screen from Dell is the Glossy one, but it's not the same as the MacBook Pro LED Backlit one. The LED backlighting really makes a difference. It is amazing how bright the screen can actually get. It gets too bright if I put it over 1/2 brightness. Beauty of it is that at 1/2 brightness or full brightness, power consumption is negligible because of the LED technology.

[EvilDeadFan]

The TrueLife Screen from Dell is the Glossy one, but it's not the same as the MacBook Pro LED Backlit one. The LED backlighting really makes a difference. It is amazing how bright the screen can actually get. It gets too bright if I put it over 1/2 brightness. Beauty of it is that at 1/2 brightness or full brightness, power consumption is negligible because of the LED technology.

Dell also had the led backlit screens very similar to the mac ones. They're on the 1330 and 1530. At least they're available as options. They are very striking as well. I've had in depth hands on with all of the above mentioned computers, minus the 1530, which is yet to hit production... ;) And I do have to say... what a beautiful computer! 4lbs!! 15.4 inch screen. Mad props to its performance + hdmi connector! ;)

[Xenon]

I had bad experiences with my Dell Inspiron 640m. Althought specifications may be high, I'm starting to doubt the build-quality of their machines.

[rsquared]

Welcome to the TM3 MBP family! I've had my 15.4" C2D for about a year now and I love it. Use it for Final Cut Studio and basic everyday stuff (internet, word processing, etc). Has been quite the workhorse for me. Having using a Powermac G4 before it, I was already sold on Mac, but I was a little hesitant to go the laptop route. Back in the day I couldn't imagine having all the power of a desktop in a laptop, but the MBP has proved me wrong. Love having the power and portability.

[bluntman]

Dell monitors are nice (I have a 20" widescreen), but I love how svelt the MBPs are. I am thinking of adding a extra gig of RAM since I am using Parallels, but I have heard that Macs are quite particular about the type of RAM is installed. Is this still true?

[Xenon]

Well, I have 2 GB of RAM....

I still have 1.04 GB Available with the following Apps Running:
Finder (Mandatory)
Dashboard (Mandatory)
Mail
Firefox
iCal
Adium
Pages
Activity Monitor

Once I start up Vista in VMWare, the available memory drops to 24 MB. To me that is sufficient because I only run VMware with Windows when I need to run Windows-only apps, which isn't that often for me.

For me 2 GB is enough. 4 GB is overkill... and $700+ upgrade.

[MattC]

bought on sale for 3 grand? christ...

[Xenon]

Sorry, that was a leftover part that I forgot to remove when I cut and pasted the template.

But let me clarify. That price is a discounted price (Apple has a Student Discount). Full price would be $150 more.

I updated the first post to make things more clear.

[MattC]

I want a mac laptop real bad, but their crazy expensive.

[EvilDeadFan]

I'm emotionally scarred, with a metrosexual trendy trendy lifestyle, that, and while spiritually connecting with my dog, we discussed the possibility of hiis own facebook page, so we decided a Mac would be best..

Fixed. ;)

[tweak_s]

Bastard .. :chuckle

[yearoftherat]

Nice setup...I wanted a MBP but was a bit overkill so I p/u a MB 2GHz Duo core and upped the RAM to 2gb. Great system for my needs but wish the GMA 950 video card was better...

[Hazy]

Congrats on the new Macbook Pro. I love my MBP but I need to upgrade the ram. I only got 512MB which isn't enough.

[MattC]

lol its rip on me month eh?

and i have a cat not a dog!

[EvilDeadFan]

Uh oh! even worse! Your emotional self centered cat!
Don't worry. I have a cat, too.

[royroy]

meh... now i want 1 too ><

[kaval]

I wish I had got the MBP. I've got a MacBook, and have had nothing but problems. Now on my 3rd one since March as things keep breaking and now my case is cracking.

[zedtech]

For those on Leopard, 10.5.2 update is now out via Software Update and apple.ca. I had major problems w/ Airport kernel panics and they say this fixes it. Fingers crossed!

Download page: http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/apple/macosx_updates/

10.5.2 update details: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=307109

[royroy]

thx for the heads up =)
*running to update MBP and MBA

[b]

10.5.2 took me about 10 mins to download and install.

[yearoftherat]

A few added features in the update...nice to see that the developers are listening to the users.

[zedtech]

Just downloaded and installed Firefox 3 Beta 3. So far I'm liking it! Safari 3.0.4 still renders pages a little quicker but FF3b3 is so much faster than FF2 and isn't as big of a resource hog.

I'm finding OSX 10.5.2 to run smoother and quicker as well. My Airport Kernel Panics seem to have gone away now. Love the Stacks List view, much needed functionality that I missed from Tiger.

[jstro]

I'm finding OSX 10.5.2 to run smoother and quicker as well. My Airport Kernel Panics seem to have gone away now. Love the Stacks List view, much needed functionality that I missed from Tiger.

Agreed that 10.5.2 is great so far - I like the option to have the solid menu bar at the top instead of just the translucent one.

However, it takes forever to repair permissions using disk utility on my powerbook (I wish I had a fancy new MBP!) compared to Tiger. It's taking at least 20 minutes on Leopard - I thought disk utility had crashed. Anyone else having this problem?

[Dreamliner]

I had a MBP 15" for 2 years and then the video card died. In that time I had to beg Apple to replace my DVD burner (half a year after the warranty was up). I'm done with Apple now. Their products are build so flimsy too.

[philipfreire]

Hey, I got a MacBook Pro last christmas. The same model you have.

My specs consist of 2.5 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4GB 677 MHz DDR2 SDRAM, 6MB L2 Cache and 800MHz Bus Speed.

It has never given me issues. It's been amazing compared to windows. As a designer, its the only way to go. :)

[HBP]

I had a MBP 15" for 2 years and then the video card died. In that time I had to beg Apple to replace my DVD burner (half a year after the warranty was up). I'm done with Apple now. Their products are build so flimsy too.


Pretty much all laptops have the same reliability. http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-9938550-1.html
(There is no significant difference between any brand)

Apple has by far the best customer service though (I'm sure you noticed this when they replaced a part for you, after the warranty was up). No other company would do that.

If you had bought AppleCare (everyone should buy extended warranty for any laptops, since they get moved around so damn much), you would be happy right now. Applecare can be bought from eBay for dirttt cheap.

I had Applecare on my last white macbook, macbook had a hard drive problem, complained a little bit and received the new 13" unibody macbook (March 2009, before the 13" MBP came out). Damn good deal IMO. Bought that AppleCare for $120 too.

[Auroraboy]

Agreed - for any laptop, its probably worth buying extended warranty. For Macs - Applecare via eBay is definitely cheaper. Buying a refurbished Mac (or iPod) from Apple.ca is also a lot cheaper in my opinion - and comes with full warranty, just like new.

IMHO, I think other manufacturers build some good laptops, but advantage of Mac is the OS, and if you need to, you can still run Windows.






Pretty much all laptops have the same reliability. http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-9938550-1.html
(There is no significant difference between any brand)

Apple has by far the best customer service though (I'm sure you noticed this when they replaced a part for you, after the warranty was up). No other company would do that.

If you had bought AppleCare (everyone should buy extended warranty for any laptops, since they get moved around so damn much), you would be happy right now. Applecare can be bought from eBay for dirttt cheap.

I had Applecare on my last white macbook, macbook had a hard drive problem, complained a little bit and received the new 13" unibody macbook (March 2009, before the 13" MBP came out). Damn good deal IMO. Bought that AppleCare for $120 too.

[1flycdnM3]

I have tried running windows beta 7 (when it came out), but i prefer the Mac OSX! Also thinking about upgrading the RAM because i don't have the Pro (just regular 2 GB) and this would make things run a lot smoother, especially since it is split so really only have 1 GB (still not sure i understand this as it's my first laptop). Anyways, other than that, I am very impressed with the Macbook and will never go back to PC, especially with all the problems using windows! I am running FF3 as well and Mac OSX 10.5.7 now!

[Iceman_F1]

I have tried running windows beta 7 (when it came out), but i prefer the Mac OSX! Also thinking about upgrading the RAM because i don't have the Pro (just regular 2 GB) and this would make things run a lot smoother, especially since it is split so really only have 1 GB (still not sure i understand this as it's my first laptop). Anyways, other than that, I am very impressed with the Macbook and will never go back to PC, especially with all the problems using windows! I am running FF3 as well and Mac OSX 10.5.7 now!

It's not split. Memory is added. 2 sticks of 1GB each is still 2GB.

[philipfreire]

Anyone install OSX Snow Leopard yet? I have, but notice its still running on 32bit. Apparently to get it to 64 you must reboot and hold down "6" and "4" keys.

It will switch it to 64-bit. But I hear they didn't do this because there maybe programs not compatible with the 64-bit yet.

[-cj-]

Wow, when I first saw the first post in this OLD thread, I was about to rag on Xenon for trying to pass his old Macbook Pro as a recent version... (I thought he was trying to sell it)... But then I looked at the date :chuckle

I'm installing Snow Leopard on my oldest work Mac: iMac... I'll tell you how it goes ;) After that, I'm upgrading my MBP, then my Mac Pro at home (Better to test on the work systems before taking a chance on your home computer ;)

I heard it only boots into 32-bit mode on SOME older models, but newer ones should run 64 out of the box. That 6-4 trick is for the older models... I expect my iMac to need this trick, but my newer MBP and MP will most likely run 64 out of the box... (Or they better ;)

[cwp_sedan]

Be careful with Snow Leopard. Some apps won't work 100% or at all with the update. Make sure your apps are good to go before updating!

[philipfreire]

There's very subtle changes to Snow Leopard. The new Quicktime logo is horrible! Yuck!

My entire CS4 suite is working alright, suitcase is working fine, time capsule, well... its doing its first backup since its a new OS, its actually faster.

I havent noticed much changes with Mail... It seems smoother...

1Password didn't work with the new update, had to get the new beta version.

But all is smooth and well. Time will tell how much "refinement" done to this OS will actually speed up my performance. :) I'm not complaining tho. Only paid 14 bucks for this update.

It also freed up some space on my HD with the install. Good thing! :D

[cwp_sedan]

There's very subtle changes to Snow Leopard. The new Quicktime logo is horrible! Yuck!

My entire CS4 suite is working alright, suitcase is working fine, time capsule, well... its doing its first backup since its a new OS, its actually faster.

I havent noticed much changes with Mail... It seems smoother...

1Password didn't work with the new update, had to get the new beta version.

But all is smooth and well. Time will tell how much "refinement" done to this OS will actually speed up my performance. :) I'm not complaining tho. Only paid 14 bucks for this update.

It also freed up some space on my HD with the install. Good thing! :D

How did you get it so cheap? Supposedly even corporate isn't supposed to get a discount.

[philipfreire]

How did you get it so cheap? Supposedly even corporate isn't supposed to get a discount.

Check out this link on apples site: http://www.apple.com/ca/macosx/uptodate/

If you buy your mac between the date of June 8th 2009 and after, you qualify for a 9.95 USD upgrade.

Canadian, its 13.00 + Tax which ends up being $14.69

It's a pretty good deal but again only to those who recently bought a mac. I bought my mother a Mac mini so it qualified. :)

[cwp_sedan]

Check out this link on apples site: http://www.apple.com/ca/macosx/uptodate/

If you buy your mac between the date of June 8th 2009 and after, you qualify for a 9.95 USD upgrade.

Canadian, its 13.00 + Tax which ends up being $14.69

It's a pretty good deal but again only to those who recently bought a mac. I bought my mother a Mac mini so it qualified. :)

Oh yeah forgot about that option. :)

[yearoftherat]

Here's a list of programs that Snow Leopard may have issues with

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3258

[cwp_sedan]

Here's even a better list

http://snowleopard.wikidot.com/

[-cj-]

Things seem snappier... Had to force the kernel into 64-bit mode though. Apparently only the XServe's default to 64bit. Quite a few broken apps... Mail seems a little weird, can't put my finger on it yet. I'll probably wait a few weeks before upgrading my main work computer...

[bluntman]

I don't think my Santa Rosa MBP (no multi-touch) can run in 64-bit mode, I've tried the "6" and "4" trick as well as editing the boot plist, but I am still in 32-bit mode. It's OK though, all-round performance has improved and the start-up and shut-down times are just a fraction of what they were with Leopard.

[philipfreire]

I think mine is defaulted to 64bit.

B/c when I go into system preferences and try to boot up Suitcase fusion, it tells me it needs to reopen and relaunch the program, and when it does it says System Preferences (32 bit) just like that...

so i dunno.. i could be wrong!

[cwp_sedan]

I think mine is defaulted to 64bit.

B/c when I go into system preferences and try to boot up Suitcase fusion, it tells me it needs to reopen and relaunch the program, and when it does it says System Preferences (32 bit) just like that...

so i dunno.. i could be wrong!

Mine does the same.

Yours is definitely running 64bit. If you run Activity Processes in the utilities folder it will tell you what is 32 and what is 64.

[philipfreire]

Mine does the same.

Yours is definitely running 64bit. If you run Activity Processes in the utilities folder it will tell you what is 32 and what is 64.

Your very right sir!