I am a longtime Mac owner who has used Windows for years at work. Since December I've been using a Thinkpad R52 for my consulting gig. The R52 is a beast of a laptop and mine has 2GB of RAM, yet apps were always hanging and crashing for no apparent reason. I continually felt like I was trying to run in a vat of molasses. Last week I finally hit my limit and decided to replace my iMac G5 with a Mac laptop that I'd use for both personal stuff and work. Yes, this meant that I would be spending my own money on a work laptop when I could use a Windows PC for free, but I no longer cared.
When I received the machine, I started putting it through its paces and was somewhat nonplussed. I was used to the 20" iMac with its huge screen, and the high resolution and relatively large screen size of the R52. The display felt somewhat limiting. However, the more I used it, the more I noticed how darned fast it is and how quickly I was getting things done in OS X and universal apps (save for the Mac version of Lotus Notes, which is a dog even on this machine). Now I don't even miss the real estate at the bottom of the screen.
In short -- and I know this sounds goofy -- the more I use it, the more giddy I get. Not only is it faster and more reliable than the computer I was using, it is also considerably lighter. For someone who travels more than 75% of the time, that is a huge deal.
This computer has already exceeded my expectations and there is much more that I plan to do with it. MacBook Pro, $1999. Sanity -- priceless!
5/15/07 update: The shoulder strap on my laptop bag came loose today while I was pulling my laptop off the floor of my car. It landed on the ground with a sickening "thud," and sure enough, when I took my laptop out of the bag, there was a big dent in one corner. The frame near the charging port is bent, and the case won't shut properly. It only fell a couple of feet, and no way should there be this much damage from one little mishap. I'm really sad that I'm stuck with this damaged case until my next upgrade. I can't imagine how this case would hold up to constant travel either. I have to lower my review to three stars.
| Standing screen display size | 15 Inches |
|---|---|
| Screen Resolution | 1440 x 900 |
| Max Screen Resolution | 1440 x 900 Pixels |
| Processor | 2.33 GHz intel_core_2_duo |
| RAM | 2 GB DDR2 |
| Memory Speed | 2.16 GHz |
| Hard Drive | 120 GB SATA |
| Graphics Coprocessor | Radeon |
| Chipset Brand | ATI |
| Card Description | Integrated |
| Graphics Card Ram Size | 256 MB |
| Wireless Type | Bluetooth, 802.11g |
| Number of USB 2.0 Ports | 2 |
| Average Battery Life (in hours) | 5 Hours |
