Considering that I write weekly here under the nom de plume “the MacMaineiac” you would think that I buy new Macs all the time. Uh-uh. Not true. Right after arriving in Maine (August of 2001) we got a dual-processor PowerMac G4, which served faithfully on our desktop until January 2007, when it was replaced with an Intel-based iMac. The titanium PowerBook G4 I purchased in January of 2001 was rock-solid until it accidentally tumbled from a desk in January of 2004. The aluminum PowerBook G4 that replaced it is coming up on three years of service, and still going strong.

I recently, however, broke with personal tradition and moved “early” to Apple’s MacBook Pro (MBP) notebook, the 15-inch variety. I think it is without a doubt the best notebook computer Apple has ever produced.

After unpacking it, I set it up next to my PowerBook G4 to transfer my mobile “life” over to it. The fetching Mrs. Z walked by and remarked, “It looks just like your old laptop”. As usual, she was right.

Alas, you can’t judge a notebook by its cover. Or, can you? The basic form factor (how it looks) of Apple’s pro laptop hasn’t changed significantly since 2003, and for good reason. It just works, and it’s stunning. The aircraft-grade aluminum chassis is strong and damage-resistant. It’s only an inch thin, and weighs only 5.4 pounds, all-the-while packing a 160 GB hard drive and an 8X double-layer, multi-format, DVD-burning SuperDrive.

Under the hood, the new MBP uses a new version of Intel’s Core 2 Duo chipset called “Santa Rosa” (named for some town in California, I suppose). While only getting a modest .1 Ghz speed bump over its predecessor, the Santa Rosa chipset offer faster “internals”, making it speedier overall while also improving battery life.

The 15” MBP is Apple’s first computer to use a display backlit by mercury-free, energy-saving light emitting diodes (LEDs) rather than cold cathode fluorescent lamps. The display is really bright. Really. In all but full-on sunlight you have to turn it down a notch to be comfortable.

With the energy-conscious processor and display, it’s no surprise the new MBP offers superb battery life – easily four hours per charge with moderate-to-heavy use, more with full conservation settings.

The MBP starts at $1999, and is also available with a non-LED but higher-than-high-definition 17-inch display.