cMBP looking dated

[iamthedudeman]

Yes "blindly" following Apple's marketing... The advantages and improvements in the new design of the Retina Macbook Pro are all just a complete illusion fabricated in the marketing department of Apple. Please show me who can seriously compete with the Retina MBP right now. I'm sure they are in their R&D labs right now after having been shown how its done trying to figure out how they can offer a copy... for people who are worried about being considered a fanboy and drinking too much of the "koolaid"

See my post above.

No one says who is competing with who. Samsung has a thinner laptop, but it's internals are not as good. Nor is it as well built.

http://www.theverge.com/2012/3/29/2911827/samsung-series-9-review-15-inch-2012

I love my RMBP also, but the CMBP is not 'thick' as you claim, hence the 'marketing tagline'.

 

[VFC]

Outside might look similar, but it's completely different inside. Especially the fan system (and exterior intakes). Also the display housing is completely different.

It's fan system is really not that different from the cMBP. They both use the same heat pipe and fan sink. In fact I would argue that the cMBP has a more even heat transfer design; i.e., the heat-pipe is evenly centered over the CPU and discrete gpu. The rMBP has the CPU heating up the heat-pipe before it gets to the discrete gpu.

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I'd much rather have a "dated" LOOKING tool that has far more functionality and productivity compared to the new "thin and light" tool with inferior sound, screen size and that requires me to carry dongles and additional drives to compete with the previous MBP.

Plus the cMBP chassis is a tank. The rMBP creakes and pops when you handle it. Too much flex in that thin design.

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My post was supposed to reflect how effective Apple's marketing actually is. The fact is, MBPs aren't obsolete. However, they seem obsolete due to Apple's marketing.

The OP's question was whether the MBP looks dated. And the answer for most people is that it does, even if that's just because of Apple's marketing.

Apple is the largest company on the planet. The weak-minded consumers don't stand a chance against Apple's marketing machine.

 

[TurnTronics]

Although the rMBP is significantly thinner, the cMBP is still one of the thinnest and sleek notebooks on the market. Many other manufacturers have taken styling cues from Apple and the cMBP has been (and still is) a trendsetter.

 

[iMacFarlane]

. . . I was waiting for the iMacs but when I saw the specs in these I jumped on them right away. the weight and size isn't bad. The only time I feel it's big and heavy is right after I hand my wide her MBA.

Careful! That kind of Freudian slip can land you on the couch for weeks, my friend . . .

Same story here, been waiting for the new iMacs, bought my first MBP in the interim. The base 13", so not blowing the doors off of anything, but a great computer, and my best laptop ever. I've had Compaq, Dell, Toshiba, Gateway, and Acer. No comparison.

 

[GoreVidal]

Yes "blindly" following Apple's marketing... The advantages and improvements in the new design of the Retina Macbook Pro are all just a complete illusion fabricated in the marketing department of Apple. Please show me who can seriously compete with the Retina MBP right now. I'm sure they are in their R&D labs right now after having been shown how its done trying to figure out how they can offer a copy... for people who are worried about being considered a fanboy and drinking too much of the "koolaid"

Feel better now?

But seriously. There are serious drawbacks and concessions that pros have to make when moving to a rMBP over a regular MBP. The primary being the lack of additional optional HDD space, additional dongles, and matte options. But yes, you are drinking the kool-aid. Don't worry, I did too, and it is delicious.

 

[sofianito]

The post-compulsive retina buyer depression is on its way. Its effects will take place after ML release...

 

[thekev]

Feel better now?

But seriously. There are serious drawbacks and concessions that pros have to make when moving to a rMBP over a regular MBP. The primary being the lack of additional optional HDD space, additional dongles, and matte options. But yes, you are drinking the kool-aid. Don't worry, I did too, and it is delicious.

If only the iphone had a "diabeetus" app featuring Wilford Brimley.

 

[BertoM]

Considering .24 in. is 34% of the thickness of the rMBP the cMBP is significantly thicker.

 

[BJNY]

the cMBP isn't going anywhere anytime soon. It will be around for a few more generations at least. the design is widely accepted. It really is a beautiful design and all anyone cares about anymore is the specs inside and how well it will perform over previous generations at this point I would say. I finally took the plunge and bought a MBP for the first time. I was waiting for the iMacs but when I saw the specs in these I jumped on them right away. the weight and size isn't bad. The only time I feel it's big and heavy is right after I hand my wide her MBA.

I don't see Apple making any radical changes to this design. It will be there until they drop it. I wouldn't be surprised if in 2-3 years it is dropped in favor of the Retina design in both the 13" and 15" models.

I also think the Air has one more generation with its current design. Maybe, just maybe they'll cram a Retina display into it in 2013, but I think it is more likely for 2014, along with a more radical redesign. There are some premium Ultrabooks (e.g. Samsung Series 9 and ASUS Zenbook) that are starting to better the Air's specs and equal its design (or at least come close), but for the most part it is still at the top of the heap.

I sure hope cMBP sticks around for at least another CPU generation (Haswell).
Otherwise, I'd order current cMBP with anti-glare.

 

[Mizzou02RS]

I don't think the cMBP looks dated at all...it's a sexy machine that looks far better than most PeeCees out there.

 

[jcpb]

Apple is the largest company on the planet. The weak-minded consumers don't stand a chance against Apple's marketing machine.

The former is wrong unless it's based on stock price.

The latter is wrong as there are thousands, if not millions, who aren't falling into the clever traps created by Apple's marketing department.

 

[TxMacAddict]

Considering .24 in. is 34% of the thickness of the rMBP the cMBP is significantly thicker.

Exactly my reason for creating this thread... thank you for illustrating my point so clearly.

 

[maretus]

Considering .24 in. is 34% of the thickness of the rMBP the cMBP is significantly thicker.

Too bad they had to make design concessions to achieve that thin profile. I've seen 6 rMBP's, and 3 of them had terrible creaks on the right and left side of the device. All 6 had their bottom panel uneven with the rest of the casing.

While I agree, the rMBP is awesome, one of the primary reasons I buy Apple is the superior quality of their products. I just don't get that feeling of quality when handling a creaky/poppy $2500 computer. I ended up taking my rMBP back and getting a base 15" cMBP and I'm happy I did. I spent the $400 bucks I saved on a 256gb SSD, and 16gb of RAM.

After these upgrades, my experience with the cMBP is far more smooth than it was with the rMBP. And while the cMBP is thicker and heavier, it is way more solid in my opinion. No creaks or pops and I've already taken advantage of the upgradeability.

Do I miss the retina display? Definitely. But not so much that I am willing to sacrifice build quality for it. Next year when Apple has worked out all of these production issues with the rMBP, I'll jump onboard. A new GPU would also go a long way to improving overall performance in the rMBP which is another thing we will probably see next year. So, until then, I'm more than happy with my upgraded cMBP. It may be a bit more thick, but its still damn beautiful and not much more thick than some of the Windows "ultra books" I've seen.

 

[Southernboyj]

I use to think the 2008-2011 MBPs were slim. Now after owning the RMBP for a month, I see one and it looks huge! I know it's not actually big at all. Hell the regular MBPs are way slimmer than my friends Sony Vaio laptop. But once you get used to the RMBP, it becomes a night and day difference from the older models, and after a month of use, this screen is still an amazing feat to see.

 

[BertoM]

Too bad they had to make design concessions to achieve that thin profile. I've seen 6 rMBP's, and 3 of them had terrible creaks on the right and left side of the device. All 6 had their bottom panel uneven with the rest of the casing.

While I agree, the rMBP is awesome, one of the primary reasons I buy Apple is the superior quality of their products. I just don't get that feeling of quality when handling a creaky/poppy $2500 computer. I ended up taking my rMBP back and getting a base 15" cMBP and I'm happy I did. I spent the $400 bucks I saved on a 256gb SSD, and 16gb of RAM.

After these upgrades, my experience with the cMBP is far more smooth than it was with the rMBP. And while the cMBP is thicker and heavier, it is way more solid in my opinion. No creaks or pops and I've already taken advantage of the upgradeability.

Do I miss the retina display? Definitely. But not so much that I am willing to sacrifice build quality for it. Next year when Apple has worked out all of these production issues with the rMBP, I'll jump onboard. A new GPU would also go a long way to improving overall performance in the rMBP which is another thing we will probably see next year. So, until then, I'm more than happy with my upgraded cMBP. It may be a bit more thick, but its still damn beautiful and not much more thick than some of the Windows "ultra books" I've seen.

Sorry you had a bad experience. I personally have not noticed one flaw with my rMBP.

 

[Southernboyj]

Sorry you had a bad experience. I personally have not noticed one flaw with my rMBP.

Same here, if anything this feels like a very well built laptop. The screen has a slight resistance when opening it, but it is so slight that it actually makes the laptop feel every sturdier than my old 2011 MBP.

 

[BertoM]

I use to think the 2008-2011 MBPs were slim. Now after owning the RMBP for a month, I see one and it looks huge! I know it's not actually big at all. Hell the regular MBPs are way slimmer than my friends Sony Vaio laptop. But once you get used to the RMBP, it becomes a night and day difference from the older models, and after a month of use, this screen is still an amazing feat to see.

Exactly. I was looking in to getting a cMBP but after researching online decided to wait until after the WWDC. I was already pretty sold on the cMBP but after seeing the pictures and looking at them in store I began to be turned off by the "bulk" of the cMBP. I think a lot of it has to do also with the transition from the bottom/top of the laptop to the side. I tried to convince myself to buy the cMBP to save money but I could not find a reason (other than cost, but I feel the rMBP is a better value) to justify buying a cMBP.

I think just the screen on my friend's Toshiba laptop is thicker than my rMBP!

 

[Southernboyj]

Exactly. I was looking in to getting a cMBP but after researching online decided to wait until after the WWDC. I was already pretty sold on the cMBP but after seeing the pictures and looking at them in store I began to be turned off by the "bulk" of the cMBP. I think a lot of it has to do also with the transition from the bottom/top of the laptop to the side. I tried to convince myself to buy the cMBP to save money but I could not find a reason (other than cost, but I feel the rMBP is a better value) to justify buying a cMBP.

I think just the screen on my friend's Toshiba laptop is thicker than my rMBP!

Yeah exactly, after using my rMBP, my 2011 iMacs 1080P screen looks bad. And I know it is a great display. The rMBP's display is just *that* awesome. I was also looking at getting a regular MBP, but unless you get the base model 13" it feels like a waste getting any others, because if I were to get the base non-retina 15", by the time I upgraded the ram, installed a SSD. It would be only like $100 cheaper than the rMBP, which comes stock with 8GB of ram and a Samsung SSD. Just more bang for your buck.

 

[BertoM]

Yeah exactly, after using my rMBP, my 2011 iMacs 1080P screen looks bad. And I know it is a great display. The rMBP's display is just *that* awesome. I was also looking at getting a regular MBP, but unless you get the base model 13" it feels like a waste getting any others, because if I were to get the base non-retina 15", by the time I upgraded the ram, installed a SSD. It would be only like $100 cheaper than the rMBP, which comes stock with 8GB of ram and a Samsung SSD. Just more bang for your buck.

Yep, just based on the ssd, dGPU, and ram I felt it was a better deal. Not to mention the screen and how thin it is!

 

[Southernboyj]

Yep, just based on the ssd, dGPU, and ram I felt it was a better deal. Not to mention the screen and how thin it is!

Or the better speakers, or the Dual microphones, or the HDMI port, or the better cooling system, or the silent fans, (continues to ramble)...

 

[mark28]

Or the better speakers, or the Dual microphones, or the HDMI port, or the better cooling system, or the silent fans, (continues to ramble)...

But it can't put 2 x SSD in Raid 0 / superdrive and lacks many ports. It's more of a 15" Macbook Air than it being a Macbook Pro.

And a hub is bad if you want low latency.

 

[BertoM]

But it can't put 2 x SSD in Raid 0 / superdrive and lacks many ports. It's more of a 15" Macbook Air than it being a Macbook Pro.

And a hub is bad if you want low latency.

But I do not need to so it does not matter.

 

[thekev]

Considering .24 in. is 34% of the thickness of the rMBP the cMBP is significantly thicker.

The thinner you get, the less noticeable this will become. If the machine shrunk to .24 inches, .83333.... in. would grant you the same difference in terms of percentage. You're just picking a statistic that makes your case, although dropping it 34% may be difficult from an engineering standpoint.

 

[BertoM]

The thinner you get, the less noticeable this will become. If the machine shrunk to .24 inches, .83333.... in. would grant you the same difference in terms of percentage. You're just picking a statistic that makes your case, although dropping it 34% may be difficult from an engineering standpoint.

Obviously. The cMBP is still fairly thin compared to other manufacturers' computers. However, the other Macbook lines do make the cMBP look very bulky. The cMBP is substantially thicker than than both the rMBP and MBA, and even more so looks significantly thicker. Just look at the pictures on the apple website, the cMBP and rMBP do not even look like they should be newly released computers at the same time.

 

[Mavrack]

Considering .24 in. is 34% of the thickness of the rMBP the cMBP is significantly thicker.

Nope, the RMBP is 25% thinner than the cMBP. Have no idea where you got 34% from. Go look at the Retina Display MBP video "And it is only .71 inches thin, thats 25% thinner than our previous generation MacBook Pro" -Bob Mansfield

Also the new RMBP is not that much thinner. It's only 3/4 the thickness of the cMBP.

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Or the better speakers, or the Dual microphones, or the HDMI port, or the better cooling system, or the silent fans, (continues to ramble)...

Or the inability to upgrade, no ethernet or firewire, needs dongles to get those ports. Burn in and Ghosting issues with the screen, pressure marks, glued in battery, and very high price tag. Sounds lovely. Honestly it's a nice machine but there are currently a lot of problems with it. So it would probably be beneficial for people to wait until the next generation or the next one after that, so that the majority of the problems will be fixed or dealt with.