Apple Releases Updated MacBook Pros With Core i5 and i7 Processors

[UltraLobster]

Hey guys, made a new account here to post my options. I can't decide on which one to choose.

I'd be a new mac user. But like lots of others, I've been waiting for the new Core i# 13" MBP. Since it's not here my options are limited and I'm unsure which one to do.

Prices are CAD after edu discount. I'm not sure if it add's 13% tax after checkout. Can any other Canadian's who bought online wanna fill me in if it does?

1) Buy the low end 13" MBP for $1150 and just be happy with it. Keep it for a few years. Assuming it would lose lots of value if a core i# 13" MBP hits soon + I'd be sad. If no core 13" hits I'd be perfectly happy.

2) Buy the low end 15" MBP and pay for the extra resolution and anti-gloss $1850. Keep it for a few years. It would be more powerful than my desktop but ultimately cost $$$.

3) Buy option 2) and once the 13" core i# comes out compare if it's worth it to sell 15" at a bit of a loss and pick up the 13". (To make it worth the $ loss, the 13" would need the new processor and higher resolution. Anti-gloss wouldn't hurt either.)

4) Keep waiting like I am now for the eventual 13" with core i# processor (bound to come sooner or later). If it does arrive and doesn't live up to expections of 3), or if it took another year to arrive, I'd be mad. However if it comes by Sept, or end of year, this would be the best choice.

I went to the apple store last night to see how different physically the 13" is compared to the 15" and I really love the size of the 13". The 15" just seemed to big. But for the extra $700 it costs for the 15", I find worth the money for the 75% extra resolution, anti-gloss and core i5 compared to c2d.

I don't really need the extra power of the core i5 but when seeing the resolution difference it's almost a deal breaker to buy the 13". I wouldn't mind waiting it out more but if the next iteration of the 13". But if it is equally as disappointing I don't know what I'd do.

Then the notion of spending around $2000 on a notebook comes into my mind. I can easily afford both machines but I've always spent around $1000 on window's laptops and I really wanted to get in on using a Mac. I'm working now but will be going back to finish my last year of university this September so I will be needing a laptop by then. I have a Q6600 quad core desktop which is why the extra power in the laptop isn't really needed. And even though I could afford the extra $700 I'd like to save the money if I don't have to spend it.

If I wait it out and no other updates come along I'd have to bite the bullet and buy something come Sept anyways. If no updates come by then I'd be pissed I didn't buy the MBP at the beginning of the summer, so I can learn how to use it and enjoy it for fun things while not in school.

So I'm torn because I can't weight the +/-'s of each model:

13" is perfect size, but older CPU and low resolution/no anti-gloss
15" is peftect but except for the size.

If I could get the guts of that 15" in the 13" physical size I would have gladly forked over $2000 for one yesterday.

Any tips?

 

[Heilage]

Haha. A fellow norwegian. Hei dude

I guess having followed macrumors for a few months, waiting for the new models, I thought people would be a bit more excited

Anyways. Look at the battery time! It's ridiculus, and will be a major upgrade for me. But maybe not for everyone..

Anyways. I went for glare (which I guess is what my old macbook has) because it doesn't bother me and to keep cost down. Really don't want more resolution anyway. Bring on the glare!

Alltid fint å se nordmenn her.

However, I can understand that a lot of people are somewhat disappointed, even though I am not. Quad Core was to be expected, and I know can be a deal-breaker for a lot of people, a friend of mine included who is working with video rendering. He has decided that a new MBP 17 is not worth the money for that speed bump, considering he now has a 17" Mid 2009. So it kind of makes sense. I did some looking around at other computers, and it seems that you actually have to pay a lot of money for a notebook with i5 CPU, a decent amount of RAM, sturdy build quality and a LED-display (which is important to me). I can't really get a better deal than a MacBook Pro for my needs, but since we are all different, we all want and need different things from our computers.

Such is life.

 

[Digital Skunk]

He has decided that a new MBP 17 is not worth the money for that speed bump, considering he now has a 17" Mid 2009.

People that look for an upgrade after a few months need to get a life. A mid 2009 machine doesn't need to be replaced by a mid 2010 model. There obviously won't be much of a speed increase.

 

[jahman]

Are you dumber than Steve Jobs or just pretending? Do you have any idea how much marketing Apple has been doing from day one to video and audio for video content creators and providers? Do you have any idea how much of an investment those content creators and providers have invested in Apple over the years and are now going elsewhere by the hundreds of thousands, WITH their hundreds of thousands? I have a $15,000/YEAR computer budget that has sat for three years while Jobs does his Willie Wonka trip with iCrap I don't need, don't want, and will never ever buy.

Major motion pictures and a lot of TV HAD been edited on Mac Pros in the past, on some iMacs, and on Macbook Pros, but no longer. Those people needed Blu-ray delivery three years ago, and an OS that could handle it and REALLY be cutting edge. Not just fake it.

Try thinking outside of your uncreative little box. And get up off your knees, the Jobs shrine thing is getting old.

I think you're spot on. Failure to support blu-ray is a major mistake by Jobs and he knows it. Macbooks Pros are simply not competitive without it. I will probably get one for some development work but I wouldn't bother if it weren't for the iPhone/iPod/iPad.

Cheers,

jahman

 

[Heilage]

People that look for an upgrade after a few months need to get a life. A mid 2009 machine doesn't need to be replaced by a mid 2010 model. There obviously won't be much of a speed increase.

It would have been worth it for him if the i7 had been a quad, since that gives him nice speed boost in his type of work.

 

[iMacmatician]

Oh and all of those PC screens that used to be 1280x800 are now 1366x768. You gain more horizontally than you lose vertically. Those old 1440x900 screens are now 1600x900. Ones that used to be 1680x1050 are now 1920x1080. And so on and so forth.



Nope. 1366x768 offers more horizontal resolution than 1280x800. 1600x900 offers more horizontal resolution than 1440x900. 1920x1080 offers more horizontal resolution than 1680x1050.

2048x1152 offers more horizontal resolution than 1920x1200.

The i5/i7 quad-core cpus in the iMacs are mobile processors as well.

They are desktop CPUs.

 

[cool11]

How can I find the model numbers of the new mbp?

 

[Maserati7200]

Oh and all of those PC screens that used to be 1280x800 are now 1366x768. You gain more horizontally than you lose vertically. Those old 1440x900 screens are now 1600x900. Ones that used to be 1680x1050 are now 1920x1080. And so on and so forth.

Sure you gain horizontal space, but you lose vertical space except for 1600x900 from 1400x900. And listen, a lot of people do real work on their computers that requires hight. I have a 13" MBP, with a hight of 800 pixels. That's barely enough, I wish I had a 15" screen. Reducing that to 768 would not be a good thing, let me assure you. Does it really matter if you see black bars on the top and bottom when watching movies? Because most people use their computers for things more useful than watching movies. And besides, a lot of movies have an ever wider ratio. Even with 16x9 you'll see black bars.
Look at the iMacs. The 24" iMac had a 1920x1200 resolution, now the 21.5 has a 1920x1080 resolution. You just lost pixels. The 27" iMac has a 2560x1440 resolution, and the 30" Cinema display has a 2560x1600 display. That's not an improvement, that's worse. I'm not one of those people blindingly supporting what Apple does. I hate that the new iMacs are 16x9, and hope that their notebooks don't go that route. And on the iMac it's not even so bad because it already has a high resolution. But notebooks have lower resolutions, I don't want to lose vertical space for horizontal space, even if it does give you more pixels in some case. And I'm sure most people who actually work on their computers instead of d**cking around agree with me.

 

[Hal Itosis]

The DRM bit is nonsense made up by Apple fans who support Apple's idiotic "bag of hurt" stance.

Oh, you mean like Bill Gates?

Gates: Blu-ray DRM is 'Anti-Consumer'

As part of a speaking tour at universities across the United States, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates sat down with Princeton's newspaper to discuss the road ahead. When asked why Microsoft chose to support HD DVD over Sony's Blu-ray format, Gates replied that Blu-ray's copyright protection scheme is "anti-consumer."

"The inconvenience is that the [movie] studios got too much protection at the expense consumers and it won't work well on PCs," Gates said. "It's not the physical format that we have the issue with, it's that the protection scheme on Blu-ray is very anti-consumer." Gates also questioned how much next-gen DVD formats will even matter, saying content will soon be streamed directly or stored on a hard disk. ​

Or... Welcome to Windows 7 Forums:

"The HDCP system is easy to understand and it is annoying." . . . <<snip>> . . . the player, and every other device in the signal transmission train (videocard, monitor, etc) must be HDCP compliant."

​

Hmm, this doesn't seem to be from Apple fans either: What you need to know about HDCP, Blu-Ray, and your Computer

--

Frankly, a little less troll-speak and a little more candor would be helpful here.

 

[oris]

so sad

These updates are a big disgrace
2199 for a 15 inch I7 mac with only 256MB video
You can get a hp 15 inch with the same specs for 1049 and 1gb of video card/hdmi/ and you can also add a blue ray if you want

I really expected to see something at least similar to the hp at apples price

But now, what wait another six months

So sad…

 

[jragosta]

I think you're spot on. Failure to support blu-ray is a major mistake by Jobs and he knows it. Macbooks Pros are simply not competitive without it.

In your opinion.

Now, please give us some reason to believe that your opinion is more valid than Jobs' opinion of what the market wants - backed up by Apple's market research teams.

True, but for someone like me in school for animation, rendering out animation scenes in Maya, this update is horrible news. (looking at the 13'')

You probably want a 15" for that kind of work, anyway.

But I'm having a hard time understanding why it's such horrible news. The new 13" has a faster CPU, MUCH faster graphics, significantly longer battery life, bigger hard disk, better memory system, and other minor advancements over the old system - for the same price. What do you want?

My company is getting ready to purchase laptops for employees. We have been told we can select whichever brand we want up at a cost up to $2,000. I have been waiting for the new MBP since Jan in hopes that they would match up more closely with Dell & Lenovo laptops in terms of features & price.

We will be operating in an Windows environment at work, but I was hoping to use OS at home. But, once I put this comparison together (see attached PDF), I do not know how in good conscious I can say I want a MBP.

Also, the MBP would have to be able to connect to two Dell 24" monitors and work. Am I missing something?

Yes. Look at the reported reliability and customer satisfaction scores in virtually every survey done over the past decade. Apple is vastly superior in those regards.

Also, be very careful about looking at specs on screens. While some of the others have higher resolution screens, almost every review of MacBook Pro systems raves about how great the screens are compared to the competition. Since you'll spend a lot of time looking at the screen, that is arguably one of the most important factors.

Hey guys, made a new account here to post my options. I can't decide on which one to choose.

I'd be a new mac user. But like lots of others, I've been waiting for the new Core i# 13" MBP. Since it's not here my options are limited and I'm unsure which one to do.

I would suggest that you stop looking at specs and focus on which computer will do the job for you. Saying that you refuse to even consider the 13" because it doesn't have an i3 is like saying you refuse to consider a Ferrari because it doesn't have 20" tires.

If it were me, the larger and higher resolution of the 15" would push me there, but you may be comfortable with a 13" screen. Spend some time at the Apple store trying them both out.

Core i7 2.66GHz vs. Core2Duo 3.06 GHz

Which one wins the CPU benchmark test?

See the MacRumors front page for a story. It compares the i7 to the 2.8 GHz Core2Duo, but it's fairly easy to see how much the 3.06 GHz beats the 2.8.

Overall, the i7 beats the 2.8 Ghz Core 2 Duo by around 40-50%. The 3.06 is about 5% faster than the 2.8, so you're still looking at something like 35-40% faster.

I'm not really happy with the 13" update... I think my expectations were just too high.

Yes, they were. Bigger hard drive, faster processor, more battery life, much faster GPU than the previous version all at the same price. Did you expect it to make breakfast for you, too?

The fact, that several people asked, whether these i5/i7 MBPs are quad-core shows, that there is some confusion already.

Remember: In all Intel iMacs and MacMinis, Apple used mobile processors so far.

Please stop contributing to the confusion. The iMac uses desktop i7 processors. Intel does not make a mobile i7 at the 2.8 GHz of the iMac quad.

 

[jragosta]

These updates are a big disgrace
2199 for a 15 inch I7 mac with only 256MB video
You can get a hp 15 inch with the same specs for 1049 and 1gb of video card/hdmi/ and you can also add a blue ray if you want

I really expected to see something at least similar to the hp at apples price

But now, what wait another six months

So sad…

Why in the world would you expect Apple to make a premium, lightweight 15" computer with the highest quality screen and other internals on the planet for the same price as some generic, heavy, oversized, HP with a crappy screen?

At some point, you get what you pay for. And if you expect a $1049 15" with i7 and the same specs as Apple's to have decent quality and support, you're just kidding yourself.

 

[dsprimal]

Will i notice much difference between a 5400rpm HDD and a 7200rpm HDD when it comes to games? will i get better frame rates and overall smoother game play with a 7200rpm? I'm only gunna game on my macbook pro. i dont have any intentions of using intensive programs.

I hear 7200's eat more power, are louder and also heat up more. just a thought... thanks!

PS: im getting the 2.66ghz 15" just dunno if the addition of a 7200rpm would benefit me much for gaming/overall.

 

[oris]

Why in the world would you expect Apple to make a premium, lightweight 15" computer with the highest quality screen and other internals on the planet for the same price as some generic, heavy, oversized, HP with a crappy screen?

At some point, you get what you pay for. And if you expect a $1049 15" with i7 and the same specs as Apple's to have decent quality and support, you're just kidding yourself.

I don't want apple to sell it for 1049 i want apple 2199 price but with the same specs
i do a lot of hd video i try to do it on a 512mb video macbook pro and it dint work like it was suppose to imagine on 256mb

Im just saying that for the price they should give you at least 1gb video that its the standard on 1000 USD laptops

 

[Indus]

I think you're spot on. Failure to support blu-ray is a major mistake by Jobs and he knows it. Macbooks Pros are simply not competitive without it. I will probably get one for some development work but I wouldn't bother if it weren't for the iPhone/iPod/iPad.

Cheers,

jahman

It's hilarious how many people get up in arms about blu-ray. As usual, it's all about SJ, never anything rational like..

• it's a higher frequency laser and the power consumption is considerably higher
• due to the increased density of data on a blu ray, and the higher resolution it's more compute intensive, particularly when it needs to be downscaled for a smaller laptop screen.
• removable media isn't useful for backups anymore so why upgrade it? - you need a backup; get an external drive.
• the DRM is not just a technical hassle but is viewed as punitive, and anti-consumer
• most people buy a pro laptop to "Do development work" not to watch movies - and plain old dvds work pretty well for that..

As the guy from Black Box said, no one in the content production industry could care less about their optical drives.

Drones to the next Big Thing, and the other clueless guys who think a peripherial in their laptop is going to disable their ability to develop media on their MBP might whine, but I'm happy that my new laptop hasn't wasted power, internal volume, or budget on something that's really only noticable in quality home theater setups..

 

[Eric S.]

Do you guys know if next update would be a new generation of MBP?, as the aluminum macbooks are soon over 2 years old.

No one knew anything for sure about this update until yesterday.

The next update is pure speculation.

 

[Hal Itosis]

Are you dumber than Steve Jobs or just pretending? Do you have any idea how much marketing Apple has been doing from day one to video and audio for video content creators and providers? Do you have any idea how much of an investment those content creators and providers have invested in Apple over the years and are now going elsewhere by the hundreds of thousands, WITH their hundreds of thousands? I have a $15,000/YEAR computer budget that has sat for three years while Jobs does his Willie Wonka trip with iCrap I don't need, don't want, and will never ever buy.

Major motion pictures and a lot of TV HAD been edited on Mac Pros in the past, on some iMacs, and on Macbook Pros, but no longer. Those people needed Blu-ray delivery three years ago, and an OS that could handle it and REALLY be cutting edge. Not just fake it.

Try thinking outside of your uncreative little box. And get up off your knees, the Jobs shrine thing is getting old.

Horsefeathers. If you were anything but a whiney insignificant infantile troll, you'd be happy in PC land right now... creating content as you so claim. You would be far too busy to hang around a Mac forum insulting people. Clearly you have a major Steve Jobs hangup which may require a professional therapist.

[Seriously, it seems this issue is strangely personal ... so let me make this clear: you're talking to the wrong guy. Keep it technical and sophisticated, and stop seeking to create a problem where none exists. You already look foolish as it is, so there's not much more i need say.]

 

[vipergts2207]

These updates are a big disgrace
2199 for a 15 inch I7 mac with only 256MB video
You can get a hp 15 inch with the same specs for 1049 and 1gb of video card/hdmi/ and you can also add a blue ray if you want

I really expected to see something at least similar to the hp at apples price

But now, what wait another six months

So sad…

You're a bit off on your specs there. The 15" with i7 has 512MB of video memory not 256MB.

 

[lilo777]

Why in the world would you expect Apple to make a premium, lightweight 15" computer with the highest quality screen and other internals on the planet for the same price as some generic, heavy, oversized, HP with a crappy screen?

At some point, you get what you pay for. And if you expect a $1049 15" with i7 and the same specs as Apple's to have decent quality and support, you're just kidding yourself.

Why do you bother to repeat all this Apple PR nonsense?

Compare these two similarly configured computers:

MBP 15"
2.4GHz Intel Core i5
4GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x2GB
500GB Serial ATA Drive @ 7200 rpm
SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
MacBook Pro 15-inch Glossy Widescreen Display (1440-by-900-pixel)

Price: $1,949.00

HP Envy 15.

• Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-520M Dual Core processor (2.40GHz, 3MB L2 Cache) with Turbo Boost up to 2.93GHz
• 4GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
• 500GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
• 1GB ATI Mobility Radeon(TM) HD 5830 Graphics - For i5 and i7-620M Processors
• 15.6" diagonal Full High Definition LED HP Anti-glare Widescreen Display (1920x1080)
• 6 Cell Lithium Ion Polymer Battery (standard)

Price: $1,524.99

SO, you get much better computer for much less. HP's battery life is not near the MBP but this must be expected given the choice of graphics card. On the other hand you can buy extra battery: either the regular one ($75) or 9 Cell HP Envy Slim Fit Extended-Life Notebook Battery - $125

As far as service is concerned, HP offers better options than Apple. For example:

2-year HP Care Pack House Call Service for HP HDX, HP TouchSmart, or HP ENVY Laptop PC. Up to two years of added convenience with in-home repair - $200

And as far as the quality is concerned, HP Envy offers this:

Magnesium alloy casing with HP Metal Etching technology
14.96" (W) x 9.60" (D) x 1.04" (H) (vs 14.35x9.82x0.95 for MBP - essentially same size)
5.17 lbs (vs 5.6 for MBP - HP Envy is lighter)

 

[oris]

Why do you bother to repeat all this Apple PR nonsense?

Compare these two similarly configured computers:

MBP 15"
2.4GHz Intel Core i5
4GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x2GB
500GB Serial ATA Drive @ 7200 rpm
SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
MacBook Pro 15-inch Glossy Widescreen Display (1440-by-900-pixel)

Price: $1,949.00

HP Envy 15.

• Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-520M Dual Core processor (2.40GHz, 3MB L2 Cache) with Turbo Boost up to 2.93GHz
• 4GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
• 500GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
• 1GB ATI Mobility Radeon(TM) HD 5830 Graphics - For i5 and i7-620M Processors
• 15.6" diagonal Full High Definition LED HP Anti-glare Widescreen Display (1920x1080)
• 6 Cell Lithium Ion Polymer Battery (standard)

Price: $1,524.99

SO, you get much better computer for much less. HP's battery life is not near the MBP but this must be expected given the choice of graphics card. On the other hand you can buy extra battery: either the regular one ($75) or 9 Cell HP Envy Slim Fit Extended-Life Notebook Battery - $125

As far as service is concerned, HP offers better options than Apple. For example:

2-year HP Care Pack House Call Service for HP HDX, HP TouchSmart, or HP ENVY Laptop PC. Up to two years of added convenience with in-home repair - $200

And as far as the quality is concerned, HP Envy offers this:

Magnesium alloy casing with HP Metal Etching technology
14.96" (W) x 9.60" (D) x 1.04" (H) (vs 14.35x9.82x0.95 for MBP - essentially same size)
5.17 lbs (vs 5.6 for MBP - HP Envy is lighter)

HP - Pavilion Laptop with Intel® Core™ i7 Processor - Black
Model: dv6-2190us
Intel® Core™ i7 Processor - 2.8 GHZ
1024MB (dedicated) VIDEO CARD
1049.00

Mod

 

[Terminal.app]

Because the higher the resolution the tinier many things get. There is not any sort of universal scaling available. I had to turn the resolution down 2 notches on my last gen MBP so I could read it comfortably.

Even the third party apps that supposedly address font size etc don't work reliably.

My biggest beef is that to get anti glare I have to pay $150 more and take the high res with it. I don't need or want high res and I think it is a ****ty thing of Apple to force you to buy the "package".

since they dropped matte as a standard option many people have been complaining about it and it's lack of even a paid possibility on the 13". So what does Apple do? They make it cost even MORE and still don't make it available on the 13". Personally this single thing thing has made me go back to Windows. Not because I like the OS but because I am not willing to be nickle and dimed for a feature I need for comfort. The premium has exceeded the worth in my eyes and lots of other people's apparently.

If all you do with your computer is watch YouTube videos, I can see where low-res is fine. A fairly large percentage of us use our computers for actual work, and we've found that the more space there is on our screens, the better our workflow is.

 

[Maserati7200]

Replies in red.

It's hilarious how many people get up in arms about blu-ray. As usual, it's all about SJ, never anything rational like..

• it's a higher frequency laser and the power consumption is considerably higher
  Your only using the laser when you watch a movie. And the power consumption difference is negligible. And even if it isn't, why do you care if we have the option or not?
• due to the increased density of data on a blu ray, and the higher resolution it's more compute intensive, particularly when it needs to be downscaled for a smaller laptop screen.
  Again, that's would most likely be a minimal difference in consumption
• removable media isn't useful for backups anymore so why upgrade it? - you need a backup; get an external drive.
  It is if you want to back something important up for the long term. Hard drives die. If you protect discs, they won't.
• the DRM is not just a technical hassle but is viewed as punitive, and anti-consumer
  Yeah, are you forgetting that Apple sells TV shows that are all DRM'd? Additionally, one could easily remove the DRM on blu ray with software. Not the same case with iTunes. And with iTunes you are confined to Apple devices to watch your media. You can watch blu ray on anything that has a BR drive. Did I mention that Apple limits you to 5 devices?
• most people buy a pro laptop to "Do development work" not to watch movies - and plain old dvds work pretty well for that..
  Now, if I already have Blu ray discs for my HDTV, why do i have to buy another DVD just so I can watch it on my laptop? Really?

 

[Hal Itosis]

I have a $15,000/YEAR computer budget that has sat for three years while Jobs does his Willie Wonka trip with iCrap I don't need, don't want, and will never ever buy.

I think you're spot on . Failure to support blu-ray is a major mistake by Jobs and he knows it. Macbooks Pros are simply not competitive without it. I will probably get one for some development work but I wouldn't bother if it weren't for the iPhone/iPod/iPad.

@jahman:

Beyond a desire for Blu-ray, it would appear that you and xbjllb are on totally different pages there. [i.e., you like "iCrap" and he doesn't.] Therefore, the term 'spot on' seems somewhat inappropriate [especially since it also appeared to condone his degrading remarks, which i've removed from that quote.]

The Blu-ray issue seems to have gotten a few people worked up into a frenzy. That's okay, if Macs ever need them they'll be added. [i'm only mildly interested myself... and clearly no knowledgeable Macoholic was *expecting* Blu-ray this time around anyway. So —in that light —it's much ado about nothing.]

I think that what's most upsetting to the pro-Blu-ray crowd here (which they may not consciously realize) is the simple fact that: nothing they say matters.

[honestly: "Failure to support blu-ray is a major mistake by Jobs and he knows it." <-- you believe that? ]

 

[CrazyChester]

These updates are a big disgrace
2199 for a 15 inch I7 mac with only 256MB video
You can get a hp 15 inch with the same specs for 1049 and 1gb of video card/hdmi/ and you can also add a blue ray if you want

I really expected to see something at least similar to the hp at apples price

But now, what wait another six months

So sad…

Well, for heaven's sake buy the HP and quit griping.

 

[xIGmanIx]

i am glad for the updates, but i voted negative and here is my reasoning for it

1. No BD - i am prosumer and would like to be able to create content in BD for viewing on my HDTV and to backup data
2. No USB 3.0 - i don't see why this should have to be in another update and why there is only 2 USB ports on a "pro" machine
3. no QuadCore iX options - maybe not standard, but i would willing sacrifice some battery life for better processors
4. Video card - i don't see why apple isn't offering 1GB cards in their "pro" machines.

I might still pick one up because i would like to have both OS's and software available to me, but i might just go with sony or HP.