5 reasons the MacBook Pro ain’t just for the pros
By Triston McIntyre
You’re standing in the Apple store, looking up and down the row of MacBooks and MacBook Pros; one is silver and slightly bigger, and one is white or black…but when it comes down to your bank account, is silver really all that worth it? The answer is a thousand times yes, and here are 5 reasons why.
First, there’s more to the silver than meets the eye; sure, its shiny and pretty…but its also a metal case. Why is that so important? The MacBook’s white or black case is made of plastic, and is easily scratched, chipped, and stained (by your hands or whatever you spill on it). The MacBook Pro, however, suffers none of those problems; the metal case is resilient and will stand up to the beating of time much better than its sibling. If you are a professional, student, or really anyone who plans on using the machine for more than a short while, the MacBook Pro’s case is far superior.
Then there’s the display. Sure, its a couple inches bigger…but that’s really no reason to spend additional hundreds of dollars for a little more screen real estate. The real reason the MacBook Pro’s screen eclipses the MacBook’s is because it is both LED-based, comes in matte, and even auto-adjusts brightness. What this means for the every day Joe or Sally is that you get a much brighter display (great for using outside in direct sunlight, even), more vibrant colors on the matte displays, and when you turn off your lights in your bedroom, your screen does the work of dimming itself for you. Coming from a MacBook, there are two reasons why the MacBook Pro’s display is just hands down better: there are problems with the inverters in MacBooks causing the displays to flicker, and they just don’t get that bright. If you’re going to be staring at a computer for a long period of time, your eyes will thank you for the extra brightness and vibrance…even if you aren’t a graphic designer.
Third reason: sweet, beautiful silence. The MacBook Pro ventilates much better than the MacBook; MacBooks have a nasty habit of getting too hot due to the vent structure, and the fans will spool up. Generally that sounds like a little mini jet engine whirring to life. Let me tell you, it is a sound you would rather and can avoid in the MacBook Pro. Even with the fans spooling, the MacBook Pro is much quieter than the MacBook; if you take your computer anywhere silence is advocated, like a classroom, its nice to avoid the harsh looks of the people around you who no doubt wonder where you are hiding your jet engine. Not to mention, a noisy MacBook means a bad rap for Apple, and no one wants to leave a bad impression like that, do they?
What good is a laptop if it can’t serve as a personal media center, right? If you want good media, you need both the good display mentioned above and good audio. This gets overlooked a lot, but mark my words: the MacBook Pro’s speakers are far superior to the MacBook’s. Not just in volume (though the Macbook Pro puts out substantially higher levels than the MacBook), but in sound quality. When I owned a MacBook, I would almost rather listen through iPod headphones than have to deal with the low sound levels of the little white machine; with the MacBook Pro, listening to music and watching movies truly is a greater audio joy than with the regular MacBook. This isn’t just for the audiophiles; after a while, sound quality becomes an issue with the MacBook, but the MacBook Pro has it just right.
Backlit keyboards really are beautiful to behold. More beautiful still to watch your keyboard’s lights illuminate when you turn off your lights in your room and your display dims…but your keys are ready for duty. Additionally, I used to be a huge fan of the chiclet-style keyboard of the MacBook; however, I am of the opinion, as an owner of MacBook Pro, that the latter’s keyboard is much better suited for hard work. The MacBook’s keys were spaced far enough apart to let just about anything fall between the keys, which was quite troublesome to clean. The MacBook Pro doesn’t suffer from this, and the keys aren’t nearly as loud (if you’re an efficient typist) as its black or white companions.
There are a lot more reasons why the MacBook is better; however, these are some of the reasons why the everyday user should consider the MacBook Pro over the MacBook. I’ll keep the pros and cons coming as I find them, but I can tell you my life has changed for the better since buying a MacBook Pro; I just wish I’d saved myself some money by purchasing the silver beauty in the first place.
Related:
Stumble It!
Entry was posted
on Friday, November 30th, 2007 at 3:41 pm
under 
Print This Post
Read more entries by Triston McIntyre.
December 1st, 2007
Very happy with my silver beast as well. Superb machine.
December 1st, 2007
I’m thinking about getting a pro for my daughter who is in her last year of college, Is this a good choice?
December 1st, 2007
Cindi; I think that’d be a great graduation gift. I wouldn’t recommend it after writing this article if I didn’t have one myself
December 2nd, 2007
What about the yellow color cast at the bottom of the MBP LED screens. Not for the pros, sure.
December 3rd, 2007
You know, it’s funny sometimes how easy some things are easy to pick up on. I could be completely off-base here, but just from skimming through here it appears to me that those writing for the site are relatively new to the Macintosh.
If this is indeed true, I find much of the commentary to be both humorous and slightly skewed. Such a dearth of perspective with regard to the platform proves to cultivate opinions quite narrow in scope.
However, am I wrong in my assumption then I’ll chalk all of this up to a difference of tastes and personalities.
Needless to say, if my observations ring true then may I wholeheartedly recommend that you guys find someone who has a greater experience with the Mac so to provide some more commentary based within the context of historical perspective. It would help to provide both a better balance of opinions as well as more to which older “Mac-heads” can relate.
Best Regards,
The Guru
December 3rd, 2007
Guru, I’ve been using Macs since the 95 Powermac LC…I just recently switched to a MacBook Pro, true; prior to that I owned and still own a normal MacBook, an iMac, and a G4 tower. I was simply trying to make observations based on opening thoughts on owning a MacBook Pro. I don’t know why you would classify yourself as an older “Mac-head” unless of course you’ve owned every iteration of Macintosh computers since the company’s inception; otherwise you’re commenting on your age as being more appropriate for making such observations, and that seems to be quite the fallacy in my opinion.
December 4th, 2007
I just bought a Macbook black with 2GB of RAM opps Maybe I should return it I like the small screen though personally( I have a 17 in to connect too).
December 5th, 2007
i think ill be getting one after MacWorld in January…
cheers
freeyarnball@blogspot
December 7th, 2007
The silver Mac can scratch (and dent) quite easily… unless they’ve made some significant changes to the chassis from the powerbook g4 days. I’ve got a dent (or divit if you prefer) right next to my ever-so-slightly cracked apple logo, where the corner of the power adapter smacked the case after falling out of my hands when I was winding up the power chord. Obviously my fault.. but resilient? Hardly. And scratches? I’ve got at least four on the top from lugging it around in my bag for school.
Apple should consider making a laptop for touring musicians, mobile scientists, on-the-road photographers and the like. Yeah, like these types, I might have been able to take better care of my computer, and while I do prefer the Mac platform, let’s face it: None of that would really have been an issue with the kind of dark polycarbonate material used for Windows laptops. (But who takes pride in the appearance of their Windows laptop, right?)
Apple’s aluminum notebooks are actually quite fragile in comparison to many of today’s PC laptops. This should not be used as a plus to consider these over other notebook computers.
Apple should consider doing something like Panasonic’s Toughbook, but it doesn’t necessarily need to compete at the same level… just a decent amount of water, scratch, and dent resistance.
December 7th, 2007
Actually no, the metal casing of the MBP is not as sturdy as you think. I dropped mine from a short height and crumpled and dented the casing (the screen doesn’t sit flush anymore, but still works fine) and broke the CD-ROM. Silly mistake on my behalf (thankfully have third party cover so I’m okay) but it’s a professional machine that I’ve always assumed is meant to be for the long run. Obviously it’s not designed to be dropped but it certainly doesn’t have a ‘resilient’ case.
I seriously think if my MBP was made from perspex as the MacBooks are then there would be no where as much damage. Fashion over function?
Not only that but it feels cheap too.
December 7th, 2007
Ok guys, my comparison was drawn only between the standard MacBook and the MacBook Pro; the MacBook is much more prone to all the things I described, so for all of you who experienced casing issues with just a MacBook Pro, I’m sorry, but that wasn’t really what I was talking about. I’m simply drawing comparisons.
December 8th, 2007
Well you are wrong in most of your points.
1. The metal case is far far far more prone to scratches and dents and accidents compared to the Macbook. Also the Macbook magnet is superior to the infamous latch mechanism of the Pro, which breaks quite easily not to mention the piece of metal on top of the button that after a while becomes a circle.
The Macbook is much more sturdy than the Pro.
December 8th, 2007
As far as the keyboard, again you are so wrong it’s not even funny. Did you ever try to clean a Pro keyboard and see the keys come off? The Macbook keyboard is much easier to clean. Yeap, keep the pros coming, you are doing great!
December 9th, 2007
You’ve got to be kidding about the cases. Or maybe you’re just repeating a myth you’ve read. As mentioned by others, the Aluminum case is easily scratched, and very easily dented. A number of friends and I have Aluminum-cased PowerBooks and MacBook Pros, and let me tell you, after a couple of years, at least half of these machines look like they’ve been through a demolition derby. After a drop, the bottom of my PC card slot is dented in, and I see a lot of cases out there with dimpled corners. And the scratches…lots of cases out there with scratches.
At least on a MacBook, a scratch is much harder to see.
And it’s impossible to put a beer-can style dent in a MacBook case, while on the Aluminum it’s as easy as denting, well, a beer can.
The case you’re making for the Pro leaves out one important factor: AirPort reception. The metal Pro case makes for significantly worse wifi reception than the MacBook and other plastic PC laptops. Put an Aluminum next to a MacBook in an urban setting, check the AirPort menu, and prepare to be boggled by the sheer number of additional stations the MacBook can pick up, and how much farther you can sit from a wireless router with a MacBook and still function.
Mind you, I will continue to buy the Pro model because I need the power. But it’s funny you write your article now, because the superiority of the Pro model is less true now than ever. With Apple’s enabling of extended desktop through the monitor port, 4GB RAM capacity, and other features that used to be the sole province of the Pro model but were moved down to the MacBook, there is actually less reason than ever to get a Pro.
December 9th, 2007
Do you own a Pro or a Macbook? It doesn’t seem so. If you just bought a Pro and feel happy, give it time, it will fall apart soon enough.
December 9th, 2007
Well said from Jim by the way, I forgot the crappy airport reception. Plus the 2 hours battery difference.
December 12th, 2007
A friend suggested that I look into a macbook or macbook pro just for editing and writing drafts. I must say they look quite tempting.
I noted windows machines go into 5 second delay even though they were juiced max with memory. especially when several applications are opened at the same time.
January 1st, 2008
The only time the fans on the MacBook spool up are when I play games or watch YouTube videos - not in class typing lecture notes. While the MBP is obviously a superior machine, none of these are really very good reasons for spending the extra money on a more expensive product.
January 29th, 2008
I have owned both. The black macbook is more durable. Polycarbonite is a tough material. They make bullet proof glass and CDs etc out of it. Aluminum is very soft and dents and scratches easier. the wifi reception is much better on the macbook.
I do like the lighted kb though. Now i have to have a light on but no biggie.
March 26th, 2008
This whole forum is really funny! It is great to watch a bunch of kids argue that the machine they have is the ONE!! Then there are the ones who will say they own both the Pro and the Black or White Macbook and still the plastic is better!
Let me repeat this again, THE PLASTIC IS BETTER THEN THE METAL!!
That is really something kids!
Guess what, I own a Powerbook and a Macbook Pro, my daughter owns a White Macbook and my wife a Black one inherited from me.
All great computers as far as notebooks go, but obviously the Pro is a Pro for a reason. That reason being durability, more real estate, better look and power!
I guess our world is so plastic by the way we eat, live, drive, dress and act, why should are plastic computers not be better then out steel ones right?
Use your common sense please everyone, do not take these forums to seriously.
Which one would you pick as far as durability, a 1965 Ford Galaxie (Pro) or a Honda Civic hatchback (Macbook)? I rest my case, and please do not try to school me on polycarbonate plastic, when plastic is plastic no matter how you try to twist, no smell of plastic but guess what? Still plastic.
See you smarties later.
Oh and regretting your plastic purchase is one thing, but to try to justify it buy proving your mistake was better does not make it better!
You are good people though.
March 26th, 2008
Go play with your plastic boys, do you not know girls buy the macbook. Oh wait this country is full of men becoming girls nowadays.
MACBOOK PRO IS THE BOMB. DON’T LIE TO YOURSELVES.
March 29th, 2008
The aluminium casing of the Pro regulates heat MUCH better than the plastic casing of the MacBook. I owned a MacBook and switched to a Pro because of this. My Pro only gets around 38 degree s celsius
except when under load, then it gets to 78 degrees celsius. MacBook gets as hot as just dropped cow dunk. Normal operating temps where around 60 degrees celsius.
June 23rd, 2008
I have to chime in on people who think the plastic is better…I have had a macbook for 2 years and a powerbook for 5. The powerbook was in my backpack while it fell from a drafting table and the machine was still fine, a few small dents. I have not dropped or mishandled the macbook at all and it has TONS of cracks around the bottom casing, not due to mishandling, it is a known issue with macbooks. I am thoroughly regretting not purchasing a pro for this reason. And also, those saying it’s easy to clean the keyboard, please explain? all i see when i look at it is dog hair underneath the keys, something i never saw any of unless i looked VERY closely at the powerbook. It may be easier to see scratches in metal, and it may be easier to dent a beer can, but it’s easier to BREAK plastic, and that is what is happening through no misuse of my machine, and what did not happen when i DROPPED my powerbook
August 27th, 2008
I love my MBP. However my old black macbook was almost bulletproof. Lasted three tours and once fell out of the van when we had a crash and it still looks and works great my girlfriend now loves it.
However my MBP got pushed off a table by the dg and dented at the bottom causing the drive bay to become useless. Apple store want £800 to fix it!
Don’t get me wrong. I agree with everything else on this post.