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Rating: - Excelent laptop for a great price
I was looking for a nice, small and powerful laptop that could replace my Toshiba Centrino 2Ghz 17". Among many options I choose this one for many reasons:

- Great price
- Great desing and look
- No MS Windows in it (so I will less vulnerable to viruses)
- Excelente application availability (MS Office, Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Flash, DVD Authoring, DVD Burning, MSN Messenger, eMail, etc, etc, etc).
- Rock solid platform (*nix based).
- Good device support (From OSX or *nix)
- iSight camera is awesome
- Battery performance (up to 4 hours doing stuff like browsing the web, email and chat at the same time).
- Huge touchpad
- Superb backlit keyboard (nice feeling too)

I have read many complaints about this laptop being too hot to use, but as far I can say, I haven't noticed excessive heat coming up from it.

There's only one minor flaw that could be fixed at newegg for $45: You need 1024Mb RAM to unleash the full power of the CPU, if not, opening Rosetta translated apps will take more time, but after that, the app will work fine.

Wireless conectivity is a snap, more friendly than Windows.

It took me like 4 days to get used to the new OS, but now I'm like a fish in the water.

In short, if you are looking for a laptop that could replace your desktop, or you need power mobility and don't need to run any particular application that's availiable to Windows only, then this could be the one that's for you, as it was for me.

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Rating: - Great computer with early problems
I keep telling myself ... DON'T BE ONE OF THE FIRST TO BUY A NEW PRODUCT.

That said, I couldn't help myself.

the MacBook Pro is an outstanding machine, although really not worth the extra $1,000 than the white MacBooks that came out later.

The early machines off the line had some problem: mine whines when on battery (although the program QuietMPB helps), had a battery that died after 3 months (replaced for free by Apple) and singes the top of my legs with it's flamethrower heat.

That said, it's probably my favorite possession. If you need a laptop, er "portable" and have the cash, get one.

-- Ken LaCorte

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Rating: - Low quality, rushed production
We've gone through two of these, and both have had significant problems. In addition to the oft-cited heat issues, the machines occasionally hang. Often, they don't come out of sleep properly, requiring a hard reset.

It's pretty clear at this point that Apple really rushed these initial Intel-based laptops to get them on the market. It's probaly best to wait until the next generation ones come out either later this year or early next. For one, the next gen models will use the Core 2 processors, which are phenomenal and will reduce power consumption while giving an almost 100% boost to speed. Second, more applications will have been ported to the Intel architecture by then.

Unless you absolutely have to have an intel Mac now, I'd recommend waiting for the second generation laptops.

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Rating: - I really like it
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.

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Rating: - MacBook Pro, nice, but not THAT nice
OK, my new MacBook Pro is nice. It's fast. It's not a PC. It doesn't feel cheap like most PC laptops. My configuration is same as the item sold here, but with 1GB RAM.

The MacBook isn't THAT great. It's even worse than the PowerBook from a truly usability standpoint. Here's the inherent problems that are not Mac or PC related, just lousy engineering standpoint:

1. External audio input jack does not work with normal headsets. It is not a microphone jack, but a "line level" jack, which means it works with my stereo, but not with non-powered headsets like the ones you are likely to already have for chatting on VOIP or webcasts. This is ridiculous, as it would be a piece of cake for Apple to add another mic-in jack or, better yet, make this jack compatible with unpowered microphones.

2. Bluetooth doesn't work with the bluetooth telephone headsets I've tried. These same headsets work fine with an IBM laptop that have built-in BT. There is no technical reason for the headset to not work, it just doesn't, so it's lousy engineering and/or programming.

3. There is no S-Video or RCA video output, so no way to connect it to anything but an external computer monitor. The PowerBook had this. Again, shame on you Apple for not anticipating the need to output to something besides a computer monitor with a laptop.

4. NO MODEM ! This is ABSOLUTELY ridiculous. Now I know that everyone in Cupertino has access to T3 broadband in there RangeRovers, but out in the rest of the world MOST people only have access to analog phone lines. SHAME ON YOU Apple for not putting a modem on a MOBILE COMPUTER, a computer that is MOST likely to go places where there is no broadband. PowerBook had this.

5. No PCMCIA/PCCARD slot. Huh? It has some other slot that nobody has heard of.

6. MacOSX is cool, but there are some things that aren't that great. Help is awful. For example, there is nowhere in help that tells you that a normal headset microphone won't work, so you spend a long time digging through technical specifications or searching forums to find out on your own. Something else that help didn't help with is figuring out how to get the sound input from the audio-in port to come out the built-in speakers (strangely enough, this is EASIER to do on a PC, unless I am just ignorant and don't know the "trick" to make this happen on a Mac).

7. The screen opens to only about 115 degrees (just past perpendicular to keyboard), which is not enough for when the LAPtop is on your LAP. It should open to at least 180 degrees, or better yet 360 to let you look straight down at it for when it is at a lower position than when you are sitting in front of a high tabletop. Again, most PC laptops do open well past 90 degrees.

So, without the built-in features that should be mandatory on a laptop, this expensive laptop is basically a small desktop, but without all the expansion capabilities that a desktop has. The old G4 PowerBook is a better package than the MacBook Pro, but the MacBook is faster. As an example of Apple's "excellent" design and engineering, this laptop is a flop, ESPECIALLY for $2k.

If this computer hadn't been supplied by my employer, I would have gone with a G4 PowerBook or a supremely equipped PC for about half the price. This is my first Mac laptop, and I am disappointed.

--John