[Strupat]

1. It had a two-button touch pad.

2. It had a media card reader.

3. The ports were moved from the right side to the back--have you ever used a mouse with cables coming out of the right side? It is quite annoying and cluttery.

[hookem2oo7]

doesn't the MBP have a USB port on the right side?

[slffl]

OMG I'm glad you aren't designing Macs. I would NOT get a MBP for all of those reasons, especially 1 and 3.

[thebunny]

I have a PowerBook with all the stuff coming out the back and it's a pain because you can't keep it in your lap if anything is plugged in. Current design is much better. It's also easier to plug stuff in.

[Markg]

the MBP "kind of" have a 2 button touch pad. If you tap the pad w/ your index and middle finger, you can get the right click.

[zaghahzag]

yeah, why is reason #2 important? a card reader costs like 10$ and they go obsolete pretty fast. also, why cart around those extra grams when you don't need them most of the time on the road (or just get a cardbus slot reader).

as for the 2 button mouse, you say that as someone who hasn't ever used a mac laptop. I was a long term pc user and i forgot about the lack of a right button in like 2 days. You have lots of other options for right clicking.

[volcano]

Originally Posted by Strupat 

1. It had a two-button touch pad.

2. It had a media card reader.

3. The ports were moved from the right side to the back--have you ever used a mouse with cables coming out of the right side? It is quite annoying and cluttery.

Ew.

So you want your Mac to look like a boring, cluttered PC laptop? Buy a PC laptop then.

Next thing you know you'll want a dock station for it. Yuck.

[phazedowt]

Everyone's entitled to their own opinions. Personally, I'd get a MacBook Pro if it 1) had FW800 on the 15" model and 2) had Core 2 processors.... that was how I felt just over a week ago. Now I'm typing this on my brand new MacBook Pro

[quattrokid73]

Well my MBP has a custom intel C6D with 10gb of DDR34,000

and it has a 500gb flash memory HD....

[Tuoder]

Originally Posted by quattrokid73 

Well my MBP has a custom intel C6D with 10gb of DDR34,000

and it has a 500gb flash memory HD....

and its psychich and it types your stuff for you and makes love to you spouse for you

[MattJeff]

my laptop makes god jelous

[SierraDragon]

You guys are entertaining! :-)

[CollinG3G4]

Originally Posted by Strupat 

3. The ports were moved from the right side to the back--have you ever used a mouse with cables coming out of the right side? It is quite annoying and cluttery.

Why not get a bluetooth mouse, no?

[MattJeff]

i agree, im thinkin about the mighty mouse. not sure yet tho, some people have been having trouble

[jasonsRX7]

Originally Posted by volcano 

Next thing you know you'll want a dock station for it. Yuck.

Actually I'd really love a docking station for my Macbook at work. I have it sitting up vertically in a stack of books, and have to unplug audio, power, usb, and firewire every time I bring it home with me. Plus, sometimes it doesn't shut go to sleep when I unplug everything and I have to open it and close it to make it sleep.

And I'm getting a Macbook Pro for personal use soon, and kind of wish it had the larger ExpressCard slot so that I could get a Compact Flash reader for it. My DSLR uses CF, and I have always kept a PCMCIA CF reader in my Powerbook. It beats carrying around an external one, or using the cameras USB port.

[Simon]

Originally Posted by Strupat 

1. It had a two-button touch pad.

It's better than that: It senses two finger taps.

2. It had a media card reader.

It does not have one to save space and allow for a slim and sleek design. Readers can be attached through FW, USB, and probably also through the Express/34 slot. Why should everybody pay for a reader that only some need/want?

3. The ports were moved from the right side to the back--have you ever used a mouse with cables coming out of the right side? It is quite annoying and cluttery.

Side ports are ingenious. It allows the back hinge to attach to the case bottom instead of the upper side. That way the hinge is more stable and more compact. The entire MBP is less thick and takes up less vertical space when opened. In addition it is much easier to attach cables when you can actually see the ports - which you can when they're on the side and you can't when they're on the back below the screen. If you're having trouble with the mouse and the USB port, just chose the second USB port on the other side.

That said, I would like a port for third-party docking stations. A DS is more complicated when it has to connect on ports on both sides and it shows: there is one single MBP docking station - it's expensive, bulky, and ugly. A general docking connector would solve that.

[chrismear]

Originally Posted by Simon 

Side ports are ingenious. It allows the back hinge to attach to the case bottom instead of the upper side. That way the hinge is more stable and more compact. The entire MBP is less thick and takes up less vertical space when opened. In addition it is much easier to attach cables when you can actually see the ports - which you can when they're on the side and you can't when they're on the back below the screen. If you're having trouble with the mouse and the USB port, just chose the second USB port on the other side.

All fair points. But I'm sitting here at my desk on my Titanium PowerBook, with all the ports at the back, and I love the fact that all the wires just snake backwards over the back of the desk and I don't have to see any of them. Makes my whole setup very neat.

I'm looking forward to getting a new MacBook Pro, but I'm really not looking forward to having to stare at power, FireWire, two USB and Ethernet cords coming out the side of the unit and effectively making it several inches wider than it already is.

[slffl]

I just had to work on my dads Dell laptop, which has most ports in the back including USB, and it drove me NUTS having to constantly turn it around to plug in a flashdrive.

[fisherKing]

i'd get an mbp in a second if:

12"
lightweight (duh!)
backlit keyboard
full-spec'd (not crippled)