More Details of the MacBook Pro

[backdraft]

Hmm... Fishy...

Hmm... a dual core Intel chip beating out a single core G5 chip... (not by much)
go figure...

Only 2x faster than G5 with 2 cores? Intel @65nm and the G5 @90nm also taking into consideration the faster RAM and Video Card on the intel... thought it would have been something impressive... NOT

But wait they switched because of watt/heat issues...

Hmm... Why does the MacBook have an 85 watt power supply vs the old Powerbooks 65 watt power supply? I know maybe because the SINGLE layer DVD/CD burner in the MacBook needs more power than the DUAL layer DVD/CD burner in the old PowerBook...

Nah that can't be it, maybe it needs more power for the modem in the MacBook... No wait... Nevermind...

Intel HA! lmao

 

[javiercr]

At the end of the actual blog it says: "I asked if there would be MacBook replacements for the 17-inch and 12-inch PowerBooks, but he said, "Oh, it's much cooler than that. Much cooler." "

What about a Dua Dual Core 17" MacBook Pro? ok, won't happen but would be cool

 

[frome]

Well i guess slimline blue-ray are not under development yet so a blue-ray drive won't be put in a macbook pro anytime soon. Also considering apple can't even fit a dual layer disk inside the Macbook Pro

 

[shawnce]

Why does the MacBook have an 85 watt power supply vs the old Powerbooks 65 watt power supply?

Because Apple wants to charge the battery faster and/or the battery is capable of being charged faster?

Only 2x faster than G5 with 2 cores? Intel @65nm and the G5 @90nm also taking into consideration the faster RAM and Video Card on the intel... thought it would have been something impressive... NOT

A single Yonah core is just about as fast (depending on what you are doing) as a single PPC970/fx (G5) core clock for clock yet it use much less power (better then 1/2)... that is impressive. Then factor in that you get two cores and still are burning less power then the single core G5.

I love the PowerPC ISA, I like the PPC 970 chip but the Core Duo/Solo is much better in performance per watt and about the same in performance... making a great laptop / small form computer factor chip. Merom will be even better.

Don't fool yourself.

EDIT: Of course PowerBook uses a G4... a G4 core is generally much slower then a Yonah core yet a single Yonah core uses about the same amount of power... this is giving Apples laptop a great boost in performance with a similar CPU power budget (the second core can be shutdown and both cores can be down clocked as needed).

 

[javiercr]

Only 2x faster than G5 with 2 cores? Intel @65nm and the G5 @90nm also taking into consideration the faster RAM and Video Card on the intel... thought it would have been something impressive... NOT

But wait they switched because of watt/heat issues...

Hmm... Why does the MacBook have an 85 watt power supply vs the old Powerbooks 65 watt power supply? I know maybe because the SINGLE layer DVD/CD burner in the MacBook needs more power than the DUAL layer DVD/CD burner in the old PowerBook...

Nah that can't be it, maybe it needs more power for the modem in the MacBook... No wait... Nevermind...

Intel HA! lmao

Well the thing has two cores so 1 g4 core requires 65watt and 2 cores intel requires 85 watt, not 130w! only 30watt more to get twice the power is not bad mate! the sarcasm about the single/double layer and modem really does not make sense here.

those things would be nice to have but i haven't used a modem for 2 years...remember when they came out with the imac with no floppy? did you miss it for long?

I never burned a dual layer dvd because i can't find them in any shop and if i order them from the interenet I can buy 5 single layer dvds for the price of 1 dual layer dvd....

so all thouse things would be nice but if you have to cut corners to put a processor x4 the price and maintain the overall price of the system I think they are the right corners to cut.

 

[Performa]

Firewire800 useless?

And this means that we will be able to dual boot into windows. Congratulations everyone!

The only thing I think sucks is no DL DVD burner. I never used modem or FW800... ever.

No offence... but FW800 = completely useless.

Unless you do video editing like me and recently purchased an external G-RAID firewire 800 drive. A more accurate statement would be "completely useless to me", not "completely useless". If all you do on a computer is check your email, is every other computer feature "completely useless"?

 

[YS2003]

It seems Apple has rushed this MacBook Pro out to the market in a hurry, considering it is missing some of the useful options such as DL DVD burner & firewire port. Even though many people are thrilled with this new Mac based on Intel chip, I am not thrilled enough about this new machine to buy it for now. Maybe in a year or two, I may consider getting a MacBook Pro. Since this machine is not even out to the market and being tested by the third parties, I am interested in seeing the actual user's reviews of this machine.

As far as the design of the machine is concerned, I like it as I like the current design of PowerBook (clean, clutter-free, simple and elegant, and professional looking).

 

[nagromme]

Hmm... a dual core Intel chip beating out a single core G5 chip... (not by much)
go figure...

Only 2x faster than G5 with 2 cores? Intel @65nm and the G5 @90nm also taking into consideration the faster RAM and Video Card on the intel... thought it would have been something impressive... NOT

But wait they switched because of watt/heat issues...

Hmm... Why does the MacBook have an 85 watt power supply vs the old Powerbooks 65 watt power supply? I know maybe because the SINGLE layer DVD/CD burner in the MacBook needs more power than the DUAL layer DVD/CD burner in the old PowerBook...

Nah that can't be it, maybe it needs more power for the modem in the MacBook... No wait... Nevermind...

Intel HA! lmao

Apple switching to Intel. Biggest mistake ever!

The G5 is a fine chip, and Core Duo (by some tests) is "only" 2x faster... but you can't put a G5 in a laptop. And IBM wants to get out of the computer CPU business so the situation would only worsen. Intel WANTS to be in business with Apple, and has now delivered OS X laptop performance far beyond what IBM or Freescale could manage.

So what is it you think Apple should have done?

PS, The new brighter screen and the new ATI GPU need a little power

Seriously Apple may have really dropped the ball here. It might be a long time before they can fit a DL DVD drive and Blu-ray in that ultra-slim form factor. Damn.

It's possible that Apple began to finalize the MacBook engineering BEFORE they knew that ultra-slim DL drives would be delayed this long. In which case, did Apple really drop the ball by opting for ultra-slim? I wouldn't have wanted to have a thicker PowerBook just to get a DL drive in there. (You can't please everyone all the time, though. A few people NEED DL--for purposes other than piracy--I'm sure. And they have no choice but to get a G4 or wait, so I sympathize.)

Rosetta supports AltiVec emulation now.

Review... http://developer.apple.com/document...l#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40002217-CH210-236747

Excellent

 

[shawnce]

considering it is missing some of the useful options such ... firewire port.

It has a FireWire 400 port (which is the dominate FW connection type in the market).

 

[solaris]

When the MacBook Pro get an 8x (or faster) Dual Layer SuperDrive, and hopefully a Firewire 800 port, I will reconsider buying one.
The current one is a step back in features, compared to the current PowerBook G4 line!

 

[inxxcasinoxxout]

Judging by the diagram of the intel motherboard on the macbook pro, it uses the well known AC '97 sound chip. Didn't Apple used to use their Core Audio chip, and wasn't that supposed to be better?

If the Core Audio is better, will there be a noticable amount of audio quality missing?

 

[nagromme]

Judging by the diagram of the intel motherboard on the macbook pro, it uses the well known AC '97 sound chip. Didn't Apple used to use their Core Audio chip, and wasn't that supposed to be better?

If the Core Audio is better, will there be a noticable amount of audio quality missing?

Fear not: MacBooks DO have Core Audio. (Not to mention optical digital audio I/O and surround sound.)

Core Audio is software Part of OS X: http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/coreaudio/

 

[shawnce]

Judging by the diagram of the intel motherboard on the macbook pro, it uses the well known AC '97 sound chip. Didn't Apple used to use their Core Audio chip, and wasn't that supposed to be better?

If the Core Audio is better, will there be a noticable amount of audio quality missing?

Core Audio is not a chip but the audio API in Mac OS X backed by audio processing plugins. Traditionally Apple has done sound processing (decoding, mixing, 3D mixing/rendering) all in software and not with specialized sound chips. That may change now that they are using a chip set that in theory has advanced audio mixing capabilities built-in. I think no one yet knows if Apple leverages any of the chipsets audio processing capabilities.

 

[YS2003]

It has a FireWire 400 port (which is the dominate FW connection type in the market).

I just checked the specs. Yes, it does have the firewire port (what a relief). I thought they got rid of it as I did not see it in the pictures they posted.

 

[trailblazer]

anybody else realise that the MacBookPro press release images look like they have been heavily photoshopped?
The image with the Powerbook glowing on itself doesn't look right..something about the way the light is cast..
I heard something like they are just older powerbooks, photoshopped... I can't back that with any reliable sources tho..

 

[parrothead]

Dang it, Just when I go and invest in a FW800 external drive they do this!

 

[parrothead]

And this means that we will be able to dual boot into windows. Congratulations everyone!

The only thing I think sucks is no DL DVD burner. I never used modem or FW800... ever.

No offence... but FW800 = completely useless.

Of course in today's world of broadband internet a modem does seem useless, but they are extremely nice to have if you needed to send a fax, or went somewhere that only had dial-up.

 

[syklee26]

Why Fw800?

I own Lacie Hard Drive and I can tell you FW800 is great. but this was an obvious decision for Apple to drop it. when Apple added FW800, they anticipated many devices getting 800. That didn't happen. Only external hard drives have 800 (someone could educate me on this but I haven't seen anything else).

let me ask you guys something: isn't laptop a portable computer device? you are carrying the thing around in your backpack and I assume you aren't going to carry around external hard drives with 800, which adds 3 lbs more and more hernia too.

plus, most people have fw400 and not fw800. so you can't make the argument that people might go around import something from other fw devices.

same thing goes to superdrive DL. are you going around burning pirated movies or something? I have lightscribe DL and I haven't used DL once. I still don't see the practical purpose of it.

Of course, having these devices are better than not having them. but losing them don't really give me a reason not to get the macbook pro.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

Also considering apple can't even fit a dual layer disk inside the Macbook Pro

Funny how Apple can't but Acer can. (Their Core Duo lappy with 1" case ht. has a DL drive. Makes you go hmmm...

 

[271]

I know it's theoretically 2x fast as FW400, but nothing has been able to use this kind of speed yet. There are some FW800 external drives, and some high end video equipment that use it. You could count them on one hand though. Face it, FW800 never took off, and it is pretty much useless.

dude.. read my post up there. ther are lot's of FW800 drives used by lots of people and pros of video/audio world who really appreciate the extra bandwidth/speed.

as far as devices, there are some and my audio interface is one of them and when i add another one at some point the only way i'll be able to piggy back them will be via FW800 since FW400 doesn't have the bandwidth.

faster/better protocols are always welcome.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

I never burned a dual layer dvd because i can't find them in any shop and if i order them from the interenet I can buy 5 single layer dvds for the price of 1 dual layer dvd....

Where do you shop for computer supplies...Wal-Mart? Either that or you must live in the hole Saddam crawled out of. MicroCenter has 'em, CUSA, Staples, Office Depot, BestBuy, weekend computer shows. Bottomline if you live in any decent sized city you should be able to find DL disks somewhere. Sure they cost a little more than standard DVDs, but if you work with big files it's a lot easier to be able to put all the data on one disc than to have to span them amoung two.

By your logic (5 single layer DVDs instead of 1 DL DVD) you should be buying 4 1.5Ghz Celeron laptops rather than one 1.67Ghz Powerbook.

 

[Stella]

anybody else realise that the MacBookPro press release images look like they have been heavily photoshopped?
The image with the Powerbook glowing on itself doesn't look right..something about the way the light is cast..
I heard something like they are just older powerbooks, photoshopped... I can't back that with any reliable sources tho..

Yep, the shadows are just wrong - for example the IRD sensor isn't in the shadow!

I'm surprised they didn't have a machine spare...

By the sounds of it FW 800 was left out because Intel doesn't support FW800. I don't know why Apple had to reduce the height of the laptop since it prevents them from fitting in a DVDL.

Thinner isn't always better.

Additionally I'm quite surprised they didn't offer a MacBook Pro without the iSight built in - some businesses do not allow cameras ( perhaps a lower end MacBook Pro )

 

[magi.sys]

I hope apple moves to the UEFI (now using EFI) in the PowerMacs or whatever they end up calling it. With UEFI, PC video cards/Raid cards/etc wont need a mac specific firmware to use. No more price gouging and waiting for Mac specific cards!!! Just buy ATI's (or Nvidia's) newest card and drop it in and boot!!

I'm looking forward to just dropping in a intel 10G ethernet card and have it just work!

 

[Photorun]

Face it, FW800 never took off, and it is pretty much useless.

Actually Randall, you and your dumbarse comments are what's really useless.

Stop talking out your rear and/or telling people what your feeble mind thinks of things like your misguided weak opinions in all these threads and your silly sophomoric pithy troglodyte babblings, you're a waste of 1s and 0s. You aren't the authority on anything, you're just a opinionated blowhard troll.

 

[AidenShaw]

Apple killed FW800 a long time ago

Really, it's a shame that Apple has removed it from the Powerbook line.

Apple doomed 1394b a long time ago when they decided that only the "pro" machines needed 1394b.

That ensured that the number of 1394b systems was so small (say "niche of a niche") that the number of devices stayed miniscule.

And, deciding that an incompatible connector was needed was the nail in the coffin.

If Apple had put 1394b on everything, and used the same connectors, then perhaps the 1394b user base would be large enough that more than a few fringe players would produce devices.

On the other hand, the USB 1.1 -> USB 2.0 transition was brilliant. Use the same cables, stay 100% compatible, "do the right thing" with strange mixed configurations....

Didn't those Apple music players used to have Firesomething, but now they're USB 2.0?