Inside Apple's New MacBook Pro

[Eidorian]

but again just to be clear, this is because apple doesn't want to redesign the logic board. i wonder if it costs apple more in the long run to have nvidia make a custom chip so similar to the 310 or if apple just redesigned the board.

maybe nvidia is making it on the cheap to spite intel.

nVidia is coming on tougher times lately. I'm sure they love the free advertising they're getting from selling Apple the chipset package with a GT216 based IGP and I/O controller.

It is delaying the inevitable logic board redesign.

 

[kbt1020]

Hehe just one more year and I can get a 3.06 ghz c2d 13" base mbp for this price. This is awesome

 

[jmcguckin]

i'd spend the money if i felt like apple cared enough to not slap me around whenever there's a refresh.

you know, even if Apple were in the habit of slapping prospective customers around (which they aren't, since no one said you had to buy a Mac), I find it humorous that you'd actually subject yourself to being slapped around just so you could whine/moan about it on a forum... seriously, go buy a PC, since it's pretty obvious from your post that Apple will never quite deliver an update that measures up to your (rather lofty) expectations.

as for this latest refresh, I am going to wait until my next paycheck comes in, then put my current u-MB for sale and buy the top-specced 15" model... between the matte (and finally higher-res!) screen option, the much-improved processors, and almost double the battery life of what I'm used to getting with my MB, I see no reason to wait. though I guess that'd also leave me without a reason to complain using the "the computer I just bought from Apple is now older-generation than the models they just released" excuse (which seems to be a common one for a large number of posters on MR).

 

[ddTaylor]

If it's news to you that Apple doesn't compete on checklists of features, but instead competes on being "smooth and integrated," sorry about that.

That only goes so far - I am sorry to say. You can only charge so much for such relative little on the hardware front. I am an Apple user and your arrogant comments show how little you actual listen to others arguments. I am sorry about 'that'.

D

 

[ddTaylor]

The issue I'd have with this post is that you seem to start off with the assumption that this has to do with Apple focusing on the iPhone/iPad, etc. - but the points you make about the limited nature of Apple hardware options vs. manufacturers like Dell who offer a much wider variety.

Apple has always offered much more limited choices compared to a Dell - to act like this is something new in the past couple of years seems unrealistic.

So you think that Apple is NOT pulling people from the MBP to work on the iPad and iPhone? You realize many reports claim just the opposite. The fact that Apple does not even offer options like 1080P and HDMI show what little actual effort Apple is putting into the consumer computer market. They have shifted effort to iPad and iPhone and even iPod development and even that is falling behind users wishes and competition. Sad - but true.

This is a smack in the face as far as updates go - no HDMI, no full 1080P and no BlueRay - let alone larger 15.6" displays and the like. My comparison to Dell was to show that even the lowest-end computer companies are offering things that Apple refuses to offer and at a MUCH lower cost. Take it for what it is - Apple is not focusing on the users anymore or they would offer HDMI out, BlueRay and full 1080P. Silly.

D

 

[Zadillo]

That's the lamest fanboy argument ever, the i3 blows the C2D out of the water.

Can you clarify, how specifically does the Core i3 blow the C2D's in the refreshed 13" MBP out of the water? I've seen plenty of merit in the i5 and i7, but I haven't seen anything mindblowing in the typical $600-800 machines that feature Core i3 processors.

 

[DirtWarden]

HDD replace

Replaced the HDD and added RAM (6GB using the kludge published elsewhere) on my C2D MBP and it was very easy, even for my limited technical capability. Never have cracked open a case on the unibody, though. People talk about replacing HDD with SSD *later* and adding more RAM *later* but is it really that easy? Has anyone actually done it with a unibody MBP and was it straight forward?

Thx!

 

[Zadillo]

So you think that Apple is NOT pulling people from the MBP to work on the iPad and iPhone? You realize many reports claim just the opposite. The fact that Apple does not even offer options like 1080P and HDMI show what little actual effort Apple is putting into the consumer computer market. They have shifted effort to iPad and iPhone and even iPod development and even that is falling behind users wishes and competition. Sad - but true.

This is a smack in the face as far as updates go - no HDMI, no full 1080P and no BlueRay - let alone larger 15.6" displays and the like. My comparison to Dell was to show that even the lowest-end computer companies are offering things that Apple refuses to offer and at a MUCH lower cost. Take it for what it is - Apple is not focusing on the users anymore or they would offer HDMI out, BlueRay and full 1080P. Silly.

D

The only point I'm making is that none of this is NEW for Apple - they haven't offered options like you are suggesting for years. I am simply arguing that it has little to do with any issues of them focusing more on the iPhone or iPad.

-Zadillo

 

[FrozenDarkness]

you know, even if Apple were in the habit of slapping prospective customers around (which they aren't, since no one said you had to buy a Mac), I find it humorous that you'd actually subject yourself to being slapped around just so you could whine/moan about it on a forum... seriously, go buy a PC, since it's pretty obvious from your post that Apple will never quite deliver an update that measures up to your (rather lofty) expectations.

This is what real apple fanboys believe. I built a PC desktop and saved up money hoping Apple will deliver on Arrandale. Since you know, the current core2duos are coming on their two year anniversary. i come to bitch and moan when apple fails to live up to even the slightest expectations. you're seriously backwards if you think it's lofty to want something newer than a core2duo.

You're buliding up bitching on a mac forum to be something that takes up a lot of my time and energy, it isn't. in the end it's an internet forum and a purchase decision is wholly my own. i just like coming here and showing you guys how apple has changed you as a consumer for a laptop. you no longer can hope for the best, you can't even hope for something similar to waht other people are offering. you can set your sights on low and than bitch at people who think otherwise.

 

[themanfromvlad]

A look at the new 13-inch models

Am I reading this right? $300 more for a 70GB larger hard drive and 260 extra MHz? You can upgrade the base hard drive to 320 GB for around $50, so that means $250 for the minor processor upgrade. In my view, not worth it.

Based on this, the old refurbs will drop in price by at least $100.

 

[0092762]

So you think that Apple is NOT pulling people from the MBP to work on the iPad and iPhone? You realize many reports claim just the opposite. The fact that Apple does not even offer options like 1080P and HDMI show what little actual effort Apple is putting into the consumer computer market. They have shifted effort to iPad and iPhone and even iPod development and even that is falling behind users wishes and competition. Sad - but true.

This is a smack in the face as far as updates go - no HDMI, no full 1080P and no BlueRay - let alone larger 15.6" displays and the like. My comparison to Dell was to show that even the lowest-end computer companies are offering things that Apple refuses to offer and at a MUCH lower cost. Take it for what it is - Apple is not focusing on the users anymore or they would offer HDMI out, BlueRay and full 1080P. Silly.

D

The 17" has 1080p, and trust me, I had a 15.4" laptop with 1680x1050 (in 2003), and the pixels are small enough, not to mention 16:10 is more useful than 16:9 when you're doing actual work.
Still, no blu-ray is fail. For HDMI, if only they route audio through mini-DP, all you need is a monoprice mini-dp to hdmi cable for $10 and you're good to go. I use that cable for now, but having to use another cable for audio sucks.

 

[mitsof]

So does anyone know if these updated pros support audio through mini-displayport? It sucks to have two wires and I'd like to use just one for A/V.

Overall, I am disappointed with C2D in the 13" and no blu-ray support. I guess new Apple strategy is to push consumers away from laptops and focus on iphone/ipad.

I am pretty sure that audio through mini displayport is supported.
There is an NEW [optional] mini displayport to hdmi.
And according to Apple's standards it will be with audio!!!

 

[firsttimemac]

nVidia is coming on tougher times lately. I'm sure they love the free advertising they're getting from selling Apple the chipset package with a GT216 based IGP and I/O controller.

It is delaying the inevitable logic board redesign.

I agree with all your arguments.
But couldn't Apple offer something better than a 2.4-2.66 in C2D
And if heat etc was an issue why not reduce the price.
13" top model is a STUPID buy right now. Period.

 

[SteveyAppleSeed]

15" MBP Displays

Do we know if they are LED backlit?

Are they IPS? (probably not, since previous models were not)

I see nothing about LED backlighting on the new models.

Re: SSD...

What good is an SSD if OS X does not support TRIM? I'd love to throw in an Intel X-25M but don't want to suffer from degraded performance as the drive is used up.

And whoever suggested OCZ or other brands for SSDs:

They may have faster sequential write/read times than the Intel drives, but their performance suffers in random write/reads and also both sequential AND random write/reads AFTER the drive has been "used." At least, I'm 99% sure that's what I read in the latest Anandtech article on SSD performance.

I think I'll wait until USB 3.0 or Intel Lightpeak to upgrade my 15" SR MBP.

 

[joshellis625]

This is exciting! Just in time for me to start college in the fall!

The 15" Core i7 is looking mighty attractive.

Would it be worth it to go with the high res (1680x1050) screen? My desktop's 22" monitor runs that resolution so I don't know how that would look on a 15". Too tiny?

 

[mpeterson78]

So, like many, I'm debating between the standard glossy screen on the 15" and the high-res matte screen. (I don't really think I need the high res, but to get matte this is the only option). This is an interesting bit of info from the Apple Store: When choosing the matte screen as a BTO, there is a note if you click on learn more - "The antiglare display has a silver frame (border) around the display." Why is this? They couldn't just use the regular black frame? Is this a new thing, or has it always been like this? If it's been around for a while, can someone provide pictures?

Speaking of pictures, and back to the glossy vs. matte debate, can anyone link to a good source to see side by side comparisons of the two in various lighting conditions showing the glare and color reproduction? I've always used matte screens and am hesitant to switch to glossy. Thanks for your help!

 

[mosx]

The battery life on the 13" is great.

I'm glad Apple stuck with Core 2 Duo + nvidia for it. Core i3 is the modern day Celeron thanks to the forced use of Intel graphics. I'll take Core 2 Duo and nvidia graphics over Core i3 with Intel graphics any day. Even if it does mean waiting an extra two seconds for a video to encode or an extra millisecond for a website to open.

The prices are still outrageous though. $2,200 for the 15" MBP with no 16x9 screen, Core i7, no blu-ray, and the bottom of the battery mid-range GPU? Sorry Apple, but good battery life doesn't put you in a position to charge $1,000 more than a better spec'ed PC.

 

[iSlave]

This is a begrudging, late-in-the-day update that only rabid fanboys will be impressed by. i5? i7? Yeah, great. The competition had this a long time ago, and at much lower prices.

Apple has offered a mediocre update to it's most profitable line of notebooks, and continues to ignore the Mac Pro, Macbook and Macbook Air (clearly not enough profit in those).

''We're a mobile device company now'' - Steve Jobs.

Better believe it, guys. OSX is becoming more and more irrelevant by the day as Apple's focus moves towards iPhone OS, iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch.

The fanboys, will of course, disagree until the bitter end. In the meantime, those level-headed people looking for a well-designed, powerful and full featured notebook would do worse than to check out a Vaio.

 

[firsttimemac]

This is what real apple fanboys believe. I built a PC desktop and saved up money hoping Apple will deliver on Arrandale. Since you know, the current core2duos are coming on their two year anniversary. i come to bitch and moan when apple fails to live up to even the slightest expectations. you're seriously backwards if you think it's lofty to want something newer than a core2duo.

You're buliding up bitching on a mac forum to be something that takes up a lot of my time and energy, it isn't. in the end it's an internet forum and a purchase decision is wholly my own. i just like coming here and showing you guys how apple has changed you as a consumer for a laptop. you no longer can hope for the best, you can't even hope for something similar to waht other people are offering. you can set your sights on low and than bitch at people who think otherwise.

+1000 Rightly Put. Saved me the effort of writing this exact thing.

Am I reading this right? $300 more for a 70GB larger hard drive and 260 extra MHz? You can upgrade the base hard drive to 320 GB for around $50, so that means $250 for the minor processor upgrade. In my view, not worth it.

Based on this, the old refurbs will drop in price by at least $100.

I quoted the exact same thing a few hours ago
https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/9650162/

Guess no one wants to talk about it. That how is apple going to justify that

 

[jmcguckin]

This is what real apple fanboys believe. I built a PC desktop and saved up money hoping Apple will deliver on Arrandale. Since you know, the current core2duos are coming on their two year anniversary. i come to bitch and moan when apple fails to live up to even the slightest expectations. you're seriously backwards if you think it's lofty to want something newer than a core2duo.

You're buliding up bitching on a mac forum to be something that takes up a lot of my time and energy, it isn't. in the end it's an internet forum and a purchase decision is wholly my own. i just like coming here and showing you guys how apple has changed you as a consumer for a laptop. you no longer can hope for the best, you can't even hope for something similar to waht other people are offering. you can set your sights on low and than bitch at people who think otherwise.

strictly speaking about the updates to the 13" MBP, I can see what you're saying... I'm not really sure of Apple's reasoning for sticking with the C2D other than that it would allow them to keep the integrated Nvidia graphics solution while also boosting battery life, but I don't see how you could honestly tell me that the updates they made to the remainder of the MBP's aren't substantial. sure, they're months behind every other PC manufacturer from a hardware standpoint, but at least we have new notebooks to work with now.

and I don't feel that I'm making your comments out to be anything other than what they are- whining that Apple's products don't meet your expectations... and this in spite of the fact that the majority of people who will buy either 13" MBP model will probably never use a fraction of the performance that you'd get out of an i3/i5 (since I think it's safe to assume that most pro users will avoid the small screen size of the 13" MBP and go with either the 15" or 17" model- which did receive substantial updates). and that's why it was so important for them to update the remainder of their lineup to Core ix-based processors, since it really would have been a slap in the face to their pro/pro-sumer users if they had stuck with C2D processors in their highest-specced notebooks.

 

[JTStarkiller]

That depends. Do you want an extra 240 pixels horizontally, 150 pixels vertically? Do you have good eyesight? (The individual pixels are 16% smaller.) If not, then it's absolutely not worth it. If you do have good eyesight, and want the extra pixels, then the value of it is entirely up to you. This is one of those upgrades that is purely "personal preference." It doesn't get you all the way to 1080p-viewing-size, so the only benefit is pure extra pixel real estate.

Much appreciated. 🙂

 

[kingtj]

Eh.. I knew that would be said ....

I don't disagree with you either, except I also realize this seems to be Apple's latest trend. They take the lowest-end model of a given product line and skip upgrading it as much as the others in the series - at least for a few months.

I like Apple products a lot, but I don't think I'm a "fanboy" (especially considering my day job is supporting an all Windows environment, and I still own a Windows PC at home along with my Macs). Like anything, it's foolish to buy ONLY based on a brand name. Plenty of companies out there generally make great products, but also have a few "poor buys" in the product lineup.

Right now, I'd pass on the 13" Macbook Pro, but then, I would have passed on it from the start. Truthfully, it didn't offer enough advantage over a nicely configured Macbook. People buying it were paying for the looks (aluminum case and so forth), and possibly for the extra "status" of being able to say they had a "Pro" model. Micro Center stores have been selling the regular Macbooks for $799 all day long for months now. That's the smarter buy.....

I'd like to think that I'm a very objective person.

But the fact of the matter is, Apple sticking with the Core 2 Duo is indefensible. It's your money, please waste it as how you like, but not upgrading the processor for the 13" is a slap in the face. It'll probably sell like hotcakes and i don't think anybody cares about the extra power, but it's still a slap in the face. an upgraded graphics card, more RAM? That's just part of technology, they're merely "moving with it" instead of offering you something more. I think Apple fanboys are truly blind and I have never felt so bad for a group of fanboys in my life.

Oh also, It's sad that there's no resolution bump, but I realize that is probably very very farfetchd so that's fine. this is why anybody who gives a **** about computers don't buy mac. not because of how expensive it is. i'd spend the money if i felt like apple cared enough to not slap me around whenever there's a refresh.


that said, 15" seems to be the good buy. My only guess is that the i3 is backordered so maybe if we wait a couple of months, it'd be upgraded.

 

[paradox00]

it would seem to me, that the article points out the 320m was custom made for apple. they could've made a similar card that plays nice with intel's graphics. A lot of people also mention that it just won't fit on Apple's motherboard, redesign the damn thing. That's the point of technology, when new things come out, you have to adapt to it for your customers.

The reviews say the Asus has decent build quality and I don't think it really matters as the build quality has nothing to do with the parts.

Look, no matter which way you cut it, Apple failed us on a processor front. If they lowered the price a little to reflect the processor deficiency, I would've been happy as well. You just can't offer borderline 2 year technology on a 1,000+ product.

You say no matter which way you cut it, but you cut it the same way every time. Once again, they could have included an i3 with a discreet graphics processor, but that would have increased the cost to the consumer. An i3 with integrated intel graphics would be a downgrade on graphics performance and only a slight boost in the CPU. They couldn't have a custom integrated graphics chip with the i3 like they did with the c2d because that is exactly what intel is prohibiting.

You even provided benchmarks showing that the i3 wasn't that much better than the chips they are using, so the integrated video debate is very relevant. Take it off that pedestal, it isn't the greatest just because it has "i" in the name. i3/5 and discreet graphics would have been a nice, more expensive option to have available though. If of course they could fit it (it isn't as simple as just saying "redesign it").

 

[Hadron]

I was wondering if there would be any benefit from upgrading to the 1680x1050 for me aside from better movie/video experiences. The only work-related thing I can think of that requires good resolution is viewing fMRI images of the brain. But I don't know if I'd benefit significantly from the jump. Thoughts?

If you're already using a 15" then do you ever feel frustrated that you can't fit more on the screen?

The flip side is smaller text and icons. If you're unsure it's probably best to see one before ordering, though a poster in another thread gave the sensible advice that since the 17" has slightly higher pixel density, if you can cope with the that screen you'll be OK with the hi-res 15.

Of course if you want matte, it's this or the refurb store now - the UK refurb store has a number of C2D antiglare configurations in it at the moment.

 

[mosx]

http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/performance.html

Wow. Dual core Core i7 in the MBP. That's pretty funny. That makes that $2200 price tag look even worse.