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Some observations between 2010 and 2011 MBP 13"

M

melterx12

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jun 22, 2010
508
0
Hey guys, so I upgraded from the 2010 MBP 13" to the 2011, and thought I'd post some observations between the two, for anyone thinking of upgrading:

-First off, I did notice like many others that the 2011 MBP 13" runs noticeably louder than the 2010 on idle. I found this odd since iStat showed the fan was running at 2000RPM, and the idle temp of the i5 was actually 5C lower than the Core 2 duo 2.4ghz (iStat shows 38C idle, vs 43C on my 2010).

After some investigating I isolated the noise to be coming from the HDD, in the lower right corner of the laptop. I replaced the 320GB HDD (the one in my 13" was by Hitachi) with my OWC 120gb Mercury Extreme Pro, and that fixed the issue, the MacBook now sounds identical to my 2010 at idle-moderate usage. (I haven't stressed it with any games yet). I have had other laptop HDDs that make a similar fan-like noise like this one does, but this one is considerably louder.

-The new MBP feels MUCH cooler under moderate load compared to my 2010. While installed Windows 7, my 2010 got pretty warm on the top right and top back of the laptop. The new 2011 barely got warm at all. I did both installations at the same ambient temp.

-The keyboard on the 2011 feels less stiff than it does on the 2010. For me this is a plus since I found the 2010 keyboard keys to be a bit too stiff.

-The screen at max brightness is brighter on the 2011 than on the 2010, although I beleive this is one of the same screens used in the 2010 (both model ids on the 2010 and 2011 are 9CC5)

-The SuperDrive in the 2011 is quieter at bootup and ejecting than the 2010, It also seems to be faster than the 2010 superdrive, although this may be because of the processor.

-I can't tell the difference in video quality between the 2010's iSight and the 2011's FaceTime camera.

-The wifi on the 2011 seems to be better than the 2010. (will have to test this)

-The 2011's keyboard backlight is brighter. I don't really like this - I think its too bright, good thing I can adjust this.

-Happy to see that the RAM used inside my 2011 is hynix, my 2010 macbook has samsung. (hynix is considered one of the best RAM manufacturers, samsung is probably good too though).

-It's FAST!

If you wanna know anything else Ill try to answer.
 
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I had same observations - especially the keyboard. The keyboard was always solid to me, but damn the 2011 is SILKY smooth to type on. Like really nice, I like it.

About the cam, there's a HUGE difference IMO. Just load up quicktime and do new recording movie.. you'll see how the facetime HD one is epic HD 720p while the old one will be rollin some bunk-nasty 480p. TRY IT!
 
i bought a macbook a week before the new ones came out. i bought it so i could develop iphone apps. i dont need a core i5 and a HD webcam.
 
Interesting on the keyboard. I like really low resistance keyboards (i.e. soft not stiff), and the one on my 2010 is definitely a bit "crisp."

I wonder if the 2011 keyboards are softer across the board or if there is just variation between individual keyboards, and maybe some 2010's were equally uneven between one computer and the next.

Can anyone else comment? If all of the 2011's are softer, I might be tempted to upgrade.

Miss Terri

PS: Thanks for the direct comparison thread.
 
Thanks for the review, cpuguy. If you noticed another one of my threads, I will take delivery of the 2011 base 13" on Thursday, and then sell off my 2010. I'm not sure what I will do though. Returning the newer model is still an option. In general use, do you really notice a tangible difference in speed?
 
cpuguy18 said:
i bought a macbook a week before the new ones came out. i bought it so i could develop iphone apps. i dont need a core i5 and a HD webcam.
Click to expand...

if thats the case apple will replace it for the 2011 version for free, as long as its within the 14 day return period.
 
cpuguy18 said:
i bought a macbook a week before the new ones came out. i bought it so i could develop iphone apps. i dont need a core i5 and a HD webcam.
Click to expand...

You should go and exchange for a new one purely for resale value down the line. Since you're only a week and a half into the purchase, you're still within the 14 day return window too, so there's really nothing to lose and plenty to gain. You could even just return it and get the same model for much cheaper as well.
 
Miss Terri said:
Interesting on the keyboard. I like really low resistance keyboards (i.e. soft not stiff), and the one on my 2010 is definitely a bit "crisp."

I wonder if the 2011 keyboards are softer across the board or if there is just variation between individual keyboards, and maybe some 2010's were equally uneven between one computer and the next.

Can anyone else comment? If all of the 2011's are softer, I might be tempted to upgrade.

Miss Terri

PS: Thanks for the direct comparison thread.
Click to expand...

I've heard about the softer keyboard on two other posts. I noticed it right away and didn't think too much of it, but it was funny b/c I read some other posts randomly mentioning it and I was like hmm I'm not the only one. And this is the 3rd person now saying that too.
 
aznguyen316 said:
I've heard about the softer keyboard on two other posts. I noticed it right away and didn't think too much of it, but it was funny b/c I read some other posts randomly mentioning it and I was like hmm I'm not the only one. And this is the 3rd person now saying that too.
Click to expand...

Well im glad they changed it.
 
AppleGoat said:
Thanks for the review, cpuguy. If you noticed another one of my threads, I will take delivery of the 2011 base 13" on Thursday, and then sell off my 2010. I'm not sure what I will do though. Returning the newer model is still an option. In general use, do you really notice a tangible difference in speed?
Click to expand...

Hey, melterx12...don't mean to quote myself, but I just noticed I meant to address this to you.
 
MBP 13" 2010:
image4c0e4833d9dfc_text


MBP 13" 2011:
image4d694c3daf7e0_text


Most Apple fans change their computers because they like to be on the top ;-)
New products are always better in the term of MIPS benchmark performance, but not necessarily better if we consider thermal characterstics, fan noise, battery life etc. That's something wrong if temperatures and noise of current gen of MBP 13" are higher than previous one. I expected that they will be much less noisy (Intel integrated GPU).

BTW new MBPs officialy support ONLY Windows 7 under BootCamp.
 
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limo79 said:
MBP 13" 2010:
image4c0e4833d9dfc_text


MBP 13" 2011:
image4d694c3daf7e0_text


Most Apple fans change their computers because they like to be on the top ;-)
New products are always better in the term of MIPS benchmark performance, but not necessarily better if we consider thermal characterstics, fan noise, battery life etc. That's something wrong if temperatures and noise of current gen of MBP 13" are higher than previous one. I expected that they will be much less noisy (Intel integrated GPU).

BTW new MBPs officialy support ONLY Windows 7 under BootCamp.
Click to expand...

Those images seem accurate. My idle cpu temp is about 38C, when playing games, the Max cpu temp I saw was 85C, the fan speed was 3800RPM. I guess thats pretty normal temp since the gpu and cpu are all in one chip.
 
cpuguy18 said:
you have money to buy a computer every year ?
Click to expand...
The 2010 Macbook 13 essentially skipped a generation since it used core2duo rather than the i5 then it's a worthwhile upgrade. I got the 13" to replace my Core2Duo Macbook Pro 15 and the speed difference is incredible.
 
Thanks for the follow-up on the keyboard. I'll have to keep an eye out and see if this seems to be a trend.... might be worth upgrading (although I said I was not going to buy another glossy laptop....and then there's the Air...)

Guess I'll keep watching and maybe make a trip to the Apple store to check them out.

Thanks,
Miss Terri
 
axu539 said:
You should go and exchange for a new one purely for resale value down the line. Since you're only a week and a half into the purchase, you're still within the 14 day return window too, so there's really nothing to lose and plenty to gain. You could even just return it and get the same model for much cheaper as well.
Click to expand...

thats fine i dont wanna go through the hassle.
 
What do you mean loud on indle?
I thought it wasnt that loud!!!!?
Is it annoying loud? could you upload a video ?
Thanks alot
 
SolidSnak3 said:
What do you mean loud on indle?
I thought it wasnt that loud!!!!?
Is it annoying loud? could you upload a video ?
Thanks alot
Click to expand...

well no it's not loud at idle, in fact its very quiet, but not as quiet as the 2010 was. again, the idle noise in the 2011 was coming from the hard drive, which I replaced with my OWC Mercury Extreme Pro. with the solid state drive the idle noise is identical in both machines (almost non-existent), which obviously makes sense since both machines have the same fan idling at the same 2000rpm.
 
UPDATE: Did a battery comparison between the 2010 and 2011 MBP. I played the same DVD movie on both laptops, brightness set to 50% on both, speakers muted on both (didnt want to hear the noise), nothing else running besides the movie.

The 2011 MBP lasted about 55 mins longer than the 2010 BUT take this with a grain of salt: the battery capacity on the 2010 was 93%, and 99% on the 2011, so taking that into consideration, i'd say the new MBP lasts about 30 mins longer on battery than the 2010 (probably because the 2011 MBP draws up to 10W less than the 2010 between the gpu and cpu)
 
I upgraded from a late 2009 MB to 13" MBP...I do not notice any fan noise, I have not had any point where i said wow that is annoying...either I am not pushing it or i just dont care....

I will be installing handbrake shortly, and will see what it is like when ripping, but I expect a certain amount when doing so
 
spob15 said:
I upgraded from a late 2009 MB to 13" MBP...I do not notice any fan noise, I have not had any point where i said wow that is annoying...either I am not pushing it or i just dont care....

I will be installing handbrake shortly, and will see what it is like when ripping, but I expect a certain amount when doing so
Click to expand...

heh, people seem to be really paranoid about this idle noise. I should state what I mean a bit differently:

BOTH the 2010 and 2011 MBP are VERY SILENT at idle. When in a room with no noise, and listening very closely, you will likely find that the 2011 is louder than the 2010 at idle, because of the HDD.

HOWEVER, outside these circumstances, you will not hear either laptop at idle AT ALL!
 
melterx12 said:
heh, people seem to be really paranoid about this idle noise. I should state what I mean a bit differently:

BOTH the 2010 and 2011 MBP are VERY SILENT at idle. When in a room with no noise, and listening very closely, you will likely find that the 2011 is louder than the 2010 at idle, because of the HDD.

HOWEVER, outside these circumstances, you will not hear either laptop at idle AT ALL!
Click to expand...

Hmm...I guess I should have actually started my MBP with the stock HDD in it to see what all this commotion is about with the noise!

+1 for SSD's. :)
 
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