Wow, copy Mac Much?

[wct097]

Apple has quad cores. They also have Thunderbolt now, which is better than USB3. Not that I wouldn't like to see Bluray or USB3 as well… but lets give credit where credit is due.

They do now, not as of 2/23 when I posted that. Thunderbolt may be better in theory, but I can't plug the half dozen USB drives I currently own into it, and I can't actually buy anything that will take advantage of it yet. It may be better, like Laserdiscs were better, but it may flop. At any rate, it's not better today.

It's from a 9-cell. The big-ass heavy chunky batteries that clip on the bottom of some PCs. The test probably involves sitting there with the screen at minimum brightness, wireless and all accessories off, and refreshing a pure HTML website once a minute. It's hardly attractive no matter what the numbers say.

What? You mean like Apple used to do with their MBP's when they claimed 10-11 hours of battery life?

 

[Evil Spoonman]

there are quite a few laptop owners with 16GB and the i7-720QM, i7-820QM or i7-920QM. I think 4 DIMMs is an option for any of the quad-core Arrandales mobile CPUs (obviously depending on the internal layout of the specific laptop).

Must be… I can't find an SKU for it, but it does seem like many laptops support 16GB across 4 slots. Baffling.

Thunderbolt may be better in theory, but I can't plug the half dozen USB drives I currently own into it, and I can't actually buy anything that will take advantage of it yet. It may be better, like Laserdiscs were better, but it may flop. At any rate, it's not better today.

USB ports aren't going anywhere. they are still very useful for low-bandwidth peripherals. The argument is specific to USB 3, which has many downsides. Thunderbolt is an excellent high-bandwidth interconnect. Furthermore current Firewire/USB/eSATA devices can be easily converted with an adapter. It isn't better like Laserdiscs were better, it's better in that it overcomes a whole host of problems we have today, and it is heavily future-proof.

What? You mean like Apple used to do with their MBP's when they claimed 10-11 hours of battery life?

Right. Which they stopped doing, but apparently nobody else did.

 

[wct097]

USB ports aren't going anywhere. they are still very useful for low-bandwidth peripherals. The argument is specific to USB 3, which has many downsides.

The only downside I'm aware of is the lack of Intel support given their propensity for pushing their new product line. The upside, on the other hand, is that there are already an enormous multitude of existing machines and devices that can use USB 3.0.... not to mention it's backwards compatibility.

Quite honestly, the only reason to jump on the anti-USB 3 bandwagon is to be an Apple fanboi. Being a fan of Thunderbolt doesn't have to be mutually exclusive with being a fan of USB.

Thunderbolt is an excellent high-bandwidth interconnect.

Don't deny that this is possible in the future. Today it's nothing but a port unique to MBPs with nothing to use it for.

Furthermore current Firewire/USB/eSATA devices can be easily converted with an adapter.

Who makes one? I'll buy one today if it doesn't exceed the cost of the device I want to plug into it.

It isn't better like Laserdiscs were better, it's better in that it overcomes a whole host of problems we have today, and it is heavily future-proof.

Not sure I'm aware of any real-world problems that Thunderbolt is solving today.

Let me be clear. I'm not objecting to Thunderbolt, I'm just objecting to fanboi-ism before it's proven itself or even sold it's first peripheral.

 

[eaf7s]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8B117 Safari/6531.22.7)

That thing is hideous. That's like calling a Sebring a copy of a 'vette...

 

[Evil Spoonman]

The only downside I'm aware of is the lack of Intel support given their propensity for pushing their new product line.

USB brings with it extremely high latencies, requires CPU time, has a non-optimal controller model, does not ever reach near its theoretical bandwidth... et cetera.

Don't deny that this is possible in the future. Today it's nothing but a port unique to MBPs with nothing to use it for.

Who makes one? I'll buy one today if it doesn't exceed the cost of the device I want to plug into it.

Not sure I'm aware of any real-world problems that Thunderbolt is solving today.

This is all pointing to the same thing, and it is a fair and valid point. Thunderbolt is currently just a cool technology with a bad name. Indeed, nobody has released a product yet. You'll see me outside sacrificing goats to get people to release Thunderbolt hardware right now.

Let me be clear. I'm not objecting to Thunderbolt, I'm just objecting to fanboi-ism before it's proven itself or even sold it's first peripheral.

It's not fanboi-ism. It's just idealism. I would love to compute in a world where all of my low-bandwidth peripherals are attached via USB. All of my high-bandwidth equipment attached with one or two Thunderbolt chains. Who wouldn't want that sort of simplicity and flexibility? Man, sign me up.

 

[wct097]

It's not fanboi-ism. It's just idealism. I would love to compute in a world where all of my low-bandwidth peripherals are attached via USB. All of my high-bandwidth equipment attached with one or two Thunderbolt chains. Who wouldn't want that sort of simplicity and flexibility? Man, sign me up.

I'm looking forward to having a computer that you plug in one Thunderbolt monitor and daisy chain the second and all of your peripherals (USB, eSATA, etc) into the monitors.

That said, I'll be surprised if it takes hold well enough that I even get to plug a t-bolt device into my '11 MBP before I replace it.

 

[grahamnp]

It is a silver laptop with a black chicklet keyboard. Unoriginal? Okay, sure but ripping off Apple?

Nobody accused Apple of copying Sony when they started using the chicklet keyboard.

 

[ozred]

Check these out.

Here are the specs.

That Elite looks just like the MBP...black keyboard with space between the keys + backlight...the color scheme matches the MBP's also...and Quad-Core.

Spill resistant Keyboard and Blu-Ray optical...The new MBP still seem better correct?

So what ?

It must really worry you.

 

[AdamRock]

that hp laptop is actually much better (just basing off specs).

 

[Evil Spoonman]

That said, I'll be surprised if it takes hold well enough that I even get to plug a t-bolt device into my '11 MBP before I replace it.

I kind of feel that, as the digitally inclined, it is our job to fervently pursue and support the best technology. After all, the average computer-as-an-appliance consumer (vast majority) don't know any better. We're improving our lives, and everybody else's, if we put aside the healthy dose of skepticism and support the obviously superior tech. Especially at a juncture like this when adoption of either is pretty light, and the path forward is clear.

I'll step off the pulpit now and plug in my Firewire drive. Not saying idealism doesn't leave you high and dry sometimes.

 

[thejadedmonkey]

It is a silver laptop with a black chicklet keyboard. Unoriginal? Okay, sure but ripping off Apple?

Nobody accused Apple of copying Sony when they started using the chicklet keyboard.

Actually, when the first Macbooks came out, Apple was accused of copying Sony's chiclet keyboard design.

When the first unibody MBP's came out, Apple was accused of making them look too much like HP... with a silver bottom, black keyboard, and black monitor bezel.

There's a reason why no one accused Sony of copying Apple

 

[Funkymonk]

It is a silver laptop with a black chicklet keyboard. Unoriginal? Okay, sure but ripping off Apple?

Nobody accused Apple of copying Sony when they started using the chicklet keyboard.

Actually, when the first Macbooks came out, Apple was accused of copying Sony's chiclet keyboard design.

When the first unibody MBP's came out, Apple was accused of making them look too much like HP... with a silver bottom, black keyboard, and black monitor bezel.

There's a reason why no one accused Sony of copying Apple

WHAT!?

Apple would never do that. People only steal from apple, not the other way around. Don't you dare suggest otherwise again!

 

[punchwalk]

I just bought a new sandbridge HP and I had it out of the box for 3 hours, put it back in the box and returned it to HP. It was the worst PC I have ever used and it was 1200$. For that kind of money, I will spend the extra $300 or $400 to get a MBP.

I did the same thing. Bought one of the Pavilion dv6t-4000 models in January (which looks an awful lot like their new "ProBook" I might add) and returned it less than 2 weeks later. It was an utter bag of crap. The trackpad was horrendously stiff, the 6-cell battery provided no more than ~2 hours of moderate browsing, and the display panel (15" 1366x768) was a big, washed-out, disappointment. I'll never buy an HP laptop again.

 

[Looon]

It's from a 9-cell. The big-ass heavy chunky batteries that clip on the bottom of some PCs. The test probably involves sitting there with the screen at minimum brightness, wireless and all accessories off, and refreshing a pure HTML website once a minute. It's hardly attractive no matter what the numbers say.

So you mean they do their tests the same way Apple does theirs? NO WAY

 

[Blu101]

Check these out.

Just one more piece of plastic cow dung in the PC universe.

They need the photo of that model in the top left corner just to keep people on the page for a few seconds

 

[entatlrg]

Pathetic company HP is. Knock-off scum.

Fraudsters too ... yes, I've owned enough low quality defective HP electronics to make that statement ... NEVER again.

 

[billgates99]

These models are not really "copying" the MBP design.

The Elitebook and Probook are marketed to corporate buyers (except the Elitebook w series with dc2 panels is marketed to photographers). This redesign, while somewhat improving over the previous models, are still not really copying the MBP design. IMO they don't even resemble the MBP slightly when you look at a larger image. There are lots of other laptops by various makers that resemble MBPs more.

The Envy line clearly shows some influence in design cues, but IRL with my wife's 2010 MBP sitting next to my Envy 15, they are still very different and there is no way you could mistake one for the other.

 

[DarwinOSX]

Pretty pathetic how HP has been copying macs so obviously. But actually look at one of these and it is cheaply made and poorly fitted + HPs terrible consumer support and service. On the other hand I like HP's business laptops, W series etc but they cost as much or more than a Mac. Plus your still running Windows.

 

[Funkymonk]

Pretty pathetic how HP has been copying macs so obviously. But actually look at one of these and it is cheaply made and poorly fitted + HPs terrible consumer support and service. On the other hand I like HP's business laptops, W series etc but they cost as much or more than a Mac. Plus your still running Windows.

How else is a thin laptop supposed to look?

 

[benpatient]

I'd really like someone to get to the bottom of this 8 GB/16 GB thing.

What's the DEAL?

It looks like Intel's page is incorrect, but can we get someone to drop 800-900 dollars each on some 8gb SO-DIMM chips and slap them into a 2011 mbp, please?

If we can go to 16, I'm going to stick with 4 for a couple months and wait for supplies of 8gb chips to fill in...

 

[billgates99]

I'd really like someone to get to the bottom of this 8 GB/16 GB thing.

What's the DEAL?

It looks like Intel's page is incorrect, but can we get someone to drop 800-900 dollars each on some 8gb SO-DIMM chips and slap them into a 2011 mbp, please?

If we can go to 16, I'm going to stick with 4 for a couple months and wait for supplies of 8gb chips to fill in...

I'm pretty sure if you can get your hands on a pair of 8GB sticks with the same no. of pins, etc., it will work just fine.

 

[grahamnp]

There are laptops, like the Lenovo W510, with 4 DIMM slots. I can't think of any SB laptops that have it but I guess it is only matter of time. Intel probably was provisioning for those.

 

[articcine]

No PC can ever look gorgeous like a mac.