AT A GLANCE:

•  LED backlit screen with wide angle viewing 
• 3 USB 2.0 ports and a Firewire 800 port, so  you can plug in quite a few devices at the same time
•  The only Macbook to have a Express Card slot
•  8-9 hour battery life

There is so much hype about using a Mac of any sort, that when I got this Macbook Pro to review I was thrilled! I wanted to see whether it was all it's cracked up to be; and what better way to see whether I actually want to go through the expense of changing from the PC environment that I use for my photography at home.

I wasn't disappointed.

I was impressed from the moment I opened the white box. The Macbook was packaged so beautifully, that it almost seemed a crime to set it up.

I had actually been dreading setting it up because I struggle so much with getting the wireless environment in my house working on new work laptops. The MacBook proved me wrong though... it was just such a simple process! And it's just worked from then onwards without me having to fiddle with passwords etc.

The whole setup and layout on the Mac is a pleasure... from the way that all the settings are in System Preferences (and I cannot stand hunting for settings in places that seem to make no sense on PC's), to the intuitive search bar that is in the Finder (where all the files are found) and in the System Preferences.

It's just designed so fantastically well. The trackpad even wowed me with the way that you scroll down and across screens just by dragging 2 fingers; and the funky 4 finger drag that pops up all the windows that you're working with.

I must admit though, that I did need help in the beginning. After a few days of playing around with it, I did ask a colleague (an Apple addict) to help me get the most out of it, and I'm glad I spent the hour trawling around the features with him.

I would never have found all the features within the time frame that I had the MacBook without the kickstart... especially the multiple desktops where you can run separate applications all at the same time. In fact, that is one amazing feature, where I can have my social networking going on one desktop, and have my photo processing happening on another desktop, with a work document in progress on yet another desktop; without any conflicts happening. It just reduces the clutter so much!

The only problem I've had in the 3 weeks that I've had the MacBook Pro, is with the Microsoft Office 2008 for Apple software that's loaded on it. As per usual, Word managed to crash once or twice for no apparent reason. But I guess that's what happens when you run a Microsoft product on a Mac, right?

I actually really cannot fault this beautiful machine. So much so, that I'm buying one; and yes - I think it's well worth the expense of also purchasing the Mac versions of all the software I use. Not to mention the fact that it is actually beautiful (I've said that before haven't I?) and I can get the most awesomely funky accessories for it!

Turn ons:

• Easy to set up 
•  Awesome quality screen that's so nice and big 
• So fast and powerful! Able to run all my photo software without any problem and even the internet is faster!

Turn offs:

• Takes some time to get used to, if you're very comfortable using a PC.
• Special adaptor required for the hairdryer type 2-prong plug, it doesn't easily fit into other adaptors

Overall Rating: 5/5

SRP: R25 999.00