[Watch]

Macs were honoured once with the nickname Porsche Of Computers.
So, the newly chipped Mac computer is here.The response from the media is somewhere between none and hosanna depends who is talking...
Some muffled questioning could be detected here and there but the numbers of these stirrers are negligible.
Nevertheless, when something / someone is promoted as brilliant/ fantastic/perfect one naturally becomes aware, and try to question and scrutinize the stuff behind the glitter and stardust.
It is nice to see Apple Computer after long stupor making a laptop again. Impressively sounding MacBook Pro in 3 models. After all,
The cheapest laptop - only $1999 and top Apple hardware/software. Buy it,plug and play?
Not so fast!
If youre not one of those gullible yes-sayers and choose to scrutinize what you spend your money on will find some unpleasant little surprises about that $1999 laptop. Think pay extra.
Lets see what a hypothetical buyers will spend if want a decent laptop instead of that bare bones $1999 one:
Hard Drive is still 5400 rpm . Obsolete.
For a decent by the standards of today HD i.e. 7200 rpm, you, hypothetical buyer must pay extra $300.
The memory size of HD is not not a technical challenge nowadays but even here Steve Jobs cant offer anything above the average, 80-100 Gb.
RAM - 512Mb. In the year 1998 it should be excellent. Now -obsolete.
Today , a computer once flogged as the Porsche Of Computers should be mandatory rigged with 1Gb RAM.
It can, of course - you just have to pay extra!
The dial - up modem. Missing.
Need one - pay extra $49 for external one and, yes, it will hang outside your MacBook Pro laptop...
Amusing thing here! Dont geeks inside the ivory tower in Cupertino know that vast majority of computer owners have dial-up web connection. Well, they do and Steve Jobs and his marketing buddies decided to use that fat cash source - pay extra $49 for external modem...
Software.
That Digital Lifestyle concept spruiked for the last hundred years by Steve Jobs implies that all Mac users should and must spend their lives fiddling with photos, garage band made songs and home videos using proprietary Mac software. Users dont really need a decent word processor. If buyers want one - pay extra $76 for iWork. The version MacBook Pro comes with is a trial only.
Also there is another hard sell gimmick -Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac Test Drive. Test Drive means trial. Want the real stuff -pay extra.
Gone is that excellent program Graphic Converter well known to seasoned Mac users.
However, plenty of widgets They are cheap to make and suckers like them. Never mind that all kind of widgets have been around for ages...
Rosetta hype and Universal logo hype? The problems are already here just watch and have a laugh, nothing more to say about this...

The new chip in $1999 MacBook Pro laptop - a very fast 1.67GHz Intel Core Duo!
No serious computer user takes all these benchmark test graphs seriously because they are as we all know 90 percent marketing pitches and performed in controlled, ideal, lab conditions.
Reading that technical specifications about Intel Core Duo makes obvious how Apples marketing department is having hard time to put that text together.
Some readers find it amusing and who can blame them.
According to arcane explanations this chip is not just a chip but 2 chips in one, so the punters must believe that their money is well spent.
It is just a 1.67GHz chip, for heavens sake, face it!
Nothing to be excited about this ordinary by todays measures piece of semiconductor despite of all techno babble about architecture and so on. Period.
The same for the 1.83GHz one...
Intel Core Duo is still unknown entity and considering Apples track record of selling under tested chips in a rush (remember the ridiculous G5 in need of equally ridiculous cooling systems?) one must expect glitches.

Back to hypothetical buyer of that rock bottom basic $1999 MacBook Pro laptop. Now after hardware/software improvements the price will be $2527.
Not $1999.
Have a nice day!
It will be enlightening for Mac users before jumping on the new great computers to do same experiment and calculate the hidden costs of all models...

Just out of curiosity we did check out what an average Windows based laptop of the same category (of that updated as described above $1999 MacBook Pro laptop) will cost.
For a Dell computer one must pay $1926 i.e. $601 less.
Also, display is 17 inch not 15, processor is 1.88Ghz not 1.67GHz .
Some Mac mujahidin may start here the old Mac v/s Windows argument. There is something to keep in mind - computer users familiar with both platforms will tell you that over the last few years there is sort of convergence where Windows is getting less user unfriendly and Mac OS is getting less user friendly. Got it?
This subtle detail is naturally unknown to individuals used to live in the Mac bubble.
Overall about this MacBook Pro- very little pro there, too much hype and components from yesteryear.
Essentially, being desperate and in a hurry to show something, meaning anything, at the Apple convention, Steve Jobs and his current bedfellows just rammed the new chip in to the old box, cut some corners, added little el cheapo camera in the lid and turned on the hot air marketing machine. Then set the prices at high.
Apple Computer management apparently believe in and apply that old shonky salesmens principle that there is a sucker born every minute.
MacBook Pro is good if one is cashed up, or computer ignoramus, or thinks the laptop may impress some chicks (you know, the graphic design types) or one belongs to the part of population that does everything by Steve Jobs decrees.
The fact that Apple Computer puts on the market these essentially outdated, skimped down machines indicates there is not much of a brain activity in the Computer Department.
Apparently all efforts are channeled in iPod - an easy to manufacture money spinner with no requirements for serious technical development and competency.
The big picture about Mac computers (sorry, fellow Mac users) in the year 2006 shows that Macs are NOT the Porsche Of Computers any more.
They rather feel like a second-hand Toyotas model 98 that still is going well but is sold at the price of a new car.
There will be no improvements, Apple Computer people are too busy selling iPods, so get used to it.

Simon Stone
Mac and Windows user for 21 years

[EverettL]

Ummm, and your question for Mac 911 is...???
I think you meant to post this in the 'Portable Macs and Handhelds' discussion forum. This forum is for 'tips, help, and troubleshooting.'

[WebFusion]

The moderators will deal with this.
Watch knew what he was doing by posting it here ---- to attract the maximum attention. Anyway, after it is moved to the appropriate thread, we'll have an opportunity to discuss and reply.
Not here.