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New macbook pro 15" i7 2.66 first impressions

nonlocal said:
Could you please elaborate on that? You mean they're different from the ones that caused all the problems with clicking and freezing last year?
Beause if they're not,I wouldn't feel comfortable using them. Regardless of the fix Apple released.
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It is not really something apple did, I believe Seagate redid something due to the high rate of failure on their drives; but none of my friends in the galleria store can confirm that they have the 2nd gen 500gb 7200rpm seagate drives inside since Apple bought so many of the 1st gen.

I still say get 5400rpm standard drive and upgrade on your own to Hitachi's

Start up on most application is 1-2 bounces after first start

aperture opens in about 4-6 it seems if that helps put it into perspective for hdd 7200 hitachi
 
wirelessmacuser said:
Great question!

Yes these new Seagate drives are far better than their past models. For the last eight years I've used Hitachi Travelstars (7200 rpm) and while they are generally regarded as the best I'm duly impressed with how quiet & cool this OEM Seagate is. I've tested & currently using six different high end SSD's In my ThinkPad workstations. While very fast, TRIM has yet to be perfected & overall SSD technology is still too young @ too expensive to be considered a good value vs conventional drives. That said I believe in six to eight months SSD's will be ready for prime time.

So I suggest you go for the 7200 rpm drive now. When it arrives you'll be very glad you did.

Cheers... :)
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I've never known Hitachi to the the best. You may wish to think that for personal reasons but there has never been a drive regarded as the best. I've always had Seagate 2.5" drives because they are usually always the fastest. Hitachi is not the fastest 2.5" drive. Perhaps they maybe fastest for a few weeks until Seagate bring out a drive to compete in the same capacity class.

Hitachi bought IBM's Storage division years ago. IBM used to make good drives, no doubt about that. Not sure what the Hitachi is like now days in terms of reliability. I haven't personally bought or used one since the old IBM Deskstar which had a high failure rate at the time (mine is still running tho in an old PowerMac G4).
 
Still not so impressed with start up time on boot and application first launch.

I migrated my settings over from a 2008 MBP. Does anyone think that migration would somehow add files and settings that slow down the system? I never did see the original clean boot times in that I did the migration on the initial welcome "wizard".

Also, does anyone think that a 7200 RPM hard drive would make that much of a difference?

Also, also, would an Intel SSD work with new firmware or would it have problems with the EFI 1.8 (there's a thread on upgrading from 1.6 to 1.7 that seem to cause a lot of problems with user added hard drives). Thinking about getting a Intel 80GB 34nm X25-M 2.5" SATA Solid-State Drive for $200 and then putting the mechanical drive in an OptiBay as a secondary drive.
 
Scott6666

Still not so impressed with start up time on boot and application first launch.
Click to expand...

There are a few things that can effect the speed of launch, no an 7200 rpm HDD in comparison to 5400 rpm HDD is unnoticeable.

If you post these specs I can tell you if the speed you are experiencing is normal.

Launch Safari (cold - first launch)
Launch iDVD (cold)
Launch iPhoto (cold)
Launch iMovie (cold)
 
A 7200RPM drive will make -some- difference, but not a whole lot in terms of what you experience. Copying files however will be noticeably faster. You really need SSD speeds before you'll feel like the app starts instantly; unfortunately a fast i5/i7 CPU and 4-8GB RAM won't make much of a difference in that area. Startup time of apps is also influenced by the current load of your machine, so if there's already quite a bit running a new app takes a bit longer to start. But without much load, most apps should start within 1-2 bounces, some bigger/heaviers apps might take 3-4.
 
I am now pondering if I should get the BTO 7200 or just buy the stock 5200 and swap out the drive myself. Is the Hitachi that much better than the Seagate?
 
Scott6666 said:
Still not so impressed with start up time on boot and application first launch.

I migrated my settings over from a 2008 MBP. Does anyone think that migration would somehow add files and settings that slow down the system? I never did see the original clean boot times in that I did the migration on the initial welcome "wizard".
Click to expand...

did the same thing and feeling the same about performance. anyone have an answer to this? i have 500 GB @ 7200 Core i7 15 inch
 
Scott6666 said:
Still not so impressed with start up time on boot and application first launch.

I migrated my settings over from a 2008 MBP. Does anyone think that migration would somehow add files and settings that slow down the system? I never did see the original clean boot times in that I did the migration on the initial welcome "wizard".

Also, does anyone think that a 7200 RPM hard drive would make that much of a difference?

Also, also, would an Intel SSD work with new firmware or would it have problems with the EFI 1.8 (there's a thread on upgrading from 1.6 to 1.7 that seem to cause a lot of problems with user added hard drives). Thinking about getting a Intel 80GB 34nm X25-M 2.5" SATA Solid-State Drive for $200 and then putting the mechanical drive in an OptiBay as a secondary drive.
Click to expand...

Launching apps (cold) and boot times are most influenced by the speed of your hard disk. Pop in an SSD and you will not be disappointed. You won't see a big difference in boot times/app launches between the latest core i7 MBP and 1st gen macbook if they both have mechanical drives.
 
I have to go OFF topic here and say that the transluscent bar in L and SL as I see it on the screen shots here is the worst thing Apple ever implemented. It looks simply horrendous. Thank God it you can turn it off.
 
MacNut said:
I am now pondering if I should get the BTO 7200 or just buy the stock 5200 and swap out the drive myself. Is the Hitachi that much better than the Seagate?
Click to expand...

Hitachi was a little slow in entering 7200rpm 500gb contest, their first release of it was 12.5mm thus attracted little attention in the apple community. However, once they did release the 9.5mm tall 500/7200 drive sales and reviews (even customer reviews) have beat seagate's; especially after the mass fail rate of seagate's original released drive. Do some googling and make your own decision. I only deal in Hitachi and got a full refund for my failed seagate in 2009. Went back to using a 320gb/7200rpm hitachi until this spring. I am very pleased with Hitachi. Not sure what the further up message was about saying WD had "usually always" made faster drives. I'll hand it to raptors sure, but that is about it. I'm not even sure if WD has a 500/7200 laptop drive frankly.

As per boot time debate going on, I'm concerned with how much emphasis and disappointment we are putting on first time starts...You only start first, once. I would imagine the repeated launches to be of much more consequence
 
harmonica01 said:
Hitachi was a little slow in entering 7200rpm 500gb contest, their first release of it was 12.5mm thus attracted little attention in the apple community. However, once they did release the 9.5mm tall 500/7200 drive sales and reviews (even customer reviews) have beat seagate's; especially after the mass fail rate of seagate's original released drive. Do some googling and make your own decision. I only deal in Hitachi and got a full refund for my failed seagate in 2009. Went back to using a 320gb/7200rpm hitachi until this spring. I am very pleased with Hitachi. Not sure what the further up message was about saying WD had "usually always" made faster drives. I'll hand it to raptors sure, but that is about it. I'm not even sure if WD has a 500/7200 laptop drive frankly.

As per boot time debate going on, I'm concerned with how much emphasis and disappointment we are putting on first time starts...You only start first, once. I would imagine the repeated launches to be of much more consequence
Click to expand...

Hi! Decided to cancel 7200 rpm MBP order and go for 15" i7 antiglate from store. Do u recomend i buy the hitachi 7k500 asap and replace it and put the standard in an portbale enclosure? Or is there a better 7200 hdd 500gB coming out soon by WD or hitachi even....??? I need an ext hardrive asap anyways so should i just keep standard 5400 and buy normal ext portable or do the swap??

Thanx!
 
inffest said:
Hi! Decided to cancel 7200 rpm MBP order and go for 15" i7 antiglate from store. Do u recomend i buy the hitachi 7k500 asap and replace it and put the standard in an portbale enclosure? Or is there a better 7200 hdd 500gB coming out soon by WD or hitachi even....??? I need an ext hardrive asap anyways so should i just keep standard 5400 and buy normal ext portable or do the swap??

Thanx!
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Their 7k500 is newest generation and current product, dont expect anything different for another 18 months I would imagine

I kept standard 5400 and put in enclosure as a mirror copy of this HD
 
harmonica01 said:
Their 7k500 is newest generation and current product, dont expect anything different for another 18 months I would imagine
I kept standard 5400 and put in enclosure as a mirror copy of this HD
Click to expand...

Cool thanx, andis the 7k500 running flawlessly?? heat? battery??
 
inffest said:
Cool thanx, andis the 7k500 running flawlessly?? heat? battery??
Click to expand...

Yes

Diablo 2 still having random crashes in Windows 7 and OS 10.6
Other than this all is well on the computer, the left speaker has come up in volume after being used a few days; don't know how
 
I just bought a 17 i7, I know for a fact the i7's are quad core, but in the systems profile it only reports 2.

any reasons why?
 
Mobile i5's and i7's in the MacBook pro's are only dual core.

IMacs have the desktop versions which are both quad core.
 
MacNut said:
I am now pondering if I should get the BTO 7200 or just buy the stock 5200 and swap out the drive myself. Is the Hitachi that much better than the Seagate?
Click to expand...

I opted for the BTO 7200, and got the Seagate Momentus.

I'm very happy with it... it's quiet and I can't really hear it unless I put my ear near the computer. I also don't notice any excessive vibration that some people using 7200 rpm drives have reported in the past.

I don't have any experience with the Hitachi model, so I'm not sure if that one is any better.

Either way, I think you can't go wrong. I made the decision to just go for the BTO 7200, and put in an SSD in a year or so if/when prices come down.
 
I am sure apple is using Seagate's revamp of their 500gb 7200rpm drive, I just had a bad experience with their first release as did many thousand others. Search up the reviews on their drive. However, if you do get the bto 7200rpm drive, apple warranties the HD on it, so you can rest at ease a bit on getting a new one, but keep a safe backup nonetheless.

Battery life this morning lasted for 4 episodes of top gear before the low battery warning came on. This was with screen on lowest brightness and connected to 55" hdmi lcd TV.

I think those getting god awful battery life need to take it to Apple because my results are fantastic. Solid 8 hours on word processing and checking email, to about 4 hours watching movies on itunes. I will test this weekend while writing strictly in pages to see how long I can make it last at brightness lowest + 3 with no wifi or airport or bluetooth mouse.
 
atari1356 said:
I opted for the BTO 7200, and got the Seagate Momentus.

I'm very happy with it... it's quiet and I can't really hear it unless I put my ear near the computer. I also don't notice any excessive vibration that some people using 7200 rpm drives have reported in the past.

I don't have any experience with the Hitachi model, so I'm not sure if that one is any better.

Either way, I think you can't go wrong. I made the decision to just go for the BTO 7200, and put in an SSD in a year or so if/when prices come down.
Click to expand...
What is the model number on that drive.
 
My Core i7 500 GB 5400 RPM 15" came with a Hitachi drive stock. It's pretty nice, but Im definitely going to upgrade to a good SSD and keep the stock HDD in an optibay or similar.
 
Can you give model # on the HD
figure out if its 16 or 8mb cache, mine was 8mb 500gb 5400 toshiba

--

Update on HDMI audio out

It seems word has reached griffin that their mini display to hdmi adaptor carries audio per vesa standard...so their price has doubled

Back to $40 for griffin's adaptor but it does work on video and audio
 
magic mouse + bluetooth apple keyboard is amazing; have sound + audio from hdmi out to our tv for hulu and can control it from the couch

lazy but amazingly practical

speaker was checked out by apple for 2 hours, not sure if they replaced the left one or not, but loud and clear now on both sides

I have noticed when hooking up to my 25" monitor, the 1920 resolution/1080p connection enlarges fonts in the menu; not sure how or why but I like it

command + still viable solution for those who just work on screen, wish apple would release their independent resolution menu or some 3rd party would release something

Graphics card is alot better than many are making it out to be, I was able to compare mine vs a colleagues 9600m GT while waiting at apple store and I got a consistent 20 fps better in WoW with my settings all maxed and his down a bit and running on 1280 vs my 1680 on our batteries, but not sure if I will play this past the freeplay. Test was in human start territory
 
Printer drivers

here is a fix I posted on peripherals page with latest driver updates on HP printers (mine is laserjet 2055dn)

On latest drivers from apple and HP.com/support this april 2010:

The drivers send a generic signal into the printer to pause after each print. This can really get aggravating.

I found a fix for it however, remove the generic drivers from apple for HP, remove your installed driver from HP.

Go to hp.com/support download newest driver (currently 1 April 2010)
Install driver as normal

Follow these steps:
• Install new driver by double clicking it dur
• System Preferences --> Print & Fax
• Double click on your desired HP printer, this will open the printer window for that printer
• Click on the right icon "Printer Setup"
• Go to "Utility" and click the button in there "Open Printer Utility," this will open your default internet browser and log you into the printer (be sure it's connected via USB)
• At the top, click on "Settings"
• Then select "System Setup"
• Turn "Auto Continue" option to "On"

Then click "Apply" button at bottom right. And you're set. Not sure why the latest drivers screw with this.
 
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