Is Apple going too far in it's quest for thin computers?

[brad.c]

Everything is subjective

Heat smeat. I had a PB 17" rev1, which ran hot, so I put it on a Lap-mat©. I now have a 15" MBP rev1, and it runs a little hotter, so I use the same Lap-mat©.

Would a millimeter or two really make that much diff for heat dissipation? Who knows.

How much thicker would it need to be to have more options, like a DL burner?
And would it personally be worth it? The only time I ever wished I had a DL burner was when I thought about making a copy of "The Office" series to have at the office. Is that the main advantage to having a DL burner, to copy movies? I'd buy a $50 burner from TigerDirect.

It's all subjective, folks. You can't please everybody.
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Pick-up your MacBook Pro compatible Lap-mat© today, in the plywood aisle of your local Home Depot™.

 

[Bocheememon]

Hey lets not forget that because the MBP is a little thinner than the Powerbook that our Right Speaker distorts like a speaker that is turned up too loud.

I like my MBP but to have a right speaker that is unusable when I show my classmates a video project I'm working on...that isn't cool in my book. If they find a way to put a buffer on that speaker in the current size, I'll be completely happy with my $2400 purchase.

As for the GPU, other comparible computers have theirs at 400/400 or 450/400. When I checked the 15in MBP GPU, it was 300/300 or something like that.

I don't have my computer to confirm again. It is being serviced right now for the Whine issue and Heat problems.

Edit: My old 667mhz TiBook was hotter than my MBP.
Edit 2: And I still can't use my MBP on my lap. It is too hot and it actually burned me. Apple calls it a "Notebook" and not a "Laptop". Grr...I hate when they say that because then they can say a Notebook isn't used on your lap, but a laptop is.

 

[poppe]

Just be careful when you talk to your girlfriend. You don't want to end up with something like "My MBP's thinner than my girlfriend" She will club you to death with her dell laptop.

Hahah. Oops...

 

[Josias]

I dunno what the specs say, but I've seen multiple threads about "X1600 not UC'ed" after the giant wava of thread about the subject.

Yes, you can compare. The 15" TiPB was 1" thin, and so is the MBP. I haven't heard about Ti heat problems, but the fact is, that Core Duo CPU's emit more heat, which is why it wouldn't matter if they'd kept the extra .1" on the 15".

BTW, I was banned for 24 hrs for apparently offedning someone in this thread. Sorry people. Read more.

 

[JAT]

Would a millimeter or two really make that much diff for heat dissipation? Who knows.

How much thicker would it need to be to have more options, like a DL burner?

Don't know about heat. But the DL drive Apple uses is 3mm thicker than the regular one. (12 vs 9mm) So, no more than 3mm.

 

[rickolis]

This thread was pre-MBA days. I just chuckled with a bit of nostalgia (=

 

[SchneiderMan]

i say no, but they really do need to get the heat problems fixed before.

 

[Blackberryroid]

PowerBook is a quite thin computer. Just 1 inch. And when Apple released MBP, they makde it even thinner: they shaved 1mm off of it. Am I the only one who feels that they shouldn't have done that?

Let's face it, 1mm is peanuts. No-one is going to notice it, unless you compare them side-by-side. And we all know that Apple is having some issues with MBP as it is. It runs hot, the GPU is underclocked, and only 17" model has dual-layer burner. Now, making the internals even more cramped by making the machine even thinner, doesn't exactly help in the heat-department. And the underclocking is an indication of that. I also heard that the missing dual-layer burner is because of the thinner enclosure.

So, instead if giving us an enclosure that is tiny amount thinner, they could have given us a computer that runs a but cooler and has a dual-layer burner. By making the machie tiny bit more sexy, they sacrificed on actual functionality.

Then you must have died when Apple released the MacBook Air. Those things are thinner than what you could ever imagine.

 

[Ricanlegend]

Then you must have died when Apple released the MacBook Air. Those things are thinner than what you could ever imagine.

You do know that post was made 6 years ago rite ? In another 6 year I wouldn't be surprise if apple shave another mm to MacBook pro ,

 

[MCAsan]

How do you measure "too thin"? How many mm is that?

As long as it works, comes with warranty/support, and I can get 3 years of Apple Care....make it as thin and light as possible.

 

[takeshi74]

You do know that post was made 6 years ago rite ?

The funny thing is that people are posting the exact same stuff today.

 

[Evangelion]

Then you must have died when Apple released the MacBook Air. Those things are thinner than what you could ever imagine.

Oh, so you quoted something I said over SIX YEARS AGO? Hell, I didn't even remember I had written anything like that...

MacBook Air is a wonderful machine. It's absolutely lovely. But it's also a computer for it's time. Had they released something like it six years ago, it wouldn't have worked since the technology and the industry was simply not there. Back then we still needed optical drives, back then the computer would have been too slow and too limited in functionality. It would have been running too hot. And guess what? When Apple released such a computer in 2008 (the original macBook air), it was exactly that, and it wasn't really a hit. The step from normal MacBook (pro) to original MBA was a huge one. Yes, you got a smaller computer, but it was also expensive, slow and with limited functionality. Now, the computer is inexpensive (cheapest laptops Apple offers in fact!), it's fast (thank you flash-storage!) and the missing functionality is not that relevant anymore (optical drive? Who cares?).

Only the current MBA is a success. And that's becase the technology is finally advanced enough, our usage-patterns have changed enough. No longer do you need to really sacrifice performance for size. they do sacrifice functionality, but it's mostly functionality that is no longer relevant. Same thing can be seen in the retina-MBP. It makes some sacrifices, but the sacrifices are in areas that are not that important anymore, and we get other benefits in their place.

1mm that we got from moving from PowerBook and MBP came at a price. There were issues with the MBP, both related to performance, usability and functionality. In hindsight, it could be said that Apple is always pushing the envelope when it comes to design. To them, shaving 1mm from the device might be a worthwhile goal. When they do that few more times, they have suddenly shawed off a close to 1cm. And they might have felt that the downsides are not important enough. In hindsight, the drawbacks of MBP when compared to PowerBook were not relevant. refininement and purity of the design were relevant.

In short, in many ways I was wrong six years ago. I'm glad Apple made the decisions they did.