17 MacBook Pro - Intel Core 2 Duo 2.5GHz 2GB 250GB SuperDrive

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through. Excel, it opened those files before you could blink. I had Vista installed on a Bootcamp partition and it ran XP and Ubuntu via VMWare's fusion at almost native speeds. I had XP skinned, running in Unity, so all my windows programs looked just like they were running natively in OS X.

I had over two hundred gigs of music in my iTunes library. Hundreds of hours of Bob Dylan live, George Harrison and John Lennon too. This was a rock and roll machine that loved to do the blues. My MacBook loved and played Billie Holiday. Family photos, travel photos, work photos, all there to be seen on that wonderful screen.

And I threw it all away for that new machine Steve Jobs was touting, because I'm never satisfied, because I'm always looking for something better. I was so stupid.

I sold my baby on eBay, got the new machine, hated the glossy screen and it seemed heaver too. I wanted my baby back, oh how I wanted my baby back.

I called the guy who won my baby on eBay and I swapped him my new MacBook for my old one. He was more than happy to do it.

Apple had a winner with this machine. I truly believe it's the best laptop ever made. Better than its replacement, better than anything out there today. I'm going to keep this machine for a long, long time. I've learned a lesson, a real lesson. No more replacing those Nikes until their worn out. New lenses do not a better photographer make. Blu-ray not yet, I've got a very nice 43 inch Sony Bravia, which shows beautiful movies on my hundred dollar Costco Panasonic combo VHS/DVD player. Adobe just came out with CS4, but I won't be upgrading, not this time.

I've been well and truly blessed. I've got a lot and I've finally learned to be satisfied with what I've got.

Reviewed by Stephanie Sane

17 MacBook Pro - Intel Core 2 Duo 2.5GHz 2GB 250GB SuperDrive

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use the higher one, which would lead to less battery life
than the March model.

Display:
Like I said, I prefer matte finish (or a glossy that is not like a mirror).
The default colors were a little dull, so I went to System Preferences/Display/Color/Calibrate and
tweaked around and saved a new color profile. It is MUCH improved now - much better saturation
and has the contrast of glossy without the reflections.

Usage:
In less than 5 minutes, I upgraded to 4 Gigs RAM - bought that for about $60 from Amazon.
I am keeping my two original 1 Gig sticks in case I need them in the future.
I have VMWare Fusion running Windows XP Professional for some of my
must-have Windows apps. I have given the VM 1 Gig of RAM and 40 Gigs of disk.
Performance of Mac apps and Windows apps is superb.
I am using a WD Passport 320GB USB drive for backups with Time Machine.

Battery:
Last about 2.5-3 hours with almost constant usage. The best thing is when I close the lid,
it goes to sleep instantly, and wakes up instantly when I need it again, with no loss of
battery regardless of how long it sleeps. That is VERY DIFFERENT from my experience with
Windows laptops that lose battery even when sleeping. No idea why.

Storage:
It came with a 5400RPM 250GB HD. I bought a WD 7200RPM 320GB with a big buffer from
Newegg - I plan to swap out the HD - that requires "minor surgery" so I am doing my research
before I do it this weekend. The new disk will be a lot faster, although the it comes with
seems to be pretty fast already. I am swapping as I like doing stuff like that.
UPDATE: I swapped the hard drive and did a full restore from Time Machine - it now is exactly
the same as my las back-up with all apps and settings, except with a bigger and faster hard drive.
This "surgery" is t for the faint of heart. :-) And is probably totally unnecessary for most folks.

Mac OS X:
So simple. After using Windows PCs and laptops for over 15 years, I am amazed how easy
and intuitive it was to use a new OS. I know Mac OS X is very powerful and I am just beginning
to learn the advanced features to play with. Being able to run Windows XP in a VM with such a small
load on the system is very nice. I use software apps that are either not available on the Mac yet,
or have much older versions on the Mac. This is not specifically about the MacBook Pro but the
fact that the MacBook Pro has enough juice to do this is what is worth noting.

Boot Times:
When I shutdown and restart, it comes up in 30 seconds or so. Much faster than my experience
with Windows laptops. Here's the best part - if I put the Windows VM to sleep in my Mac,
it comes back up in seconds! Much faster than Windows used to wake up on a Windows laptop!
So for a portable laptop, the MacBook Pro is quite powerful and fast.

Overall:
I am glad I bought this model instead of the new Unibody model. This is by far the best portable computer
I have ever owned. I've always felt that the MacBook Pro carries a price premium over "equivalent" or
more feature rich Windows laptops, but now I know why. They are better.

17 MacBook Pro - Intel Core 2 Duo 2.5GHz 2GB 250GB SuperDrive

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Most people say this is for eye-candy. I would contest this. I work mornings and nights and I don't like to wake up other people in the house. Moreover, it is profligate to turn on lights when you are the only one using it. With the backlit keyboard, I am able to work effectively in the dark.
8. iSight: This is one of the features I was aghast at. My old webcam as the Logitech Notebook 2MP autofocus. That quality on that is perspicuous. The iSight is not far off.
9. Price: I got this when the new macbook pro came out. ~1650 (AR) for a high end macbook pro is unheard of.
10. Performance Comparison: After looking at numerous sites on the performance comparisons between this macbook pro and the new one, I found out that there are not much differences to justify for the $1000 increase in price for the new one. Plus for the new one, in order to use the 9600M GT, you need to restart the laptop which defeats the purpose of gaming on mac.
11. TouchPad: Very responsive, though secondary click in Windows can be toilsome at times. Gotta love the Multi-touch!
12. Sound: Mediocre on Window XP but preeminent on Mac OSX.