Nilesh D Kapadia

At work, we just recently received the new unibody 17" MacBook Pro. I got mine with the anti-glare option. I own a Early-2008 15" MacBook Pro (which I am very happy with) which is what I am comparing it to. I've only had it for about a day, and haven't used it that much yet, so these are just my initial impression and observations.

I like the display

I'm not necessarily a great judge of displays, but I'm pretty impressed with the display. Having 1920x1200 resolution on a notebook is just amazing. I subjectively find the display to look a little better than my 15". Do note that on a 17" display, with 1920x1200 you end up with very small text (with the default font sizes) and that could take some getting used. Adjusting font sizes will help, but would not be ideal if you are connecting an external display and trying to use both screens.

I will be comparing the display side-by-side with glossy displays on my co-workers' machines.

Less flex, more solid

Since my laptop before it was a Thinkpad T23, I found the Early-2008 15" MBP to be rather flimsy. There is a lot of flex to it. The new unibody MBP has lot less flex and is just more solid in general. The only place where it has a little flex is behind the display.

Keyboard doesn't seem too bad

After trying the keyboard on the new 15", I originally thought it was a step backward from the previous generation. I thought the flat untextured keys would make typing more difficult because I wouldn't be able to feel where the keys are as easily (I touch type) and that the key-press feel was just not as good. But I haven't had any problems typing on it so far. I'm undecided as to whether or not its worse than the previous generation keyboard or not, but I'm leaning towards the Early-2008 having the better keyboard due to the key-press feel, but no so much because of difficulty locating keys. I'm going to have a Unicomp Model M connected to this notebook most of the time, so I'm not too concerned.

These keyboards are definitely much better than Apple's latest desktop keyboards, which is kind of surprising, you'd think they'd be pretty much identical. I really wanted to like Apple's new bluetooth keyboard (because I like the layout which is identical to the notebook keyboards), but it really just does not feel good, having very little action in the keys, it feels like slamming your fingers against a table. Of course, it could just be me, as I read one report of someone abandoning their Model M for one of these desktop keyboards.

Trackpad button has a cut-off

I was under the impression that the whole trackpad was one big button. This is not the case as the top 1/4 of the trackpad cannot be pressed down to click. Not a problem at all, just something I observed.

Loud noise when you shut it

When closing, it makes a loud sound as if two wooden blocks were hitting each other.

Loud trackpad clicks

The only thing I don't like so far is the loud noise the trackpad makes when you physically click on it, but that is a very minor issue. I normally tap to click so it doesn't affect me much. The only time I physically click is when I am dragging I click with my left hand and drag with the other (I don't really like to double-tap to drag). But I use a Model M when I am at my desk, so I should not be one to complain about loud noises.

Also, the feel of the click is rather abrupt and not as subtle as it is in the Early-2008. The feel of the trackpad is rather nice, though, it feels very smooth.

Overall, pretty happy

Overall, I am very excited to be using this new notebook at work. In preparation for its arrival, I have been using my personal notebook at work, and I used the Migration Assistant to migrate my apps and data to the 17" MBP. This migration worked perfectly as far as I can tell, I only needed to manually migrate my /etc/hosts file and install the XCode tools (which didn't get migrated for some reason).

I'll have more impressions after using it at work this coming week. I have yet to try connecting it to the 24" at work, and I don't know yet if we're going to have problems like other people have been having.

Update: Connected to a HP w2408h monitor with no problems so far. It was connected via Mini-Displayport-to-DVI adapter connected to a DVI-to-HDMI cable (this monitor's only digital input is HDMI).

Update 2: Added some photos: