I bought my brand new 15" 2.4GHz MacBook Pro the Wednesday following it's release. I had saved up the money, I was ready to buy. So I showed up at the Broomfield Apple store with my Sun badge in one hand and a credit card in the other and walked out with my new laptop. I transferred my settings and application from my PowerBook G4 and haven't looked back since.

It turns out to be an amazing machine. It's so fast that I no longer have time to read an RSS feed entry when compiling code. I did have performance issues when running Windows XP under Parallels, but those were quickly resolved by upgrading the memory to 4GB. The display is sharp and extremely bright. I usually end up dimming it a bit so it is easier to read and match my external display.

It's really nice to have a few hours of battery time. I usually end up with about 3 hours of battery life without having to turn too many things off. This allows me to bring the laptop to serial meetings or enjoy a full evening of Sci-Fi channel and RSS reading without having to carry the power brick.

Apple finally released the new MacBook Pros. This is something that I have waited for since Intel announced the Santa Rosa platform. It is exciting to read the MacRumors thread on the subject. This looks like a solid upgrade to me. Even more exciting is that I should get my hands on one on Thursday. My trusty PowerBook G4 is still going strong. I just need to do more faster than I used to.

I am still trying to decide between the 15" and the 17" versions. The 15" has an LED illuminated display. It is free or mercury and appears to be brighter than the display on the previous iteration. The 17" LCD has a higher resolution and more screen real-estate. I do connect an external monitor at home and at work. I guess that I still have a couple days to decide. Either way, I should be able to buy the stock model from the Apple store and upgrade the memory later. It's usually cheaper to buy the memory from an OEM rather than from Apple. Better yet, it doesn't void the warranty.

A good news is that I do get to use the Sun Employee discount to make this purchase. This will help offset the bulk of the sales tax and allow me to add a few accessories to it.

Well, I should try to finish up the thread before going to bed.