The Nvidia GeForce 8600M GT graphics card allows for some basic gaming
-- although if you plan on playing games on the MacBook Pro, you'll
probably want to install Windows on a separate partition through
Running Quake 4 at 1,024x768 pixels, we got 88 frames per second, compared to only 65 frames per second from the 2007 version of the MacBook Pro. Both systems had identical graphics cards, so we credit the CPU.
Despite some
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
We're still not fans of Apple's nearly obligatory extended warranty upsell, so much so that we've simply copied this complaint from our last MacBook review. The default warranty for the MacBook is one year of coverage for parts and labour, but telephone support is limited to a mere 90 days -- well short of what you'd typically find on the PC side -- unless you purchase the £279 AppleCare Protection Plan, which extends phone support and repair coverage to three years.
Conclusion
As we've come to expect, the new configurations hit the same price as
the now-discontinued ones. More power for the same money is always
welcome, but at £1,599, we still think the cheaper
Additional editing by Shannon Doubleday
System specifications:
Apple MacBook Pro 2008 Edition (15-inch, 2.5GHz)
OS X 10.5.1 Leopard; Intel Core 2 Duo 2.5GHz; 4096MB DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz; 512MB NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT; 250GB Hitachi 5,400rpm
OS X 10.5.1 Leopard; Intel Core 2 Duo 1.6GHz; 2,048MB DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz; 144MB Intel GMA X3100; 80GB Samsung 4,200rpm
Apple MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2.4GHz)
OS X 10.4.8; 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7700 ; 2048MB DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz; 256MB NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GT; 160GB Hitachi 5,400rpm
Windows Vista Home Premium Edition; 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7500; 2048MB DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz; 256MB Nvidia Geforce 8600M GT; 160GB Hitachi 5,400rpm
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User reviews2
Add your review
mmanassian 17 January 2010
Good: WHAT NOT TO LIKE?
Bad: HEIN?
beetlejuice 8 June 2008
Good: Multi-touch Pad with gestures, 200GB HDD, 2.4 GHz upgrade from 2.1!! Anti-glare screen is great for sunny conditions
Bad: Headsets are not compatible through 3.5mm pin, mac heats up terribly when charging in use.
Comment: Very good system, minor drawbacks but you could live with them (headset can be overcome by using built-in mic but this is not ideal as you get a lot of feedback when you use the built-in speakers).
Multi-touch is the pièce de résistance, once you've tried it you won't want to turn back. Problem is though only compatible with Mac apps, semi compatible with most other apps (e.g. Firefox only allows scroll up and down, side to side, no previous page sliding etc.)
Very stable system, however don't install Bootcamp unless you absolutely need MS software installed. This makes the system more unstable on both partitions (but in PC terms this is negligible but really defeats the reason for buying a stable and robust Mac system).
Anything else needed e.g. card reader etc. can be very easil and cheaply bought and USB'ed so I don't really see the relevance in rating card readers.
See all 2 user reviews