Shortly after the release of Apples new unibody 15” MacBook Pro, I decided to  try one out.  I’ve been using the 17” version ever since they were introduced, but since I find myself using the MacBook with an external display most of the time, I thought I’d try the smaller (and lighter) version. 

The new unibody design is amazingly strong and rigid ... holding the laptop with one hand doesn’t seem to stress it at all.  The keyboard is beautifully recessed, but surprisingly it still touches the screen when closed, resulting in marks from from the residual oil typing leaves on the keys.  Fortunately the glass screen is much easier to clean, so the marks aren’t as much of an issue as previous screens.

The LED backlight is very even and bright.  Calibrating with an Xrite i1 Pro and iMatch sofware didn’t work at first, then I found a link that referenced a problem with HP printer drivers.  Downloading Apple’s version of the HP drivers and installing them solved the problem.  To achieve a brightness level to match my printer only requires the brightness setting to be at about 40% and I find I rarely have to turn the brightness up.  Even in extremely bright conditions, such as outside, I can turn up the display brightness so I can see the screen easily..  While laptop screens are not ideal for working on images, they still work very well, and this display is no exception.  The battery seems to last a long time, although there seems to be a bug where the battery drains must faster when the computer is asleep than it should. 

The MacBook Pro has two different graphic subsystems to drive the display, the nVidia 9600M GT for faster performance, or the “integrated” nVidia 9400M.  As expected the 9600 sucks the battery down much faster but does perform better with graphics intense processes.  I find I use this setting most of the time, since the MacBook is normally powered anyway.  I have an extra battery and when I travel I do activate the other graphics card.  In this mode 3 to 4 hours out of a battery is pretty easy.

The feature I like the most about the MacBook Pro is the trackpad. There is no visible button, but the pad itself works as “button”, so you can still use your thumb on the bottom and “click” if you want.  (Sort of like Apple’s Mighty Mouse).  The pad is larger than previous pads (especially since the area that was the button is now part of the touch sensitive pad), but more importantly the pad is multi-touch sensitive, and you can use multiple fingers to perform different things.  A great example is a four finger “swipe”, which switches between applications.  There are tons of “gesture” shortcuts, such as spreading two finders to zoom in while viewing a page in Safari. 

What I really like is the combination of the new laptop with the new 24” LED LCD display.  One cable from the screen supplies the graphic connection, computer power, and USB connection.  With an external keyboard and mouse, you really have a desktop computer complete with sound and iSight video camera in seconds.  I normally leave my laptop closed and only work with the one screen, and I really like how these two work together.

The new display also calibrated very well, and despite the gloss screen I find it works just fine from within Lightroom and Photoshop.  The backlight here is much more even than any Apple Cinema Display I’ve had before, and very bright as well.  Muhc like the MacBook Pro, a brightness of about 45% is all that is needed for a good match, and in fact I rarely have the display higher than about 60%.  The reflections really aren’t noticeable or objectionable, and the color quality seems very good. 

I will admit I do miss the extra real estate of the 17” screen as well as the finer pixel density.  Since I have to carry a spare battery with the 15” model, I may sell it and opt for the new 17” where a single battery seems to last for 5 hours or longer.  It’s more about weight than anything and the 17” with no extra battery will be about the same weight as the 15” with two.