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MBP 13" with i5 CPU and discreet GPU

acron1

acron1

macrumors regular
Original poster
Dec 7, 2008
134
0
Am I the only one that craves a 13" MBP with at least an i5 CPU and discreet graphics? I sold my MP 13" aluminum and thought about going for the HP Envy 14" but I find myself missing OS X. My wife is getting annoyed with me because she finds me using her MP all the time... Is there light at the end of the tunnel?
 
Can you name 3 13" models that have a normal i5? low voltages don't count. A regular c2d spanks low voltage anything.

Can you name any 13" laptop that matches the 320m's performance with a battery that hits 7-8 hours with ease?

If the only thing stopping you from getting the 13" is because it's missing one or two things you're going to be waiting a long time. Each year brings a new rev and each rev is never bleeding edge tech.
 
Apple will not undercut it's more expensive laptops by offering the same thing in the "cheap" laptop.

And fitting a dedicated graphics card into a 13 inch laptop is very hard to do while maintaining a small form factor
 
They could get rid of the Superdrive to gain the necessary space for a discrete gpu and better cooling. Without the superdrive being able to read contemporary Moviediscs: Blu-Ray it is obsolete anyway. I used it once when reinstalling MacOS after getting a new harddisk, since then it is a total waste of space (and quite a lot of it).
 
brianfast said:
Apple will not undercut it's more expensive laptops by offering the same thing in the "cheap" laptop.

And fitting a dedicated graphics card into a 13 inch laptop is very hard to do while maintaining a small form factor
Click to expand...

Thank you. OP, please open the bottom case of a 13" MBP and find the space for a dedicated GPU, its fan, etc, without getting rid of half of the battery. It is intel's fault that we don't currently have i3/i5 13" MBPs, and I wouldn't expect one with a discrete GPU anytime soon either
 
Don't bother with the Envy 14 unless you don't care about battery life. It gets 4 hours max on integrated gfx without the slice, and the slice adds another 1.5lbs to the overall weight. I owned one for 2 days and sold it to buy my 15" MBP i7.
 
Meever said:
Can you name 3 13" models that have a normal i5? low voltages don't count. A regular c2d spanks low voltage anything.

Can you name any 13" laptop that matches the 320m's performance with a battery that hits 7-8 hours with ease?

If the only thing stopping you from getting the 13" is because it's missing one or two things you're going to be waiting a long time. Each year brings a new rev and each rev is never bleeding edge tech.
Click to expand...

Sony Z.

Standard battery: 4.5 hours on the 330M and 7.5 hours on integrated.
Optional battery: 6.5 hours on the 330M and 10.5 hours on the integrated.

So you have to do a custom order and ask for the optional battery :p
 
I dont care about the Processor at all. i5 2.53 or C2D 2.53 wont make me type or scroll any faster... extreme powerful Notebooks are for geeks and little boys, people that never will be satisfied with anything...

But I could scream for every one of those idiots who yell for discrete graphics cards in a 13" - just to use it as a damn gaming device with fans on 5000+ and still 50°C on the casing. For gaming get a damn desktop you damn freaks.

I want the 13" to be reliable in battery life and strong on everything one have to do on the go. The 320 is very efficient and even powerful enough for some light gaming or HD on external displays.
 
iPhysicist said:
I dont care about the Processor at all. i5 2.53 or C2D 2.53 wont make me type or scroll any faster... extreme powerful Notebooks are for geeks and little boys, people that never will be satisfied with anything...

But I could scream for every one of those idiots who yell for discrete graphics cards in a 13" - just to use it as a damn gaming device with fans on 5000+ and still 50°C on the casing. For gaming get a damn desktop you damn freaks.

I want the 13" to be reliable in battery life and strong on everything one have to do on the go. The 320 is very efficient and even powerful enough for some light gaming or HD on external displays.
Click to expand...

What you want is not what everyone needs. It isn't too much to ask for some discrete gfx on a 13" computer. it is definitely possible. we aren't asking for a top of the line 5850 graphics card. just want something that can do a little more. Call me crazy but if sony was able to make a 13" computer with said specs, then the amazing steve jobs should be able to as well.

EDIT: i Know there is no space for a dedicated gpu but maybe its time for a little change in the casing.
 
stefan1975 said:
sure there is. lose the optical drive. redesign the innards. here just a small example:

asus U35 Weight & dimensions
Weight 1900 g
Depth 233 mm
Width 322 mm
Height (front) 14.8 mm
Height (rear) 24.6 mm
battery 11.5hr
video 310

MBP13
Height: 0.95 inch (2.41 cm)
Width: 12.78 inches (32.5 cm)
Depth: 8.94 inches (22.7 cm)
Weight: 4.5 pounds (2.04 kg)
battery 10.0hr
video 320

so the MBP is heavier, thicker, nearly as wide and has a (suggested) lesser battery time, and still they manage to fit an i5 ánd a dedicated GPU in the asus (although the 310 wont win many gaming awards).

the no room card has been played too often, just because SJ suggested it doesn't make it true neccesarily.
Click to expand...

According to the specs you posted, the Asus is thicker. Unless you are just going to focus on the edge closest to the keyboard where the entire base of the laptop abruptly slopes upward towards the outer edge.

Then I am pretty sure the 310 discrete graphics is slower than the 320 integrated. It would be nice if the 13" macbook pro had the i5 CPU, but I would not sacrifice anything for the i3.

Finally I doubt in real world applications, the Asus would have longer battery life.
 
iPhysicist said:
I dont care about the Processor at all. i5 2.53 or C2D 2.53 wont make me type or scroll any faster... extreme powerful Notebooks are for geeks and little boys, people that never will be satisfied with anything...

But I could scream for every one of those idiots who yell for discrete graphics cards in a 13" - just to use it as a damn gaming device with fans on 5000+ and still 50°C on the casing. For gaming get a damn desktop you damn freaks.

I want the 13" to be reliable in battery life and strong on everything one have to do on the go. The 320 is very efficient and even powerful enough for some light gaming or HD on external displays.
Click to expand...

Wow somebody is cranky. Chill out there bud, you can insult, rant, belittle, and yell what YOU want all day its not necessarily what everyone else needs.

So because you don't care about the processor or the graphics card and berate those who would like something better makes you what?...somehow superior? Extremely powerful notebooks are for video editors who are on-site with the producer and video crew or those who travel and need the horsepower to get work done on the road.

Obviously, there are other examples as well but this was just one. Judging by your attitude you sound like a little boy yourself.
 
stefan1975 said:
asus u35
asus uj30c
sony vaio z VPC-Z116GX
Fujitsu LIFEBOOK S760
Dell Latitude E4310
HP Pavilion dv3-2350
Toshiba Portege R700
Toshiba Satellite R630
.....
Click to expand...

What the... most of them either come with the i3 or are business class with no discrete gpus.

I was thinking of the Vaio Z as well, but it's in a totally different class. starting price is like $1700 and SSD is standard. This laptop is obviously geared towards power business users who need a very powerful mobile platform on the go. For the price of the Vaio Z you could get a 15" MBP which pretty much has the exact same guts (minus v-ram on the gpu) with more screen real-estate and battery life.
 
BeamWalker said:
They could get rid of the Superdrive to gain the necessary space for a discrete gpu and better cooling. Without the superdrive being able to read contemporary Moviediscs: Blu-Ray it is obsolete anyway. I used it once when reinstalling MacOS after getting a new harddisk, since then it is a total waste of space (and quite a lot of it).
Click to expand...

If someone is using the MB as their primary computer, removing the superdrive would be a big hassle. No way to rip CD's, watch DVDs (which are still the majority media for movies); install media based programs, burn backups, etc., without an external drive. That would probably be more of a negative than somewhat better performance in areas most users would never notice.
 
Meever said:
What the... most of them either come with the i3 or are business class with no discrete gpus.

I was thinking of the Vaio Z as well, but it's in a totally different class. starting price is like $1700 and SSD is standard. This laptop is obviously geared towards power business users who need a very powerful mobile platform on the go. For the price of the Vaio Z you could get a 15" MBP which pretty much has the exact same guts (minus v-ram on the gpu) with more screen real-estate and battery life.
Click to expand...

all (most?) come with a choice of cpu's and offer a full i5 as an option both 450 or 520. I know a discrete graphics card isn't offered by all and is preferable .... but that wasn't part of your initial question.
 
stefan1975 said:
all (most?) come with a choice of cpu's and offer a full i5 as an option both 450 or 520. I know a discrete graphics card isn't offered by all and is preferable .... but that wasn't part of your initial question.
Click to expand...

My question was worded a little oddly. I meant to say a 13" with similar form factor and 3d muscles with the i5 processor. In theory all notebooks with i3 should be able to take a i5 since they use the same socket right? Then depending on the mobo chipset they might or might not have access to the integrated gpu.

This is kind of the whole reason why the 13" didn't get a cpu update. If you put in the i3 or i5 you can do a integrated chipset thanks to intel's insanity. You could add something like a 310 along with them but they're a major drain on the battery life, you would have to have a switching solution (both optimus and Apple's proprietary software SUCKS, and manual buttons are a hassle) and you would have gotten inferior performance.

320m is one hell of a integrated solution. I don't understand why people are so hung up on the fact that it's integrated. It smokes most entry level gpus AND has like almost no impact on battery life, on top of that it's hassle free. No flip flopping, no software hunting, etc, etc,etc!
 
Well I just tested out the 320M on my friends MBP playing SC2. At native res and all on medium it was running pretty smoothly (id estimate 30+ fps). I underestimated the 320 but it proved itself fairly well. No its definitely not a gaming card but its better than most integrated GPU's I've come across and performed well enough for most people.
 
aeboi said:
so was betamax
Click to expand...

Your Beta Max analogy is perfect evidence for my assertion. Just as Beta lost to VHS, HD-DVD lost to Blu-ray. VHS was around for many years until DVD displaced it over several years. Now Blu-ray's penetration of the market is displacing DVDs. Until you can come up with an alternative medium that the Studios can exclusively control, optical media will be here for many years, perhaps decades, to come.
 
Meever said:
What the... most of them either come with the i3 or are business class with no discrete gpus.

I was thinking of the Vaio Z as well, but it's in a totally different class. starting price is like $1700 and SSD is standard. This laptop is obviously geared towards power business users who need a very powerful mobile platform on the go. For the price of the Vaio Z you could get a 15" MBP which pretty much has the exact same guts (minus v-ram on the gpu) with more screen real-estate and battery life.
Click to expand...

The Sony Z weighs the same as an iPad, much lighter than the MBP 13 ;)

It's geared towards people who need an ultraportable laptop without sacrificing power.

And the MBP 15 is not in the same league of a Sony Z for people that need an ultraportable laptop like a netbook. It's more comparable to a Macbook Air, but then on steriods.

The Sony Z has more real estate btw and it can get 10.5 hours with the optional battery btw.
 
Cave Man said:
Your Beta Max analogy is perfect evidence for my assertion. Just as Beta lost to VHS, HD-DVD lost to Blu-ray. VHS was around for many years until DVD displaced it over several years. Now Blu-ray's penetration of the market is displacing DVDs. Until you can come up with an alternative medium that the Studios can exclusively control, optical media will be here for many years, perhaps decades, to come.
Click to expand...

I for one, look forwards to getting my super high definition holgraphic movies on isoliniar chips or crystal storage devices.
 
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