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MacBook Pro Gets Santa Rosa Chipset, LED Screen
frdmfghtr writes "TechNewsWorld is reporting that Apple has updated the MacBook Pro line with the Santa Rosa chipset from Intel. In addition, Apple is also introducing mercury-free displays with some models. 'When Apple presented new editions of its MacBook line last month, the company excluded the latest Intel Centrino chips, dubbed "Santa Rosa," which had been released just days prior. The chips have found their way into Apple's new high-end MacBook Pro notebooks, which the company revealed Tuesday. Certain models use mercury-free displays, falling in line with the company's recent ecological promises.'"
...a link to the actual MacBook Pro web page and specifications, since that's what people here probably care about, as opposed to a "TechNewsWorld" article being the only thing linked in the summary?
Also, while Apple folks and other tech-savvy folks may know the Intel-based Macs run Windows, why does the news article not even mention that? For many people even considering buying a Mac, the fact that a laptop like this can easily run Windows natively or seamlessly alongside Mac OS X with packages like Parallels Desktop at least bears repeating.
Anyone who has any interest in this already read it elsewhere.
But it sure sounds schweet.....
This was in Apple's plans way before the terrorist orginization known as 'GreenPeace' posted their statement.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
30-40 minutes estimated additional real battery life for the 15". Although apple isn't saying if most of the additional power saving is coming from the LED-backlit screen.
Rubies and Pearls are not what you think.
I'm incredibly excited at the prospect of an LED display. Not only would the lighting be easier on the eyes, but lower-power and safer.
As some one who's concerned with color correction, though, I wonder how accurate and vivid are the colors on these new screens. I'm not ordering one to find out.
Yeah, have fun taking your MacBook Pro to Boston :-)
Bill Clinton: Pimp we can believe in. - The Shirt!!!
Apple didn't hate music DRM until everyone complained about Microsoft's DRM. In fact, they had plans to do it themselves. Then they said it was bad after all the bad comments about it.
"Please, shut up. Just when I think you can't say anything more stupid, you speak again." -Archie Bunker.
Apple didn't "surrender" to Greenpeace.
Apple simply issued a statement about its product environmental plans, among other things.
Numerous other vendors were "greener" by Greenpeace standards because they had a public "environmental plan", or even a "plan to have a plan", whereas Apple was silent on futures as it relates to future products, as it always is.
Perhaps Jobs thought it pragmatic to offer its plan publicly so that it would stop getting hammered by Greenpeace as having one of the worst environmental commitments in the industry, when in reality it has one of the best (sure, sure, cue the "but so-and-so is better/first/whatever than Apple is such-and-such category" comments). And besides, I thought it was actions, not lip service about possible future directions, that actually mattered?
But the bottom line is Apple didn't "surrender"; it just published what its already-existing environmental plans were. If you call that a "surrender", then, hey, wave the white flag, Apple.
I've got an early '05 Powerbook G4 (first-gen HD motion sensors represent!). It's a great little thing but as I do more photo editing and such I'm starting to feel it's lack of power. I've used Intel Macs with C2Ds and they are very nice. I decided that during the next refresh I would purchase one.
So when I checked the Apple store yesterday and saw it was down, I was thrilled. I had been expecting it (I follow rumors sites and Apple Insider had some detailed possible specs on Monday). When I got to work the store was back up and I ordered one immediately.
It's about time that Apple put 2 gigs in the MacBook Pros by default.
It's expected to come as soon as Friday, and I can't wait. Geek Sugar has pictures of the new one, and they that the display is noticeably brighter, despite the fact it's not supposed to be (according to Apple, there is a mini-interview on Gizmodo).
I can't wait!
Now I just need Leopard...
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
to say (speaking of Greenpeace and Macintosh, not the new macbook):
"I for one welcome our new environmentally conscious overlords."
On a side note, how much mercury is actually put in the screens of most laptops? I was under the impression that it wasn't much.
The new MSV alpha
And I don't mean Santa Rosa, I mean... how about putting an nVidia GPU in the Macbook and Mac mini instead of that appalling GMA950?
according to the marketing president, "Apple's notebooks have always led the industry in innovation"
yeah yeah, I *know* it's not funny...
Once again, Greenpeace is behind the ball, irrelevant, and baggage dragging down one of the companies that did something right. And then they try to take credit, where they're the problem. Fuck Greenpeace.
This is the first comment by Whiney Mac Fanboy following his surrender to the Greenpeace propaganda.
Forgive me for not understanding what the manufacturing process really involves, but i see both amateur and professional projects with LEDs all over the internet. Why didn't Apple, or other companies for that matter, do it before? Was it expensive, complicated to implement or (what I'd find unforgivable) just pure laziness?
If you'll excuse me now, I've got some thinking to do at the Macbook ordering page. Hmmm.... Glossy or no glossy screen?
The biggest news IMO is that the 17" MacBook Pro now comes with a 1920x1200 screen option. I've got that on my 15.4" Sager now, and it's wonderful. I'd rather have another 15.4", but I'd rather not step down to 1440x900.
How does the inclusion of Santa Rosa help/improve the MacBook Pro? Does it lead to better performance?
Yeah right! And I'm SURE his 37 screens in his mansion office have the came clean technology...Hey, Algore...my credits are still up for sale it you want them!
So when can I get a 2-button trackpad? Come on, Apple, that's just one mouse button per core. I want a real button, not a clever software simulation of two buttons. Just humor me, I'm dying to buy one of these babies.
You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!
and allow for most variety in configurations so that there would be "Pro" level laptops at more affordable prices.
I like the discreet video, I do not need the 2.4, the monster drive, the large memory....
so what about 1.66 or 1.83s with similar features, chipset, and such at a lower cost. 1gb memory, discreet graphics, for around $1500?
Are they trying to protect the value of the previous generation still on the shelf?
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
I don't think I'll have many problems in Boston unless my only available WiFi zone is on a bridge support...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
The title, as usual, is misleading. The screen is not an LED *panel* like people have been anticipating. All they've done is use LEDs for the backlighting of an LCD panel instead of a fluorescent lamp. People have been doing this to their own LCD displays for some time for better battery life (see benheck.com).
I'm glad they've eliminated a source of mercury, but I wouldn't consider this anything outstanding.
Aaah, you must be an American. For it is only an American who is guided by his leader that could find anything wrong with people who dare to place pressure on corporations to be more environmentally friendly. The reason you're leader is so recklessly willing to endanger the environment is because his riches come from oil, a terrible source of pollution.
So continue on with your anti-environment trolling, I am sure your president appreciates` your efforts, consumer.
Using openSUSE instead of Windows since 9th of October, 2007 and liking it.
...the 2 button trackpad thing could conceivably be retro fitted. you'd have to take your macbook apart, but i could imagine some enterprising 3rd party coming up with a click button the same physical dimensions as the standard apple one, but divided into two. on laptops these things are pretty simple mechanical switches and they normally plug in via simple ribbon connectors. if nothing else, it'd stop people moaning...
I've used Windows laptops many times, and the 2nd button is always a PITA. It's either too easy to press (in which case I was pressing it by accident all the time) or too hard, which made some right click operations annoyingly difficult.
That's why Apple has the perfect solution - chording. You don't need to use the double tap right click thing on the keypad. I have it off. All you need to remember is that "Control" in conjunction with the mouse button acts as the second button, in all applications. And since your hand is already on the keyboard it's a little faster than trying to hunt for that second button.
That's the benefit of having a system designed from the ground up to work with a single button when two were not to be had, because you always had a control key.
On a desktop I prefer mice of many buttons. But on a laptop, I greatly prefer they leave it as one button that's easy to chord into various uses.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
From the UK site, the higher end 15" model has an extra .2Ghz in CPU, double the Video RAM and a 40GB larger hard disk. That's hardly with 300 of the Queen's finest is it?
Invoicing, Time Tracking, Reporting
Does anybody know if there are any fully RoHS compliant laptops for sale in the United States? (for that matter, is this one RoHS?). If I understand correctly, it must be free of lead, mercury, cadmium, and PCBs for that to be so...
---
Play Six Pack Man. I
The old fluorescent backlit displays begin degrading immediately and lose their brightness in a non-linear way. After one year they are noticeably dimmer and difficult to use in brightly lit environments and by year 2-3 they are almost unusably dim. I hope the LED backlights do not degrade so quickly or at all. Lower power consumption is most welcome, of course.
Accounts are that Apple has long been telling the major labels that DRM is not workable from the beginning. For evidence to this point, look no further than EMI's CEO, who stated that they knew Steve Jobs' views on DRM long before his open letter calling for DRM-free music. From the press conference where Jobs and Eric Nicoli announced the deal:
s _talks_new_itunes_functions_drm_and_video_ipod_sto rage_transcript.html
"Q: It's a pretty radical step, Eric. How did you reach the decision to do it? Was it Steve Jobs' letter that convinced you? Was it the internal surveys you've done? What was the moment in which you said, "Damn it, we're gonna go DRM-free?" And will the extra sales be enough to compensate for the declining physical sales?
A: We've always known Steve's view on the subject, long before his open letter."
The full transcript is here: http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/07/04/02/job
Mr. Jobs, please take a razor and cut the mouse button in half!
Are you one of those eco-puritans who has managed to eliminate all the hazardous materials out of your entire life? Including, of course, refusing all medical treatment if the materials, machines or medicines involve the use or production of heavy metals?
Or is it just about striking the appropriate pose at your local free-wifi free-trade-coffee hangout?
must upgrade!!!
I have excellent Karma and I am not afraid to Troll it.
I can find plenty wrong with a company that places pressure on corporations to do what they know they already planned to do just to score sonme political points.
Greenpeace stopped being about the environment years ago.
I am not a crackpot.
I bought a brand new MacBook Pro (17") this past Friday (6 days ago). I'd have held out if I had known I could get a 1920 LCD. I wonder what the return/exchange policy is...
Al Gore, being on the board of directors at Apple and a noted environmentalist probably had more to do with this change than some fringe organization.
I'll undermine my own argument (and yours as well) asking if you believe that Steve Jobs does what other people think he should do as opposed to what he thinks is right? Again, Al Gore would have a much better chance at convincing Jobs what is correct. We all know that Jobs dismisses/ignores idiots. Remember his run in with the Greenpeace guy at the shareholder's meeting? I'd bet (after reading Jobs reply) that the Greenpeace guy (as well as his organization) is classified in the "moron" category.
Usually I find your posts interesting. But I'm kinda disappointed with this one.
Can't use a 2-button trackpad?
Oh my God. You better have Parkinson's or something.
That aside, it's a moronic position to take anyway. Just have 2 buttons and configure them both as left-click. The minor loss of functionality (can't click exactly in the middle) is vastly less important than the flexibility/configurability and the fact that everyone else in the world will be happier with it.
You're a jerk.
It wasn't until 1997 that Apple hinted of getting rid of their DRM encoded files. This was after hundreds of thousands complained about Microsofts DRM infection. After that point, they tried everything they could to get away from it, considering Microsoft had just spread it into every oriface of it's OS and couldn't exactly back out.
"Please, shut up. Just when I think you can't say anything more stupid, you speak again." -Archie Bunker.
For me, the best bit is that they ditched ATI for nVidia. I was planning on getting a regular MacBook in order to avoid ATI, but now I can go with the Pro.
(ATI's drivers are teh suck, on OS X as well as Linux.)
((Opinions mine, not IBM's.))
GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak
I thought Jobs did a pretty good job at the last shareholder's meeting of calling Greenpeace out. His comments about how others promise while Apple does are fairly true. Apple _does_ a lot more. They just don't promise the moon and then not deliver.
1997? Wasn't that the year Steve Jobs came back to Apple?
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
Maybe.
Those years were somewhat of a blur. I think I was probably somewhere drunk in college having sex with other college girls. DRM and Jobs was far from my mind.
Wait, maybe it was LSD.
"Please, shut up. Just when I think you can't say anything more stupid, you speak again." -Archie Bunker.
I see nothing wrong with either of those aims.
Using openSUSE instead of Windows since 9th of October, 2007 and liking it.
If I was wrong I would gladly apologize. However this is slashdot and he used terms like surrender, I sincerely doubt I'm wrong.
Using openSUSE instead of Windows since 9th of October, 2007 and liking it.
Actually... Apple isn't the first to use leds for backlighting the screens. If you notice the wording on the announcement they were very careful to say the first 15" led backlight screen. This will be translated by the public as another apple "first". It's all part of the marketing hype. See Fujitsu Beats Apple and HP to the Punch with LED-backlit Ultraportable for more details. (The Fujitsu machine also only weighs less than 3 lbs).
They're foaming from the mouth with details like:
"667MHz DDR2 SDRAM (PC2-5300), GDDR3 SDRAM, Maximum storage altitude: 15,000 feet, Maximum shipping altitude: 35,000 feet, Lithium-polymer battery"
Show me ONE end user who cares about this type of technical details MORE than the panel contrast, brightness, viewing angles (S-IPS is expected for a "Pro" product). You can find this information from pretty much any desktop display specs and the lack of it from Apple specs goes to prove where they compromise the most for $.
Is the robson flash memory ( turbo memory ) included I thought it was part of
santa rosa?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robson_flash_memory
I was hoping that the new Macbook Pro would feature the same new keyboard as the new Macbook, but alas, it seems as if hasn't been changed (aside from being more brightly backlit now).
Lars T.
To the guy who modded me down from perfect to terrible Karma - Apple haters still suck
You don't have to reach to the control key to do a right-click. Just click the trackpad button with two-fingers on the touchpad. Voila, there's your right-click!
Slashdot: the news everyone knew about yesterday!
Apple screws over their own low-end users once again. Why is this news?
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
MY bad.
;)
I think my mind frame was thinking that I'm married now, and I was having sex with other girls aside from my wife.
Being married is me brain dead.
"Please, shut up. Just when I think you can't say anything more stupid, you speak again." -Archie Bunker.
It was around 98, rather than 97.
If I remember correctly, in October of 98, Apple had an anti-trust case filed against them because DRM used to limit music to only be played on their own products. This, along with other acts in legislature were filed according to copyright and media rights made them miraculously change their tone and say, "DRM IS BAD".
I don't know how anyone can argue that a company wasn't for DRM when they basically founded it to build on their own product sales... then take it away after everyone hated it. For Christ sakes, they STARTED with it thinking it would be a good idea, then it wasn't. SO, NOW everyone says they were always against it.
Call me crazy... but, I'm pretty sure it was their idea to use it with ipods in the first place.
"Please, shut up. Just when I think you can't say anything more stupid, you speak again." -Archie Bunker.
Have you heard about this thing called the "Control" key? It's labeled "ctrl" and it will satisfy all your second-button needs (and more!).
I just bought a shiny new MBP a month ago, and now this upgrade comes out....I knew this was gonna happen, dammit. Anyone want to buy a previous generation MBP 17" ?? :-P
That's too bad! I thought maybe the other option was that you were having sex with other girls other than your (at that time) girlfriend... Not as hot as the girl/girl first choice though...
Seriously, WTF are you talking about? 98? Does your calendar perhaps count the number of years since 1904 or something?
I'm a former Apple Engineer, and I'm really getting a kick out of these replies.
From talking with my former co-workers, Apple had been working with engineering sample LED backlight systems for almost a year when Greenpeace made their attention whoring report. Apple didn't choose LED systems only because they were mercury-free, they were also looking at lower power, brighter, longer lasting, and far cheaper to mass produce than cold cathode.
Clearly Greenpeace had learned Apple was working on migrating their whole lineup to "greener", so they beat them to the punch with a completely bogus report. At that point, anything Apple did would seem as if it was a reaction to Greenpeace. Engineering lead times are far too long for these new backlights to have been brought in after the Greenpeace slander job.
It is a BIG surrender to have apple to disclose any future plans whatsoever.
People ironically love to bash their own advocates. (Greenpeace being indirect advocates for our wellbeing.) Y2K people are now discredited because the end of the world did not happen - but their actions helped funnel billions into preventing problems especially on mission critical systems. They won but get no glory.
The only good public recognition a whistle blower gets is after the disaster when everybody gets to hear them say "I told you so." Even then, that still creates a large amount of resentment or people upset they didn't push hard enough to convince us before the disaster.
We wouldn't know how bad or good apple was without somebody taking the effort. Greenpeace was doing their job and were not trying to get elected to office.
Mull over that one.
You SysAdmins who must have had to advocate preventive measures to the bosses in your career; and who also likely have to remind people when your plans saved them from "disaster."
Democracy Now! - uncensored, anti-establishment news
I got my shit mixed up. The case against them was circa 03 or 04, the law that pertained to the case was created in October of 98.
I was wrong.
"Please, shut up. Just when I think you can't say anything more stupid, you speak again." -Archie Bunker.
yes, I'll pay 50 dollars for it!
Okay, so how do I control-rightclick? Can I do it at all? If so, I can only imagine that you would have to hold down both control keys.
No, the control keys are all the same. The Apple keyboard equivalent would be Control-Cmd(Apple Key)-Click. The Apple key on a Mac is a viable metakey, and generally used like Control is on other system - Cut is "Cmd-x" for example. So control is mostly not used and available as a chording key to influence mouse clicks. Just because you are a little unfamilair with a slightly different metakey arrangement is no cause to hate on it.
The Apple key is not the same as the near-useless Windows key.
There are two things keeping me away from a MBP; ATI graphics and the stupid mouse button.
Then you're out of reasons.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
You don't have to reach to the control key to do a right-click. Just click the trackpad button with two-fingers on the touchpad. Voila, there's your right-click!
I have a Macbook Pro, which also offers this feature - but I disabled it, as I found it accidentally activated a little too often for my tastes (just like the second button on many Windows laptops). One of my fingers tends to stray when using the trackpad.
I use some of the other advanced features though, like two finger scrolling... that is so useful as to almost make me abandon desktops at times.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Even two 30'' screens and 8 core mac pro system is sometimes not enough.
As the island of our knowledge grows, so does the shore of our ignorance.
Centrino is a marketing term. Any laptop that is Centrino qualified means that it has an Intel Core or Intel Core 2 processor, an Intel north- and southbridge, and Intel wireless LAN chipset.
Centrino != Core
Sometimes you will see laptops with the logo "Core Duo" and not "Centrino". This just means that the laptop is missing one of the three components.
In fact, I work for Toshiba, and my job is to fix laptops; if you remove the Intel wireless LAN module (and/or replace it with another brand), the BIOS does not display the Centrino logo anymore during boot, instead it will say "Core Duo" or "Intel Core Inside" etc etc. If you put the Intel wireless LAN module back in, the Centrino logo is displayed again.
Ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centrino
*Spectrum for general lighting has to do with the reflectivity of objects. White light composed of pure red, blue, and green components can simulate the entire spectrum of colors in projection (within the gamut of the individual colors). Reflectivity however is dependent on the entire spectrum. A material may not just reflect light that our eyes are sensitive to, it may reflect an in-between color as well (sometimes even changing its frequency to a different color). This means that lights which appear the same color to our eyes can cause the same item to appear different colors. But this is purely a reflectivity phenomenon. Projected images operate entirely by fooling our eyes into thinking they are seeing a certain colors. So the spectrum of the light does not matter so long as our red, green, and blue sensors receive sufficient input.
Greenpeace jsut wanted an easy win.
They most likely knew that all Apple would have to do was publish their green policy and they could claim they were responsible, thus getting more donations and membership. Greenpeace's main purpose these days is to propogate the existence of greenpeace. Their campaign had absolutely no effect on any comany's envinronment policy.
Anyone Else Notice the new MacBook Pro is Windows Vista ULTIMATE Ready?
With real tech specs, not like the people trying to sell you a Vista machine with 512 MB of RAM.
I plug my laptop into a Dell 24" and use the laptop as a second monitor. 2 30" screens is just decadent.
Cry me a river. I bought a 20" iMac G5 a month before Intel Core Duo iMac came out, in december 2005. Actually, I don't regret it at all -- passed it on to my wife and bought a MacBook Pro for myself in June 2006. Mind you, it's a first-gen 1.83GHz Core Duo with 80GB HDD and 2GB RAM, and a single-layer DVD and I must say I don't feel any disadvantage whatsoever compared to current models.
- I don't run my CPU at 100% if I can help it, so whether I utiliize 40% of 1.83GHz or 30% of 2.2GHz is a moot point. Similarly, 800MHz FSB isn't dramatically more than 667.
- I never even saw a dual-layer DVD-R, let alone wanted to write one yet.
- I never came in a close proximity of a 802.11n network
- I have no idea why'd I want 64-bit processing (not being able to have more than 4GB or RAM limits the utility of being able to have more than 4GB virtual memory per process, right?).
- 80GB HDD is becoming small, but I can put a bigger on in myself cheaply.
Okay, the battery life. These brand new shinies have better battery life; that's about the only thing I might be interested in.
Sig erased via substitution of an identical one.
What the hell, Apple? Why don't you have the solid state drive as a build to order option?
Are you not as 1337 as Dell now?
Sure, but you would think that they would calibrate the LED monitors to take into effect the different white light that was being produced. I mean, they know about it when they're designing the computers, they can compensate for that sort of thing so that when you look at the screen, the colors are still being projected right. It doesn't seem too far-fetched that these new LED monitors would be calibrated differently than the old LCD ones.
A two button mouse is great, but a 2-button trackpad is a bad idea, and always was--the result of trying to port a mouse interface to a trackpad without thinking it through. The fundamental problem is obvious; with a mouse, you use your hand to track, so your fingers are all available to click, but with a pad, you use your fingers to track, which means that your fingers are in the wrong position to push a button, so you end up using your thumb to click. Unfortunately, most of us only have a thumb on one side of our hand. So you end up contorting your hand into awkward and probably harmful positions to reach that second button with your thumb. Of course, you could use your other hand to click, but since that hand is probably already on the keyboard, it's actually more convenient to hit a modifier key. Apple's two-finger chording approach seems to be the best solution to date, with a system-standardized modifier key available if for some reason you find that awkward.
Is welcomed when trying to figure the best date to buy new Apple hardware...
Animoog.org
No, you're quite wrong.
Look for the Rolling Stone interview with Steve Jobs, back when iTunes was originally launched. You'll find a quote from him about how DRM won't work and how they don't want to stay with DRM forever.
"Please, shut up. Just when I think you can't say anything more stupid, you speak again." -Archie Bunker.
-- "It's not stalking if you're married!" My Wife.
If so desired, enabled via System Preferences. Doesn't get much simpler than that. They could even do away with the "button" altogether!
17-inch (diagonal) TFT display with support for millions of colors;
I wonder if the Macbook Pro actually displays "millions of colours" at once.
Also, while Apple folks and other tech-savvy folks may know the Intel-based Macs run Windows, why does the news article not even mention that? For many people even considering buying a Mac, the fact that a laptop like this can easily run Windows natively
I hope to get a 17" Macbook Pro in two or three weeks and it will never see Windows installed on it. I may install Ubuntu on it though.
FalconShould there be a Law?
Well, I will admit it is more a matter of greed and just being geeky than a practical thing. I want the latest and greatest in a laptop since so little can be changed with it and it's not something you buy a new one of every year. I really would like the NVidia card (along with the new high res display) because I have always been a loyal nvidia customer, and I presume that it outperforms the ATI in my current MBP. Also of course, there's better native Linux support (although I think I'm actually going to run Linux in Parallels, so ok, scratch that point). As far as 802.11n goes, I don't have any equipment for it, but that's something I can easily see happening reasonably soon in my home. I guess it mostly comes down to having a fairly future-proof device that I can't easily change. I'd hand mine down to my wife, but we haven't met yet. After all, I am too busy sitting here posting on Slashdot to be mingling with those strange creatures I often hear referred to as women. :-)
Does windows run on the santarosa chipset? The chipset on the older Macbook Pros is supported on windows, but I am not sure about this new Santarosa chipset.
If Windows doesn't run on Santa Rosa cpus then why has PC OEMs like HP released computers using them? Apple is just the lastest to use them in laptops.
FalconShould there be a Law?
You may not see this, but if they are far cheaper to mass produce, why is their reason for no LED 17" that it's not "economically feasible"?
Awesome furniture, accessories and cabinetry in Santa Rosa, CA: http://humanity-home.com/
OEM windows from some of the big brands doesn't come with any CDs anyway just a recovery partition.
This is BS. At least for indivivdual PCs. What if the partition gets hosed or the hdd crashes? I've had two hdds that had to be replaced within the first year. I suppose it doesn't matter much though if you have a volumn license.
FalconShould there be a Law?
run Windows natively or seamlessly alongside Mac OS X with packages like Parallels Desktop at least bears repeating.
Even better, I'd like to see the ability to run Windows apps in Leopard without running Windows. I am a Windows user but because MS is treating it's customers like criminals I am switching. For a desktop, tower really, I got a PC with Linuz preinstalled. And for a laptop I plan on getting a Macbook Pro.
FalconShould there be a Law?
My Dell Precision under XP has been rock solid (as in never crashed) for 2 years. I put this down to it being a work machine and not full of downloaded crap, spyware, buttonbars, though I do run VMWare, Citrix, SQL Navigator, MSVC and Google Desktop.
My first new PC I got from Gateway, a big mistake. In the first year the hdd and the motherboard died and had to be replaced. I had other problems with it as well and because they were supposed to be Linux friendly I got an HP to replace it, another mistake. When I got it I also got a second hdd because I planned on setting up the PC as a dualboot machine. Over the next few days I found out it would not run Linux. Maybe I should of checked to make sure it would run Linux before I got it but because HP was "Linux friendly" I didn't. Then in the first year I had the same thing happened as with the Gateway, both the hdd and motherboard had to be replaced.
And now with MS treating it's customers like criminals I'm switching.
FalconShould there be a Law?
I already said I was wrong, thanks for being redundant. Shit on me for admitting it, douchebag.
"Please, shut up. Just when I think you can't say anything more stupid, you speak again." -Archie Bunker.
The (regular) Macbooks seem reasonably priced, but what makes the Pros worth the $1800 starting price (with an educational discount, even!)? I mean, let's take the midrange Macbook and bump it up to 2GB of RAM and you end up with something comparable to the lowest-end Pro with the exceptions of a slightly slower processor, GMA950 graphics (which is probably fine for what I'd use a laptop for) and a smaller screen and it winds up being over $400 cheaper (again, education prices). Somehow those changes don't seem worth the extra money and comparing prices with competitors such as Dell and HP seem to back me up on that.
The higher price is worth it for those who need better graphics such as graphics artists and photographers. The only reason I can think of why a pro wouldn't want to pay extra is because they use another monitor, but then if so why get a laptop?
So, given that people continue to buy Macbook Pros, there simply must be something I'm missing.
Yes, there is. I am switching from Windows simply because I don't like MS's policy of treating customers like criminals. When I buy an OS I don't like it when I have to Activate it with the company. Nor do I like it when I have to reactivate it when I've made some hardware changes. Though there might not be many others I bet there are some who feel the same as I do. Also I want an OS that is stable and does not crash. And yes, the first tyme I used XP it crashed on me.
FalconShould there be a Law?
Since 10.1, the minimum RAM requirements have only gone from 128 to 256mb. Not that that was EVER enough, but I think they've done a pretty good job of keeping people with even G3's still going. My old iBook with 768mb _never_ ran photoshop very well, nor did my win2k box with the same amount. RAM has gotten so cheap, though, that I think the bitching over Vista was kind of misplaced as well, except that there are a lot more people limping along on old PCs than on old Macs.
There's a big difference though between extra ram to run photoshop smoothly and needing more ram to run Vista's Areo whereever.
FalconShould there be a Law?
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=3106
I would like to see Apple create computers that are somewhat in between the MacBook and the MacBook Pro myself
I would like to see Apple release a computer between the iMac and the Mac Pro. Desktop or tower, it wouldn't really matter much so long as the hardware were expandable. I'd also like to see a laptop with a bigger display than 17". For the first tyme, several months ago I saw a Windows laptop with a 21" display and found myself wishing Apple would release a MacBook Pro with that much screen real estate. And no, the added weight doesn't turn me off. I used to hike with a backpack holding more than 70 lbs and I still carry one with 50 lbs. The one thing that would concern me is damage to the laptop.
FalconShould there be a Law?
Someone had already installed Windows using ASUS 8600M GT drivers and checked the clock settings and it seems like the core runs at 375 MHz and memory at 1004 MHz, Nvidia mentions 475 Mhz and 1400 MHz so if it's not the Asus drivers which tries to set those settings or something the graphics probably run at 100 MHz core and 400 MHz memory underclock :(
The X1600 in first gen Macbook Pros where also underclocked, the second gen where not (atleast not so much, I'm not 100% sure they was "the regular" clockspeed.)
I don't know if this is fixable since Macs uses EFI, we'll see.
Not as a personal workstation.
Yes, as a "personal workstation":
* Multiple displays (I eagerly await the first laptop than can drive 2+ LCDs. I'm actually quite surprised Apple hasn't done it already. No, hacks like that Matrox thing don't count.)
I wonder if there's an Expresscard that can handle the requirements for a monitor or two.
In short, there are numerous quite good reasons why laptops are not the computing nirvana some people seem to think they are.
There are advantaged and disadvantages to both laptops and desktops. I'm thinking that what throws a lot of people is this idea of a laptop that's a desktop replacement. They get one then it doesn't fill all their needs so they get down on the laptop. They aren't supposed to fill all the needs, a laptop is for portable work, stuff that you have to take with you. Several months ago I bought a new PC and I'm hoping to get a new Macbook Pro in the next couple of weeks. When I do I'll setup the PC as a server. I wish Apple'd make a docking station for the Macbook Pros, then I'd just be able to undock it and slip it into my backpack then go out the door instead of having to unplug everything.
FalconShould there be a Law?
Between the two of you, you have built a great case for the way things are laid out on Apple laptops remaining the same.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I'm quite happy to "shit on you" and probably posted before your retraction. Possibly if you were less abusive, people might be nicer to you. But you're not, so I'm not disposed to be.
Good point.
Now that I woke up and feel refreshed, I feel like a douchebag after reading what I wrote last night.
My apologies.
"Please, shut up. Just when I think you can't say anything more stupid, you speak again." -Archie Bunker.
In other words, you don't need to duplicate the exact spectrum of light to duplicate the color it appears to be. You only need to duplicate the exact spectrum if you want the objects being illuminated by that light to appear the same color.
I don't buy the idea that having to hold down a key and press a mouse button at the same time is better for you.
I do buy the thought that rotating your hand to get your thumb to a point where it can access the second mouse button is unnatural, which I found to be very true. Use of trackpad buttons is entirely unlike using mouse buttons, because different fingers are used.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
A nonstandard keyboard layout is nothing less than another reason to avoid the system
It's not non-standard at all - it's a standard Apple keyboard, optimized for laptops.
You wouldn't use a car with a joystick control. Why use a keyboard not optimized for the fact that both your hands are always there instead of one parked on a mouse. Fundamentally these are different physical approaches to control.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
...write some software that turns, say, the bottom half inch strip of the trackpad into a "button bar". give an option to divide this into a left/right click if you want. then you have everything in software - you could even draw a line indicating the divide on your trackpad for clarity.
Personally I use tap-to-click and two-finger-click for righthand button but people do have different tastes in input devices....
Using the Intel video chipset on an Intel motherboard is probably the cheapest configuration that any laptop manufacturer can use.
Probably so, but they're selling $400 worth of PC for $600, and $600 worth of laptop for $1000. With those kind of margins, they can bloody well afford an extra $5 to give them a GPU that doesn't suck. Dropping back 10% in the CPU speed would pay for it, and the resulting computer would be more than 10% faster even for granny surfing the web.
The reason AppleTV is cheaper than an MacMini is simply because an AppleTV is not a computer.
If it's not a computer, than neither is a Mac mini. Neither have any built-in expansion capability to speak of, they're hardwired with whatever Apple shipped them with... and both can run all the same software. Oh, the AppleTV has a cheaper CPU than the mini, and soldered memory, but it *does* have USB, and *can* run full-on OSX natively.
you don't need the horse power of a real GPU if you don't play 3D games and only use the machine to surf the web [...]
You don't need a Core Duo either, if that's all you do.
Both the Mini and the AppleTV are built as cheaply as they can be. If the price difference of the nVidia embedded GPU in the AppleTV was more than a few dollars the AppleTV wouldn't have one.
Hey, everyone has a bad day, and it's no fun to post something and have lots of people jump down your throat. I've lost count of the stupid things I've posted in the past.
Have fun,
Gary
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