After working with the MacBook Pro over the weekend I can say I am impressed.

This coming from someone that owned every 17” Powerbook released, and a variety of other Powerbooks going back to the Duo 230C.

The speed increase is dramatic when using Intel native applications, regardless of it being a GUI or command line application.

There are noticeable slowdowns when using major PPC applications like Adobe Illustrator or games like Age of Mythology. But impressively, every PPC application I have run works flawlessly.

Luckily most of my daily tools are already native, including all major browsers except Opera.

Some of the tools I rely on daily, which are not available in native format include:

• Skype
• Macromedia Fireworks
• Adobe Illustrator
• NetNewsWire
• Video tools (Flip4Mac, VLC, etc.)

On another note, Apple really nailed their default configuration, at least in my case.

I purchased the 2 GHz model with 1GB Memory, and unlike previous releases, the memory consists of a single 1GB chip.

No more tossing out 256 or 512 MB chips when maxing out the memory in the Powerbook.

I do wish it shipped with a S-Video port or adapter, and a Firewire 800 port.

If anyone is in the market for a PPC 17” Powerbook in excellent condition, please check out my auction.