Hands on: A few days with the new MacBook Pro

Computerworld - In my first look at Apple Computer Inc.'s new MacBook Pro (see "A hands-on look at the new MacBook Pro"), I promised a more comprehensive look at the laptop once it began shipping. I spent last weekend using this 2.16-GHz Intel Core Duo machine, and while I am still not fond of its name, I have grown to love the hardware.

This particular model is the 15-in. version now trickling into users' hands, and came courtesy of Apple for review purposes. It was stuffed with 2GB of RAM and an ultra speedy 256MB of video RAM. More is better.

As the owner of 12-in. and 15-in. PowerBook G4s (circa 2004), I haven't been able to take advantage of some of the features introduced in the PowerBook line last year -- until now. The most impressive of these are the sudden-motion sensor, which locks the hard drive to prevent damage in case you drop your laptop, and my current favorite: the two-finger track pad for scrolling. This feature is (pardon the pun) really handy. Using two fingers to scroll a window up and down is easier than moving the cursor to the right, hitting scroll arrows and moving back to my page. Sure, it sounds lazy, but do that several hundred times in a day and you appreciate the innovation.

For those of us used to a two-button mouse, having to put two hands on the keyboard to bring up contextual menus is a real drag. I found this awesome utility called One Finger Snap from Old Jewel Software that invokes the "right-click" if you hold down the trackpad clicker (or one-button mouse) for a definable period of time. One Finger Snap, combined with the two-finger scroll, leaves my other hand free for drinking coffee at all times!

Speaking of innovation, it looks like Apple's engineers really got it right with wireless reception this time around; The all-metal hinge attaching the screen to the frame has a rubber inset that increases antenna sensitivity exponentially -- yes, exponentially! Unfettered by the reflective metal surface that had limited Wi-Fi reception in earlier models, the MacBook Pro found WLAN access points everywhere I traveled last weekend, access points I had never seen before from the same location. Also, Wi-Fi signals that had dropped out before are now constant -- with full or almost full strength signal.

Other immediately noticeable improvements are the feel of the keys and the imaging on the speakers. Yes, the stereo imaging sounds better to me, and at one point in my life, I was a mixing engineer.