Back into the Fold with a MacBook Pro

It's been a while since my last column, but I'm back now - without an iPhone I'm afraid. But with a MacBook Pro.

My absence has been due mainly to school (as I enter my fourth year in university, the work has been getting progressively heavier and more time-consuming), and work, which I thoroughly enjoy, but devote a good portion of my time to when I'm not studying.

I bought a MacBook Pro simply because it's one of the best laptops from any manufacturer. It has proven reliability, the specs on even the "cheap" 2.2 GHz model (which is what I purchased) are very respectable, and, of course, it's stylish and elegant.

I'd been using an Acer Aspire 5610 for the past five months, and while being a perfectly decent computer, I ultimately was less than comfortable with it. While Windows Vista's significantly improved over XP, it doesn't have the familiarity of the Mac OS, and the hardware itself, being a midrange laptop, did not have the capabilities or expandability of a better machine

I wanted something that was "built to last" technology-wise, for more than a year or two, and my choices were basically between a higher-end IBM T-series and a MacBook Pro. Since there was a waiting list months long for the new Santa Rosa based T61, I gave up on that, walked into an Apple Store, and walked out with a Santa Rosa MacBook Pro in a matter of minutes.

Plus I have the added satisfaction of it being a Mac.

I'd had a very positive experience with my 12" PowerBook G4, which was in my opinion probably one of the best laptops that Apple has made both in terms of form factor (it fit inside a binder) and reliability (no major issues with displays, logic boards, etc.).

Since the MacBook Pro had received mainly positive reviews since it was first released, I had my eye on one for a while. The jumping point was when they updated the screens to be backlit with LEDs instead of a mercury-based lamp. Not only is an LED backlight more environmentally friendly, it also improves battery life, since LEDs use far less power. At half brightness, I get usually about 4.5 hours of battery life - which is incredible compared to 2.5 hours on the Acer. Plus the screen has a higher resolution than most PC notebooks, which is something I would've had to pay extra for on the IBM (er, Lenovo or whatever they call them these days).

The biggest drawback of the MacBook Pro is it's lack of a SD card slot, which the Acer had, and most other PC notebooks also have. The issue was solved by buying a Belkin SD reader for the ExpressCard slot, but it's not the most elegant solution. I find that it sometimes needs to be removed and reinserted in order for the SD card to be recognized, and sometimes it doesn't like reading my 1 GB card without a restart. For MacBook users without that slot, they must connect an external adapter - a bit clumsy at best, especially given that most consumer digicams use SD cards.

I'm also not thrilled with the MagSafe power adapter. Firstly, it's on the "wrong" side, always the opposite side to where it's being plugged in, and it keeps coming unplugged if I just move the computer a little bit. I much preferred the older style power adapter - I've certainly never had a problem with knocking the computer over. Plus, the light that would change from orange to green when it was charged was much brighter and easier to see on the older version of Apple's power adapter. On this one, it's tiny, and you have to look closely to see what color it is.

The operating system is, of course, Mac OS X, which there's very little to say about at this point. It's reliable, runs what I need, and is easy to work with. Although the hardware itself is excellent, Mac OS X is probably the single best reason to want to buy a Mac. Unlike Windows, which seems to slow down progressively after various updates and service packs, Mac OS X is much more consistent. I'm looking forward to Leopard's release in the coming weeks, and I can't wait to see how the MacBook Pro runs it.

One of my other purchases in the accessories department has been a Marware sleeve. I had one of these for my 12" PowerBook, and I highly recommend them. Its purpose is to cushion the computer when placed in a backpack or other carrying case, and I find that they do the job remarkably well. Definitely worth the $25 just for the peace of mind that your $2,000 machine will be safe and secure.

In general, the MacBook Pro has done everything I want it to do and more. Plus, since I purchased it, I've noticed that more and more people are buying Macs at school. Entering a dark lecture hall this year, I notice roughly one-third more illuminated Apple logos than I did in my first year here. Apple must be doing something right!