Apple Refreshes The MacBook Pro Line Discussion

speak for yourself. chicklet keyboards ftw.

 

It's not like Apples are the only ones with chicklet keyboards and tbh, after the numerous days of typing on various MBPs from 2008-2010, I haven't noticed anything that superb about that particular chicklet keyboard >.>

 

but be honest. for some people, it is. some people buy them because they look pretty. because they have the glowing apple on them. because of the status that comes with them.

not everyone, obviously. but I know for a fact that there are 2 of them in my family right now...purchased by people who didn't need them and had never used OSX...because they thought it looked cool.

 

Well arguably, looks are a reason some people buy LOTS of stuff, not just Macbooks.

 

Just for the record:
- Lenovo only offers Full HD on 2 models and flexview on one model, out of the dozens of models they sell.
- they dont offer RGBLED
- and in the popular 13" and 14" size, they have not even one single model with a decent screen.

Yeah er.... "options".......

 

That's not true. I've heard it mentioned several times in the hardware forum that the i7 is more power hungry (and hence hotter) than the i5's despite Intel claiming they all have the same TDP. Take a look at this comparison where they put the processors into the same notebook -- the i7 consumes about 15W more at maximum load. Given that the MacBooks have always had lousy cooling systems (that's the price of a slightly smaller form factor), I would not be surprised if the extra heat caused some issues for people who use software equivalent to a long stress test.

 

Have you consider that "looking cool" is really the only thing they need or desire from a laptop?

Although that is very much understating the quality of Apple's products. The MacBook Pro line has better build quality than most laptops by far. I think you end up getting what you pay for.

 

I'll stand corrected. But we still can't draw any conclusions from the article because they didn't explore why the problem occurs.

 

What? The problem occurs because of poor dissipation and ventilation. Simple as that.

 

No, it isn't as simple as that. PC Authority did not make any attempt to contact Apple about the problem and they did not do much digging into why the problem occurs. It is entirely possible that they received a defective unit.

Don't you think it is strange that they're the only one reporting the problem? Their argument is insufficient to prove that there is a design flaw with the product. It could be that there is a design flaw, but they're at least going to have to test another unit or find someone else who has had the same experience to establish a trend.

 

Trust me, its as simple as that.
Are you sure that this problem is not reported by anybody else? Although Engandget didnt observe the same temperature as the guys at PC Authority, that was because they didnt test the MBP with demanding applications, but they said that during casual use the laptop reached 90C degrees, that sure sounds to me as a heating problem.

 

it's one of the only reasons they bought a MacBook, yes.

they could have bought any laptop and it would have fit their needs, because I know how they've used those 2 machines.

they bought the MBP's because they looked great.

some people that have a lot of money to burn do that. for good or for bad is immaterial. I'm just telling you what I know happened and I'll extrapolate from there and assume they're not the only ones.

 

just a point of clarification: when the MBP's fans speed up, the temps apparently calm down into the mid 80s which is reasonable when under full load.

the problem, it appears, is that the damn thing waits until you hit 100C+ before it takes the heat seriously.

I expect an OS/firmware update will make the fans automatically respond at a lower temperature.

until then, fan app will have to do.

 

Why would I trust you? Is a source for information so much to ask? I read the Engadget review, by the way, and it does not appear to say what you told me it says.

In fact, in its blog post about the PC Authority article, Engadget specifically states "The site thinks that Apple's cooling solution may be inadequate for a Core i7, but these results could be a fluke -- in our experience with the machine, we actually noticed an improvement over the egg-cooking solutions of yesteryear." Source.

 

I appreciate source links too & I'd like to see this heat issue more clearly addressed..

 

I'm actually dealing with some of these Rage Against The Apple Dictatorship Machine issues, really trying to find out how to best vote with my dollars next notebook.

While I'll likely start a separate thread on this I do think it is relevant as people cite OS X as reason to buy a MBP.

Interested in your thoughts on the following:

WINDOWS 7 VS UBUNTU 9.10 VS OS X 10.6

However as video editing will be important to me I followed up on the comments of that article:

Linux Video Editing Software

I think I'm feelin' the highly customizable 3D UI of the open source Ubuntu-Compiz:

Compiz Fusion Tutorial - Howto Increase Desktop Functionality with Ubuntu

If I do get a MBP, I can't imagine macosx will be the only or even primary OS I would like to run on it..Thankful for this discourse

 

Hi, I checkout out that OS comparo link and I agree mostly with the author.
IMO the ONLY category that Windoze wins is 'gaming'.

I disagree with his software dev/programming category(he was way off). Linux wins hands down. It contains all the tools/languages you need for serious dev out-of-the-box - GCC,GDB,,bash,perl, python, tons of editors including the almighty vim, make,valgrind, on and on; OSX is also goood out-of-the-box. Windoze is hopeless - here's notepad. You have to pay hundreds to get bloated VS2008 so you can make your bloated managed apps.

I must admit i'm biased towards *nix after having used windoze exclusively for 10+ years. Win7 did a good job of polishing the turd called vista into something not embarrassing to use (vis-a-vis the competition).
However, after you switch to *nix there is no looking back. Ubuntu is a good distro especially for beginners but it's not my cup of tea. I use Fedora and run a headless CentOS server (samba, sendmail, apache, php, mysql, ...). I also experiment with other distro's reviving older hardware.
Linux has tons of software. You mentioned video editing, i like kdenlive for that. I'd check out DistroWatch.com: Put the fun back into computing. Use Linux, BSD. to find a distro and also LinuxQuestions.org, a great site for help and you can see the yearly poll there in which users rated their fave softeware under many categories -- i'm sure you'll get lots of ideas on whats popular in video-editing software.
If linux doesn't have it there's running a VM, dual-boot, and WINE.

I have no idea why you would consider OSX. Although Linux and OSX have some common ancestry (OSX is based on a flavour of Unix called BSD, and Linux is a clone of Unix) why pay so much more for the apple hardware&OSX? Linux is free and opensource and it's unbelievably customizable (unlike OSX which locks you in). You can even make it mimic OSX if that's your thing once you build experience and start tweaking things to your exact liking. With the money you'll save you can spend on things like more CPU, more ram, even a 2nd computer.
By the way, the newest version of Ubuntu is coming up any time now.

Most ppl buy OSX because they don't know much about computers (they think it's easier to use) and they think it's cool and like the build quality (it has good build but it's still a CONSUMER notebook) and are willing and able to pay top dollar. They don't realize how locked in they are to apple and how they have no control over their OS in regard to customizability/flexibility vis-a-vis linux. I cannot fathom how they can pay the huge premium for the coolness factor when they could buy similar-speced hardware and run linux. OSX is not even better than windoze now.

 

Thanks for the feedback roblen, I will definitely check out Linux distros esp Ubuntu+ Compiz as the customizability-UI & philosophy are appealing & if I get a MBP it will run multiple OS' & perhaps in part to see what the new evil empire is up to

As I mentioned in the Notebook Buying Guide: How To Buy The Right Laptop Discussion, it's hard to find these business-line notebooks like the HP 8540w in stores for a hands-on but I intend to check out the refreshed MPB in an Apple Store or Best Buy..

 

looks like you already have your answer.

you don't buy a Mac to run Windows on it. that's just stupid. Get an Envy or Elitebook.

case closed.

 

Thanks for making my decision for me ajreynol -It's not that simple, I prefer your analysis here but will reply->take issue with some of your points there when I get a chance (please don't take any of this personally I sincerely appreciate your contributions).

I finally checked out the refreshed i7 15" & 17" antiglare MPBs for about 90 minutes tonight (parking is no joy at my local Apple Store) & I was not that impressed (particularly for the ~$2500+ they're charging.)

I'll post my criticisms later as I'm still trying to understand why so many people love Apple so much..(well the polarizing spectrum of Apple I understand more )..