The Razer Gaming Notebook, known as the Razer Blade is finally coming to market, with preorders starting shortly and actual units shipping in time to be place under the Christmas tree with care.

The Razer Blade gaming laptop includes a touchscreen next to the keyboard, to help gamers take control of their on-screen characters in new ways.

You will be able to preorder the Razer Blade starting at $2,799.99 by early next week.

If you choose to game on the pricey Razer Blade gaming notebook, you will get a very capable machine. Specs include;

• 17 inch Display
• 2.8GHZ Intel Core i7-2640QM processor
• 256GB SSD
• 8GB RAM
• NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M w/ 2GB GDDR5 RAM and Optimus

The big seller here is the touchscreen which you can see to the right of the keyboard. This secondary display is capable of showing you information about your game or act as a touchscreen controller that supports multitouch gestures.

Above the touchscreen are 10 programmable buttons that will allow you to set up shortcuts to common activities and assign them a handy icon so you know what button to press during an intense gaming session.

Here is a video tour of the Razer Blade, which will give you a closer look at the touchscreen area and programable buttons.

The fast release of the Razer Blade is good news given the recent theft of prototype Blade laptops that were stolen last month, containing precious benchmarking data that the company needed.

Razer is best known for the numerous gaming mice, keyboards, audio and other products, but this is the first entry into the gaming notebook arena.

Does the touchscreen offer enough value to get you to plunk down nearly three grand?

Via Slashgear

Razer Blade Gaming Notebook Shipping In Time For Christmas is a post by Josh Smith from Notebooks.com.

Razer makes some pretty awesome gaming accessories for computers including my favorite mouse and a pretty nice looking set of 7.1 surround sound headphones that will be shipping soon, but today revealed what looks like one of the most interesting and beautiful laptop designs to show up in quite some time.

The perfectly named Razer Blade display measures 17″ corner to corner and will nicely replace your desktop. The black chassis looks huge, but like a razor blade, will be very thin – thinner than a MacBook Pro – at less than an inch thick.

The most interesting features come alongside the right side of the keyboard where you will see an integrated LCD touchscreen. It serves as a secondary display or a multitouch trackpad. Ten customizable keys above it sport their own display so that you can put any image you want on them – like a Notebooks.com Icon that takes you to our site or an icon to launch your favorite game or app.

The guts of this beast won’t disappoint with a powerful Intel Core i7 processor and plenty of RAM – 8GB. The NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M video card will keep up with just about any game made. The Optimus Technology should preserve battery life while you aren’t killing zombies or racing around the track.

It will be interesting to learn what kind of battery life this rig gives users. At under 7 pounds the thing won’t be that hefty for a large system like this. You won’t be sliding it in and out of a bag like a MacBook Air, but you’d expect a powerhouse like this to come in at over 8 pounds.

The design and style of the system looks awesome. The typical black with green Razer trim looks nice. The keyboard has green backlighting.

The details specs include the following:

• 2.8GHz Intel Core i7-2640M processor
• 8GB of 1333MHz DDR3 RAM
• NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M with Optimus Technology and 2GB of dedicated video memory
• 320GB 7200rpm SATA hard drive
• HD Webcam
• 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi
• 16.81″ wide x 10.9″ deep x .88″ thick and 6.97lbs

From the image above you can see that it has an Ethernet port, a HDMI out port, what looks like a USB 3.0 port next to two USB 2.0 ports and a headphone jack. We will learn more when it ships.

The Razer Blade won’t come cheap. The gaming company will launch the laptop this fall for $2,800.

via Slashgear

Razer Blade: High End Gaming Notebook with MultiTouch Control Panel is a post by Kevin Purcell from Notebooks.com.

Prepare for one of the most powerful and immersive gaming experiences you can get on a notebook. The Alienware M18x has landed with the latest Nvidia GeForce GTX 580M GPU capable of delivering tear inducing frame rates up to 30% higher than the competition. Kick things up a notch with dual GTX 580M GPUs and NVIDIA SLI to take home performance that is hard to match.

Alienware M18X in Red

The Alienware M18x comes factory overclocked at an amazing 4.0GHz Intel Core i7 Extreme quad core processor, up to 16GB DDR3 1600 MHz RAM or 32GB DDR3 RAM 1333MHz and 1.5TB hard drive options or a 512GB SSD. Dell allows you to max out the Alienware M18X with 5.1 performance audio, optional WirelessHD Display for HDMI quality wireless connectivity to your HDTV and USB 3.0 ports for faster data connectivity.

The Alienware M18x is getting an upgrade that lets you choose between a single Nvidia GeForce GTX 580M GPU with 2GB GDDR5 RAM and dual Nvidia GeForce GTX 580M GPUs with 4GB GDDR5 RAM in SLI configuration for incredible power in a portable package.

Sample Nvidia GeForce GTX 580M GPU performance

While you’re on the go, enjoy the spacious 18.4″ display on the M18X with a 1080P HD resolution. Thanks to the powerful GPU you can play in 1080P without turning down the details.

Improvements

The new Alienware M18X isn’t just toting the latest Nvidia GPU into the fragfest, it also brings a few new physical changes to the party. The new keyboard centered touchpad should eliminate errant mouse movement while gaming. The display has  anew edge rubber seal which is designed to complement the refined look of the Alienware line which is sleeker, but not small enough to be called thin. Rounding out the enhancements is the new Alienware TactX Macro Keys, which allow you to customize 5 keys to for easy access to up to 15 distinct functions per game.

Alienware M18X Gallery

Alienware M18X Lands With Nvidia GeForce GTX 580M is a post by Josh Smith from Notebooks.com.

Nvidia has just announced the new GeForce GTX 580M which is, according to company reps, the ”Fastest. Notebook GPU. Ever.” For those who can’t wait to frag in high FPS glory, you can order the Alienware M18X with the Nvidia GTX580M GPU, or opt for ultimate in power and pack two GeForce GTX 580M GPUs with the optional SLI mode to really bring the pain.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 Performance FPS Benchmark

The new Nvidia GeForce GTX 580M GPU delivers a host of great gaming features that will necessitate a keyboard drool cleanup after reading what Nvidia has packed into the latest high-end gaming GPUs. The GeForce GTX 580M GPU brings up to 384 Cuda Cores and up to 2GB GDDR5 RAM to the party in order to deliver a 30% FPS boost over the competition.

“The best game support. The best gaming features. The best gaming performance available anywhere. That’s the essence of the GeForce GTX 580M,” said Rene Haas general manager of notebook products at NVIDIA in a press release announcing the new GPUs, adding, “With power like this, you can turn all the knobs to 11.”

Nvidia GTX 580M Crysis 2 Demo with Ultra Settings

Be sure to crank the resolution up to 1080P if you want to see the details.

Nvidia GeForce GTX 580M Features

• 3D Vision – Access to 525 3DTV ready titles
• Nvidia Optimus – Automatically switch between GPUs – “5 hours on Facebook, 100FPS in COD:Black Ops”
• DirectX11 – Direct X 11 support.
• PhysX - More detailed and realistic gameplay through physics.
• SLI – Double down with SLI configurations for 2x Scaling.
• Enhanced Tessellation – See greater detail in-game.
• Verde Drivers – Optimized, often updated drivers.

Example of Tessellation with the GeForce GTX 580M

Nvidia GTX 580M Equipped Notebooks

• Alienware M18X – optional SLI
• Alienware M17X – with Optimus
• Clevo P170HM3 – with Nvidia 3D Vision
• Clevo P270WM – with Nvidia 3D Vision, optional SLI

GeForce GTX 570M Announced

In addition the flagship GTX 580M GPU, Nvidia has also announced the Nvidia GTX 570M GPU which delivers a 20% boost in performance compared to previous generations thanks to the availability of up to 336 Cores, and either 1.5GB or 3GB of GDDR5 RAM. The first notebook to sport the new Nvidia GeForce GTX 570M GPU will be the MSI GT780R.

Availability of GTX 580M & GTX 570M Equipped Notebooks

The Alienware M18X is available starting today with the new NVIDIA Geforce GTX 580M with shipments starting in about a week. The Clevo models have no announced pricing or availability. The Alienware M17X will soon be available for order with the GTX 580M GPU, but no specific date has been given.

The MSI GT780R with the new GeForce GT570M is available starting today worldwide.

Additional announcements are expected in the coming days regarding increased availability and pricing of systems.

MSI GTX 580M GTX 570M Specs

Nvidia Launches GTX 580M – “Fastest. Notebook GPU. Ever.” is a post by Josh Smith from Notebooks.com.

Toshiba just dropped the new Toshiba Qosmio X770 and X770 3D multimedia and gaming notebooks on the market. These notebooks are packed with the latest technology and represent the “Gaming Sweet Spot” that Nvidia was hoping to hit with the GTX 560M GPU and a starting price of just over $1,000. The Qosmio X770 and Qosmio X770 3D are ready to meet the gaming and multimedia needs of many users, and should compare nicely to the Alienware line of gaming notebooks, with a $300 lower starting price.

Toshiba Qsmio X770 Quick Specs

The Toshiba Qosmio X770 and X7703D are powered by Intel Core i5 and Core i7 processors capable of Turbo boosting to faster speeds when you really need more power and support up to 8GB RAM. The Qosmio X770 notebooks will use the latest NVIDIA GTX 560M GPU which delivers high frame rates, full HD gaming and DirectX 11 support for gaming and power for multimedia creation. The X770 supports Nvidia Optimus to automatically switch between the NVIDIA GPU and the integrated Intel GPU to deliver battery life or raw processing power depending on your current use.

The Qosmio X770 gaming notebooks have a 17.3″ display with a Full 1080P HD resolution and on the X770 3D the NVIDIA 3D Vision software will bring gaming and movies to a new level with full stereoscopic 3D gaming when paired with the included wireless active shutter 3D glasses. The Qosmio X770 3D is capable of 3D Blu-Ray playback, 2D to 3D movie conversion, 3D gaming and output to a 3DTV

Toshiba Qosmio X770 Hands On Video

Toshiba Qosmio X770 Features

In addition to the 3D gaming and multimedia features present on the Qosmio X7703D, both of the X770 models come with a collection of multimedia and usability features.

• harman/kardon speakers and subwoofer with MaxxAudio 3 by Waves Audio
• Island style keyboard with red LED backlighting
• USB 3.0 port for faster connectivity
• Toshiba Sleep & Music – Plug your MP3 player into the Mic jack to use your computer’s speakers when it is turned off
• USB Sleep & Charge – Plug in your smart phone to charge up while your computer is off.

Toshiba Qosmio X770 and X770 3D Pricing & Availability

The Qosmio X770 starts at $1,199 and will be available later in June from retailers and online from Toshiba. Select retailers will also have access to the Toshiba Qosmio X7703D which starts at $1,899.

Toshiba Qosmio X770 and X770 3D Gallery

Toshiba Qosmio X770 and X770 3D Deliver Gaming Goodness at $1,199 is a post by Josh Smith from Notebooks.com.

MSI has unveiled the MSI GT683, first notebook to ship with the NVIDIA GTX 560M GPU, both of which were announced at Computex 2011 this week. The new GT683 uses the latest technology to deliver a high end gaming experience for $1,599 from Amazon.

The MSI GT683 has a 2.0GHz Intel Core i7 Quad Core processor, 12GB DDR3 System RAm and a 1TB hard drive with Raid 0. The graphics are powered by the new NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560M GPU with 1.5GB video RAM and pumps your frags to a 15.6″ 1080P HD display for an HD gaming experience. The notebook also includes a collection of MSI technologies designed to speed up and cool down the notebook while you are taxing the components.

The biggest star here is the new NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560M GPU which NVIDIA claims can deliver higher frame rates than the AMD competition, allow users to play games like Crysis and Duke Nukem Forever at 1080P with full detail and make use of NVIDIA technologies like PhysX and more.

MSI GT683 Features

• MSI’s Exclusive Turbo Drive Engine (TDE) Technology: Easily overclock GPU with TDE, providing a boost in graphics performance to accelerate video decoding and add extra excitement to your gaming.
• Cooler Boost Technology: When the game heats up, MSI’s Cooler Boost Technology cools the CPU and GPU with a single touch. The technology can manage the fan speed to find the right balance between boosting performance and improving comfort.
• Dual SATA HDD with RAID 0: Enjoy enhanced HDD speed and performance and increased HD storage space with a dual SATA HDD in RAID 0 configuration.
• USB 3.0: The GT683R features two USB 3.0 ports, delivering speedy data transfers with rates up to 4.8GB per second, and 10 times the bandwidth of USB 2.0. MSI’s own i-Charger technology provides three times the power to make charging CE devices faster than ever.
• Dynaudio Speakers with THX Surround Sound: In addition to sharp graphics and lightning quick performance, the GT683R creates an immersive gaming experience by including professional sound quality. MSI collaborated with Dynaudio to build the highest quality speakers plus a built-in subwoofer. THX TruStudio PRO delivers cinema-quality surround sound.

MSI GT683 Pricing and Availability

The MSI GT683 is available now from Amazon for $1,599.

MSI GT683 Gallery

MSI GT683 Gaming Notebook Arrives with NVIDIA GTX 560M GPU and $1,599 Price is a post by Josh Smith from Notebooks.com.

Dell has updated the very popular Alienware M11x notebook and confirmed two new Alienware notebooks, the 18.4″ Alienware M18x we saw last week and the middle child, a 14″ Alienware M14x.

Dell Alienware M11x, M14x and M18x Features

These new Alienware gaming notebooks are packed with the latest 2nd generation Intel Core i “Sandy Bridge” processors and high end graphics including AMD and Nvidia on the M18x and Nvidia GeForce GT500M series GPUs on the M14x and the M11x. The Alienware M18x can even be configured with the powerful Intel Core i7 Extreme CPU option factory overclocked to 4GHz, which Dell is claiming as an industry first.

The Alienware notebooks bring a lot to the table for users that are serious about gaming. Some of the major features include the option to include Wireless HD which allows the M14x and the M18x to stream to the big screen latency free in HD.

Additionally, all three notebooks come with HDMI 1.4 which allows for the connection to 3D HDTVs for 3D gaming. On the connectivity side, look for SuperSpeed USB 3.0 ports which deliver 10x the speed of the standard USB 2.0 ports.

Overall, the new Alienware M14x and M18X look like great additions to the Alienware gaming notebook lineup and the refreshed Alienware M11x looks like it will retain it’s crown as the king of 11″ gaming notebooks (nto that there are many of them).

Alienware M11x, M14x, M18x Pricing and Availability

• Alienware M11x – $999 - Available Now
• Alienware M14x - $1,199 – Available Now
• Alienware M18x – Pricing not released. Availability, coming soon.

Alienware M14x Review

If you want to see how the Alienware M14x handles, Laptop Mag has a full review of the new 14″ gaming notebook including benchmarks and a look at the striking design.

Alienware M11x, M14x, M18x Specs

Alienware M18x Specs:

• An 18.4-inch FHD WLED 1080p display for the best visuals possible
• Powerful Dual GPU options with the fastest graphics memory (GDDR5) on all graphics options
• Both AMD and NVIDIA graphics options, in Crossfire X and SLI, respectively
• New Intel “Huron River” Architecture with a new factory overclocked Intel Core i7 Extreme Quad Core processor up to 4GHz
• Upgradeable to up to 32GB 1333MHz memory
• HDMI/Display Port output & HDMI-in
• Wireless HD & 3D output options, delivering low-latency high-def content wirelessly or output to 3D displays

Alienware M14x Specs:

• 14-inch WLED HD (720p) display standard (1366×768) or optional 14-inch WLED HD+ (900p) display (1600×900)
• Second-generation Overclockable Intel Core i CPUs with Intel Turbo Boost Technology 2.0
• Updated graphics featuring the NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M with up to 3GB of VRAM
• NVIDIA Optimus technology to extend battery life
• Up to 8GB of 1600MHz Extreme-Performance system memory
• HDMI 1.4 to support connectivity on HDTVs and 7.1 digital audio
• Audio powered by Klipsch (onboard speakers)
• Optional Intel WiMAX technology

Alienware M11x Specs:

• An 11.6-inch WLED HD (720p) display (WXGA 1366×768)
• Second-generation Overclockable Intel Core i CPUs with Intel Turbo Boost Technology 2.0
• Updated graphics featuring the NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M
• Up to 16GB of 1333MHz high-performance system memory
• HDMI 1.4 to support connectivity on HDTVs and 7.1 digital audio
• Audio powered by Klipsch (onboard speakers)
• Optional Intel WiMAX technology

Dell Alienware M11x, M14x and M18x Arrive with Sandy Bridge, Wireless HD is a post by Josh Smith from Notebooks.com.

If you have been looking for a new gaming notebook and don’t want to settle for a small 17″ screen, check out the new Dell Alienware M18x which just arrived on the Dell Canada website with an 18.4″ 1080P HD Display and a starting price of $2,014 CAD.

The Dell Alienware M18x comes with an Intel Core™ i7 2630QM clocked at 2.0GHz with the ability to TurboBoost up to 2.8GHz. If you want more power, there is a 2.3GHZ Intel® Core™ i7 2820QM processor with TurboBoost up to 3.4GHz.

The standard graphics processor is the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460M with 1.5GB GDDR5 RAM and there is an optional upgrade to a Dual 2GB GDDR5 AMD Radeon HD 6970M with AMD CrossFireX.

The Alienware M18x comes with an 18.4″ WideFHD 1920 x 1080 resolution display that should be large enough, even for gamers who want to play ont eh big screen.

The M18x comes standard with 4GB RAM and a 320GB hard drive. The RAM can be upgraded to 8GB DDR3 RAM and the hard drive can be bumped up to a 750GB 7200 RPM drive. The M18x is large enough, of course, to accommodate a Slot Load Dual Layer DVD Burner and the notebook has Intel Advanced N6200 a/g/n wireless.

The is also a built in HD 5.1 Surround sound system to immerse you in the gaming experience, which shouldn’t be too hard on this large gaming notebook.

The Alienware M18x comes in your choice of Quasar Blue, Astral Aqua, Mars Red, Nova Yellow, Terra Green, Plasma Purple.

The Dell Alienware M18x is only available in Canada with a starting price of $2,o00 CAD and a ship date of May 3. We expect to see a formal announcement from Dell U.S. regarding the Alienware M18X soon.

Dell Alienware M18x Specs

Dell Alienware M18x Invades Canada, U.S. Not Far Behind is a post by Josh Smith from Notebooks.com.

Asus has just updated the Asus Lamborghini VX7 notebook to the latest processors from Intel and graphics chips from NVIDIA to deliver racecar worthy performance in a sportscar-styled notebook. The Lamborghini VX7 comes in a snappy orange, black and carbon fiber.

The new Lambo notebook has a Quad Core Intel Core i7 Sandy Bridge processor, supports up to 16GB RAM and uses the latest NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460QM GPU with 3GB of DDR5 VRAM. Hard drive options include up t a 7200RPM 750GB hard drive or a hybrid 500GB 7200RPM drive with a 4GB SSD and you’re ready to go. There are also Blu-Ray drive options, a 2.0MP webcam, card reader, Bluetooth, USB 3.0 and a collection of other ports to keep you connected.

In addition to the powerful specs, the Lamborghini VX7 has a Lambo styled exterior which takes cues from the rear of the Lamborghini. Specifically, the backend looks like the tail lights and exhaust which you may have seen as you were passed by one of the legendary sportscars.

Asus Lamborghini VX7 Gallery:

Asus Lamborghini VX7 Specs:

ASUS Launches New Lamborghini VX7 Notebook w/ Sandy Bridge Core i7 is a post by Josh Smith from Notebooks.com.

The new Apple MacBook Pro models released in early 2011 include the latest 2nd Generation Intel Core i family of processors, AMD graphics and a superfast thunderbolt connection. We’ve examined every inch, almost literally inside and out, for our MacBook Pro 15-inch early 2011 review and come to one conclusion. The new Sandy Bridge powered MacBook Pro is fast!

Apple MacBook Pro 15" Review (Early 2011)

MacBook Pro 15″ (early 2011) Quick Specs:

The early 2011 MacBook Pro 15″ model comes with either a 2.0 or 2.2GHz quad-core 2nd Gen Intel Core i7 processor. The new Sandy Bridge processor integrates graphics into the same piece of silicon as the processor, resulting in greater power efficiency and speed. The MacBook Pro we have in for review has the “slower” 2.0GHz quad-core

Intel Core i7 processor.

The MacBook Pro 15″ has 4GB of DDR3 RAM in 2-2GB sticks, upgradable to 8GB from Apple or up to 16GB if you do it yourself. It has a 500GB hard drive that unfortunately runs at the slower 5400rpm. Apple offers faster 7200rpm drives and SSDs as optional upgrades at the time purchase.

Apple switched from NVIDIA to AMD graphics. In the MacBook Pro we get the AMD Radeon HD 6490M processor that can switch off to use the integrated Intel HD 3000 integrated graphics. This happens when less graphics intensive tasks are being performed, like writing documents and basic web surfing. As a result, battery life is extended.

The resolution of the 15″ MacBook Prodisplay is 1440×900. The AMD Radeon can also power an external monitor with up to 2560×1600 resolution.

Additional MacBook Pro 15″ Specs include:

• Wi-Fi (802.11a/b/g/n)
• Bluetooth 2.1+EDR
• Gigabit Ethernet
• Thunderbolt/Mini Display port – more on Thunderbolt later

Who is the MacBook Pro 15″ Model For?

The MacBook Pro is a powerful system that can handle just about any task you want to take on. It is the workhorse of the Apple notebook lineup, and creative professionals will be happy with the powerful multimedia capabilities. The combination of speed and processing power makes creating video an enjoyable task. The screen is bright and beautiful so photographers can use it to edit their masterpieces.

We can’t think of any creative types that would not be happy with this computer, unless they need more screen real-estate, but then there’s the 17″ model. The 15″ is a great compromise between size and portability. The 13″ MacBook Pro (early 2011) is another option for those who need moe portability. For more, read our MacBook Pro 13″ review. We feel that the MacBook Pro 15″ model is a happy medium in many ways..

MacBook Pro handles Adobe Photoshop editing well

Mac gamers will be happy with the graphics and processor. Graphics are fluid and the display is true to color. We played Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare on the MacBook Pro and found that the graphics were very good and the computer handled everything fluidly. It did tax the system , causing the fans to start whirring in the background and the aluminum case did get slightly warmer, but the MacBook Pro performed well. Playing a game like that with a trackpad is not much fun, so get an external mouse. If you do, you will enjoy this and many other games on the MacBook Pro.

MacBook Pro 15″ (early 2011) Gaming Demo:

With the upgrade to the Sandy Bridge processor, the MacBook Pro maintains good battery life given the power of the system. Having a large 15″ screen to enjoy writing and surfing is nice. Users can also watch movies while on a plane or in the car. A smaller, lighter system like the MacBook Air might give you better battery life and portability, but we enjoy the extra power and bigger display found on the 15″ MacBook Pro. Plus, you never know when you might want to create a movie masterpiece on a vacation.

The MacBook Pro battery is on the front right

Nearly everyone will be satisfied with the 15″ MacBook Pro. OS X lovers are already sold on Apple notebooks. Even Microsoft Windows users will like the system because of Boot Camp, VMare or Parallels, which let you run Windows on a Mac. It is powerful enough to run Windows in a virtual environment and still use the system to work in OS X alongside Windows. We tested it with Parallels 6 and two Windows programs that we use all the time. We’d rather have native OS X apps, but if you have to run Windows on a Mac, the Sandy Bridge MacBook Pro handles it well.

MacBook Pro 15-inch Review Hands On Video:

We split our MacBook Pro video review into multiple parts.You can see the general MacBook Pro hands on below, and more specific video reviews in the sections below.

MacBook Pro Build and Design:

The aluminum case of the MacBook Pro is sturdy. It feels like it is going to hold up even if it is punished a little bit. No one wants to drop a system, but we did. And it kept on going. The MacBook Pro hinge is stiff enough to hold up the display, but not too stiff to make it hard to open with one hand. We like the magnets thats ever so slightly snap it down, turning the display off and putting the system to sleep.

Aluminum chassie is sturdy on MacBook Pro

The MacBook Pro 15 is not a lightweight computer. Some people may prefer a smaller more portable system. That said, this computer is not hard to carry around in a computer bag. Even with the charger and accessories, we didn’t get fatigued carrying for a long time.

One thing that most people won’t bother doing is cracking the case open for upgrades. This is actually a simple process. We upgraded the hard drive and memory after running our baseline tests and found it to be straightforward. The entire bottom comes off and the memory and hard drive are user replaceable with a little care.

To crack open the case turn it over and unscrew ten screws

I’ve noticed that the aluminum case easily gets scratched or scuffed. Below, in the section about the keyboard, there is a video. At the tail end of the video I show a scratch I’ve already put on the area right of the trackpad where my watch band has apparently scuffed the case, though I don’t remember doing it. The lid also has a few scratches. Again, I don’t recall doing anything that would have scratched the lid.

I recommend finding a cover that will protect the case like one from Speck. Amazon has one similar to the the Speck SeeThru MacBook Air cover, but designed to fit the 15 inch MacBook Pro. I’d recommend getting one or something like it.

MacBook Pro 15″ Audio and Speakers:

The built-in speakers of the MacBook Pro are decent. The sound is a little tinny but not as bad as some systems. We tested an HP ProBook that had really great speakers and we wish Apple would find out which speakers are being used by HP and start using them in the MacBook Pro line.

The audio from game play and watching video will be enjoyable on this system. The speakers are loud enough that you don’t have to be in a silent environment to hear them, even if they are just a little bit tinny.

The speakers on the MacBook Pro are adequate but nothing special

When connecting external headphones, the sound quality increases dramatically. The ability to use AirPlay through iTunes is a plus if you have AirPlay enabled sound system/speakers or an Apple TV hooked up to a good sound system.

It is a little difficult to plug a pair of headphones into the jack on the side. The port is a tight fit. But this is an incredibly minor problem that some might even say is a plus, since the headphones won’t slip out easily.

MacBook Pro 15″ Hard Drive:

The hard drive in the MacBook Pro is one of the few disappointments. The stock system comes with a slower 5400rpm drive. It is the bottleneck of the computer. If you buy a high end PC like this, you should get high end parts. Using a slower hard drive is just silly. For $100 you can get a 7200rpm upgrade. Do it unless you would like to upgrade on your own. For a little over $100 you can upgrade the hard drive to a faster hybrid hard drive like we did.

The MacBook Pro hard drive is a disappointment at only 5400 rpm

The upgrade to the Seagate Momentus XT sped up system boots times and programs load quicker. There was about a 5-10 percent battery life hit, but that is a good trade off for the extra speed.

Apple doesn’t offer a hybrid hard drive upgrade from the manufacturer so you would have to do either do it yourself or pay someone else. It is easier than it looks. Follow our instructions in the video below:

It is a shame that we had to upgrade the drive to get the kind of speed we’d like to see. It is a good upgrade, but after the MacBook Air shipped with a built-in SSD as a baseline, we expected to see Apple go in this direction in their flagship notebooks. Until SSDs come down in price, they probably won’t become part of the stock setup of the MacBook or MacBook Pro.

MacBook Pro 15″ Display:

The MacBook Pro 15″ model has three screen options. We went with the least expensive glossy display with a 1440×900 resolution. It is bright and easy to see in most settings. In bright situations, like outdoors or in a room with a lot of sunlight pouring through the windows directly on the screen, the screen’s glare makes it hard to see what you are doing. We lower the screen brightness to about 50-60 percent to conserve battery life, but in these settings you can’t.

The MacBook Pro has a wide viewing angle

An upgrade that is available is the anti-glare option with a 1680×1050 resolution. If you can afford it, get it. There is no reason to pick the middle option which is the higher resolution, but glossy display. There is only a $50 difference between the mid-level screen and the more expensive anti-glare screen. That extra $50 will make you happier, unless you’ve used both kinds of displays and really prefer glossy screens.

Despite our preference for an anti-glare screen, we are not disappointed with the display of the glossy screen in normal light. The viewing angle is extremely wide, useful for making presentations to a few people or watching video with a couple of friends, co-workers or clients.

The MacBook Pro display is bright and has great color in normal and low light

Colors pop and seem faithful. We hook up an external monitor while in the office and we thought the monitor also had good color, but the difference is stark. The MacBook Pro screen is so much better. Whites are whiter and black objects are more black. There is good contrast and color fidelity. Few mobile displays are better, in regular light. The result is an excellent picture processing tool.

The video below touches on watching videos on the MacBook Pro and has a quick demo of the camera.

The camera in the MacBook Pro has been renamed from an iChat camera to a FaceTime camera.

The MacBook Pro camera is decent

The camera is decent. We don’t use laptop webcams much, but in a few FaceTime tests it worked okay. It shoots 720p HD video but only takes 640×480 still images. If only it could make my ugly mug look more attractive, that would be a plus! Below is a sample taken with Photo Booth.

A sample of a picture taken from the built-in camera

And here is a sample video from the Camera also taken in Photo Booth:

MacBook Pro 15″ Keyboard and Touchpad:

People seem to have strong opinions about island/chiclet style keyboards. Most people we talk to like them, but some really hate them. We fall in the first category, so we are very happy with the MacBook Pro keyboard.

The keys are stiffer than our MacBook Air. That is a good thing. There is a little “clickety-clack” sound while typing, but that is minor. Typing feels good. Spacing is good too.

It has been a challenge switching from a Windows keyboard to the Mac keyboard. There are some differences that require a change in habit. For example, many Windows keyboard have a key that mimics the right click of a mouse. Macs do not have this key. I used it a lot. The other key I miss is the Windows key. It would mimic clicking on the Start menu in Windows revealing the menu that holds a list of all the programs installed.

The MacBook Pro keyboard is great

We like how all Macs have a standardized set of the shortcut keys across the top that double as function keys. Most people don’t use the F-keys that often so Apple relegates the functions to secondary duty. The primary duty of the keys are things like volume up/down/mute, screen brightness, and OS X features like Expose or Widgets. There are also multimedia controls. The F5/F6 keys on the MacBook Pro control the brightness of the backlighting. We really like the backlit keyboard and it is nice to be able to adjust the brightness.

Some Windows keyboards change the F-keys to shortcut keys, but all Mac keyboards behave the same,with the one exception of the F5/F6 keys which are only for backlit keyboards. On rare occasions when you need an F-key, just use the Fn key in the lower left corner to engage the F-keys.

The multi-touch trackpad is great! I hate touchpads and always carry an external mouse. I like the one on the MacBook Pro so much I now leave my mouse in the bag or at home. It is spacious and responsive. We love the gestures OS X incorporates for doing things like scrolling, moving back and forth in a browser history, and pinching to zoom.

The trackpad on the MacBook Pro is the best we've ever used

The trackpad is also a large button that can be clicked like you would a mouse button. We prefer tapping to select, so we almost immediately changed that option in System Preferences. But thankfully it is an option. When you do have to click you can tell that it is being clicked, with a loud sound and good tactile response. If you have to use a trackpad, the one on the MacBook Pro is the best we’ve used.

Below is our video review of the keyboard and touchpad. It also highlights a problem with scratching on the aluminum case near the trackpad:

MacBook Pro Quad Core – Core i7 Processor and Performance:

The MacBook Pro 15″ is a fast computer. It is one of the fastest notebooks we have ever used. It doesn’t boot up as quickly as the MacBook Air, but it could if you added the SSD option. The quad-core Intel Core i7 processor handles video editing with aplomb. Almost nothing we threw at it slowed the machine down, except for one.

The MacBook Pro handles beefy software better than most

We use a program called Logos Bible Software (pictured above). It is a Bible study and research tool. The program is database intensive and runs on an overlay environment that draws the screen on top of OS X instead of using the built-in visual elements, almost like a virtualized environment. The company does this to standardize the look and feel between Windows and Mac. The problem is that it requires a lot of horsepower to run well. It requires video processing power to draw the screen. It requires memory because it loads a lot of data right at the start. And it requires a fast hard drive because it is searching through literally thousands of books that are often more than a thousand pages in length each. An application that requires that much power cripples a lot of systems. Because of how poorly written it is, it does cripple even the MacBook Pro at times. But this system runs this beast faster than the MacBook Air or iMac.

We also tested the system by editing large 14.2 megapixel raw digital photographs. No problem! RAW photo editing is a very processor intensive activity and the MacBook Pro handled it well with a number of things running in the background, including a browser, the above Logos application, a Word processor and an iMovie project being rendered. We fired up iTunes and iPhoto to add to the mix and it still had no problem.

See the video below in the “Heat and Noise” to see our video demonstration of just how fast the system is. When all of the above applications were running at once, the fans do whirl loudly.

MacBook Pro Benchmarks:

We did some quick Benchmarks just for comparison. The program we use is called Geek Bench and it mainly measures the things like the speed of the processor. Our MacBook Pro got a score of 8882 while the MacBook Air received a score of 2674.

The hard drive in the MacBook Pro should be a bit of a bottleneck. We did a simple test copying our DropBox folder to and from the hard drive on both the MacBook Air and the MacBook Pro. On the Air it took 7:42 to copy the folder which is 2.24GB to a 7200 rpm USB 2.0 hard drive. To copy it back to the Air it took just 1:19. The MacBook Air has a flash drive so it reads much slower than it writes (copy from v. copy to). By comparison the MacBook Pro copied the folder to the hard drive in 1:34 and copied it from the drive in 8:11. That is not a significant difference proving that Apple has really done a good job of putting together the guts of this fast machine despite the slower drive. After our upgrade to a faster hard drive the copy times on the MacBook Pro dropped by about 20%.

Battery benchmarks are in the section about battery life below.

MacBook Pro Heat and Noise:

No one likes to have their lap cooked by a computer. The good news is the MacBook Pro is not too hot. The aluminum bottom of the system can get warm at times, especially when the computer is put through a workout. With very intense work, like encoding a long video while also running a lot of other applications, the system can get hot. For simple tasks like typing an article, surfing the Internet or viewing a video, the MacBook Pro barely even warms up. The area around the processor is only slightly warmer than the rest of the system. Heat is not a real issue with this system.

Fan noise can get loud during processor intensive tasks. It is very noticeable while encoding video. It isn’t so loud that it is annoying, but is noticeable.

Below, I demonstrate how loud the fan noise can get as the MacBook Pro is under a heavy load. I also show just how fast the system is with a lot of programs running.

MacBook Pro Battery Life

Apple claims that the MacBook Pro battery life is “up to 7 hours” and lately they have been pretty accurate in their advertised battery life. That is why we were a little disappointed in our results.

To test the battery life, we did all we could to drain the thing as fast as possible. We turned up the brightness full blast, turned on both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth and used them constantly, making sure we accessed the Internet a lot. We copied files. We watched a bunch of videos and did a lot of writing. And 3:45 later, the computer shut down with a dead battery. Considering most people will not use it this way, that’s not bad. With a more reasonable test, the battery lasted closer to five hours with brightness turned down to about 60%. It was a real world usage with mostly Internet surfing, typing, and listing to music in the background. We saw all-morning battery life.

Our first couple of battery tests were actually abysmal. We ran the recommended battery calibration steps and that fixed the problem. Before the test the longest battery life achieved was around 4 hours. Afterwards the longest we’ve achieved was a little over 5 hours. That is decent, but still disappointing when compared to Apple’s claims.

The MagSafe power connector is evidence of Apple's attention to detail

Apple power cable design is proof their attention to detail. The MagSafe Power connector and charger is a seemingly minor thing. But when you have your computer plugged in and you or someone else trips over the cord it can be a disaster for your expensive computer. The magnetic connector is designed to pop out in such situations. Longtime Apple customers take this for granted now. But as a recent switcher I appreciate it.

Here is a video about the power adapter:

Most computer manufacturers have two piece charging cables. Apple went further making the two piece design useful even without one of the pieces. The white power brick, which is smaller than most, has an attachment so the brick can be plugged directly into an outlet. This attachment can be removed so the thicker three-pronged end of the charging cable can be installed for a longer cable. We just left it at home and plugged the brick into it when we need juice in our home office.

The cable management on the MagSafe power connector is convenient

The two-pronged wall adapter plug folds into the brick. The power brick has two hooks that flip out so that the very thin cable, that has the MagSafe connector on it, can be wrapped around the hooks. There is a little clip that allows you to attach the cable to keep it from coming apart in a computer bag or even a pocket. The clasp comes undone occasionally. But most of the time it works as designed.

These little details are what set Apple products apart. They are the kinds of things that make Apple customers really appreciate their hardware while people who have never used them don’t even know they exist.

MacBook Pro Connectivity:

The MacBook Pro has all the basic ports, plus one interesting one. The new Thunderbolt port is a super fast connection that can transfer data, theoretically, about twenty times faster than USB 2.0 and ten times faster than a Firewire 800 port. We doubt we will see real-world speeds that fast. If it is just five times faster than either of these, that will be a big plus. Imagine backing up your entire hard drive in minutes instead of hours.

Thunderbolt will help with external connections

The problem with Thunderbolt is you can’t test it yet. There are no accessories available right now. It’s like having a Ferrari without any roads to drive it on. So, for now, it is just a mini-DVI port. That’s one benefit of Thunderbolt, the port can carry data and the signals needed for sending video to an external display.

In the future one may be able to plug in a Thunderbolt hard drive, Blue-ray drive, and monitor all daisy-chained on the same connector. We will be using this computer mostly as a desktop replacement. It will be nice to have one cable to connect all of our peripherals. They will all be able to connect to one another and then you would just connect one of the accessories to the computer. All of them will be usable.

The other connections on the MacBook Pro are as follows:

• USB 2.0 x 2
• Firewire 800
• SDXC card reader
• 1/8″ headphone/audio lin out jack
• 1/8″ mic/audio line in jack
• Gigabit Ethernet
• MagSafe power connector
• Kensington lock
• Mini-DVI port (shared with Thunderbolt port)

For wireless connectivity, the MacBook Pro has both Bluetooth and 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-fi. Both perform as expected.

Hooking up the MacBook Pro to an external display

One complaint we have with Apple notebooks is the lack of a VGA port, which means you’ll need an adapter. Apple is obsessed with dongles and adapters. To use their products in the real world you will need plenty of them. A mini-DVI to VGA or DVI adapter is necessary to connect the laptop to almost every projector or non-Apple display. So don’t forget you will need to buy one or two of these to actually use your computer to make presentations.

We also would like to see a couple more USB ports and at least one USB 3.0 port. Thunderbolt is the future, but USB will be the present for at least another year and people will have USB 3.0 peripherals for years. Maybe there will be an adapter or dock to solve this issue.

Here is our MacBook Pro video port tour:

MacBook Pro Software:

OS X is a good operating system. Our purpose is not to review it, but we do like it. It is simple to use and doesn’t need a lot of tweaking to make it work like you want it to work. If you do need or want to tweak settings, they are almost all in the System Preferences screen, which is convenient.

There are a few annoyances we’d like to see changed, including window management. Why can’t we drag to resize my windows using all four edges? We understand that is coming in the next upgrade, but it should have been there all along. Also the red, yellow and green buttons to close, minimize and zoom windows are not intuitive. We don’t have a problem with the close and minimize buttons, but why not a real maximize button? Instead the green plus button is a zoom that toggles between smaller size or a window that is using all the vertical space it can but seldom does it fill the screen horizontally. We had to add two add-on apps (Cinch and Deskovery) to get manageable windows in OS X. These basic functions are built into Windows 7 out of the box.

The extra applications that come with a Mac are a mixture of wow and what? First the wow!

iPhoto is a nice entry level photo editing and organization program

For the kinds of creative tasks most people perform, iPhoto and iMovie are more than enough. They work well together. I’m a bit of an amateur photographer so iPhoto is a little bit limiting. For ninety percent of users it will handle their photo editing and organizing tasks sufficiently.

iMovie is deceptively powerful for a free throw-in. As a Windows user for more than 18 years I was deeply disappointed with Windows Live Movie Maker. iMovie is such a nice upgrade. The other iLife applications are GarageBand, iDVD and iWeb. We haven’t used them a lot, but GarageBand is a useful music and audio tool. iDVD is acceptable for creating DVDs and iWeb is a useful WYSIWYG web site creation tool. iWeb has some nice templates and you can put up a quick web site without knowing a lot about HTML or web publishing.

iMovie is one of best simple video editors we've seen

For backup Time Machine is great! It is a truly set it and forget it option. It occasionally gets in the way since it runs every hour, but running it that often also means that backups don’t take long. When a decent Thunderbolt hard drive is available, this will be faster. In our upgrade of the MacBook Pro hard drive, having Time Machine made the installation of our operating system, software and personal files so easy. It makes doing that kind of upgrade something we don’t dread. If you lose your hard drive to a mechanical failure, you will at worst lose an hour of work, unless you don’t run Time Machine regularly.

As part of our hard drive upgrade story, we showed you how to do the restoration from a Time Machine backup in this video:

Preview is one of those applications that you likely will use a lot, but never use to its fullest capabilities. If you look into all that it can do, then you will be pleasantly surprised. It useful for viewing files of many types, editing files of many times and more. We did a list of ten cool things you can do with the application and fell in love in the process.

Right Click for Quick Definitions

A little application overlooked is Dictionary. It is not powerful or beautiful, but has once great feature. It is always a right click away. Highlight a word, right click it and choose “Look up in Dictionary” and you have a definition.

As good as those are, the other extras range from okay to terrible. iTunes is the worst media management application around, but if you run iOS devices you are stuck. It is clunky and has some head-scratching default settings. We long for day when buying music, videos, and apps is done in an online store instead of this mess of an application.

Here are the other applications which are mostly average or below average:

• iChat is being replaced by FaceTime, but it is still usable
• Mail is pretty average for email with little to make us switch from using Gmail
• QuickTime works, but that’s all you can say about it
• PhotoBooth is fun for about a minute and then we never used it again
• Safari is that browser we used to go and download Chrome and then only use it in the rare times that Chrome struggles with a page
• iCal and Address Book are like Safari – only used when absolutely necessary
• We don’t have the skill to test or even pass an opinion on Xcode, however we did use it once to enable multi-gestures on the iPad 2

MacBook Pro Value:

As you can tell, we love the 15″ early 2011 MacBook Pro. But is it worth $1800 at the minimum? For those who want a powerful high-end computer that can do almost anything you might want on the road or at home, the answer is a resounding yes! Just a few short years ago every high-end computer cost more than two grand. We’ve become a little spoiled in the post-netbook world. The MacBook Pro is definitely more costly than most powerful Windows notebooks, but it is also a computer with excellent build quality, speed, and versatility.

To compare prices we went over to HP and configured the following system:

HP DV6T Quad Edition

• Windows 7 Ultimate
• Intel Quad-core Core i7 2630QM processor
• 6GB of RAM (free upgrade from 4GB)
• 750 GB 5400rpm hard drive
• Double layer DVD burner
• High capacity 6 hour battery
• 15.6″ 1366×768 resolution glossy display (lower res than MacBook Pro with no option for a higher resolution screen)
• b/g/g Wi-fi and Bluetooth
• Added Photoshop/Premiere Elements to compete with iPhoto and iMovie

The cost was only $1,358.99. That is $400 less than the MacBook Pro, but there are a few reasons we still would rather have the MacBook Pro. First, the resolution of the screen is much better on the Mac. Second, a Mac can run both Windows and OS X. While we haven’t tested the HP alongside the Mac, we have tested HP systems. We prefer the keyboard and trackpad on the Macs.

Running Windows 7 under Parallels makes the MacBook Pro a versatile system

If you are a person who prefers Windows, then you have some really great options. But if you want to run both Windows and OS X with power, the MacBook Pro is your best option even at the higher price.

Another reason to go with an Apple is the support you get. A recent report found that Apple comes out on top in terms of user support. Having used a lot of computers from numerous manufacturers, the 15″ Apple MacBook Pro beats them all.

Below is our final Video Review of the 15″ MacBook Pro:

Pros:

• Fast!
• Handles multimedia creation and average gaming with ease
• Great keyboard and trackpad
• Bright beautiful screen with wide viewing angle and true color in most situations
• Sound is good especially when using external quality headphones or speakers
• OS X is a powerful operating system that is easy to use
• Excellent add-on software like iLife, Time Machine, and Preview
• Sturdy build
• Potential of Thunderbolt accessories excites us
• Stable
• Handles heat well
• Upgrading hard drive and memory is not hard for those who are daring enough to try
• Decent battery life if you ignore Apple’s 7-hour claim

Cons:

• Glossy screen is difficult to view in very bright light
• Cost
• Battery life not as long as advertised
• iTunes is terrible for media organization
• Fan can get noisy
• Stock hard drive is too slow
• Not enough USB ports and no USB 3.0

MacBook Pro Gallery:

MacBook Pro 15.4″ Detailed Specs:

Apple MacBook Pro 15-inch (Core i7) Review – Early 2011 w/ Thunderbolt (video) is a post by Kevin Purcell from Notebooks.com.