Initial thoughts on my MacBook Pro (2.0 Ghz, 2 GB RAM, 100 GM 7200 RPM HD):

The screen really is pretty bright. I’m typing this in bed while watching TV (laziness is an art) and I just turned the brightness down - it was hurting my eyes to flick back and forth between the TV and the far-brighter MacBook LCD.

Fit and finish seem fine. I’ll admit to a bit of trepidation on buying a first revision ~PowerBook~ MacBook — having personally watched the battery fall out of a first-revision 17” PowerBook — but thus far my fears have proven unwarranted.

The built-in iSight connects (internally) via USB rather than FireWire, and thus seems to avoid the compatibility problems that have plagued its big brother. It retains the tendency towards yellow casts in uneven lighting, however. The microphone is pretty lousy, but it’s also about the size of the head of a pin so I think I’ll cut Apple some slack.

The MagSafe system is very nice thus far. I worried briefly after reading some initial reports saying that it detached far too easily, but again my fears have proven unfounded. The MagSafe plug is actually rather difficult to remove when you either pull straight out or at an angle horizontally - it’s only in response to vertical tension that it pops out. I’m really not sure how this will work out in practice.

The wider trackpad is very nice (wider than my old 15” 500 Mhz Titanium, at least) as is the two-fingered drag-to-scroll thing it does. I’m sure there’s some proper InterCapped trademarked name for this, but I don’t happen to know it.