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

Well guys, in all the excitement yesterday,
I ordered a basic 15" 2.0 Quad Core 4 GB RAM
with the upgrade 7200 RPM HD.

This morning I called my rep back and decided to upgrade.

So the original order is cancelled and now I'm just waiting for
the original debit to be credited back to my account so I can
re-order.

All my Mac experience tells me I SHOULD just get a Fast 13.5
and be content, but this is my first new computer since 2004
and my first laptop.

The point of getting this laptop is to help me really learn/use Logic Pro
and to finally take advantage of broadband access after working at 24KB dial-up
since 1998.

Those dad gum Geekbench scores gots me 'ta thinkin' and
I really do want to take full advantage of the Quad Core
architecture, maxing out the RAM to 8 GB for Logic Pro.

Switching out the 2 GB cards for a pair of 4 GB cards
isn't all too painful.

With both machines configured with 8 GB RAM and the 7200 RPM HD

I get the faster 2.2 GHz Quad processor and the upgraded Video Card.
for very little difference.

This is a snappy, Portable MacPro Tower that weighs less than 6 pounds
and that portability gets me out of broadband Siberia.

The 13.5 with Dual Core 2.7 GHz scored 6796
The 15.4 with 2.0 GHz Quad Core scored 8804
The 15.4 with 2.2 GHz Quad Core scored 10026

My Trusty 2004 PPC 2.0 D.P. G5 Tower with 5 GB RAM scored 1782

The 2.2 GHz Quad MBP would be almost 6 times faster!
 
Last edited:
Matte Screen

Hey, thinking about getting the 15 inch 2.2 i7 macbook pro and was wondering if people would suggest either the glossy or matte screen. I have a 2006 macbook (1.8ghz core 2 duo, 1 gb ram) that has a glossy screen and I haven't really minded it. I also have a desktop with a matte finish acer monitor.

Can I expect to see the same kind of matte finish as a standard flatscreen monitor? Will the colors get wonky or anything like that?
 
cmaier said:
You have me wrong. I love Macs. I'm just pointing out the reason Apple doesn't have more market share has less to do about price than about familiarity and fear of change.

And I'd have bought a fully loaded 17" MBP with 512GB SSD this morning if not for the fact that I'd be out of town when it arrived, so I'm waiting a week.
Click to expand...

Sorry, I was actually agreeing with you. The use of the word "your" in my post was directed at those who moan about the price of Apple's notebooks, not at you.
 
revelated said:
Where did that last poster indicate he wanted to install it on a PC? They simply said that Snow Leopard is $130 - which for them is likely a factual statement. You then gave some off-the-rocker number that you say is the real price of Snow Leopard. I'm asking you where it indicates this price if the user is not "upgrading" from a previous OS? Any Mac sold is going to have Mac OS, so it seems rather illogical to think that someone would buy SL to install it on a PC - the hackintosh community would rather just download it, given it requires no serial.

Isn't that logical?
Click to expand...

$130 is not the price of Snow Leopard. It is the price of an upgrade license to Snow Leopard for you to install on an Apple labeled computer.

There is a definite difference between upgrade and full licenses.

In the case of OS X, we can't "buy" a full license. The only full license we ever receive comes in the form of the preinstalled copy of OS X we receive when we purchase our Mac, which may jolly well be valued at $1000 to make up for the price difference between a PC and its equivalent Mac.
 
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sandylp said:
I buy a new computer every 2 years based on Intel's Tick-Tock schedule. This is how it is explained by Intel:

Year 1: First the "Tick"
Intel delivers new silicon process technology, dramatically increasing transistor density while enhancing performance and energy efficiency within a smaller, more refined version of our existing microarchitecture.

Year 2: Then the "Tock"
Intel delivers entirely new processor microarchitecture to optimize the value of the increased number of transistors and technology updates now available.

So, this year is the "Tock" with entirely new processor microarchitecture with the Sandy Bridge processor.
Click to expand...

So... which is better? The Tick or the Tock?

I am actually wondering if I should upgrade next year to whatever Ivy Bridges offering Apple releases next year, or just buy an Applecare warranty extension for my last gen 15" and upgrade on the next microarchitecture change.

There's still a lot of computer left in this old Mac, although the quads really look very tempting.
 
lukta said:
Hey, thinking about getting the 15 inch 2.2 i7 macbook pro and was wondering if people would suggest either the glossy or matte screen. I have a 2006 macbook (1.8ghz core 2 duo, 1 gb ram) that has a glossy screen and I haven't really minded it. I also have a desktop with a matte finish acer monitor.

Can I expect to see the same kind of matte finish as a standard flatscreen monitor? Will the colors get wonky or anything like that?
Click to expand...

Glossy.
 
lukta said:
Hey, thinking about getting the 15 inch 2.2 i7 macbook pro and was wondering if people would suggest either the glossy or matte screen. I have a 2006 macbook (1.8ghz core 2 duo, 1 gb ram) that has a glossy screen and I haven't really minded it. I also have a desktop with a matte finish acer monitor.

Can I expect to see the same kind of matte finish as a standard flatscreen monitor? Will the colors get wonky or anything like that?
Click to expand...

I always order matte so you know my opinion.
 
Does anyone know if the macbook pros are being assembled in china or Ireland as I live in england and I ordered my custom build 17" on the 24th and am being given a delivery date between the 09th and 14th of march and as it says its between 1-3 days for shipping I cant imagine it taking 2 weeks to be sent from Ireland.

Cheers
 
Mix said:
Does anyone know if the macbook pros are being assembled in china or Ireland as I live in england and I ordered my custom build 17" on the 24th and am being given a delivery date between the 09th and 14th of march and as it says its between 1-3 days for shipping I cant imagine it taking 2 weeks to be sent from Ireland.

Cheers
Click to expand...

China
 
lukta said:
Hey, thinking about getting the 15 inch 2.2 i7 macbook pro and was wondering if people would suggest either the glossy or matte screen. I have a 2006 macbook (1.8ghz core 2 duo, 1 gb ram) that has a glossy screen and I haven't really minded it. I also have a desktop with a matte finish acer monitor.

Can I expect to see the same kind of matte finish as a standard flatscreen monitor? Will the colors get wonky or anything like that?
Click to expand...

The Matt is much better.
In the glossy, there's even glare when you're INSIDE.
For the glossy, if you want to eliminate the glare, you have to increase the brightness thus decrease your battery life
But glossy has more vibrant colors

Its up to you. Matt is the way to go for many.
 
Hybrid SSD ???

I was reading the review on CNET, who have it a great review. I also read one of the comments, which said the Apple SSD wasn't a true SSD, that it was a hybird.

I have never heard that before. Can anyone enlighten me on what that means?

Thanks!
 
ChrisNM said:
I was reading the review on CNET, who have it a great review. I also read one of the comments, which said the Apple SSD wasn't a true SSD, that it was a hybird.

I have never heard that before. Can anyone enlighten me on what that means?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

The comment you read is false. There was a rumor floating around that it would use a hybrid SSD, but the rumor proved false.
 
I just picked up a maxed out 11 mba
did not realize new mbp were coming out, upgraded to the air from a late 2006 mb...now

i have a mid 2010 macmini at home as my main with 8gb ram and a 128ssd
mainly for the heavier use stuff now like ps, handbrake a etc

now with the my work discount the base 13 mbp is 50 less than the ref. air i picked up..coming from the 13"mb to the air, i love the portability but am not against going back to the 13" size of the mbp n have no issues upping the mbp to 8gb ram n having a 128ssd in it either

question..n please help me out other macusers..what can u folks say about moving to the base 13"mbp from the 11"air for mainly light use to the occasional heavier use when away from home between the two?
also will the late 2010 air's see any major processor improvement/can it be done in the airs?

cheers
 
lukta said:
Hey, thinking about getting the 15 inch 2.2 i7 macbook pro and was wondering if people would suggest either the glossy or matte screen. I have a 2006 macbook (1.8ghz core 2 duo, 1 gb ram) that has a glossy screen and I haven't really minded it. I also have a desktop with a matte finish acer monitor.

Can I expect to see the same kind of matte finish as a standard flatscreen monitor? Will the colors get wonky or anything like that?
Click to expand...

Wanna know what I would do? I would order the glossy one, and if you don't like it, buy an "anti glare screen protector" for MacBook on ebay. It costs like 5$ or something like that...
 
SmallWalrus said:
$130 is not the price of Snow Leopard. It is the price of an upgrade license to Snow Leopard for you to install on an Apple labeled computer.

There is a definite difference between upgrade and full licenses.

In the case of OS X, we can't "buy" a full license. The only full license we ever receive comes in the form of the preinstalled copy of OS X we receive when we purchase our Mac, which may jolly well be valued at $1000 to make up for the price difference between a PC and its equivalent Mac.
Click to expand...

Surely you're not using Windows license methodology to try an explain a concept that I, as a Microsoft professional, know likely better than you.

You're basically using semantics. What you're really saying is this:

"Full Apple OS licenses are really the price of the computer, because Apple does not sell boxed copies of the fully licensed version. What you get off the shelf is basically an 'upgrade' license."

And that is a factual statement in theory. In practice it is faulty, because again, I see nowhere in any of the docs that says the box copy is not a full version. Additionally, you can install the box copy on a used Mac that has no software. NOTHING stops you from doing this.
 
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Of course you are right. But it doesn't change the fact that the OS is licensed only for use on Apple hardware, meaning that part of the cost of the OS I'd hidden in the price of the hardware. Apple even accounts for it that way.

revelated said:
Surely you're not using Windows license methodology to try an explain a concept that I, as a Microsoft professional, know likely better than you.

You're basically using semantics. What you're really saying is this:

"Full Apple OS licenses are really the price of the computer, because Apple does not sell boxed copies of the fully licensed version. What you get off the shelf is basically an 'upgrade' license."

And that is a factual statement in theory. In practice it is faulty, because again, I see nowhere in any of the docs that says the box copy is not a full version. Additionally, you can install the box copy on a used Mac that has no software. NOTHING stops you from doing this.
Click to expand...
 
FFTT said:
To Apogee, Metric Halo, Avid and Lynx

WHEN!


We need those Thunderbolt I/O's ASAP!
Click to expand...

So my Al_uMB is more powerful than your G5 - but when it comes to composing multiple tracks (12+) then the RAID HDD and larger 8GB of RAM is your power over mine.

I saw save the money and go for the low-end Quad-Core 2Ghz 15" ... save the $400 difference for an after market 250/400GB SSD! Then you'll cream with that performance.

Apogee promised, like the others for ThunderBolt.
- They'll debut this fall (along with the Mac Pro upgrades). What we SHOULD be asking is:
Can the ThunderBolt port power 1 external component along with promising real world 800MB/sec data transfer in EACH direction.
 
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