Apple MacBook Pro MC700LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop (OLD VERSION) on sale

Gauteng Say: Apple MacBook Pro MC700LL A 13.3-Inch Laptop (OLD VERSION)
Goldilocks' laptop, 2011-04-15
This review is for: Apple MacBook Pro MC700LL A 13.3-Inch Laptop (OLD VERSION)
I have owned my Mac Book Pro for about nine months now and I couldn't be more pleased. I have taken it on numerous business trips and a couple of long vacations. One of my favorite features is its construction - the case is so strong that picking it up by one corner causes no deflection in the laptop body. This means that a lazy grab from the hotel night table or the kitchen island is no problem. The next best feature for me is battery life - it is superb at about 8 hours. This means that with periodic charging it always has enough juice for working for extended periods while not plugged in. Wireless networking works extremely well and I have accessed the Internet effortlessly in airports, hotels and vacation homes. While the Apple OS and certain apps may present minor compatibility issues for some, I have installed Office for Mac 2008 and Adobe Acrobat and I have no problem working with typical business documents. Additionally, the breakaway power cord adds some piece of mind for those situations where the cord might get snagged. This 13.3 inch version is light and compact and fits vertically in the seat pocket of a typical economy class widebody seat or in the hotel safe. It also packs easily in a carry on bag. The lighted keyboard makes working in darkened spaces easier (night flight, in bed...) and all the common media/connectivity options are available - USB, SD, DVD/BR. DVDs and Netflix streaming play beautifully on the bright detailed screen. This has become a serious and reliable tool and a treasured travel companion. While the price may represent a premium over other similar laptops, I think in my case that it is justified by the premium experience.

KSBAY Say: Apple MacBook Pro MC700LL A 13.3-Inch Laptop (OLD VERSION)
MBP 13 GOOD!, 2011-03-11
This review is for: Apple MacBook Pro MC700LL A 13.3-Inch Laptop (OLD VERSION)
The Macbook Pro 13 has just been updated on Feb 24th 2010. There are some upgrades and a few major changes between this years model and 2010's model, detailed below.The UPGRADES are1) The MBP 13 base model now has a 2.3 GHz Intel Core i5 dual-core processor which is a massive upgrade over the outdated Core2Duo processors in last years model. These processors are great for multitasking and content creation (video and audio encoding/decoding )2)Thunderbolt port. This is a super fast data transfer port now included in the MBP 13. Data transfer speeds (in daily use) are supposed to be as fast as USB 3.0 and firewire 800 if not more. As of now, no thunderbolt compatible products are available at retail but should be available soon. The TB port also functions as a Minidisplay port. For connecting your MBP 13 to an external monitor, you'll need a Syba High Quality Mini DisplayPort to DVI Adapter If you want to connect it to a tv, you'll need a Kanex iAdapt MDPHDMIV2 HDMI V2 - Mini DisplayPort to HDMI Adapter with Audio Support3) iSight HD Camera - The camera now can make 720p resolution videocalls with support for facetime.4) 320 GB hard drive - up from 250 gb in last years model (a small 70 gb difference)5) SDXC card slot - the XC stands for extended capacity so you'll be able to add SD cards of extremely high capacities.STANDARD FEATURES carried over from last years 13 inch model areAn Aluminum unibody,1280 x 800 resolution Glossy LED backlit screen,8x slot-loading SuperDrive dvd burner4GB ramLarge glass multi-touch trackpadBacklit keyboard with comfortable chiclet keysMagsafe power adapter (with redesigned tip to reduce stress on the cable)1 Firewire 800 port,2 USB 2.0 ports ,Stereo speakers and subwoofer.Wi-Fi - 802.11n ; 802.11a/b/g compatible, Bluetooth 2.1 and Gigabit Ethernet -10/100/1000.7 hours of battery life.So some key changes, including a transition to Intel's 2011 processors, a thunderbolt port and a HD webcam make up the list of upgrades for the early 2011 model. The processor is much faster than last year's Core 2 Duo model and editing photos and videos is a lot snappier.Apple continues to include integrated graphics in the MBP 13's and these models have Intel's Integrated.Graphics 3000 graphics processor. Which is not really an upgrade. Most benchmarks reveal that the I.G 3000 is worse or at best equal to the Nvidia 320m integrated graphics processor in last years model.The machine still has 4gb of ram, which is great for multi-tasking. You probably won't need more unless you're really into running virtual machines or editing super large graphic files or images.It also comes with a 320gb 5400 rpm hard drive, which is not that great capacity wise and probably contributes to a somewhat degraded user experience (as applications will take longer to launch due to the slow rotational speed of the hard drive) Apple needs to realise it's selling a "Pro" product priced at a premium and the user experience should reflect that. (In totality, not just through the software) Luckily, its quite easy to upgrade the hard drive by yourself and doesn't void the warranty unless you break something (so be careful)Apple now advertises the 2011 MBP as having battery life upto 7 hours. As I mentioned in my 2010 MBP review, the battery life of the MBP 13 was closer to 5 to 6 hours instead of the impossible to achieve 9 to 10 hours Apple advertised. The reduction in the 2011 MBP 13 battery life is not a downgrade, it's just Apple being honest. The battery is still inbuilt so once it's exhausted, you will have to take your machine back to an Apple store or an Apple Authorized Service Provider for replacement. However, Apple states that the battery will hold 80% of it's charge for up to a 1000 charges which means approximately 3 to 4 years of daily use. So it should be a while before you have to go in for that battery replacement.Software included is OS X 10.7 "Lion" and the iLife 2011 suite of content creation tools (which include iPhoto, Garageband, iWeb and iMovie).A 1 year warranty on parts and 90 day telephone technical support is standard.The new i5 processor upgrade, 4gb of ram and other design elements such as the large multitouch trackpad and the backlit keyboard make this a great machine to use daily. The MBP 13 is a sleek, solid product, fast enough for most purposes and is more than capable for the majority of daily tasks. Demanding applications like Skype, Photoshop, Lightroom, iMovie run smoothly. Definitely recommended for school / college work, photo editing, music composing, basic video editing and video chat.If you do decide to purchase a MBP 13, I recommend purchasing applecare also - AppleCare Protection Plan for Portable Apple Computers 13 Inches and Below (Newest Version) along with the notebook.As Apple uses most of the same parts (hard drives, processors, dvd drives, wireless cards) that other laptop manufacturers use, their reliability is no worse or better than other laptop manufacturers. But when and if a product / part malfunction occurs after the first year limited warranty has ended, Apple charges extremely high fees for repairing and replacing parts (when compared to other laptop manufacturers ) IF you don't have Applecare.Keep in mind, the A.P.P. only covers hardware failure - not accidental damage so it's still expensive for what you get but it's better than paying Apple's prices for repair/replacement parts.Another viable warranty extension option that you could buy instead of Applecare is SquareTrade 3-Year Laptop/Tablet Warranty Plus Accident Protection (Laptop/Tablet $1000-1250)(which costs the same as Applecare but also includes damage protection which is a big plus point ). It's better to pay once for Applecare or Squaretrade (whatever you prefer) and be covered for 2 more years after the first year is up than pay exorbitant repair/replacement fees to Apple if a part malfunctions.Also, in case you're confused between the standard MBP 13 and the higher end MBP 13, it's simple - This is the better buy between the two MBP 13's with regards to value.Here are some facts to help you make an informed choice. I've posted Geekbench results below - Geekbench is the most recognized benchmarking software for Macs.Geekbench Benchmark resultsStandard 13" MBP 2.3 GHz dual i5 2011: 5948High end 13" MBP 2.7 GHz dual i7 2011, 6796There is a difference of 848 points between the standard MBP 13 and the high end MBP 13 - which shows a 12% difference.If you buy the higher end MBP 13, you'd pay $300 more (25% of the cost of the standard $1199 MBP 13 or 20% of the cost of the $1499 MBP 13 ) for a minor 12% difference due to a 400 mhz processor speed difference (not at all major in any way as seen in the benchmarks) and a 180 gb hard drive space increase. This standard MBP 13 is the better buy between the two models in terms of bang for your buck since every other tech specification and feature is identical amongst the two models.Hope this helps!

paul Say: Apple MacBook Pro MC700LL A 13.3-Inch Laptop (OLD VERSION)
Excellent Premium Laptop, 2011-03-27
This review is for: Apple MacBook Pro MC700LL A 13.3-Inch Laptop (OLD VERSION)
I always had an urge to try an Apple product. I've heard only great things about them, especially their brand of laptops and the infamous iPods. I had a year old Lenovo Ideapad Y450 and was looking to upgrade it. I started inquiring about getting a Macbook Pro around in January. I started my search before the newest Macbooks came out and when i decided to buy one, they had just released the new 2011 models, to my utter delight. I waited a few weeks to decide if i should get a refurbished one, a used one, or bite the bullet and get this model. Well I decided to treat myself and get the newest model available. If your gonna get a macbook pro and shell out $100s or even $1000s, you might as well and get a new one.As soon as i got it i was delighted. My first Macbook Pro! I went with the 13" primarily because of the price (I want to upgrade to the 17" sometime later this year however). Before i even booted up the machine for the first time, i put in Kingston Apple 8GB Kit (2x4GB Modules) 1066MHz DDR3 SODIMM iMac and Macbook Memory (KTA-MB1066K2/8G), maxing out the machine to 8GBs (So i could run Windows 7 via Parallels with ease). The ram install didn't take long and soon i had my machine booting up nicely. I went through the initial boot setup and then i was at the desktop. I began to notice that the colors were a bit odd and became worried that the screen was defective but after a little digging into the System Preferences i changed the color profile and the colors now look normal. After downloading some essential applications i began to transfer my files over to the mac via an Ethernet-to-Ethernet connection. I was able to transfer 100GB+ worth of music, video, pictures and documents in less than 2 hours thanks to the built-in gigabit Ethernet ports on both machines. After getting my new laptop setup the way i wanted it i did a backup with Time Machine to an external WD drive.I'm very satisfied with my purchase and the fact i decided to get it from Amazom.com (Cheaper to get it here, even with Apple's educational discount and got it the next day via Amazon Prime's $3.99 shipping). I used OS X before (Hackintosh) so the learning curb wasn't huge. The trackpad is nice. It says that its made of glass but honestly i can't see or feel any glass. Its smooth, i know that. I also bought Speck Products See-Thru Case for 13-Inch MacBooks with Aluminum Unibody/Black Keyboard (Clear) to protect my investment. There are already tiny scratches on the case, a sign that the case is already paying for itself because those scratches would have ended up being on the macbook instead.)One gripe i do have is that the battery life isn't really all that different from my previous laptop. I know that the advertised 7 hours is based on light web browsing, screen brightness on medium and whatnot but i at least expected to get maybe 4-5 hours with the browsing, music playing and brighter screen settings. I seem to only get about 2.5-3 hours but again that's understandable i guess.EDIT: I figured out that the battery life was reduced because of running Windows 7 with Parallels. I'm able to get around the advertised 5-6 hours when i'm not running Parallels. I mainly run it alongside Snow Leopard cause i use MediaMonkey (I can't use iTunes on mac cause it doesn't sync with my Sansa Fuze player.) Guess i'll have to make a hard decision soon regarding that..