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Apple Releases 17'' MacBook Pro
- Thread starter Demon Hunter
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The Macbooks Are Coming, The Macbooks Are Coming...
OK, I know this is a MBP thread, but people keep talking about the MacBook. I talked to my friend who manages the Apple Store in my town. I was inquiring about pricing on a used PowerBook 12" I found on here. He told me to hold off, that his supplies of PB 12" had dwindled and APPLE WAS NOT SENDING ANYMORE... He has worked with Apple for along time, and knows people who know things.
So, for those holding out to get a MacBook, he whispered today it looks as if 4-5 weeks before the new revision is in the store.
AND YES, I know some of you on here that say Apple Store employees know nothing, so you won't be convinced. Like I said, when this guy knows something, he has never been wrong yet.
OK, I know this is a MBP thread, but people keep talking about the MacBook. I talked to my friend who manages the Apple Store in my town. I was inquiring about pricing on a used PowerBook 12" I found on here. He told me to hold off, that his supplies of PB 12" had dwindled and APPLE WAS NOT SENDING ANYMORE... He has worked with Apple for along time, and knows people who know things.
So, for those holding out to get a MacBook, he whispered today it looks as if 4-5 weeks before the new revision is in the store.
AND YES, I know some of you on here that say Apple Store employees know nothing, so you won't be convinced. Like I said, when this guy knows something, he has never been wrong yet.
So June? A Perfect Ending To Spring
So June? Wonderful. Spring Bookends. MBP 17" for the elite and MB for the masses. How Poetic of Apple. The symetry is wonderful. Takes my breath away just thinking about it. Thanks for the heads up MacPastor. Good intel.macpastor said:
Nothing's wrong with it, it's just that they don't exist. Just because you buy a FW800 enclosure doesn't mean that you've automatically got a faster hard drive. Do you have an IDE hard drive or an SATA I hard drive in that FW800 enclosure? If you do, FW800 isn't doing anything for you. If you have an SATA II drive in there, it's a toss up, but most of the time won't exceed 30MB/sec transfer--well below the capabilities of FW400.081440 said:
Edit: For the non-technically minded, it's like this: FW400 is like a highway with a "speed limit" of roughly 50MB/sec. FW800 has a speed limit that's twice as fast. But the hard drives are like the cars--and those cars right now can't push past 50MB/sec in most cases and spend 90% of their time at much slower speeds (even the very high-end SATA II WD Raptors' absolute best sustained speed is 72MB/sec). The speed limit is faster than the cars can physically go most of the time, so increasing the speed limit doesn't make traffic go any faster. Incidentally, there's more to it than cars and roadways, especially because more "cars" lowers the "speed limit"...but you know.
matticus008 said:
Are you thinking FW400 has the capability of 400MB/s. If so, that's incorrect. It's capable of 400Mbit/s, which translates to 50Mbytes/s.
My FW800 drive consistently has 2GB/min transfer rates, twice as fast as the 1GB/min rates I get from my FW400 drives, so that's good enough for me!
No, that emphasis was added to suggest that typical hard drives are handled squarely by FW400, and that FW800 was superfluous for today's mainstream hard drives. As SATA II drives trickle down, FW800 will become more practical for hard drives. The 50MB/sec transfer rate is included in my post.dejo said:Are you thinking FW400 has the capability of 400MB/s. If so, that's incorrect. It's capable of 400Mbit/s, which translates to 50Mbytes/s.
My FW800 drive consistently has 2GB/min transfer rates, twice as fast as the 1GB/min rates I get from my FW400 drives, so that's good enough for me!
What hard drive do you have in your enclosures? I might want to pick up a few of those!
dejo said:My FW800 drive consistently has 2GB/min transfer rates, twice as fast as the 1GB/min rates I get from my FW400 drives, so that's good enough for me!
Same here. I just did a quick test and copied a 4.33GB file from my external FW800 drive to my G5 and it took exactly 3 minutes and 2 seconds. I'm very happy the 17" MacBook Pro has FW800 because I don't think I could live without it.
Buying from apple online...
Ordered a 17" MBP with 100gb HD 7200 RPM and 2 GB Ram... estimated ship date May 9th... Estimated Delivery May 12th...
Question... First time buying from Apple online Store.... how accurate are the dates they give?
Ordered a 17" MBP with 100gb HD 7200 RPM and 2 GB Ram... estimated ship date May 9th... Estimated Delivery May 12th...
Question... First time buying from Apple online Store.... how accurate are the dates they give?
matticus008 said:
Not exactly sure and I'm not at my Power Mac that they're hooked up to to be able to tell right now. But all my external FireWire drives are OWC Mercury Elites, including my FW800 Aluminum Pro, and I'm quite happy with all of them!
Multimedia said:
If there were new Merom-based mbps by early september, I'd be elated. But that doesn't look likely. It's going to break my heart if i wind up getting a MBP a week before Merom and a couple of months before Leopard. But this old Tibook is certainly giving me a tough time.
Merom May Not Be Ready Until The End of Fall
Post 674 Page 27 revision - But I read another report today that says Merom won't really be ready until "The Holiday Shopping Season". So if that's true, Apple may just hold off until the January 9, 2007 SF MacWorld Expo SteveNote to unveil Merom MBPs, minis and iMacs all at once to kick off the year of the "End of 32-bit Macs".absurdio said:
"Ready for the holiday shopping" means samples in Q3 and volume shipments by early October, and the store shelves loaded with Meroms by mid-November. (Remember that Vista will be ready and shipping in November, but that's "too late" for the holidays.)Multimedia said:...Merom won't really be ready until "The Holiday Shopping Season". So if that's true, Apple may just hold off until the January 9, 2007 SF MacWorld Expo SteveNote to unveil Merom MBPs, minis and iMacs all at once to kick off the year of the "End of 32-bit Macs".
Will Apple continue to sell Yonahs for 2 or 3 months after the rest of the guys have switched to much faster 64-bit chips?
I don't think so....
It's also possible that *no new systems* will be announced at either WWDC or Paris.
Apple can't announce Merom/Conroe/Woodcrest systems before Intel announces the chips. If there's no Intel announcement, there's no Apple announcement.
Look back at the Yonah announcement.
- Everyone knew what Yonah was
- Everyone knew that Yonah would be announced at CES
- Intel announced Yonah, and Dell/HP/Lenovo/Asus/... showed new Yonah systems at CES in Las Vegas (Apple didn't show)
- The following week at MWSF Apple announced some Yonah systems
This is the new order. No more Apple surprises at the chip level - they'll have the same stuff as everyone else, at the same time. Intel isn't going to adjust their announcements to give Apple an advantage - it's just not going to happen.
heisetax said:
An internal modem is never a need. It does nothing that an external modem can't do. Having it internal is merely a convenience.
And I don't think having it external is that big a deal anyway. If you're running off a modem, you're likely going to have it plugged into AC power as well, right? A laptop is never truly all built in since you're always going to have a power adapter (except for the very shortest trips).
I find it hilarious that the folks who complained about the 15 have had virtually all their complaints addressed, yet the complaints continue. Quit drinking the PPC kool-aid already.
Multimedia said:Apple doesn't need to "announce nor prove" which products have sockets and which don't. They tell you at the NAB booth and at any Apple store or on the phone with a sales consultant. Anyone with half a brain can see by the low profile that there is not room for a socket inside the MBP line. It's not that Apple is trying to hide anything that will keep you from being able to upgrade the processor later. It's simply that they don't have room for the socket while they do have room in the mini and iMac which you will be able to upgrade albiet void your warranty and Applecare coverage.
Please try to stop being so negative Milo. What are you so angry about?
In my experience, folks manning a booth or retail store don't generally know internal details like whether chips are socketed or soldered. And I've received enough incorrect info from such folks that I wouldn't really trust that sort of info from them. I'm sure some people may get lucky and get reliable information from those folks some times, but it's not anything I'd count on.
Please try and stop assuming that someone who disagrees with you is "negative", "angry" or in need of a chill pill. Really, it cheapens your argument.
Also note that I've never complained about the laptops having soldered chips, in fact I've defended it. I just don't agree with the notion that a guy in a booth will know if the chip is soldered or not. Generally the announcements are kept under wraps until the last minute and the booth folks often don't even see the machines until they are announced (and they're handed a flyer with the specs minutes before the crowds arrive). I don't know if that's the case with this one, but it has happened before.
mixel said:Niiiiice...
Lovely looking machines. I hope they're really successful. The 15" MBP is great too..
How long before the "We don't care! this is all just filler until Merom arrives!" brigade start posting?
we dont care, its just a filler till Merom!! =P To be honest, its true. When the 64bit processors come out, then the fun starts =)
Thanks matticus...
You explained it well to us, and thereby helped people not to spend money in vain.
matticus008 said:
You explained it well to us, and thereby helped people not to spend money in vain.
Willis said:
the way it was explained to me, is that usb isn't constant. it sends the information in bursts, while firewire is constant. so in other words, usb2.0 doesn't send information at 480mb/s all the time. that's what makes firewire better (correct me if i'm wrong, this is what i was told)
Surreal said:
The complaint about FW800 isn't that it's obsolete, it's that the decision to make it a different connector made it harder for it to catch on.
No disagreement with your defense of FW400, it is a succesful standard and likely isn't going away any time soon. The FW folks just failed to make the sale on the upgrade to 800.
faintember said:
Who has denied the importance of FW400? Sounds like a strawman to me.
Multimedia said:
You miss the point. Sure, FW800 is overkill for many things. But if it were the same connector, peripheral makers could simply switch over virtually all devices to the 800 format and they'd work fine with any FW port without an adapter. If it were the same connector, there would be NO DISCUSSION of how many ports are 400 and how many 800. Instead, apple would just make ALL ports 800, and with the same port consumers could use any FW device in them without worrying about adapters.
When you have a different port, for the consumer it's percieved as a new format instead of simply a faster version of the old one. Just imagine if 1000/100/10 base T all used different cables and some machines had ports with each of them? Sorry, I'll take seamless compatibility.
Photorun said:
FYI, you can turn off all avatars in user prefs. Trust me, it's a godsend.
Willis said:
From what I've heard, apple's implementation of USB2 isn't that great, it's considerably slower than on the PC side. I think USB2 even runs faster under xp/boot camp on the same hardware. It wouldn't surprise me if apple is optimizing their pet format more than the competing one.
Apple? Or The Steve?
Note, also, that at the CES announcement Apple had no MacIntel systems. None. There was nothing to compare between Apple and the Intel vendors.
Waiting a few days for MWSF was not an issue - it let Apple's announcement stand alone. Good showmanship.
That won't be repeated in the future. What if Dell starts shipping Merom laptops in July, and Apple doesn't? MacBook sales will drop drastically, same for iMacs. WWDC will be a riot scene - mobs throwing furniture and shouting "Where are our Meroms?".
If Conroe/Woodcrest come out after Paris, same riot scene at MWSF if Apple doesn't release the new Conroe mini-tower.
I wonder what XServe sales numbers are these days....
Well, The Steve wouldn't have wanted to show the new MacIntels on the same stage with Michael Dell, now would he?Willis said:
Note, also, that at the CES announcement Apple had no MacIntel systems. None. There was nothing to compare between Apple and the Intel vendors.
Waiting a few days for MWSF was not an issue - it let Apple's announcement stand alone. Good showmanship.
That won't be repeated in the future. What if Dell starts shipping Merom laptops in July, and Apple doesn't? MacBook sales will drop drastically, same for iMacs. WWDC will be a riot scene - mobs throwing furniture and shouting "Where are our Meroms?".
If Conroe/Woodcrest come out after Paris, same riot scene at MWSF if Apple doesn't release the new Conroe mini-tower.
I wonder what XServe sales numbers are these days....
Apple failed 1394b also
Apple chose to make FW800 a premium interconnect, and use it as part of the market segmentation strategy to push upsell to higher margin "pro" machines.
That limited the number of systems with the faster ports, which limited the number of add-on devices to "pro" stuff, which kept the volumes down, which increased the costs of the add-ons, which pushed volumes down, which increased the cost of the chips for the ports, which helps to keep volumes down,....
If every Apple had a FW800 port from the introduction, then FW400 would be as common as FW100/FW200 are today. You wouldn't worry about the connector issue too much - since everything you purchased in the last 2 years has the new connectors (and you've got an adaptor on the old things).
Apple has to take some of the blame for the poor adoption of 1394b as well.milo said:
Apple chose to make FW800 a premium interconnect, and use it as part of the market segmentation strategy to push upsell to higher margin "pro" machines.
That limited the number of systems with the faster ports, which limited the number of add-on devices to "pro" stuff, which kept the volumes down, which increased the costs of the add-ons, which pushed volumes down, which increased the cost of the chips for the ports, which helps to keep volumes down,....
If every Apple had a FW800 port from the introduction, then FW400 would be as common as FW100/FW200 are today. You wouldn't worry about the connector issue too much - since everything you purchased in the last 2 years has the new connectors (and you've got an adaptor on the old things).
An earlier comment suggested that Apple may decide to hold off announcing new systems until MWSF, even though the chips come out in the fall.milo said:
Like you, I consider that unlikely.
Estimated ship dates
When I bought my ibook 2 years ago, I was quoted about 2-3 days till shipment and then another 12 for delivery. The entire process took less than 7 days. So, I think those dates are a worst case scenario. Further, a friend at work just ordered an ipod nano on Thursday, got it Monday - desite the 2-3 day till shipment message and 12 days for delivery. Be sure that you will get it soon.
iwamas said:
When I bought my ibook 2 years ago, I was quoted about 2-3 days till shipment and then another 12 for delivery. The entire process took less than 7 days. So, I think those dates are a worst case scenario. Further, a friend at work just ordered an ipod nano on Thursday, got it Monday - desite the 2-3 day till shipment message and 12 days for delivery. Be sure that you will get it soon.