The Pros and Cons Of MacBook Pro

Mickey Dustspeck
February 12, 2008

I recently got a MacBook Pro 17", on which I run Mac OS X, Windows XP and Slackware Linux. There are various things about the experience that prospective owners may find of interest:

P/C	Description
Pro	Light and Sturdy: The thing seems to be built relatively well. My observation about my last three notebooks -- an HP Omnibook, a Dell Latitude and a Lenovo Thinkpad T43 is that they eventually reach an age where picking them up with one hand while they're on is risky, as it may torque the frame an gap the battery contacts, making it go suddenly dark. The MacBook seems as if it will not flex like the others. Time will tell.
Con	Slippery. The Macbook Pro won't stay put on my lap, as the super smooth finish slides well on fabric. This was also true about previous aluminum shell power/mac books.
Con	Freezing cold, somewhat warm. Although I've read about the blazing hot temperatures of MacBook Pros, mine isn't that hot, really. It's comparable to previous notebooks. On the OTHER hand, the thing is kind of chilly in the morning, when I want to check email while the coffee is brewing.
Con	No DEL key: the key upon which the letters "DEL" is printed actually sends a backspace. There is no DEL key, per the Windows convention. This presents a problem with respect to "CTRL-ALT-DEL" as is sometimes used in Windows/Linux. There's also no Insert, Home, PageUp PageDown, or End keys, the uses of which are part of my habits and part of using the Windows interface, as well as the Linux console and KDE.
Con	No right mouse button. (Yes, this again.) It's part of my habits, and the single button mouse is in my opinion inferior and less useful.
Con	There's an extra ENTER KEY to the left of the left arrow... The only reason for this that I can think of is to sell external keyboards that don't have it... It's EVIL.
Pro	Lighted keyboard.
Con	Software driven DVD eject button. So you have to either wait until an OS driver is present, or read your beautiful little booklet to see if you can find the f#&king arcane key-incantation to eject it prior to boot. I don't know how many times I have re-booted this thing, just to eject a CD/DVD.
Con	In addition to taking the $4000, Apple makes sure you supply them with a lifetime of free advertising. The lighted Apple logo (this is why there's a bite out of it) must be obscured! Oh and that startup noise -- forget about free advertising, what if I want to start it in a meeting or conference session? (Yes I already installed the PrefPane thing to squelch it, but it's EVIL!)
Pro	I like the camera on the top of the lid, I only wish it was aimable, as my old Sony Picturebook was (is).
Pro	Low Lid friction, sometimes on other notebooks, as the Compaq a friend just bought, the lid will resist being opened, more than the notebook weighs, so you need two hands to open it (two hands are not always, or let's say are seldom, available). The MacBook is easy to open with one hand.
Con	Low Lid friction -- you can't lay on your back in bead with the MacBook Pro propped on your knees. It closes itself.
Con	Magnetic power connector keeps falling off. Thanks Apple, for solving a non-nagging problem that I wasn't having, by replacing it with a new, actual problem. Can't thank you enough. I have dropped notebooks, stepped on them and cracked the screen, spilled breakfast cereal on the keyboard, but I have never had a problem with the power connector not disengaging and causing a fall or a break. Have you? Really? Naaaah.