Macbook Pro - give up and get previous gen i7?

[propower]

2011 25" 2.0 here...... Idle with safari, mail, clamshell, with 24" ACD, between 40 and 50. Yours does sound too high..... defect.....

I am an audio guy too....... the difference between the i7 quad and i7 dual is just huge (assuming you use plug ins, virtual instruments etc...)..... With the quad you dedicate one proc for the OS and let the other three just do audio. Also for the same audio loading the quad will run MUCH cooler since the equivalent system loading is less than 1/2. I actually bought the 2011 13" dual i7 first, too hot, too much fan...... tried the 2010 dual core...... no better.... and now have the 15" i7 2011..... For the same audio load... by far the coolest of the bunch......

YMMV......
-Lee

 

[schnb]

rEFIt is a great little program, but it stopped working for me with the latest 10.6.7 update, and because of that I think it's unlikely to work on such a new machine, at least until an update for rEFIt comes out.

Just reinstalled rEFIt, it does work with 10.6.7! At least on my machine..

 

[schnb]

If it's idling at 60-65 C, take it back right away for a new one. That's too hot for just idling. That would make me think that something is running in the background causing it to idle that hot. My MBP hits 60-65 C only if I'm watching videos on YouTube, or anything else that uses flash.

Hm. Guess we'll see what they say next week then.

2011 25" 2.0 here...... Idle with safari, mail, clamshell, with 24" ACD, between 40 and 50. Yours does sound too high..... defect.....

I am an audio guy too....... the difference between the i7 quad and i7 dual is just huge (assuming you use plug ins, virtual instruments etc...)..... With the quad you dedicate one proc for the OS and let the other three just do audio. Also for the same audio loading the quad will run MUCH cooler since the equivalent system loading is less than 1/2. I actually bought the 2011 13" dual i7 first, too hot, too much fan...... tried the 2010 dual core...... no better.... and now have the 15" i7 2011..... For the same audio load... by far the coolest of the bunch......

YMMV......
-Lee

Ah okay. I was wondering how much better quad core would be - I asked so many Apple people and they couldn't answer me about that! So thank you for confirming. I use a lot of plugins and memory-hogging samplers so maybe it might be worth just trying to get a 2011 machine that works.

 

[X2468]

Hello everyone! Long time lurker..

I bought the new 15" Macbook Pro, the one with the 1gb gfx, 15" hi-res antiglare.. I'd been using an early 2008 model before that, so this glimpse in to the unibody madness is quite satisfying.

However, as many people have, been having a few problems... mainly the battery life, which seems to be worse than my 2008 model, even when I use only integrated graphics.

I mainly use these machines for audio work.. and also for a bit of gaming on the side.

Also appalled to see XP boot camp compatibility dropped - would have liked to have kept that, and a virtual machine doesn't quite cut it when you're doing audio programming etc.

The question is, do you reckon I'd be better off returning this pro in the next 30 days (when I'm allowed), and purchasing the 2010 2.8GHZ DUAL core i7 (with all the same specs, apart from NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M, 512MB gfx), or holding out and seeing if any of these battery/heat issues are later solved?

Not sure how useful the quad core is in my particular case.. Decisions decisions..

I have the same model 2011 as yours, and my 2010 i7. As a long time Apple laptop user / enthusiast, I'm seeing a decline in the quality of testing, debugging & final quality control checks before shipping. It's quite disappointing.

For example, when I bought my 2010 BTO MBP last year I had to return it due to more than eight deep, over 2" long scratches on the palm rest and lid. The second, third were the same just in different areas. Finally the fourth BTO had scratches, but small enough I can live with them. It did however, kill the fun of getting a new one.

To your situation I believe based on my hands on experience with both, is the 2010 is quite a bit better.

When using the 2011 under load it gets pretty hot. I expected it, just not that high. I then decided to commit the time to tear it down, low & behold as I had anticipated, it had excessive amounts of thermal paste. I've got experience doing this, but on a Unibody MBP, it's even harder because of the thin dimensions & relatively fragile parts. Once that was done it lowered the temps, yet they are still higher than my 2010.

So the bottom line for me, I'm glad I didn't sell my 2010 yet, since I'm now going to sell my 2011.

 

[aznguyen316]

Indeed - I'm sure someone will have found a way within a few months! Shame about rEFIt too... and without 10.6.7 there are display issues on the new machines, so not worth rolling back.. Let's hope they update rEFIt soon- I get quite paranoid without it!

My refit works fine even with 10.6.7.

Also I had a 2010 i7 AG and with smc fan the 2010 seemed to get hotter. The 2011 has hit 90c but only a short amount of time before fans bring it down to 84 ish if I'm doing imovie. With gpu on I idle anywhere btween 40 and 50 with lappy cooler. Plan on repasting soon as well. Loving the 2011 quads for sure!

 

[schnb]

I have the same model 2011 as yours, and my 2010 i7. As a long time Apple laptop user / enthusiast, I'm seeing a decline in the quality of testing, debugging & final quality control checks before shipping. It's quite disappointing.

For example, when I bought my 2010 BTO MBP last year I had to return it due to more than eight deep, over 2" long scratches on the palm rest and lid. The second, third were the same just in different areas. Finally the fourth BTO had scratches, but small enough I can live with them. It did however, kill the fun of getting a new one.

To your situation I believe based on my hands on experience with both, is the 2010 is quite a bit better.

When using the 2011 under load it gets pretty hot. I expected it, just not that high. I then decided to commit the time to tear it down, low & behold as I had anticipated, it had excessive amounts of thermal paste. I've got experience doing this, but on a Unibody MBP, it's even harder because of the thin dimensions & relatively fragile parts. Once that was done it lowered the temps, yet they are still higher than my 2010.

So the bottom line for me, I'm glad I didn't sell my 2010 yet, since I'm now going to sell my 2011.

Goodness.. Lots of thermal paste then? Do you reckon it's better me trying Apple to get replacements, or finding someone to remove some manually, thus making sure I don't get another faulty one?
Looks like a good idea going back to the '10 model..

My refit works fine even with 10.6.7.

Yeah my bad, just installed again and it worked fine.




Man, after all the recommendations to stick with the 2011 though, I'm unsure.. It looks like the heat issue is here to stay, but I want to find out if the battery life is generally crap or just a bad batch! I will keep updates here for anyone possibly in the same situation.

 

[propower]

If you really idle in the 60's I say bring that puppy in and show them. That is out of range in my opinion...... Careful though..... any flash content from the web is just awful on Macs and easily puts my machine in that range...... I left it off of Safari and only boot Chrome when I have to watch.....

And yes..... quad is hugely important for the kind of audio work you are talking about...... my 2011 MBP geekbenches with 10% of my Mac Pro!....... not quite ready to be a replacement but ..... getting close.......

 

[mediasorcerer]

ah really... yeah I have 8gb of RAM, first thing I put in! It runs very fast, and Windows 7 on bootcamp is indeed great. It really is a great machine, I'm just worried abotu the slight issues, and am thinking if there is a time to return it, it may be now whilst I'm in the returns limit!
Yeah might do a callibration soon.. Whilst I was testing battery, I had the display on lowest though. Which is why it surprised me so much.

Good idea bout the SMC, might do - might wait til Apple have a look though and see if it's dodgy, don't wanna be wasting my time at all!






Oh really.. I may give them a call tomorrow then, cheers!

hey thats the only bummer about bto,s ,if the crap out and u have to return,another 2 week wait or so,

i really hope for your sake its all good,ive had to return once or twice,and had hassles big time from an apple reseller,but apple genius got them to replace it in the end,even tho it was out of return date by 4 days,cos it was certified doa from apple genius,they got my stamp of approval that day,i drove 200kms to get it replaced twice no joke!!first time they wouldnt at jb hifi [tards],but anyway,
yes get it checked,for your peace of mind!!!

 

[Spikestrip]

hey thats the only bummer about bto,s ,if the crap out and u have to return,another 2 week wait or so,

i really hope for your sake its all good,ive had to return once or twice,and had hassles big time from an apple reseller,but apple genius got them to replace it in the end,even tho it was out of return date by 4 days,cos it was certified doa from apple genius,they got my stamp of approval that day,i drove 200kms to get it replaced twice no joke!!first time they wouldnt at jb hifi [tards],but anyway,
yes get it checked,for your peace of mind!!!

Wow, that was a little difficult to read, but it makes some good points. The Apple staff mostly sees iPhone customers. The Apple store changed after the iPhone came out. All the nice customers were replaced my swarms of iPhone owners, who all seemed like they felt we owed them more than they already bought.

So when a nice customer, with a genuine problem shows up, they love it. Giving away free computers makes their day, you just have to have a reason to get a new one. If you custom configured a computer well over $1,000, all you have to do is express concern for the lifetime of the computer. They will often replace a computer that is so new, rather than repair it.

It is true that a custom configured computer is more trouble for them to replace, and they cannot just give you a refund in the store (online Apple Store and brick-and-mortar Apple Stores actually report separate earnings). It is also true that, although it is more trouble for them, they CAN replace any computer they want in the store, but they have to order a custom configured computer. Same goes for online and phone help.

Be polite, but pushy. Make it clear that the only thing that will make you very happy is a new computer. It helps to mention that you JUST BOUGHT the computer, and it seems very soon to need a repair. You probably won't need to talk to more than one Apple employee with this strategy, but if it looks like the employee you are working with is not going to help you, get another employee to help before you get with a manager. The interaction between the Specialist and the Manager can have a great effect on the outcome of the interaction between you and the manager. Of course, every Apple Store has its own employees, and your mileage may certainly vary. Whether in store, or on the phone, you will be able to get Apple to replace this for you, and you deserve it.

Spike

 

[schnb]

Wow, that was a little difficult to read, but it makes some good points. The Apple staff mostly sees iPhone customers. The Apple store changed after the iPhone came out. All the nice customers were replaced my swarms of iPhone owners, who all seemed like they felt we owed them more than they already bought.

So when a nice customer, with a genuine problem shows up, they love it. Giving away free computers makes their day, you just have to have a reason to get a new one. If you custom configured a computer well over $1,000, all you have to do is express concern for the lifetime of the computer. They will often replace a computer that is so new, rather than repair it.

It is true that a custom configured computer is more trouble for them to replace, and they cannot just give you a refund in the store (online Apple Store and brick-and-mortar Apple Stores actually report separate earnings). It is also true that, although it is more trouble for them, they CAN replace any computer they want in the store, but they have to order a custom configured computer. Same goes for online and phone help.

Be polite, but pushy. Make it clear that the only thing that will make you very happy is a new computer. It helps to mention that you JUST BOUGHT the computer, and it seems very soon to need a repair. You probably won't need to talk to more than one Apple employee with this strategy, but if it looks like the employee you are working with is not going to help you, get another employee to help before you get with a manager. The interaction between the Specialist and the Manager can have a great effect on the outcome of the interaction between you and the manager. Of course, every Apple Store has its own employees, and your mileage may certainly vary. Whether in store, or on the phone, you will be able to get Apple to replace this for you, and you deserve it.

Spike

Sounds like a good game plan, cheers Spike! Hopefully they will understand the problems and agree to the replacement.. you make a true point, anyone spending £1800 (~$2900) on a laptop should probably be sure it's gonna last. But I'm a loyal customer, I'm sure they should see it my way.

 

[AlanFord]

Probably you got some defective model regarding temperatures.I have 2.0 15 and temp. goes from 40 - max 60 C on youtube, flash and videos.So just go to the Apple store, be nice, and replace with new one.Because of this issue you don't need to jump back to previous model.2011 is great, and is much faster then the 2010, plus thunderbolt etc etc.

 

[schnb]

Probably you got some defective model regarding temperatures.I have 2.0 15 and temp. goes from 40 - max 60 C on youtube, flash and videos.So just go to the Apple store, be nice, and replace with new one.Because of this issue you don't need to jump back to previous model.2011 is great, and is much faster then the 2010, plus thunderbolt etc etc.

Let's hope so. Just a shame about the XP incompatibility really.. and I got lucky with my machine having no wi-fi issues that I've read a lot about - hope the replacement is okay too! Having to wait fortnights in between receiving these things is a chore.

 

[wingsabr]

Wow my idle temp is only 37 cel. I have an SSD, 8gb ram and the 2.2 quad. I can only get up to 80 by playing SC2 or Kotor. Oddly enough putting in the SSD allowed me to drop down to 37 from 44.

 

[schnb]

Wow my idle temp is only 37 cel. I have an SSD, 8gb ram and the 2.2 quad. I can only get up to 80 by playing SC2 or Kotor. Oddly enough putting in the SSD allowed me to drop down to 37 from 44.

That's fair enough I guess, standard hard drives do get pretty hot.. I was going to get a new 7200rpm drive to put in but maybe not such a good idea for now! 37C is great though. I don't think I even remember the last time I saw a fan reading in the 40s..

 

[HBOC]

here is a picture of mine just taken. Idles low

 

[schnb]

here is a picture of mine just taken. Idles low

... wow. Okay mine is definitely faulty. I would post my idle stats but I'm currently exporting a video, so it's steady at 86C. Let's hope it doesn't melt before I have a chance to back up.