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After the IBM PowerPC-powered Apple PowerBook (my playpen since 1991) comes the Intel-powered Apple MacBook Pro. In 2008 I jumped chipsets (yet again, thinking back on the original Macs with the Motorola MC680x0 and the subsequent IBM PowerPC)...

MacBook Pro 17" 2.4 GHz High-Resolution Display - 8 May 2008

28 February 2008

After letting the Intel-powered MacBook Pro line to mature I waited until my trusty PowerBook G4 15" 1.5 GHz got all used up. Several times in the almost two years of ownership did it seems as though the end was neigh, but each time I was able to pull out more functionality just in the nick of time. Virtual PC helped with several clients, and clever workflow tweaking did the rest. In late February 2008 Apple refreshed the MacBook Pro line from the Intel Core 2 Duo Santa Rosa to the C2D Penryn chip, but the general consensus is that the update is underwhelming. On the upside, though, is that I can pick up a refurbished Santa Rosa model from Apple for so much less that three year's of AppleCare and 4 GB RAM will be virtually free. That, plus the really huge internal hard drives that already surpass what's shipping installed, means that with a small investment the SR model will be much more powerful and versatile than a stock Penryn model. What I'm most excited about, other than upgrading to 4 GB RAM (to hopefully get rid of some of the 8-10 swap files I see with 2 GB RAM) is the high-resolution 1920-by-1200 pixel display. That's the equivalent to a 23-inch monitor! [Update: As it turns out, I chose to wait to see how my job hunt worked out, before sinking such a chunk of change into my personal computer. See the entry above to find out how it all worked out.]

Most of the photos on this page belong to Apple Computer; used without permission (but with gratitude :-).