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Ready to order first Mac Book Pro

S

Shane2

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 15, 2006
9
0
I've been lurking around here since about the beginning of the year. I also have a few posts from a long time ago when I was looking at a mini, but now it's time to order a mac book pro!

Some questions before I order on the weekend:
How long is the battery life of the Mac book pro when doing basic things such as taking notes or internet browsing? (Apple rates 5 hours)

Does dual channel ram make a speed difference? If it doesn't I'm thinking of doing the ram upgrade to 2GB myself as a 1GB stick is just over $100. Asking because I own a website and need to test it in the various Internet Exploder versions. Probably via parallels.

Any thoughts would be appreciated,

Shane
 
As for battery life I can't say on the MBP,I only have a Macbook,on that I get about 4 hours of normal usage.Never actually timed it just an estimate.

For dual channel RAM,the short answer is yes,it does make a speed difference.Most of the time people think that RAM is what speeds up our computers,but in actuality it's what is slowing them down,I guess it's kind of a glass half full thing.Our processor are so fast,RAM speeds can't catch up.For example I think your MBP is going to come with a chip that runs at fbs 667 mhz,(thats the connection between the chip and the memory)RAM can go 400 mhz.So when we use dual channel RAM it helps us get closer to that processor speed.
 
I have a first generation MBP, so for the current ones the situation might be a bit different. That said, I usually do not get more than 3 hours of battery life from my machine, when I do not run heavy loads.

For the dual channel I recall having read somewhere, that for the MacBook pros it doesn't do much difference, because a single channel is already as much as the cpu bus can deal with. For the MacBooks, however, it was stated that dual channel brings advantage, because the memory is also used by the integrated GPU at the same time and thus GPU and CPU have to compete for bandwidth.
 
Are you located in/around NJ? I am considering selling my macbook pro since I just got in a car accident and need the cash to pay my insurance deductable.

-David

P.S.
I can give you one hell of a deal :)

My laptop is in as-new condition. It is the 15" 2.16ghz core duo 2 2.16ghz 2gb of matched (running in dual channel) memory and a 100gb 7200rpm drive (was professionally upgraded by my friend).
 
DavidCL23 said:
Are you located in/around NJ? I am considering selling my macbook pro since I just got in a car accident and need the cash to pay my insurance deductable.

-David

P.S.
I can give you one hell of a deal :)

My laptop is in as-new condition. It is the 15" 2.16ghz core duo 2 2.16ghz 2gb of matched (running in dual channel) memory and a 100gb 7200rpm drive (was professionally upgraded by my friend).
Click to expand...

Nope, In Canada.

Thanks for the replies everyone. Still not sure on the ram though.
 
I read awhile ago that dual channel ram only gives the computer a 4% speed increase, don't worry about it just get the most ram you can for your budget...the mbp is a stud no matter which one you get.
 
Based on my 2.16Ghz C2D MBP purchased this week...

Internet/Notes + Wifi = 3-4 Hrs battery life ( screen turned down some ).

You will probably need more memory for parallels, but since the upgrade costs far more then just buying it 3rd party I would recommend just getting the stock model and upgrading it once you know you need the memory. Because the 1gb MBP model comes with 1x 1GB rather than 2x 512MB ( like the MB ) you can just add another stick for $70 from newegg.com
 
Why are you only considering buying now rather than at the start of the year?

Now it is the absolutely worst possible time to buy. You will miss out of Leopard as well as a whole chain of upgrades that will come with the next revision.
 
iW00t said:
Now it is the absolutely worst possible time to buy. You will miss out of Leopard as well as a whole chain of upgrades that will come with the next revision.
Click to expand...

Aren't these updates rumoured to be happening in about 2 months? Plus another month or two until it ships. You could have to wait 4 months for these revisions plus leopard. I think that's an awfully long time to wait.

Unless you know something I don't;)
 
cookie1105 said:
Aren't these updates rumoured to be happening in about 2 months? Plus another month or two until it ships. You could have to wait 4 months for these revisions plus leopard. I think that's an awfully long time to wait.

Unless you know something I don't;)
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I would probably not have *UPGRADED* at this time, but waiting another 4 months before I could get back to my photography seemed like a lifetime. I'll splurge on leopard at some point in the future if there is a must have feature for me.
 
snowmoon said:
I would probably not have *UPGRADED* at this time, but waiting another 4 months before I could get back to my photography seemed like a lifetime. I'll splurge on leopard at some point in the future if there is a must have feature for me.
Click to expand...

I plan on buying now because the current version has all the features that I need. It's also a proven product. I don't want to take the chance that a newer version may have problems. And as someone else said above if something appeals to me in Leopard I'll go for the update.
 
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