Today I went in to an Apple Store and touched the latest model of the MacBook Pro. I’ll begin this by noting that I don’t own the new MacBook Pro, and I only spent about 37 seconds with it. Thus, most of the following will be about the design of the new model.

I must admit, any new model of an Apple product is sexy. The removal of the plastic bordering from the old model makes the new ‘unibody‘ look of a much better build and thus stronger.

The first thing most people will notice is the new keyboard. It’s in the style of the MacBook keyboard and the keys are black. I’m used to the [previous generation] MacBook Pro keyboard, but I think I like this new design better.

One of the most exciting things I find about the new design is the latch-less opening. It’s much more simple than trying to fiddle with that silly button on previous generations. The MacBook seems to have had a lot of the good ideas from the start. Why not the MacBook Pro?

There’s a new trackpad on the latest model made completely from glass. Apple has also removed the trackpad button making it bigger, and turning the whole trackpad in to a button. The feel of the trackpad is different than the previous model too. I noticed that on first-touch. It’s not a lot different, but I noticed it. I like the feel.
I like the feel much better than previous model MacBooks and especially compared to most notebooks running Windows. My mom has an HP notebook. The trackpad is tiny and very slippery/glossy; it’s very hard to get a good ‘grip’ on the cursor.

For the most part, I’m all for the latest technology. Therefore, the fact that the FireWire 400 port was removed and there’s only a Mini DisplayPort doesn’t bother me at all. (If you have a device that uses FireWire 400, you can get cables that are FireWire 400 to FireWire 800.)
All the ports are on the left side of the computer. I’m not sure how I’d feel with both the USB ports being on one side. I like being able to plug USB devices on either side of my [previous model] MacBook Pro. Especially if you have a bulky USB device; it may block other ports on the latest model design.

The Superdrive (disc drive) is on the right side of the body. Just like the previous/current model of MacBooks. I feel the disc drive in this location makes more sense. Especially when the MacBook Pro is on your lap; in previous models the disc drive was at the front and the user would have to make sure there’s room for the disc to escape when ejecting it.

I don’t know how well this new model fans heat away from the CPU because the gap where the air blows out looks much narrower than previous models. Although this could just be an optical illution due to the black hinge attaching the screen to the body. (As I said, I didn’t spend much time with the computer.)

The drilled holes above where the speakers lay are smaller yet more abundant than on the previous model.

The battery indicator lights have been moved from beneath the computer to the front-left side; making them more noticeable.

Thanks to Corey for this image.

Besides the internal workings, there’s very little difference between the new MacBook Pro and the new MacBook; the MacBook is now also made from recyclable aluminum.
Due to the smaller footprint of the MacBook, it doesn’t have speakers on either side of the keyboard. I couldn’t even locate the speakers during the even more brief look I had of it.

I only got my [previous generation] MacBook Pro May 2007, so I won’t be upgrading to the new model. I may wait for the next big model upgrade. By then SSDs will be much cheaper and larger capacity.

A big thanks to Blake Helms for letting me use his MacBook Pro images on Flickr.

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