So, I sorta dropped my beloved 12" a few weeks ago, and ignoring the cosmetic dents, a couple of the interfaces are not quite their helpful normal selves, and I infer imminent SuperDrive failure. Plus there's the ominous light rattle sound...
So... the MacBookPro: worth getting Real Soon Now, or should I wait as long as I can until they expand the range and increase options?
While I'm at it: any thoughts on the new Mac desktops? Is it worth scrounging and hoarding old G5s for posterity, or go with the flow? Or go back to linuxboxes?
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I love my quad G5, it is pretty fast. The dual core Intels are fast enough to compute some things on but anything written by Redmond running under emulation is very slow. Ask GDI to get an earful. I just use Keynote....
I have a mac book (sans pro) and love it. I have played with friends mac book pros, and aside from some heat issues, it's quite amazing (my favorite thing to do is open the applications folder, hit "command A" then "command O," and wait thirty seconds for every application to open. It's fast). But if you are thinking of a desktop, I'd wait until the end of the month, when they should be coming out with the Intel Mac Pro tower. It's going to be sweet.
I won't go into too many specifics, but we had a bunch of monitors on loan from Apple for a while. Just two weeks ago or so, we had to return them -- evidently the demo lab was calling in all their monitors, presumably for a show... This points, like Neil said, to a headless machine being unveiled at WWDC.
We've also had a couple people with both Macbooks and Macbook Pros here, and the verdict (as determined by me, dealing with both) was that the Macbook was a better overall deal. The onboard video card was the primary difference, which jibes with what has been said online.
Be sure to check out the new, standalone version of GLOYD when you get one. :)
I would wait to see when the new new chips end up in the laptops. I am hoping they upgrade both the pro and non-pro 'books soon, but I'm not too optimistic that the plain old MacBook will get the newest chips. I'm afraid they'll keep the old new chips to differentiate the pro and non-pro. I'll probably still get a plain vanilla MacBook. By the way, Parallels works nicely on our new Intel Mini.
What bugs me is that there is no equivalent of the 12" in the new line up. I love mine and it have several dents and bulges from being dropped, but its small size, good features and durability are keeping me using it as long as I can, hoping something equivalent is coming. typing on the PB right now.
My 12" has survived three falls onto concrete. I had to replace the DVD writer drive, but that was unrelated (or so I told them). It has a slight bluge where the battery compartment meets the latch, but that's it. I think the MBPro magnetic power connection is a very good idea.
If I had the funding, I'd get the MBP immediately, though. It's a lot faster and I don't think I'd miss the 12" screen either.
I just purchased a new Mac Book Pro, as it happens -- was going to wait until they worked the few remaining bugs out of the alpha version, but, well, my old laptop died and I didn't have much choice. Anyway, it's definitely a nice machine -- _huge_ improvement in processing speed, and the thing boots up in 30 seconds. Biggest minus is the new Intel chips have led to some minor software compatibilty glitches, even with software designed for the Mac. I've been able to address most of these through updates and patches, and Apple apparently expects to have largely solved the issue with the release of its next new operating system next year...
RE: the commenter complaining about the lack of a 12-inch model, I think there's one in the works. I happen to prefer the 15-inch. I like the larger screen, and I have long fingers, so appreciate a bit more space around the keyboard....
I bought a Mac Mini. I cannot speak about the MacBook, but my one negative with the Mini is WHAT SOFTWARE you currently use, and does that software have Universal versions? If not, be wary of the switch. Although most of my software did work in Rosetta, others did not, especially the apps that use the graphics infrastructure (like mPlayerOSx and VLC; they are still flaky).
Before you buy, check the software that you use for universal binaries. Be wary of those without the, especially shareware/freeware.
I pre-ordered my MBP when they were announced and got it not long after they came out (serial # begins with W8608, which means it was made in the second or third week of production), and I love it. I've only had a couple of minor problems with it -- mainly that it gets really hot underneath, but I was sort of expecting that anyway. The major problem I had was that the battery, after three months of working perfectly fine and giving me up to 4.5 hours of unplugged goodness, decided one day to stop working when it reached 94% charge. Fortunately this happened just before I moved to where the nearest Apple Store is not 3 hours away. I went there, explained what happened, and got a new battery. Haven't had a battery problem since.
Being a recent Mac convert, the only comparison I can do is with my old Dell laptop, and it's safe to say that my MBP works a gagillion times better.
I'd say get one, they're good. But also, Apple could come out with new versions with better specs any day, which could be soon or not (hehe, incidentally, the MBP was announced the day after I almost bought a Powerbook, so I got lucky there).