MacBook Pro Index

15″ MacBook Pro (Core Duo)

Overview

15" MacBook ProTo the pleasant surprise of the Mac community, Apple began shipping the MacBook Pro (MBP) the week of Feb. 14, 2006 with faster CPUs than originally announced. The US$1,999 MBP ships with a 1.83 GHz CPU instead of the announced 1.67 GHz one, and the US$2,499 MBP has a 2.0 GHz CPU instead of a 1.83 GHz one. For those clamoring for even more speed, there's a 2.16 GHz build-to-order option at a US$300 premium. This is the first time in Apple history that a computer has been released with a faster CPU than originally announced and also the first time Apple has offered a faster CPU as a build-to-order option in a notebook computer.

Apple marked the transition to Intel by discontinuing the well-known, long-respected PowerBook name. The Intel-base "pro" laptop is known as the MacBook Pro, a name that met with a less-than-enthusiastic reception at the Expo keynote.

Built around Intel's Core Duo CPU, the new 'Book offers up to 4x the performance of the old one. Yeah, that's a lot of power.

The new Intel-based MacBook Pro looks a lot like the old 15" PowerBook G4 at first glance, but its 15.4" 1440 x 900 display (up from 15.2" and down from 1440 x 960) is the brightest Apple has ever used on a notebook. It is a bit larger and thinner than the 15" PowerBook G4.

There are two other visual clues that this 'Book is different. There's a black square above the display - that's the iSight webcam. And there's a round spot on the front, a receiver that works with Apple's remote control.

Just like the iMac, the MacBook Pro comes with Front Row.

New with the MacBook Pro is the MagSafe power connector, which is designed to detach itself when someone trips over the cord - preventing your 'Book from crashing to the floor.

Other changes include built-in dual-DVI support for Apple's 30" Cinema Display, ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 graphics, an ExpressCard/34 slot (replacing the older PC Card), elimination of FireWire 800, and a "downgrade" to a 4x single-layer SuperDrive.

Note that the built-in display is only capable of 18-bit color, not the full 24-bit color you might expect.

Closed Lid Mode: All Intel 'Books support "lid closed" (or clamshell) mode, which leaves the built-in display off and dedicates all video RAM to an external display. To used closed lid mode, your 'Book must be plugged into the AC adapter and connected to an external display and a USB or Bluetooth mouse and keyboard (you might also want to consider external speakers). Power up your 'Book until the desktop appears on the external display and then close the lid. Your 'Book will go to sleep, but you can wake it by moving the mouse or using the keyboard. The built-in display will remain off, and the external monitor will become your only display.

To resume use of the internal display, you need to disconnect the external display, put the computer to sleep, and then open the lid. This will wake up your 'Book and restore use of the built-in display.

The Intel-based Macs use a new partitioning scheme known as GPT. Macintel models can only boot from GPT hard drives; APM (Apple's old partitioning scheme) hard drives cannot be used to boot them. Further, Power PC Macs running any version of the Mac OS prior to 10.4.2 cannot mount GPT volumes.

On the plus side, Macintel models are the only Macs that can boot OS X from a USB hard drive. That should make a lot of Mac users happy, although it may be the beginning of the end for external drives with dual FireWire 400/USB 2.0 support.

The MacBook Pro initially shipped with Mac OS X 10.4.4, the first universal binary version. It will also include iLife '06, which is also universal binary.

Battery life is comparable to the 15" PowerBook G4.

As of April 2006, there have been five revisions of the MacBook Pro, A-E. Serial numbers of the original begin with W8608.

  1. W8607/8, Rev. A.
  2. W8609, Rev. B.
  3. W8610, Rev. C.
  4. W8611, Rev. D.
  5. W8612, Rev. E.

We wonder what went wrong here, as this is a very fast and unusual hardware revision schedule for Apple. The models demonstrated at Macworld Expo were preproduction prototypes, and shipping models have had reports of whining, AirPort problems, flickering displays (esp. at maximum brightness), and excessive heat. Perhaps the combination of Intel designing the motherboard and Apple designing an even slimmer enclosure have both been contributing factors, but these issues should have been worked out before Apple began shipping the MBP, not worked out in the hands of guinea pig customers during the first six weeks or so of sales.

Apple has begun replacing logic boards to solve "whining" problems. Models with the new logic board require 10.4.6 or later.

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