Well, it's time to make a decision. Looking from feedback from current gen MBP 15 & 17 owners.

Well I need to make a decision on a laptop in the next 24 hours....

I was waiting for the new HP Elitebook 8540w, but that is exorbitantly priced...

I was considering the new Lenovo W510, but the screen I require is out of stock for at least a month...

I wanted to wait for the next refresh of the MBP, but not even god knows when that is...

So considering the above, it appears my only option is to go with a current gen MBP and pray they refresh in the next 14 days.

So to the questions -

1. Have you had any quality issues with the current gen MBP models? Any overheating, under-performance issues?

2. If you got the top end 15, do you wish you would of just gone to the 17?

3. This will be a case where I have Parallels running non stop as there are some critical applications that must run under Windows, but the rest is under OSX (I'm not getting this laptop just to run Windows). Considering it seems OSX uses less memory, is 4GB sufficient to run IO intensive applications in Parallels?

I appreciate any feedback on the above, and anything else you might consider pertinent.

 

1. I have not had any quality issues and I have had mine since Dec 2008. I carry it with me 5 times a week. It can get hot at times, like when viewing streaming video or youtube, it can get up to 80 degrees C (not all the time). Mostly though, when idling it stays around 40-50 degrees C. Everything I have thrown at this thing has handled well, no under performing. But then again, I am not a power user. Photoshop, games, music, photos, internet, video, everythig works great.

2. I got the top end 15 at the time, and there wasn't a 17 available. In either case, I would not get the 17 because it is too big to carry around. Depending on what your needs are the 17 might be better, but I don't know what your current situation is.

3. I think you will need more than 4 GB.

The next refresh may be worth waiting for because the new core CPUs are significantly better than the current cores.

But the only downside is that you will be buying first generation stuff, there could be more issues with a new CPU as we don't know the long term effects of the core i's. At least with the current core2's, all the problems have been worked out....I think.

 

Couple of things on this. First of all, a refresh within the coming two weeks wouldn't be all that surprising. Secondly, given your situation, I imagine that it's perfectly possible that an Apple rep, given what you just said, would honor their refresh upgrade policy even if it's a little bit beyond the typical time limit (though this will depend on the rep, phase of the moon, and whatever the hell else).

If it came down to it and you had a mid-2009 MBP to work with, that's hardly the worst fate.

 

I have no complaints about my MBP17 that I purchased end of May 09.

2.93 8GB with 320GB 7200RPM HDD. I just upgraded to a HITACHI 7K500 HDD.

I think you will want 8GB though with VM for business/work. I run XP in Parallels Desktop v.5 almost all my work day. It is very efficient VM software but you'd like having the 8GB I think. I use my XP vm for my business running mostly Oracle database development software and Oracle Apps along with the usual MS Office tools. I do alot of network IO and with the HDD. Performs great and I love it. I allocate 1 cpu and 4gb to the VM. Right now I have about 2.5GB ram free showing in Active Monitor

See how it performs with your VM with 4GB in your MBP (with 2GB or 3GB allocated to the VM), etc. Then if you feel you could better avoid page swapping with more RAM...

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/memory/Apple_MacBook_MacBook_Pro/Upgrade/DDR3

Or you could always just run your windows OS in it's own bootcamp partition... then you wouldn't have to share any of that RAM with a host OS. That is what my friend does with his MBP with 4GB memory.

I prefer the VM because I don't require alot of high end graphics while in windows and it frees up alot of HDD space for my true love (OS X)

-Ben

*PS... although I've never had any issues with overheating.. it does get alot warmer if I switch to the 9600 GPU... especially when running a virtual machine. It's not an issue or hinder my work in anyway but fan's do get audibly louder and it heats up quite a bit more than when running with the 9400 GPU. Because of that and for longer battery life I usually leave it with the 9400 graphics and only switch to the 9600 if I know I'll be running something graphic intensive.

 

Thank you very much for your responses. Ygohome, that was exactly what I was looking to know and I appreciate you taking the time to respond.

 

1- over heating only when running intensive applications on windows like heavy sound or video editing on windows though the same programs on OSX don't produce that much heat

2- no i wouldn't go for the 17 incher too big and heavy for a laptop , actually i think its a desktop,actually i wish that i find same spec in a 13" so its portable and anyway i connect it to a screen at home

3-can u name applications??

 

A quick comment about the 17 size. The 17 isn't too big/heavy in my opinion... or maybe I'm just super strong or maybe its the fact that I own one and just got used to carrying it. It isn't much heavier at all than my nieces MBP15. Maybe even lighter (she has a plastic pink shell covering hers). I rarely have it on the desk or table. Instead it is mostly on my lap as it is right now. Saying it is a really just "desktop" is hyperbole talk. But I know that some people view it differently. A tiny petite little person may think it's too enormous

Another plus with the 17"... if you do development it is nice to have the extra real-estate for placing mutliple apps/windows along side each other. I have tons of apps/windows open and is nice to have my word documents open along side my development tools without them covering each other up.

On a plane though is maybe another matter, especially if you fly coach/business class. I fly first class so it's not an issue really

But I understand you are going to hold off till the 23 or so to see about a MBP refresh, correct? I think it is a wise decision. It is not that far off to wait.