Great computer after 10.6.4 was released
I have had this computer for three weeks now, and waited to write a review until I had fully tested it. The first one arrived with a bad keyboard, was sent back to Apple for replacement. The returned macbook pro however suffered from daily freezes at which point the keyboard and mouse were locked out, but processes continued and within about 5 minutes control was restored. This turned out to be a very common problem as fully documented on the Apple web site. Fortunately, Apple released an update to Snow Leopard (10.6.4) which solved the problem for most of us.

This computer is incredibly fast, especially if one has fully loaded it with memory (8GB) and ordered a solid state drive. But even without the SSD and standard memory (4GB), it is the fastest macbook pro ever made by nearly 30%. I love it.

I recommend users order this computer with 8GB of memory if at all possible. The extra memory makes a big difference in performance and is not that much more expensive. In addition, this computer comes with two options for screen resolution. I got the high resolution display with anti-reflection, and it is a joy to work on. Now when I go back to my older macbook pro with standard resolution, I notice and am bothered by the difference.

Other reviews have listed some of the advantages of this computer, other than speed. So let me list some of the issues:

1. Graphics intensive applications generate lots of heat. When graphics is switched to the faster chip (this is automatic unless you choose to always use the faster chip in the energy preferences), the computer gets hot. Not so hot that you cannot use it on your lap, but approaching that level.

2. Computationally intensive applications also generate lots of heat. Running any program that simultaneously activates multiple cores and the fast graphics chip is the perfect storm, and this computer gets really hot on the bottom. Now you cannot comfortably work with it on your lap. If this is going to be a typical situation, get a cooling pad. I am using the logitech N100 and it completely solves the problem, but at added expense and battery drain (it uses the usb port). But I am often running calculations in the background, and for that, a cooling pad is essential. I anticipate it will also be important if you use this computer for gaming.

3. The battery life is highly dependent upon usage. The high speed graphics option is great unless you are running on battery, then it is a serious drain. Unfortunately, the software engineers did not provide an option to always use the slower graphics chip when on battery. This is an important option which should be implemented in a future release even if it means some applications will not be able to run at all. The battery issue is a flaw that prevents this computer from being a good travel computer. You cant change out the battery, and if you are traveling and the battery gets low, you simply have to close up shop or find an outlet. These are very hard to find, and the airlines often do not provide outlets on the seats or in their waiting areas in the airports.

Despite the above issues, which forced me to give this computer 4 stars, I love it. It is the best notebook computer I have ever used, although I will take another macbook pro when I travel because of the battery issues. The speed of this computer is comparable to a 3 GHz desktop Nehalem Mac Pro. The i7 chip is indeed a powerful processor and all your applications will run about 30% faster than on previous Macs.

Perfect as always
As much as I wished Apple did more changes in the new models of Macbook pro still this one is perfect in many ways: it has great design, high performance, outstanding display. Still it has a few minor imperfections: it heats a lot. I use it mainly at home and almost always it stands on the table but if I actually put it somewhere close to skin it just burns intolerably, so it's hard to call this a LAPtop :), the the curves near the trackpad where the niche for opening is (don't know how this part is called))) well for some reason they are made so sharp that they sometimes leave marked on my hands while using trackpad. Other than these remarks it's absolutely great.Apple MacBook Pro MC373LL/A 15.4-Inch Laptop

Perfect but does not have the Quad core i7
This was my first Mac. It arrived only after a couple of days. Packaging was immaculate as always. The Apple box itself was awesome.

Setting up a Mac and getting used to it was a breeze. Apple has so many tutorials that it is really easy to get to know things. OS X - is awesome. Within a few minutes I was up and running. Configured my mail, expose, spaces, dock. Downloaded XCode, Chrome and I was up and running in no time.

So why a 4 star instead of a 5 star. Couple of reasons:
1. Running a software update brought down 1.2 GB of updates. Thank god I am on a broadband. Still it took about an hour. With the recent known vulnerabilities, I did not want to run a Mac that had known exploits.
2. The hardware itself is amazing - simple design. But I was expecting I will get the "Clarksfield" family of i7 processors which are quad core. But instead, got a dual core Arrandale. Not only does it have 2 cores instead of 4, it also has 4MB of L2 cache instead of 6 or 8. I would appreciate if Apple and Amazon both were clear about this. Apple Appstore also does not mention which i7 we will get. I suppose we can blame Intel for this - they make it believe that i7's are all quad cores - but they are not.

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Apple MacBook Pro MC373LL/A 15.4-Inch Laptop at of 2010-09-05 Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on [amazon.com or endless.com, as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.

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