MacBook Pro orders queue up

Like most people eagerly awaiting a new notebook to replace an aging PowerBook, I almost fell off my chair when Steve Jobs announced the MacBook Pro at last month's Macworld Expo keynote address in San Francisco.

After the keynote was over I couldn't hit the refresh button fast enough on the Apple Store so that I could place my order for the first Intel-based notebook from Apple. As soon as the store opened I zipped through the options and slapped down the plastic for a shiny new 1.83GHz Core Duo MacBook Pro.

I placed my MBP order on January 10, 2006 at 11:02 AM PST according to the View order details button on Apple's Order Status page. Like Steve promised, the MacBook is listed as shipping in mid-February, on the 15th to be exact. What I don't really get is the delivery date. Even though I opted for the faster shipping service (for an extra US$18) which is listed as "2-3 Business Days" on the Apple Store, my delivery date is estimated to be February 23.

Then I got to thinking about it. When I cruised through the configuration screens on the Apple Store, I remembered that I had selected one option that wasn't included in the standard bundle, a larger hard drive.

120GB Serial ATA drive @ 5400 rpm [Add $100]

I couldn't go back to a 100GB drive after already having an (almost full) 120GB drive in my current PowerBook. As I wrote about in a previous article the new MacBooks use a Serial ATA (or SATA) hard drives, so swapping in the 120GB Ultra ATA/100 drive from my current PowerBook wasn't an option. So, now my MacBook Pro is technically a Configure To Order, or "CTO."

MBPRO 15/1.83 CTO

Could three little letters add an extra five days on the delivery of my MacBook Pro? Hard to say, but it's possible. A representative at Apple told me that the eight day gap between the Estimated Ship By and Estimated Deliver By dates is due to the fact that the MacBook Pros are "shipping from China." I'm not that worried though, Apple has a history of under-promising and over-delivering on their delivery dates. I just hope that they pre-built some in the popular configurations and that they don't get stuck in customs.

When did you place your order? What's your Estimated Delivery Date? Post yours in the TalkBack section below.