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MacBook pro vs HP elitebook 8460p

Prodo123 said:
Like I just said,
1. Do you REALLY, REALLY need 12GB of RAM, or are 4GB of that sitting cold, unused? Also, the fact that you can afford 12GB of RAM for less than $2400 means you have a 4-slot RAM machine, which means it's a huge SOB that weighs at least 12 lbs.
2. That's one thick laptop, if it can fit a 15mm drive. The only 1TB 7200RPM drive out right now are enterprise-class drives, like the Seagate Constellation.2.
3. I lol'd at the sight of your video card; it's only just SLIGHTLY better than the MBP. Come back when you have the GTX 5xx series.

Also, only stupid people pay the Apple tax. Smart people go aftermarket. Hell, for all I know people could be buying refurb MBP's and maxing them out with 3rd party stuff for the total cost of $2500.

Finally, any chance this machine is a Sager?
Edit: Just confirmed Rhyalus's laptop is a Sager, no other laptop brand offers his configuration for the price. Sagers are blocky and ugly. Also, he doesn't have a 1TB RAID 0 drive; he has a 500GB drive and a second 500GB drive with RAID 0. Which means his laptop isn't 12 lbs; it's a backbreaking 14 lbs.
Click to expand...

Hi, yes, I need 12 GB of RAM... I admitted that I may have special requirements - this is not a machine that I play games with.

It is a Clevo P170HM re-branded by a company that preps machines for the Government and other special applications. They arrange for better LCD screens, do longer burn ins and offer long term support contracts.

It weighs 8 pounds...not 14lbs with the two drives for RAID 0. I don't think you can get RAID 0 with one drive... :)
(Edit: The GTX 5x series is not mobile - I think the best mobile card from nvidia is the 485M)

It is a 17" beast - no doubt. That is why I bought a 13" MBP for my mobile work.

But we are losing focus here. My premise was that I could not get an equivalent machine from Mac. We got here because I told the OP that the HP would be cheaper, for the equivalent power.

I also left out one more requirement for the laptop, but this will not be a slight on Apple - I need an Nvidia card so that it can do CUDA computations. :)

R
 
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I have not had the time but I will try to price out a machine with the same specs as my P170HM.

Some questions:

1 - Is the max 16 GB of RAM on the 17" MBP? I assume that there are two memory slots. Is the speed 1600 or is it limited to 1333?

2 - Is bootcamp lossless? Meaning, if one boots into Windows 7, that an app will run just as fast as it would on a native PC? I assume that running under Parallels (which I own), slows things down.

3 - Does Apple ever refresh and change video card vendors from your recollection?

The Apple battery should be better, but it won't last for 6 hours. When my apps run, they use all 8 threads for an hour or two at a time. I would expect to run this on AC power, regardless.

So that leads to yet another question; given the current design and the increased heat from finally using i7's, do you think it is wise to wait for Apple to come up with better heat dissipation schemes? The P170HM barely cracks a sweat, but there are two fans.

R
 
ahh so now he asks the questions instead of posting them as facts...

1. the theoretical limit is different from an actual possible limit because macbook pros only have 2 SO-DIMM slots. But yes for all purposes 16 is the limit right now until pc3-10600 16gb ram sticks are available, which would bring the max up to 32gb. Macs use 1333 MHz PC3-10600 DDR3 SDRAM

2. yes, there will be no performance loss. Bootcamp just helps you set up a dual boot config on your drive so that you can boot into any os that you want.

3. yes, last gen macs had nvidia cards in them, this refresh they got the amd treatment, who knows what we will get next year.

Waiting for a cooler mac would mean waiting for Ivy Bridge which could be put into them late this year or waiting for a new refresh. Part of the reason macbooks get hot is that the aluminum body is designed as a heat sink.. it's supposed to get hot.
 
xxBURT0Nxx said:
ahh so now he asks the questions instead of posting them as facts...

1. the theoretical limit is different from an actual possible limit because macbook pros only have 2 SO-DIMM slots. But yes for all purposes 16 is the limit right now until pc3-10600 16gb ram sticks are available, which would bring the max up to 32gb. Macs use 1333 MHz PC3-10600 DDR3 SDRAM

2. yes, there will be no performance loss. Bootcamp just helps you set up a dual boot config on your drive so that you can boot into any os that you want.

3. yes, last gen macs had nvidia cards in them, this refresh they got the amd treatment, who knows what we will get next year.

Waiting for a cooler mac would mean waiting for Ivy Bridge which could be put into them late this year or waiting for a new refresh. Part of the reason macbooks get hot is that the aluminum body is designed as a heat sink.. it's supposed to get hot.
Click to expand...

I do not yet concede, my friend.

When I have time I will configure a high end system and decide if I can give it a go. Until nvidia is available though, I may not be able to do a trial buy.

So let's get back to how expensive Macs are in general. :)

R
 
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