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Anyone dual boot windows on the NEW 17"MBPRO? Does it work any better than the older mbpros with dual boot?
 
Possible upgrades:

8GB RAM ($180)
128 SSD ($90)
Core I7 2.3 ($225)

all with student discount..

Are these worth it?
 
Possible upgrades:

8GB RAM ($180)
128 SSD ($90)
Core I7 2.3 ($225)

all with student discount..

Are these worth it?

If you can live without the capacity the SSD is a good investment. Buy ram separately, 8 GB can be bought for less then 100 USD in other places. For me an additional 100 MHZ and a probably imperceivable 5-10% performance gain is not worth $225, I suggest you buy other stuff instead like a Applecare extended warranty or a nice sleeve and bag.
 
If you can live without the capacity the SSD is a good investment. Buy ram separately, 8 GB can be bought for less then 100 USD in other places. For me an additional 100 MHZ and a probably imperceivable 5-10% performance gain is not worth $225, I suggest you buy other stuff instead like a Applecare extended warranty or a nice sleeve and bag.

i went for CTO 500GB 7200rpm drive - arrived Apr 4th
8gb crucial RAM £62
120gb SSD $304 from OWC - dirt cheap IMO
 
i went for CTO 500GB 7200rpm drive - arrived Apr 4th
8gb crucial RAM £62
120gb SSD $304 from OWC - dirt cheap IMO

Why not just get the 128 GB SSD from Apple for $90 (with student discount)? It's 1/3 the price. Are the SSDs Apple uses inferior?
 
Why not just get the 128 GB SSD from Apple for $90 (with student discount)? It's 1/3 the price. Are the SSDs Apple uses inferior?

They used to be but not at that price. Plus many people saw the upgrade price as losing out on the internal disk that gets replaced, rather than getting the factory disk & an SSD later and using the factory disk Optibay or external style.

I think it's a steal at the current price though.
 
is it worth calling apple retail store to see if they have ANY varied configurations of the 17" in stock? Anyone ever get a 17 without stock 5400rpm drive?
 
I think if you plan to upgrade onto SATA3 based SSD on your own, then, don't get the factory 128GB. Just grab the 750GB/500GB to use for external/data doubler drive.

Of course, if you are willing to go through the hassle of buy-sell, you could always get the 128GB and sell it to get a 750GB HDD on your own. But since it's a $90 option and you could probably get $200 for the drive. The only difference is that you might be able to get a 750GB 7200RPM drive for about the same money. Not worth the hassle imo.
 
Shouldn't Apple be offering more options with the high end 17"?

Alienware etc offer the hybrid drives, higher end gfx, extreme processors....Im not saying apple should offer them all but aren't the options on a 2499 laptop a little thin? OPTIONS..not quality.
 
Shouldn't Apple be offering more options with the high end 17"?

Just be glad you can still replace your HDD and Upgrade your RAM (not like the new iMacs where apple changed the SATA connectors and you need custom firmware to upgrade the HDD).

The 17" is perfect. What other options do you require (I upgraded my RAM to 8GB and went for the anti-glare screen). Will get an SSD for Lion (and Final Cut X) when it ships later this year...
 
not saying apple isnt great, but I would like to see more options in the 17" since its the high end and in this market, super high end $$$ range.
 
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Would you say the 7200 RPM drive and 4GB DDR with the 2.2 i7 is a good setup for video editing in imovie and final cut? This is going to be primarily my most intense use. I plan on getting a flash drive HD camcorder that can plug right in, and I want it to be smooth.

I could hook it right into my 24 Dell ultrasharp LCD correct? It has mini display port in.
 
I don't do much graphic design, but I do output a lot of photos for my friend's business. If color reproduction is important, always calibrate your monitor before outputting. Heck, even if they are IPS based panels, I'd still calibrate before making outputs.

As for the original topic, I think 1920x1200 should be at least optional for both 15 and 17. The only reason I got my 17" was because of the resolution. When all other manufacturers have 1920x1200 screens on their 15" and apple still only offers 1680x1050 as "option" is simply unacceptable.

If apple was to put a 1920x1200 panel in the MBP 15.. why would you by the 17 inch?
 
I have it, used it for 2 months, always found I was squinting my eyes because of the high DPI, and am now selling it on eBay. I'll be getting the 15" MBP instead because it's the same performance in a smaller package, and I got a 27" Cinema Display which is much more to my liking.
 
Do you think the 7200RPM drive is enough to boost the performance of this machine or should I go SSD?
OR leave it at 5400 to save heat and battery? There must be some reason Apple has 5400rpm drives in a 2499 laptop?

And does Apple install faster drives right there when you buy it at the apple store if you want one?
 
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Is it true there is no restocking fee anymore? If so I may pick up a 17 and try it out for a week...if for some reason I really dont like it, I'll do a return.

anyone here order from Amazon? I order a LOT more from them...maybe thats a better idea.
 
If you are used to the iPhone 4 Retina display, you'll love the 17" display on the MacBook Pro, it has quite a high DPI.

I am having some display issues though with the backlighting. It seems that whenever the system switches from integrated graphics to discrete, it gets hotter and after a while two black vertical stripes appear (like the opposite of backlight bleeding..) what should I do about this? :/
 
I agree that Anti-glare is a good upgrade. I have nothing against glossy screen and ultimately it is personal preference but it is so much easier to work in my sunny office with my anti glare Macbook Pro. Also I tend get less eye strain with matte screens when working for long periods of time.
 
If you are used to the iPhone 4 Retina display, you'll love the 17" display on the MacBook Pro, it has quite a high DPI.

I am having some display issues though with the backlighting. It seems that whenever the system switches from integrated graphics to discrete, it gets hotter and after a while two black vertical stripes appear (like the opposite of backlight bleeding..) what should I do about this? :/

Sounds like a hardware issue. Take it to an ASP or Genius bar.
 
Sounds like a hardware issue. Take it to an ASP or Genius bar.

The vertical stripes are only visible when you're viewing a solid black image (or a very dark scene in a film), I have seen this happening on a 2010 MBP as well. It seems that a lot if not all have this issue? (To try it out, force use of discrete graphics card, put on a game or movie for an hour and see if you can see two vertical stripes in the backlight when viewing a solid black image. It's more pronounced if you are in a dark room).
 
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