Hopefully this might be useful for people thinking about buying the new MBP or switching to OSX, but have some reservations.
I recently just made the 'switch' after working with Windows for the last 16 years. My reason for switching is that I want a laptop that I can use as my home computer. I do software development and wanted a quality and capable machine, and the MBPs seemed the way to go.
Like many, I've been glued to the forums for the last 4 months, anxiously reading rumors about the new MBP. I have never used OSX before, but learned a fair bit just from reading the forums daily.
When the new MBPs were released, I immediately placed an order for a 15". The full specs are in my signature.
After getting it, my first impressions was that the computer feels great, looks great, and applications are confusing to install when coming from a Windows environment.
However, I also initially noticed that the computer gets HOT. While initially setting the machine up and copying files over my network, I was getting 2.5hrs battery, and running at about 75 degrees. Having read the forums a lot, I was a little paranoid and worried about the temperature. My idle temperature was 43 degrees.
After looking around some more I found that I was using a lot of CPU in idle as I had a couple YouTube videos open. This caused Flash to use 50% of my CPU. Closing these open tabs caused my CPU to drop significantly. I then installed gfxCardStatus, which told me my discrete graphics were being used because Illustrator was also open. By closing Illustrator, the computer switched to integrated graphics.
The net result? My idle temperature lowered to a much more reasonable 32 degrees. In terms of battery life, using the computer for email, iTunes and web browsing with the screen on half brightness gave me an astonishing 9 hours of battery life last night. Maybe this is not as shocking for everyone else, but I was very impressed.
In terms of OSX, it's been a much easier learning curve than I expected. Applications are still a little confusing to me (do you actually uninstall a program by simply dragging it from Applications to your trash?) - but otherwise it's been great. I couldn't be more happy with my purchase and am glad to see all the hype was justified.
So if you're on the fence with concerns relating to heat, I'd say they are largely overblown (based on my experience), and would definitely recommend you go for it. Now I wish I did this a few years ago!
I recently just made the 'switch' after working with Windows for the last 16 years. My reason for switching is that I want a laptop that I can use as my home computer. I do software development and wanted a quality and capable machine, and the MBPs seemed the way to go.
Like many, I've been glued to the forums for the last 4 months, anxiously reading rumors about the new MBP. I have never used OSX before, but learned a fair bit just from reading the forums daily.
When the new MBPs were released, I immediately placed an order for a 15". The full specs are in my signature.
After getting it, my first impressions was that the computer feels great, looks great, and applications are confusing to install when coming from a Windows environment.
However, I also initially noticed that the computer gets HOT. While initially setting the machine up and copying files over my network, I was getting 2.5hrs battery, and running at about 75 degrees. Having read the forums a lot, I was a little paranoid and worried about the temperature. My idle temperature was 43 degrees.
After looking around some more I found that I was using a lot of CPU in idle as I had a couple YouTube videos open. This caused Flash to use 50% of my CPU. Closing these open tabs caused my CPU to drop significantly. I then installed gfxCardStatus, which told me my discrete graphics were being used because Illustrator was also open. By closing Illustrator, the computer switched to integrated graphics.
The net result? My idle temperature lowered to a much more reasonable 32 degrees. In terms of battery life, using the computer for email, iTunes and web browsing with the screen on half brightness gave me an astonishing 9 hours of battery life last night. Maybe this is not as shocking for everyone else, but I was very impressed.
In terms of OSX, it's been a much easier learning curve than I expected. Applications are still a little confusing to me (do you actually uninstall a program by simply dragging it from Applications to your trash?) - but otherwise it's been great. I couldn't be more happy with my purchase and am glad to see all the hype was justified.
So if you're on the fence with concerns relating to heat, I'd say they are largely overblown (based on my experience), and would definitely recommend you go for it. Now I wish I did this a few years ago!
