[aehaas]

I buy the fastest, best, most expensive MBP level Apple portable every year or so and have had the Late 2008 iteration for a few months now. It is the 15 inch 2.8, 320GB 7,200 drive, 4 gig RAM system. Before it came out I had toyed with the idea of purchasing a glossy screen just once to try it. Then I was forced to try it as there was no matte version.

Sure, everything is a little faster. The screen took a little getting used to. I generally use my computer with the screen brightness below 1/2 way or less. If you focus on the reflection in the background then it is obvious. But if you start working on the machine then you are in fact focused on the screen and do not see the background much it at all. It all depends on your level of concentration. Whereas this was a little of an annoyance at first I finally got used to it and would happily go with the gloss screen on the next machine.

My favorite feature however is the dual grafix processors. I am a speed person so at first I just used the computer with the 9600 GT running all the time. After all I use Quark, PS and other big, high end programs (more-so on my desktops though). I am not a gamer. Well, I finally decided to try the 9400. For all I do the machine seemed to run about the same speed. Except that I get more battery life and it is cool in my lap - a position I use about 1/2 the time.

So now I have a fast machine with deeper colors and what seems as a crisper screen that runs longer and cooler. What more do I need?

aehaas

[angelmb]

Originally Posted by aehaas 

What more do I need?

To update your signature maybe?

Well, it is kind of those switches some cars come with… where you can switch from eco to sport and so on… (paging ice, paging ice). I also run Quark, PS and what not… needless to say it is plenty fast. While my Mac Pro is faster, has twice the RAM, a whooping nvidia 8800GT, faster and bigger hard disks… that doesn't render the MBP as slow at all. This laptop is a wonderful machine, I can't remember such a top notch notebook since the Pismo days. As for the best feature… I would say the unibody construction is rock solid, and the trackpad is a joy to play with.

[aehaas]

Update done, thanks for the heads up.

aehaas

[kylef]

I only have the MacBook, but for me the trackpad is a big plus for me. So smooth compared to every other one I have felt, and buttonless is great.

[mduell]

Originally Posted by aehaas 

My favorite feature however is the dual grafix processors. I am a speed person so at first I just used the computer with the 9600 GT running all the time. After all I use Quark, PS and other big, high end programs (more-so on my desktops though). I am not a gamer. Well, I finally decided to try the 9400. For all I do the machine seemed to run about the same speed. Except that I get more battery life and it is cool in my lap - a position I use about 1/2 the time.

The apps you mentioned don't really lean on the GPU much (the PS CS4 does a bit), so it's no surprise that they perform the same with the slower GPU enabled.

[joe]

Single best new feature on the MBPro? That's a tough call. There are just too many outstanding innovations this time around ranging from the solid unibody design to the greener manufacturing process to the new gesture/trackpad. Maybe it's a cheat, but I'd have to say the entire package.

[Big Mac]

Originally Posted by aehaas 

I buy the fastest, best, most expensive MBP level Apple portable every year or so and have had the Late 2008 iteration for a few months now.

Must be nice to have a lot of money to burn!

[Simon]

You bet. But best of all, you get to know Apple's portables really well yourself and don't have to rely on hearsay to judge what you want to work with every day.

[aehaas]

"Must be nice to have a lot of money to burn!"

Study hard, work hard and be good at it, then you can take advantage of newer, faster computers. This gives you more time to wax the bottom of your cars:

[Urkel]

I'm definitely buying a next-gen system but (based on personal experience) I have a hard time saying ANY of the new features are "better" than last gen.

Matte/Glossy screens vs Glassy ultra reflective screens
Standard dongle-free Firewire vs FW800 and a $30 adapter
Onboard DVI vs DisplayPort where 99% of owners are forced to buy a $30 adapter
Tried and true Button Trackpad vs Buttonless and unresponsive pad
Uniquely Apple design vs Very typical PC-esque design
Old shell vs Unibody/Glass combo (I'm more worried about carrying a 15" sheet of glass than having a last-gen notebook snap in half)

I'm not trying to put down the new machines and I'll be owning one soon. But my decision is based more on keeping up-to-date with what Apple offers than any specific feature.

Originally Posted by aehaas 

My favorite feature however is the dual grafix processors. I am a speed person so at first I just used the computer with the 9600 GT running all the time. After all I use Quark, PS and other big, high end programs (more-so on my desktops though). I am not a gamer. Well, I finally decided to try the 9400. For all I do the machine seemed to run about the same speed. Except that I get more battery life and it is cool in my lap - a position I use about 1/2 the time.

The 9600 is a major deciding factor for me, but with the chip running so hot I'd probably use the 9400M most of the time. And if you're required to reboot to switch chips then that makes me feel the feature won't be utilized. As simple as rebooting is, it's still an annoyance to your daily workflow and for me then it's a major reason I go into BootCamp less and less. From what I hear then Snow Leopard may support switching GPU's but we don't know if that will require new hardware or what.

[iREZ]

Originally Posted by Urkel 

I'm definitely buying a next-gen system but (based on personal experience) I have a hard time saying ANY of the new features are "better" than last gen.

Matte/Glossy screens vs Glassy ultra reflective screens
Standard dongle-free Firewire vs FW800 and a $30 adapter
Onboard DVI vs DisplayPort where 99% of owners are forced to buy a $30 adapter
Tried and true Button Trackpad vs Buttonless and unresponsive pad
Uniquely Apple design vs Very typical PC-esque design
Old shell vs Unibody/Glass combo (I'm more worried about carrying a 15" sheet of glass than having a last-gen notebook snap in half)

I'm not trying to put down the new machines and I'll be owning one soon. But my decision is based more on keeping up-to-date with what Apple offers than any specific feature.




The 9600 is a major deciding factor for me, but with the chip running so hot I'd probably use the 9400M most of the time. And if you're required to reboot to switch chips then that makes me feel the feature won't be utilized. As simple as rebooting is, it's still an annoyance to your daily workflow and for me then it's a major reason I go into BootCamp less and less. From what I hear then Snow Leopard may support switching GPU's but we don't know if that will require new hardware or what.

Quoted because I wholeheartedly agree with everything written here other than the buttonless trackpad. I see Apple utilizing this piece of hardware a lot in the near future and who's to say we won't be replacing our mice with trackpads in the future for our desktops (that's if these gestures get to the point of usability that makes mice inferior in use).

[kw14]

Guess I don't understand iREZ and Urkel's complaints. So far, all items seem like non-issues to me more or less. Coming from a last gen 17" MBP which I liked a lot, I did not think that the new 15" can be better. But I am surprised to find that overall, I like this unibody 15" just a little better.

Strangely, the thing that I dislike the most is the new trackpad button because it produces a very loud click whereas the last gen 17" MBP has a nice soft click sound.

As for what I like most about the new MBP, I would say that it would be the fact that it runs cooler. On my old 17" MBP, I had to be concern with the CPU temperature and play with smcfancontrol when it gets too hot. So far, in the one month of ownership, the temperature has not been much of a distraction.

And for an honorable mention, I actually liked the feel of the deeper bevel of the body edges. Form is always secondary to function to me. But comparing to last gen MBP, it is a noticeable improvement to me.