Apple MacBook Pro (17-inch)

The Apple MacBook Pro proves that a desktop replacement notebook doesn't have to be a behemoth. Weighing just 6.8 pounds and measuring about an inch thick, this sleek system delivers a 17-inch widescreen and plenty of extras.

The simple brushed-aluminum shell of the MacBook Pro (compare prices) is as pleasing to the touch as it is to the eyes, and the clean look continues inside, with a monochromatic brushed-silver keyboard and deck. The keyboard is exceedingly comfortable and quiet, and we appreciate the oversized touchpad and single mouse button. One casualty of the minimalist aesthetic: The system lacks multimedia control keys, although you can use keyboard shortcuts to control these functions.

The 17-inch, 1680 x 1050-pixel widescreen (your choice of antiglare or glossy) is sharp and bright, with excellent color reproduction for image and video editors. It also has the best viewing-angle performance we've seen, which makes the MacBook Pro an ideal presentation tool. If you need a larger screen, the ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 graphics engine can drive an external display up to 2560 x 1600 pixels.

Hardware and software features abound. We love the backlit keyboard that illuminates automatically, thanks to the machine's light sensor. The built-in iSight camera and software enable four-way videoconferencing, and the included remote launches and controls Apple's Front Row interface for playing movies, music, and photos from across the room. You'll find FireWire 400 and 800 ports, and the ExpressCard slot accepts a Verizon Wireless EV-DO wireless broadband card. The newest MacBooks are equipped with the latest 802.11n technology.

Then there are the extras of the Mac OS X 10.4 itself, such as the handy Finder search utility and the Dashboard with dockable Widget applets. The included iLife suite makes it easy to manage and edit photos with iPhoto, manage and expand your music library with iTunes, make your own music with GarageBand, create movies and DVDs with iMovie and iDVD, create a Web site with iWeb, and more. Not enough? Load Apple's Boot Camp utility and set up the MacBook Pro as a dual-boot machine running either Mac OS X or Windows XP. In fact, the only software you're likely to need to add is an office suite.

Performance from the 2.33-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU (married to 3GB of RAM in our test configuration) and ATI graphics was good but not class-leading. The machine scored 4,871 on PCMark05, and 4,996 on 3DMark03 while running Boot Camp (both acceptable, but on the lower end of the range here). Our F.E.A.R. test got a playable frame rate (39 fps) on its autodetect settings with a resolution of 1024 x 768. On the plus side, wireless throughput was excellent at 19.3 Mbps at 15 feet, and 14.6 Mbps at 50 feet. Battery life of 2 hours and 44 minutes was good for a 17-inch model and the best in the roundup.

For the price, you could certainly get a faster 17-inch Windows notebook, even one with a high-def DVD drive (which Apple doesn't yet offer). But it won't have all the Apple software and hardware extras, it'll weigh at least two pounds more, and it won't look nearly as good. We recommend opting for the standard 2GB of RAM instead of 3GB, which will bring the price down to $2,799.


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Specifications:

RAM Included:  3GB

RAM Upgradable To:  3GB

Hard Drive Size:  160GB

Hard Drive Speed:  5,400rpm

Optical Drive Type:  DVD+R DL;DVD±RW

Optical Drive Speed:  8X

Display Size (inches):  17

Native Resolution:  1680x1050

Graphics Card:  ATI Mobility Radeon X1600

Video Memory:  256MB

Wi-Fi:  802.11b/g

Bluetooth:  Stereo Bluetooth

Ports (excluding USB):  DVI; Ethernet; Firewire; Headphone; Microphone

USB Ports:  3

Card Slot(s):  ExpressCard

Warranty/Support:  One-year parts and labor/90-day toll-free 24/7

Size:  15.4x10.4x1

Weight:  6.8lbs

Apple MacBook Pro (15-inch)

As the first Apple laptop to be powered by an Intel dual-core processor, the Apple MacBook Pro promises much faster performance than the PowerBook. It also boasts a much brighter display than its 15-inch predecessor, one of the best webcams we've ever seen, and a slick interface for accessing your favorite pictures, movies, and music. All of this comes in a design that's still a full pound lighter than most Windows-powered mainstream laptops. Unfortunately, there's simply not enough software available that's been optimized for Intel's chip, but Apple has an ingenious but unsupported work around for that issue.

A cursory glimpse at the MacBook Pro reveals that Apple hasn't changed the machine too much from its older brother—that is, until you turn it on. Apple's first 15.4-inch widescreen (1440 x 900 pixels) is remarkably sharp and bright, and when placed next to an old PowerBook, we knew that it would be tough to go back.

The included remote, which looks like an iPod Shuffle, initializes Front Row, which resembles a smoother version of Windows Media Center. This app gives users quick and easy access to iTunes, iPhoto, iDVD, and iMovie. Another multimedia perk is the 640 x 480-pixel iSight camera located directly above the screen, which looks like a small black dot. This webcam offers good images and makes for smooth videoconferencing with iChat AV.

We like that Apple kept the ambient light-sensing technology, which illuminates the keys and dims the screen in a darkened environment, and the scrolling TrackPad, which allows clickless document scrolling. Apple's SuperDrive comes standard, allowing for out-of-the box DVD burning, as does the six-pin FireWire, Bluetooth 2.0, and USB 2.0 ports on either side of the notebook. Like a small handful of PC makers, Apple has ditched the PC Card slot in favor of the smaller but faster Express Card slot. This means users will have to wait for companies to catch up before they can plug in 3G cellular modems and other peripherals.

The 2.16-GHz Intel Core-Duo and 2GB of RAM make multitasking a breeze, especially with native software, or what Apple calls Universal software. (Universal versions of Final Cut Studio 1.0, Aperture, and Logic Pro 7.1 will be available by March 31.) We created a simple Web site with iWeb while burning an audio CD in iTunes, and we didn't experience a single hiccup. Battery life was respectable, at 2 hours and 33 minutes, while playing a DVD with Wi-Fi off. That means you should expect about 3.5 hours of endurance in everyday use.

Thanks to ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 graphics and up to 256MB of dedicated GDDR3 memory, gaming is finally a very real possibility for Mac users. We played World of Warcraft, and the MacBook Pro easily outperformed other Apple portables. When we optimized the graphic settings to the highest level, gameplay suffered, becoming somewhat choppy. Hopefully, developers will make more titles available for the Mac OS.

The catch to buying the MacBook Pro is that some Mac OS programs haven't been optimized to take advantage of Intel's processor. In fact, some apps actually ran slower on this system than on an older PowerBook with 1GB less memory. We performed the same Photoshop filter side-by-side, and the test took 5 minutes and 16 seconds on the MacBook Pro compared with 4 minutes and 27 seconds on the PowerBook. This 49-second delta can be chalked up to the fact that the MacBook Pro requires Rosetta translation technology (which runs automatically and undetected when you start up non-native software) in order to run nonoptimized programs. Microsoft Office is another program that cannot yet run natively on the MacBook Pro.

If you want to experience these and other apps now at full speed, Apple is offering Boot Camp, a free download that runs Windows XP natively on the MacBook Pro. You'll need to reboot your system when you want to switch operating systems, and Apple does not support Windows or Boot Camp, but simply having this sort of flexibility is a win for potential switchers. Still, some may want to wait for Leopard, the next version of Mac OS X to be previewed this August, which will include Boot Camp. By then we're assuming Apple will have worked out most of the kinks.

One seemingly minor but nonetheless brilliant innovation is the MacBook Pro's MagSafe power adapter, which automatically disconnects from the notebook's side if strain is applied to the cord. This means that should you trip over the wire, it will separate from the computer instead of bringing the notebook to the floor. If the notebook senses it's falling, Apple's Sudden Motion Sensor (a 3D accelerometer) parks the hard drive.

The MacBook Pro has all the pieces in place to become the best laptop Apple has ever produced. Until the Mac software catches up, however, you may be stuck with a potentially shaky Windows alternative. Specifications

Apple iPhone

The iPhone is the ultimate iPod and delivers an amazing Internet experience, but it’s not the best smart phone.

It's better than you think. The near-seamless slab of glass and metal that is Apple's iPhone has more preconceived-notion-shattering surprises than any piece of technology since, well, the iPod. A mind-blowing touchscreen experience, the best browser on any smart phone, blazing performance that puts Windows Mobile devices to shame. It's all here. So why are we left wanting more?

Designed to Delight

First things first: The iPhone is flat-out fun to use. True, several convergence devices have similar functions--phone, browser, email mapping, and media player. And at 4.8 ounces, the iPhone is noticeably heavier than the Samsung BlackJack (3.5 ounces) and BlackBerry Curve (3.9 ounces). But the appeal doesn't come from what the iPhone does as much as how Apple put it all together. Even the most pedantic functions are performed with verve and flair that's not superfluous or showy. And we guarantee you've never used such a responsive touchscreen. After a minute, the flicking, tapping, sliding, and pinching control movements you've seen on TV feel perfectly natural. Icons move and respond under your fingertips as though you're actually touching them.

Of course, the 3.5-inch screen smudges. But it wipes clear with a shirt sleeve or the included cloth, without activating any functions--just one example of the screen's intelligence. At times the iPhone seems psychic. When you swing it up to your ear, for instance, sensors inside turn off the touch sensitivity. When you turn it horizontally, pictures, video, and Web pages also turn and automatically fill the now-wide screen--although we noted an annoying delay at times.

Minimalist, unlabeled buttons grace the rounded edges: a ringer-off switch and a voice toggle on the left, up top an on/off button, the SIM card tray, and the 3.5mm earphone jack, which is slightly recessed, prohibiting earphone jacks from sliding in all the way. You're forced to use either the included stick earphones with a built-in in-line mic or spring for an iPhone-compatible 3.5mm adapter for your own headphones. You can use a Bluetooth headset for calls, but the iPhone doesn't support stereo Bluetooth, a disappointing and head-scratching omission for a media-centric device.

Apple has tried to compensate for the inherently flawed onscreen keypad with the best predictive typing software we've used, but it's still not as fast or accurate as typing on a physical thumb pad. Plus, numbers and commonly used symbols are on a second screen, which is annoying. We suggest typing in landscape mode, which means a larger layout and (slightly) fewer typos.

MVP Media Player

For video clips and movies, the iPhone is the best iPod yet. Video on the 3.5-inch screen is crystalline and quite an improvement over the 2.5-inch video iPod experience. An episode of 30 Rock looked sharp and clear, and we could watch The Italian Job downloaded from iTunes, in full frame mode or further letterboxed in its original aspect ratio. The iPhone had no problem handling the frenetic boat chase scene.

Flick navigating through the music choices and functions is even more fun and intuitive than using iPod's scroll wheel, thanks to features like Cover Flow. This approximates flipping through a stack of CDs or using album art. Click on a cover and you'll immediately see a song list ready to launch with a single tap. The internal speakers aren't impressive, but they're loud and clear enough for private listening.

YouTube integration is pretty much flawless on the iPhone, with easy access to Featured and Most Viewed Videos and near-instant playback (at least over Wi-Fi). Playing videos over Cingular's slower EDGE network results in blurry footage that you can barely follow. Google Maps is the other highlight, complete with photo-realistic satellite views and turn-by-turn directions (though not spoken).

Pictures taken with the pedestrian and unadorned two-megapixel camera looked good and automatically zoomed to wide frame when we turned the iPhone horizontally. There's no zoom and no flash, and you won't find any settings for exposure or anything else. Viewing pictures is a pleasure on the high-res display, made sweeter by the ability to swipe through a slideshow, complete with music. Unfortunately, you can't start playing tunes from within the Photo application; you have to fire up a track or playlist in the iPod app first. (We'd like to see music playback begin automatically when you start a slideshow, à la Apple TV.)

Sharing pictures is a snap. Touch the button on the left corner of the display, and you'll be presented with three options: Use as Wallpaper, E-mail Photo, and Assign to Contact. We're not sure why you can't send picture messages to other phones, but we hope MMS support is coming soon.

Split-Personality Surfer

The iPhone's main advantage over other mobile devices is that it runs full Mac OS X and Safari. The Web and full HTML e-mail are just like you get on your desktop, only smaller, although the Safari browser lacks Flash support. You can manually access your POP3 and IMAP e-mail as well as AOL, Gmail, and Yahoo push e-mail. The iPhone lets you view Word, Excel, and PDF attachments, as well as images, but not PowerPoints.

AT&T souped up its sluggish EDGE network just prior to the iPhone's release, but you're still going to need patience when you're not surfing in a hotspot. For instance, NYTimes.com took only 12 seconds to fill completely but was readable in about five. On EDGE, the same page was readable in about 20 seconds and took nearly a minute to load completely. Then we tried CNN.com. Over Wi-Fi, the homepage was readable in 7 seconds but took 30 seconds to download everything. Our wait increased to 23 and 57 seconds, respectively, over EDGE.

In most respects, this browser is so good compared to what you'll find on other smart phones--especially in terms of resolution and formatting--that the EDGE latency is almost worth it. But in general we prefer the BlackBerry Curve's browser because you can grab the information you need and move onto the next site in the time it takes the mobile version of Safari to get in gear.

If you work and play mostly in areas with Wi-Fi coverage, you'll have no complaints. We found the 802.11b/g connection very quick for Web browsing and trolling YouTube. We especially like that the phone automatically switches between Wi-Fi and EDGE for data. On our tests, this worked seamlessly when moving from Wi-Fi to EDGE and back with our home network.

Because iTunes can sync with Outlook, it's a cinch to keep track of your contacts and calendar on the iPhone. However, we'd like to see the ability to search for contacts by typing a few letters of the person's name. The flicking can get tiresome if you have a huge address book. The Calendar app is intuitive, with your choice of Day and Month views. Note to Apple: Add a little icon to tell users whether there's a note attached to a given appointment.

Phoning It In?

As a phone, the iPhone is adequate. We found the earpiece a bit weak (although the bundled earphones provide plenty of volume), and calls were a bit fuzzy on our end of the line. During one call from New Jersey to Boston, the other caller said we sounded clear but artificial and asked us to repeat ourselves twice. Ringers are loud, but you can't use songs as ringtones. The iPhone's most innovative communications feature is Visual Voicemail. Instead of slogging through all your messages before you get to the most important ones, you can simply tap on the message you want to hear.

Another plus is the large touch-sensitive dialpad; unlike the QWERTY keyboard, it fills the whole screen and is easy to use. Too bad there aren't dedicated Send and End keys for making calls. On most smart phones you can just start dialing by pressing physical number keys; on the iPhone you have to press the Main Menu button, then the Phone button, and then launch the keypad. Battery life is a solid eight hours for talk time and more than ten days for standby.

The iPhone has a few other flaws. First, you'll fill that 8GB of storage quickly, and there's no external memory card slot. Second, because the GSM radio interferes with speakers, the iPhone cell radio shuts off when you plug it into a dock. You have to unplug the iPhone to answer a call. Rumor has it that future iPhone-compatible auxiliary speakers will be shielded. Finally, the iPhone's unswappable battery is designed to retain up to 80 percent of its original capacity after 400 full charge and discharge cycles, after which time you'll likely want to replace your battery. With shipping this will cost you $85.95, and the repair process takes about three business days.

Of course, no smart phone is perfect, but the iPhone does a lot of things better than the competition, especially multimedia and Web browsing (at least over Wi-Fi). In general, the iPhone's interface is what makes it unique, much like the Click Wheel that sets iPods apart. Well, the interface and iTunes integration, which has advanced to the point where it handles everything including AT&T activation.

As to whether this device is worth $600 ($500 for the 4GB model)? Let's put it this way: It's the best portable multimedia player we've ever used. Safari is awesome. YouTube lovers will be in heaven. And you'll certainly look cool carrying it. If responding to e-mail and fielding calls is your number-one priority, with music and entertainment second, you'd be better off with a device like the BlackBerry Curve. But if your priorities are reversed, you’ll be more than happy with the iPhone.