[Ben]

New MacBook Pro's were announced today!

Goodies include a much improved graphics card from nVidia's new DX10 capable mobile line, the 'Santa Rosa' chipset with new Core 2 Duo CPU's at up to 2.4GHz, up to 4GB of RAM and, on the 15" model, an LED-backlit LCD display.

I absolutely want one. I just wondered what the rest of you think?

http://www.apple.com/uk/macbookpro/

[3g-g]

*Drool* :D

[Hands0n]

Well, thats it then .... I want one ..... I was just holding out for the announcement .... and they seem to be available now!! I'm going for the 15" for £1,599. Just gotta do a bit of juggling with the finances and its a trip down the Apple store!

Edit: And they're in stock at Bluewater ......... :D :D :D

[3g-g]

Will this render you completely Windows-less hands0n?

[miffed]

Technically ,I agreed with the wife that a Macbook pro would be Sept / oct

...... but ......

Hmmm , not sure yet - I may just wait to make sure I get leopar with it ... but then again I may not be able to wait :confused:

[Hands0n]

Will this render you completely Windows-less hands0n?

Well, sort of ...... :D On the Mac Pro I am running Parallels with XP.SP2 for those most needed moments. I'll also need to do the same with the Macbook Pro - as it will replace my Wintel laptop that I use for work/play when out and about. I truly cannot see the time when I'll successfully be free of Windows, unless I can get everything on the prevailing version of Mac OS. But I don't think that the kind of tools that I use will be ported to the Mac any time soon.

It is a nice dream though..... I think I've gone about as far as I possibly can with eschewing Windows. I tell you, it is so refreshing not having to keep repairing my OS every few weeks!

Edit: @Miffed - I've done a crafty one. The Mrs' old PC World Advent laptop has seen better days. It is still running Windows Millenium Edition (stop laughing at the back!!) and all sorts of strangeness keep happening with it. And it really struggles with YouTube and the like! So, I primed her a bit and said that in a little while I'd be in a position to let her have my 15" Wintel laptop - its a DGM made-in-China from Aria.co.uk. A nice bit of kit, easy on the eye, runs like the clappers - so she'd be more than happy. I just need to keep her from finding out how much its replacement costs :D I've put a fair bit Apple's way this year! And we've not even had the arrival of the iPhone yet ......

[Ben]

Ok, after sleeping on it I went ahead and ordered my beast. I was tempted to hold back to see if Steve announces an ultraportable on Monday but, great as that would be, what I really need is a decent sized laptop with plenty of power. The T2XP will last a long time yet as a toss-it-in-yer-bag machine to take anywhere.

For anyone who might be tempted by an ultraportable, though, I'd wait until Monday before ordering.

I've gone with the 15" Glossy 2.4GHz with 4GB RAM. The excellent choice of graphics card and LED-backlit display are standard, though you do get the extra VRAM at this processor speed. I stuck with the 5400rpm HDD as a) the 7200 has a longer lead time b) will slightly reduce battery life c) may generate slightly more heat and d) with so much RAM things will likely be so snappy that the difference a faster HDD makes would be barely noticable. Anyone planning on doing disk intensive work on a laptop should strongly consider an external drive, anyway. I also ordered AppleCare, which I feel is especially wise on a laptop (they are more prone to issues than desktops).

So, my first Mac laptop! I'm very excited. Going by this thread I think it's safe to say I'll not be the only one adopting the new MacBook Pro - it's incredibly appealing!

[Hands0n]

Oooh Green Go Gadget Go! :D

I won't be able to do much about my acquisition until the weekend at the earliest, and then probably on Sunday and not before

I'm going for the faster 15" 2.4GHZ - didn't know there was a choice of HDD. I think I'd sacrifice the slight impact to battery life for the faster drive though.

Cor! Can't wait to get hands on one.. Then can finally get mobile with OS X - I'm totally sold on the OS.

[3g-g]

Hi Guys,

I'm just going to delete this thread so that I'm not tempted to spend!

Although the thinking is, I could have a MBP if I was happy to lose my testicles to a blunt knife and the other halves rage. I'm weighing up what's best.

:)

[Hands0n]

I think you know the answer already. The testicles will just have to go :D

[Ben]

Nothing says Man like a MacBook Pro - not even testicles :D

[Hands0n]

Well, here I am sitting at the keyboard of the new MacBook Pro - testicles intact, but it did take a bit of bribery of the Mrs.

The new MBP is, in a word, awesome! It is eyewateringly expensive in my mind for a laptop - but now I have it in my possession and am using it I am finding it worth the money. The construction and capability of the hardware is extraordinary. Wintel laptops with these features would easily cost the same or more. This thing is bristling with technology, every possible socket you could want at this time in history and with a build design and quality that is breathtaking in its form and function. It is, aesthetically, a perfect match for the Mac Pro.

I went for the 2.4GHz, 15", 160GB HDD model - bought from the Apple store at Bluewater today. I bought a copy of Parallels and the Applecare plan. Setting up the MBP is an ongoing task as I learen the different ways of setting it up. I need it to emulate more or less what I am used to with a Wintel Laptop (particularly in terms of mousepad operation) and it can be done, but out of the box it is very Apple.....

More later.

[Hands0n]

I've been a few months now with the Apple world on desktops - but the new Mac Pro threw me an early curve ball ..... I could not, for the life of me, find the Gate key - normally shift+3 on a "real" keyboard (lol).

I'm still coming to terms with the Mac keyboard modifiers, and don't really understand them that much. Mostly because I don't have to use them. But with the MacBook Pro I guess that is all about to change. With few keys to play with something had to give - and today it was the turn of the Gate or Hash key.

Long story short - after about 20 minutes I discovered the use of the ALT key - it is like another Shift key - ALT+3 produced the desired result "#"

Other things I like - the touchpad is rather neat in some ways. It does not have the typical PC's left and right click by default. But these can be emulated. The clicker is most definitely a Left-Click only. But the pad itself is sensitive to how many fingers you use - and I've set mine up to Right-Click if two fingers are used to tap the pad. Saves using CTRL+Click to bring up the Context Menus in OS X. Also, and this is so neat, I've set the pad to Scroll when two fingers are used to drag around the pad. This perfectly emulates the Mighty Mouse scroll ball - it takes a very little getting used to, but works superbly.

Other good stuff - the LiIon battery clips into the base of the MacBook Pro, there are no air vents - this thing runs coooooool!. It also has one of those neat arrangements of LEDs and a button to test the battery condtion without having to start up the laptop. Very handy that, especially if the battery is on the low side.

Bluetooth - I used the BT browser to grab some pix from my mobile phone - it was very simple to find the phone, exchange security keys and then browse the handset and download the images to the MacBook Pro.

WLAN operation has been faultless from the off. As part of the initial start-up the MBP discovered by WLAN, asked for the WPA key, attached itself to the WLAN and has operated 100% with the network.

Attaching to and making use of shared resources on my LAN/WLAN (i.e. printers, fileshares etc...) has all been very easy to do.

This is how things should be and what has prompted me to migrate wholesale to Apple kit. There has been no looking back or doubt since the Mac Mini arrived. The Pro just made things better and the MBP has made them portable!

I'm happy :D

[miffed]

Glad you sorted it - I just posted it in the n95 thread (where I could see you were having trouble finding it :D

Still pondering myself ....... if I DO get one , it will have to be the bog standard , bottom of the range one , as the wife reckons we are skint , got a new car to pay for in September too ,and she reckons I have spent enough this year :( .....and to be honest , she is right :D

The other thing , I am surprised how "attatched" to this Macbook I have become - I can't say I have any perfomance problems TBH , and I have to say I am not sure I WANT a bigger laptop ,as I actually use it on my lap 90% of the time !
Nice to hear you boys have got yours though !

[Ben]

Sounds excellent, Hands0n, it really does. I have to say that the two finger right-click and scrolling are great innovations - I certainly couldn't stand having to apple+click all the time - and I've always been impressed by how well it works when at the Applestore.

Re: vents, is there one 'hidden' with the hinge, a la Macbooks? I believe that's where the hot air is vented. A much neater design than every PC laptop I have ever seen.

I'm incredibly impressed with your Mac collection - we're pretty much matched machine for machine! Such good taste ;) Go switch the lights off and sit in the dark so you can Ooo with amazement at the backlit keyboard!

Now, on to metro miffed - I think the Macbook is a fantastic machine and for the majority of computer users it represents a sweet spot in laptop performance. Sure, there's integrated graphics, but unless you're playing 3D games (or using certain pro apps) then the graphics chip just doesn't make a difference. What I'm trying to say is stick with the Macbook. It's going to be good for a long time yet.

[miffed]

On second thoughts ....

I might get one of these ! (http://www.shinyshiny.tv/2006/11/pink_prada_note.html)

[Ben]

Lmao @ shinyshiny.tv! Is this your blog? ;)

Seriously, though, Macbooks rock!

[Hands0n]

Sounds excellent, Hands0n, it really does. I have to say that the two finger right-click and scrolling are great innovations - I certainly couldn't stand having to apple+click all the time - and I've always been impressed by how well it works when at the Applestore.

Re: vents, is there one 'hidden' with the hinge, a la Macbooks?

Yup, I found the vents - they're with the hinge at the back - very out of the way, very effective.

Adjusting to the nuances of a Mac laptop where I've only ever used PCs has taken just a little bit of getting used to. But it has not been arduous. The thing is to know where to look to solve such problems and issues - and once you get the hang of System Preferences (Apple's version of Control Panel) it all begins to make entire sense.

I turned off the lights in the room and the Macbook Pro lit up like a Christmas Tree :D How very clever and thoughtful - the screen dimmed and the keytops lit up in balance. When I turned the room lights on again the keytops went out and the screen brightened to meet the ambient lighting. Now this is the kind of thoughtful stuff that separates the Macbook from any PC laptop equipment I've ever seen, no matter how high-end and expensive the laptop.

I truly cannot say whether the Macbook Pro is actually worth spending £1,500 on - it is eyewaterinly expensive in that respect. But when you have the thing on your lap, its strong and solid feel, the sheer thoughtfulness that went into the construction and software ....... it does rather make you think again.

Yes, £399 Wintel laptops can be had, but you're not getting anything in the same league. Even spending £1,000+ on a Wintel does not bring to the table anything that is like the Macbook Pro. The PC "crowd" may not be able to really understand this - I certainly couldn't/wouldn't previously. It has taken the [very short] experience to have convinced me that this is the way things should be done.

My message to the masses is - at this time in history Apple are doing a lot of things very right with their range of computers. They have created the right blend of technologies to bring forth computing platforms that [out of the box] address a great many needs, moreso than in the Wintel world. The experience is one of ease of use, high functionality, and a wealth of software - both fee-based and open source or free licensed.

[Ben]

I absolutely agree with you in terms of getting what you pay for with the MBP. The last laptop I forked out this amount of cash for was my now very dilapidated Dell 4kg monster. Back then (4-5 years ago) this sort of money got you a 1.8GHz processor and 512MB of RAM. Wow how things have moved on...

I spec'd up a few Dell's before taking the plunge, just to see what the competition had on offer. I love that Dell integrate HSDPA, so I do like to check there's nothing suitable on offer from them. The Latitude class machines are the comparible class of laptop to the MBP (if you discount things like the backlit keyboard and light sensor), and I found often they cost the same if not more. Urgh!

Apple really are on the ball at the moment and their products, both desktop and laptop, are better than ever - and it can truly be said that they're better than their PC equivalent. To anyone considering a new computer, do yourself a favour and check out a Mac. Why not make hay while the sun shines?

[Hands0n]

I just went on the Dell website - priced up a Precision M90 - admittedly it is a 17" model - and the price is £1836 for the closest I could get it to the MBP. I chose Vista Ultimate, same size RAM, same HDD etc. Processor is 2.33GHz on the Dell. This is as close as it gets - but as you say, there are design features of the MBP that are simply not available anywhere else!

[Ben]

2.33GHz means it's the old chipset - not Santa Rosa - making it even more of a relative ripoff.

[Ben]

The WWDC keynote address has now been and gone, with no additions to the Mac hardware lineup announced. As expected, the keynote was instead used to draw further attention to OS X Leopard, due in October.

So, if you were holding back on a new Macbook Pro - buy now! :D

[miffed]

Just watched it - must admit I nearly got the hump when Steve said "we are doing a basic version for $129 ........ "

Leopard looks good - wonder if Safari on windows will take off ?

[Ben]

I have been using Safari on my peecee. It's buggy, damn right it's buggy, but it's also lightening quick (I don't find the OS X version to be that quick, lol) and v3 is definitely an improvement.

Don't know if I'll stick with it, but it's more reliable than IE7 :D

I'll still keep to Camino on the Mac - best browser bar none if you can live without Firefox plugins.

[Hands0n]

Just watched it - must admit I nearly got the hump when Steve said "we are doing a basic version for $129 ........ "

I nearly pi**ed my pants laughing at that part of the presentation. Initial reaction was "Eh? Wha..?" but I knew there wasn't going to be Basic, Premier, Business, Ultimate. It was a really good P** take :D

That man is one showman - if he wasn't CEO Apple he'd be an Evangelist or something similar I reckon.

[Hands0n]

Gawd, its hot in here! I'm not sure what the ambient temperature is on this barmy summer's night but I'm as hot as a very hot thing.

I'm installing XP under Parallels, which is quite an intensive operation and the MBP is getting a tad hot on my lap. I reckon I could fry the proverbial egg on the base! Nice in winter, but not where I am right now. Best not run that 4D Foreign Exchange Options pricing model in Excel then :D

[Ben]

LoL, the MBP's are known for feeling warmer than your 'regular' laptop of a similar spec, for a couple of reasons:
1) They're very thin, there simply isn't as much room for ventilation and the hot components are that much closer to the outer casing.
2) They're made of metal, which conducts the heat. This is great for the internal components, as a standard plastic casing would, in theory, insulate the contents making it warmer, but not so great if you want to use the laptop under high load directly on your lap.

Apple themselves strongly advise that use of a MBP over a long period of time should be done on a flat surface and not on ones lap, citing risk of burning.

Still, if you think your MBP SR is hot - boy, you should've felt the original Core Duo ones!

[miffed]

Even my Macbook gets hot enough to cook an egg ( or any bodypart you happen to rest it on )
I first thought it was a fault , but I rang the nice people at Serviceweb ,who said "yep , its working perfectly then "
A bit of research on t'net shows that this is the case too ! It does get a little hotter than you'd think is healthy when you do anything "heavy" - Photoshop makes it heat right up ! (admittedly it's running under Rosetta ) - I have got CS3 now , but haven't had a chance to install it , I wonder if it will make a hell of a difference being a universal binary ?

[Ben]

CS3 will be less processor intensive so it certainly should allow for a cooler laptop. You might want to fiddle with your fan speeds by downloading smcFanControl (http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/31029), so you can jack up the minimums when you have no option other than using the computer on your lap.

[miffed]

CS3 will be less processor intensive so it certainly should allow for a cooler laptop. You might want to fiddle with your fan speeds by downloading smcFanControl (http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/31029), so you can jack up the minimums when you have no option other than using the computer on your lap.

Nice one - installed this earlier & I can feel my sperm count creeping back up to normal levels already !

Cheers dude !

[Hands0n]

As an experiment I used SMC fan control to turn the fans on my Mac Pro to maximum. Won't be doing that again then. The house lights dimmed and we got a call from Air Traffic Control saying we couldn't land it here!!

[Ben]

As an experiment I used SMC fan control to turn the fans on my Mac Pro to maximum. Won't be doing that again then. The house lights dimmed and we got a call from Air Traffic Control saying we couldn't land it here!!
LoL! Yes, those are some mean fans in the Mac Pro - I've done exactly what you did and was completely blown away! ;)

I often have my fans at 700rpm rather than 500rpm as the machine is heavily utilised for 8-9 hours a day and I want those HDD's and RAM to stay cool.

[Hands0n]

I'm puzzled :confused: How much memory can the MacBook Pro handle?

Apple's support site says 3GB http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303491

Crucial's memory website says 4GB ( see here (http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/listparts.aspx?model=MacBook+Pro+2%2E4GHz+Intel+Co re+2+Duo+%2815%2E4%2Dinch%29))

So who is telling the truth?

[Ben]

Old MBP, 3GB

New Santa Rosa MBP, 4GB

[Hands0n]

Another question for the Mac Guru *envisions Ben with an orange turban*

iSight - these went out of sale in Europe because of RoHS regulations. Prices on eBay are just plain silly, the camera did not cost that much when brand new on sale.

Any knowledge/rumours of a RoHS-compliant version of the iSight due? I keep finding old articles dated 2006 that suggest October of that year for a replacement. Well, October came and went and still nothing on the ground. Compared to what is generally available the iSight is in typical Apple style, simply gorgous and makes the other stuff look distinctly 2nd and 3rd rate!

I want a webcam for me Pro or Mini (not sure which will wear it in the end) now that I have the Macbook Pro which has one fitted in the screen surround (all the Macbooks do as far as I can tell). The quality is extraordinary for what it is. No, lets rephrase that, the quality is extraordinary - full stop. I've seen very much worse embedded in the typical laptop. Apple have gone for a quality chip by the looks of things.

I think I'm nearly done buying one of everything that Apple produce :)

[Ben]

Unfortunately there's no word on the iSight replacement that I'm aware of. It's a shame really. I have one and it's pretty nice, but it could do with a bit of an upgrade as the sensor is pretty old and my camera gets pretty hot - on or off.

You may have to (shock horror) consider something from Logitech. :( Or just wait and see!

Edit: Got my UPS tracking number, MBP should arrive tomorrow!

[Hands0n]

Edit: Got my UPS tracking number, MBP should arrive tomorrow!

Pity about the iSight - I'll wait it out a bit longer, but it may well be that I'l plump for something non-Apple, much against my wishes. The older iSights on eBay are going for silly money, so I won't be doing that.

Great news about your MBP - I stand in awe of your patience :D It is such a superb piece of engineering, but then you already know all that :)

[Ben]

Well, mine has arrived!

I've scared myself several times after doing the usual pre-arrival scout of forums etc for possible defects. I've mistaken several specs of dust for dead pixels, and thought the backlit keyboard wasn't working when, in fact, it just has to actually be dark to see it (just covering the vents makes the keyboard light up but it's not so bright that you can see it in daylight).

The LED glossy screen is awesome, and I'm rapidly getting used to the keyboard and trackpad. I'm going to have some fun with this today! :D

[Hands0n]

Nice one Ben, excellent news. I did look at the glossy screen but went for the matt one this time. I have a glossy screen on my "unfeasibly large laptop" from HP (17"WS media machine - more luggable than laptop!).

The MBP is a thing of beauty to behold :)

I got my keyboard to light up on first night - but for some reason not since, and the hands over the keys just dont work .... its gotta be dark dark dark :D

[Ben]

Well, I had a tinker with it last night and when I was done I checked Activity Monitor... I'd only chewed through about 1.2GB of RAM out of 4GB! I was quite disappointed! My Mac Pro just devours RAM, but that's due to OS X Server keeping it busy.

So, I guess the hard drive can put it's feet up - I doubt it'll be paged to during the life of the machine.

Blimey, it doesn't half get hot though when under full load. Only the back half, where the logic board is located, particularly the very back quarter where the CPU and GPU are soldered. It doesn't worry me, my old Dell used to get far too hot to leave on my legs, where as I could position the MBP so it wasn't a problem, but I feel happier giving it punishment knowing I have Applecare! The HDD is located front-left, which stays cool.

First thing I ended up doing was enabling two-finger right click and disabling using the F1-10 keys as hardware controls (I like my F1-12 to perform the software functions they were intended for). Two finger scrolling is great.

Battery life is OK at around 3.5 hours - I think I'd reduce the brightness considerably when 'on the road' and stay away from CPU/GPU intensive tasks, in which case I'm sure it could stay standing for 4+. Charging is really quick and magsafe is very well thought out, and the 85W PSU is incredibly compact.

My favourite bit? LoL! Slowly lower the lid towards the base. Just before they reach each other, two little latches appear as if by magic from the lid and grasp on to the base. I assume this is done magnetically. It's just awesome design!

[Hands0n]

I reckon they're using the aluminium casing of the Macbook Pro as a heatsink ;) I'm going to have to get me one of those silvered thermal blankets if this keeps up much longer!

The design innovations of the MBP are astonishing - I'm still finding little bits and pieces to get all appreciative about. I might just run the RAM up to 4GB and give the lad my 3GB to stuff into his PC-World special. But at the moment, like you're finding, I'm hardly using any at all. I must get it to do some hard work like rendering a DVD for me - see how it fares then. But I'd better stand it on a block of ice first :D :cool:

I do believe that I have, finally, out-CPU'd myself - there's so much horsepower laying around that I'm hard pressed to even make a dent in it!

[Ben]

Talking of dents, I'm paranoid I'm going to put a great big dinger in this thing. I've got it inside an incase sleeve and a be-ez Le Vertigo bag but I still feel like a new mother when I carry it around!

I am starting to trust in its build quality a little more, though. It's clear that these things aren't just pretty, they can be used in the real world - and the length of time that Apple has stuck with the design really shines through this highly evolved casing.

I'm considering myself also out-CPU'd. I have a Dell Precision 670 that's only a couple of years old, sporting dual (Netburst) Xeon 3.6GHz chips and 4GB RAM, and I think this laptop, yet alone the Mac Pro, wipes the floor with it in terms of responsiveness. Though the 670 runs Windows, so I guess it's not a fair fight ;)

I am really pleased with how small the power adapter is, btw. Ok, it's a bit square, but it's very compact and the cable tidy is an added bonus. At 85W it's not too shabby either! :D

[Hands0n]

Errr, yea, I really do have to sort myself out some kind of carry case for this baby. At the moment it is sitting around nude in the front room. I even resent dust settling on it :D The case does appear tough, but I really do not want it picking up scratches and dents. Although that said, my Proporta alu-case for my iPAQ PDA has survived more than three years being dropped, chucked around the car, rained on, all sorts and it looks pretty damn good.

Talking of Windoze vs OS X - sort of - even XP under Parallels runs faster than I've seen it run on anything else before! Parallels does seem to farm out even the VM to all of the cores - they all get a bit of work to do when XP is thrashing around. It is very noticeably quicker. And I've yet to see ANY laptop perform like this does!!

Sat in a darkened room tonight while the kids were watching a film on the projection screen - the MBP screen dimmed, but the keyb lights didn't come up . What does it need? Pitch black?

[Ben]

Sat in a darkened room tonight while the kids were watching a film on the projection screen - the MBP screen dimmed, but the keyb lights didn't come up . What does it need? Pitch black?
*sat with keyboard a-glowing* Dunno! The light sensor is in the left hand grill, next to the keyboard, if that helps.

[Hands0n]

T'was too late to admit to my gaffe - it is a setting in the System Preferences | Keyboard&Mouse panel. I do not remember uncheckin it - but there it was, plain as plain to see :) Tweaked it and enjoyed a moment of fun twiddling the room dimmer switch to see the screen dim and the keyboard light up and then the opposite happen when I twirled the lighting back up again.

Some folk are very easily pleased - it was one of my Homer moments :D

[gorilla]

So...it's been a few days since fisherprice, er I mean Apple annouced new machines, any new projects planned?

[Ben]

I see we have an avid fan of Apple industrial design in our midst :D

Rumours, as always, but other than iPhone being released later this month in the US and Leopard in October I don't believe there's anything else on the cards.

[gorilla]

My cynicism will only get me so far!

[Hands0n]

Oh, don't forget Steve Jobs aspirations for Apple TV - there is a chance that Apple's iTunes Store will change significantly as he is trying to sign up a number of big studios to get their movie content out via that channel. If he's successful he will likely be taking on the likes of Blockbuster etc. With an Apple TV box there'd be no need to wander down to the store to hire a DVD.

The only issue I see with any of that is the steadily increasing amount of Data Capping being performed by ISPs. Some quite low, and only a few movies or TV shows a month via Apple TV could well see huge bills dropping in the next period.

I'd like to see a replacement for iSight - but the rumours last year came to nothing, so no reason to expect them to change for this year, especially as all the laptops and iMacs have the imaging chip built in.

[Ben]

The only issue I see with any of that is the steadily increasing amount of Data Capping being performed by ISPs. Some quite low, and only a few movies or TV shows a month via Apple TV could well see huge bills dropping in the next period.
Heaven forbid that prices should rise and the ISP's start investing in infrastructure again! I read a lot around the net about how all this infrastructure we're milking now was build in the dot com surge, which created vast extra capacity after the dot com crash. Well, guess what, it's not 2000 anymore - and it's time for the Internet to start growing again.

Full on media delivery over data can only be so far away. All that we need now is the consumer demand and things will really start to get shaken up!

Apple TV has the foundation to replace the DVD player. I just hope what Steve describes currently as a hobby can become much more.

[Hands0n]

I'm just trying out a bit of video rendering on the Macbook Pro using iMovie and a 698.6MB AVI. So far I have only been using the Mac Pro (two dual-core Xeon CPUs) and its rendering speeds have to be seen to be believed. In a word "Awesome!".

The MBP is not going to have anything like the firepower of the Mac Pro but it has, so far, proved to be a very fast laptop. Possibly the fastest performing laptop I have ever encoutered. And so, when loading up the AVI into iMovie I rather thought it would take an age. But if the progress meter is to be believed it is expected to take no more than 40 minutes to encode it into iMovie. After that I will have to render it in iDVD - another lengthy process no doubt. But if it keeps to form, not a lot longer, and still quite a bit quicker than the same task on Windows XP and the 3rd party apps that I used on there.

Its obviously quite busy - the CPU is running at 78 degrees Celsius and cooking my thighs - I'm going to have to put this down in a mo! :)