13 Inch MacBook Pro Fall 2011 Review - Find Out Why the New Macbook Pro Is Awesome
Apple MacBook Pro 13" Review Ladies and gentlemen I have a real treat in store for you this week as I will be reviewing Apple's entry level MacBook pro the Apple MacBook MD313LL/A.
After weeks of pleading, I have finally snagged a MacBook on loan for a review and unfortunately I have to send it back when I'm done reviewing it.
So let's get down to the review.
The Overview The MacBook that I will be reviewing is the latest edition MD313LL/A which came out in the fall of 2011.
This laptop has a 2.
4 GHz duo core i5 processor which is very fast and is optimised for performance.
Intel's i5 processor supports multi-threading technology what this means to you as a user is that you will be able to run multiple programs at the same time without a decrease in performance.
The 13" MacBook that I had for this review had a hard drive size of 500GB.
This would allow you to store up to: 10,000 photos 150 Movies 800 Music Albums One of the main features that I liked about the MacBook is the 13" screen.
The image quality is really good and the resolution size of 1280 x 800 allowed me to navigate around the screen using different programs very easily.
Being a website developer by trade this laptop allows me to design websites far more quickly simply because I don't have to keep zooming out all the time to see my designs in full.
The high resolution screen allows me to see everything clearly, making my job far more enjoyable and quicker.
Battery Life is a good 7 hours which is pretty good considering most other laptops/netbooks can't get close to this figure even with half the processing power.
One area where I think the MacBook could improve upon is the connectivity options.
The MacBook comes with 2 USB slots, a firewire port and a thunderbolt port.
Personally I don't use firewire and would much prefer to get rid of it and add more USB ports.
What's In the Box? 13.
3-inch MacBook Pro Display cleaning cloth 60W MagSafe Power Adapter AC wall plug Power cord Printed and electronic documentation Powering Your MacBook Now most power adapters that come with any type of computer system aren't worth mentioning, they simply power up the computer.
Now the MacBook's power system isn't magical in anyway but it does come with a cool feature called "MagSafe" and what this does is if the power cord suddenly gets pulled or yanked away from the laptop then it won't pull your laptop crashing to the ground, which is always handy considering the price on this laptop.
Build and Design One of the major selling points of any Apple product is their design.
The Apple brand is known for its cool, classy and trendy products and the MacBook Pro as you would expect is no different.
The entry level MacBook comes in a UniBody chassis which is very appealing to the eye.
There's no clutter at all anywhere on this entire device and from start to finish the design flows perfectly.
The battery is even stored internally so you are left with no bumps or lumps in the wrong places.
The body of the design makes the laptop look stunning but I can also imagine it being a bit of a challenge if you want to replace the battery, hard drive or even RAM.
From doing research it seems as if you need a special fitting Philips screw driver to take the laptops bottom off.
The whole process takes around 10 minutes which isn't as bad as I was expecting.
Sound and Display As I mentioned earlier in the review the MacBook pro has a good clear screen, it is very shinny though and it does take some getting used to.
This glossy screen is excellent for viewing movies and images and if you purchase this MacBook rather than the older one released at the beginning of last year then you will be glad to know the new MacBook boasts 60% more clarity and depth of color.
The sound on the built in speakers is nothing to write home about, the speakers aren't good or bad they are just OK.
If you are considering watching movies or listening to music on your Mac then I would recommend picking up a good set of headphones.
MacBook Keyboard Most of my work is carried out on Windows based computers so adjusting to the Mac keyboard took some time.
I found that the keys were closer together and this slowed my typing speed down while I adjusted to the new layout.
Once adjusted I think I actually prefer the layout of a Mac keyboard, everything seems to be in reach and I loved the fact that the keys are silent when typing unlike most windows based keyboards.
The MacBook also has backlit keys which are useful when typing in low light situations.
The brightness levels of the backlight can be adjusted to suit your preference.
Mac Touchpad The Mac touch pad is pretty awesome.
It's simply one big area that allows you to move and click from the same area.
There are no buttons to push in you simply press down on the touch pad to click.
In testing I did find that the touch pad is very sensitive and a slight increase in finger pressure made the device think that I was double clicking, which was slightly annoying.
Overall though the touchpad was fluid and allowed me to navigate the operating system quickly and effectively.
MacBook Performance For everyday tasks such as email, browsing the web or watching videos then the 13" MacBook will perform excellently.
If you're into high end gaming or video editing though you should consider the 15" or 17" MacBook pro as they both have AMD Radeon HD graphics cards whereas the 13" MacBook doesn't have a dedicated graphics card.
The 13" MacBook pro isn't great for gaming and I wouldn't recommend this laptop if that's what you're looking for, if you're not looking for something to play games on then I would recommend the 13" MacBook pro over its bigger brothers as it performs everyday tasks efficiently.
MacBook 13" pro conclusion There are a ton of features that I love about the MacBook pro, and a few features that I don't like for example the lack of a USB 3.
0 slot or the price but having said that you get what you pay for.
Without a shadow of a doubt the MacBook Pro is the best looking laptop available on the market.
It's also fast and reliable.
If you are going to part with your money and purchase a MacBook pro then I'm sure you won't be disappointed.
After weeks of pleading, I have finally snagged a MacBook on loan for a review and unfortunately I have to send it back when I'm done reviewing it.
So let's get down to the review.
The Overview The MacBook that I will be reviewing is the latest edition MD313LL/A which came out in the fall of 2011.
This laptop has a 2.
4 GHz duo core i5 processor which is very fast and is optimised for performance.
Intel's i5 processor supports multi-threading technology what this means to you as a user is that you will be able to run multiple programs at the same time without a decrease in performance.
The 13" MacBook that I had for this review had a hard drive size of 500GB.
This would allow you to store up to: 10,000 photos 150 Movies 800 Music Albums One of the main features that I liked about the MacBook is the 13" screen.
The image quality is really good and the resolution size of 1280 x 800 allowed me to navigate around the screen using different programs very easily.
Being a website developer by trade this laptop allows me to design websites far more quickly simply because I don't have to keep zooming out all the time to see my designs in full.
The high resolution screen allows me to see everything clearly, making my job far more enjoyable and quicker.
Battery Life is a good 7 hours which is pretty good considering most other laptops/netbooks can't get close to this figure even with half the processing power.
One area where I think the MacBook could improve upon is the connectivity options.
The MacBook comes with 2 USB slots, a firewire port and a thunderbolt port.
Personally I don't use firewire and would much prefer to get rid of it and add more USB ports.
What's In the Box? 13.
3-inch MacBook Pro Display cleaning cloth 60W MagSafe Power Adapter AC wall plug Power cord Printed and electronic documentation Powering Your MacBook Now most power adapters that come with any type of computer system aren't worth mentioning, they simply power up the computer.
Now the MacBook's power system isn't magical in anyway but it does come with a cool feature called "MagSafe" and what this does is if the power cord suddenly gets pulled or yanked away from the laptop then it won't pull your laptop crashing to the ground, which is always handy considering the price on this laptop.
Build and Design One of the major selling points of any Apple product is their design.
The Apple brand is known for its cool, classy and trendy products and the MacBook Pro as you would expect is no different.
The entry level MacBook comes in a UniBody chassis which is very appealing to the eye.
There's no clutter at all anywhere on this entire device and from start to finish the design flows perfectly.
The battery is even stored internally so you are left with no bumps or lumps in the wrong places.
The body of the design makes the laptop look stunning but I can also imagine it being a bit of a challenge if you want to replace the battery, hard drive or even RAM.
From doing research it seems as if you need a special fitting Philips screw driver to take the laptops bottom off.
The whole process takes around 10 minutes which isn't as bad as I was expecting.
Sound and Display As I mentioned earlier in the review the MacBook pro has a good clear screen, it is very shinny though and it does take some getting used to.
This glossy screen is excellent for viewing movies and images and if you purchase this MacBook rather than the older one released at the beginning of last year then you will be glad to know the new MacBook boasts 60% more clarity and depth of color.
The sound on the built in speakers is nothing to write home about, the speakers aren't good or bad they are just OK.
If you are considering watching movies or listening to music on your Mac then I would recommend picking up a good set of headphones.
MacBook Keyboard Most of my work is carried out on Windows based computers so adjusting to the Mac keyboard took some time.
I found that the keys were closer together and this slowed my typing speed down while I adjusted to the new layout.
Once adjusted I think I actually prefer the layout of a Mac keyboard, everything seems to be in reach and I loved the fact that the keys are silent when typing unlike most windows based keyboards.
The MacBook also has backlit keys which are useful when typing in low light situations.
The brightness levels of the backlight can be adjusted to suit your preference.
Mac Touchpad The Mac touch pad is pretty awesome.
It's simply one big area that allows you to move and click from the same area.
There are no buttons to push in you simply press down on the touch pad to click.
In testing I did find that the touch pad is very sensitive and a slight increase in finger pressure made the device think that I was double clicking, which was slightly annoying.
Overall though the touchpad was fluid and allowed me to navigate the operating system quickly and effectively.
MacBook Performance For everyday tasks such as email, browsing the web or watching videos then the 13" MacBook will perform excellently.
If you're into high end gaming or video editing though you should consider the 15" or 17" MacBook pro as they both have AMD Radeon HD graphics cards whereas the 13" MacBook doesn't have a dedicated graphics card.
The 13" MacBook pro isn't great for gaming and I wouldn't recommend this laptop if that's what you're looking for, if you're not looking for something to play games on then I would recommend the 13" MacBook pro over its bigger brothers as it performs everyday tasks efficiently.
MacBook 13" pro conclusion There are a ton of features that I love about the MacBook pro, and a few features that I don't like for example the lack of a USB 3.
0 slot or the price but having said that you get what you pay for.
Without a shadow of a doubt the MacBook Pro is the best looking laptop available on the market.
It's also fast and reliable.
If you are going to part with your money and purchase a MacBook pro then I'm sure you won't be disappointed.