MacBook Pro 15″

Today I bring to you my most recent Get, a new computer!

It’s a 2011 MacBook Pro 15″. If you’ve ever read my blog before, you would know that I use apple computers as my main machines. I’ve been using my old MacBook Pro 15″ (from 2006!) for a while now, and it has served me well. However, it was time for an upgrade.

Fresh out of the box. I’m usually one of those people that doesn’t see a need in upgrading their computer all the time (as that can be very expensive, especially with apple). Anyway, when it is time to upgrade it is really nice to have a brand new machine.

Apple’s usual simple packaging… almost too simple. I was surprised to find out that the only thing this computer comes with is the power cord.. no display adapters to speak of! I thought that was a bit ridiculous, since nobody uses the mini display port for monitors (Besides apple). They could have at least thrown in a display adapter…

So I had to buy one of these (costs almost US$30!) But I needed it in order to hook up to my monitor so there’s no way around it…

Anyway.. onto the computer itself! Lovely machine to look at… with the solid aluminum and all. Interesting how they made the track pad one big tracking surface/clicker. Love the black keyboard as well.

Starting it up for the first time. The computer comes with OS X Lion, which is new to me since I was using Leopard on my old computer. Of course, that renders all my time machine backups from leopard pretty much useless….

Luckily I don’t rely solely on time machine for backups. Using a g-drive to transfer files over. I’ve heard mixed reviews about G-drives, but I decided to give them a try anyway. I’ve used Western Digital and LaCie drives without fail (actually, they all still work to this day!), but it doesn’t hurt to try something new.

I find OS X Lion to be very similar to leopard. Apple just throws in some useless new features, changes the appearance of a few things, takes a few things away that you needed, and call it a new OS. Wait… what?

Oh yea.. I should probably give the specs shouldn’t I?

Model: MacBook Pro 15″

Operating System: 10.7.1 (Lion)

Processor: Intel Core i7 (2.2 GHz, quad core)

Memory: 4GB (will probably upgrade to at least 8. If you buy an apple computer NEVER let them put the ram in it… for the 8gb of ram in this machine they wanted US$200 extra!)

Graphics:  AMD Radeon HD 6750M 1024 MB

Hard Disk: 750 GB (have a 100gb partition set up, hopefully so I can boot windows 7)

Battery: Apple claims 7hrs… which you might be able to get if you don’t open any programs ^^;. I think the max I’ve gotten is almost 5… on an average day it gets about three (that’s close to 7hrs, right? ಠ_ಠ)

See the full specs here…

The Dock, same as always. I love the black surround around the screen. The display is a glossy screen, which I didn’t think I’d like at first because I thought it would reflect too much light. It isn’t too bad though.. I’m actually impressed. I had the option to get the antiglare display (which also has a better resolution) but decided against it since it cost more. Plus I use my monitor as my main display so there really isn’t a huge need to have an accurate screen on my laptop.

Love to use a setup like this everyday.. but it isn’t too practical. I don’t really have a need to run two computers at once like this… only if I need to transfer some files over I guess. As for my old computer I will probably hang on to it. It’s good to have a backup machine in case the new one fails for whatever reason. I have to say the old Macbook Pro was built like a tank… couldn’t kill that thing if I tried (and trust me.. there have been some trivial times). Most people who have had that machine agree… although some haven’t been so lucky ^^.

A word of the wise… If you buy a new apple computer don’t leave the store without this. I was able to get away with not having this for my other computer, but I don’t trust these new machines (especially with the crap Toshiba HD they put in them). I will hopefully upgrade the internal drive someday to something more substantial.. maybe a seagate or Western Digital.

Well that’s about it… didn’t take too many pictures as I was busy setting up the darned thing. This what the desk looks like after the process ^^.

In other news: The New York Comic Con / New York Anime Festival is in two weeks! Very excited, especially since I have a weekend pass now ^^. Not sure If I will cover all three days here as I’m not sure if I can make all three days… But I hope to get at least some coverage. Stay tuned!