I'm a few years away from a new laptop, but if I needed one this year, this would be it.

---

Product Description

Presenting the world's most advanced 1-inch-thin notebook. MacBook Pro is the first Mac notebook built on the Intel Core Duo processor, which delivers the power of two processors on a single chip--for blistering performance with high-end creative applications.(1) Front Row and the Apple Remote let you summon your photos, movies, music, and presentations from anywhere in the room. The built-in iSight camera gives you effortless, high-quality video conferencing using iChat AV.(2) The spacious 15.4-inch screen is a full 67 percent brighter than the 15-inch PowerBook G4 display. Yet with all of its advances, MacBook Pro is just 1 inch thin and weighs only 5.6 pounds.(3) So it's a joy to handle as well as to use. (1)Based on estimated results of industry-standard SPECint and SPECfp rate tests. (2)Requires broadband Internet connection; fees may apply. (3)Weight varies depending on configuration and manufacturing process.

---

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2038 in Personal Computers
• Color: Silver
• Brand: Apple
• Model: MA600LL/A
• Platform: Mac OS X
• Dimensions: 19.50" h x 5.60" w x 19.50" l,
• CPU: Intel Core Duo 2 GHz
• Memory: 512000MB DDR2 SDRAM
• Hard Disk: 80GB
• Processors: 2
• Display size: 15.4

Features

• 2.0 GHz Intel Core Duo processor with 2 MB shared L2 Cache
• 512 MB (single SODIMM) 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM (PC2-5300); 80 GB 5400 rpm Serial ATA/100 hard drive; slot-load 4x SuperDrive (DVD±RW/CD-RW)
• One FireWire 400, two USB 2.0 ports, and ExpressCard/34 slot; no FireWire 800 slots
• Built-in 10/100/1000BASE-T (Gigabit); built-in 54 Mbps AirPort Extreme (802.11g); built-in Bluetooth 2.0+EDR
• 15.4-inch TFT widescreen display with 1440 x 900 resolution

From the Manufacturer
Note: This product is an older version of the Apple MacBook Pro. Check out the Apple MacBook Pro MA609LL/A 15" Notebook PC for the replacement model.

Powered by a 2.0 or 2.16 GHz dual-core Intel engine. Up to five times the speed of the PowerBook G4. Eight times the graphics bandwidth. With built-in iSight for instant video conferencing on the move. Front Row with Apple Remote to dazzle everyone in the room. Now available in 15- and 17-inch models.

Performance squared
MacBook Pro is built upon the revolutionary Intel Core Duo--which packs the power of two processors (up to 2.16 GHz) inside a single chip. It provides 2MB of Smart Cache, L2 cache that can be shared between both cores as needed. It delivers higher performance in 2-D and 3-D graphics, video editing, and music encoding. And the new engine is only part of the story. MacBook Pro has a frontside bus and memory that, at 667-MHz, runs faster than any previous Mac notebook. It's the first Mac notebook with PCI Express, a Serial ATA hard drive, and the ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 for superfast graphics performance.

iSight to behold
Sit down. Click on someone's iChat icon. And video conference from anywhere in the world. Though you can barely see it, there's an iSight camera built into the thin bezel just above the display. So now you can conference with associates during the day and chat with the kids at night. iChat AV lets you video chat with up to three other people simultaneously. And when you go head to head, you'll see your colleague more clearly, thanks to the VGA resolution made possible by the superfast Intel Core Duo. MacBook Pro also comes with Apple's Photo Booth application, a fun program that lets you take warped and Warholesque snapshots. With the new iLife '06 (included, of course), you can even record movies with iSight right into iMovie, then use the new iLife's newest application, iWeb, to create a video blog entry or podcast in just a few clicks.

Road show
MacBook Pro delivers the Front Row media experience, making it easy (and rather spectacular) to showcase your latest creations. Whether you're at the client's office, on location, or back at your hotel room, you just use the Apple Remote to control your videos, music, movies, and more. Front Row lets you quickly navigate through your work and play from anywhere in the room. You can even use the Apple Remote to navigate through Keynote presentations.

Do something. Say something. Make something. MacBook Pro comes with iLife '06, a suite of easy-to-use applications that make it easy for anyone to make postcards, calendars, DVDs, websites, and podcasts. Even professionals with proficiencies in high-end applications can appreciate the ease of creating initial compositions. Or posting pictures, videos, and commentary of current events almost before they happened. Enjoy the freedom of the press on MacBook Pro.

What's in the box
MacBook Pro, 85W MagSafe Power Adapter, AC wall plug and power cord, lithium-polymer battery, Apple Remote, DVI to VGA adapter, install/restore DVDs, and printed and electronic documentation.

---

Customer Reviews

Hot Machine
As the proverbial "little old lady" I have used Macs for 20 years and have found that with them I don't have to be a computer whiz to get things to work. The MacBook Pro is even more intuitive than other Macs I have owned or used, and I have found that I can navigate quickly and easily without having to consult manuals and wade thorugh confusing techanical stuff. The keyboard is easy to use, the large screen is a pleasure, and the light weight is manageable. It wasn't as fast as I had expected, and what I was told was that this is because it only comes with enough memory (512 MG) to make it functional, so if one wants to run large programs or get faster results, one needs to have more memory. More memory costs from $70 to over $200, so you probably want to consider this before buying.

The most significant problem I've had with it is that it is HOT to touch. I sent it to be repaired but was told that the heat was within normal limits; by this they must mean that it isn't hot enough to melt the circuitry or actually cause burns, but after an hour or so of use it is darned uncomfortable to touch. I'm hoping to find some kind of insulator to rest the palms of my hands on. Most of the time this computer is wonderfully silent but late in the day when it gets really hot a fan comes on and then, to me at least, it seems noisy. As a final complaint, I had a problem with the complimentary 90 day customer service because the date that Apple marks as beginning the 90 days is not the date you buy it from Amazon but THE DATE THAT AMAZON BUYS IT. It took almost a month of phone calls, mail and faxing to get the date changed to the date I actually purchased it, which left only about a month of actual customer service. I suggest that if you get one you notify Apple immedately of the date of your purchase. Except for the heat problem and the need for more memory, I have found the MacBook Pro to be a transparent work tool and I'm happy with it.

Post script, five months after purchase:
With an added one meg of memory and some fixes for the heat problem, I am now very happy with my mac. After some research, I learned that many of today's smaller, faster computers run hot. I (and many others) think it is a design flaw, but apparrently it is not unusual or necessarily an indication that there is something worng with the computer. I did learn that there are some fixes for the heat as far as human comfort is concerned. These included a free download of a smc fan control that starts the fan at lower temperatures you set (the fan doesn't seem to be noisey until the computer gets really hot) I also tried an x-pad (xpad4laptop.com) and it did drop the temperature without external fans (another optional fix). What I found worked best to reduce the heat was an air-desk (airdesks.com). I am now quite happy with what I have. We are fortunate to live in an age and a country where our problems are not about how to get enough to eat but how to lower the temperature on our magic electronics.

HOT baby...
This is an amazing piece of hardware. I really love it. The keyboard is awesome, mousepad too. The display is very crisp, and bright enough to work outside (exept when you have full sun exposure to the screen) I added another gig of RAM, which makes the computer fast. Too fast I guess, as the processor most of the time is idleing with a max of 20 % usage while doing daily stuff. Windows compatibility is also amazing. I use Parallel's Desktop, and it WORKS without a glitch.

However, the product lacks quality control. The processor is making a VERY VERY annoying whining noise. Even worse, this whining noise is amped by my external speakers, which is pure horror. Also, the computer is getting too hot to have it sitting on your lap. Thus, it really is a notebook and NOT a laptop. Battery drains already after 2,5 hours, which is half of what I've gotten out of my old iBook G4. Last but not least, my processor's right-hand fan must have gotten a defective bearing as it started to be quite noisy a couple of weeks ago. I might have to send in this particular model for repair.

But apart from the negatives, it's a beautyful piece of hardware, which might just need a couple of month of refinement. :-)

MacBook Pro
The Macbook pro is an excellent laptop to workwith, very fast and no problems at all. However one problem is that it gets real hot and the battery life is not very long, only 2.5 hours. If you dont mind a smaller laptop i recommend buying the Macbook.