The MacBook Pro is a great looking machine and that is one reason I wanted it, but I also needed the power of the MacBook Pro. I am 15 and in High School. I needed the MacBook Pro because I use Final Cut quite often and performance would have suffered greatly on a MacBook. Now I am not what I would call the "average" 15 year old. My needs are greater than the average and that is why I got a MBP but I can see your point.
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Any chance of a MacBook Extreme?
- Thread starter Yixian
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The MacBook Pro is a great looking machine and that is one reason I wanted it, but I also needed the power of the MacBook Pro. I am 15 and in High School. I needed the MacBook Pro because I use Final Cut quite often and performance would have suffered greatly on a MacBook. Now I am not what I would call the "average" 15 year old. My needs are greater than the average and that is why I got a MBP but I can see your point.
FCS doesn't use the graphics card. MB's have been pretty close in cpu speed, so to say "suffered greatly" isn't accurate. The only thing that really would have suffered would have been the screen realestate. I know it's off topic, but that is misinformation that gets repeated a lot in the "mbp vs mb or any other laptop threads."
No offence but I don't get why people say Macs run Windows faster than PCs. It doesnt make sense. Faster in what? Benchmarks? Responsiveness? I mean tbh my PC:
XFX 9800GTX 512MB
4GB DDR2 Crucial Ballistix
4.0GHz E7200 Core 2 Duo
1200W NZXT PSU
500GB 7200 HDD w/Perpendicular
runs Windows faster than my macbook pro. Im not saying the macbook pro runs it slow. I'm just saying, faster in what? Boot up time? Probably - EFI is good for that.
Now that said, I love my MBP <3.
P.S. If you meant PCs that are similarly equipped, then that's very possible and I retract my statement.
2.1ghz Core 2 Duo and a 120gb HDD for £1600, LOL.
The baseline Macbook (£699) has a 2.1ghz and a 120gb. I thought you said it was fast.
Fair enough you want better graphics, however 99% of users are satisfied with the 8600, and the fact that its one inch thin.
No the Macbook Pro was the fastest Vista notebook of 2007. Obviously your PC is faster, its a desktop. But you will be hard pressed to find a faster notebook than a Macbook Pro, for the price it comes at.
Also you've overclocked that computer a hell of a lot. At stock, its pretty much the same speed as the Macbook Pro (2.5 vs. 2.53).
Also the Macbook Pro has a twice as large cache as the processor in your desktop. 6mb vs. 3mb.
isn't that the laptop that weighs 7 pounds and has a 2 pound power brick? I heard it overheats too and customer service is atrocious. It also has a slower processor and a very small hard drive. blu-ray isn't for laptops yet -- too slow, too much battery usage. speaking of which, this alienware laptop has 1.5 hours of battery life. did i mention it weighs 7 pounds? that is barely a laptop. apple could make a laptop like this, any company could, but that's not their business model. you don't see toyota making supercars. they have the technology but they don't cater to that market. as much as it may shock you, most pros don't play games. it may seem like gaming is a very big issue because maybe your friends game a lot, but that's not what the macbook pro is designed to do.
Don't complain, you bought it even though you knew the graphics card. If you want a gaming laptop, go get a pc laptop.
Yes there certainly are exceptions. To throw out more made up figures, a 15 year old is 50 times more likely to want to play counter strike than final cut.
In your case you need the power. But someone mentioned college use with math applications and microsoft office...There is hardly a need for discrete graphics with math applications or office etc.
I run MATLAB and MAPLE from my powerbook. A macbook handles all of the applications you mentioned brilliantly, about the same as the pro. Like I said, many people buy it just to buy it with no real need for anything other than a macbook. They likely would have bought the macbook pro even if it had integrated graphics ilke the macbook for the same price.
I hate to inform the OP, but those m15x's actually have their cases blister and warp because they generate too much heat. Alienware got careless and had their pet ODM cram the 8800m into a 15.4" form factor without thinking of the consequences, and users got burned. Add on to that the price premium they charge just for the stupid alienware head on the machine.
On July 15th, montevina launches, and with it, the clevo 860tu. That is a 15.4" laptop that will feature the 8800m and will not overheat because Clevo is a responsible ODM that makes good stuff. Oh, and you'll probably be able to swing a 8800m config for under 2k at the right resellers (xoticpc.com, for ex).
As has been stated many times before, pro does not equal gaming, and why should apple be so gun ho about including bleeding edge graphics when they are obviously not taking steps to have bleeding edge games made specifically for the mac platform?
On July 15th, montevina launches, and with it, the clevo 860tu. That is a 15.4" laptop that will feature the 8800m and will not overheat because Clevo is a responsible ODM that makes good stuff. Oh, and you'll probably be able to swing a 8800m config for under 2k at the right resellers (xoticpc.com, for ex).
As has been stated many times before, pro does not equal gaming, and why should apple be so gun ho about including bleeding edge graphics when they are obviously not taking steps to have bleeding edge games made specifically for the mac platform?
That is sort of a pathetic trend in my mind especially when lots of the 15 year olds who buy them don't even put them through a lot of potential and will buy them for internet machines and nothing more.
Im 15 years old and I am looking at buying a macbook pro, however I will be paying for 80-90% of it with saved up money.
And my usage is very intense compared to most students. I am a member of our schools Robotics club (FRC competition) and I will have to run Autodesk Inventor 2008/9 and 3dsMax with plugins and 100s of parts. Also, during this past competition I took about 4gb of video's and pictures including just about all of the rounds, and 5-10 pictures of every other robot (50 in total) I feel like I will really be throwing it through the motions and giving it its full potential. Why I pick the MBP is because of the incredible battery life, the thinness, quality of craftsmanship and the urge to get away from windows (I have Ubuntu on my PC I am typing this on). My first alternative to a Macbook Pro truely defines my goals in what I want, and that is a Thinkpad T61p or its successor, this is unique for the average 15 year old because the average 15 year old looks for style, I look for power, support and durability. Also the thinkpad is identical to the MBP in hardware for a little cheaper but I feel macbook pro is worth the slight increase in price due to OSX.
That's not only a more intelligent assessment than most 15 year olds, it's a more intelligent assessment than most users on this forum. And congrats to you for buying it with your own saved money! Feels extremely rewarding doesn't it?
I thought they were some-what equal. I heard that both of them are good in their own ways in some tasks but they were mostly equal.
Anyways, OP, when you said "professional" I think you mean you want to see the MacBook Pro to at least have this card:
http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/21/nvidia-unveils-quadro-fx-3600m-for-laptops/
wow, i wish i was that awake and pro active when i was 15! (i'm 18 now btw). good luck on your competitions!
@chrmjenkins and @kockgunner, Thank you for the kind words, though I must once again say, it is a disturbing trend how many people own Macbook Pros especially in highschool and don't use them to full potential
@chrmjenkins - I havent bought it yet, but I am planning to wait and hoping for apple to update to montevina before back to school promo ends, otherwise I will buy a current macbook pro towards the end of summer.
@kockgunner, I may be proactive during school year, but I tend to be more lazy and less motivated in summer (however I am still trying to design a website for myself and studying to test out of a year of spanish
Hopefully we will do well at this upcoming competition, we were a rookie team and placed about 25/50 at the competition this year, lots of the teams had several years of skill behind them.
@kabunaru - It appears atleast in macpro benchmarks the 8800gt does better in games while the 2600 does better with video rendering for final cut and such. Nvidia seems to be a better gamer while ATi seems to be better with professional rendering. I would like to see a quadro of some sort in the next MBP, perhaps the successor to the 570m (8600gt) or possibly a 1600M or similar, a 1500m was around a 7900gs when 7950gtx was about 3500M
@chrmjenkins - I havent bought it yet, but I am planning to wait and hoping for apple to update to montevina before back to school promo ends, otherwise I will buy a current macbook pro towards the end of summer.
@kockgunner, I may be proactive during school year, but I tend to be more lazy and less motivated in summer (however I am still trying to design a website for myself and studying to test out of a year of spanish
Hopefully we will do well at this upcoming competition, we were a rookie team and placed about 25/50 at the competition this year, lots of the teams had several years of skill behind them.@kabunaru - It appears atleast in macpro benchmarks the 8800gt does better in games while the 2600 does better with video rendering for final cut and such. Nvidia seems to be a better gamer while ATi seems to be better with professional rendering. I would like to see a quadro of some sort in the next MBP, perhaps the successor to the 570m (8600gt) or possibly a 1600M or similar, a 1500m was around a 7900gs when 7950gtx was about 3500M
Seeing that, I feel like I need to step in a bit, because you're being quite unfair and disrespectful to the OP and many people in this forum.
Now, carrying your attitude onto other things, why do people buy performance cars? 8 or 6 cylinders as oppose to 4? Acceleration? Speed? Average highway speed limit is 55 son, whats the point of getting a powerful car? Need power to overtake? Try downshifting? Independent suspension as oppose to multi link? Great weight distribution in cornering, but I don't think you push your car, if you even have one, that hard, lets be serious now. SUV but not a sedan? Doubt you go offroad regularly. Lots of load? Why not a cheaper pickup? So everyone who buys a car other than a Toyota Corolla are just snobby fools? Well you chose the wrong civilization to live in son.
All I'm trying to get at is that a person's purchasing decision include a large number of factors, a human mind is unique and insanely complicated. Sure people can get by with a lesser car, or a lesser notebook, but they don't want to, it's their choice and you're not part of it. Rule number 1 of debating, though no one respects it, is to attack the idea, not the person. Please don't go around and assume that everyone who doesn't think like you, or is as simple as you, are pathetic. That's how WW2 started.
Maaaan.. see what I mean? The first laptop to use that card is a 17" 1.3" HP that costs less than a 17" MacBook Pro, and that card is over 3 times faster than the 9600M everyone is predicting we'll see in the new MBPs..
Ughhhh... depressing.
You know though, I wouldn't be surprised if they made the redesigned MBPs thicker, but tapered to look thinner, and push the thinophiles over to the MacBook Air if they so desperately want those couple of millimeters shaved off a Pro frickin laptop -__-.
I'm not even asking for a Quadro, that would obviously be a massive battery hog. But there is no comprehensible reason we shouldn't be given an HD3850 or 3870 for our three thousand bucks..
You know though, I wouldn't be surprised if they made the redesigned MBPs thicker, but tapered to look thinner, and push the thinophiles over to the MacBook Air if they so desperately want those couple of millimeters shaved off a Pro frickin laptop -__-.
I'm not even asking for a Quadro, that would obviously be a massive battery hog. But there is no comprehensible reason we shouldn't be given an HD3850 or 3870 for our three thousand bucks..
Someone's signature here is something like "Look outside, the graphics are amazing"
Seriously guys, it's a notebook. Notebooks are designed to be carried around. They are designed to run off their own power supply. If the internal components are so power hungry you can't start the thing up on a charge, what's the point?
Yixian, it sounds like a MBP isn't the right computer for you. And because of the components Apple choose to use in their computers, no Mac will ever be right for you. If you want a Mac, buy a Mac Mini or a Macbook, and custom build a PC for gaming. The custom PC will be cheaper because you aren't wasting your money on parts you won't use, and faster, because you will choose the parts you know you'll need.
You may need benchmark-setting cards, but I would say at least 95% of buyers don't. Apple aren't going to cater for a frankly miniscule market.
Seriously guys, it's a notebook. Notebooks are designed to be carried around. They are designed to run off their own power supply. If the internal components are so power hungry you can't start the thing up on a charge, what's the point?
Yixian, it sounds like a MBP isn't the right computer for you. And because of the components Apple choose to use in their computers, no Mac will ever be right for you. If you want a Mac, buy a Mac Mini or a Macbook, and custom build a PC for gaming. The custom PC will be cheaper because you aren't wasting your money on parts you won't use, and faster, because you will choose the parts you know you'll need.
You may need benchmark-setting cards, but I would say at least 95% of buyers don't. Apple aren't going to cater for a frankly miniscule market.
People keep saying that but dude, an HD3850 is not a lot to ask for. Almost every major PC notebook manufacturer has low to high end laptops, and their high end laptops are usually barely thicker than a MBP but offer far better graphics cards.
If you want Pro performance but are also for some reason adamant that your laptop HAS to be 1" thick and 1.3" just won't do, then yes, the MacBook Pro is a great computer, but when you filter out the fanboy loyalty, THAT is the small market. I'm not saying people don't buy MBPs, they do, but not because they're thin, but because it's the best notebook Apple has to offer. Triple the GPU performance and make it a fraction of an inch thicker, and you are gonna gain more from the gaming and pro video crowd than you are with the... "ultraproportable" crowd.
At least on the 17", I mean come on guys, at least on the 17"! If you're lugging a 17" laptop around is .3" on the bottom of the case gonna make much difference?! Wouldn't you rather 3dmark scores nearing 20,000 instead of 4000?
If you want Pro performance but are also for some reason adamant that your laptop HAS to be 1" thick and 1.3" just won't do, then yes, the MacBook Pro is a great computer, but when you filter out the fanboy loyalty, THAT is the small market. I'm not saying people don't buy MBPs, they do, but not because they're thin, but because it's the best notebook Apple has to offer. Triple the GPU performance and make it a fraction of an inch thicker, and you are gonna gain more from the gaming and pro video crowd than you are with the... "ultraproportable" crowd.
At least on the 17", I mean come on guys, at least on the 17"! If you're lugging a 17" laptop around is .3" on the bottom of the case gonna make much difference?! Wouldn't you rather 3dmark scores nearing 20,000 instead of 4000?
PWouldn't you rather 3dmark scores nearing 20,000 instead of 4000?
If you would, then don't buy a Mac. Jobsian/Ivian design isn't going to make compromises for you.
Well said - OP stop whinging.
Maybe we can ask Arn for a whingers corner.
(That's me done - I'm whinging about whingers)
Let's make an assumption that MB Pro users are professionals who chose the Pro over the MB because programs they use benefit from it's graphics card. AutoCAD, for example or CS4 in the future. If this assumption is correct, then those buyers do need benchmark setting cards because it directly effects their ability to do their job.
Anyway, the Quadros cards aren't extreme or power hungry like everyone seems to think. You basically take the core processor (ie. G86, G84, G92) and optimize the memory environment it is in for longer simulations. The big difference is that consumer level cards tend to be less precise because details don't matter as much, whereas a professional needs to be sure that what he sees is actually what he asked for.
If you really want to play games, get a desktop PC or a Mac Pro... whichever you feel you need and is within your budget.
If you are really really into games and its your primary reason for using a computer, well then get a PC... really what's the point of having OS X when your going to be using bootcamp all the time? Add the fact you can customise a PC a hell of a lot more than every single mac out there with the exception of a mac pro.
And if you are that... sad (no offence but... come on... really..) that you need cutting edge graphics on a laptop that is with you everywhere you go, just so you can level up your character or kill a few computer generated bad guys.. whilst on the train or bus you have more pressing 'life balance' problems than complaining about Macbook pro's.
The current card's are fine for professional use in image editing, CAD etc... just maybe not for the latest graphics intensive games..
Just my opinion here.
If you are really really into games and its your primary reason for using a computer, well then get a PC... really what's the point of having OS X when your going to be using bootcamp all the time? Add the fact you can customise a PC a hell of a lot more than every single mac out there with the exception of a mac pro.
And if you are that... sad (no offence but... come on... really..) that you need cutting edge graphics on a laptop that is with you everywhere you go, just so you can level up your character or kill a few computer generated bad guys.. whilst on the train or bus you have more pressing 'life balance' problems than complaining about Macbook pro's.
The current card's are fine for professional use in image editing, CAD etc... just maybe not for the latest graphics intensive games..
Just my opinion here.