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New MacBook Pro Benchmarks Show Massive Improvement
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I am studying economics psychology/occupation psychology at the Hochschule Osnabrück. My professors are Kanning, Kumbruck, Stegmaier, Richter and some others.
Well, the top-end 15" would cost me around 1900 (around 2630 $) including taxes. At the moment I got around 1400-1500 (2000 $) which I could spend. Hmm. Damn.
Good luck with your studies
Do you have any friends in the states that are visiting soon and could bring you a "used" MBP to save some ?
I would have to disagree with you there, with Apple's BTO option you have no control over which model you receive, whereas if you buy 3rd-party you can select the best one for you based on price and performance. Unlike HDDs, SSD performance varies wildly between manufacturers and controller chipsets so if you want to make sure you get the best for your money buy it yourself. If anything goes wrong it's just as easy to return it to the manufacturer for replacement as it is to go to Apple, the warranty is typically 3 years or so.
The only issue is those stupid screws Apple is using these days, but it's only a matter of time until the screwdriver bits are readily available on the likes of ebay.
and despite these benchmarks, a large proportion of people will not be happy
say la vie
Overall it's a nice upgrade. The dramatic CPU upgrade in the 13" model should be enough to balance out the negatives of the HD3000 - making it at least parable to gaming experience of previous 13" macbook pro's. However there will be a great performance boost in everything else you do on it, so it's pretty much win (almost) win
Those benchmarks of the 17" are striking though. They make my octo 2.8 mac pro weep.
say la vie
Overall it's a nice upgrade. The dramatic CPU upgrade in the 13" model should be enough to balance out the negatives of the HD3000 - making it at least parable to gaming experience of previous 13" macbook pro's. However there will be a great performance boost in everything else you do on it, so it's pretty much win (almost) win
Those benchmarks of the 17" are striking though. They make my octo 2.8 mac pro weep.
Good luck with your studies
Do you have any friends in the states that are visiting soon and could bring you a "used" MBP to save some €?
Nope. I already get the Apple on Campus discount. :/
Well, I will see.
At the moment I am waiting for an eMail from apple in which they tell me that my order has just been sent. Even though I don't know whether I am gonna keep it or not. Anyway, enough time to acquire some money and make my choice.
Honestly, I don't really like the idea of using two computer - one for gaming, one for working/studying. Hmmm...
Advice: wait about 3 months and buy a hi-res 2.2 15'' from the refurbished section of the German Apple Store so you can save about 350-450.
I just bought an iMac for the office, a MBP for travel and for home use, and I find mobile me useful to sync them up. Also, I buy all my students 13.3" MBPs.
How much was the student discount? I need to see if I qualify as faculty and if it's cheaper than what I've been paying.
I haven't gamed in years, but I can't imagine the experience is decent on any notebook. Plus, it all puts a ton of stress on what is your primary work machine as well.
Wow, those scores are quite impressive! Although, I must say that it does pain me a bit now that I've ordered just before this refresh (dropped the bomb on a 15" 2.8ghz i7). However, I'll most likely hardly ever push this MBP to it's limit, as all I do is some light (albeit in large quantities) photo editing, and some video editing from the iPhone 4's HD camera (mostly family vacation videos and school projects). I'm pretty sure that although the new bump in speed would be nice, I probably won't really notice since I've upgraded from a late 2006 C2D MacBook to this.
All in all, glad to see that Apple is finally upping the specs in their MacBook Pro lineup! I bet you guys who just ordered (and who are coming from C2D processors at that!) are going to feel a MASSIVE improvement! I know I did - and I don't even have sandy britches!
All in all, glad to see that Apple is finally upping the specs in their MacBook Pro lineup! I bet you guys who just ordered (and who are coming from C2D processors at that!) are going to feel a MASSIVE improvement! I know I did - and I don't even have sandy britches!
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Is that so weird. Its a quad core comapred to last gens dual core.
Ofcourse will show a huge improvement
Is that so weird. Its a quad core comapred to last gens dual core.
Ofcourse will show a huge improvement
I agree. Even the 11" MBA has more screen real estate than the 13" MBP. I wonder how many buyers will actually utilize the CPU to its full potential. My guess would be less than 10%, wheras all of them would benefit from a screen resolution bump.
To be honest, until we know the mechanistic underpinnings of these benchmarks, we cannot interpret the results in any useful context.
You have a good point there. The CPU upgrade is substantial, but I, as probably many others feel that the bottleneck isn't there. I really liked the idea of a hybrid system with an SSD as boot drive and HDD for files. I have the early 2008 MBP, and I can't say I notice a difference when using other newer MBP's (though the difference is probably there when using CPU intensive apps like video editing, etc.)·
GeekBench tests CPU integer and floating point performance (single- and multi-threaded) + RAM access and streaming performance.
In other words, it says nothing about the perceived responsiveness of the laptop in everyday use.
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Well, I don't want to game a lot. Rather from time to time. The Sims, GTA4, Diablo 3.
Now I am really confused if I should buy the low-end 13" MBPro (plus additional PC), the 13" MBAir (plus additional PC) or the high-end 15" MBPro. Oh man. I guess I will use this weekend to contact some people who have more experience than I do. Additional to your opinions. =)
And here, poor fool, I stand once more,
No wiser than I was before.
My student discount prices in the german Apple On Campus store are (in EUR, taxes included):
13" - low - 1.011,50 €
13" - high - 1.275,68 €
15" - low - 1.538,67 €
15" - high - 1.890,91 €
17" - uni - 2.199,12 €
Cheers
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For the first time ever MacBook Pros are beating my 2006 Mac Pro at Geekbench! And it only took them 5 years
That's kind of an important perspective to have, IMHO.
For a long time I thought it was better to just have a single laptop-as-desktop-replacement because Mac Pros are not portable (obviously).
But my MacBook Pro (2006 vintage Core Duo!) spends 99% of its time at home closed up in clamshell mode and it doesn't move. (I'm not a college student and I don't do the "Use the same computer at home and at work" shuffle.)
I'm drooling over the new 17" 2.3 like anyone else is, but suddenly I realized I could potentially get a brand-new 2.4 GHz Dual Quad-Core (Westmere) Mac Pro - Geekbench ~13657 (34% faster) - on eBay for about the same money as the 17" 2.3.
Decisions, decisions ...
I find it odd that people are saying the 256 VRAM in the lower end 15" is not enough for gaming. It will run Sims 3 etc fine although obviously not at the highest res but still good enough.
It depends if you will use your laptop as your main gaming machine and what everything at the best resolution. For me I can't justify the extra £300 for the better GPU because I already have a PS3 sitting here that I don't use that much.
It depends if you will use your laptop as your main gaming machine and what everything at the best resolution. For me I can't justify the extra £300 for the better GPU because I already have a PS3 sitting here that I don't use that much.
I don't need the highest settings. I just want that it looks nice and runs smoothly. I get your point; I got a Wii here that I don't use often. I wouldn't bother spending some more money for a 15" in comparison to a 13". But my main concern is, that the 15" is not portable enough. Ugh. I should visit a store to hold both in my hands to compare them refering to the weight and how handy they are.
Well, I don't want to game a lot. Rather from time to time. The Sims, GTA4, Diablo 3.
Now I am really confused if I should buy the low-end 13" MBPro (plus additional PC), the 13" MBAir (plus additional PC) or the high-end 15" MBPro. Oh man. I guess I will use this weekend to contact some people who have more experience than I do. Additional to your opinions. =)
And here, poor fool, I stand once more,
No wiser than I was before.
My student discount prices in the german Apple On Campus store are (in EUR, taxes included):
13" - low - 1.011,50
13" - high - 1.275,68
15" - low - 1.538,67
15" - high - 1.890,91
17" - uni - 2.199,12
Cheers
Wow! That's like an 85% price difference (13" low to 15" high).
I'd def get the low 13", a sub-500 "gaming" machine and go on a ski vacation to the alps (300 student trip) ... or buy 150 pints during the semester.
Good luck with your decision.
Depressing for me in a way since my MBP 2.8 i7 that I got in November is somehow at the bottom of that list, even below the 15" with the same specs.
I don't understand why it shows lower performance than the 13" i5 and the 15" of the same specs.
Seriously! How does a 2.3 i5 outperform a 2.8 i7?
EDIT: Oops I see the 2.3 i5 is the 2011 model. That still leaves me wondering how the 15" 2010 with the exact specs is ~100 higher scoring than the 17".
I don't understand why it shows lower performance than the 13" i5 and the 15" of the same specs.
Seriously! How does a 2.3 i5 outperform a 2.8 i7?
EDIT: Oops I see the 2.3 i5 is the 2011 model. That still leaves me wondering how the 15" 2010 with the exact specs is ~100 higher scoring than the 17".
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Looks like Intel really did the business with these new chips! Looking forward to seeing desktop versions in the next iMacs
I do not understand and will ever understand ppl who buy SSD upgrade from Apple. Even though it's reasonably priced (well, the 128GB version is) you don't really know what's inside - and since MacOS X doesn't support TRIM, garbage collection is crucial in maintaining speed and realiability of those drives...
Moreover, there's next gen of SF controllers around the corner (to be released in next month or so) which will be as fast in the slowest scenario as the current models are in the fastest scenario!!! And it will come in prices almost at the same level as the current gen...Not to mention next-gen Intel drives, that are gonna be released soon.
The only qestion remains is had Apple implemented 6Gbps SATA on the board, becouse if not, those new drives are just too fast for 3Gbps bus.
Moreover, there's next gen of SF controllers around the corner (to be released in next month or so) which will be as fast in the slowest scenario as the current models are in the fastest scenario!!! And it will come in prices almost at the same level as the current gen...Not to mention next-gen Intel drives, that are gonna be released soon.
The only qestion remains is had Apple implemented 6Gbps SATA on the board, becouse if not, those new drives are just too fast for 3Gbps bus.
Super glad I got my 17" 2.3Ghz MBP today Totally stoked about how well it performs! I've been waiting for this one since selling my 2010 MBP 13" and 2010 iMac i3 27" to get it It's nice to consolidate two so-so machines into one badass MBP that I can take with me from city to city.
Totally stoked about how well it performs! I've been waiting for this one since selling my 2010 MBP 13" and 2010 iMac i3 27" to get it It's nice to consolidate two so-so machines into one badass MBP that I can take with me from city to city.