First time MacBook Pro buyer impression.

I ordered my MBP on October 16th and so far all I have received are the other products.

I ordered:
1 - New MBP with 2.8ghz upgrade, 320gb HD @7200rpm upgrade, and everything else is standard.
2 - Apple Care protection
3 - CS3.3 with education discount.

My main goal is to use this laptop for personal use with graphic editing use. Apps that I plan to use (actually its the wife but Ill use I as a acceptable substitute) Quark, inDesign, Photoshop, and some sort of normal word/excel apps.

So far, I have received the CDs for CS3.3 the next day. I thought that was extremely fast and very impressed. Of course, considering the fact that I just ordered it the day prior and I received the stuff all ready. So, I was expecting the laptop to come in the same day or next day but Im still waiting for the laptop. The ordering screen, on Apples website, says nothing in regards to a specific date other than Oct22-28 but yet I upgraded my shipping to 2 day shipping. Maybe because it is not the standard store model and has upgrades.. who knows. Ill post my impressions when I finally get it with pics and differences from my usual pc laptops.

 

Since it's BTO, it won't ship right away.

From my understanding, after Apple has finished building your machine you'll have it within 2 days of when it's shipped, not 2 days from your order.

 

Hey that happens to be my delivery date too! I know I won't be getting it on the 22nd-24th though because it hasn't shipped yet. The customer representative said once it leaves China it's flown to Alaska to go through custom then enters Cali and then ship to your state from there. So I'm pretty sure mine will come on the 28th T-T

 

I noticed when playing with different configurations that all said shipped in 3-5 days with the exception of the 7200rpm 320g drive...that one said ships in 7-10 days. Must be that the 320g drives are backordered?

 

Usually I've heard Apple most of the time delivers on time, sometimes earlier than expected. Hope yours arrives soon!

 

Yea if you customized it, it will take longer. If you ordered a stock mbp, then it would be there a lot faster.

 

It will arrive soon, especially compared to the average Dell order.

 

It's the orders asking for the 320gb HD @7200rpm upgrade that are being delayed. When I placed my order Monday morning (7:30am PST) I was told that apple was "slammed" with 320gb HD @7200rpm upgrades......

 

Is there a reason you went for CS3 instead of 4?
Seems strange to buy old software now that the new version is out.
a

 

You can not add the CS4 to the cart now. Sow he probably got the CS3.3 with the free upgrade to 4.0, which will happen sometimes in November. I got through the same situation, although I didn't actually placed the order yet.

Please post how warm does it gets, once you receive your new toy. I would like to go for the same CPU but everyone here says it will get too hot for it's own good.

 

i custom ordered mine last friday and it only shipped this morning from Shanghai

My coworker ordered his within 15 minutes of me (standard config) and recieved it today

 

Mine just shipped from Shanghai today too! Won't be receiving it until the 27th.. it's like waiting for the laptop event all over again : /

 

I ordered mine on the 14th and got it on the 20th.

 

You were right. It arrived yesterday (Friday) Oct 24th.

 

I would agree with you but like the other person said... CS4 is not available in the cart so I got the CS3.3 with upgrade option. Also, from personal friends in the business of using CS3.3 stuff... they recommended to stay with CS3 for now because CS4 is hella buggy (according to their experiences.) So, I might as well listen to them and get the free upgrade.

 

Pampas:
In specifics... I cannot tell you but in comparison I have been using a friends mac to get the feel out of it and it is a 15" 2.4ghz and I thought it was hot when I was sitting on the bed with it messing around. So far, this laptop doesnt even feel hot to the touch. Ive been messing with it all day trying to figure out how to use the mouse properly and install some apps and it is not "hot" but it does have its expected 'warmness'.

I guess I need to find some type of software to install to inspect in further detail in regards to those specifics.

 

Sorry I am responding in separate posts but I wanted to make sure everyone is answered appropriately. So far, I havent done much other than take it out and charged it and attempt to figure out the feel for the mouse pad and uses. Its nifty but also a bit irritating (with me coming from a windows laptop use) I tend to tap or doubletap on the mousepad and of course that doesnt do anything for you. You have to press the whole mousepad to get a "click". Odd feeling but I think its one of those things you get used to. Also, I noticed that the top of the mousepad is not clickable but yet you can click it on the bottom portion of it much easier.

On first impression, the box was small and I thought this couldnt be it but I am more than impressed in regards to the size of shipping container and the laptop itself. The aesthetics of the laptop is amazing. I am pleasantly surprised. The screen is quite big from what I expected on the laptop (again referencing the fact that I have a HP Windows laptop with 15" screen and the mac 15.4 looks so much larger. Will give more information later on.

If you want to know anything specific.. please ask and I wanted to ask if there is anything that I should do before I start using the bigger apps? I was reading somewhere that I need to sync the screen?

 

Nothing special just get to know Mac OS X. Play around in it for a couple of days to get accustomed to the OS conventions. The one thing that I found over the years is that when people switch from a PC to a Mac they sometimes get Mac OS pretty messed up. It isn't so bad since the switch to OS X, but it is still possible. I would suggest downloading and installing a few apps as well as playing around with the OS. Get familar with it. If after a couple of days it seems to be working OK then move forward. If not then wipe it and start over. The process is much simpler than Windows so it's pretty easy to start fresh.

You can calibrate the display (ColorSync) by hand or you can download other people's profiles. You can find them here or here (this is a specific thread for the previous gen MBPs but some of the profiles work well). The color profiles vary from screen manufacturer to manufacturer and also from screen to screen. So finding one takes a while sometimes. If you wanted a perfectly calibrated display you could purchase a device to calibrate the display for you. It's up to you.