MacBook Pro: A Look at Fifteen Years of Evolution

[CPark98]

Here is a little showcase of the many differences and perhaps even more similarities between the very first Intel Core Duo MacBook Pro 15" from January 2006 and the brand new M1 Max MacBook Pro 16". Given the many parallels in design between this new machine and the PowerBook Line and First Generation MacBook Pro, I thought I'd put both iconic machines side by side in this little gallery. Enjoy

Front View - Open:

Top View:

Front View - Closed:

Left Side:

Right Side:

Rear:

Ports - Left:

Ports - Right:

Bottom:

Keyboard & Trackpad:

Screen & Bezel:

 

[metapunk2077fail]

Look how many points of failure there were on the old machines. All those plastic parts, the tiny little rubber feet, the battery latches. They all became frayed or weak with time. PC laptops still have these numerous points of failure and fragility.

Unibody was such a game changer. It's now gotten to the point where the body doesn't have all those fragile plastic ports and antenna covers. So clean, solid and industrial.

 

[chengengaun]

I know a lot of people here are critical of Jony Ive, but it's appropriate to quote him (Objectified, Gary Hustwit 2008 interview):

[Being remarkably thin yet very rigid] usually don't go together very well. Traditionally how you solve that problem is that often you have an internal structure and then you have an external shell [like the 2006 MBP], which actually contributes much less to the overall structure of the product than you would imagine. What we've been working toward is removing a ton of those parts and all the inherent risk, weight, and complexity, and trying to solve the structural issues with fewer parts. The real breakthrough we had that enabled the MacBook Air is that the structure of this product is almost entirely derived from this palm rest.

... What we end up with is a part that has all the mounting features, all of the bosses, all of the undercuts. They're all integrated. So this is just one part, but this one part is providing so much functionality, and this really does enable this product.

 

[bsamcash]

Maybe it's just me, but I think that first gen design still holds up. I still have my old Powerbook G4. Man I miss firewire.

 

[ucfgrad93]

I still have a MacBook Pro from 2007. Don't really use it, but the last time I turned it on it still ran like a champ.

 

[vinay427]

Look how many points of failure there were on the old machines. All those plastic parts, the tiny little rubber feet, the battery latches. They all became frayed or weak with time. PC laptops still have these numerous points of failure and fragility.

Unibody was such a game changer. It's now gotten to the point where the body doesn't have all those fragile plastic ports and antenna covers. So clean, solid and industrial.

This is quite a choice description of the differences. There are also many advantages of a design that’s more easily repairable and robust to modifications, and for many use cases this can last longer than a unibody design.

 

[Maclver]

Would love to see some speed comparisons!

 

[TechRunner]

The photo of the bottoms with the user replaceable battery on the old MBP almost made me cry.

 

[Maclver]

The photo of the bottoms with the user replaceable battery on the old MBP almost made me cry.

18 hours battery life > 4 hours battery life.... ill take the no user replaceable! lol

 

[bsamcash]

18 hours battery life > 4 hours battery life.... ill take the no user replaceable! lol

That's debatable. When you can easily swap out the battery yourself, you have virtually unlimited battery life.

 

[haruhiko]

I know a lot of people here are critical of Jony Ive, but it's appropriate to quote him (Objectified, Gary Hustwit 2008 interview):

Unibody is a great design. The iPhone also used this design from the iPhone 4.

 

[nathan_reilly]

man I love my penryn MacBook Pro

 

[TechRunner]

18 hours battery life > 4 hours battery life.... ill take the no user replaceable! lol

My 2015 MBA needed a battery replacement, so I shipped it off to SellYourMac for a few bucks. If I could have grabbed an inexpensive after market battery and popped it in without tearing into the MBA, I would have kept it. But I do agree with you that modern battery setups, even though baked in, blow the older stuff away!

 

[mo5214]

My 2015 MBA needed a battery replacement, so I shipped it off to SellYourMac for a few bucks. If I could have grabbed an inexpensive after market battery and popped it in without tearing into the MBA, I would have kept it. But I do agree with you that modern battery setups, even though baked in, blow the older stuff away!

2015 MBA doesn’t even have battery glued in. All you have to do is remove bottom screws and the battery screws. Parts are available online.

And 2015 Air 5650u s were competitive with the newer Airs up until M1.

 

[Beau10]

18 hours battery life > 4 hours battery life.... ill take the no user replaceable! lol

My 16" i9 gets about 4 hours still lol. But yes, possibly the greatest functional improvement of the new 16" is that insane better than all-day battery life even when taxed.

I had a 2008 MBP and always carried one, possibly two batteries when I was out and about for all day battery life. I typically carry a 100 watt hour external PD battery for my 16" i9.

 

[weezin]

I was waiting for someone to do this comparison. So many similarities it's amazing. I love the old design.

 

[Beau10]

I was waiting for someone to do this comparison. So many similarities it's amazing. I love the old design.

The old design is super classic. I remember how many people *hated* the unibody design when it was revealed.

 

[mo5214]

The old design is super classic. I remember how many people *hated* the unibody design when it was revealed.

The first unibody hide the battery replacement mechanism behind the door. So it
Added an extra step. To replace battery.

Also the MCP79x nvidia chipset on the first 2 gen unibodies was buggy. Introducing data corruption when expresscard to sata adapters with certain controllers were used.

And it would also trigger AHCI related BSOD/lock up in bootcamp

Also glued in lid hinge design would fail after few years.

None of which were there in the early 2008 series.

 

[Beau10]

Also the MCP79x nvidia chipset on the first 2 gen unibodies was buggy. Introducing data corruption when expresscard to sata adapters with certain controllers were used.

None of which were there in the early 2008 series.

The 2008 had the 8600 GPU issue which would take out the whole logic board though. I was lucky to have that happen after my 3rd year of ownership and replaced free by Apple, but there were folks who had it fail multiple times.

 

[mo5214]

The 2008 had the 8600 GPU issue which would take out the whole logic board though. I was lucky to have that happen after my 3rd year of ownership and replaced free by Apple.

Yea, Nvidia had a “bad” revision of 8600gt chips. It was resolved in the second revision.

 

[fs454]

I used to ache so hard for them to get rid of the damn optical drive. Took up so much valuable internal real estate in those old MBPs. I was so eager to get out of the optical drive game I skipped the unibody era and went straight from the pictured gen to a MacBook Air 11" until the ODD was removed with the retina generation.

 

[Mr. Dee]

I did a similar comparison using my 2005 PowerBook G4 and 2001 PB G4

Hands on with the 2021 MacBook Pro

In your case, you match the audience it targets and you seem to keep your Macs for a long time. So, something like this would benefit you. I would wait until the second rev though if you can. Hopefully by then it will have WiFi 6E and HDMI 2.1 and potentially cheaper.

forums.macrumors.com

It shares some DNA, but my conclusion is the design is more similar to the unibody design.

 

[CPark98]

I did a similar comparison using my 2005 PowerBook G4 and 2001 PB G4

Hands on with the 2021 MacBook Pro

In your case, you match the audience it targets and you seem to keep your Macs for a long time. So, something like this would benefit you. I would wait until the second rev though if you can. Hopefully by then it will have WiFi 6E and HDMI 2.1 and potentially cheaper.

forums.macrumors.com

It shares some DNA, but my conclusion is the design is more similar to the unibody design.

I'd say the last two generations were the most like the original unibody, given that they essentially carried on the same design just in a slimmer and more modern package, where this design goes back to the drawing board and uses the retro-chic aesthetic from recent products like the Mac Pro, iMac, and iPhone 13. This design definitely takes design cues from the PowerBook Era with some small cues from the Unibody but that's my take on it.

 

[Pankeborg]

Embarrassing how little the design has evolved. It has even devolved, the 2016 body shape is so much sleeker and elegant.

 

[metapunk2077fail]

This is quite a choice description of the differences. There are also many advantages of a design that’s more easily repairable and robust to modifications, and for many use cases this can last longer than a unibody design.

In practice, and we know this is true, the more parts you have and more removable parts you have the greater the number of points of failure, fragility and ultimately e-waste. People chuck broken parts, unused parts and depleted batteries haphazardly away in general garbage bins and can't be relied on to recycle the way they promise they will. People are lazy about that.

The e-waste problem is massive and a lot of consumers are blind to the problem because the waste doesn't end up in your soil, your water or your food. It gets shipped off to poor countries and pollutes their lives.

To be in favour of that makes us complicit in a human rights crime and an environmental crime. So I'll take less parts, less points of failure, more rigidity and reliability and easier recycling.