Quickies February 29, 2008

I Just Bought My First Mac!

After saying I would eventually get one, for more years than I care to count, I pulled the trigger tonight and bought my first Mac: the 15″ MacBook Pro.

Isn’t it lovely? This is the newly announced version with the Multi-Touch trackpad, an Nvidia GeForce 8600M GT graphics processor (256MB of video memory), and the new Penryn processor.

Gear Diary I Just Bought My First Mac! photo

Here are my MBP’s specs:

• Processor 065-7730 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
• Display 065-7449 MacBook Pro 15-inch Glossy WS
• Memory 065-7443 2GB 667 DDR2 SDRAM – 2×1GB
• Hard Drive 065-7451 250GB Serial ATA @ 5400 rpm
• Optical Drive 065-7453 SuperDrive 8x DL
• Modem 065-7456 None
• REMOTE 065-7463 None
• Apple Software – iWork 065-7672 No iWork Preinstalled
• Apple Software – Final Cut Exp 065-7674 No Final Cut Exp Preinstalled
• Apple Software – Aperture 065-7673 No Aperture Preinstalled
• Apple Software – Logic Express 065-7675 No Logic Exp Preinstalled
• Keyboard/Mac OS Language 065-7459 BkLit Keyboard/Mac OS
• Country Kit/AEX 065-7241 Country Kit

According to the information I’ve been given, my MBP will ship by March 3 – March 5, and it will deliver by March 5 – March 10.

I would like to thank Alison, Mitchell, Vincent and Jerry for all of the coaxing and hand-holding…why do I sound as if I am accepting an award?

I may install Windows, but I want to really give the Mac side a chance. I haven’t used a Mac since…the 80s! I am, for all intents and purposes, a complete and utter newbie. I am totally prepared to ask stupid questions that make those not-so-new to the platform cringe.

I am a little bit worried about the glossy screen, but Mitchell told me to just get it and shut up. Yessir!

Vincent traded his Mac Book Air for the 15″ MBP, and he tells me that he’s getting a solid five hours of battery life, possibly because of the new Penryn processor. This is a huge(!!) improvement over the 1.5 – 3 hours Mitchell and Chris Spera have reported with their MBPs.

I will upgrade the RAM following the steps outlined in Wayne’s money saving article, and other than that? I’ll figure it out as I go along.

And yes, I am well aware that I broke my own rule and bought a Mac without being able to do so at a local Mac store. Hopefully I will not have any service issues.

In the meantime, watch for a very gently used Toshiba X205 to make its appearance on eBay. I’ll miss it, but there just isn’t enough room on my desk for both…and I have to help pay for this thing somehow.

Update 03/03/08: It shipped today and I will have it on the 6th!

Tags: About MY Gear, Apple, Laptops

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About Judie Lipsett Stanford

View all posts by Judie Lipsett Stanford

I have had a fascination with all types of gadgets and gizmos since I was a child, beginning with the toy robot that my grandmother gave my brother - which I promptly "relieved him of" in 1973. I have long been captivated by devices that did anything interesting or served a unique purpose - however silly. I can't tell you how everything works – but I am known world-wide for using a product until I have a full understanding of what it does, what its limitations are, and if it excels in any given area...or not.

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http://www.geardiary.com Mitchell Oke

5 hours battery life!! That makes me even more jealous than the faster processor and better graphics card.

Glad you finally got one, I’ve wanted to convert you for a while but didn’t want to do it before the refresh
http://www.astraware.com Alsicole

Ooooh 2 more days to wait. I’m definitely getting the new Macbook in Black for my birthday. 250GB is a big step up from my 80GB Powerbook and the extra RAM and processor speed is certain to make it feel whizzy fast!

As a Mac newbie of only a couple of years back, I’m more than happy to hand-hold you through finding your way around the new (to you) OS. I doubt you’ll need it though as it all feels so intuitive.

Alison
reidme

Liberating somehow, isn’t it?

Question to Vincent: The MBAir touts 5 hrs battery too; were you not seeing that in real life?
http://www.geardiary.com Judie Lipsett

@Mark – Vincent told me he was getting 3ish hours or so from the Air, but that it got hot during normal use (surfing for articles, writing and checking email). After 5 hours or so, it would start to bog down and rebooting wouldn’t help.

I think the Air is pretty, but it is a lightweight. (Pun intended)

@Alison – You had better be ready for the barrage of questions. Hopefully it won’t be too bad, though. I hope you are right about intuitive.

@Mitchell – Don’t lie! You didn’t give two hoots about the refresh! You just wanted to see me on a Mac!
karrock

Grats Judie! I bought my MacBook Pro in May 2006 and while there’s been a few problems along the way. Mostly tied to a clicking/freezing hard drive that refused to diagnose for the Mac Geniuses. And a battery problem that I have yet to go into a store to tell them about. I still love it! Not the first Mac I’ve purchased — a PowerPC Mac Mini has that dubious honor (just kidding!). I still have both. The Mini serves as a HTPC connected to my big screen when the Shuttle PC is on the fritz (which seems to be more often than not). I did own a Mac SE 20 for a time, way back when, but it went the way of the pawn shop years ago when I was bad a managing my money.

I’ve loved Macs for years, witnessing the systems birth on the Lisa and cutting my teeth on Apple II’s before that. I only grudgingly turned to the world of PC-compatibles when my job and workplaces sent me in that direction.

Since I bought my MBP, the first thing I did was get an aftermarket gig of RAM and double the system memory. I’ve also upgraded the hard drive to a roomier and faster 200GB 7200RPM model without toooo much hassle. Yes, it’s more difficult a procedure than your garden variety PC notebook, but the industrial design simply blows everyone else out of the water.

I’ve been envying the MBP upgrades that have cropped up over the past couple years, mostly the LED back-lighting and the high resolution panel on the 17, but the incremental CPU jumps and ability access to more system memory have looked nice too.

I figure my next MBP will be a high res 17, but the near-$3k starting point is just so painful, considering I originally spent only $1600 on my last one. I’m perfectly happy with what I have now. CPU is powerful enough, memory is fine, drive space isn’t an issue, but I do sometimes wish I had a larger screen with more real estate for my desktop.

The question, of course, becomes when, because it has to be a major step up for it to be worth going for. If Apple is sticking with the tried-and-true Ti/aluminum PowerBook design for the long run, then great, I’d almost get a 17 now. *But*. If Apple intends on retiring the design and taking it to a true next-generation design in the near future, ala MacBook Air, then I think I need to wait somewhere in the neighborhood of six months to a year.

Decisions, decisions! ;o)
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dannyka

Woo-hoo! I think you’ll love it.

I got my MBP in May 2007 and have loved just about every minute of it. I have especially enjoyed not having to worry about that IM Trojan you discussed a few weeks back. Both my work AND my sister-in-law have been hit by it (joy ).

Anyway, definitely post questions. Like a lot more people now, I’m a big Mac fan, but we still live in a Windows world.

~Dan
raymond_u

Is it just me, or is there still no review yet for this one? Granted, Mitchell did a joint review with Christopher, but still… there are new features… and the better graphics card…
http://www.geardiary.com Judie Lipsett

@raymond_u, you are correct. I never wrote a full review. I have been too busy catching up on other devices sitting in my queue. But I will be writing about it for a bit tomorrow; watch for my article. Nope, still not a review, however.
raymond_u

Ah. But a review IS coming in the forseeable future, yes?
http://www.geardiary.com Judie Lipsett

It depends. You’ll see why soon.
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