Elliott C. Back: Technology FTW!

Top 10 Reasons Not To Buy A Macbook Pro

Posted in Apple, Errors, Hardware, Mac by Elliott Back on June 27th, 2006.

Here’s my list of top-10-reasons not to buy a Macbook Pro, Apple’s latest and greatest luxury notebook. While some of these problems have been addressed, many are still riling consumers who long for a Macbook Pro v2.

macbook-pro.jpg

1) Your batteries might swell, explode, or stop working due to heating problems. Your case will be warped out of shape in the process.

2) The name “Macbook Pro” is considered horrible, and generally not the new status symbol your $2000+ notebook should be.

3) Performance on old Power PC code is mediocre. All your old Mac apps will generally run slowly, slower than a G4.

4) The Macbook Pro is shoddily and quickly manufactured in China. It may or may not have manufacturing defects that will need later repair, such as a loose fan.

5) Overheating will cause serious problems for your Macbook, if it suffers from blocked vents or the infamous thermal paste problem.

6) Some Macbook Pro owners report a hissing noise from the display if it’s running at less than full brightness.

7) No Firewire 800 port, which means significantly slower external device performance.

8) Wifi support in the new Macbook Pro is somewhat sketchy; Airport doesn’t work as well as it used to.

9) Macbook Pro pricing is higher than the corresponding Dell or other Intel Core Duo notebooks.

10) Like the Sony 13.3″ Vaio’s with metal cases, the Macbook Pro also can induce an electric shock to the user, through the metal case.

The problems generally fall into one of three categories: manufacturing defects, feature reductions, and design problems. Some problems fall into two categories. For example, the heating problems are caused first by poor design with higher power consumption, and second by manufacturing defects with thermal grease, vent blockage, and shaky fans. Digg if you like.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 27th, 2006 at 1:18 pm and is tagged with loose fan, mac apps, firewire 800, thermal grease, electric shock, device performance, power consumption, metal case, core duo notebooks, thermal paste, status symbol, pro v2, g4, new macbook pro, vent, dell, batteries, notebook, intel core duo, intel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback.

Viewing 40 Comments

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    I must be lucky then. My boss got me one and it doesn't have big issues.

    The WiFi is GREAT on my MBP. It's much better than on my ASUS PC notebook. It gets hot, yes. But my former Powerbook G4 got hot as hell too. Modern notebooks get hot. Not much to do about it. The price: You're referring to an article stating the MBP is priced fairly and not more expensive than it's PC counterpart. The name: Who cares? The long term issues are remained to be seen.

    All in all I don't consider this top 10 very strong...
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    p.s: Firefox 1.5.0.4 / Mac refused to post a comment here. The submit button didn't do anything. I had to do it in Safari.
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    1) My friend at CompUSA has had one instance of the problem only, but yes, the problem does need to be fixed. I don't consider it very widespread, however.

    2) Doesn't matter, the name doesn't have anything to do with the hardware, which is actually good-quality hardware, IMO

    3) More and more applications are becoming Universal. I've also heard it's not as bad as you say. Actually, I heard Photoshop CS is faster on Intel with Rosetta than on an iMac G5. (but I'm not sure of the accuracy of that statement)

    4) Yes, it's manufactured in China. So? Who cares? The problems that remain to be seen... okay, they'll probably be fixed when they're found.

    5) The MacBook Pro doesn't overheat at it's regular reported temperatures, as far as I know

    6) Why would you want to use less than full brightness? I can't stand anything but full brightness. But, yes, the problem needs to be fixed.

    7) The 17" MacBook Pro has a FireWire 800 port.

    8) I haven't heard many reports, but I actually hear the AirPort reception is great.

    9) I heard it's cheaper than one of Dell's systems.

    10) Sounds like a normal problem with metal/aluminum cases, but yes, needs to be fixed.
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    -sigh- Seriously, Elliott, don't you have anything useful to write about?

    Granted, the defects such as exploding batteries & whining fans have happened, it's not as if other computer manufacturers produce 100% of their machines defect free.

    Specifically:

    In response to 2: This is sort of a ridiculous reason not to buy a computer, don't you think?

    In response to 3: I would think that the advantages of the Core Duo far outway the few apps that are still being run in Rosetta.

    In response to 4: Umm, a lot of things are manufactured in China. I don't see you complaining about your clothes or electronics or pens or .. [the list goes on]

    In response to 9: You have to remember that you're not getting another Windows POS though. *That's* the difference. And if you're really concerned about the price, buy a MacBook. You won't find a better laptop for that price.
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    I just recently got a MacBook Pro and it’s the best laptop I have ever had. No problems what so ever and all the programs I do use such as Dreamweaver and Photoshop CS2 work flawlessly on it and better then my PCs (which are high-end as well).

    This list really only effects a very small percent of people and really shouldn't be counted for someone truly interested getting a new MBP + with it you get a far better operating system then Windows with a much nicer interface and built on top of BSD none the less (for linux/bsd lovers).

    Last but not least I love the design... no laptop looks better then the MBP and I appreciate all those Chinese workers that stayed up 80 hours a week to make my MBP ;).
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    This review is just horrible. I've been a PC user for i don 't know how long, and just switched back to Mac, and this is the most amazing computer i've ever used. Next time you plan on wrting a review you should try to get your facts straight.
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    I have never had any of those problems with mine. It works great and it runs nice and smooth.

    Sounds like your working for the Microsoft devil.
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    How do you expect to be taken seriously after point #2?
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    i have macbook pro
    and IMHO, G4 is better than macbookpro.
    at least its not overheat, when i'm rendering it goes >70 celcius.
    and yes, IT IS hissing, and i'm using less brightness so the battery can last longer when i unplug the charger.
    and the battery keeps dropping (i'm using coconut battery).
    and also yes, for the electric shock, it annoys me but i'm getting used to it.
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    On points 3 and 9 I have to strongly disagree.

    My MacBook Pro runs most of my non-native apps faster than
    my G4 (even though my MacBook pro has 512mb of RAM and the G4 Quicksilver has 1.5gig of RAM)

    As for price, it's been shown time and time again that the MacBook Pro is cheaper than the equivalently specced (ugly as all f**k) Dell, HP, etc.

    As for WiFi, I agree, it's not as good as my old (work) PowerBook
    BUT it's STILL loads faster, more reliable and easier than any PC laptop I've used.
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    I had to tell you all, ya gotta buy one of these MBP's! They are awesome! And the OS, well, it's just given me somemore great ideas for Vista!
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    Hi, i just got a mac book pro after much deliberation over other options. I love having a mac, so much nicer and usable than the windows environment. HOWEVER my mac book pro sounds like its going to take off most of the time, the sound keeps cutting out, it has trouble recognising external hardware, seems to crash alot.... cant remember anything else. Needless to say that im sending it off!
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    Is that the best you can do?
    I'm a Windows user and for a while was considering moving to a Mac instead of Windows Vista for a laptop. I eventually got pushed to go Windows Vista, but thanks to you, I'm going Mac OS X.

    Apple Rocks!!

    - Anonymous
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    Okay, I just got a macbook pro recently ... and so far as I've seen none of those are true ... now I do worry that my macbook could overheat for some reason, but I think that's just my paranoia ... and yes I do agree this computer is way way expensive ... but over all I love it way better than any other kind of laptop ... I had this toshiba p.o.s. ... that thing had so many problems it wasn't funny ... and also, there are two reasons up there for not buying a macbook pro that are incredibly stupid ... the old mac apps run slow? So what? The old mac applications suck anyways, OSX has enough good apps. And the name sucks? Okay, I'm not gonna say that it does or doesn't ... cuz the name is pretty neutral to me. Is the name that big of a freaking deal to make you not buy the computer ... come on, seriously. I may not be a big fan of Windows, but do you think I don't use it cuz I think Vista is a stupid name ... pfft
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    Those 10 reasons sound like someone is regretting their purchase. I have run OS X 10.4.9 on non-Apple hardware and found it that it is faster then actual Apple hardware. But the real case is choice. I don't see a reason to spend more money on hardware just to run an operating system, I like my Windows box, and if I feel like screwing around with Apple, then I will just install it.
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    classic.
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    ellie -i dont completely agree with you.
    chootiya is a keyword in Mac - search for it and you will get a list of things which needs to be updated on your list.

    gandu - this is a new software which MAC will use.

    thanks
    only ures
    LUND
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    type this URL and u will get instant results

    www.gandmeyleyleychodu.com
    www.ibookgandmeyleyley.com

    thanks
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    elliYO, i just know you ain't tryne diss.
    you need to get off the hardware for minute and take a quick look at the bigger picture bro.

    ask yourself:
    1. what was the last, biggest tech. advancement the pc world has ever brought to the table?
    2. when was the last time a windows os has optimized and changed the way you work?
    3. what was the last and most innovative peice of harware or software ever released by billyG of microsoft?

    the way i see it, microsoft is a dying animal from yesterday.
    they invested a ton of $ to make vista which was tech. form yesterday before is was released. windows xp is tech. from last week.

    to cut this off: i would never spend the extra € if it was not a fact that as an interactive media developer, I LOOSE MONEY WORKING ON A PC.
    i got a macbook myself and and i agree these things need to be fixed BUT just to stay on the safe side i'll stick to an os x just because apple have their eyes on the future.

    and as a person who loves what they do, im finding it more important to work with tools built by people who love what they do. you start to notice a difference after a while.

    but that's just me bro, stop hate'n and get a f**** mac ;-)
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    My goodness, I know that this article is total garbage but you mac people...talk about over reaction.
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    Unfortunately, no one in this post has an idea about the differences between the mac and a pc. If I bought my servers based off how they looked i would be fired. The great advances about mac is their new OS is based off of unix (most mac users have no idea what this is). As for the GUI interface for MAC... I think its garbarge. If you are a graphics designer then macs are great systems to have. If you are a unix user then it helps to use a mac, but thats about it. The people that normally use macs are usually the people that dont really know what they are doing. There are a few out there that actually know unix and buy macs for that reason. As for that... Does anyone know if the hostap driver works for the airport adapter? I want to put the adapter in promiscuis mode.

    thanks
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    This article is rediculous. Whoever wrote this did a google search for "macbook pro issues problems" then consolidated the list into a top 10....DUH! If I lived my life in fear of everything then this article might be useful. But I don't because I understand that not all these issues will happen to everyone. Its more likely you will only get one of these problems then all of them...and the likelihood of getting any issue is (from what I have seen on http://www.macintouch.com/reliability/macbooks.... .
    According to this site there is a
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