Apple Releases the MacBook Pro

[SiliconAddict]

Yes, this is an option, but would invalidate the warranty.

Even easier solution, BTO option from Apple to leave the iSight camera there, but to disable it or not wire it in. Then if the MBP was ever sold on, the iSight could possibly be enabled again for the new user.

Huh. Apple may very well be different but 5 years ago we deployed a Sony PictureBook at a medical insurance facility. HIPAA was being strictly enforced there and that included NO cameras. We contacted Sony and were assured that the only thing the action resulted in was voiding the warrantee on the camera and screen. Again, maybe Apple is different in how they handle warrantees work.

 

[jacobj]

Has it ever occured to you that Apple was using a universal binary of Doom 3 ?

You must have missed my edit

 

[jacobj]

I rushed in and ordered the MacBook Pro the day it came out. I then cancelled the order on the following day because I was uncomfortable with my decision. I found a lot of advice on these forums but most of it was based on faith and very little detail.

I therefore decided to do more in depth research and measured thinking and here is what I found.

1. The Intel Core Duo is really a very good processor. It outperforms the Pentium M in many respects and we all know that the Pentium M was a better processor than the G4s.

Here are the tests that I found most useful.

2. The Graphics card is considered to to very good. It does not appear to stand up to the top end NVidea but it at least puts up a fight. When looking at the prices of machines with the best one in I see that I am expecting a lot if I expect it for the price of a MacBook Pro.

Review 1
Review 2
Review 3

Model 1 with NVidia You will have to configure it yourself, don't forget hard drive webcam etc.

3. PCExpress architecture is still cutting edge (not bleeding though) and I can't use my old cards especially the CF Card reader. A bit of a pain, but I will live.

4. I found quite a few references to the 8x DVD Burner being buggy. I can't find the links now sorry, but I had a first gen Superdrive in my Powerbook 17" and it was so prone to failure that I didn't burn a DVD for 2 years until I got an external one. I'd rather 4x and reliability. That is just an opinion and others may have different experiences.

5. The RAM speed matches the FSB. Now that seems to be a good thing. Plus Crucial is only charge £100.00 for the extra GB. So that is an option. I also love the fact that Apple's 1GB standard uses a single slot (1.83 GHz).

6. Webcam. There have been good arguments here against the webcam and for the record I agree that it should be an option. I would order it though and so for me the argument is a semantic one.

7. I love the power cable. Maybe a small reason but I have been through 3 power adapters in 3 years because of the cable.This may be a saving of £180.

8. My wife and I often have the Powerbook on the end of the bed on holiday with the family to watch a DVD. On a desk with a remote would be nicer. Small but just right for me. I occassionally do presentations at work and again this is useful. FrontRow does what I need.

9. The lack of modem pains me slightly. I have to admit that I have only used it half a dozen times in 3 years but it was good to have. A seperate one is OK but I have 2 issues with that. Firstly I will never get around to buying it because I will forget until it is too late. Secondly, whenever I go away I always forget to pack something and it would just be another thing to potentially miss.

10. Battery life. My first gen 17" PB has a max battery life of 2.5 hours. An improvement on that is fine for me. I can understand other protests but they are not relevant.

11. If there is a hardware bug in the new DUOs my warranty will cover it. A risk that I am willing to run.

So in truth, the MacBook Pro maybe a rushed design job (i.e. the way it looks), but the Processor, GPU, core architecture and OS are great and well beyond what I currently have. The rumour that there was supposed to be more but was pulled at the last minute only appeals to my 'Oh I'd love to have whatever that is' instinct, but I have no identified requirements beyond what is currently there.

The speculation of a tablet hold absolutely no interest. I hate tablets. Apple would probably be better but I would want Rev 1 anyway.

So in conclusion, I have replaced my order and am extemely happy to wait for something that meets all of my needs and more.

 

[mpw]

...I have replaced my order...

Can I ask where you've placed your order and how much they're charging?

 

[jacobj]

Can I ask where you've placed your order and how much they're charging?

IQ and I upgraded to 120GB HD. All for £1595 = Apple price + £22. A premium that I am willing to accept.

 

[grahamtriggs]

Oh and as for the isight. God people. There is a simple solution that I've seen in multiple sites. Take a hammer and a very small nail and drive it into the CCD. Yes it blemishes the cellphone/laptop but it solves the problem.

But a BTO would take about $50-$100 off the price - why pay that much for something to just destroy it?

Am I also the only one that sees a practical problem with having a FIXED camera in the case? PC laptops usually swivel mount it. With an iSight you can change the direction. But the iMac / MacBook cameras are fixed.

 

[ZorPrime]

So in truth, the MacBook Pro maybe a rushed design job (i.e. the way it looks), but the Processor, GPU, core architecture and OS are great and well beyond what I currently have. The rumour that there was supposed to be more but was pulled at the last minute only appeals to my 'Oh I'd love to have whatever that is' instinct, but I have no identified requirements beyond what is currently there.

The speculation of a tablet hold absolutely no interest. I hate tablets. Apple would probably be better but I would want Rev 1 anyway.

So in conclusion, I have replaced my order and am extemely happy to wait for something that meets all of my needs and more.

I really enjoyed reading your post and I think you made the perfect point: You got what you did based upon research and what your assessed needs are. Also most importantly, the machine you got is substantially faster than what you had/currently are using so you can't loose.

 

[Mr Maui]

But a BTO would take about $50-$100 off the price - why pay that much for something to just destroy it?

Am I also the only one that sees a practical problem with having a FIXED camera in the case? PC laptops usually swivel mount it. With an iSight you can change the direction. But the iMac / MacBook cameras are fixed.

The camera is a bonus. It is in the computer at no greater a cost than previous models. An iSight can be added as an option if desired. Additionally, Apple is adding this to appeal to those who wanted one. The PC cameras that swivel are probably not encased in 1" thick cases with 1/4" screens, though I suppose I could be wrong. Feel free to supply links to the models you are referencing. If the camera is not wanted ... instead of piercing camera with a nail, a small piece of tape can be used to cover it. JMO

 

[grahamtriggs]

The camera is a bonus. It is in the computer at no greater a cost than previous models. An iSight can be added as an option if desired. Additionally, Apple is adding this to appeal to those who wanted one. The PC cameras that swivel are probably not encased in 1" thick cases with 1/4" screens, though I suppose I could be wrong. Feel free to supply links to the models you are referencing. If the camera is not wanted ... instead of piercing camera with a nail, a small piece of tape can be used to cover it. JMO

The machine may not cost more than the previous one, but there is NO such thing as a freebie - everything that goes into the machine has a cost, and the price you pay has to exceed that to make a profit.

No, the PC laptops aren't 1" thick - quite frankly, I don't care... on my list of priorities for a laptop, the thickness is way, way down. Processing power, size/resolution of screen, noise, memory, hdd, connectivity, battery life, weight are all far more important.

I suggested from announced PC laptops that the MacBook is carrying something like a $600 premium based on similar specs. It would be interesting to see a MacBook with identical specs - processing, memory, screen, battery, etc. - absolutely identical spec, build and weight - except for one difference, the thickness. So the 1" model is the current $2499, and the otherwise identical 1.75" thick model was available for $1899. I wonder what would sell more?

 

[grahamtriggs]

1. The Intel Core Duo is really a very good processor. It outperforms the Pentium M in many respects and we all know that the Pentium M was a better processor than the G4s.

It is a good processor - but from what I've seen it appears to be about the same speed as the PowerPC's at the clock speed. Dual core G4's are available - if only they were built on a 65nm process, to compete with power/heat.

4. I found quite a few references to the 8x DVD Burner being buggy. I can't find the links now sorry, but I had a first gen Superdrive in my Powerbook 17" and it was so prone to failure that I didn't burn a DVD for 2 years until I got an external one. I'd rather 4x and reliability. That is just an opinion and others may have different experiences.

I would refer to my other comments about thickness - I don't need a laptop to be 1" thick, so it would be a much better tradeoff IMHO to have a reliable DL burner (and more connectivity) with trayloading / greater thickness if necessary.

5. The RAM speed matches the FSB. Now that seems to be a good thing. Plus Crucial is only charge £100.00 for the extra GB. So that is an option. I also love the fact that Apple's 1GB standard uses a single slot (1.83 GHz).

Not necessarily - the FSB carries all communication between the CPU and the rest of the system. That is actually more than just the main memory, so there are benefits to having a faster FSB - although obviously you want all communication lines to be as fast as possible (however, there may be timing issues between mismatched buses).

7. I love the power cable. Maybe a small reason but I have been through 3 power adapters in 3 years because of the cable.This may be a saving of £180.

I've had problems in the past, but that is with the actual cable, not the connector or it's rigid fixing to the computer. The new connector doesn't have much relevance to me, but I won't decry it - although it won't fix the problems that I've had with the power cable in the past.

 

[ThinkingMac]

Give me a break !!

As a photojournalist using Canon pro digital cameras that produce RAW files as large as 17 Megs each and having to import and process them quickly I get the feeling that Apple is out to kill me !!!

I need a very powerful laptop with very good battery life and rock solid software that makes aqqistaion and postproduction smooth and fast.

I went to the Apple store in New York City for a seminar on Aperture by a vice president from Apple (sorry forgot his name) the place was packed. This guys stands in front of more than 100 photographers and say’s that for Aperture the licence is good for two Macs so you can run on your laptop and your main powermac (if you are lucky enough to have one). So $500 later, what do I find? Only one licence and software that frankly is not even to beta quality. So what's this got to do with the new MacBook Pro?


The replacement card bus slot is to small for CF card readers and all the pro cameras use CF cards.

Aperture is such a slug it needs loads of horsepower to run it, like quad core powermac with the top video card and BAGS of RAM, yet we only get 2 gigs max on this laptop and no BTO for the max speed processor.

In the field we need to make very large DvD back ups… what we get are slow small capacity drives.

Now when we get home we need to move all that data on to high capacity fast Firewire drives, Aperture will not even recognise other types. So out I go and purchase 5 brand new 1TB FireWire 800 drives to hold my archive.

So along comes Apple and takes away my FW800 port !!

Give me a break !! I moved to Mac’s to make my life easier.

 

[Counter]

I think the iSight addition was just a very easy, and suprisingly "oooohhh" welcomed, bullet point in Steve's keynote.

Whether you like it or not is down to preference I think. For me, a top of the line laptop shouldn't have a camera stuck to it.

But I'm looking at it from the angle of somebody who doesn't need it.

Maybe it will be a godsend for those...doing...video conferences...while...on the move!

 

[rugonnaeatthat]

As a photojournalist using Canon pro digital cameras that produce RAW files as large as 17 Megs each and having to import and process them quickly I get the feeling that Apple is out to kill me !!!

I need a very powerful laptop with very good battery life and rock solid software that makes aqqistaion and postproduction smooth and fast.

I went to the Apple store in New York City for a seminar on Aperture by a vice president from Apple (sorry forgot his name) the place was packed. This guys stands in front of more than 100 photographers and say’s that for Aperture the licence is good for two Macs so you can run on your laptop and your main powermac (if you are lucky enough to have one). So $500 later, what do I find? Only one licence and software that frankly is not even to beta quality. So what's this got to do with the new MacBook Pro?


The replacement card bus slot is to small for CF card readers and all the pro cameras use CF cards.

Aperture is such a slug it needs loads of horsepower to run it, like quad core powermac with the top video card and BAGS of RAM, yet we only get 2 gigs max on this laptop and no BTO for the max speed processor.

In the field we need to make very large DvD back ups… what we get are slow small capacity drives.

Now when we get home we need to move all that data on to high capacity fast Firewire drives, Aperture will not even recognise other types. So out I go and purchase 5 brand new 1TB FireWire 800 drives to hold my archive.

So along comes Apple and takes away my FW800 port !!

Give me a break !! I moved to Mac’s to make my life easier.

Thats tough. wont the drives still work on the FW400? It is still bloody fast. Also, whilst not ideal but I'm sure someone will come out with a DVD burner that you'll be able to put into the Macbook at a later date. Same goes for bigger RAM modules - you wouldn't want too many more slots or the thing would stop being a laptop...

Hopefully with Apeture, Apple has taken a bigger stake in pro photographer market - and listening to your needs! I hope someone at apple is reading these forums.

 

[rugonnaeatthat]

there is a lot of bad things said about the isight so I thought I'd just put in a bit of a support post for the old girl - I have a brother in Japan and use the ichat video conference semi regularly - it is really good technology. I feel like I'm in the next room. The picture quality is great and the delay seems less than video chats.

For all those who say you don't/wont use it - just imagine when everyone actually has one! At the moment it seems that no one has one, but when everyone has the option I guarantee you will use it even if it's once a year at a Christmas day lunch to say hello to those who couldn't make it.

 

[skunkworks]

bad mouthing

Apple has made tremendous strides to get a laptop with a lot more speed and still people are complaining. You cannot buy a mac and compare it to another laptop with the same specs because a mac is a mac is a mac, period!
I for one am totally glad apple has made this move because I will have the best of both operating systems.

Bought a new imac ! !

 

[skunkworks]

battery life

If you look around all other laptops with yonah processors, approx. 3 hours of battery life.

 

[Platform]

If you look around all other laptops with yonah processors, approx. 3 hours of battery life.

Sorry but

Acer TravelMate 8200 Specs

* Intel Core Duo 2.0GHz processor (Intel Yonah processor)
* 2GB RAM 533/677
* 15.4" WXGA screen
* Seagate 120GB 5400rpm SATA Hard Drive
* ATI Radeon X1600 256MB (256 dedicated while 256MB can be borrowed from main memory)
* DVD-DL Burner
* Built-in 1.3 Mega pixel camera, with 225-degree swivel ability
* New Intel Pro wireless 3945 a/b/g
* Built-in VOIP capability
* Weight of 6.6lbs
* Approximately 6 hours of batterylife (87W 7800mAH )
* Carbon Fiber finish lid

 

[Peace]

Sorry but

If you did more research you would know that the "6 hours" is using TWO batteries.

# Dimensions & Weight
# 14.3" (364.0mm) W x 10.7" (271.0mm) D x 1.0" (26.3mm) H
# 6.6 lb. (3.0kg) with optical drive installed

Power
# 90-watt AC adapter
# Lithium ion batteries:

* Nine-cell - up to 3.5 hours life depending on configuration and usage
* Optional secondary six-cell - up to 2.0 hours life depending on configuration and usage
* Both batteries - 80% charge in 1.0 hour, 2.0 hours recharge time with power off, 2.5 hours with power on


http://www.mobilewhack.com/reviews/acer_travelmate_8200_laptop.html

 

[VanMac]

Nice

Well, I'm pretty impressed with this MacBook Pro.

Sure, it is missing a few things, but certainly a stellar improvement.

For all those that have been whining for the last year about a G5 PowerBook, you now have something twice as fast as the G5.

Looking forward to the rest of the lineups moving to Intel.

 

[millermi]

Heat concern question

I have an ibook and the heat issue is not too bad with it. I have heard that the powerbooks are quite a bit hotter. Is it very likely that the new Macbook PROs will be ever hotter or will they be cooler?

 

[LGRW3919]

Well, I'm pretty impressed with this MacBook Pro.

Sure, it is missing a few things, but certainly a stellar improvement.

For all those that have been whining for the last year about a G5 PowerBook, you now have something twice as fast as the G5.

Looking forward to the rest of the lineups moving to Intel.

it won't be twice as fast as a G5- usually in real world tests the improvement rates are lower than SPEC tests (the ones that apple is advertising + were in the keynote)

 

[VanMac]

it won't be twice as fast as a G5- usually in real world tests the improvement rates are lower than SPEC tests (the ones that apple is advertising + were in the keynote)

The processor itself will be approx 2x as fast as a G5.

Regardless of actual real world tests, it is better then a G5. As many had been hoping for a G5, I would say this is a great improvement.

 

[grahamtriggs]

The processor itself will be approx 2x as fast as a G5.

Regardless of actual real world tests, it is better then a G5. As many had been hoping for a G5, I would say this is a great improvement.

No it won't - in fact, the SPEC tests ought to tell you that, as they isolate the processor (whereas others may be more of a measure of the system as a whole).

From what I've seen, the Core Duo is about as fast as a Dual Core G5 at the same clock speed (apart from the AltiVec...)

As for the benchmarks they've shown, bear three things in mind:

1) The MBP was running at 1.83Ghz, the PowerBook 1.67Ghz

2) The MBP has a dual core processor, the PowerBook a single core

3) The MBP has a 667Mhz bus, the Powerbook 167Mhz.

From what has been said about Freescale's dual core G4, that would have put up a very interesting fight (theoretically at least as fast as the MBP).

You could say the same for the iMac - they could (theoretically) have done a dual core G5 system with higher bus / clock speeds than the Core Duo.

 

[Raveny]

I don't think the Mac Book Pro design was rushed... There was so much time to design a new case and it shouldn't be a problem to put all the stuff in it, because a notebook has not much room for crazy ideas. It doesn't make any difference if the enclosure is black with carbon or anything else. At the end the enclosure is 1" thin about 15" wide etc...
The AluBook has a great design, which IMO will stay a little longer like a Thinkpad. I can't think of a better design.. perhaps Liquid Metal but this is too heaby. Carbon Fiber feels like plastic and it does only look good if it's "brushed".

 

[.jacob]

Ok, I'm gonna order this thing later tonight.