Comments on: Review: 2.53GHz Apple MacBook Pro

By: harshil Joshi

harshil Joshi — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:17:22 +0000

I own apple macbook pro 2.53GHz processor. I’ve used 9 laptops till now. This is the best one. Fastest and easier! but, there are two things i don’t like in this. .. 1. Keys.. My typing speed is 80+(wpm).. apple has so sensitive and delicate keys.. sometimes during typing fast i’m feeling like i’m harming the keys and may be in a few months it will come out or will not work!!
.. 2. Sound.. Well, no doubt sound is good but not great! its just like other notebooks.. i was expecting a quality sound with some extra effects.. cos its the costliest notebook in its segment. but.. it disappoint me a lot.

By: tim.smy

tim.smy — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 00:26:09 +0000

can this be upgraded to 8mb of ram

I could buy one for 1000 pounds

tim

By: First Impressions: 17-inch Apple MacBook Pro 2009 (Unibody, Anti-Glare) — PaulStamatiou.com

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 16:15:53 +0000

[...] to the desk to check email before doing anything else. Unfortunately, this time my 11 month old 15-inch MacBook Pro (unibody) kernel panicked a lot, on every boot. It wouldn’t even see the Intel X25-M SSD I had in there [...]

By: Lee Altman

Lee Altman — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 23:55:51 +0000

The 2.53ghz model is still available in the refurbished section of the Apple Store, with some very nice discounts. $1999 for the 2.53ghz with 4 GB memory and 320 GB hard drive. Just ordered one of those, and will immediately switch out the 320 for a Western Digital 500 MB drive from my old MacBook — thanks for that tip.

By: Paul Stamatiou

Paul Stamatiou — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 17:39:21 +0000

Dana – yeah it looks like they just updated the 2.53 model to 2.66 and got rid of it. Not a bad thing, just a free upgrade… although I forgot the price point of the 2.53 model, hopefully it was the same?

By: Dana

Dana — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 21:48:12 +0000

Great review and thorough. I’m not all that torn up about the display. This is my first Apple computer. But it was a real battle, this one arrived last week. Believe it or not, since Dec 8th 2008, I received 4 MBP’s and the Hard Drives failed within a week on the first 3, 2.4MBP’s. So I’m backing up daily this 4th unit. For all my troubles Apple upgraded me from the 2.4 to the 2.53 model.
Question:
I notice that this model is no longer available on the apple site, the 2.53 has been replaced with a 2.66. Any comment on what happened to the 2.53 model? Maybe they were not as generous as I thought with this upgrade?

By: Richard Setton

Richard Setton — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 13:34:19 +0000

My wife and I are shopping for an upgrade and after talking with the Apple reps, it appears that no one can answer our question about calibrating the screen for professional photography purposes. We are told that there are calibrating functions within the system, but we don’t know how good they are. My wife uses Spider to calibrate our PC monitor, and finds that it is the only one that allows her to accurately determine that the picture on the screen will be the one she prints (using an Epson 2200). Do you have any information about how good (faithful) the Mac monitors are on the MBP, or even the IMacs?

By: Charles Ravndal

Charles Ravndal — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 14:15:05 +0000

I am actually thinking of buying a macbook aluminium but I am also eyeing this HP Touchsmart tx2 and wait for windows 7. Though my urge to buy a mac is increasing as I read reviews around. I wished I can tinker around a mac first before I buy since this would be my first time to try a mac.

The Macbook Pro you have is indeed very nice and the multi touch trackpad is also intuitive.

By: Yiannis Georgalis

Yiannis Georgalis — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 18:21:47 +0000

Ya sou! Nice blog!

I agree with Paul and applaud Apple with the FW 800 and display port decisions. They are moving in the right direction. While the FW adapters work fine. I have heard many groans about the shortage of mini-displayport – DVI cables and the lack of third party cables, which should be resolved in the coming months. The screen issue is the only “real” debate.

As commented above, the Shaggymac Screen Protector works awesome and keeps the glass clean.
http://www.shaggymac.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=3_4&products_id=177

By: Kwan

Kwan — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 06:46:40 +0000

Wei, I had same experience like yours, and ended up lost all my data and had to replace my drive twice. If not mistaken the drives may causes this problems. Better backup your data very often. I suggest not to put to sleep, just shut it down. if force to quit often it may damage your data/drive.

My solution, I replace my 320 drive with others like seagate etc and, knock on wood, up till today is running well.

By: Wei

Wei — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 06:08:48 +0000

I finally picked up one of these as well. Overall, I would rank it better than last year’s version. The glare is a lot more noticeable than the last version but I can over come it. What I don’t like is the random screen freezes that never seemed to happen to my last MBP. Something with the graphics card or something else is causing the unibody ones to freeze randomly and I hope they figure it out sooner than later.

By: Paul Stamatiou

Paul Stamatiou — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 02:50:58 +0000

@HK –

1) No you cannot run any PC game. It has to have a Mac version.. which is very limiting at times. You can, however, run any PC game if you make use of something like BootCamp or vmware fusion (although bootcamp would be faster for gaming) to run Windows and run the game within Windows.

2) You say “just” gaming, but gaming is the most intensive thing you can do, so yes it would be worth it with the faster GPU. If you were “just” web browsing and making documents, I would recommend a regular MacBook.

3) I would say MS Office as you probably already know how to use it from Windows I’m assuming. However, if you’re willing to learn something new, OpenOffice 3 is quite nice.

4) I’m not sure about iWorks compatibility with MS Office. I would just get PowerPoint for that.

By: MacBook Air 1.86 GHz 128GB SSD (Late 2008) (Rev B) review | michaelhong.com

MacBook Air 1.86 GHz 128GB SSD (Late 2008) (Rev B) review | michaelhong.com — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 21:50:28 +0000

[...] you play) not for you. But let’s be real, if you’re a gamer, even the new MacBook Pros aren’t that satisfying. If you leave your laptop on your desk, connected to your display and other things, the MacBook Air [...]

By: HK

HK — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 07:25:18 +0000

Hi Paul! I am planning to buy a MBPro but I am confused about some things. (I am about to become a first time Mac user)
1. Can I run any PC game on Mac OS X?
2. Is a MBPro worth buying if am going to use it just for gaming, movies and making word files and presentations?
3. Which software suite is better – i’Works or MS Office for Mac?
4. If I make a presentation using i’Works suite, can I run the entire presentation without any hitch on MS Office ‘07 suite running on Windows platform?

By: David H.

David H. — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 16:31:27 +0000

Glossy screens don't bother me at all. My desktop flat panel has one, as does my Macbook and the old HP laptop I had before. Love the way colors look more saturated on a glossy display, and never been bothered by glare. And if the keys are leaving marks on the screen, try a Shaggymac Laptop Screen Protector. Works like a champ (or get a friend who's into fabric/sewing to cut you a piece of similar microfiber cloth to size).

By: jimbo

jimbo — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 08:04:35 +0000

Apple is 55% of the way down the path of darkness. The nazi iphone control, loss of matte screen etc. Don’t buy one. Complain at apple’s website http://www.apple.com/feedback . Tell them they are fcking up badly. I’m alienated. Let them know you are to. Mirrored screen… what the hell? And JAILBREAK YOUR IPHONE.

By: Harsono Kwan

Harsono Kwan — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 08:52:21 +0000

Just got my brand new mbpro 15″ replacement 2 nights ago, and just installed all and work on my projects. Today, just few minutes ago I turn it on and the wheel kept spinning… restart, reset pram, etc still does nothing….what in the world with the new macbook pro 15″….Please email me directly for your response:
hsusilo@bedrockbrands.com. This is my second terrible experience with your brand new 15″ mbpro….

By: Apple’s Mini DisplayPort adapter for DVI and dual-DVI

Apple’s Mini DisplayPort adapter for DVI and dual-DVI — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 04:26:25 +0000

[...] You’ll get quite a few of Apple’s own product pages, as would be expected. But only a few blogs are calling Apple [...]

By: Brandon

Brandon — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 23:50:45 +0000

I’d love a MBP, but wouldn’t be able to live with the glossy display. I find myself frequently adjusting my matte notebook display to avoid (albeit more diffused) glare quite often.

What a shame.

By: Jeremy Ricketts

Jeremy Ricketts — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 03:04:38 +0000

That glossy screen. I don’t think I could hang with that.

By: Harsono Kwan

Harsono Kwan — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 15:36:10 +0000

Paul, thanks for the prompt reply. Indeed the first incident was using the previous mbpro and last week incident was using the latest 15″ 2.53ghz mbpro.

My worst experiences for me was using the new mbpro with drive failure for the first week and plus lost one large potential business opportunity.

Most part, overall design is much better than previous mb pro. bit slimmer and lighter. the drawback is the glossy screen limits my working environments especially working outside office like starbucks.

I noticed the battery life is no huge different compare to its predecessor.

Harsono Kwan

By: Paul Stamatiou

Paul Stamatiou — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 15:19:11 +0000

@Harsono – that is an unfortunate series of events but it seems quite isolated. Try a new MacBook Pro and let me know what you think.

By: Harsono Kwan

Harsono Kwan — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 13:09:53 +0000

Dear Readers, I am a mac user since 1989 and loyalist to all apple products.

But in the past year I had bad experiences with 2007 Macbook pro 17″. I inserted blank dvd and stuck there for more than 10 times and at the end I had to force the dvd disc out. I had to wait for 4 months without DVD And per Last week , I purchased the new mb pro 15″ 2.5ghz in indonesia apple authorized dealer since I traveled there often. In a week I had more problem rather than solving my DVD issue. Here are my journey in less than 1 week after purchasing the new MB pro 15″:

1. Open the box and wanted to transfer my info from my older mb pro…found out there is no firewire 800 available around all apple stores here. Had to purchase overseas and plus the miniport to VGA adapter. Cost me arm and leg….already and waste my time over a week.

2. received the adapter and cable, completed my transfer 4 days ago and tested my presentation document and artwork then trashing all my previous copy in old mb pro…I was quite relieve that finally i can enjoy it.

The next day I was working on my presentations and put to sleep during my break.. tried to wake up the desktop didn’t work…I had to force to quit…Found out that these happened consistently since…and realized yesterday the machine was so hot and burned up all my battery life….
These happened more than 10 times less than 3 days.

3. Today, 30 minutes before large presentation, I turned it on and few minutes hange , there were text showing on the top left screen overlapping the apple logo and said “cant find the driver, no os installed…kernel …etc.”
Went to apple store here and the technician used Disc Utility to repair and failed…they said the drive was failed.
I had to argued with the apple store for replacement…and finally did..however my last journey was not pleasing at all and very disappointing.

Maybe you all going to say “backup often”, yes indeed however I lost all my chances to win the business due to the new macbook pro that promised to deliver better than its predecessor. And also I am really disappointed with the recent macbook pro quality…It’s indeed aesthetically stunning, yet the quality is compromised.

My time and effort and expectation towards the promise Apple are eroding…

Harsono Kwan.

By: Parantar

Parantar — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 05:35:18 +0000

wow! this is the best laptop i’ve ever seen!!!

By: mds

mds — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 03:04:05 +0000

My bad, sorry, Paul!