2010 MBP 13 vs 2011 MBP 13

So I'm not one of these "Must have latest" kinda guys, but man that new 13 is looking mighty good right about now.

I don't care for thunderbolt, but I do care for the new Webcam and the new processors.

Does anyone who has these laptops know how much the new processors impact battery life?

Almost considering selling my 2010 one for a 2011 one. Even though I know deep down I don't need it at all.

 

I always subtract 2 hours from the quoted battery life from manufacturers. So if Apple is stating that the new laptops get 7 hours of battery life, realisticly it's 5 hours. The 2010 generation was quoted at 10 hours of battery life, so 8 hours in real life. I actually do get roughly 7-8 hours of usage with my MBP13 (2010) with medium brightness and webbing around the inter-tubes.

 

Apple claim the 2011 7hr battery life is measured by real world usage.
While 2010 did a different way

Most ppl could do more than 7hr in macrumor forum

 

You should probably wait until 2012 before buying a new MacBook Pro simply because the upgrades in the 13" model now aren't that much (overall) compared to the 2010 model. The Core i series (even the Core i5) is a much better performer in a GHz to GHz comparison with the Core 2 Duo line and the 13" Core i7 MBP (which is dual-core) actually outperforms the $2500 Core i7 15" McaBook Pro released last year.

That being said, the upgrade may not be worth the cost and time of selling your current model and then buying the new one. The changes are nice but you are (hopefully) going to experience a much larger performance jump by waiting for Apple to adopt the next architecture after Sandy Bridge (which will likely be released early 2012).

As for the batter life, it has already been discussed. Most reviewers would get around 7 hours of usage, maybe 5 depending on what they were doing, out of the 2010 13" MBP. The 7 hour number that Apple provides now is much more realistic and most reviews I have read show that the battery life is either a little below that or a little above depending on what you are doing. So that is a mute issue when it comes to comparing the two as they are essentially the same.

dbam987's rule is generally correct when trying to gauge manufacturer battery estimates for what you would get in the real world but Apple has updated the way they test the battery life so it is much more accurate now.

 

All i can say is that you actually need to have extra money on hands to afford replacing notebooks every half a year. I mean obviously new one is better but old still isnt that bad. Will you notice performance boost? – i really really doubt it. It will be like what — 3 seconds faster booting and 1 second off opening a large hd video file?

Standard notebook cycle should be around 2 years imo or even 3 if you dont do any serious graphic / video working on it. Sure it wont be that good at the end of the cycle but it will handle most of the things you do and save you some money in the process. Gaming rigs are better upgraded every 1 year or so but i think you are not going to game on mbp13 anyway.

For example i am using 2007 mbp core 2 duo 2.4ghz, 8600m gt video. I am even a designer — work in photoshop every day and i hardly noticing lack of performance. Its 4th year for this mbp, going to upgrade now just because its falling apart physically ))

 

anyone know what the new mbp 13" i7 processor is? they don't really say do they? :| no specific model like a 840qm, or a 640m whatsoever. just plainly an i7. :|

 

Well, there is only one dual-core Core i7 Sandy Bridge processor that clocks in at 2.7Ghz and that is the 2620M so I am guessing that is the processor number. It is currently Intel's top-of-the-line dual-core processor that is actually able to outperform previous dual and quad-core configurations (except under extreme multi-tasking, the older quad-core Core i7 processors still pull ahead).

I also think Lieto's 3 year notebook cycle is pretty accurate in terms of when you should actually upgrade. It is expensive and a pain in the butt to upgrade a system once every 0.5-1 year and really not necessary unless the system was somehow abused and is physically falling apart (then you either purchased a cheap computer or need to change your usage habbits).