Apple MacBook Pro Core Duo 2.0GHz
In June 0f 2005, Apple announced to a skeptical crowd at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) that all Apple computers would be eventually run Intel processors, and that the migration would start in the middle of 2006. In January of 2006, Apple started the Intel migration six months early with its announcement of the iMac Core Duo and the MacBook Pro.
Immediately, I convinced my boss that it was imperative that I order myself a MacBook Pro. Surprisingly, he agreed, and I ordered my MacBook Pro that day. At that time, Apple was offering the MacBook Pro with a 15″ screen and either a 1.66GHz or 1.83GHz Intel Core Duo processor. I ordered mine with the 1.83GHz processor, upgraded the hard drive from 100GB to 120GB, and upgraded the RAM from 512MB to 1GB. With my education discount, the MacBook Pro came out to about $2700 with tax.
Approximately a month later, I received my MacBook Pro. During the waiting period, Apple announced that they were upgrading all of the processors in previously ordered MacBook Pros for free, bringing the 1.66GHz Core Duo up to 1.83GHz, and bringing the 1.83GHz up to 2.0GHz. This free upgrade was quite generous of Apple, and made the long wait not nearly as painful as it could have been.
I am happy to report that upon having my MacBook Pro for almost six months, I am still completely in love. This machine works beautifully. It honestly runs as smoothly as I have always felt that a Mac should. Spotlight, Apple’s integrated search function, works smoothly and quickly, and always finds whatever I’m looking for. Even applications that run under Rosetta (Apple’s PowerPC emulation software), such as Microsoft Word and Adobe Photoshop, run quickly, smoothly, and are surprisingly stable. Applications that have been released as Universal Binaries (applications that are both PowerPC and Intel native) run great, and are just as stable as any Mac application has ever been if not more. Fortunately, many developers are already releasing Universal Binary upgrades, new Universal Binary versions of their software products, or are working on migrating to Universal Binaries in future releases. Once those are released, everything on the Intel side will be simply lovely.
Many people expressed concern over widespread concern about vulnerability to hacking, viruses, and spyware over Apple’s migration to Intel processors. I have yet to experience any such ills on my MacBook Pro, and from my experience Mac OS X is still just as secure on the Intel Core Duo a it ever was on the PowerPC. I have not yet contracted a virus, nor have I been troubled by spyware or popup ads.
As I said before, six months later am still completely in love with my MacBook Pro. This is easily the fastest laptop that Apple has ever released, and I see it keeping me happy for a long time to come. My great experience with this machine leaves me excited about what will come next from the Apple/Intel partnership, and guarantees that I will be a Mac user for a long time to come.
