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eAspenwood

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 20, 2005
94
0
USA
I've been working on it for almost 24 hours, here's a quick list of my impresions:

good -

- no whine
- heat is same or less as my old 15" powerbook. definitely less hot than my buddy's 15" MBP.
- feels snappy (opening and navigating in finder, sys pref is faster than pb)
- not noticeable weight difference when I carry it in my backpack
- NICE SCREEN

bad -

- noticeable weight difference when I carry it in my hand. (worth it in my mind)
- mouse clicker rubs on side a little (hopefully this will "break in")
- latch and closing clearance not as well done as on powerbook.
- sleep mode takes a little longer to engage when I close the lid I think.

Thats all I have for now. Overall, I am very please so far (knock on wood).

-- J.
 

Blue Velvet

Moderator emeritus
Jul 4, 2004
21,929
265
What's the most demanding task you've done on it and how well did it run? Tried any video editing or something similar?
 

eAspenwood

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 20, 2005
94
0
USA
couple things:

1) Compiled about 250 java classes via IntelliJ a few times today. Smoking fast.
2) Imported 40GB worth of music and 20GB worth of pics via FW800. As fast as expected.
3) played 5 mpegs via quicktime simulatneously just for fun. No jerkiness.
 

King A

macrumors newbie
Feb 15, 2006
21
0
eAspenwood said:
- sleep mode takes a little longer to engage when I close the lid I think


maybe this has something to do with the safeslepp feature.
this was online available in the latest pb revision and on the mbps.

before going to sleep it writes its memory onto the harddrive for example when you switch batteries.
 

Blue Velvet

Moderator emeritus
Jul 4, 2004
21,929
265
I think I'll be buying one around this time next year. It's time to ditch the tower... it'll be interesting to see what specs may be in store for May-July 2007.
 

Benjamindaines

macrumors 68030
Mar 24, 2005
2,841
4
A religiously oppressed state
King A said:
maybe this has something to do with the safeslepp feature.
this was online available in the latest pb revision and on the mbps.

before going to sleep it writes its memory onto the harddrive for example when you switch batteries.
Nope that can't be it, I was playing with the newest version of the 17" PB right before the MBP came out and it went to sleep instantly when the lid was closed. Maybe it has something to do with Rosetta shutting down.
 

King A

macrumors newbie
Feb 15, 2006
21
0
Benjamindaines said:
Nope that can't be it, I was playing with the newest version of the 17" PB right before the MBP came out and it went to sleep instantly when the lid was closed. Maybe it has something to do with Rosetta shutting down.

yeah, but your signature pb doesn't nativly support safesleep.
i don't own a 17" mbp but my 15" mbp needs a while before it goes to sleep
 

citi

macrumors 65816
May 2, 2006
1,363
508
Simi Valley, CA
King A said:
yeah, but your signature pb doesn't nativly support safesleep.
i don't own a 17" mbp but my 15" mbp needs a while before it goes to sleep

I believe it's the x86 architecture that requires the lag time. Powerpc laptops were the only ones that went to sleep on a dime. I also have a 2006 IBM thinkpad and it needs like 20 seconds to go to sleep. (I was more impressed that a windows machine could go to sleep without taking 5 minutes like the old ones use to!)
 

slick316

macrumors 6502
Sep 28, 2005
377
28
Thats what I was wondering, the speakers.

I have mine on order, and one of the things I liked after reading the specs was that the speakers are more powerful. I use my 15" PB at work and try to watch movies on it, but the speakers aren't loud enough for me to hear (in my office, there is a server that has some loud fans, but thats as noisy as it gets).

I am hoping that the 17" MBP has speakers powerful enough that I can watch DVD's without need of external speakers.

Any comparison on how much louder the 17" MBP is over the previous model PB's?
 

NVRsayNVR

macrumors member
Jun 11, 2005
53
0
Blue Velvet said:
I think I'll be buying one around this time next year. It's time to ditch the tower... it'll be interesting to see what specs may be in store for May-July 2007.


Me too! My 1.67 GHZ is just now a year old and still working and looking good though I wish I had more horse power. I can wait for things to smooth out and get even faster by then...And maybe even with a new ultra cool enclosure. :cool:

Thanks for the early report eA!



"Think Alike....BE Different!"
 

Transeau

macrumors 6502a
Jan 18, 2005
869
13
Alta Loma, CA
I got mine this morning!

Everything looks and sounds perfect. No whine, closes correctly, audio is perfect (10x better than my PowerBook and 15" MBP)

Weight isn't bad. It's still lighter than my Dell D810 15"

Only complaint (so far) is that one of the screws for the memory cover had SOOO much lock-tight on it I nearly stripped the head. Insted the head snapped off. The other three were fine, a bit of pressure and they released.

Doing a clean install now.

Temps above the F Keys is better - 104.7F / 40.7


Edit: One problem, the display is too loose. tilting the notebook causes the display to close.
 

joshwest

macrumors 65816
Apr 27, 2005
1,143
5
So does everyone agre a clean install is beneficial? if so ill do it when i get home to my MBP
 

bazotic

macrumors newbie
May 9, 2006
17
0
I'm going to be getting mine soon. Why is everyone doing a clean install? What does it get rid of?
 

eAspenwood

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 20, 2005
94
0
USA
A couple updates now that I've been using it for a couple days:

- lid build quality issue 1 - when I pick it up with the lid closed, the lid is somewhat loose and it gets knocked out of sleep mode sometimes.

- lid build quality issue 2 - no longer can I lie down and type w/ the keyboard on my lap, cuz the lid will slide closed if it is angled any less than vertical. Transeu mentions this too. Anyone know if 17" PB's did this too? I'm thinking the lid might just be too heavy compared to the 15".

- noise - when plugged in, there is a faint buzzy whine type sound that I heard this morning when everything was quiet. oh well, not too bad.

Well, these issues are annoying but by no means show-stoppers for me. My 15" Rev D had issues too (faulty latch and hard drive made a kerplunk noise frequently). Its a speedy development box for what I do (java mainly). My G5 has become unneccesary and is getting ebayed. :).
 

kiwi-in-uk

macrumors 6502a
Sep 22, 2004
735
0
AU
eAspenwood said:
...
- lid build quality issue 1 - when I pick it up with the lid closed, the lid is somewhat loose and it gets knocked out of sleep mode sometimes.

- lid build quality issue 2 - no longer can I lie down and type w/ the keyboard on my lap, cuz the lid will slide closed if it is angled any less than vertical. Transeu mentions this too. Anyone know if 17" PB's did this too? I'm thinking the lid might just be too heavy compared to the 15".

...
- My 17"PB sometimes gets knocked out of sleep mode when I carry it around (lid closed) with one hand.
- the lid also slides closed when I have it on an angle - anything over (say) 30º to 40º

I'm following these posts with interest - I'll be in the market for a couple of new Macs in the next 12 months - certainly a Mini, and I'm wondering about whether to get an iMac, a tower, or another 17" laptop.
 

entropy1980

macrumors regular
May 14, 2003
213
0
Canyon Country, CA
eAspenwood said:
- noise - when plugged in, there is a faint buzzy whine type sound that I heard this morning when everything was quiet. oh well, not too bad.

ok this is not sounding good. Looks like the 17" may have the same whine from the 15" MBP. Anyone have a whiny 15" now have a 17" to compare it with?
 

bazotic

macrumors newbie
May 9, 2006
17
0
Ok, it's whining. But is it mooing too? That is the more important question.
 

Stowned

macrumors newbie
May 2, 2006
20
0
Northeastern U.S.A
My 17" MBP is VERY quiet... Had one issue with the right latch not going in all the way but now it seems it has fixed itself. I took it to the nearest Apple store, about an hours drive away and the guy wrote me up a report and gave me a case number I can use in case it starts acting up again, other than that this things is the most wonderful machine I have ever owned. Runnin WoW blazingly with the graphics settings UP UP UP! Having the best time with my first Mac.:D
 

ipearx

macrumors member
Sep 18, 2005
65
12
New Zealand
Lid sliding close

eAspenwood said:
- lid build quality issue 2 - no longer can I lie down and type w/ the keyboard on my lap, cuz the lid will slide closed if it is angled any less than vertical. Transeu mentions this too. Anyone know if 17" PB's did this too? I'm thinking the lid might just be too heavy compared to the 15".

Yeah, my 1.33GHz PowerBook has always had a loose hinge, useless for putting on knees while lying down. Part of the problem is the screen doesn't bend back enough, to keep it vertical.

I wonder if some are simply stiffer than others? Or maybe it's just the 17"ers? My friends 15" PowerBook has a much stiffer hinge.
 

Mechcozmo

macrumors 603
Jul 17, 2004
5,215
2
King A said:
yeah, but your signature pb doesn't nativly support safesleep.
i don't own a 17" mbp but my 15" mbp needs a while before it goes to sleep

I tried that at an Apple Store. The 15" MBP, with a few apps open, just died. I closed the lid, waited for sleep, and then yanked the battery. When I put it back in, it required a restart (not just waking form sleep as the G4s could) and then entered the fresh login state.

Not good. Major step backwards, IMO. My friend's 15" G4 can go to sleep and then we play catch with the battery. The MBP is supposed to be 4x faster, which it is, but also takes a few steps back along the way.
 
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