Apple Releases Penryn-Based MacBook Pros with Multitouch

[chas0001]

Friends, it is with a heavy heart that I must inform you of my decision to abandon Mac OS for Vista. I have been an avid Apple user since I was a child. I'll never forget when my parents bought an Apple IIgs and I thought it was the coolest computer ever. After going to college and having to use a PC, I returned to Apple by purchasing a G4 iMac in 2002. Over the last year or so, I've been itching to upgrade my Mac. I began closely following the release of Leopard and the new iMac. I was sure that I wanted to buy a new iMac, until I started doing some price comparisons.

First, I wanted to buy a laptop. Looking at the Macbooks, the low-end model starts at $1100. I found a Compaq Presario laptop at Circuit City for $450. So, for half the price, I can buy a PC laptop that has a bigger screen (15.4 vs 13''), the same size hard drive, and a comparable 1.9 dual core chip. Also, my work provides Office 2007 Enterprise, so I wouldn't have to purchase a Mac version of Office. Sorry Apple, you lose.

Next, I wanted to replace my old iMac with a new desktop. After using Vista, I found that the majority of what I had heard about Vista was a bunch of bull. Microsoft copied OS X quite well; I liked the interface and found very few negatives compared to a Mac. Plus, it's nice to know that I no longer have to wait for the Mac version release of software that I want. I'm also very excited to be done with Mac incompatibility issues.

My experience with Vista was so good, that I abandoned my plan for buying a new iMac and instead bought an 3.0 ghz HP Pavilion Elite m9100z PC with TV/PVR (w/ 20' monitor) for $1150 . Compare that to a similarly equiped 20' 2.4 ghz iMac at $1800 with a lesser graphics card (Mac's ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO with 256MB memory vs the HP's 512MB NVIDIA GeForce 8500GT, TV-out, DVI-I, HDMI).

Bottom line, I got both a better laptop and a much better desktop for a combined price that is lower than the price of 1 new iMac. In the end, it was a decision based on simple economics. Macs are overpriced and Apple's greed caused them to lose a loyal customer.

I doubt anybody would disagree that you can get a better specked PC cheaper than a MAC. What I think you are paying for with a MAC is not just the hardware but the integration of the Hardware, Operating System and Applications, together with ease of use. I love my MAC computers and would never switch back to a PC. If I ever need to run Windows programs I use either boot camp or Vmware Fusion.

My parents used to have a Windows XP PC and I was constantly having to sort out problems. Since I gave them my old Powermac G5 problems are almost non-existent. They also say that it is much easier to use.

 

[dlewisdm]

In Portugal 3/4 days

In California: estimated ship date for base MBP is Today through Monday (for a 6:35a pst order yesterday)...awesome....thanks for narrowing that one down Apple.

Although, I guess it's better than the "February" ship date they tossed on the Time Capsule

 

[Cloudane]

Friends, it is with a heavy heart that I must inform you of my decision to abandon Mac OS for Vista

Blimey, sounds like you're leaving a long-served position at your employer, not switching to another computer

Good luck with Vista. To me it's easily compared to "Friends, it is with a heavy heart that I must inform you of my decision to abandon eating chocolate and gouge my eyes out with a rusty spoon instead" but to each his own

 

[digitalfrog]

Mhhh...

I live in Europe and will be in California in 3 weeks. I wonder if the shops will have more stock by then, or if I should order online now and pick it up then.

Do shops carry 'special' editions, as in base models + 7200 RPM for instance or can those only be ordered ?

Thx

Ralph

 

[dlewisdm]

Mhhh...

I live in Europe and will be in California in 3 weeks. I wonder if the shops will have more stock by then, or if I should order online now and pick it up then.

Do shops carry 'special' editions, as in base models + 7200 RPM for instance or can those only be ordered ?

Thx

Ralph

Don't hold me to this, but I'm almost certain they only carry the base models in the stores.

 

[chillywilly]

After using Vista, I found that the majority of what I had heard about Vista was a bunch of bull.
...
Bottom line, I got both a better laptop and a much better desktop for a combined price that is lower than the price of 1 new iMac. In the end, it was a decision based on simple economics. Macs are overpriced and Apple's greed caused them to lose a loyal customer.

A lot of us use Macs because of their stability. Having spent the last two weeks with a friend's laptop running Vista, it's not Mac OSX copied. There were a lot of tweaks that I had to do to get it to the point of working without being asked "allow or deny" every 2 minutes.

Regardless, hope you enjoy your discounted world of Windows laptops. They do work for some people. The rest of us will be here in Mac world.

 

[RHD]

I ordered mine today!
Hurray, Hurray Hurray!

 

[BongoBanger]

A lot of us use Macs because of their stability. Having spent the last two weeks with a friend's laptop running Vista, it's not Mac OSX copied. There were a lot of tweaks that I had to do to get it to the point of working without being asked "allow or deny" every 2 minutes.

And once they're done they're done. I honestly don't see why people make such a fuss over features that take less than five minutes to alter.

Regardless, hope you enjoy your discounted world of Windows laptops. They do work for some people. The rest of us will be here in Mac world.

Actually most people use Windows based laptops and they work fine. Sure, Macs are nice and I like the Macbook I use but let's not get carried away here, eh?

As I mentioned earlier I'm kind of unimpressed with the updates because they don't represent value for money and they don't offer anything that isn't already out there.

 

[mygoldens]

I agree

Friends, it is with a heavy heart that I must inform you of my decision to abandon Mac OS for Vista. I have been an avid Apple user since I was a child. I'll never forget when my parents bought an Apple IIgs and I thought it was the coolest computer ever. After going to college and having to use a PC, I returned to Apple by purchasing a G4 iMac in 2002. Over the last year or so, I've been itching to upgrade my Mac. I began closely following the release of Leopard and the new iMac. I was sure that I wanted to buy a new iMac, until I started doing some price comparisons.

First, I wanted to buy a laptop. Looking at the Macbooks, the low-end model starts at $1100. I found a Compaq Presario laptop at Circuit City for $450. So, for half the price, I can buy a PC laptop that has a bigger screen (15.4 vs 13''), the same size hard drive, and a comparable 1.9 dual core chip. Also, my work provides Office 2007 Enterprise, so I wouldn't have to purchase a Mac version of Office. Sorry Apple, you lose.

Next, I wanted to replace my old iMac with a new desktop. After using Vista, I found that the majority of what I had heard about Vista was a bunch of bull. Microsoft copied OS X quite well; I liked the interface and found very few negatives compared to a Mac. Plus, it's nice to know that I no longer have to wait for the Mac version release of software that I want. I'm also very excited to be done with Mac incompatibility issues.

My experience with Vista was so good, that I abandoned my plan for buying a new iMac and instead bought an 3.0 ghz HP Pavilion Elite m9100z PC with TV/PVR (w/ 20' monitor) for $1150 . Compare that to a similarly equiped 20' 2.4 ghz iMac at $1800 with a lesser graphics card (Mac's ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO with 256MB memory vs the HP's 512MB NVIDIA GeForce 8500GT, TV-out, DVI-I, HDMI).

Bottom line, I got both a better laptop and a much better desktop for a combined price that is lower than the price of 1 new iMac. In the end, it was a decision based on simple economics. Macs are overpriced and Apple's greed caused them to lose a loyal customer.

I have used Vista for quite some time myself and it works much better than Mac OSX, no emulation and a lot of security.

I have been a Mac user since OS9, Windows XP is garbage, I refuse to use it. I can kill it in less than 4 hours with what I do. Mac to the rescue, now with Vista, I have to admit it is pretty good. I have a Fujitsu P7230 and a Sony FZ180E running Vista business and they work very well.

I even sold my Iphone for one of the ATT Tilt with Windows 6 Pro, GPS, Office, XM radio, 3G, IE, Opera, direct push with Exchange, contacts, email, notes, calendar, thousands of installable programs, the list goes on. Oh one other thing, I can tether the Tilt to Vista, it will not on the Mac, through Bluetooth or USB.

Apple is a fine OS for individual's but in the business world it has not worked well for me.

WAIT, Mac fans, I am not trying to start a holy war, just agreeing and expressing my opinion.

 

[Digital Skunk]

I have used Vista for quite some time myself and it works much better than Mac OSX, no emulation and a lot of security.

I have been a Mac user since OS9, Windows XP is garbage, I refuse to use it. I can kill it in less than 4 hours with what I do. Mac to the rescue, now with Vista, I have to admit it is pretty good. I have a Fujitsu P7230 and a Sony FZ180E running Vista business and they work very well.

I even sold my Iphone for one of the ATT Tilt with Windows 6 Pro, GPS, Office, XM radio, 3G, IE, Opera, direct push with Exchange, contacts, email, notes, calendar, thousands of installable programs, the list goes on. Oh one other thing, I can tether the Tilt to Vista, it will not on the Mac, through Bluetooth or USB.

Apple is a fine OS for individual's but in the business world it has not worked well for me.

WAIT, Mac fans, I am not trying to start a holy war, just agreeing and expressing my opinion.

Please do.... it's all good when it's sensible. I agree about the iPhone thing. In the business world it fails miserably. I went for the HTC Touch and won't leave until the iPhone matches or surpasses it in programs and features.... an SDK won't make much of a difference.

I can't use Windows in the world of the Creative Pro, the Mac shines, where Windows just works. On your end I can see how the Mac wouldn't do so hot, and where a company may be spending extra money on emulation and the limited hardware that Apple has.

And I also agree that Macs and Windows work just fine for the middle of the road. My fiancee is a school teacher and she works with both, and has no problem whatsoever with Vista or XP or Mac OS X.

In the end, their all just tools, so we just need to shut up and get back to work

p.s. that last statement was a joke.

 

[bobvilla]

Now that I read your post I see that you are kinda trolling my friend. This last statement proves it, since you are neither a loyal customer since you didn't buy any recent or new Macs, and you are false in your statement that your decision was based solely on economics and that Macs are overpriced.

You didn't even buy comparable machines, so your judgment is false to say the least.

Let me clear something up; the purpose of my post was to get some smart feedback regarding my decision, not to criticize Mac users. I still love Macs and I still think OS X is a better operating system. However, I wish Apple would lower their prices to be more competitive with PCs. I don't mind paying a little bit more, but $500 - $1000 per computer is a little ridiculous!

Digital Skunk, what do you mean that I didn't buy comparable machines? Yes, my laptop doesn't have an isight like the Macbook, but other than that, the Compaq and Macbook are very similar in performance. As far as the desktop, you can't tell me an iMac is more powerful than the HP.

I apologize if this isn't the best forum for my post, I just didn't know what the most appropriate location would be. Yes, I am a newbie, feel free to make fun of me .

 

[bestthereis27]

Dont know if anyone posted this. But Macmall is selling the New MacBook and Macbook Pros with rebates. $150 rebate on the Pros.

 

[Digital Skunk]

I apologize if this isn't the best forum for my post, I just didn't know what the most appropriate location would be. Yes, I am a newbie, feel free to make fun of me .

It's alright man. The proper place would have been the Community Forum (if it's still called than, I will check) and I am not saying that the iMac is better than a real tower, heavens no....

The iMac is an All-in-one with laptop parts and a desktop hard drive, which justifies it's price IMHO. The laptop parts are going to cost more and putting that tightly nit piece of electronic goodness together in such a tight space is bound to cost Apple a pretty penny. I would have gone for the desktop any day, but the iMac isn't in the same class as any tower. Now if you compared it to the XPS One or the Gateway One then that'd be a different story.

On that note as well, I am not bashing the iMac either. I love that thing to death. I wouldn't grab one since I love power, and customization, but the fiancee loves it and the 20" would have served her very well, but i got the super 24" instead so it would serve her well for many years to come.

As for Window being better than Mac OS X.... as we have all said it's personal preference. I love Windows business oriented approach, or at least that's what their market segment has placed on the OS. I love MacOS's creative pro oriented approach. My phone runs Windows Mobile because I wanted a real performer, not a toy like the iPhone, but when it comes to my profession, I need Mac OS X. There is another poster that says the opposite.

To each his own is a bit too sarcastic for me, so I say, shut up and get the tools that work for you. I won't make fun of you, I try not to do that, but I will challenge popular opinion as best I can.

 

[EdRossignol]

I suspect this has something to do with French vs. US keyboards.

I'm using a British Mac (QUERTY), much cheaper to buy in UK than France, the VAT is lower in UK

 

[Phrasikleia]

Friends, it is with a heavy heart that I must inform you of my decision to abandon Mac OS for Vista. I have been an avid Apple user since I was a child. I'll never forget when my parents bought an Apple IIgs and I thought it was the coolest computer ever. After going to college and having to use a PC, I returned to Apple by purchasing a G4 iMac in 2002. Over the last year or so, I've been itching to upgrade my Mac. I began closely following the release of Leopard and the new iMac. I was sure that I wanted to buy a new iMac, until I started doing some price comparisons.

First, I wanted to buy a laptop. Looking at the Macbooks, the low-end model starts at $1100. I found a Compaq Presario laptop at Circuit City for $450. So, for half the price, I can buy a PC laptop that has a bigger screen (15.4 vs 13''), the same size hard drive, and a comparable 1.9 dual core chip. Also, my work provides Office 2007 Enterprise, so I wouldn't have to purchase a Mac version of Office. Sorry Apple, you lose.

Next, I wanted to replace my old iMac with a new desktop. After using Vista, I found that the majority of what I had heard about Vista was a bunch of bull. Microsoft copied OS X quite well; I liked the interface and found very few negatives compared to a Mac. Plus, it's nice to know that I no longer have to wait for the Mac version release of software that I want. I'm also very excited to be done with Mac incompatibility issues.

My experience with Vista was so good, that I abandoned my plan for buying a new iMac and instead bought an 3.0 ghz HP Pavilion Elite m9100z PC with TV/PVR (w/ 20' monitor) for $1150 . Compare that to a similarly equiped 20' 2.4 ghz iMac at $1800 with a lesser graphics card (Mac's ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO with 256MB memory vs the HP's 512MB NVIDIA GeForce 8500GT, TV-out, DVI-I, HDMI).

Bottom line, I got both a better laptop and a much better desktop for a combined price that is lower than the price of 1 new iMac. In the end, it was a decision based on simple economics. Macs are overpriced and Apple's greed caused them to lose a loyal customer.

Someone in these forums once called Apple the "Armani of computer companies", and there is some truth in that statement. You can get a perfectly serviceable suit from Men's Warehouse, but a certain experience of ownership and certain connotations come along with it. For starters there are the tactile and visual qualitative differences that make an Armani suit stand out, but there are also intangible benefits to looking and feeling a cut above the rest.

 

[DrewBallz00]

Just bought first mac

I just got done ordering my first mac. I got the mac book pro
(2.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
MacBook Pro 15-inch Widescreen
4GB 667 DDR2 SDRAM - 2x2GB
250GB Serial ATA @ 5400 rpm
SuperDrive 8x DL
Apple Remote
iWork '08
No Final Cut Exp Preinstalled
No Aperture Preinstalled
No Logic Exp Preinstalled
BkLit Keyboard/Mac OS
Country Kit)

It is scheduled to ship by the end of the week. I'm so excited....to be 18 and getting such a wonderful machine!
Its literally a dream come true!

 

[RHD]

Well as I have had to turn to the Dark Side to ask if 64 bit XP or Vista was the best thing to get to run 3D studio max on and NOBODY BOTHERED TO ANSWER. I'm not too impressed because if everybody here who BANGED ON about Microsoft being so great knew so much why don't they tell me?

I want to run 3DS studio Max 10 (2008) without any trouble via bootcamp on my Intel duo.
Make my day guys. Do I spend loads of money on XP 64 or even more on Vista? Also want to run Softimage XSI and don't want any grief with that either.

So advise me all you Microsofties! Why is it so hard to get a straight answer!???

Scared it doesn't work then!

 

[Bertmg]

Holding my cash for a MackBook with Nehalem and Blue Ray

I stick with my TI for one more year.

I believe the end of this year (or next Apple convention next January) will mark a more technological advances in the Laptops. Besides processor speed (unnington and Nehalem) which are remarcably faster, now that BueRay has wan the format war and Apple backs it up, I am sure new Apple pruducts will be BluyRay compatible... maybe even the Apple TV.

 

[BongoBanger]

Well as I have had to turn to the Dark Side to ask if 64 bit XP or Vista was the best thing to get to run 3D studio max on and NOBODY BOTHERED TO ANSWER. I'm not too impressed because if everybody here who BANGED ON about Microsoft being so great knew so much why don't they tell me?

Possibly because we don't know? Why don't you ask the product support site instead? Generally that's a bit more helpful than asking random people on the Internet.

 

[Digital Skunk]

Well as I have had to turn to the Dark Side to ask if 64 bit XP or Vista was the best thing to get to run 3D studio max on and NOBODY BOTHERED TO ANSWER. I'm not too impressed because if everybody here who BANGED ON about Microsoft being so great knew so much why don't they tell me?

I want to run 3DS studio Max 10 (2008) without any trouble via bootcamp on my Intel duo.
Make my day guys. Do I spend loads of money on XP 64 or even more on Vista? Also want to run Softimage XSI and don't want any grief with that either.

So advise me all you Microsofties! Why is it so hard to get a straight answer!???

Scared it doesn't work then!

You probably didn't get an answer because no one here knows. I honestly couldn't give you a REAL factual answer to that question because I don't know what those apps do, and why you'd need to run them via bootcamp or whatever.

You can always try the appropriate forum.

 

[hyeg35]

They definately won't be coming from Fresno.

hey i live in FRESNO!! haha

 

[Digital Skunk]

I stick with my TI for one more year.

I believe the end of this year (or next Apple convention next January) will mark a more technological advances in the Laptops. Besides processor speed (unnington and Nehalem) which are remarcably faster, now that BueRay has wan the format war and Apple backs it up, I am sure new Apple pruducts will be BluyRay compatible... maybe even the Apple TV.

BluRay may not be in the next update, it could, but my gut says no, and It definitely won't be in the Apple TV since that doesn't even have an optical drive in it yet, let alone an optical drive that costs more than the machine.

BluRay didn't really win the format wars, Toshiba just wasn't making any money with it because no one is really buying HD format discs and their expensive players yet if at all.

Most people are sticking with their current media, or just streaming things off of the web, or better yet borrowing it from their friends.

Other than watching movies, BluRay doesn't offer any appreciable benefit to the tech world, so for most people BluRay and HDDVD have lost the format war, because the people have been moved by the third and less talked about format.... the Internet.

 

[Alexs45]

where is my macbook pro!?!

are they usually good about estimating ship dates?! bc I just want to receive mine nowww

 

[Phrasikleia]

are they usually good about estimating ship dates?! bc I just want to receive mine nowww

lol. I'm in the same state. I had all the patience in the world while I waited nearly nine months for this upgrade, but now that I've ordered, I'm in greater agony with every passing hour.

Please let it come before the weekend!!! Aaaaarrrghghgh!!

 

[NicOD]

I ordered the Macbook Pro 15" 2.5GHz this morning from apple.com/au too and got notification at 6.00pm tonight that it had shipped out of Sydney and was due for delivery tomorrow (Thursday) here in Brisbane. Very excited!

Delivered!

Courier just dropped off my Macbook Pro 15" 2.5GHz 5 minutes ago ie 10am Thursday 28 February here in Brisbane.

Ordered at 8.00am yesterday ... which means it took exactly 26 hours from ordering on apple.com/au to getting the beast in my hot little hands.