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MacBook vs. MacBook Pro: Which Should You Buy?

Written on November 10, 2009 by Charles Moore and 23 people have commented

AppleGazette’s Kevin Whipps addresses the quandary over how to choose between a MacBook and a MacBook Pro, noting that it used to be that if you wanted a 13-inch Mac laptop (excluding the MacBook Air), the only option was the original MacBook. Now with a 13-inch aluminum MacBook Pro on the market, the decision has [...]

Mac OS X 10.6.2 Update Points to New MacBook Pros

Written on October 26, 2009 by Liam Cassidy and 6 people have commented

Two Spanish Apple sites are reporting that the latest build of Apple’s upcoming update to its Mac OS X Snow Leopard software contains references to as-yet unreleased new models of MacBook Pro.
Build 10C531 lists “MacBook Pro 6,1” and “MacBook Pro 6,2”, an indication of major revisions of the MacBook Pro lineup. The current family of [...]

How We Live Blogged the 9.9.09 Apple Media Event

Written on October 08, 2009 by David Klein and 3 people have commented

I have always been curious about what kind of tools people have used to liveblog events (especially those involving Apple). As many of you readers know, Apple recently held a media event on 9.9.09. I jumped on the opportunity to attend and represent TheAppleBlog. Naturally, one of my responsibilities was to liveblog everything.
Here’s the plan that [...]

MacBook Pro: The Perfect Computer?

Written on August 20, 2009 by Charles Moore and 42 people have commented

My friend and Low End Mac’s publisher, Dan Knight, posted a nearly 3000-word essay recently positing a “what’s the perfect Mac” conundrum: MacBook Pro or iMac. I share Dan’s enthusiasm for examining and debating such hypothetical questions, and I thoroughly enjoyed the piece, but for me, the matter is much more open-and-shut.
I’ve been advocating for [...]

Apple Reintroduces 15-inch MacBook Pro Matte Screen Option

Written on August 11, 2009 by Darrell Etherington and 17 people have commented

Good news for those of you who were holding out for a matte screen option from Apple on something other than the most expensive, 17-inch MacBook Pro, and bad news for image and video professionals who already bit the bullet and picked up a 15-incher recently. Apple now offers a matte screen option on the [...]

The MacBook Air Is Doomed

Written on July 15, 2009 by Charles Jade and 34 people have commented

What Apple fan of small-and-light computing doesn’t remember that Macworld Expo Keynote? The one where, uncovering Apple’s then-latest laptop and holding it aloft, Steve Jobs declared it “the smallest full-featured notebook in the world.” By the self-satisfied smile on his face, you knew Apple was back in the ultra-portable market for good.
Two years and change [...]

Complaint Desk: Whose MacBook Pro 7200RPM Drive Sounds Like R2D2?

Written on July 13, 2009 by Darrell Etherington and 25 people have commented

Apple users are dedicated defenders and evangelists of the products we love, but we also really like to get together and gab about the problems our devices have. I know I become obsessively detail-oriented whenever I pick up a new piece of Apple hardware, and am quick to overreact to every perceived imperfection I find [...]

The Ultimate MacBook Pro Protection Suite by Moshi

Written on July 07, 2009 by David Klein and 17 people have commented

I’m a huge fan of Moshi’s Apple-centric line of products and accessories. In fact, my entire collection of Apple products has now been complimented by Moshi. For example, I use the iLynx USB/Firewire hub and Celesta keyboard with my iMac; my iPhone is protected by the iGlaze 3G; and recently, my Macbook Pro experienced a [...]

Apple Issues Fix for SATA Drives in MacBook Pros

Written on June 22, 2009 by Charles Jade and 2 people have commented

A week after reports first surfaced of a downgrade in SATA bus speeds, Apple has issued a fix that both solves the problem and puts an end to conspiracy theories about it.
The issue centered around new MacBook Pros having a SATA speed of 1.5 gigabits, down from 3 gigabits on previous models, including the low-end [...]

What’s the Buzz About the SD Card Slot?

Written on June 15, 2009 by Chris Ryan and 8 people have commented

When I’d originally written about the introduction of the new 15″ MacBook Pro on Monday, I was curious as to if the newly featured SD card slot would support even newer SDHC cards. A little research later, I learned that the MacBook Pro does support this standard and has a few more tricks up its sleeve. So what’s all the buzz about the SD card slot?

Apple Downgrading SATA in New MacBook Pros?

Written on June 15, 2009 by Charles Jade and 19 people have commented

MacRumors is reporting on a discussion that is on fire with reports of a downgrade in SATA speeds for the new 13″ MacBook Pro, and the 15″ models as well. Apparently, System Profiler is now reporting a SATA speed of 1.5 gigabits, down from 3 gigabits on the new machines.
While this change will not matter [...]

MacBook Pro SD/ExpressCard Slot Tradeoff: Brilliant or Blunder?

Written on June 11, 2009 by Charles Moore and 111 people have commented

Apple’s new/refreshed MacBook Pro 13″ and 15″ models each come equipped with an SD Media Card reader slot, but in the case of the 15-incher, this has required elimination of the ExpressCard/34 expansion slot that had been in every 15-inch MacBook Pro since the get-go, back in 2006. This has led to a crescendo of [...]

Value Shootout: White 13″ MacBook vs. Unibody 13″ MacBook Pro

Written on June 10, 2009 by Charles Moore and 40 people have commented

A Mac laptop question I’ve been getting asked over the past few months is which 13-inch MacBook is the better value — the posh aluminum unibody model, or the $300 cheaper carryover white polycarbonate unit, which, after two substantial updates in 2009, had been upgraded to pretty closely match the more expensive machine performance-wise, and [...]

MacBook Pros: A Look At an Upgraded Family

Written on June 08, 2009 by Tom Reestman and 13 people have commented

Apple pulled a flanking maneuver on us today, catching us by surprise. While there were some rumblings about the unibody 13” MacBook possibly being brought into the “Pro” family, there were no rumors about changes to the MacBook or Pro line in general beyond perhaps the usual speed bumps.

Instead, we got some major updates to [...]

Apple Releases Updated 15″ MacBook Pro

Written on June 08, 2009 by Chris Ryan and 9 people have commented

Starting off the WWDC announcements of the day is the immediate availability and updating of the 15″ MacBook Pro. With a faster processor, new connectivity and greater storage, this update may be minor for some. Check out more details after the break.

The Curious Case of the Missing MacBook Pro Keyboard and Trackpad

Written on April 06, 2009 by Clayton Lai and 51 people have commented

About three weeks ago, the keyboard and trackpad on my MacBook Pro (from mid-2007) began failing randomly for no apparent reason. I would turn it on only to find its keyboard and trackpad unresponsive to any input. Rebooting sometimes helped, but many times it did not. Without a reproducible pattern I could determine, it was [...]

Apple Releases 17″ MacBook Pro Graphics Fix

Written on March 26, 2009 by Darrell Etherington and 4 people have commented

A while back we reported about issues 17-inch MacBook Pro owners were having with vertical lines and other distortion appearing on their displays. Almost three weeks later, Apple has released a fix for the issue. Officially dubbed “MacBook Pro Graphics Firmware Update 1.0,” it’s downloadable immediately via Software Update.
Apple doesn’t point any fingers regarding the [...]

Graphics Problems Surface With 17″ MacBook Pro

Written on March 06, 2009 by Darrell Etherington and 13 people have commented

At this point, it seems like having some graphics issues is more of a “coming of age” thing for a new Mac product than something that surprises or worries us, though I’m sure if you have one of the affected MacBook Pros, you think otherwise.
Users are reporting in an Apple Support thread that the recently [...]

Don’t Forget the Little Guys: Updated Processors, Hard Drives, and Keyboards

Written on March 03, 2009 by Darrell Etherington and 10 people have commented

Alongside some of the more publicized changes Apple made to their lineup today, including the long-awaited new Mac mini, the iMac and Mac Pro updates, and the changes to the AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule devices, there were also a few, more quiet modifications made.
Maybe most interesting among these changes are the processor speed improvements [...]

Comparing New to Old, Apple 17″ MacBook Pro is Sweet

Written on January 06, 2009 by Tom Reestman and 14 people have commented

Today the 17 inch MacBook Pro joined its younger siblings with a unibody construction. While many of the improvements were expected — based on the existing unibody models — and there are some worthwhile performance enhancements, Apple also had a couple of nice surprises in store. Let’s take a look…
Expected Unibody Improvements
First and foremost, for [...]