2011 MBPro vs Latest MBPro

[Lukeksk]

I got my 2011-model 15" MBPro (256GB SSD with 8GB RAM and i7) early this year before the current 2012 MBPro model became recently available. So far, my experience with the 2011 MBPro has been positive except for the following:

1. The machine can get to be very hot so it's near impossible to have it as a laptop

2. The lack of USB3 ports is limiting my options in taking advantage of fast, expandable, external hard-disks/SSDs

3. The lack of a HDMI port is a pain (but it can be solved with a special cable?)

4. The machine is rather heavy

Now if I were to consider replacing my 2011 MBPro with the latest available MBPro (without the Retina Display, which is not important to me), would my above negative experiences go away?

Thanks for all advice.

 

[thekev]

The non retina is just as heavy and has the same single thunderbolt port setup. Only the rMBP has the two thunderbolt ports + hdmi. I don't know about heat in the 2012 classic design version. The 2011 did kick out a ton of heat.

 

[Slivortal]

I got my 2011-model 15" MBPro (256GB SSD with 8GB RAM and i7) early this year before the current 2012 MBPro model became recently available. So far, my experience with the 2011 MBPro has been positive except for the following:

1. The machine can get to be very hot so it's near impossible to have it as a laptop

2. The lack of USB3 ports is limiting my options in taking advantage of fast, expandable, external hard-disks/SSDs

3. The lack of a HDMI port is a pain (but it can be solved with a special cable?)

4. The machine is rather heavy

Now if I were to consider replacing my 2011 MBPro with the latest available MBPro (without the Retina Display, which is not important to me), would my above negative experiences go away?

Thanks for all advice.

Neither computer has a built-in HDMI port. Neither computer is lighter than the other. The USB port is a valid issue if you back up your data often. Heat may be slightly reduced with Ivy Bridge, but the specs are pretty similar.

If you get an RMBP, it has a built-in HDMI and lighter chassy. Can't speak for whether it gets hot or not, but it's pretty well priced vs the non-Retina MBP if you factor in its SSD, which will make your computer a lot faster.

 

[pepatrick]

2012 MBP runs slightly cooler. 2012 MBP has USB 3.0. The other issues are easily resolved through adapters. Weight..it is what it is. Non retina weighs the same. Sure.. less than 1 pound difference between cMBP and rMBP...but it really aint that big of a deal.

 

[Drag'nGT]

2012 MBP runs slightly cooler. 2012 MBP has USB 3.0. The other issues are easily resolved through adapters. Weight..it is what it is. Non retina weighs the same. Sure.. less than 1 pound difference between cMBP and rMBP...but it really aint that big of a deal.

As torn as I am, deciding between the two, where did you get the info about the heat the 2012 cMBP generates?

 

[strausd]

As torn as I am, deciding between the two, where did you get the info about the heat the 2012 cMBP generates?

I would like to know where that information was found as well. From what I have heard, the cooling design has not been touched at all. And think about it, why would Apple spend time tweaking the design of an old model when they are introducing a new one at the same time? That would be like changing the design of the iPhone 4S at the same time as the new iPhone comes out. Makes no sense.

 

[purplekush604]

So you could buy an adapter for thunderbolt which supports usb 3.0?

 

[thekev]

I would like to know where that information was found as well. From what I have heard, the cooling design has not been touched at all. And think about it, why would Apple spend time tweaking the design of an old model when they are introducing a new one at the same time? That would be like changing the design of the iPhone 4S at the same time as the new iPhone comes out. Makes no sense.

It might be cooler if the cpus and gpus themselves are running cooler this generation, which supposedly was not the case.

http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/MacBook-Pro-15-Inch-Unibody-Mid-2012-Teardown/9515/1

The internal design looks quite similar to the 2011 model. Whenever I read legitimate information regarding an Apple design that runs cooler, my eyes widen. You mentioned your 2009 hits 200 F in After Effects.

 

[strausd]

It might be cooler if the cpus and gpus themselves are running cooler this generation, which supposedly was not the case.

http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/MacBook-Pro-15-Inch-Unibody-Mid-2012-Teardown/9515/1

The internal design looks quite similar to the 2011 model. Whenever I read legitimate information regarding an Apple design that runs cooler, my eyes widen. You mentioned your 2009 hits 200 F in After Effects.

Yes it does. It is a core 2 duo at 3.06. SMC fan control actually said it hit 217 (!) the other day.

 

[thekev]

Yes it does. It is a core 2 duo at 3.06. SMC fan control actually said it hit 217 (!) the other day.

Oh man that's just ridiculous. Personally I would open it, blow out the fans, and repaste the thing. You can blow out the fans from the inside. Just make sure you don't hit them with a full blast of compressed air for too long at a given time, as you don't want to damage them (even though it's unlikely). As far as laptops are concerned, 2011 was a huge gain in speed. After Effects seems to benefit more from CUDA which is only on the 2012 laptops. The rMBP looks like it really did receive some cooling upgrades. The 2011s still run crazy hot.

 

[strausd]

Oh man that's just ridiculous. Personally I would open it, blow out the fans, and repaste the thing. You can blow out the fans from the inside. Just make sure you don't hit them with a full blast of compressed air for too long at a given time, as you don't want to damage them (even though it's unlikely). As far as laptops are concerned, 2011 was a huge gain in speed. After Effects seems to benefit more from CUDA which is only on the 2012 laptops. The rMBP looks like it really did receive some cooling upgrades. The 2011s still run crazy hot.

I actually did clean out the fans a few weeks ago, but it didn't help at all.

I am thinking about applying some fresh thermal paste to it, but since I am supposed to get my new one on Friday, I am leaning against it.

As far as CUDA goes, I remember reading that Adobe would have to add support for the 650M in order for AE and Premiere Pro to take advantage of CUDA in that specific mobile GPU. Granted, I read that on a forum so I can't say how reliable that information is. But to me, that does not totally make sense. Then they would have to add support for every new GPU NVIDIA comes out with. Is that true?

 

[thekev]

I actually did clean out the fans a few weeks ago, but it didn't help at all.

I am thinking about applying some fresh thermal paste to it, but since I am supposed to get my new one on Friday, I am leaning against it.

As far as CUDA goes, I remember reading that Adobe would have to add support for the 650M in order for AE and Premiere Pro to take advantage of CUDA in that specific mobile GPU. Granted, I read that on a forum so I can't say how reliable that information is. But to me, that does not totally make sense. Then they would have to add support for every new GPU NVIDIA comes out with. Is that true?

You must keep in mind that this is a very gpu friendly task, and it will not run on OpenCL. Note how they got it to run. This doesn't mean it will be bug free seeing as it's not on the supported list. I would imagine Adobe needs more time to test it before adding it to the list, but the results look pretty stellar. I will admit if I was buying a 2012 laptop, it would be the rMBP. I'm actually not buying this generation (I have a 2011, it's much faster than a 2009), but the improvements to the cooling system mean more to me than much of the other stuff. I don't like machines that run only a few degrees from thermal shutdown at any given time.


http://barefeats.com/aecs6.html

WHAT DID WE LEARN?
Every Mac with an NVIDIA GPU blew away the Macs with AMD GPUs. That's because the Ray-Traced 3D Render option requires CUDA support. Of our test units, the 6-core Mac Pro with Quadro 4000 was fastest at 41 minutes. The fastest laptop was the 2012 MacBook Pro "Retina" at 58 minutes. In both cases, the CPU was loafing along while the NVIDIA CUDA "aware" GPU was doing all the heavy lifting. This is due to the fact that the ray trace animation was made of solids with no external media or textures.

NOTE: We had to "cheat" a little to get the 2012 MacBook Pros to support Ray-Traced 3D Rendering since their GeForce GT 650M is not on the official list -- yet. We had to go into the After Effects package contents folder and use the "sudo nano" Terminal command to add the GeForce GT 650M to the raytracer_supported_cards file that contains a list of CUDA compatible GPUs.

As you can see from the graph, the test units with AMD GPUs took at least ten times longer to render the 3D animation. I say "at least" because the times in the graph are an optimistic guesstimate. We stopped the render after 5 hours and added AE's estimated remaining time. The actual render time is likely much longer since the last few frames add 'killers' like motion blur and depth of field.

The CPUs of the Mac Pro and MacBook Pro with AMD GPUs were running at full tilt (1200% and 800% respectively) but the Radeon GPUs were "taking a coffee break" since they don't have CUDA support (proprietary to NVIDIA).

Adobe does, however, "toss a bone" to AMD by using OpenCL acceleration instead of CUDA in Photoshop CS6. Premiere Pro CS6 lets you choose either CUDA or OpenCL. One pro user reported that choosing OpenCL in Premiere Pro provides double the performance boost of CUDA.

 

[strausd]

You must keep in mind that this is a very gpu friendly task, and it will not run on OpenCL. Note how they got it to run. This doesn't mean it will be bug free seeing as it's not on the supported list. I would imagine Adobe needs more time to test it before adding it to the list, but the results look pretty stellar. I will admit if I was buying a 2012 laptop, it would be the rMBP. I'm actually not buying this generation (I have a 2011, it's much faster than a 2009), but the improvements to the cooling system mean more to me than much of the other stuff. I don't like machines that run only a few degrees from thermal shutdown at any given time.


http://barefeats.com/aecs6.html

Well looking at that, I might have to add unofficial support for the 650M. It might be worth it.

 

[thekev]

Well looking at that, I might have to add unofficial support for the 650M. It might be worth it.

I thought you might like that. I mean I'd definitely test it for bugs before using it on an important job, but the scaling from gpu calculations is absolutely incredible at times. I hope they add OpenCL to it. I'd like to add After Effects to my own machine as I can't afford Nuke, and some of the finishing tools in after effects really aren't bad at its price.

 

[whdigital]

I don't have actual benchmarks to support it, but I can assure you mine runs cooler and quieter than it's 2011 counterpart. I don't know what it is because it was not really redesigned, but it does not get hot on the bottom like the last one did even in just iCal and Mail.

 

[FastEddiebags]

Mbp usually run hot. Since you already have the 11'id just keep it. If you didn't have either I'd recommend the 12' since its minor improvements make for a more pleasurable experience.

 

[thekev]

I don't have actual benchmarks to support it, but I can assure you mine runs cooler and quieter than it's 2011 counterpart.

These kinds of comments make me want one, but I don't feel the need to update annually. If they hold up well a year or two from now, I'll get whatever is current then.

 

[M5RahuL]

The Mid 2012 MBPs are def. running cooler than their 2011 and early 2012 counterparts!

After using it extensively for about 2 hrs, mine [ 2 days old now ] barely gets warm.. I tried using SMCFancontrol but looks like it doesn't work with IB yet.. Maybe I should get iStat to check temps!

Either way, even if the difference is trivial, it sure feels a lot better!!

 

[pepatrick]

Here is my scientific evidence that the 2012 runs cooler the 2011 MBP. I have both running side by side. Both MBP are configured the same. 16gb, 256ssd and high res antiglare screen. 2012 is a 2.7ghz and 2011 is a 2.3ghz. Importing a movie from my gopro camera and editing it is faster on the 2012 MBP obviously...and it is about 8 degrees cooler according to my temp sensor.

 

[ctyhntr]

1. Look into SMCfan for your 2011 model, which will allow you to manually configure the internal fans. When my MacBookPro is running at 178 degrees and the fan is at 3500rpm, I can kick up to 5500rpm and cool it down to 149 degrees.

2. Check out firewire 800 drives. I recently picked up a 3 TB Western Digital MyBook for not much more than the USB version. Firewire can be daisy chained without a hub, unlike USB.

3. You can buy a mini-display port to HDMI adapter on Amazon for $8, or $15 for one with a 6' HDMI cable built in. If you're looking for HMDI in, none of the Macs, including the retina display have that capability natively.

I got my 2011-model 15" MBPro (256GB SSD with 8GB RAM and i7) early this year before the current 2012 MBPro model became recently available. So far, my experience with the 2011 MBPro has been positive except for the following:

1. The machine can get to be very hot so it's near impossible to have it as a laptop

2. The lack of USB3 ports is limiting my options in taking advantage of fast, expandable, external hard-disks/SSDs

3. The lack of a HDMI port is a pain (but it can be solved with a special cable?)

4. The machine is rather heavy

Now if I were to consider replacing my 2011 MBPro with the latest available MBPro (without the Retina Display, which is not important to me), would my above negative experiences go away?

Thanks for all advice.