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Who's glad they still have a "Classic" MacBook Pro?

m85476585 said:
My 15" Classic MBP gets better with every update! First it was the glossy screen, the mini displayport, and the Firewire 400. Now it's the expresscard slot and the replaceable battery. Thanks, Apple, for making my old MBP more valuable with every update to the new ones! It is more than fast enough to last until there is an update worth upgrading too (double the processor speed and double GPU power would be worth it; 20% faster CPU and 20% faster GPU is not worth it at all). I already have 6gb of RAM, and I am thinking about replacing the optical drive with a second hard drive. When prices come down, I will probably replace the primary hard drive with a SSD.
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+100000000

I ll keep mine till matte screen express card esata usb3 4-core and ssd-lower price comes out...
For the moment i m more than satisfied!!!!!!!!!
 
I'm loving my classic 15" MBP (Feb 2008 Penryn with multi-touch revision). I had to bite my tounge when the unibodies came out, and I do like the look of them, but I'm glad I didn't upgrade as mine is still a fantastic machine. My computer is virtually a year and a half old now but still going strong. (Not that my nearly 6 year old 12" PB has anything wrong with it).
 
m85476585 said:
I already have 6gb of RAM, and I am thinking about replacing the optical drive with a second hard drive. When prices come down, I will probably replace the primary hard drive with a SSD.
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Does it actually recognize and use these 6 gb ram? I have read a whole lot of different stories about putting more than 4 gb in there. If it runs reliable I might upgrade next year or something when prices of 4 gb sticks go down.

Insulin Junkie said:
Liab, noch a Ösi. Bist vielleicht a in Wien? :)
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Jo noch a Ösi und sogar a Weaner ausm 16er Hieb. :D
 
chaosbunny said:
Does it actually recognize and use these 6 gb ram? I have read a whole lot of different stories about putting more than 4 gb in there. If it runs reliable I might upgrade next year or something when prices of 4 gb sticks go down.
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It works fine. I've had it in this configuration for about 4 months with zero problems. Hopefully that will still be the case with Snow Leopard.
OWC endorses it, so if you buy the memory from them and for some reason it doesn't work, you can probably return it.
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other World Computing/5300DDR2S4GB/
I only paid $150, so prices are not really falling. That's partly because DDR2 is being phased out.

Also, I like the fact that 4 finger gestures will no longer need to be hacked to work in SL.
 
I have been in an apple store lately and got my hands on a unibody 17 with matte screen, and I must say it is reallyreally a nice machine.....

still, I feel so good when I type on my silver keyboard! the pressure point of it really goes into my fingers....

screen: I still love my classic glossy screen. I think it is the best screen apple made. It ist anti-reflective, but not blurry like the matte, neither glassy like the new ones. it's simply great, period.


someone wrote earlier: when you press the button of the opening latch ( the one the unibodys do not have any more...) "you know that something magical will happen" - I think that is the best summary about the magic of the classic mbps!:)
 
I feel the same way about my Penryn MBP lol.

With every new update, I feel especially good that it has a DVI port along with FW400 and 800. 2.5GHz C2D is plenty fast for me, 4GB DDR2 is good enough for me, and the ability to upgrade to a 500GB HDD internal makes me very happy haha.

Let's see, what am I jealous about the new ones.. hmm... not much really. The built in battery might be nice, but.. eh, *shrug* I'm happy with this machine.
 
I prefer the matte screen, all-silver design and ExpressCard but the 8600GT M is a timebomb, so I'm not THAT glad.
 
Same for me... got a refurb Penryn 15" with matte screen for $1400 and I won't be buying a new MBP until quad-core processors are standard. There is little to be gained for me with the new models, yet I still have the advantages of FW400/800 (lets me keep my audio interface on the FW400 bus, and external HD on the FW800 bus), plus express slot (UAD-2 solo/laptop DSP card), and of course the matte LED screen.
 
Someone mentioned the Unibody 17" which has most of the features missing from the rest of the unibodies. Maybe Apple thinks they can satisfy us with that, thinking the "real" pro users won't mind paying a little more, but it's way too big! Even the 15" is a little bigger than I would like (something the size of a standard 8.5x11 or A4 sheet of paper would be ideal).

Also, putting these features in the most expensive model might put off some people that don't want to spend that much (if they can afford it or not). When I bought my MBP I seriously considered getting a high-end white MB, which was the same specs at the time except for the lack of graphics card, and putting the ~$800 saved into upgrades for my Windows desktop and a nice LCD to make up for the smaller monitor. Now the price difference between the base 13" MBP and the cheapest model with expresscard and antiglare is $1300. If you only want a real GPU and can live without antiglare and expresscard, it's still $800. That's a lot of money just for a GPU. (I know you get other upgrades like more memory and drive space for that money, but it's a lot cheaper to upgrade those separately.)

For me, a docking station would be great. I mostly only need high speed connectivity at my desk, and I typically have enough cables plugged in that sometimes I don't take my MBP with me because I am too lazy to unplug it. Right now I have 3 cables on either side--power, headphones, and eSATA on the left and ethernet, FW800, and USB on the right. With the cables sticking out the side, all the space next to the computer isn't very useful, so I tend to accumulate pules of stuff there right on top of the cables, instead of using the space for more useful things like papers am working on or a mouse. I know BookEndz makes a dock, but it's really a hack and it does not add a whole lot of functionality.
 
I'm happy with my classic not so much because of it's own merits but mainly because the logical step forward is just disappointing.
 
I have to add that I prefer mine as well. I like the all aluminum over the black keys and bevel. I love the matte screen. I also prefer the keyboard over the new one, although maybe if I spend enough time with it the new one would be ok. I really wanted to keep this machine 5 or 6 years, but the 8600 issue is what makes me contemplate a uni just for the peace of mind.
 
I'm still happy to have my Late 2007 2.2GHz MacBook Pro with a 128MB 8600GT chip, even after like 1.5 years.

I'm still keeping it around even if I upgrade...
 
What I preferred about with my old "classic" MBP was the screen. I hate the black bezel and glass. I want a matte finish! Same design as the MacBook Air (silver bezel). I like the black keys and the buttonless trackpad is nice once you adjust the stiffness of the click with the screws underneath.

Ideally, I wish the 15" MacBook Pro would have:

- 1650x1080 resolution
- ExpressCard
- Silver Bezel, matte and glossy option (no glass)
- Better exhaust at the back (when in clamshell mode, airflow still exists..).
 
I wish I still had one of those Early2008 models. I mean, at first I was fascinated about the new unibody design which I still find great, but after these months all that's left are these things:
1) Glossy screen is not my cup of tea. I want to see what's on the screen, not what's on my face. Plus it seems to get dirty all by itself.
2) Silver keyboard was better, not just because it felt better to type on, with this black keyboard you can see which keys you have used the most.
3) It would be handy to have ports on both sides. I can't have an iPhone and, say, a USB memory stick connected at the same time.
 
hamis92 said:
3) It would be handy to have ports on both sides. I can't have an iPhone and, say, a USB memory stick connected at the same time.
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Stop using old USB sticks and get a modern thin one ;)

SuperTalent_8GB_Pico_Gold_1.jpg
 
these threads designed to make the owners of older tech feel better always crack me up. I guess this kind of thinking saves ya money though, so why not. :)
 
Mostly kept my MBP for the Dual Link DVI. Heard too many horror stories about the Displaylink adapter to risk spending $1600 for a new laptop + $100 on the adapter.
 
I really don't foresee myself getting another Apple "professional" (I really can't consider them professional anymore...) laptop anymore until they bring back the matte screen on the 15" model. So yes, I am still glad that I have the pre-unibody design. And before anyone goes saying that I'm being a hypocrite by having a MacBook Air, I don't do color critical work on the MacBook Air. Thus, having a glossy screen is bearable in those limited circumstances where I just need a road computer that I do not edit on. Or a web computer that I can use where I can completely control the lighting.
 
My matte early 2008 MBP which was bought a week after the release is still holding strong. I'm glad for the DVI port which I'll be using until Apple gets their act together and fixes up the problems with miniDP. I also prefer the dedicated mouse button so that I can click and drag easily.
 
Still rockin my 15" c2d 2.16 from december 2006, every revision it seems the "pro" lineup loses pro features, first the second firewire port, matte screen & dual link DVI(I know you can get the sketchy $100 adapter), now the express card and low end loses discrete graphics.
I see this lasting me until I can afford myself a mac pro, do all my main work on that and keep the old MBP for portability. I don't really see myself getting a new MBP anytime in the future.

I really need to order myself a new hard drive though, 120gb just doesn't cut it(though I've got 1.6TB total in externals).
 
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