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Apple Launches MacBook Pros with Thunderbolt, Quad Core CPUs, AMD GPUs

Sodner said:
I'm a Windows System Administrator and I use VMWARE Fusion on my Core2Duo iMac and Air when I work from home. (Shhhhh don't tell my Boss.) Anyway they both seem to run VMWARE as quickly as the machine (Toshiba - i5 laptop) I cloned.

My point being, why all the people saying quad cores are needed for vmware and parallels?
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Good point.

I guess this depends very much on WHAT and HOW much you are working inside the VM. For a remote desktop you obviously won't need so much power. But when running more resource hungry stuff you'll reach limits of a single cpu VM pretty quick ... I for myself run OSX plus a 4-cpu Windows 7 VM on a Mac Pro for work. the VM is running all day long in parallel to OSX. the workflow is awesome. BUT, it takes it's power ... thus, awesome setup on a 8-core mac pro, but on my 2007 MBP it's sometimes a pain ... ;-)

thus, 4+ core is very welcome on the laptop ...
 
Cicatrix said:
I keep hearing everyone say that the high end 15" is the way to go. I was going to get the 13", but when the specs revealed, that was a no go. So now I am having to save up more dough for the 15". I don't think I can stretch $400.00 more dollars for the high end 15" model. Would I be kicking myself later if I just got the low end 15" instead? Wudayathink? Is anyone getting the low end 15" here?
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I'm in the same boat. Was anticipating spending in the 13" price range, but now find that the 15" gives you significantly more bang for your buck. trying to justify the extra cost in my head and weigh the pros and cons. I honestly think the low end 15" will be good enough, but I know after a few years with it, I will regret not paying a little more to make it more powerful from the beginning. Decisions, decisions...
 
From Windows to MAC

I was a windows user for around 20 years of my life. Few months ago I made the switch to ubuntu and I am really happy with it. I realized that Windows was too slow even when the memory of my computer was 8gb. Few weeks ago I was for the hunt of a new laptop. However, i did not want windows or ubuntu on it because I want to be able to use CS5, Vue etc etc. My only option was MAC and I was doubting because the price you pay for the MAC you can buy a super laptop with windows.
However, I did not want windows and I see many people complaining about the refresh of the Macbook pro. I think for first timers like me buying this MAC is an excellent choice because it has most of the stuff that is being use nowadays and offers an excellent OS. In conclusion, I am one of many users that are very happy with this refresh. I just hope the MAC does not disappointment me which i really doubt it.
By the way the Macbook pro I bought has these features:

2.2GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7

4GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x2GB

128GB Solid State Drive

8x Double-Layer SuperDrive

MBP 15" HR Glossy WS Display :eek:
 
Everyone keeps calling this the "early 2011" Mac Book pros and says wait for lion to be released, alluding to another mac book pro refresh this summer with lion. Does this rumor hold any water? Is it a waste to buy now if they are going to have another major update this summer when lion is released?
Or do you think come summer it will be this same model with specs, just lion preloaded onto it?

Doesnt sound very Apple like to release two product refreshes in one year, although they are rumoring the same thing with the Ipad saying there will be an ipad 3 come September.

Thoughts on the mbp?
 
franky303 said:
wasn't 11.3. posted somwhere ?
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Not sure what you mean by 11.3. Sorry. Did you see that they have them listed somewhere. I saw rumors that the best buy sites had sku numbers up somewhere but no word of when they would have them in stores.
 
justjohn025 said:
I just went to Best Buy and they don't have them in yet.
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I actually talked to someone in the Computer department, because the 1st Best Buy I called said that they would not have them until August!

I called the other location and asked specifically, and the guy was like yeah I think we got them because we got a drop shipment from Apple yesterday.

He went and checked and pulled one for me and had to go in and enter the shipment into the system before I could exchange mine.

Got it running now and though its a 13" MBP I can def tell the difference in just general use in how snappier things are.
 
ImaITGuy said:
I actually talked to someone in the Computer department, because the 1st Best Buy I called said that they would not have them until August!

I called the other location and asked specifically, and the guy was like yeah I think we got them because we got a drop shipment from Apple yesterday.

He went and checked and pulled one for me and had to go in and enter the shipment into the system before I could exchange mine.

Got it running now and though its a 13" MBP I can def tell the difference in just general use in how snappier things are.
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wow even on the 13..low end or high end
 
superstrongboy said:
can anyone please answer this?
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Someone already did. The new graphics card is much better. Up to 3x according to apple's benchmarks. Double the VRAM (and faster VRAM too).

iOzzie said:
Nice update, but ill stick with my 2010 13' with 10 hours battery.

Wait for the overhaul next year :)
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The new one will have similar battery life. They just changed how they calculate it.
 
skmiller22 said:
Everyone keeps calling this the "early 2011" Mac Book pros and says wait for lion to be released, alluding to another mac book pro refresh this summer with lion. Does this rumor hold any water? Is it a waste to buy now if they are going to have another major update this summer when lion is released?
Or do you think come summer it will be this same model with specs, just lion preloaded onto it?

Doesnt sound very Apple like to release two product refreshes in one year, although they are rumoring the same thing with the Ipad saying there will be an ipad 3 come September.

Thoughts on the mbp?
Click to expand...

wow that would be awesome because i am getting my laptop for college around june and i will hopefully have lion by then. i think apple should realize that college kids will want it before they buy their macs for the first time..as to the rumor about the macbook refresh in the summer?? i think thats pushing it..i think it will maybe be the winter around christmas or september but i think summer might be too early..but i wish it wasnt. By the way do you think they will explain things about the macbook pro tues? or only the ipad
 
To all the whiners...

To all the whiners -

1. The battery is the same if not better. Apple is using more rigorous tests, now with a mixture of mid to heavy web browsing and video streaming on WiFi.

2. Apparently the new Intel graphics deliver performance better than that of the 320M, and Intel has improved their drivers significantly. The HD 3000 also comes with 128 MB more VRAM.

However, I agree on the 13" screen complaints. My 1280x800 screen is all right and definitely acceptable, and it's bright and vibrant with deep colors compared to many, many other notebook displays. However, if I'm laying in bed and using the notebook in a position where the screen is closer to my face, it does become a bit pixelated. I would shell out $100 for a higher-resolution display if I could afford to. I personally hate the matte displays as they take away from the colorful beauty of the LED-backlit displays, though I can see the demand for it among a high enough percentage of possible customers to warrant its inclusion as an option. In my opinion this is certainly not a dealbreaker considering the many other improvements made in this refresh, but to each their own opinion I guess.
 
I'm always excited to see Apple release new hardware, but I'm honestly a little disappointed here as I had planned on buying the 17 and all I see here is modest evolution, not revolution.

A faster CPU and a different card type. Big deal.

The base price is $2,500 USD and that only includes 4 GB of memory and a slow ATA drive, which means I'm looking at $3,000 by the time I add an SSD and 8 GB of memory and pay taxes. I guess i just don't see much value here.

Guess I'll just hang on to my 15'' for a while longer. :(
 
teasphere said:
I wanted to buy two MBPs now I am possibly going to buy a single last model C2D and wait for the 2012 refresh. Disappointing.

I was an easy new customer... now I'm pretty much out. Apple would have been better off just working to speed up the redesign and delay this release. I can't see these as anything but super transitional and rev 1 almost "beta."

I still need a Mac though. My plan is to go with the C2D 13" possibly two or one and a mini to get me through. Bummer.

All it would have taken:

13" with decent CPU and solid GPU.
Superdrive inside.
I would have killed to have a black/gunmetal/dark alu chassis.

Price, glossy/matte, SSD, Thundercat, none of that mattered to me.
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I think the next refresh will happend this year in December...They refresh every 10 months, then is this year December...:confused:
 
iOzzie said:
Nice update, but ill stick with my 2010 13' with 10 hours battery.

Wait for the overhaul next year :)
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Sorry to dissapoint you, but your 13' now officially has 7 hours battery as well ;)

I guess the old tests (with 10 hours as result) were very restrictive, with w-lan, bluetooth and other things turned off. The new 7 hours are a more realistic estimate on a laptop under constant usage.

Anyway, it is still better than most other notebooks. If they advertise 7 hours, the real value is more like 3-4.
 
ldellx3 said:
wow that would be awesome because i am getting my laptop for college around june and i will hopefully have lion by then. i think apple should realize that college kids will want it before they buy their macs for the first time..as to the rumor about the macbook refresh in the summer?? i think thats pushing it..i think it will maybe be the winter around christmas or september but i think summer might be too early..but i wish it wasnt. By the way do you think they will explain things about the macbook pro tues? or only the ipad
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They may make mention of Thunderbolt on Tuesday if its incorporated into the Ipad 2, but otherwise I doubt they mention this refresh at all. Otherwise they would have waited until Tuesday to release these.

So I'm thinking its safe to assume this will be the MBP line until next February with the only other laptop refresh in 2011 to be the Mac Book Air. Anyone else disagree?
 
ldellx3 said:
wow even on the 13..low end or high end
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I got the entry level 13 MBP - the $1199 model

I had the Core2Duo model for 1 week and loved it, but could tell in Office 2011 and Fusion that it had a little less horses than my Dell with an i5 did.

I just finished loading Win7 under Fusion and there is no more stuttering on anything at all. Now mind you I am not knowledgeable on OS X enough to make a firm comparison but iPhoto and iMovie are so significantly faster when processing and searching and manipulating pictures and video than they were on the Core2 System.

Personally I got this as a gift, and just could not bring myself to spend the extra $300 just to get a bump in screen size on the 15" model.
 
skmiller22 said:
They may make mention of Thunderbolt on Tuesday if its incorporated into the Ipad 2, but otherwise I doubt they mention this refresh at all. Otherwise they would have waited until Tuesday to release these.

So I'm thinking its safe to assume this will be the MBP line until next February with the only other laptop refresh in 2011 to be the Mac Book Air. Anyone else disagree?
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I disagree. Reliable sources tell me Liquid Metal MacBooks Pros to be released Summer 2011, with all models priced under $1K. :p
 
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