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Macbook Pro- Less than impressed.

carfac

carfac

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Feb 18, 2006
1,244
31
I really DO want to like it.

I have been slowly moving over to Macs at home. We have a 20" and a 24" iMac, and they seem to be fine for home use. So when my 5 year old HP laptop took a flier a month ago, I thought it was time to switch that over. I got the 15.4 inch 1999 model unibody. It sure LOOKS nice. But I am having a hard time getting it to work well for me.

Maybe I was expecting too much. I dunno. But this core 2 duo seems much slower than my old Intel Pent 4 in the HP, and is certainly slower than either iMac. By a lot. Example? From a new boot- nothing else running- Firefox takes 43 "bounces" to open. My imacs- 3-4 bounces. Sure, it boots to the main screen faster than my XP laptop... but I can get INTO a program 30 seconds faster on the old HP.

Then there is all that stress going Win to Mac- no backspace... screwed up Control vs. command buttons, etc. I knew about that going in because of the iMacs we have. And the screen is a real disappointment. The 5 year old HP has a much cleaner- and larger! display. I find the MBP cramped. The keyboard sometimes doesn't work, or has some latency. You press a button and there is a noticeable lag until it prints to screen.

SO I started working on the old HP- got it up and running. I am very seriously considering ditching the MBP. It may look kinds cool, but I just do not know. Maybe I was expecting too much from the MBP...

On the other hand, I do like the track pad. I prefer a mouse, though...
 
You have a dud, I have non of the issues relating to slow response on my baseline MBP. Take it back.....
 
I was hoping that was the case... cuz I really do WANT to like it. But it is so dog gone slow, I want to throw it out the window.
 
Backspace is called delete. It does the exact same thing. Deletes the characters to the left of the cursor. To do a forward delete hold down function.

Use the command key where you used to use control. It's not screwed up, it's a different name.

There's something wrong with your laptop's hardware, take it in for fixing.
 
Agreed, you have a dud. I'm typing on my new 15" right now, and notice none of the issues you have. It sounds like a bad logic board. If you're within the 14 day return period, take that puppy back. If not, call up AppleCare. I came from a 1.83GHz computer and can 110% tell the difference and have none of the problems you seem to be having, and the screen is freaking magnificent. A friend of mine agrees with me on this as well (owner of a 15" as well). This should be a beautiful machine, and it sounds like you aren't getting that! :cool:
 
So would you say this (which I think is a 2.4 Ghz) should be about the same speed as my 24" which is I think a 2Ghz?
 
carfac said:
So would you say this (which I think is a 2.4 Ghz) should be about the same speed as my 24" which is I think a 2Ghz?
Click to expand...

It should be faster. I have a 2.4GHz MBP and it's faster than any computer I've owned, and the screen is really bright and clear ... that doesn't mean you couldn't have had a better screen in an older PC laptop though.

Firefox is slow to open on it, but it's also slow on an iMac. It's the slowest program to open on either of my Macs, but it doesn't take 30-40 bounces in the dock.
 
Geez, my 12" PowerBook 1.33GHz G4 opens Firefox 3.08 in 3 bounces... with its ancient 4200RPM hard drive and 1.25GB RAM.
 
carfac said:
So would you say this (which I think is a 2.4 Ghz) should be about the same speed as my 24" which is I think a 2Ghz?
Click to expand...

With exception to encoding movies and gaming I can't tell the difference between my 2.4 MBP and 3.06 Imac, OSX is zippy in both.
 
i fell like the op is lying. it seems he just wants to bash apple and big up hp or something. that story doesn't even seem believable. from 43 bounces to an old ass hp screen being better than a unimbp he is full of shi$.
 
Almost sounds like Spotlight is still indexing the drive.

For a new machine this is normal until spotlight finishes, and restarting to fix the problem just delays it or could get the machine in a loop.
 
capriseyhaze said:
i fell like the op is lying. it seems he just wants to bash apple and big up hp or something. that story doesn't even seem believable. from 43 bounces to an old ass hp screen being better than a unimbp he is full of shi$.
Click to expand...

lol right.

I agree with everyone else, you just got a lemon. Surely if it's as bad you say, Apple will gladly replace it.
 
Why waste your acting talents here? You should enter your name as a candidate for the new Microsoft series of ads, where they show people picking PCs over Macs. They can film your case history for their next ad and you might end up on TV.
 
capriseyhaze said:
i fell like the op is lying. it seems he just wants to bash apple and big up hp or something. that story doesn't even seem believable. from 43 bounces to an old ass hp screen being better than a unimbp he is full of shi$.
Click to expand...

I believe him. Recently something happened to my sister's Macbook and it was running even slower than my decade old Pentium 4 which had tons of bloatware and viruses in it. It'd take something like 10 seconds just to click on the menu on the upper left hand corner.

No idea what happened, but it's working now.
 
Sir Cecil said:
Why waste your acting talents here? You should enter your name as a candidate for the new Microsoft series of ads, where they show people picking PCs over Macs. They can film your case history for their next ad and you might end up on TV.
Click to expand...

Might help you to actually understand his post. He is slowly moving to Macs, already had 2, count them, 2 iMacs before he got the UMBP and they are...FINE.

He is just having issues with one piece of equipment and is obviously frustrated with a less than par computer. Considering he has been here on the forum for a couple of years, I don't think he is acting as you think.

He has clearly picked Mac > PC and wants his laptop to work as it should.

To the OP. For sure go to Apple and get a replacement. My 15" UMBP boots in 35 seconds, opens iPhoto in 2 bounces and has absolutely no keyboard lag on any app. I've been using Mac for a couple of years now and will absolutely not go back to PC. Once you ditch the HP for good, and not have that as a reminder of MS's system, Mac OSX will win you over for good.
 
Indeed something is dreadfully wrong with your MBP.

I have a 15" MBP Unibody 2.4 and also a 24" iMac 2.4. The user experience on both is very similar.
 
carfac said:
I was hoping that was the case... cuz I really do WANT to like it. But it is so dog gone slow, I want to throw it out the window.
Click to expand...

Firstly I would fully format your hard drive and reinstall Mac OS X. If that does not work, I would take it to Apple because 43 bounces sounds a little exaggerated. I mean not even a computer from 1998 would bounce 43 times before opening an application.
Also did you have a 7200RPM Hard drive on the HP or it was a 5400 RPM Hard Drive?
I know the hard drive speed makes a difference on opening programs and multi-tasking, not that it would make a difference in this case but if you want to match a desktop computer's speed to a laptop, you want to make sure that everything about the hardware is similar, especially the hard drive.
 
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