Some questions about the MacBook Pro.

This is from a guy who's been a PC all of his life.

After seeing how awesome the Education discount is, I've decided I will definitely go after a MacBook Pro 17 if I can get this shoddy Acer returned. What attracts me is the thinness, design, keyboard, screen, weight and basically everything except the price. Everything about it screams quality, even the notorious glossy screen which I kinda like.

But first, I have some questions about the MacBook Pros and Mac OSX in general.

1. Is the 8 Hour Battery Life for real? I know that this is some "revolutionary" new thing, but honestly I can't believe something with a WUXGA screen could go for so long.

2. Does Aluminum scratch easily? How about fingerprints?

3. (Applies to all MacBook Pros) Does the hinge of the lid creak or wobble when opening or closing the laptop?

4. (This might be a silly question) Is Leopard 32 bit or 64 bit? Or is it default 64 bit? I can't see any mention of that in the configuration page.

5. How about driver support? I have a Razer Copperhead, Piranha and am ordering a Mamba and it would be a shame if they were not compatible with the OS.

6. Does Parallels or VMWare lag at all when running XP? Or is it the same experience, with no slow down? How about Boot Camp?

I know some questions have multiple questions within them lol.
Thank you for your patience, I hope you can answer these.

 

I, too, made the switch.

I was about the buy from the educational discount, also, but it was going to be taxed. Amazon.com doesn't charge tax or shipping but you cannot configure it to your liking - ie 320 GB HD with 7200 RPM and the software isn't already installed.

8 Hour battery life claimed is always far from reality. I haven't seen too many claim battery lives that live up to that. My 15" MBP doesn't live up to the stated life unless brightness is level 2 with WIFI and Bluetooth off.

Fingerprints get on the aluminum body easily (esp the wrist rest - or whatever you call it). I saw the Speck covers but they have a tendency to crack - from the reviews I have read. It doesn't scratch easily but it is not coated, either.

No lid creak or wobble.

I don't run Windows on a Mac - I am now a Windows hater.

 

Nice. Time to change your avatar, eh?

I suppose the black glassy bit around the screen is an absolute fingerprint magnet?

 

Yeah, the black bezel around the screen is an absolute fingerprint magnet. If you look at the pictures on my Aluminum MB review, you can see how it looks.

 

0. The screen is notoriously glossy, but some people are OK with it.

1. Under really light load perhaps, but not when you're doing something useful. (We don't have access yet to the 17" MBP to be sure, but I am willing to wager it will give you a substantially less (than 8 hours) when doing something intensive.)

2. You can scratch it, but not easily. There ought not to be a problem under everyday use (throwing it into a backpack and lugging it around campus or to and from work). Drop it, scratch it with a pair of scissors (hastily thrown into the same bag), scratch the wrist-rest with a metal watch etc., and there will be permanent damage. (I speak from experience!)

More importantly (in my opinion) the chassis is quite a bit more robust than other laptops' plastic counterparts. My few-year-old MBP has been through quite a bit of (ab)use and it is still going strong. My new (unibody, 15") MBP is even more rugged than that machine, so I only expect it will last longer.

3. No, not in the slightest.

4. It is some Frankensteinian hybrid version. It supports 64-bit processes and retains full compatibility with 32-bit drivers and plugins. (This might be pertinent to question 5 but I don't know.)

5. I don't know what this is.

6. Windows XP will be noticeably slower than native Mac OS X with a virtualized solution (Parallels, VMWare), but Boot Camp allows you to run Windows natively---with no slowdowns.

 

^same as on my HDX!still,not a big deal to me...

well,they say that current macbook will last 5 hours,and it does 4.45,so there is a possibility that it is for real!

fingerprints don't show up on aluminum badly...

nothing like is was reported!

My deathadder works perfectly in MacOS...

BootCamp turns your mac in PC.literally!it won't lag and it is perfectly suitable for gaming!Parallels and VMW are ok for anything except gaming!


feel free to ask more questions!

 

Remember the whole thing about the 8 hours of battery is ONLY for the new 17" Macbook Pro. Because the battery is different.

With the 15", I get 3-4 hours with brightness at half, wifi on, bluetooth on.

I have a Razer Pro|Click Mobile (bluetooth) and it didn't require any drivers. I don't see other Razor mice not working with OS X.

 

for razor mice:

there are only the pro|click and death adder that has mac driver and the others don't. unless razor chose mamba to have support for mac, the functionality of it will not be in full.

my lachesis has no mac driver and even with steermouse, i cannot customize the dpi nor 8th and 9th buttons.

 

What do you guys think I should get?

MacBook Pro 15"

- 2.8GHz T9600
- 250GB 7200rpm HDD (Definitely going to replace with SSD)
- 4GB DDR3 1066MHz RAM
- Standard Everything Else

MacBook Pro 17"

- 2.66GHz P9600
- 4GB DDR3 1066MHz RAM
- 320GB 7200rpm HDD
- Standard Everything Else

They are about $150 different, with the 15" being cheaper.

The 15" has a faster CPU, is lighter, has a replaceable battery and is very easy to access RAM and the HDD (important to me).

The 17" has a more power-conservative CPU, has a magnificent WUXGA 17" screen and boasts that awesome battery.

Which one?

 

How do you plan on using the laptop? If youre taking it around a lot, sometimes people dont like to carry 17" laptops around because of the weight and size.

I dunno about the new battery in the 17", i personally try to stay away from first gen technology, as theres usually flaws in them.

Id personally go with the 15", its a really good computer, and if you hook it up to an external display, you wont miss those extr two inches.

And the hdd is user replaceable. (not saying you cant change it in the new one, just that you gotta open it up t do it.)

 

I would go with the 15, because you mentioned you are going to get an SSD, which I think will be a great addition to that and boost your overall performance. The 2.8GHz along with an SSD is a killer combination. The battery swapping is a personal preference. If you are a road warrior and don't get the chance to charge your battery much, the user-replaceable battery is a must. But also, the 17 inch wasn't intended as a road warrior's main poison either. The screen is just another one of those personal preferences. If you truly want a magnificent display, then the 17 inch is your pick. I would think the 15 inch is the more versatile, customize-able per say (battery swapping, RAM & HDD swapping) but the 17 inch also has it's pluses. In short, I'd go with the 15. Hope that helps!

EDIT: Sulkorp beat me....

 

Hmm, if only Apple offered a WSXGA+ display with the 15"...

I think I will go with the 15". Thanks guys.

Now to get this thing returned

 

1. I would doubt it (unless the 17" is much better), I could barely manage three hours out of my 15".

2.
I feel like I'm going to nick the aluminum every time that my finger nail touches it, though it's a little more durable than you'd think. Scratches will be more noticeable than on a plastic machine. I think that the whole system is pretty scratch-resistant, with the weakest being the lid. Finger prints are rare.

3. No.

4. (This might be a silly question) Is Leopard 32 bit or 64 bit? Or is it default 64 bit? I can't see any mention of that in the configuration page.

It smartly uses a combination, though the framework is 64-bit.

5. Different for different gadgets.

6. Does Parallels or VMWare lag at all when running XP? Or is it the same experience, with no slow down? How about Boot Camp?

Yes, VMWare and Parallel aren't too fast in OS X. Boot Camp is completely full speed, and surprisingly faster than I thought.

 

Can your battery last a whole DVD?

 

^of course it can!Michael,what setting do you use?

 

apple are usually very accurate in term of battery life. when new, im sure with just basic web-browsing the 17 MBP could achieve 8 hours.

i dont find the fingerprint to be an issue. the body is anodized, so its fairly scratch resistant.
when it scratch, you will notice it more, since the machine is soo beautiful, and the colour is silver, and it is metallic, which means shadow from scratch will be more visible.

apple hinges, wheter is is the macbook, macbook pro, imac, apple cinema display, is one of the best i've seen and feel. it is very smooth.

however, if you tilt the notebook 90 degrees pointing up, the screen might closed itself, under its own weight. not sure about the new unibody version though.

it is a 64-bit OS with some 32-bit part. i think snow leopard is meant to be all 64-bit, anyone can confirm?

it will take more than 4GB of ram, if that what you're asking. it is not like windows where the driver and software on 64-bit is scarce. it works seamlessly. you never notice the 64-bit. 32-bit.

not too sure, but i rather avoid using logitech setpoint. it install a mac hack, which modified the OS internal, which might cause problem.

when running parallel you do take a bit of hit in performance since the computer is runnin two OS at the same time. i saw my friend doing this, i think it is usable, not sure how much drop it have. i suggest you try googling this.

bootcamp is not virtualization, the OS runs natively, so the performance is the same as any windows lapptop. no slowdown in bootcamp. if you gonna primarily use this machine for windows, i suggest you take a look at different laptop. since the keyboard layout is different, and you might experience a few hic up here and there from what i've heard.. it will be fixed though in time when there is hic up. but it is more troublesome than if you just buy a windows pc.

HP elitebook?

 

Nah, I'm fed up with Windows.

I really only need it for Games.

 

I would go with 17" myself if the price is good!

 

Well, the two are only $150 apart

Decisions, decisions.

I really like the easy access HDD and the powerful CPU of the 15", but the 17"'s screen is so darn awesome.

 

go for 17"...you won't notice any difference between 2.66 and 2.8...and all say that 17" has a mindblowing screen!BTW,can you go to apple store and check yourself?

 

Go with the 15"

From the looks of it I'm sure you can afford a external monitor like a apple cinema display. Get one of those for stationary use, it'd be better than the 17" anyway. And, you get the more portability of the 15", along with the better CPU. Win Win.

 

9400M GT (usually) with half brightness and wifi is on, while Bluetooth is off.

 

Lol I actually I can't afford the Cinema Display, its $1200 here

 

****, Apple is so overpriced.

For $4200, I can get a Dell M1730 with SLI 8800M GTX, T9500, 2 320GB HDDs, 2 Batteries, case and a Blu-Ray Reader. But of course, it weighs 5KG.

 

are there any old macbook pro that are affected by the defective NVIDIA cards? I'm asking because they have good deals on the refurbs..

 

Or you can get a fully loaded desktop with Intel i7, SLI GTX 295, 12GB of RAM and 4x Velociraptors and a 30in LCD + more

 

touche


------

 

thats why I decided to get apple after I earn my first million for now,I will save my money for more important stuff...

 

plasma,do you need that much power?what about getting base MBP 15"?or base 17"?

 

You must work for the government...

 

hehe,good luck earning $ working on the government