Mac or Windows or Both in One Box (Apple MacBook Pro MB470B/A)

Member Name: davomrmac

Product:	Apple MacBook Pro MB470B/A
Date:	19/01/09 (189 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Superb build quality, stable

Disadvantages: A little cheaper please Apple

This particular laptop is one of my latest acquisitions and after using it for a month, I let a Windows Vista PC friend have a go for a few days, so this is a little bit of a different review, with my views followed by how it might possibly sway you from trying the switch.

Firstly, this new MacBook Pro uses a new case, dubbed the 'uni-body' enclosure. What it basically means is that Apple have made the top casing that holds the keyboard from one piece of aluminium. This is then milled to perfection with no top seams near the edges. Compared to the previous version, it feels a lot more solid, with no flex at all. Further improvements see this version running really cool, so you can finally use it on your lap without getting warm or hot legs. Underneath there is a latching mechanism which opens a trap door. From here you gain access to the battery and hard drive, for easy swapping or upgrading. The memory is a little more difficult to get to and involves removing a few screws.

The screen is very very nice, but has a glossy glass front. In my eyes this is worse than the previous version. I liked the matte option (which you can now get on the new 17-inch version by paying a little extra). Don't get me wrong, the gloss is nice, easy to clean, colours good and easy to deal with reflections, I just personally prefer matte.

Two more quick positives before I move onto my PC touting friend. the trackpad is larger and coated in glass. It is very smooth and you can do lots of multi-touch gestures. It also has the mouse button integrated, so the whole touchpad clicks down for mouse-clicks. Battery life is awesome and I get about 5 hours on average, sometimes 30 minutes either side.

Now, I lent this to my friend. He has always used XP and Vista, but was Mac curious. I installed VM Ware Fusion and Vista 64-Bit Premium onto the MacBook Pro. On the Vista side he had Nero installed and on the Mac side he had Toast. During his week long trial he commented how nice it was. No crashes and a joy to use. He set up Vista in a separate space, with shared folders so he could quickly switch between the two. The big surprise was that by the end of the week he told me that he spent 90% of his time using Mac OS X for his email, browsing, DVD writing, iTunes etc. He only used Vista for one application that he uses for downloading content. I am sure with a little research I can find him a Mac alternative for that too.

So, all in all a lovely machine. Well built and very very stable.

Summary: So, all in all a lovely machine. Well built and very very stable

Processing/Quality:
Reliability:
Ease of use:
Installation:
Battery life:
Features: