Possible Macbook Pro Purchase: Cons?

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I may be trading in (rather, selling) my 6-month old Macbook for a Macbook Pro. I have absolutely NO complaints about it at all, but I'm just seeing that I might need a professional-level laptop. The cost difference would be about $800 USD (hopefully) and I would also get the student free iPod nano (or $200 off another iPod, I believe). So effectively it would be a $600 or so upgrade.

Anyway, before I do this, I would like to try to find out about anything possibly negative about the Pro. In CompUSA, it seemed that the lighting was disturbingly uneven vertically, but the in-store models could very well have been subjected to abuse and misuse and so on. Also, the trackpad seemed rather rough on my fingers compared to my Macbook. Are these issues for anyone?

Basically, to all you pro owners: if you could change 1 or 2 things about your MBP, what would you change? And what would you suggest to a new Macbook Pro owner or buyer?

Thank for your time!
 
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15 Inch MBP 2.4 GHz 4GB Ram 160 GB
The lighting on my MBP is perfect.

What I would change is the size, I really want a 13" MBP, I don't like the larger laptop.

Everything else seems great!
 
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The only thing I can think of to make it better would be to lose the iSight and make the bezel thinner, but that's just because I don't use the iSight at all and like really thin bezels to keep the focus on the screen.

Other than that, it's darn near perfect to me. The only things I could say are pie-in-the-sky wishes like weighing only 2 pounds and 1/2 inch thin, having 500 GB of SSD memory, and making my breakfast for me in the morning.

I'd say go for it! :)
 
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The lighting on my MBP is perfect.

What I would change is the size, I really want a 13" MBP, I don't like the larger laptop.

Good to hear about the lighting.

And about the size... honestly that's one of my favorite things about the Macbook: it's lightweight, compact, efficient form-factor that's just so Apple. 15" might be a tad much for me, but I don't think it should cause any problems. I'll be carrying it to class and such. 15" should be able to sit on those little half-desk things, no?

I'll appreciate the extra screen real-estate though. Can't wait for Spaces.

The only thing I can think of to make it better would be to lose the iSight and make the bezel thinner, but that's just because I don't use the iSight at all and like really thin bezels to keep the focus on the screen.

Other than that, it's darn near perfect to me. The only things I could say are pie-in-the-sky wishes like weighing only 2 pounds and 1/2 inch thin, having 500 GB of SSD memory, and making my breakfast for me in the morning.

I've begun to use the iSight more as more and more of my friends and acquaintances are seeing the light and purchasing Macbooks and Pros. I use my cousin as an example - his "top of the line" 1.5 yr-old Dell laptop is literally falling apart (physically) and seemingly ready for replacement.

So the iSight I don't mind. The bezel doesn't seem bad to me either.

The 500GB SSD sounds nice, though...

The heat for me. Thats about all I have to complain about right now.

Which processor are you running? I've heard the new Santa Rosa chipset C2D's run very cool.

So basically for me, the things that might be holding me back are the screen size and the fear of unknown - I haven't ever made such a large investment in any sort of technology.

One of the more reassuring things is the knowledge that I can jump up to 3GB or 4GB of RAM in the future if necessary for some reason. Not that it won't already be sexy enough with 2GB.
 
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15" MacBook Pro, 2.4Ghz, 2Gb RAM, 160Gb HDD, 8600M GT, iPod Classic 80Gb
I find it a little limited with 2 USB's, although that can easily be sorted with a cheap hub, apart from that, nothing else is a problem for me.

I have no heat issues with mine (C2D SR) does get hot, but nothing major.
 

mi6


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MacBook Air Core 2 Duo 2gig ram
weight and little bit of heat...
but my macbook pro rocks...
 
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yeah, i agree with most other people when i say heat. That's basically the only con. Other than that, absolutely none!
 
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How much heat are we talking about?

My Macbook runs at about 118F with a few apps (Safari, iCal, Mail, Adium, and a couple other background things)... is it more than that?

Anyone with the SR MBP to comment on the newer models' heat output?

I don't predict that slight heat issues would be a deal-killer for me by any stretch and I've heard the SR MBP's run noticeably cooler.

And does anyone know if the 128MB VRAM card is THAT much worse than the 256MB model? I hear that for current/last gen gaming it's more than enough. I don't plan on doing much crazy-intense next-gen gaming, so I assume the 8600GT's power will still be very formidable even with 128MB VRAM?

As far as glossy vs. matte... is the glossy display still very accurate color-wise? I'm not a photo professional, so I don't need perfect accuracy, but I want it as close as reasonably possible, obviously. Is matte really that much better and is the gloss really that hard to use in bright light? At that, is it exactly the same finish as on the Macbook?

ALSO

Anything that I should keep in mind as a brand new Pro owner? Like, any hardware or software-level tips or suggestions? I've heard some complains about the monitor's evenness of lighting and cast, has this been a problem for anyone?

Thanks for all the replies so far!
 
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iMac, iPad, MacBook Pro.
I would love Apple to make a 13" MacBook Pro, so I could get away from the Sharp Edge on the MacBook
 
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Macbook Pro Core 2 Duo 2.2ghz 2gb DDR2 8600gt w/ 128mb vram
Few things:
I just got the new santa and it does still run hot, but definately bearable. So thats not really a con just a meh.
When handling it, it looks so gorgeous and is such a great laptop it becomes like a baby to you. If anything other than your hands touch it you will look it over and make sure there aren't ne scratches, trust me. (Either that or i have ocd)
Graphics on games in boot camp with the 8600gt is flawless.
Extremely fast. and good battery

The 8600gt with 128mb of vram is only about 5% than the 256mb of vram worse according to:
http://www.barefeats.com/rosa03.html
Plus in bootcamp when you do dxdiag it things its 512mb, i know thats shared but hey. Good still.

That is not worth the extra $500 bills in my mind.

I have the glossy screen, i don't print photos but it looks amazing. I can't see any glare unless I REALLY look, and thats still even really hard to see.

In terms of tips of hardware i don't see any. Oh and people have been complaining about this 2 usb stuff. I have a mouse and my nano i hook up. I don't need anything else at all.

The Mag safe adapter for the power is also rediculously awesome. I kicked it when it was on my coffee table just to see if my laptop would go flying and the adapter popped out, laptop didn't move.

iSight is amazing quality compared to some of the computers best buy sells. (I work for Geek Squad so i do setups on new pcs all the time)

All of that aside the Macbook Pro is simply stunning. I love it and will never go back to PC base, except boot camp for gaming. Don't even surf the web on the windows partition cause i don't want spyware. Get it, simple as that, you won't be disappointed. I've only had mine for about 4 days and I can't stop going onto it, even to do nothing.

(oh and the keyboard backlight is REDICULOUS, sometimes i just stare at it. not really but hey i could)
 

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