Another Look at Apple's Core 2 Duo Choice for New 13-Inch MacBook Pro

[SimonTheSoundMa]

I think it is a lame excuse. The 12'' iBooks and PowerBooks contained discrete GPUs in an even smaller package all the time and offered battery live well ahead of the competetion during that time. It can be done.

Yes, but they didn't require a large soutbridge and northbridge that x86 uses. For a discrete system on x86, you need a northbridge, soutbridge, CPU and GPU. There is no room!

The northbridge on the 15 inch is as big as the CPU and GPU chipset.


Here is an image to show you. http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/MacBook-Pro-15-Inch-Unibody-Core-i5-Teardown/2212/2#s11319

 

[larq2391]

Poor trade-off. Smaller battery? Big deal. Most people don't need a notebook that lasts 10 hours off a single charge. 4-5 hours of battery life was considered good until the last year and a half, and I can think of almost no instances where > 5 hours of battery life would actually be useful to me. I'd rather have a decent cpu. Just my opinion of course, but this seems like the route apple should take for the macbook, not the pro.

So I guess because 5 hours is enough for you it's enough for everyone else?

You would have preferred an i3 with bad battery life? Really?

 

[dernhelm]

Still that's a lot of money for an old processor!

And the jump to the 15" is _huge_. So I'm with you. I get from a business standpoint why Apple did what they did - but I wish from my perspective that they had been able to redesign the internals of the 13", went with a 8 or 9 hour battery, and wedged a Core i3 together with an NVIDIA GPU in there.

But I guess they wanted to wait to bite that one off until next time.

I agree with Apple's decision, but I have a much better idea:

REMOVE THAT DVD DRIVE !!!

It will make room to:
- Discrete GPU
- Right side USB ports
- MORE BATTERY
- ExpressCard slot

Interesting point. Then you've got a MBA. Maybe they should just merge the MBA together with the 13" MacBook? But I actually want the DVD drive in mine, so maybe not such a good idea for everyone.

 

[niuniu]

So it's not about heat, it's really about Intel's restrictions..

No wonder AMD are showing up at Apple HQ.

 

[DLovett]

I'm really just wondering what better laptops, you can have at the same price point.

You don't think Apple knows this?

 

[DLovett]

I agree with Apple's decision, but I have a much better idea:

REMOVE THAT DVD DRIVE !!!

It will make room to:
- Discrete GPU
- Right side USB ports
- MORE BATTERY
- ExpressCard slot

I think they did, it's called the MacBook Air.

 

[butterfly0fdoom]

Poor trade-off. Smaller battery? Big deal. Most people don't need a notebook that lasts 10 hours off a single charge. 4-5 hours of battery life was considered good until the last year and a half, and I can think of almost no instances where > 5 hours of battery life would actually be useful to me. I'd rather have a decent cpu. Just my opinion of course, but this seems like the route apple should take for the macbook, not the pro.

I could certainly use a battery rated for 10 hours. I wouldn't have to scour for a power outlet at school then.

I think it is a lame excuse. The 12'' iBooks and PowerBooks contained discrete GPUs in an even smaller package all the time and offered battery live well ahead of the competetion during that time. It can be done.

I'm pretty sure the board design was drastically different too. I know nothing about logic board design and architectures and whatnot, but I'm going to make the uneducated assumption that the PPC architecture somehow gave Apple the space to put on a discrete chip; that said, the discrete chips in the iBooks sucked and the chip in the 12" PB wasn't the best thing ever.

 

[gregorsamsa]

Along with the lack of matte screen, this is a major reason why I decided not to upgrade my old 12" PowerBook G4 from 2004, even though I waited months for a refresh. Until they get it right, I'll keep using what works best for me. I'm not going to buy a litigation-influenced product.

Yours is same reason why I'm not buying one. But as my aging matt-screen, Mac laptop gets closer to requiring replacement, what's to be done?

Frankly, whilst I've one eye on 2nd-user matt Macs on eBay which may be in much better condition than mine, the other eye is scanning matt-screen PC laptops. This is what it's coming down to.

 

[rikers_mailbox]

Along with the lack of matte screen, this is a major reason why I decided not to upgrade my old 12" PowerBook G4 from 2004, even though I waited months for a refresh. Until they get it right, I'll keep using what works best for me. I'm not going to buy a litigation-influenced product.

I'm in the exact same situation, except I decided to upgrade from my 12" PowerBook (circa April 2004). Absolutely no buyers remorse.

The newest 13" MBP is a fantastic machine. Battery life is astounding, I don't mind the glossy display, and the C2D is plenty fast for a small-ish laptop.

Buy the machine for what it is, not what you think it should be.

 

[Apple Corps]

Along with the lack of matte screen, this is a major reason why I decided not to upgrade my old 12" PowerBook G4 from 2004, even though I waited months for a refresh. Until they get it right, I'll keep using what works best for me. I'm not going to buy a litigation-influenced product.

So, you are using a 6 year old G4 and going to "hold out" until Apple "gets it right" I am certain that your customer profile is not one that Apple is focusing on.

A friend on mine some years ago ran the Apple section (as an Apple employee) at a Best Buy and was outlining a bad day. He explained how some people would come in with ancient Macs that belonged in a museum and were constantly chewing up time on how to make their outdated computer perform better and harping about the latest offerings.

 

[bushido]

Unfortunately Apple is kind of neglecting the 13" because they don't make as much money off it. However, I would gladly pay $2000 or more for a 13" if it had the same specs as a larger MBP but in a smaller package. Apple's excuse for not upgrading the 13" (to i5 processors or discrete graphics or giving it an expresscard slot) is that they can't fit everything in and maintain the battery life. The solution is to ditch the optical drive since it is becoming less relevant every day. For as often as I use it, I'd rather buy an external and use the space in the computer for something else. If they could fit discrete graphics, an i5, an expresscard slot (or alternatively USB3, eSATA, or LightPeak), 2 hard drives, and a high res matte display (1440x900 or 1680x1050 or more), that would be the ideal computer for me, and I would pay a lot of money for one.

Apple needs to stop watering down their products to sell to more people, and focus on what real "pro" users want. The macbook is their consumer line.

well thats your opinion but the general user still needs a optical drive like my sister who has no clue how to get stuff on a computer without discs and i'd never pay +2000 $ for a 13 inch laptop either
---

and about the glossy screen I LOVE IT i even sold my matte samsung tv just to get a glossy sony, looks a lot better on both my tv and my mac book pro imo and it works just fine in the sun if your not fully blind and know how to take advantage of shadows

 

[pilotgi]

Put me down for a 13" MacBook Pro with an AMD processor if Intel and Nvidia can't settle their lawsuit.

 

[instaxgirl]

The hardest thing my new MBP will have to do is edit video. And not even HD video.

I'd rather have 10 hours battery life. This model will work for me. Also I have had way too many hard drive crashes to want them to remove the optical drive. I still back everything important up to disc as well. Something like 5 hard drive deaths in 2 years, 1 dodgy disc in 8 years.

 

[DLovett]

Try to remember that no one is "screwing you over" here, you are being offered a product, and you may chose between accepting the offer or not.

I think some of you guys got the 13" wrong. It's not a powerful machine, and it will never be. It's a portable machine, with a set of nice features that seperates it from the white MacBook.

If you want performance, get the 15", but since you can't afford it, you chose to bitch and whine about the model you actually can afford, the 13".

If your not satisfied with the specs, get a PC. It's not Apple's responsibility to cater to your individual needs.

 

[Jaro65]

still like the form factor, but not temped to move on from my old blackbook.

i'm looking forward to what happens with the next AIR.

Yes, but when? I was pretty surprised that they did not refresh it when they released the new MBP's. The MBA is in a desperate for a refresh. For me at least, the 2GB RAM ceiling is simply inadequate.

 

[Xtremehkr]

My home computer is an i7 iMac, but I have a Fujitsu Lifebook A Series for work.

The Fujitsu has about 2.5 hours of usable battery life on low power settings. 10 hours of battery life is a full day of work without having to plug the computer in. It would be nice not to have to take the power cord with me everywhere, while having enough battery life to use it all day.

I don't know if the difference in performance would even be noticeable for most people.

The difference in battery life would make my day though.

 

[Boston007]

Someone earlier posted an excellent response

You are paying WAY too much for an OLDER CPU. That's BS IMO

 

[pika2000]

Apple would need to find room in an already-cramped 13-inch MacBook Pro body for a discrete graphics chip, a feat that was simply not possible,

Errr, look at Sony Vaio Z series. Up to Core i7, discrete nVidia GPU, 13.1", 3.07lbs, and built-in optical drive. Pretty feasible.
Anyway, if Apple find not enough internal space on the 13" MBP, then ditch the optical drive. If you look at the internals, the optical drive takes quite a bit of space.

 

[feep]

ditch the superdrive in the more expensive 13" model

then there is enough place for a dedicated gpu.
...while apple is at it, they should build a slot for a 2nd HD and add an antiglare option

thx ahead apple!

THANKS!

 

[andiwm2003]

well, upgrading from my 2.4Ghz early 2008 (Penryn) MBP with 8600GT to the i7 MBP isn't that huge a jump. I don't feel much of a change in daily tasks at all. In some applications it's noticable (e.g. iworks numbers) but overall it feels maybe 20% better at best!

Given that the new 13" MBP is about as fast as my old MBP I don't think you miss much by not having an i5 in there. And if intel had called the new processors "C2D+" instead of "Core i5/i7" nobody would care. Intels marketing is genius
Apple made the right choice in focussing on the GPU.

 

[Markov]

Moral of the story:

Blame: Intel, not Apple or nVidia.

I knew this little temper tantrum of Intel's was going to force Apple into sticking with the Core 2 Duo.

 

[beanpie]

Returned a 13"

I purchased the 13" MBP the day it came out. By Friday, I was on the phone with the apple store I used to work at to return it and get a 15". The form factor of the 13" is amazing but the screen is just too small to multitask and severely underpowered. I got the 2.4 i5 and I was blown away. The operation is so much smoother from scrolling to just web browsing. I am bummed I had to drop the extra cash for the 15" but going from a 15" to a 13" of similar speed that is 3 years old, it was a let down. The i5 is great and I am super happy.

 

[DLovett]

Errr, look at Sony Vaio Z series. Up to Core i7, discrete nVidia GPU, 13.1", 3.07lbs, and built-in optical drive. Pretty feasible.
Anyway, if Apple find not enough internal space on the 13" MBP, then ditch the optical drive. If you look at the internals, the optical drive takes quite a bit of space.

Regarding the Vaio Z.

First of all, try to take a look at the price difference between the two, I don't think I need to explain this at all.

Secondly, the Vaio Z lacks any of the features that make the MBP such a great laptop, besides weight, but then again it feels pretty cheaply made compared to the unibody design.

 

[ibosie]

Unfortunately Apple is kind of neglecting the 13" because they don't make as much money off it. However, I would gladly pay $2000 or more for a 13" if it had the same specs as a larger MBP but in a smaller package. Apple's excuse for not upgrading the 13" (to i5 processors or discrete graphics or giving it an expresscard slot) is that they can't fit everything in and maintain the battery life. The solution is to ditch the optical drive since it is becoming less relevant every day. For as often as I use it, I'd rather buy an external and use the space in the computer for something else. If they could fit discrete graphics, an i5, an expresscard slot (or alternatively USB3, eSATA, or LightPeak), 2 hard drives, and a high res matte display (1440x900 or 1680x1050 or more), that would be the ideal computer for me, and I would pay a lot of money for one.

Apple needs to stop watering down their products to sell to more people, and focus on what real "pro" users want. The macbook is their consumer line.

I couldn't agree more with your post. I would also like to lose the internal Superdrive - I'm quite happy with the USB external for the rare occasions I need it (Macbook Air, Mac Mini Sever). It's a shame to see the 13" Pro losing out to a dispute between 3rd parties - I thought Apple understood there is demand for a smaller screen, lighter and more portable professional machine.

 

[nim23]

Can anyone tell me if the new 13" has the auto-switch graphics like the 15" and 17"?