Is the MBP Classic still a Capable machine?

Yes its more than capible its still a premire machine. 4gb is more than enough to handel anything you throw at. Present and future. But that 8600 might be a liability because there suppose to be faulty but apple will replace if anything goes wrong

Please Apple - bring back a matte option and I'll never go away.

Very much capable the only potential caveat is the 8600 and since you'll have AppleCare then you have nothing to worry about

The unibodies are only about 10-15% faster, if that.

The only way you'll notice a difference is if you get a 2.93CPU, 8GB RAM and the 256 SSD. All other specs/models pretty much have negligible performance increases

Daneoni is right.


A new unibody model isn't better because of the overall speed. Considering only the speed of the machines, an older model MBP is far better value. However, what you lose out on is the ease of upgradeability of the harddisk, the slightly brighter screen, and I guess that's it.

The small technical differences like DDR3 RAM, and an 8600m GT versus 9600m GT (one is just clocked sliiiightly faster than the other) aren't very consequential. Some of the 8600M graphics cards have failed due to poor choices in materials used, but with AppleCare, they'll replace it for you for as long as you have AppleCare (and maybe longer?), and after 3 years, perhaps there may even be a 15" matte screen option.

I guess it depends on what you call a "powerhouse," because truth be told, the 8600M GT is hardly considered a powerful video card. It's a mid range mobile video card. It's not high end or anything and it has never been high end. But it all depends on what you plan to do with the video card though.

Yes, it's not a powerbook you know.

um of course it still is

That's my current main machine, and the only thing I am maxing out is the 2GB of RAM it came with. Other than that, no issues as a primary work horse.

The all alum MBP 17 still rocks. i bought it over the UMBP after it was announced. its got a better feature set (the classic) with full DVI port, FW 400,800, better keyboard etc.. I got the CTO with SSD and hi-res Matte screen, then upgraded it to 6GB RAM, works no problems.

the full DVI port allows me to hook up my 30" ACD without using dodgy mini-display port adapters and costing you another 100 bucks for the privilege to talk to apple about an RMA with all the hassles involved

personally i think apart from the all in one piece and easy access to drives, the new UMBP design sucks

The pre-uni machine is still more than capable for running SL. It kills the current stock versions of the MB/MBA, so I think you'll be fine.

That said, theres always techrestore's matte option for the new unibody MBP. Real matte screen replacement, not film. Review from macworld here. Just something else to think about.

Really? I heard that the current Macbook blows it away in battery life, looks, and something about DDR3.

zer0tails said:

Update: Got tired of waiting for a refurb classic MBP to show up on Apple.ca so i went and purchased the Apple student developer membership in preparation for buying one of the unibodies. Have to buy soon with 2 months as I'm graduating yay

Been reading as many reviews/threads on macrumors as I could on deciding whether the 17" matte unibody MBP is right for me. As yet undecided because i am unsure of its portability. I'm no wimp and can handle 3 kg easily but if i'm going to be toting it everywhere as my mobile battle station..i just want to make sure it's the right gear.

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I ordered one. It's in. I didn't want to spend that much money, but I chose to in the end. You feel it. But it isn't heavy at all. It's width MAY shock you. A little bit wider than other 17" notebooks I've seen.

zer0tails said:

Update: Got tired of waiting for a refurb classic MBP to show up on Apple.ca so i went and purchased the Apple student developer membership in preparation for buying one of the unibodies. Have to buy soon with 2 months as I'm graduating yay

Been reading as many reviews/threads on macrumors as I could on deciding whether the 17" matte unibody MBP is right for me. As yet undecided because i am unsure of its portability. I'm no wimp and can handle 3 kg easily but if i'm going to be toting it everywhere as my mobile battle station..i just want to make sure it's the right gear.

Click to expand...

size (17) is no problem for me. toting it around all day and everywhere can start to wear on your shoulder. but if you take it from a to b and back then its doable. you will appreciate the extra screen real estate the 17 gives you

It's still more than capable, and will be for some time. There hasn't been much improvements since the first SR MBPs came out. The difference in performance between Penryn and Merom processors is barely noticeable. The 9600M GT is pretty much the same as the 8600M GT except it has a few million more transistors and is on a smaller die.

I honestly doubt there's going to be any serious technological boosts for the MBPs for at least another year. There's no way Apple would put in a mobile-Nehalem CPU due to the heat and power constraints. Furthermore, Nvidia keeps rebranding their cards instead of coming out with new technology. Unless Apple decides to swap to ATI (which is a possibility), your 8600M GT will still be pretty comparable to the Nvidia's newest mainstream card, the G130M.

cathyy said:

Furthermore, Nvidia keeps rebranding their cards instead of coming out with new technology, in addition to putting out faulty chipsets.

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Fixed that for you.