Some questions about the MBP

Hi everbody,

The time to replace my almost 5 year old Thinkpad has come and I am considering either the 15" MBP or a 15" HP Elitebook 8540w, both close to the high end of the configuration. This is a company laptop so there is no cost limit but I will have to live (and make a living) with it for the next 3 - 4 years. Operating system and software is not affecting my choice, I am quite happy both with OS X and Linux that I will use with the HP.

The configuration I will probably get is:
- i7 @ 2.8GHz
- 8 Gig Ram
- 256Gig Solid State disk
- 15" anti-glare high resolution screen

(For reference the Elitebook I am looking comes with i7 840QM and NVIDIA Quadro FX 1800M, the rest more or less similar)

So my questions are:
- Does anybody know which particular i7 this MBP is equipped with? Usually i7 are displayed with two frequencies, the quad core and the "turbo", is the 2.8 the "turbo"?
- How much battery time should I expect with an "office" type usage (internet, documents etc?) and/or watching some video?
- Anybody has experience how well the MBP behaves with heavy disk access. I heard some rumours that responsiveness is affected a lot with heavy disk I/O, does this have any base to your experience?

I inclined towards the MBP more as it seems to have better battery life, is a bit lighter and looks much prettier (in my opinion) but if it falls noticeably back in performance I may choose the HP.

Thanks

vmp

 

The MBP 15 uses an i7-620M, a dual core i7.

Unless you are doing a ton of multitasking or using software that benefits from a quad core, the dual core i7 would be faster, better.

Since the choice of OS is between Linux and OSX, OSX would probably be the better choice since it has more commercial support. Something which could prove important.

If you were going to run Win7 on the HP, then I'd recommend the HP over the MBP.

 

the core i7 2.8Ghz, 2.8Ghz is the base\normal frequency.
When turbo kicks in it jumps to 3.33Ghz I think.
I would get the mac personally, I just got my 15" MBP on Saturday, and I LOVE IT!

 

well not bee too rude, but what will you be doing wth this machine for work?
secondly if it is a critcal mcchine for your work I would reccomend the Elitebook as its easy to get parts or replacement machines overnight aired to you should you need them.

 

Not sure how much you're going to get out of the i7 in the MBP considering it will be throttling itself to prevent the computer from melting the whole time.

Core i7-equipped MacBook Pro CPU hits 100 degrees Celsius (updated) -- Engadget

That's on the superior cooling 17", I'm betting the 15" will never run at close to 3.33ghz for more than a minute.

The i7s on the Macs are a marketing turd as far as I can see. The MBPs aren't equipped to handle Arrandales, I'm thinking we're looking at next general 2x nm chips for them to go quad core.

 

That same articles goes on to say that those "results could be a fluke" and that in their review of the machine, they noticed much better temperatures. Though they aren't specific with what "better" means. But unless you've seen it first hand, then don't jump to conclusions and make harsh statements. I own the 15" MBP with an i7 620M and play games on it for several hours at a time. Actually, I haven't monitored the CPU temps because the notebook itself never gets uncomfortably warm. The only real number I can give you though is that the GPU never goes above 79C (when overclocked), so I can't imagine the CPU doing worse.

 

A quick google at Core i7 owners on MacRumer and other forums indicate their CPUs @ 90C + all the time, running basic stuff like Skype.

Core i5 & i7 Overheating Issues True? - MacRumors Forums

I have no doubt these chips throttle under heavier temperatures.

I also don't know how some people report temperatures, because the only temps that matter are the Core temperatures (for laptops anyway). For desktops it gets more complicated, when you have to really monitor VREGs, NBs, GPU memory, VREGs etc

 

Well most of the post I'm reading on that thread claim that the overheating issues aren't true. But some people are saying that they're MBP does heat up substantially (like the guy who got almost 100C chatting on Skype?!).

I don't know how much playing WoW, FFXIV, DA:O, or any of my other recent games strains the CPU but it hasn't throttled on me. But I won't speak for everyone since clearly you showed me that some people are reporting alarmingly high temps.

 

Thank you all for your replies!

I have to admit that I am even more indecisive, but I learned a lot about the MBP that are not obvious from the shiny apple's web site. Neither good nor bad, just some facts that are very helpful. It seems I have to make a decision based on priorities since there is no "perfect" laptop out there. The discussion about the heating issues was very helpful and just reveals the fact that a high end cpu/gpu produces a lot of heat and this may explain the reason that the HP (and the high end Dells like the precision) are quite bulky and heavy. Performance comes at a cost and one has to decide how much is needed when outside home or office. Maybe I am approaching the problem from the wrong way and the answer is to start spending time at the gym and then get an Elitebook and a backpack loaded with spare batteries

@crazycanuk: Well, I could say I am just a performance enthusiast, but the truth is that the more performance a machine has the more pleasant is to work with and it can last for longer. Stuff like building large projects, signing tens of jars compressing/decompressing, refactoring in hundreds of files or working with vector graphics are happening noticeably faster with fast CPUs and fast solid state disks. And let's not forget a bit of gaming once in a while...

Heating may not be an issue, since the time the cpu will be spending on demanding tasks represents a small proportion of the total usage, but on the other hand working on a hot keyboard can be very annoying.

I think I will just have to see the Elitebook from close to get a good idea about its weight and the usability of the weird position of the touchpad.

Thanks again!

 

I still think heating on the MBP isn't an issue but I will acknowledge it because some people claim to be a victim of it. However, I can say with utmost certainty under heavy load, the keyboard doesn't heat to no where near uncomfortable levels. The only place I've noticed on the laptop's surface that feels hot for me is the upper left side (above the left speaker and next to the power adapter port). So the keyboard is good. I can't speak for the underside of the case since I always use my laptop on a flat surface such as a table, and never on my lap.

 

I simply don't think these Laptops are built for what you want. It's a bit like asking my iPhone or Droid to encode a DivX movie... they're not well equipped.

You can get a $4000 honking Clevo or similar that sports desktop Core i7 Quads or Hexacores running at high frequencies, while they're still built like plastic crap running crappy screens all day long, or it's simpler to build a small computer that needs a power outlet and monitor but will be rocking graphics 3 generations ahead and processors exponentially faster than any laptop can use (think 4ghz + Core i7 970 hexacores in a Small Form Factor case - easy to pull off these days)