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Apple Unveils MacBook Pro with Core 2 Duo
daveschroeder writes "Apple has just announced the upgraded MacBook Pro (15.4- and 17-inch models) with the Intel Core 2 Duo ("Merom") 64-bit dual core processor. The standard hard drive sizes have been increased, a FireWire 800 port has been added to all models (again, reaffirming that FireWire, and specifically FireWire 800, is not dead, and that Apple responded to customer requests to add it to the 15.4-inch model), and the optical drive is now dual-layer-write-capable on all models."
Wow. Finally a laptop with enough storage space.
That comment is going to seem so funny to you in a year...
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
Switcher:
Linux requires me to think too much (recompiling the kernel to install a driver? -- why would a home user ever want to do that??)
Dell has had the Core 2 Duo for a bit, but I'm sick of using Windows and dealing with MS security issues, MS DRM policies, MS licensing changes... and on and on...
Mac OS gives me the best of both worlds: a unix environment that is incredibly user friendly because it drops the nauseating hypocracy of GNU and the EFF... I don't have to recompile anything to install a driver.
Is the Apple solution the best solution in any particular category? Yes: user friendliness. It still has DRM, the hardware is expensive and isn't always the best. It's not fully OSS...
But as an all around package? No one does it better.
The Apple hardware has something no other manufacturer offers - an OS X licence, also some people pay for the design too, others don't care.
But I want a machine I can run OS X and Linux on, I don't care about Windows, I only use that when I'm paid to (work... occaisionally). Any PC will run Linux, but only Apple hardware runs OSX.
The DVD consortium has been leaning on manufactures who liscence the DVD standard (all of them) to put this firmware restriction in place on all of their drives. If you can still find new drives that do not have this restriction on the market I would be surprised. And even the supply of drives that have been sitting on a shelf for a while without the restriction is probably starting to get small.
Sadly, it looks like the DVD consortium is going to get away with this bit of colusion and abuse of monopoly.
Wouldn't it make more sense to configure a comparable Asus barebones? it's where they're all coming from, right?
I'm still waiting for a Conroe-based Mac.
iMacs use the laptop version of the chip, and Mac Pros use the server version. This leaves a pretty big gap for people in the market for something in the middle.
I rarely criticize things I don't care about.
Apple and Dells Pricing are simular +/- $100 or so. Apple Usually wins on the high end systems. Dell Wins on the Low End Systems (Dell vs. MacBook) Plus you can get really stripped down cheapo systems from Dell for a lot less where Apple will not stand to make a product at that quality.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
What does the EFF have to do with this? You are probably thinking of the FSF.
Circumcision is child abuse.
You can forget about coupons from Dell. They declared they're changing business model, so no more coupons.
I'm kinda curious as to how you calculated your prices, other than running with the lazy meme of how to compare prices. But what really threw me was your lauding the eSATA interface, something I've only heard nasty things about, especially about how it isn't hot-swappable and a real pain to connect/disconnect. Pray tell, where can you get a professional videocamera with eSATA but not Firewire?
The lack of a card reader may seem a pain, but those are slots in the case that could admit dust/dirt, as well as taking up real estate inside the case. Considering what they pack in there and how much care is given to make the layout not interfere with ventilation, I have no problem getting an el cheapo external cardreader.
Next time you critique the Apple laptops, though, I suggest you get rid of that huge chip on your shoulder. Your antagonism towards Apple is pretty blatant.
Maybe it's just me, but this is the first I've heard of 2,5" HDs > 120 Gb...
I'm sure they've been around a while; I'm pretty sure 100GB was around when I upgraded my notebook from a 20GB drive to 60GB last year.
They have been around for a while.
I'm typing this on my factory fitted MacBook (not PRO) with 2GB RAM and 120 GB HDD.
Even 6 months ago this was an option on the macbook.
I just wish that they would let me spec out the MacBook better than this... For some reason Apple seems to think that the only people who want a powerful laptop want a large, powerful laptop.
I don't care if the case is white, black or metal terribly much, but I find the 13.3 inch MacBook a step down in portability from my 12 inch powerbook.
If you ride a bicycle to work, or fly on planes alot, you really want a small laptop.
Michael
There is no cryptographic solution to the problem where the intended receiver and the attacker are the same entity.
Hey Apple, where's the ultraportable laptop with max. 3lb weight?
You've shown with iPod nano that you can do wonders in small scale, but your laptops are not reflecting your capabilities in this regard. They are currently just waaayyy too big and heavy for everyday and everywhere portability. So no Mac switch for me.
... and those viruses on those ipods were microsofts fault too.
Well, I think you are assuming that people use their laptop ONLY as mobile machines.... and for many, like myself, it is my ONLY machine... at home I use a 'big' screen, real KB and mouse. When I am at home, the more my computer is like a desktop, the better.
Why not get a desktop, you might ask? Because then I have to do things like sync them and spend more money.
Personally, I'd *LOVE* to have more memory.... If I am getting page outs, I don't have enough... and I get them all the time on 2gigs of RAM.
god damn it, dell coupons aren't actually there for you to save. They exist so that Dell can say "Look at this, you can get this $1799 laptop for only $1499!!!!!! YOU SAVE BIG!!!!" when really the laptop is only worth $1499, but it looks like you're saving money. . .
disclaimer: I've been known to store numbers in my ass for which to dig out when quantities are required.
Virtualization.
Running Windows XP, OS X and Linux at the same time.
Give each system 1gb to run all their apps smootly.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Apple no longer offers any 7200 rpm drive in the 15" MacBook Pros, at any capacity. It's not standard, and it's not offered as an option. The only place it's still available is in the 17" model.
I stand corrected - I did check the store, but missed that it was missing as an option on the 15"
My apologies - I generally do check what I write pretty carefully before I hit the "submit" button....
I don't know why, but its a bit sad - especially on the Pro models - not because its critical in itself, but because its so much more of a pain to change the HDD on the Pro than it is on the MacBook. And there is no reason for Apple not to offer this - after all, its a PRO laptop.
Michael
There is no cryptographic solution to the problem where the intended receiver and the attacker are the same entity.
I wouldn't call two-finger scrolling and right-click a "workaround." I'd call it "more graceful." Now I don't have to move my thumb or hand at all to hit some other physical button on the right. I actually love using my PowerBook portably now that I can easily right-click without an external mouse. I have an MX900 for when I'm at home at my desk, but on the road two-finger scroll/right-click is great. I wish PC laptops would implement it--I prefer it to physical scroll wheels or second buttons.
Or, if you re-arrange your perspective a bit, what's sad is that Apple assumes all PROs want a huge-ass 17" screen. What about those of us who are PROs (maybe in an industry other than media), who want a 12" (or smaller) ultralight Mac? Apple makes exactly two things that can accomodate us: jack and squat.
"[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz
It's hardly equitable to compare the price of a refurb from one manufacturer to new hardware from another. That's like comparing the price of one company's car on the used lot to a different company's sold brand new.
I completely disagree. I just priced out a E1505 with the exact same specs as the low-end macbook pro, and it was $1,358. You can't keep using overpriced software costs to justify a mac (iLife, etc). What if I don't want iLife, iPhoto, etc... They shouldn't force me to pay $2000 for it. I'll take the hardware and download the freeware applications that I want.
The one-button mouse is crap. The "hack" of emulating a second button by putting two fingers on the trackpad and using a third to click the button is not only hugely uncomfortable, but it also illustrates the desire of the mac-using community to have a second button!
I'm glad you're not hampered by having one button. Some of us are. For example, if I remote desktop into a Windows machine, I can't access context menus, and I can't paste in PuTTY. If I boot Linux, same problem. This is a huge failure on Apple's part that they keep trying to "make up" for while also appeasing their fanbase that would consider a second button a "sell-out." It's stupid, and it needs to end.
That's not the only reason. Average seek distances go down with greater density as well. That is not always shown in benchmarks because seek testing is frequently done over a percentage of the disk regardless of capacity, but in real applications file sizes don't increase just because the disk capacity does. A user's data ends up being packed into a smaller percentage of the disk on bigger drives---effectively short-stroking the device.
Frankly I wouldn't be surprised if the 160GB wasn't just as fast as the 100GB 7200. After all, the 120GB nearly was.
Get a 64-bit version of Windows and you have nothing to worry about. ...except all of your drivers working. ;-)
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$x=~y+ -xz+\0-Tx+;print$_^chop$me for split'',$x;
Anyone who wants does video editing work, especially HD or movie footage. There are a lot of TV/Movie professionals who would love to have more RAM to use when working out of the office where they can't take a desktop.
It would also be handy for anyone who does art/design work in multiple programs simultaneously. I often have various combinations of Photoshop, Illustrator, Indesign, Flash, BBEdit, and AfterEffects running. When I'm working with big files it's not hard to start chewing through every bit of my two gigabytes of memory, meaning that I have to stop running programs like Firefox and iTunes. It's irritating as hell, and another two gigs of RAM would be a huge plus at times.
You have no idea what you are missing. Like you, I had my head in the sand about a 2 button mouse. That was, until I bought a Mac and understod it. You are used to the Microsoft way to do it, not the simple way that makes your life easier.
I own a 17" MBP and a 15" MBP. I like the 17" MBP a lot more.
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The issue is heat. The MBPs get quite hot, and a 7200RPM drive generates a fair bit more heat than a 5400RPM one. I opted for the 4200RPM in my PowerBook to try to keep heat down.
The 17" model has a larger surface area, so it can cool itself a bit better, and so keeps the option. For anyone doing video editing, I would recommend the LaCie triple interface drive range; 7200RPM drives on a FireWire 800 chain. If you really want performance, buy two and put scratch files on one and source files on another. You've be surprised at the difference it makes.
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
Plus a large factor in quality is the choice of materials and parts. (I'm not trying to bash Dell here, just giving examples, I can't say for sure anything about their overall quality.)
Dell Laptops (I'm typing on one now) are made from cheap ABS plastic. MacBooks, for instance, are polycarbonate, aka "bullet proof glass" (though when polycarbonate is sold to be bullet resistant it has extra fibers...) ABS is really cheap to injection mold, but polycarbonate is (or was until recently) difficult to manufacture into a computer case. But its much tougher-- its great stuff. Its just not cheap.
And then there's the gotcha type stuff- when you are cutting corners there are lots of components you can go cheap on, or go without-- anti-static protection, etc. Apple tends to take a lot more care in tehir designs, in my opinion, than dell, and this results in significantly greater longetivity and lower problems.
I've gone through 4 dell laptops in 2 years, fortunately they are the companies and not mine. I believe these problems were all due to poor design choices on mundane components that wore out or came loose from their moorings due to thermal cycling or were simply not put there in the first place to save costs. My ancient Titanium Powerbook, however, is still going strong.
It may be the same robots that put the parts on the PCBs and the same plastic factory that manufactures the cases-- but the choice of materials and components and design have a big impact on the quality of a machine.
Yeah, and you guys panned the ipod too: http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/10/23
OK so apple has been listening to users, and finally seen the light and brought firewire back from the dead, but what about the modem
.....
the new mac book pros, look interesting, but why would apple not include an internal analog modem
and yes I know the argument, that everywhere has broadband/wireless etc, and that apple does "sell" an external USB modem.
well not everywhere has broadband, and wireless tends to be horribly expensive (well here anyway), so dialup is the only way to go when traveling
this reminds me of the bad old days when apple did not even include analog audio ports on the powerbooks, and how long did it take them to wake up to that one
show me a non-Apple laptop with a *6-pin* firewire 400 port...
Max.