What is the 'ultimate' MBP?

[mac-collector]

Throughout the years there have been many versions of the MBP. Which in your mind is the definitive model. The first one that pops into your mind when you think "MacBook Pro". The original G4-design ones? The more recent unibody design? Or the first one to break the 3.0 GHz barrier?

So the question: Which model (year/update), CPU and size?

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The original question was, in other words, "What is your favorite MBP, and why?". But if you want you can use your imagination and say what you want in a MBP, but there are a lot of those threads out there.
There is no right answer, it's just an opinion.

 

[SDAVE]

Are you talking about the design or speed?

Speed: current.
Design: An opinion.

 

[Frankied22]

The 15" MBP I'm gonna be buying in a couple weeks

 

[Mr. Retrofire]

Which in your mind is the definitive model?

- Stainless steel foam (sealed, of course) Unibody-construction (very stable, weighs "nothing").
- 4 RAM slots (each 8 GB)
- Ultra-thin BD/DVD/CD-drive
- 3 USB 3.0 ports
- 1 FW800 port for backwards compatibility with FW800 storage devices
- 1 Thunderbolt 100 GBit/s port
- One so called "retina" display
- Matte display, glossy only as an option
- Higher CPU-power if i disable the discrete GPU
- ...

Or the first one to break the 3.0 GHz barrier?

My Early-2011 17" MBP has a i7-2720QM, which breaks already the 3 GHz barrier (3.3 GHz) in the Turbo Boost mode.

;-)

 

[yusukeaoki]

Late 2011 17in MacBook Pro
2.5GHz Intel Core i7- 2860QM
AMD Radeon HD 6770M + Intel HD 3000
16GB RAM
512GB SSD+ Optibay 1TB Samsung HDD

This is probably the fastest MBP you can make

 

[mac-collector]

Are you talking about the design or speed?

Speed: current.
Design: An opinion.

Favorite design, for whatever reason: Best looking, greatest achievement, biggest update, best compared to competition at the time etc.

 

[Mr. Retrofire]

Favorite design, for whatever reason: Best looking, greatest achievement, biggest update, best compared to competition at the time etc.

The first Unibody MBP was impressive. Later, they had problems with the NVIDIA GPUs.

 

[chilly7]

I think a model which let u use two CPUs, Two SSD, and 4 Memory slots and two videocards and will use a liquad cooling system for all of that and will be even on max perforanse supper quait that is an unlimeted Pro Mac laptop.

p.s. I don't need super slim laptop the size of it can be even the size of Alienware laptops because i think it still will be very pretty portable

 

[jacg]

I'm holding out for a new MBP, but I fear that the best option will be the current generation, as these may be the last ones which can be upgraded to contain two hard disks, one spinning for media, one SSD for general speed. Often in a rural environment without broadband, I'm not ready for the small SSD + cloud option yet.

I hope I am wrong and a new MBP will be thinner yet still allow two hard drives. Roll on next Tuesday?

 

[alphaod]

The ultimate MacBook Pro is the one each user currently owns or uses.

 

[maflynn]

The ultimate MacBook Pro is the one each user currently owns or uses.

This

No matter which mac may be out there, my ultimate mac is the one I own

 

[chilly7]

Have forgotten to mantion but it would be cool if Apple would offer a colour selection like other manufactors do. Dell, HP , Sony....

 

[ERIC273]

16gb ram over 2.8ghz and a solid state!

 

[trajan2448]

17" MBP, late 2011, 16gb ram, 240gb OWC ssd 6g Mercury extreme,
It works like I always dreamed it should. Everything superfast, 99,9% glitch free. Cold Boot on to open browser 10 seconds.

Of course in a couple of years this will be slow. that's tech.

 

[mfuchs88]

Late 2011 17in MacBook Pro
2.5GHz Intel Core i7- 2860QM
AMD Radeon HD 6770M + Intel HD 3000
16GB RAM
512GB SSD+ Optibay 1TB Samsung HDD

This is probably the fastest MBP you can make

Not if you took two SSD's and thew them in a striped RAID setup, then you'd get almost twice the read/write speeds. It would be a rocket.

 

[jgz]

from a design point of view, I liked that one:

 

[rovex]

My Powerbook G4 looks prepped for the bay some time soon. Not sure 'speed' can be accorded to it any longer.

 

[arctic]

from a design point of view, I liked that one:

Image

This!!!!

Best keyboard in Mac history as well.

 

[Medic278]

I think the ultimate MBP is the 2011 15" with a quad core i7, SSD, 8GB of RAM, and matte screen. ITs the perfect compromise between size and raw power. That being said while I think its the perfect combo I still bought a 2011 13" with a dual core i7 cause I will never take advantage of the power of the 15" and I like the 13" form factor.

 

[Frankied22]

http://cultofmac.com.feedsportal.com/c/33797/f/606249/s/1e5db407/l/0L0Scultofmac0N0C160A6320Cwin0Ethe0Eworlds0Efastest0E130Einch0Emacbook0Epro0Ewith0Ea0E1tb0Essd0C/story01.htm

That's the ultimate MBP

 

[macmastersam]

my ultimate MBP would be the latest 17" with the best upgrades available for it

 

[mfuchs88]

My ultimate would be the high end late 2011 15", high res glossy, with two 512GB Samsung 830 SSD's in a striped RAID setup, with 16GB 1666Mhz RAM. I'd also love a TBD to go with it.

 

[mac-collector]

....I'd also love a TBD to go with it.

TBD? Track-before-detect?

 

[mcman77]

Docked it is a MBP

Undocked it boots into iOS

Undocked though it can also plug up to ACD and run like a mac mini....but if its a 15" pro then better than a mini.

 

[mfuchs88]

TBD? Track-before-detect?

Thunder Bolt Display