Customer Reviews

Apple MacBook Pro MA463LL/A 15.4" Laptop (1.83 GHz Intel Core Duo, 512 MB RAM, 80 GB Hard Drive, SuperDrive)

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It's the most stunning idea, isn't it? We talk about usability, but people always want to know about the speed. This MacBook Pro is the second fastest Mac notebook ever, only slower to the more expensive model of this same release.

When Steve Jobs announced the new Macs, with Intel Core Duo processors I was almost certain I wanted to buy one. Why? Macs are well known for ease of use and capabilities, but they have managed all that for years, with processors that are not always top-notch. That all changed in January 2006.

Processor in the new MacBook Pro

The Intel Core Duo processor in the new MacBook Pro is an amazing chip. What have I noticed about the speed of the machine featuring this chip? It is incredibly fast. You'd be surprised by how much faster even web browsing is, when you have a processor as powerful as the Core Duo. However, what I've really been impressed by is doing things such as video encoding. I've encoded videos in H264 as much as eight times faster than my Powerbook G4. Furthermore, the iLife applications that are included on the MacBook Pro fly, with the speed. iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, and Garageband perform like never before. I've really been impressed by the speed.

The Core Duo is a great processor. It offers exceptional desktop PC performance, in a design that can fit in small computers and notebooks. It features two cores on a single die, which effectively gives you the performance of two processors. Don't let the 1.83 GHZ clock speed fool you. This Core Duo Chip will outperform 3+ GHZ Pentium 4 processors. It really is an amazing breakthrough, from Intel.

Video Card

The new MacBook Pro 2 GHZ model features an ATI Radeon X1600 graphics processor using PCI Express 128 MB of GDDR3 video memory. This is one of the best video cards Apple has ever included in a notebook. This graphic processor will work well for most gaming, and it is great for viewing back complex H264 movies, including high definition videos. You can enjoy high definition H264 videos, without drop frames.

Ports -

The MacBook Pro features 2 USB 2.0 ports, 1 Firewire 400 port, Gigabit Ethernet, audio in/out, and Expresscard (34 slot).

Display - Apple touts the display on the new MacBook Pro as bright as the cinema displays, and there is no question: these displays are bright! Depending on your lighting condition, you'll almost certainly not turn the display to full brightness. I had to turn down the brightness, for it was hard on my eyes. However, it is nice to know the brightness is there, when needed. The native resolution is 1440x900 giving you plenty of screen real estate, to keep the applications you need visible.

Video out - The new MacBook Pro has a DVI video output. An adapter is also included to output VGA. There is an optional adapter available to output S-Video and composite video. Furthermore, the DVI video out supports up to a 30-inch Apple Cinema Display (or other comparable display). This gives you great possibilities. You can easily use your MacBook Pro on the road, but plug it into a keyboard, mouse, and huge display, when at your desk. The perfect all around system.

Memory - This Mac is a powerhouse, but the included 512 MB of memory holds it back. You really need more memory in this machine. The MacBook Pro supports up to 2 GB of memory. It uses PC5300 DDR2 - SODIMM modules, so you can order some and install it yourself. Crucial and Other World Computing are two online stores to consider purchasing memory. Amazon does not have this specific memory available.

Applications -

Apple includes iLife '06, which has iPhoto, iMovie, iWeb, iDVD, and Garageband. There is the Safari web browser, the always useful iCal, AddressBook, iChat, etc. Overall, I was pleased with the included software.

iLife 06 is particularly great. I love the new full-screen photo editing, photo comparing, etc. You can now also order calendars and greeting cards made with your photos, direct from Apple, by using the iPhoto software. iMovie has new themes, which helps make professional-looking home movies, and iDVD now supports widescreen DVDs. iWeb is a brand-new applications, which makes it easy to create professional quality webpages, quickly. I can't wait to rebuild by site using iWeb. Apple continues to make it easy to create music, manage your digital images, make movies, and create web sites.

A trial (30 day) of iWork '06 is also included, which includes the page layout program Pages, and the presentation program Keynote (which makes presentations that blow away presentations made by rival Powerpoint).

Hard Drive -

This model of the MacBook Pro includes a 80 GB 5400 RPM hard drive. This is going to be sufficient for most people to hold their photographs and music. However, you won't much video on here. You can always use an external drive, when at your desk. It is also important that you remember to backup your important files to either another external hard drive, or DVDs. I only point this out because today with great machines like the MacBook Pro we're storing more of our great memories on computers than ever before, so make sure you don't lose them, if something happens to your machine. Apple includes a great backup program called Backup 3, if you subscribe to the .mac service. I use it all the time, and it simple interface helps me keep peace of mind.

Superdrive-

The optical drive included with the new MacBook Pro allows you to watch DVDs, listen to music, burn DVDs, and burn CDs. It is a slot-loading drive, so the disks slide magically in and out of the computer's right side. There are no drawers to break off. Note - The drive does *not* burn dual layer DVDs.

Front Row Experience - Apple has included a new software title that at this time is only available on the iMac, Mac Mini, and MacBook Pro. Front Row. Front Row comes with your MacBook Pro, and a remote control is also included. Front row allows you to watch and listen to media items, on your computer, from across the room. Click one button on the remote, and bring up Front Row, for quick access to your music, movies, podcasts, DVD, and more. I like this feature, but I wonder how useful it is, since I'm usually sitting right in front of the computer and can just use a mouse, to access this content.

PowerPC Applications on Intel Machine

If you own a lot of software for Mac, then most of it is probably compiled for PowerPC. Developers are working hard to make titles run natively on both Intel and PowerPC, but many titles are not yet ready. However, many titles you can use on an Intel Mac because Apple has included Rosetta, which translates the PowerPC code into something the Intel machine can read. However, you never see Rosetta for it works quietly in the background and makes running PowerPC applications seamless. Microsoft Office, for example, works perfect under Rosetta. Intensive applications such as Photoshop will run under Rosetta, but it will be slower until Adobe has an Intel compiled version of Photoshop. Rosetta does work and if you add memory to your iMac, you may find such application somewhat equal to how it would perform on a 1GHZ PowerPC G4, from my experience.

Two titles I use EyeTV and Toast 7 are not yet compiled for Intel, but they run fine on my Intel Mac, under Rosetta. Again, you don't have to open anything special to use Rosetta. Your Mac knows when it needs it and uses it.

Wireless- The MacBook Pro can still connect wirelessly to networks using its included Airport Card. Furthermore, it features a Bluetooth module to connect wirelessly to devices.

Design - This MacBook Pro is beautiful, and you notice the quality as soon as you begin to open the box. It is packaged with care, in beautiful packaging. The MacBook Pro is thin, and the display is beautiful. The Mag Safe Power Connector is another amazing design feature on this machine. If someone or something pulls on the power cord connected to your notebook, instead of the notebook flying, the magnet on the connector releases, leaving your MacBook Pro safe.

Overall, I am very excited about the MacBook Pro. It is incredibly fast on Intel-native applications, and it does a very good job running PowerPC applications. If you're upgrading from a G4 Mac like myself, this machine will seem to fly. If you're upgrading from a G5 based Mac, it will be faster on native applications, but the increase in performance will be less significant to you. The Intel machines are the future of Apple, so there is no question this is a good machine, and it is powerful enough to be a good computer, for quite some time. I'm happy with my purchase, and I look forward to continue exploring my Intel Mac in the coming days

We just replaced a Dell notebook and desktop with a MacBook Pro and iMac. OS X is just amazing, and I can't believe that Apple hasn't stolen more market share.

The iMac is perfect. The MacBook Pro has a few quirks to be aware of:

1. When the CPU is idle and the MacBook Pro is on battery, there is a medium to high pitch sound that emits from the computer. This drove me crazy the first two days, but now I don't notice it as much. Apple will hopefully fix this soon via a firmware update. In the meantime, there is an easy workaround: launch and minimize Photo Booth, and it consumes just enough CPU to make the sound go away. Also, the sound seems to disappear about 90% when on A/C instead of battery.

2. The MacBook Pro gets very hot when plugged in. It won't burn you, but it is surprisingly hot. You probably won't want to put it on your lap.

3. The MacBook Pro is heavy, relative to ultra portables.

4. The keyboard is hard to get used to for Windows switchers. It takes two keystrokes to do things like DEL, HOME, END, etc. The iMac keyboard is easier.

For reasons 2 and 3, consider this a "portable" and not a "laptop."

Despite these issues, this is the best portable computer I have ever owned, primarily due to OS X and .Mac.

Also - my first reaction was that I might have trouble getting used to the wide screen and how low it goes. Nope - it is a pleasure to work with.

For Windows switchers -- expect a frustrating first day but also lots of smiles how everything just works first try.

Overall, I would highly recommend the MacBook Pro to anyone not needing an ultra lightweight portable.

I bought this machine a little over a month ago, it replaced my Powerbook G3 1.5 Ghz. From the moment I have started using it, I have been quite impressed on how well it performs.

Keep in mind that you MUST add RAM to it, the 512 MB that it comes with are nothing. With that much memory, working with Rosetta apps (binaries that were build for PPC) will really slow down your system. I upgraded to 1.5 GB and this thing FLIES. For example, when using handbrake to create an mp4 file from a movie DVD, it took my old Powerbook around 4 hours. The MBP can do it in 45 minutes which totally blows me away.

Keep in mind that at the time of this writing, there are many apps out there (Adobe Photoshop, Dreamweaver) that will not run at full native speed. This does not mean they are unbearable to work with, they are just not running as fast as they could. I use Photoshop on weekly basis for designing web pages. Its speed is like that of using Photoshop on my iMac G5 - so trust me, its not bad at all. As I have mentioned before, cram it with RAM and things will work great.

Performance-wise it is top notch. With the recent release of Boot Camp, you can now easily run Windows on a separate partition. This should really be tempting to some Windows users out there that want to try OS X but are scared of not liking it and then being stuck with a machine they wont use. If you are Windows user, do yourself a favor and get this laptop. In case you hate OS X, just boot under Windows and you will be right at home. Recent benchmarks that I have read of comparable Acer systems leave the MPB as a clear contender even when running Windows XP.

The backlit keyboard, iSight, the remote control are just extras that put icing on the cake. I have never been so happy with a machine in my life. It is so great to be running multiple apps and see the Activity Monitor's CPU usage stay around 10%!

I really can't say more, I love this machine.

It's a wonderful upgrade from my G3 iBook, but I was hoping for more speed. I'll start with my complaints and then my compliments :)

Complaints:

I'm in the Graphic Design field and use programs like Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, Dreamweaver and Flash (Creative Suites 2 Web Bundle) often two or three at the same time. The Rossette (sp?) program works well although the programs do take slightly longer to open, you don't really notice unless you are in a rush. Going between the programs seems to take a bit of time (4-15 sec) and files take some time to open as well (5-45sec, over a minute on really large files). Sometimes it can be a bit frustrating as I was expecting much faster results.

I would suggest if you are in design or other high processing profession you go ahead and upgrade to the version with the 2 GHz Intel Dual Core, 1G Ram and 100GB hard drive not to mention the better video card as you will undoubtably have to upgrade your RAM almost immediately. It will not be enough to efficiently run your programs and that could cost $100+ anway since you can't install it by just opening up your keyboard panel.

It does get VERY hot after extended use, but this doesn't seem to affect performance, well except for the burning on the legs.

And one more silly complaint, the plug base is huge (not the part the plugs into the computer but the other end). It's about 2x as big as my G3 iBook model so it takes up more room in my travel bag.


Now for the good stuff.

I absolutely adore the power plug. I know that is an odd comment but I'm a clutz and the plug prevents me from flinging the computer across the room.

Also the independent video card (seperate from the motherboard) allows me to play games online (my current favorite is World of Warcraft).

The screen is large and has beautiful picture. The new applications are cute and fun to play with. The size is perfect for travel, I often use it on the train. The extended area down from the keyboard, next to the mouse is more ergonomic and you wrists don't sag (anyone who has used a smaller lap top know's what I'm talking about). The USB ports on either side make it easy to plug in other components like a mouse, scanner, camera, etc.

The DVD burner works just fine, and it's so nice to be able to burn DVD's (the G3iBook only had CD)


Overall I gave it a 4. I really wish now I would have dished out the extra $500 for the upgraded one, but it is able to run all of my programs without too much trouble, except the afore mentioned slow response. It works wonderfully for my online gaming (Bluetooth and Wireless anyone?) and the thin, sleek design makes it great for transport. It's amazing how much they were able to fit into such a small area. I will need to upgrade my RAM soon and hopefully that will improve the graphic programs speed, but other then that I am very satisfied.

I am a web developer. I have the MacBookPro 1.83 ghz model. I have Photoshop CS, Dreamweaver 8, Flash MX, MS Office 2004, and more installed on this thing and it hasn't missed a beat!

I have read about issues with some of the professional software such as Photoshop and Dreamweaver not being as fast on the new intel chip. I was a little concerned about that, so I installed an extra 1gb of ram so I have 1.5 gb now. Though I am not doing any crazy photoshop work, I don't notice a thing. Dreamweaver runs great also! Fireworks is a bit slow, but I am also running an older version. Microsoft Office is fast. I run most of these at once and have no issues at all!

I also like the battery life. It blows my hp laptop I had away. If you like Macs, you'll like this. The only issue I have had is that is can run fairly hot sometimes when it is cranking out my work all day long. I bought an iLap for it and the heat is pulled away pretty good.

Bottom line, this is a great laptop. I am a user who runs this thing for at least 8 hours a day, with multiple professional apps running at once and it just keeps on cranking out as it should. Oh, it is very quiet too!

Ok, so I'm a newbie to Apple stuff, having cut my teeth on IBM PC1 back in the dark ages with DOS. Bought a MacBook Pro; used Boot Camp to install WinXP; installed Dragon Naturally Speaking 8. Have not received my 1Gb RAM yet so I was running on 512. Left my favorite Sennheiser microphone at the office (*Duh*), so I had to use my old Andrea stand-by 'mike,' but....

Dragon literally flies on MacBook Pro. Installation was slick. Everything worked as planned. I dictated normally, and DNS was very accurate. Then I started dictating faster, with longer, more complicated paragraphs, and it did very well -- in fact, extremely well (this is just with the quick ten-minute training session and without allowing DNS to scour my emails/documents to learn my style). Ok, so it missed 'egregious' and gave me 'courageous' -- so big whoop. My wife was amazed at how accurate and fast it was. Even my son, the technogeek, was impressed -- and nothing I do in his tech-savvy life impresses him. Actually, the MacBook was more his idea than mine -- we just decided to try it with DNS for the heck of it.

I have been using Dragon for years, and I currently run it on a Thinkpad Centrino and a dual core Intel PC, and I can honestly say Dragon on the MacBook runs better, faster and more accurately than it does on either of my other machines -- and I was getting good results with them. I have to say I was very skeptical that the MacBook would come close to my other machines, but I was wrong. I realize my testing is subjective without hard, empirical data to back up my claims, but I don't care -- I'm going with the MacBook for now b/c I have a feeling it's going to save me a lot of time, blood, sweat and tears.

The MacBook is an extremely sexy machine, and it has so many cool features on the Mac side that Windows simply can't match. I know we MS junkies are all waiting for Vista to salvage Windows (and Bill's $$$ advantage over Warren), but IMHO it's simply going to be a quasi knock-off of OSX. By then, Apple's OS will be even further ahead. I wish I could say good bye to Windows, but unfortunately, almost all of my work has to be done with a PC b/c very little software that I am 'forced' to use is written for Apple machines. Fortunately, at least I'll be able to dictate using my MacBook running WinXP and DNS.

At any rate, if any of you wonder if the MacBook and DNS (running under XP) might be a good marriage, I'd say yes. I'll do some more testing when I get the other stick of RAM and my favorite microphone installed and get DNS up to speed with all my documents. I know $2000 is a lot to pay for a laptop when you can do it much more cheaply, but I have to say I'm very satisfied so far from what I've seen.

Have not heard the 'high-pitched' whine/hiss others report, but I only got it yesterday. Hope I can slide by that one....

The design of the Macbook pro is incredible. I love the styling of the laptop. It's very light, and is great for portability. Have had no problems with the computer. Problems occur with integrating the old software. It's not natively run on this computer so it runs a bit slow but in due time new software will be compatible with the dual core processor. The computer does get fairly warm but i have deffinitely noticed it has dramatically cooled down since i have done the software update. I am actually able to put it on my lap now. One of the review states that the headphone jack doesn't work. Mine works fine i hooked up the headphones that came with my ipod and it works fine. I am not sure why he said it's a line level. What seems to be odd with this computer is that when you fist buy it is slower that what it is physically capable, that is because software has not been written specifically for the dual core processor. But it is deffinitely fast enough. Mac OSX is extremely well designed. I started out wiht MACs quite a few years back then went to Windows 95 ME 2000 and then XP... Lets just say i have installed all versions atleast a few times. Saw the new OS design of mac and decided to change. No regrets. Battery seems to last about 3 hours 20 min. Happy customer. If you are caught between the macbook and the macbook pro i'd get the pro.... If your short on money look around for the 1.83 ghz processor it's quite a bit cheaper than the 2.0 ghz but has the same exact pheriphials. If you have a Bluetooth phone you will love this. Look into synchronizing with your laptop.... Once again happy customer.

At first, my dad got me an Acer laptop, which crashed within a month of my getting it. My mom, being the practical one, decided that I needed a Mac. They went to CompUSA and got a full refund for that worthless hunk of plastic. When they came home, they said that it turned out I couldn't have a laptop, then they grinned broadly and uncovered a MacBook Pro. I was delighted. I sat down and turned it on. From the moment I saw the welcome screen, I knew I had a winner on my lap. That was in 2006.

It's now 2007 and my MacBook Pro is still the best computer in the family. The only change is some additional software and a RAM upgrade to 2 GB. I love my Mac. I use it every day and whenever I show my projects to Windows users, they freak out, saying how I must have spent months reading books about how to do that stuff. I tell them that it was easy - at least with a Mac. Whenever I use a school computer, which has Windows XP, I can't believe how incredibly stupid the designers must have been. There's all sorts of programs that came with my MacBook Pro that the school AT brags about having bought for the Windows XP computers. Furthermore, those programs that came free with my MacBook Pro are much better than those that had to be added onto Windows XP and costed scores of dollars each.

I think that if you're a frustrated Windows user, but you think you can't get a Mac because of incompatibilities, you NEED to get a Mac. Trust me - I do all my schoolwork on my Mac and it comes out looking gorgeous. If I need to transfer it to a school computer, I just click the export button. For instance, I did a report on Pages. After I was done, I clicked File -> Export -> PDF -> Continue... Then I chose where to save my PDF, I waited 10 seconds, I saved it to my USB memory device, I plugged it into a school computer, and voila! Also, I love making presentations in Keynote. After I finish, I export the presentation in PowerPoint format. Finally, the DVDs you can make with iDVD are, to be blundt, absolutely gorgeous. I did a documentary for school in iMovie HD, I set up a main menu with iDVD with Play Documentary as the button you select to play my documentary, and I burned it to a DVD. When I presented it to the class, everyone gasped when they saw how professional my DVD looked. I even had credits at the end of the documentary, just like the Hollywood movies. I got an A, of course.

Here some facts about the programs that come with any Mac:
Address Book- You can import and export contacts from most email clients - very handy. Also, it is fully synced with Mail so you only type a few letters of someone's name and then Enter to make them a recipient.

Automater- If you're doing the same thing over and over again, stop that right now. Take 30 seconds, give or take, to tell Automater to do it. Wait another 30 seconds and the whole thing is done. It's like having your own little robot inside your computer.

Chess- Play chess with either the computer or a friend on the other side of the world. Mac has had this for two years now and Windows Vista, which just came out, is claiming to not have copied this feature. Right. I've used both OSs and Vista's Chess is almost identical to Mac's. Hmmm...

Comic Life- A doodler's dream. You can make your own comics and then print them out. Very professional looking and easy.

Dashboard- The definition of convenience. Read news, control iTunes, play Hangman, squeeze a whoopie cusion (my personal favorite), check the time, calculate a number, type on a virtual Post-it note, translate something into another language (very useful for me since I live in Japan and I don't speak Japanese), look up the definition of a word, etc. [Also, in Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard, the next release of OS X, you can make your own dashboard widgets; this will be similar to making your own gadget on your iGoogle page]

GarageBand- Record your own music, edit it, group it into tracks, put it on iTunes for all users to download, make your own CDs, etc.

iCal- Solution to a busy person's dream. Automatically color-codes your appointments based on what category they fall into and shows events as a visual block of time, bigger for longer events, smaller for shorter events. Syncs with your iPod so you can check your calender, for instance, in Starbucks when a colleague asks what time would be best for a meeting. You can subscribe to people's calendars online so their events automatically appear in iCal. Includes a To-Do list, sorted by priority.

iChat- Social person's dream. Text-chat with anyone, and you hear a little noise when they say something so you can work while waiting for a response. Audio-chat with anyone and you can talk like you're on the speakerphone. Best of all, video-chat with anyone, go into full screen mode, and you feel like you're sitting at a very reflective table, talking to all of them. [Coming in Leopard- present Keynote presentations and other documents to people via iChat. They also see a little icon of you, narrating the presentation. Also, you can add a backdrop so it looks like you're, well, anywhere you want to be. Finally, you'll be able to use those Photo Booth special effects on yourself while video conferencing.]

iDVD- Is it Hollywood or is it not? That difference will be very tiny when you make a DVD with iDVD. You can choose what music to play in the main menu by simply dragging the song name from the media browser onto the menu. Also you can select whether to have a widescreen or standard orientation for your DVD. Finally, you'll be able to navigate the DVD's menus just like in store-bought Hollywood DVDs - with your DVD remote. All functions of a regular DVD movie are included with iDVDs. They work with any DVD player.

iMovie HD- Again, is it Hollywood or is it not? You can add high-quality special effects to your movies and you can even use your built-in iSight camera to record yourself. You can also adjust volume levels for music or narrations to play at. Add transitions between pictures and videos. Insert the perfect song. Narrate the whole thing to make a documentary. Et Cetera. The bottom line is that you'll be able to show friends a Hollywood movie and your movie and they won't be able to tell the difference.

iPhoto- A reminicer's wildest dream. Use professional tools to make your photos look simply beautiful. After you've done that, make a photo album. Design your own greeting card. Make a calendar for your kitchen. Prepare a slideshow to show on your television, via the Appple TV. Once you've done that, click Buy. Your creation gets shipped to your front door (or someone elses, if you want) and it has been printed on top-quality photo paper with the best ink availible. As simple as 1-2-3.

iSync- You can syncronize your contacts and calendar with your Bluetooth-enabled cell phone. Very convenient.

iTunes- Easily find and download millions of songs, albums, movies, TV shows, news report podcasts, etc. Also import music from CDs and manage your iPod.

iWeb- Your one-stop-shop for making gorgeous Web sites. For example, a Web site I spent a few hours on looks ten times better than the one our school AT has been working on for years for our school, using Windows.

Mail- Leaves Outlook in the dust. Automatically sorts your mail into different folders and lets you instantly search your entire mail history.

Photo Booth- Take pictures of yourself using one of sixteen special effects and then either email them, set them as your iChat icon, or import them into iPhoto for editing and other things.

Sherlock- Just like its namesake, it's a one-stop-shop to find ANYTHING on anything, including on your computer, a network, the Internet, or anywhere else you need to.

Stickies- Post-It notes you can leave anywhere on your screen. Variety of uses.

Activity monitor- the Apple version of the Windows Task Manager, although this can show you the current status of every hardware component of your computer, including current RAM usage and hard drive usage.

Grapher- Wonderful tool for algebra students. Type in an equation, exactly as it appears, and it graphs it for you. Save the graph as an image, find the coordinates of any point on the graph, etc. Also, you can type in data sets. Finally, you can choose from five different appearences for your graph.

Printer Setup Utility- Hub for every printing device connected to your Mac, its current jobs, its ink levels, its specifications, etc.

VoiceOver Utility- Reads whatever text you want it to. Choose from a couple dozen different voices for your Mac to read in.

When I saw the price for this laptop, I told myself that no one would buy it because it's too expensive. After an entire year of flawless performance and wonderful results, I reversed my opinion. This Mac was worth every penny, and you'll agree, too, once you push the On button.

The MacBook pro is a trendy looking machine. Under the hood, it has all the right equipment you would want for a performance laptop. The only hardware that should be upgraded would be the ram, 512mb is a bit less. Add another gigabyte to it would be perfect. The machine is fast, whether running XP or OS X, the applications launches at amazing speed.

The downside of this machine is that it gets way too hot. If you plan on using this machine, don't use it on your laptop or any surface that might be sensitive to heat. The bottom gets to the point where it will burn your fingers when you pick it up. The keyboard area gets pretty warm, it feels like you're sweating whenever you're typing. On top of the F-Keys, just right below the screen will be just as hot as the bottom of the keyboard. The palm rest area is the least wearm. The fan does come on, and it is pretty loud. The fan will only come on when the laptop is superhot. Another is the buzz/whine noise you will hear when you're in a quite room and when the computer is idle.

[...]

The core 2 duo version is out at 11/25/06 and maybe it will improve some of the heat issues.

I do not dispute the fine qualities this computer has as described by previous reviewers. Compared to my old titanium powerbook this one far outshines it. For it's advantages alone I give it 4.5 stars.
But one thing I did not anticipate this glorious machine to have is a despicable high pitched sound that it constantly emits. 3.5 stars. I thought I was only imagining things but when I searched google I was surprised to see that the sound is very common and bothers other people as well. But it is also noted that not all people notice the sound nor that each machine bought will emit the sound. Luck of the draw, I guess. The sound will only dissapear either by turning on Photobooth or turning down the brightness of the screen to very dim (as in my case). Sometimes my ears become accustomed but it is an annoyance knowing that it is still there, especially because of the price paid for the computer.
So if you want the latest and greatest, cannot hear high pitched sounds, or are not easily annoyed by all means please purchase it. Otherwise it might be best to either wait for a second generation MacBook Pro without the kinks or put up with the annoying sound. Good luck.