For yet another year, Apple is continuing with what can be called a tradition of maintaining the general look and feel of their MacBook Pro range, while only upgrading the internals to bring them up to speed with the current market trends. The latest generation MacBook Pros feature Intel's Sandy Bridge range of processors along with updated graphics, relatively new I/O technology named Thunderbolt and high definition FaceTime camera.
Bundle
- MacBook Pro
- Display cleaning cloth
- 85W MagSafe Power Adapter, AC wall plug, and power cord
- Software DVDs
- Printed and electronic documentation
We expected Apple to bundle the new flash drive that they provide with the latest generation MacBook Air for re-installing the OS and the iLife suite of applications, but were disappointed to see the same old dual DVDs in the bundle.
Design and Build
The total number of visible changes from the last generation model is one and you will be forgiven to miss it upon initial inspection. It's the tiny Thunderbolt symbol besides the port, which replaces the erstwhile Mini DisplayPort symbol found on the older machines.
Apart from that it is identical to the older model; not that it's a bad thing. Few designs age as gracefully as that of the MacBook Pro, which still looks good after all these years. We wouldn't blame Apple if they choose to maintain this design for their next generation models as well. The MacBook Pro is the Coke bottle in the world of laptops. Also, I'd rather have a laptop that looks the same as the one before it rather than one that looks like every other.
But that isn't to say it's perfect. There are some design issues which I had previously addressed in a separate article. Like the position of the USB ports that are so close to each other that if you plug in a thick drive it renders the port next to it completely useless. I would have also liked if Apple printed the names of the ports next to the speaker grille on top instead of on the right, next to them, so that they could be visible from top without having to tilt your head sideways.
Of course, the symbols would have been hidden when you close the lid, but why would you need to know them then anyway? With the help of the symbol, one would have known the general location of the port on the side making it easier to plug in stuff. This is a tiny design detail but something one would expect from Apple instead of having to tell them.
The other thing is the sharp edges, particularly near the display hinge. Now this is no children's toy for the edges to be smoothened but these are some seriously sharp edges that we are talking about here and could be lethal even to an adult.
Lastly it's the ventilation. Apple places the vents below the display hinge. A very clever solution for reducing the clutter of vents that you see on other laptops but one that has a very serious side effect in the form of skin toasting heat levels when the machine is under stress. Using the machine in the Indian summer in a non-air conditioned room made me feel glad man invented desks and that there is no rule that laptops must be used on laps.
Build quality is top notch, the aluminum unibody feels as solid as ever. The display hinge is a bit loose though, so if you tilt the base, the display moves a bit.
Display, Keyboard and Trackpad
Again nothing new here, which is a bit disappointing. We expected higher resolution displays, but Apple has maintained the display resolutions across all models. It's especially disappointing now that the new 13-inch MacBook Air has the same resolution as the 15-inch MacBook Pro. Not that the display looks bad, quite the opposite actually.
The display is very vivid and bright with great colors and contrast. The gamma levels were slightly less though, which makes the blacks look really black but some of the deeper shades of gray were lost, and images had a slightly darker look. The 15-inch comes with the option of a non-glossy screen, which is recommended for professional work such as image or video editing, as stray reflections can be detrimental to such work.
The backlit keyboard on the MacBooks have always been excellent. It's again the same as the previous model and in fact it is also common across all MacBooks, regardless of their size. The multi-touch trackpad is again, the best in the business.
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