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Would a late 2008 MBP be ideal for a desktop replacement?
- Thread starter Next Tuesday
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I have my Dell Q6600 + 8800GT + 4G Ram + Dual DVD Burners + 22' Screen - sitting next to my Unibody MBP, and Vista works fine
STILL
if not for games, I won't even turn the Dell on at all
AND
The new trackpad works so well, I have given up getting this mouse to match with my bluetooth keyboard.
My Point is, even with superior spec, the Mac experience is wayyyy better.
Two great designs from Apple: the new trackpad and bluetooth keyboard, shame I can't use them at the same time (I know!)
STILL
if not for games, I won't even turn the Dell on at all
AND
The new trackpad works so well, I have given up getting this mouse to match with my bluetooth keyboard.
My Point is, even with superior spec, the Mac experience is wayyyy better.
Two great designs from Apple: the new trackpad and bluetooth keyboard, shame I can't use them at the same time (I know!)
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Go for it
I once was a PC lover until VISTA came along. Then I bought my first Mac (MBP) it was my best decision ever. I use it with a 22" widescreen as secondary monitor. I would leave it on for days and sometimes off and so on. About two weeks ago I started having problems. SERIOUS problems I should say. Apparently the video card got messed up and it really freak me out since the warranty was expired. I took it to the apple store and it seems like it is a problem they had already identified so they took it and fixed it without a charge. I'm really happy with my Mac and with the service. I guess what I want to say is YES go for it and if possible buy extended warranty on it. just in case.
I once was a PC lover until VISTA came along. Then I bought my first Mac (MBP) it was my best decision ever. I use it with a 22" widescreen as secondary monitor. I would leave it on for days and sometimes off and so on. About two weeks ago I started having problems. SERIOUS problems I should say. Apparently the video card got messed up and it really freak me out since the warranty was expired. I took it to the apple store and it seems like it is a problem they had already identified so they took it and fixed it without a charge. I'm really happy with my Mac and with the service. I guess what I want to say is YES go for it and if possible buy extended warranty on it. just in case.
I'll try to address a few of your concerns here...
1. From an 8 year old PC any MBP from the last year will absolutely scream. The difference will be night and day, literally. These MBPs are pro machines, designed for heavily intensive mobile computing. They are fully capable of doing video and audio work on the fly, wherever their user happens to be. You won't have any "power" type issues for years with this machine, based on your usage.
2. In order to achieve a similar level of gaming on a PC laptop you're going to need to spend at least 4/5 of what you would spend on a MBP. Most PC laptops come with an excess of cheap RAM, and a lot of HD space. The issue is that these are the easiest components to upgrade. Instead, they sacrifice on the CPU and GPU in order to keep costs down. Apple is the opposite, equipping all their machines with the top CPUs available and middle-high end GPUs, and allowing for upgrades of the cheaper RAM and HD space as the user sees fit. This way Mac laptops generally last longer. In any case, the MBP will play most games released in the last 2 years on med-high settings quite smoothly. I play GTA SA (primarily) on mine at all maxed settings and it is buttery smooth. Search Youtube! Chances are there may be a video showing MBP performance with your favorite game.
3. Leaving them on 24/7 is a non-issue. These machines are designed to be left on all the time. I leave mine on all the time. Just close the lid when you're done with it, and charge it when it needs to be charged. Easy. Some software updates will require restarts; those are the only reason I restart mine.
4. It seems that the current upper limit on RAM is 6GB. I can't imagine many people needing or using that much realistically though. I have 4GB and I have trouble using more than 2GB, honestly. I just have it for future-proofing. You could realistically upgrade in a few months once DDR3 RAM comes down in price a bit. In hindsight, that's probably what I would do.
Go for it. You'll love OS X once you get used to it and your friends will be secretly jealous (if not vocally jealous). You can run Windows on your MBP for games if you must!
Feel free to reply with any questions; I'll do my best. Hope you're as excited for a new MBP as I was a few weeks ago for mine!
--mAc
1. From an 8 year old PC any MBP from the last year will absolutely scream. The difference will be night and day, literally. These MBPs are pro machines, designed for heavily intensive mobile computing. They are fully capable of doing video and audio work on the fly, wherever their user happens to be. You won't have any "power" type issues for years with this machine, based on your usage.
2. In order to achieve a similar level of gaming on a PC laptop you're going to need to spend at least 4/5 of what you would spend on a MBP. Most PC laptops come with an excess of cheap RAM, and a lot of HD space. The issue is that these are the easiest components to upgrade. Instead, they sacrifice on the CPU and GPU in order to keep costs down. Apple is the opposite, equipping all their machines with the top CPUs available and middle-high end GPUs, and allowing for upgrades of the cheaper RAM and HD space as the user sees fit. This way Mac laptops generally last longer. In any case, the MBP will play most games released in the last 2 years on med-high settings quite smoothly. I play GTA SA (primarily) on mine at all maxed settings and it is buttery smooth. Search Youtube! Chances are there may be a video showing MBP performance with your favorite game.
3. Leaving them on 24/7 is a non-issue. These machines are designed to be left on all the time. I leave mine on all the time. Just close the lid when you're done with it, and charge it when it needs to be charged. Easy. Some software updates will require restarts; those are the only reason I restart mine.
4. It seems that the current upper limit on RAM is 6GB. I can't imagine many people needing or using that much realistically though. I have 4GB and I have trouble using more than 2GB, honestly. I just have it for future-proofing. You could realistically upgrade in a few months once DDR3 RAM comes down in price a bit. In hindsight, that's probably what I would do.
Go for it. You'll love OS X once you get used to it and your friends will be secretly jealous (if not vocally jealous). You can run Windows on your MBP for games if you must!
Feel free to reply with any questions; I'll do my best. Hope you're as excited for a new MBP as I was a few weeks ago for mine!
--mAc
I'll keep my post brief, a MBP can definitely be a desktop replacement. I switched my college workflow from WinXP to Mac 10.4 two years ago and have been well satisfied with my purchase of a MBP C2D 2.16Ghz (2006). I use my MBP at the desk to work on graphic intense particle effects in Maya mainly, and sometimes hi-res models, with a 20" monitor. I also play games such as NWN2, Bioshock, and Dead Space on my Vista bootcamp partition. It's very acceptable but you'll get a great deal of more performance from a 2008 MBP. I definitely drool over the newest models.
While not at the desk you'll have every bonus of having a laptop obviously, mobility!
I'm a graphics programmer on a *Mac* ... Mac's are fine machines.
While not at the desk you'll have every bonus of having a laptop obviously, mobility!
I'm a graphics programmer on a *Mac* ... Mac's are fine machines.
Another Opinion.
Purchasing a MBP for a desktop replacement is a bad idea.
The machine can be used as a desktop but why would you? If your use mode is desktop, then purchase an iMac. If your are going to be a power user, then purchase a Mac Pro. These are really good machines.
Neil
Purchasing a MBP for a desktop replacement is a bad idea.
The machine can be used as a desktop but why would you? If your use mode is desktop, then purchase an iMac. If your are going to be a power user, then purchase a Mac Pro. These are really good machines.
Neil
When I purchased my first MacBook Pro last year I was switching from Windows and I needed a computer that would be powerful enough for my needs and that I would be able to take it with me, and I was narrowed down to either a Dell XPS M1530 or a MacBook Pro, needless to say I purchased the MacBook Pro, it's done everything I've needed it to do and then some, I just purchased the latest unibody MacBook Pro and it's an exceptional machine.
My recommendation is that you look at your needs and then go from there.
My recommendation is that you look at your needs and then go from there.
Cons
Stuck with the (glossy) display. No screen spanning. No FW800 port. No Expresscard slot. No portability.
Takes up space. Not as quiet as a MBP. More expensive. Needs an external display. Not portable. You don't need a Mac Pro to be a 'power user'. Designing for print on a MBP, for instance, is perfectly acceptable.
Stuck with the (glossy) display. No screen spanning. No FW800 port. No Expresscard slot. No portability.
Takes up space. Not as quiet as a MBP. More expensive. Needs an external display. Not portable. You don't need a Mac Pro to be a 'power user'. Designing for print on a MBP, for instance, is perfectly acceptable.
Yes and you may want to pick up an external hard drive. They're really useful for video collections.
Im trying to get away from a desktop. Ive never had a laptop, therefore thats what im looking to purchase. I hate being confined to a desk. iMac's are really nice but my next computer isnt going to be a desktop. IM definetly not a power user.
and yet another reason why apple should introduce a minitower. mac pro=more than most need. imac= not expandable and chained to that glossy screen
I was in a similar situation to you a couple years back. When the original MBP and MB came out, I was using a QuickSilver2002 G4 933Mhz tower. For years I had wanted the option to be portable, but just hadn't made the jump. I'm also not terribly interested in trying to keep files in sync between multiple machines, and would prefer one single machine.
I got a Core Duo (not 2, i.e. still 32bit) Macbook 2Ghz, and it totally blew my G4 away in performance. Literally. One of the first things I did was fire up Pro Tools (audio editing software) and load a song that could barely make it all the way through on the G4. On the MB not only did it play, but I was able to add a plug in to each slot still available and it still worked totally fine.
At that point I made a decision to try to stay away from desktop machines of the current lines as much as possible. I had way more performance than before, I was extremely happy, and I was totally portable. Why find out you could get another 10-20%, or even more, off a machine that was less flexible? I preferred to be blissfully ignorant.
That MB is still my main machine, and I still do stuff that impresses others with it. I was just hired into an IT type position and my first task was to create virtual machines for a VMware ESXi server. I'm doing them all in Fusion on my MB as they haven't received the iMac they ordered in for me yet. The other day my supervisor started looking at the MB pages on the Apple website and said 'you sure do some impressive stuff with that little machine.'
Next week I'm ordering a MBP 2.53. Why? Well, I need more RAM than 2GB with all the VM's I'm running, and more screen real-estate would be nice.
When I first got the machine I used it almost totally like a desktop. Then I started taking it from home to work, and using it like a portable desktop. At the time I was doing a lot of design for theatre, and then I started taking it to tech rehearsals, so the portability has become more and more useful as time has gone on. At this point I can't imaging having my machine stuck in one location.
Some other things I have done on this MB: Video Editing and title creation, both in SD and in HD, lot's of audio creation and editing, photo processing, CAD, etc. Sure some of that would have been more efficient on a desktop, but:
a) it worked
b) it allowed me to work in the field when necessary without worrying about which of my files were in what place
To come full circle, the current MBP's are worlds beyond my MB in performance. 64 bit, way better memory bus, waaay better graphics capabilities, more capable firewire, etc etc.
So since you are coming from a much older PC, I think you will be more than happy with a MBP. You could of course get waaaaaay more performance out of a Mac Pro (I worked on one a few months back doing live HD video projection, and it was amazing. But if you want the most flexible solution as far as power : portability, the MBP is hard to beat.
He he, you're doing exactly the same thing I did last November!! I had and still have a dual Xeon PC I self built with SCSI hard drives and an Nvidia Quadro AGP graphics card which I hardly ever use and need to get rid off. Used it to play games and stuff for about 4 or 5 years. My sister was into Macs though and they were ALWAYS on at me about them (In fact my brother in law never lets me forget I used to slag off Macs). Also I started to notice a couple of people bringing their Mac Book Pros into work. I was looking for a replacement for my desktop, I was looking into Mac Pro's for ages but then really came to my senses deciding that I never used all the power in my PC so a Mac Pro would be a waste of money.
I then decided to go laptop drooling over work collueges Mac Book Pro's. Being a bit more ecologically sound these day's (A laptop uses far less power) and the idea as you said of being able to use it anywhere really appealed to me, plus the fact I could take my ENTIRE computer with me anywhere with everything was great.
By this time I decided on a Mac, and I wanted to play games, so I brought the 2.4 Penryn Mac Book Pro. I've had some issues with it, and I also HATE the keyboard on it, so due to the keyboard I am waiting for my replacement new 2.53 unibody MB Pro to arrive
as the first one was defected.Anyway, I love it, I sit on my bed and use it all the time, lie in bed, around the house, take it with to my sisters. It's fantastic having a laptop. I really don't think I could ever go back, it has lots of power, the new one even more so. The only bug bear is storage but as you said the new ones allow you to easily change that. But the 7200rpm 320GB drive is enough for me, it's more then double what my current MB Pro has. As for games, I only recently installed XP via boot camp as I brought a PS3 this year. It play's the Crysis demo Ok at medium to low settings as the screens native resolution, certainly playable. I surf the web on it, email on it, going to do some 3D animation on it. Everything. So really it depends on what type of person you are, if your happy to be sat at a desk or a pro user or a very keen amateur photographer then get a iMac or Mac Pro. Or if your like me then get a Mac laptop cause I have not looked back both in terms of choosing a Mac and also a laptop.
I would say though that if you're going to play intensive games then I would consider the mid range Mac Book Pro cause of the extra Vram. Also don't install 6GB of ram as you'll take a performance hit, people have said it will be negligible but the golden rule always used to be if its dual channel memory ALWAYS use matched memory in pairs for the performance gain.
Laptop sales have gone through the roof over the last 2 years, this has pushed the tech forward and prices down, maybe not on Macs but certainly on PC's. This I believe has all been since Intel launched the Centrino platform, a dedicated performance portable solution. Instead of using a Pentium 4. So now I can only see laptops becoming more popular and eventually replacing the desktops dominance on the market place. I mean, even serious gamers seem to be buying Alienware or Dell performance laptops these days, just ask your friends if they would prefer a performance desktop PC or laptop? And then you have the Netbook revolution.
So yes a laptop can EASILY be used as a desktop replacement for nearly everyone.
He he, you're doing exactly the same thing I did last November!! I had and still have a dual Xeon PC I self built with SCSI hard drives and an Nvidia Quadro AGP graphics card which I hardly ever use and need to get rid off. Used it to play games and stuff for about 4 or 5 years. My sister was into Macs though and they were ALWAYS on at me about them (In fact my brother in law never lets me forget I used to slag off Macs). Also I started to notice a couple of people bringing their Mac Book Pros into work. I was looking for a replacement for my desktop, I was looking into Mac Pro's for ages but then really came to my senses deciding that I never used all the power in my PC so a Mac Pro would be a waste of money.
I then decided to go laptop drooling over work collueges Mac Book Pro's. Being a bit more ecologically sound these day's (A laptop uses far less power) and the idea as you said of being able to use it anywhere really appealed to me, plus the fact I could take my ENTIRE computer with me anywhere with everything was great.
By this time I decided on a Mac, and I wanted to play games, so I brought the 2.4 Penryn Mac Book Pro. I've had some issues with it, and I also HATE the keyboard on it, so due to the keyboard I am waiting for my replacement new 2.53 unibody MB Pro to arrive
Anyway, I love it, I sit on my bed and use it all the time, lie in bed, around the house, take it with to my sisters. It's fantastic having a laptop. I really don't think I could ever go back, it has lots of power, the new one even more so. The only bug bear is storage but as you said the new ones allow you to easily change that. But the 7200rpm 320GB drive is enough for me, it's more then double what my current MB Pro has. As for games, I only recently installed XP via boot camp as I brought a PS3 this year. It play's the Crysis demo Ok at medium to low settings as the screens native resolution, certainly playable. I surf the web on it, email on it, going to do some 3D animation on it. Everything. So really it depends on what type of person you are, if your happy to be sat at a desk or a pro user or a very keen amateur photographer then get a iMac or Mac Pro. Or if your like me then get a Mac laptop cause I have not looked back both in terms of choosing a Mac and also a laptop.
I would say though that if you're going to play intensive games then I would consider the mid range Mac Book Pro cause of the extra Vram. Also don't install 6GB of ram as you'll take a performance hit, people have said it will be negligible but the golden rule always used to be if its dual channel memory ALWAYS use matched memory in pairs for the performance gain.
Laptop sales have gone through the roof over the last 2 years, this has pushed the tech forward and prices down, maybe not on Macs but certainly on PC's. This I believe has all been since Intel launched the Centrino platform, a dedicated performance portable solution. Instead of using a Pentium 4. So now I can only see laptops becoming more popular and eventually replacing the desktops dominance on the market place. I mean, even serious gamers seem to be buying Alienware or Dell performance laptops these days, just ask your friends if they would prefer a performance desktop PC or laptop? And then you have the Netbook revolution.
So yes a laptop can EASILY be used as a desktop replacement for nearly everyone.
Thanks you so much for the time, everyone is so great on this forum. Im not a power user and would not benefit from a macpro and like i said, i dont want a desktop really. Dont get me wrong, macpro's and iMacs are awesome computers but im not really in the market for another desktop and being confined to a desk. If i do purchase(which im 95% sure im going to) a MBP, i will definetly upgrade to a 7200 rpm HD and add more ram than the factory installed 2gigs. Im kinda on a budget and cant really afford the extra 500 dollars for the extra 256vram. Thats the one i want but money restrictions are forcing me to get the base model. Im not really a hardcore gamer. I play maybe 2-3 hours a week of games. As far as photography, im no where near a pro. I just have a 7.2 MP sony cam and my iphones 2mp cam. I basically just take pics of my gf and i and places we go and such. I do however use photoshop alot. I really like the glossy screens over matte, they just look better to me and i dont need the colors to be exact as im not doing anything professional picturewise on it. Another thing i like about the MBP's is the led lit keyboard. I find that an awesome feature and i would definetly use it alot when its dark and such. No windows laptops(at least that i know of) have this feature. Maybe i should save up and wait a little longer for the better model with 2.53 gig-and 6mb of L2 cache since the base model is only 2.4 gig-3mbL2 cache. I honestly dont think i can wait much monger tho. lol. Would there be a considerable difference between the 3mbL2 chache and the 6mbL2 cache?
I think for he games you play then the base Mac Book Pro would be fine, only if you do extreme games I think you would need the higher model or play games constantly, the Mac Book even can play COD 4.
As for Photoshop also it would be fine, you would see a difference in speed with the more powerful CPU on Photoshop but I doubt it would be a lot. And no doubt plenty of people on here use the 2.4 with Photoshop.
I think I'm right in saying more RAM is better for Photoshop?
I would also advise you buy it from a store if possible, as if it has any defects you can take it back for exchange but I get the feeling Apple have started to iron these out now.
Also if you are going to upgrade the hard drive and ram yourself then the only advantage to you for the extra money is the 2.53 CPU and the bigger Vram.
As for Photoshop also it would be fine, you would see a difference in speed with the more powerful CPU on Photoshop but I doubt it would be a lot. And no doubt plenty of people on here use the 2.4 with Photoshop.
I think I'm right in saying more RAM is better for Photoshop?
I would also advise you buy it from a store if possible, as if it has any defects you can take it back for exchange but I get the feeling Apple have started to iron these out now.
Also if you are going to upgrade the hard drive and ram yourself then the only advantage to you for the extra money is the 2.53 CPU and the bigger Vram.
Any results out yet on how much faster the 2.53 is over the 2.4 with the same amount of ram and same hd? I guess it would be hard to tell as teh 2.53 model has 6mb of L2 cache and the base model only has 3mb L2cache.
Yes lots, hang on I have a favourite that I've lost LOL. Let me fid it for you.
Sweet, thanks. I wish the base model just came with 6mb of L2 cache instead of 3. its 500 dollars for 256 more of vram and 3mb more of l2 cache.
Yes. It works fine as a desktop replacement. I haven't had a true desktop computer on my desk in over 8 years. A good laptop like the MBP and an external monitor have handled everything I do easily. Nice bonus is you can carry it if you want or use it as a desktop. A pure desktop certainly may have more juice, but less overall lifestyle usability.
Matter of fact, I have an Air as a totally portable and a MBP as a desktop. Before that it was a MB and a MBP. Before that it was a 15"PB and a 12" PB. You get the idea..
Matter of fact, I have an Air as a totally portable and a MBP as a desktop. Before that it was a MB and a MBP. Before that it was a 15"PB and a 12" PB. You get the idea..
Ah, my favourite so far doesn't do them but the link is this:
http://www.barefeats.com/
The owner of the site actually posts on this forum which was how I found it.
A quick Google however shows this:
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/apple/memory/Macbook_Pro_15_Memory_Benchmarks
http://www.barefeats.com/
The owner of the site actually posts on this forum which was how I found it.
A quick Google however shows this:
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/apple/memory/Macbook_Pro_15_Memory_Benchmarks
Thanks for the links. Now i just have to decode the meaning off all that stuff. lol. Maybe ill just buy the base model and when i save the extra money, sell it for about what i paid for it locally and buy the higher end model.