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Quad Core, Thunderbolt In New MacBook Pros
Although as I write this the store is still down, the Apple web site has officially published the specs for the revised MacBook Pros, which top out at 2.2GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 for the 17" as well as offering a 512GB solid state drive. Somehow I don't think my boss will let me expense the one I want.
Like this! This is a first post.
Looks like the battery life was greatly reduced this iteration, that was one of the major appeals of mac book pros to me.
That's pretty heavy for a SSD, right?
Is Intel's official name for the technology formerly codenamed Light Peak
http://www.intel.com/technology/io/thunderbolt/index.htm
No, it's not an Apple made-up name.
Nowhere does it say anything about screen resolution. Why is it that people seem to think that the physical size (in inches) of the screen is the only thing that matters?
Move sig!
Now it would be cool to get Thunderbolt on the iPhone/iPad so we can sync the devices fast.
They have the Apple logo, iOS logo, iPhone, and Macbook. Why does apple get so many special Slashdot icons?
and I just bought my mac last week!
Dozens.
Overkill much?
Information wants to be expensive AND wants to be free. So you have Value vs. Cheap distribution fighting each other.
http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/specs.html
Took about 15 seconds to find.
Best Slashdot Co
well, buy a pc. get more for less. and there's some good chassis too available(and they come with built in 3g, bluray, esata, usb3 etc etc). they'll even work nicely with your old firewire devices ;).
of course though, maybe you really must have the new interconnect to connect.. erm, well, nothing. well, some devices will come with due time and you're going to be paying your mac tax on the thunderbolt cables.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
at 2199. The fact the base resolution isn't much better than Windows budget computers irks me too. If anything their prices are worse than before. The whole push seems to be to get LightPeak out ahead of the iPad2 which many have speculated that the unknown connector on it was LightPeak
The 13 inch laptop is disappointing when compared to even the MBA line. I am can almost justify the 13 price structure but I still trying to get my hands around where they are with the 15 laptops.
I love my Apple iMac but I certainly don't see value in their laptops, I can get by just fine with a $600 dollar range Windows Laptop and have done a trip or two with a netbook just fine. The price difference alone changes how you deal with them on trips, when I traveled with my previous 2.4 MBP I was loathe to leave out of my sight, checking it in at the desk when I had to be out of the room for hours. With the others I just stuffed them under a pillow.
The only thing Pro about these is the price. The name is a pretentious as those with them who camp at Starbucks
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
The 13 inch model is a letdown, it only has an intel graphics processor, only time will tell if this is not a significant performance downgrade to the nividia solution before. At least the 15 inch and 17 inch models still have discrete graphics processors.
yes but, do macbooks run crysis ?
While not totally unexpected, I was a little surprised to see that Apple has dropped nVidia for AMD discrete graphics controller. I wasn't expecting to see that change for another cycle.
Additional features:
Quad-core Processor, 7200 RPM Hard Drive, Solid State Drive, Blu-ray, LED Backlit Keyboard, HDMI port, harman/kardon® speakers, Face Recognition, Numeric 10-key Pad, Webcam and Mic, Bluetooth®
Why wasn't there an article about my laptop? (Is it because it doesn't have that special Light Peak connector? Does my lit keyboard make up for that? :-P )
now the cheaper macbook pro is better then mac pro BUT IT COSTS LESS.
Ok the mac pro may have a better video card and faster cpu but $2500 for a desktop with out screen with only a quad core cpu and 3gig ram vs a laptop with quad core screen and 4 gb ram?.
$1200 for a 13" laptop with INTEL VIDEO?? when other systems have faster cpus and better video cards + bigger HDD's for $400-$600 less?
look like the mini is still at Core 2 Duo and the mac pro is still at the same cpu spped and price.
How will Thunderbolt work on the mini? will the mini dp / Thunderbolt to DVI cable come with a DVI and Thunderbolt port on it?
Mac pro with Thunderbolt? how will apple get this new port on to add in video card? some kind of voodoo 1 / 2 loopback cable?
I hope Apple hasn't let their fascination with reducing port count get in the way of what might otherwise have been an interesting technology...
By amalgamating the mini-displayport and the light peak data lines, they certainly have kept another small hole in the chassis from sullying the 2001-esque purity to which they aspire. However, that means that you can't use an external monitor and a light peak device at the same time, unless you either deal with an ugly(almost certainly powered) breakout box, or buy an entirely new monitor that embeds the breakout box and/or a bunch of light peak-connected ports in itself(just like the ADC monitors of yore...).
I strongly suspect that Apple will release one or more of the latter in their next Cinema Display refresh(to bad, so sad, people who purchased the mini-displayport refresh...) which will allow them to have some USB and firewire ports, likely along with audio and webcam, on the monitor without additional cabling... How more interesting(but niche) uses of a 10gb/s interconnect, like high-speed storage or local networking, will be addressed is less clear. They are likely too niche and too expensive to make it into a mass-market monitor; so I assume that they'll be waiting on the ugly breakout box...
Lest anybody think that I am being down on Apple just for the sake of hating on Apple, consider this: Plain old Displayport has, since 2009, supported multi-display daisy chaining, along with a 720mb/s "aux" data channel for non-video peripherals in the chain. As of 2011, there are(to the best of my knowledge), zero displayport peripherals, announced or in production, that either support display daisy chaining or use the AUX channel to integrate USB ports, webcams, audio, or other peripheral functions into displayport devices without the use of additional cabling, despite 720mb/s being ample for quite a few applications. Zip, zero, nada.
Now Apple has taken light peak and, in the interests of reducing port count, basically produced a Displayport connector with an additional, high speed, AUX channel. Unless they have a clever plan in mind to make it useful for niche cases that could actually use the 10gb/s, without blocking external monitor capabilities(because is Joe Video Editor really going to want to choose between his gigantic direct-attached-RAID-array and his gigantic screen?), they've basically produced ADC2.0. Whee!
Thunderbolt based on pci-e? how many lanes does it have?
can you boot from a add in card on the Thunderbolt pci-e bus?
can you link a video card in a pci-e box linked by Thunderbolt have it work good for games / cad and other stuff a add in video card can do?
Xeon processors, RAID capabilities, SAS drives, and you say the Macbook Pro is "better"?? :confused:
Seriously, how much do these things cost? Looks like they don't want you to know since they are probably a 50% markup over comparable laptops from other manufacturers.
AccountKiller
The 17" screen is 1200 pixels, the 15" is 900, what are you talking about? The 17" supports a 1050 pixel mode, but I'm guessing that that's something to do with the video card as that's quite a common PC screen resolution. I don't know why the video card standards don't match the TV resolutions but it's not Apple's doing.
Only explanation for CT posting an Apple Ad.
I am impressed - your 1 year old laptop features a CPU that has only been on the market for about 3 months. You truly are "special" sir.
wow you have light peak before it was released? holy fuck.
Congratulations, kid. Here is your lollipop.
I thought the same before using a MacBook Pro every day for work for a year.
You just don't get the stability, performance, battery life and build quality in a cheap Windows notebook (I've bought tons of them after much research when I worked in IT). Runs for months on end, 80 hour weeks, never shutdown, rarely restarted, basically never gets in my way.
Full specs and prices here http://www.thinq.co.uk/2011/2/24/apple-updates-macbook-pro-range/ Mr Taco beat me to it by seconds, as usual.
This is incorrect, the base quad core 15 inch is $1800 (source: http://www.macrumors.com/2011/02/24/apple-launches-macbook-pros-with-thunderbolt-quad-core-cpus-amd-gpus/) still expensive, however a lot less than the $2200.
i'd rather take 1920x1200 over 1080p .. more pixels more vertical space. Too bad their smaller versions dont have 1920x1200.
Although I still consider myself primarily a Linux user, I actually don't mind the Apple blend of unix-under-the-bonnet with the proprietary interface and apps. It's just that asswipe Steve Jobs who by rights should be bludgeoned in his bed.
You should be bludgeoned in your bed with a stuffed penguin for daring to sell out to the Cult of Steve. DIAF.
the only place Apple beats it is the AMD Radeon HD 6490M graphics card - I only have an HD 5830M.
i'm not quite up to date with AMDs model numbers (havent heard of the 6490), but 6490 suggests that it is the fastest card (90) in the low end range (400) of the 6 series, while your card is the slowest card in the high end range of the 5 series, past experience has taught me that your card should be MUCH faster
looking up the specs reveals that the 6490 has only half the memory bandwidth, and 1 5th the amount of shaders, even though its clock speed is up to 50% faster, the 5830 will be MUCH faster
People, what a bunch of bastards
2.8Ghz quad core i7 in a Toshiba? Impossible...
The fastest sandy bridge quad core i7 is the Core i7-2920XM which is 2.5Ghz. It's MSRP alone is $1096 because is the top-end extreme edition so even if Toshiba used that, there is no way the laptop would be anywhere close to $1200 let alone even under $2000.
Apple is using the Core i7-2720QM 2.2Ghz which has an MSRP of $378 already.
There is one processor in between these and that's the Core i7-2820QM which is 2.3Ghz and runs $568.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intel_Core_i7_microprocessors#.22Sandy_Bridge.22_.2832_nm.29_2
I walked into an office recently and a coworker saw my MacBook Pro and said, "I wish I had that instead of this Dell POS. Just look at the screen resolution!" Put a four-year old MacBook Pro next to a four-year old Dell laptop and you will be able to see the difference. There will not be any missing cheap plastic pieces on the Mac.
If I used a sig over again, would anyone notice?
Same thought I have not seen the prices yet, but I assume Apple used the product change for yet another pricehike like it has happend so often in the past. The bigest issues indeed is the lack of a good graphics processor in the 13 inch macbook pro. Guess it is now slowly time to say goodbye to Apple. My current macbook pro 13 inch will hopefully last for another bunch of years but then if Apple does not change their product offering in the low range again to something worthwhile graphicswise I will say goodbye.
The integration of an Intel only GPU solution for me definitely is a deal breaker!
Not really worth the 500-1000 dollar upcharge IMO. My HP ultraportable never gets in my way either. I turn it off it once every couple days just because I don't need it all the time. For example, when I am sleeping. Also, the build quality is as good as any Macbook I've ever used (My wife likes Macbook and owns a refurb one as I won't allow her to buy a new one because of the ridiculous cost). It has a brushed aluminum chassis with a plastic bottom, however it actually is nice this way as its super lite and has some rubber gripping spots on all four corners that blend seamlessly and keep it from sliding around on smooth surfaces. It also has a chiclet like keyboard that is actually easier to type on than any other laptop Ive used. It has buttons in places that make it extremely functional and ergonomic with the exception of the power button being a weird sliding button on the side. Still, its worth it because it cost me about 650 when it first came out at a special sale at Office Depot which actually was cheaper than HP sold them for on their website. I don't dispute that Apple brought something to the table with build quality a few years ago, but HP has totally caught up in their Envy, Ultraportable and Performance categories. If you need up-time install a Linux distribution. The sub 500-700 dollar notebooks are still crap depending on which manufacturer you get them from. I'm just arguing Apple isn't as good as everyone argues they are hardware and build wise, so people should really be arguing that 500-1000 dollars upcharge is worth the OS, extra aluminum, magsafe plug, trackpad and led backlit keyboard rather than saying they are superior in every way, because that simply is not true.
That brings me to an interesting point, / . is just "the ramblings of socially-inept, technology-literate news-mongers".
You assume wrong. The prices are the essentially the same.
By that logic, your HP Envy 15 also has subpar hardware. And it looks suspiciously not unlike an Apple laptop.
There is really no minimum requirement for negative comments about Apple on any topic, so why post any random drivel? Besides, the specs are very nice, sufficiently cutting-edge, and it isn't really as if there's been a quantum leap in computer technology over the past 12 months.
Also, in order to address your misguided concern about their screen size: the 17-inch models' screen is 1920x1200. Nice, no?
so funny. my windows laptop, the past 3 of them have all performed just the same. In fact, I never shut them off. Just retired my 6 year old inspirion.
My windows notebooks all in the 2000-2200 range.
Hey. If you really want to switch, want to sell your Macbook Pro to me for $400 + shipping? For that price, you can probably get a new Windows laptop that does everything the Mac Book Pro does.
You get a new laptop and get rid of the apple one you don't want. Sounds like a good deal.
Help! I'm a slashdot refugee.
There was physically no room for discrete graphics if they wanted to go beyond core2duo. This was discussed last time the 15 and 17 models were refreshed.
See http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2010/04/why-the-13-macbook-pro-didnt-get-a-core-i5-upgrade.ars
It wasn't a deal breaker when you bought your current 13" which has an integrated graphic as well. Go figure.
From this photo here you can see that the logo for thunderbolt is a commonly-used symbol for electricity. It certainly looks as if that's where the power supply is supposed to plug in. I think it's a poor choice of name and symbol, compared to Light Peak.
"A week in the lab saves an hour in the library"
If you had any idea, you would know that there's no change to this policy in 13", the previous model lacked a discrete GPU same way.
Actually I must say qualitywise the business lines of windows notebooks are not too bad, I have been working with Lenovos for the last year and I they are qualitywise pretty much in the same game. But if you go for the business notebooks you often also end up with Intel only but the build quality is there but also the price in the same regions.
As for non lockups on Apple computers, as soon as you install some VM software which goes deeply into the kernel then the stability becomes flakey as well. My 13 inch macbook pro has occasional lockups in around the same region as the windows counterparts once a month or so.
But outside of that a solid machine, but there are other examples like the first 2-3 generations of macbook airs, where Apple simply burned their customers which faulty overheating designs, and never gave a refund!
So usually stay away from the brand new apple machine for a couple of months until the cloud has cleared if it is a lemon or not!
It sounds like something a 13 year old would say.
Please become more articulate or consider holding your head under water for for 30 minutes, or until it stops hurting.
Yes and no, they had an nvidia 9400m connected to the northbridge.
Now they went all the way with intel, guess we will see if this is not a performance degradation. My eery feeling is that the performance will be about the same or slightly worse with probably more problems in games.
I am not too happy about this switch back to Intel (again) either. Given Intels absloutely miserable track record on integrated graphics adapters.
For me lightpeak is the biggest hope, this might allow finally external gpu boxes given that it allows a PCI-E connection, so a glimmer of hope is there.
I agree with you. I'd really like to get a Macbook Pro, but I'm just having a hard time justifying the price when I could spend less and get more on a PC laptop. But I'd really like to get a Mac (finally) but they keep pricing themselves out of my price-range for some of the basic specs I'd expect.
"The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became truth." ~1984 George Orwell
Looks to be backwards compatible with DisplayPort
There are 13 inch models from other manufacturers with discrete graphics that also are as light. Look at HP. My other argument stands, but I stand corrected as far as the "Took out the added expense... " part as it seems they did have to do so for other reasons.
That brings me to an interesting point, / . is just "the ramblings of socially-inept, technology-literate news-mongers".
You realize that the shutting down every 49 days thing is no longer true in Vista/Win 7, right? The only reason I have to shut down now is to save electricity or to install security updates (but Apple has those too). I also haven't seen a blue screen since Windows XP SP2. I'm a coder and even when I make a typo with some pointers or do something else that crashes the machine, I have never gotten it to the point where I have to reboot. Windows 7 is a resource hog, but it's rock solid.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
When did they go back to Intel only? They've been using low-end nvidia for a while....
So, the new MacBook is going to be powered by the HTC phone Verizon won't let out of the gate? I've heard rumors about Apple / VZW collusion recently, but this is ridiculous!
Ba-dum-bump!
One might ask the same about birds. What ARE birds? We just don't know.
Suddenly I need a cigarette
For justice, we must go to Don Corleone
my bad its a 2.8ghz dual core i7 I was looking at
Seriously, it really sounds the non-Mac PCs that you have tried, just happened to have Windows on them. Just sayin'. Load up Mac OS 6.x on your Mac before you brag about how great Macs are, if you're going to make comparisons like that.
Nothing against Mac OS X (it's a decent OS) but you're bragging about how much better it is than Windows. That's like saying you bought a horse instead of a cow, because you once saw a three-legged cow that only had one eye and whose cattle-brand scar was infected and leaked slime.
There is really no minimum requirement for negative comments about Apple on any topic, so why post any random drivel?
indeed, should have known better than to point out that the emperor has no clothes - in an already blind fanboy environment
I won't argue with anecdotal evidence, trust me I used to think like you (and I'm not a Windows hater at all, the only way to watch TV in my house is in an Xbox 360 streaming from a Windows 7 machine).
BUT like I said, having worked on a MBP for a year, I couldn't be happier. It's just a workhorse, and considering how much I depend on it, worth every penny.
Combine this picture: http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/dailyweekly/sweaty_ballmer.jpeg
with something from a google image search for "chair throwing".
Strangely, that google image search results in several pictures of Steve Ballmer already. He really needs a PR (public relations, not Puerto Rican) minder.
Putting moderation advice in your
time machines, how does it work
Like I said, I've worked IT, I've made purchasing decisions for notebooks from $600 to $4000 (generally HP). I still compare to the new Windows high end HP machines my company purchases and I'm comfortable saying that the MBP is competitively priced and I wouldn't trade it for any Windows machine to develop every day.
...some VM software which goes deeply into the kernel then the stability becomes flakey...
Not sure what you are talking about. I'm currently a software developer, I'm typing this on a MBP that has been running for months with multiple virtualized development servers running Apache, Varnish, Memcached, natively I'm running MySQL with a multi GB database and Eclipse all at the same time. Even my relatively beefy Windows desktop machine would be unhappy in this situation.
The 13 inch never had a discrete GPU. It just used an NVIDIA provided integrated GPU. In other words - they significantly improved the processor and memory speed capabilities of the system, at the cost of a very slight reduction on GPU"performance - on a system that does not have adequate GPU resources for anything to begin with. Games should still see an overall improvement in performance; especially as most games that actually show up on Mac OS are CPU limited.
No problem. It's a decent improvement over the old mobile quad core i7s.
The previous fastest was the Core i7-940XM at 2.13Ghz and it was $1096
The previous same-priced model was the Core i7-740QM at the same $378 and it was only 1.73Ghz. So this is about a half GHz increase and a new architecture that's somewhat faster clock-for-clock as well.
Yeah the integrated graphics in the 13 really turned me off to it. The macbook air still has an Nvidia chip in it.
Bear in mind most games that show up on Mac OS are not GPU limited. WoW, advertised on Apples website - is all about CPU power. EVE Online, advertised on Apple's website - is all about CPU power. Starcraft, is all about CPU power. Diablo (the new one) is bound to be all about CPU power. Civilization is all about CPU power (once you get to ~200+ turns). The only popular example I can think of that might counter this is Team Fortress - but the Source Engine is also well known for being CPU heavy and the new processor is bound to help here.
The 15'' quad core starts at 1800, not 2200. The extra money gets you a better graphics card, a bigger hard drive and .2 more ghz. Yeah, they are expensive, but considering the included features, software and build quality, it's worth it for many.
As someone else has said, the base 15" is $1799. The extra $400 gets you an extra 200MHz of CPU speed, an extra 250GB of hard drive, and video RAM is upgraded from 256M to 1G. If you don't plan on using your laptop for high-powered 3D gaming, you can probably live without all that. The 15" and 13" are for people who would rather have a smaller laptop than one with the kitchen sink.
(Though I do find the 13" 2.7GHz to be odd, since the larger ones only offer up to 2.3GHz as BTO. Maybe the Radeon somehow limits the maximum CPU speed.)
#naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
The only thing Pro about these is the price. The name is a pretentious as those with them who camp at Starbucks
What people do with them is hardly Apple's fault.
These machines are clearly targeted at professionals that need a mobile powerhouse on the go.
If you want value, check MacBook and MacBook Air which start at $999-ish
The "Th" in Thunderbolt is not going to be well-received in non-English-speaking countries. Furthermore, the symbol for the ports and plugs is a thunderbolt, which also happens to be the symbol for dangerously high voltage. What the hell, Intel? Is the entire marketing department on leave and the temps came up with this in the meantime?
I hope Apple hasn't let their fascination with reducing port count get in the way of what might otherwise have been an interesting technology...
Well, first the mini-DisplayPort compatible connector has been adopted by Intel as well - so this is the official Thunderbolt connector, not some Apple proprietary thing.
Secondly, according to the Apple website, you can still plug a monitor directly into the thunderbolt port, using your existing Mini-DP cables and adaptors. So nothing has been lost.
Interestingly, if you look on the tech brief at the intel site, it says:
Thunderbolt cables may be electrical or optical; both use the same Thunderbolt connector. An active electrical-only cable provides for connections of up to 3 meters in length, and provides for up to 10W of power deliverable to a bus-powered device. And an active optical cable provides for much greater lengths; tens of meters.
So - is there actually an optical link hiding inside the socket on the new Macs? (Not unfeasible: there's already one hiding inside the audio jacks, but the rumors had said that Lightpeak was going to be optical only).
Unless they have a clever plan in mind to make it useful for niche cases that could actually use the 10gb/s, without blocking external monitor capabilities
If you read TFA you'll see that the port contains 2 independent, duplex, 10Gbps channels.
As of 2011, there are(to the best of my knowledge), zero displayport peripherals, announced or in production, that either support display daisy chaining or use the AUX channel to integrate USB ports, webcams, audio, or other peripheral functions into displayport devices without the use of additional cabling, despite 720mb/s being ample for quite a few applications. Zip, zero, nada.
Yeah - that's annoying. Even the Apple Cinema Display, which is DisplayPort only, doesn't have a daisychain and uses a separate USB link for the camera, audio and USB hub (which kinda suggests that there is some hitch with doing that over DisplayPort - I can't see Apple getting any advantage from denying people the opportunity to buu two cinema displays...!)
Maybe the fact that the first Thunderbolt machines out of the gate only have single ports will ensure that device manufacturers include daisychain ports...
In a survey of 100 programmers, 111111 thought that duck-typing was a good idea.
> is better then
THAN. Better THAN. This is not difficult.
Use THAN when comparing things and THEN when talking about a sequence.
"If the weather is better than yesterday then we will go outside"
Battery life is now 7 hours, IIRC it used to be 10 hours on the 13".
I really think the 13" is the biggest let down. Likely a downgrade on graphics (even if similar raw capability Intel integrated drivers are problematic). More CPU performance, but a significant cut in battery life.
Overall I think I like the old 13" MBP better than the new one.
It has two 10Gbps bi-directional channels per port, so its bandwidth is equivalent to 4 lanes of PCIe 2.0 or 8 lanes of PCIe 1.0.
I don't know if it's practical to aggregate the two channels on one external device though. There's not a lot of detail available yet.
Troll.
1) The first i7 chips were released in Nov 2008. 2 years, 3 months ago.
2) These processors are the Sandy Bridge core, 32nm, with lower TDP. Released January 2011. One month ago.
3) $2500 will get you a 13" or 15" with a SSD and an HD LED screen in the 15". In addition to decent NEW dedicated graphics chips.
Note: I do not own a Mac
I am not surprised they used AMD GPUs this time around, NVIDIA ones gave them some trouble two generations ago.
Or on another note, doesn't Apple have some kind of special deal with NVIDIA that they wouldn't touch AMD Radeons. And the AMD GPU drivers still suck in Mac OS X?
Dual Core vs. Quad Core.
Sorry to disappoint you, but I run FreeBSD and am no Apple fanboy. I do, however, call bullshit when I see it.
... than be robbed of productive time intermittently, without warning throughout the life of the product, which is just one of the many Microsoft taxes.
The Thunderbolt port is 100% compatible with the mini-displayport that are already shipping on other Macs and many 3rd party video cards.
You don't need any adapters or anything - the mini-displayport just plugs right into it.
xeon that is about the same as the desktop is. mac pro does not have SAS and raid needs a $700 raid card for only 4 ports.
Integrated nVidia != integrated intel.
All the previous integrated intel GPUs were extremely low-performance, but from what I've read about this new GPU it might be about twice as good as the nVidia 320M (which is what the parent should have in his 13" MacBook Pro).
I sure hope it's better though, because we all know what it means for the MacBook and Mac Mini: Intel integrated GPU for the next product refresh.
As someone who has benchmarked the living crap out of all of Apple's 2010 hardware, I can tell you with certainty that the Mac Pro will still leave these in the dust on any real work. The 2010 Mac Pro is 3 to 4 times faster than the 2010 MacBook Pro i7 in any reasonable benchmark you want to talk about. Maybe it's only 2 to 3 times faster now.
Until Intel releases Xeons based on this same stuff, then it will probably be 4 to 5 times faster.
Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
Simple. You click on the Time Machine icon and then you can restore older backed-up files. /duck
The versions of the i7 they are using were first available at the end of January 2011
Concurrent with the announcement of the new portables, Apple announced the availability of the developer preview of Mac OS X 10.7 Lion on the Mac App Store (via a redeemable code).
An intriguing new feature is called AirDrop, which allows P2P transfer of files to other nearby Macs with AirDrop turned on. Clicking on the icon in Finder will bring up a list of AirDrop-enabled Macs, even attaching profile pictures of your contacts if they're in your Address Book. Apparently it works using WiFi, and the base station doesn't even need to be turned on. It is true P2P.
With Lion on the horizon, I think it's probable that AirDrop will be rolled into an iOS update. This would be perfect for the syncing utopia you describe.
Mmm yes, those quad-core mobile i7's. All the rage... in 2010, announced in September 2009.
So, maybe you have the pentium floating point maths bug, but September 2009 wasn't 4 years ago by my count.
Still, good flame.
(Also, pssssst, the i7 line as a whole (including desktop CPUs) was released in November 2008, also not 4 years or so ago, but I won't tell anyone to spare your blushes).
I'll ignore "nothing else new", since that's just weaksauce. Please try harder. $2500 is also for the 17" model. They did release some other sizes too - including the much more popular 13" and 15" ones.
Correct reasoning. It takes many generations before the low end overtakes the high end. (An easy way to count it out is to consider each gen worth approximately x1xx, so a 9480 (possibly 8480) should be faster than a 5830.
I'm glad to see Apple finally take a risk on something that isn't their baby and adopt LightPeak before it goes mainstream. Hopefully they'll help usher in a new high bandwidth standard so that I can finally run multiple monitors on a laptop and not suffere degradation.
As for the Mac Tax on the MBPs, I agree its high but at the same time until someone can come out with a trackpad that can compete on a platform that doesn't look childish, and battery life that is abysmal, Apple sort of has the market cornered at the high end.
The bigest issues indeed is the lack of a good graphics processor in the 13 inch macbook pro.
The problem lies with Intel on this one. For the mobile versions of the Core i-Series, they have integrated graphics built-in and there's no way to get it without the graphics. For the 15" and 17", Apple adds a secondary GPU and has OS X determine when to switch for power/performance optimization. Other manufacturers like Dell simply do not use the built-in GPU. Unfortunately the 13" may be too small/too hot/too much power consumption to have a secondary. The only other choice for Apple was what they did in the previous version and use a Core 2 Duo instead. Something was going to be compromised. This time it was the graphics.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
what will the next mac mini have?
intel video? video port tied to thunderbolt?
the mini has room for a better video chip and not intel video.
The only thing Pro about these is the price. The name is a pretentious as those with them who camp at Starbucks
And, how do you know they "camp" at Starbucks? Because you're camped there yourself. Or you're just making shit up. Or both.
"I can't imagine how things could get any worse!" (some guy) "That could just be failure of imaginatioÂn on your p
I've not been able to find any spec's on this machine that detail what the internal sata controller supports.
I'm interested in picking one of these up to replace my very old Macbook, but if it's still usb2 / sata2, I'll likely wait.
I have a HP desktop running Vista Business. My only complaint is the update process. I have to go to a Web page, print out a list of the 20 things that need updating, check to see where I stand on each update, download separate files for each update and go through different update procedures. I'm only talking about HP's updates, not the incessant Windows updates!
Then I get update e-mails from HP saying that I need to make sure I'm up-to-date with something or another.
With my MacBook Pro, Software Update lists the updates, I say "Install" and I'm done. I even updated my HP printer drivers through Software Update the other day. This hassle with updates is why I can justify the extra money for the Mac.
If I used a sig over again, would anyone notice?
You dont get comparable performance between an expensive top of the line notebook and a cheap one? shocking! A nice t410s works great too.
"I also haven't seen a blue screen since Windows XP SP2."
Of course you haven't. MS rejiggered the registry settings when SP2 came out, to instantly reboot in case of a crash, instead of actually showing the BSOD. You can reactivate it however, I forget how as Windows is dead to me and has been for years.
Are you running OS X or Windows(via Bootcamp) as your base OS?
Other manufacturers don't have the same battery life.
He has to walk by the Starbucks on the way to the gas station, to get the coffee they sell there. You know, the coffee that, while not as "trendy" as the Starbucks coffee, does everything it does for less.
Sure it might not have a satisfying aroma, or taste, and maybe it's a bit older, but it does everything that fancy fucking pants coffee that the fashion-conscious people drink.
It's a noble form of suffering.
I love my Apple iMac but I certainly don't see value in their laptops
I would actually say the opposite. I don't quite get what value there is in their desktops, anyone can build a super cheap and much faster machine with just as good quality parts. Laptops on the other hand, you're mostly stuck with whatever the manufacturer gives you, and I find the chassis on the Apple laptops to be quite superior to most of their counterparts.
Not to mention Xeons generally dont' have to worry about things like battery life, heat output(well, to the degree Mobile i5/i7 CPUs do), etc.
Non impediti ratione cogitationus.
The $1799 MBP has a quad in it too, you know, and I'd say that the quads have definitely boosted the bang for the buck. It's kinda disappointing that the $1799 MBP has a lesser video card in it than the previous one (6490M vs GT 330M), though.
...that's not entirely true. A lot of games on MacOS are GPU limited. They are limited regarding what GPUs are supported.
A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
You just don't get the stability, performance, battery life and build quality in a cheap Windows notebook (I've bought tons of them after much research when I worked in IT). Runs for months on end, 80 hour weeks, never shutdown, rarely restarted, basically never gets in my way.
yeah you do. it's called a windows notebook running linux. or a lenovo. which for me offered far superior features for about half the price, still thin and light and with a "mac-style" keyboard. they're also well-known for being long-lasting reliable laptops unlike macbooks and macbookpros.
ThunderBolt isn't LightPeak at all, it's something different. Anyway, now you can expect LightPeak to be faster than 2x10Gb/s when it arrives.
If I have a 10G channel going left-to-right and a 10G channel going right-to-left, I cannot push 20G in one direction.
It has two PCIe 2.0 channels worth of bandwidth.
Same thought I have not seen the prices yet, but I assume Apple used the product change for yet another pricehike like it has happend so often in the past.
Nope, seems to have got a bit cheaper. I'm looking at replacing my four-year-old MBP soon, because this one only supports 3GB of RAM (not enough, since I work in a FreeBSD VM a lot) and has quite a slow disk. I'd like to get 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD and the high-res anti-glare screen (I hate the glossy ones). This configuration has gone from about £2500 to about £2000 - and gained a quad processor - in the update (includes 3-year warranty, from the HE store). That's comparing the top of the line 15" model with the same set of extras, before and after, which is a lot more tempting.
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
that may be true.. but honestly... whats with apple dragging its ass all the time with there Towers?
look at the release date gaps they have between releases? Seriously?
http://guides.macrumors.com/Mac_Pro_Buyer%27s_Guide
its a Tower... the EASIEST of all computers products to update... anything less then 6 mth turnaround times to update a tower is pathetic. if they take as long as their last update, they might as well just drop this category. (16 months is laughable)
Come on Apple. Get it together.
My only complaint about it is the Intel integrated graphics (besides the cost of Apple in general that is). I am aware Sandy Bridge has advancements that direction but every time I have ever used Intel graphics its been a pile of crap. The Nvidia 320 at least can play Halflife 2 etc. pretty well. Really I suppose I am looking for a better 13 inch laptop for gaming. I am looking at some of the refurbished Macbook models from the previous generation. They look like they may be a pretty good deal over the next few months.
That brings me to an interesting point, / . is just "the ramblings of socially-inept, technology-literate news-mongers".
The base 15-inch unit ($1799) is quad-core. It's right there in the specs.
I have to agree with you, I actually think the opposite of the original poster (that Mac Laptops are a waste of money). I think that the savings you can get (versus the reliability of the resulting computer) are much greater on a desktop, which you can build using high quality parts, and then conceivably make a hackintosh at home. Their laptops are quite expensive, but if you compare them with other high-specced laptops, they are not that much more expensive, while the useful life of a MacBook tends to be much longer than an equivalent computer from Dell (Alienware), HP and other big manufacturers.
:-D.
I switched to a Mac Book Pro in late 2008, and I have had no issue with the computer to this day (I am only considering buying a new Mac out of vanity now), whereas the Fujitsu laptop I had before was dying on me, both processor and battery. That particular laptop had the same spec as an Alienware computer of the time, the chassis was the same, motherboard and video card was the same, with the only difference being the display (without a webcam and of lower resolution). My brother bought an Alienware computer around the same time as I bought my current MBP, and his computer did not last more than a year and a half (with the video card dying and needing the "baking trick" to get back to life). He is now in his second Alienware. I have been using my Mac for pretty much everything from work to entertainment, keeping it on and working for at least 12 hours a day.
So, in my experience, if you intend to use the computer heavily and keep it for a long time, I think the investment is worth it (it's much cheaper than two Alienware computers with the same spec). Of course, I have my misgivings about Apple's attitude to overarching control of everything, from content distribution to the use of their hardware, and this might eventually turn me off their products. But then I can install Windows on the computer
www.meneguzzi.eu/felipe
I HATE with a passion that apple never give options on their larger screens.
Give me the option to have a smaller drive, or less of a graphics card. its an option for the 15"
I'm not doing and 3d work or playing games. so what do i need it for? Give me the choice as to what I need. The lesser card is powerful enough!
It seems to me i could get the 17" for ~$300(CAN) less if that were the case... that's enough for me to justify $2100
instead, IF I but a MacBook Pro, it'll be the lower 15"
But at that price, i might as well get a Dell or HP.
Oh, and how nice, Pay and EXTRA $50 for anti Glare!!! WHATS THAT?!
why not add an apple logo watermark to the middle of the screen, and then charge us to remove that too!
[citation needed]
When I was repairing computers for a living a couple of years ago, I saw BSODs daily on XP SP2, SP3, and Vista. I think it's a BlackSOD on Windows 7, but a kernel panic shows the error, it doesn't just reboot. I've also seen a kernel panic screen or two on my Macs throughout the years. I've personally never seen one on a Linux machine, but I'd bet that they show the error as well.
I'm using all of my mod points to mod ancient memes down. Please join me.
I like the refurb Macbook pros, those are the only Macbooks worth the price to me. Even then I am talking the generation before previous usually. They had a 13" one earlier for 850 that had the same hardware as the last generation (last generation before today that is) MBP 13". I can confidently say if Apple lowered their prices by 150 on the 13" MBP, 300-500 on the subsequent models there would be no contest as to what machine is a better buy. Apple would be it. As a matter of fact, you would see most other manufacturers going out of business over the next year or so if they did that I suspect. Until then I have to hope I have disposable income one day or stick with HP who have always been good to me. I build my own desktops anyway, but higher end HP laptops are pretty sexy these days.
That brings me to an interesting point, / . is just "the ramblings of socially-inept, technology-literate news-mongers".
You are at least a smart consumer unlike most people that buy Apple Macbook pros. Check out the refurbished models on the Apple store. Its a small link down on the far left hand side of the Apple store. You can find some good deals on previous generation laptops. Earlier today there was one for 850 that had the same specs as the Macbook Pro 13 from the generation just before today.
That brings me to an interesting point, / . is just "the ramblings of socially-inept, technology-literate news-mongers".
Whoa whoa. I don't know what to flame war you for now. Either because you like Apple or because you insulted my favorite graphics company!
That brings me to an interesting point, / . is just "the ramblings of socially-inept, technology-literate news-mongers".
Same thought I have not seen the prices yet, but I assume Apple used the product change for yet another pricehike like it has happend so often in the past.
Huh? In 2003 I bought a base model 15" Aluminum PowerBook when they first came out. The price at the time was $2000 (I did get an Edu discount, but that's beside the point).
Since then the base 15" PowerBook / MacBook Pro has always kept the same price through the upgrades except once, when the price actually went *down* to the current $1800.
Not sure when it happened, but it was in the XP era.
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/helpandsupport/learnmore/russel_02may13.mspx
I believe it also depends on the error, some more critical ones still seem to halt on the blue screen (perhaps because the machine is in a state that it can't even reboot in software). My Windows 7 desktop has done both on me (in fact I could blue screen it on demand with LogMeIn at one point, think an update fixed that).
I still miss the speed with which I could update my 2g iPod over firewire. USB 2.0 is so unsatisfactory.
I was also very much hoping for an eSATA connector. Not pretty enough I guess.
Of course, it's not like I'm going to buy any other machine. Stupid sexy Fland--I mean Apple.
I got a thinkpad with much better specs than a mac for about the same price, and the thinkpad is *way* more resilient. The only two things I think people might see as advantages are the looks (but I personally hate white for a computer case, I prefer dark colours) and the OS. I'm also not a fan of the OS, sure, it beats MS Windows, but that's like beating a retarded kid at tic-tac-toe...
OS X
...showing a MacBook Pro running Logic and a certain Canadian singer/songwriter, captioned simply: Thunderbolt & Lightfoot.
You should have read my message, I will use my old macbook pro until it breaks and then I will reevaluate, I am not sure if the current offering is really attractive given the Intel GPU.
I'm shocked, the prices in Australia are reasonable this time!
13 inch is $1199 US (excl sales tax?) vs. $1399AU incl GST or $1271.82 w/o
haha, you talk of quality, but use an XBox.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
It has two 10Gbps bi-directional channels per port.
Wow, this is a horrible comparison. If you compare a Macbook Pro with a CHEAP Windows notebook, of course the cheap one doesn't have as good of build quality. Who would have thought?
You have cheap options to use for Windows laptops. You don't have to pick them. If you pay for a high quality windows notebook it will hold up quite well.
Ah yes, the strigent metric of "Real work"
I think you single handedly explained why 99% of benchmarks are worthless.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
I've had one since launch, been repaired twice under warranty. Xbox Live has been the best online experience for a long time and it's where most of my friends play.
It's also largely for Medica Center. Engadget recently said it's probably the best DVR experience available.
http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/05/tivo-premiere-vs-windows-7-media-center/
So yeah, quality.
Isn't a lightning bolt typically used as a shock hazard warning symbol? It seems rather stupid to start labeling IO ports with a similar symbol.
Boffoonery - downloadable Comedy Benefit for Bletchley Park
Cool. I'd be very curious to hear about performance and reliability from someone who uses a Macbook Pro exclusively as a Windows 7 machine.
Yup, my wife's nearly four year-old white MacBook is still going strong, still relatively fast, and still looks pretty good. You really do get good value for money with Macs, all the PC laptops I've ever had were pretty much worn out by three years old and didn't have any resale value. When I buy her an 11" MacBook Air in a couple of months, I'll still get three to four hundred pounds for the four year-old laptop on eBay.
I've very recently seen BSOD's on win7. The fact that you're a coder means you are more likely to avoid them then Joe Clickyclick, who I end up reinstalling win7 for because they went and clickyclicked on some stupid shit on a porn site. Except for security holes, it is the most stable OS MS has released probably ever.
I bought a Macbook Pro just. last. week.
sigh.
Well, not everyone wants to drive a Honda Civic.
So buy a ThinkPad T410i, which goes for around $800 with an i3 and the 1440x900 screen.
You know what I think of when I think of MacBooks? I think of my manager's 2-year-old MacBook which gets noisy and hot as hell whenever he runs computations on it. Running the same code my ThinkPad stays cool and quiet.
Build quality indeed.
Funnily enough I bought my first MBP about this time last year and I froze it within 20 minutes of use. Crashed it a few times since trying to over-multitask I guess.
Deltron 3030 - Virus (music video)
Insulting a graphics company? It is what it is. The AMD 6490M is slower than the Nvidia GT 330M. That's all there is to it.
Dude, gas station coffee is awesome. Over here, they even make it on the spot, just like Starbucks do, for $4 instead of $8. And, you can get a really good sausage roll for $2 with it.
For a site about things like basic rights, Slashdot users sure do like to censor "dissent".
I was kidding. In light of the fact that I don't really like Apple, and I like AMD, I made a joke about how Im not sure what to start a flame war with you about considering how most people are on / . only here for that reason. Personally, the latest Apple refresh is a big joke. They already were charging too much for the last generation, but now they downgrade graphics performance across the board, marginally decreasing costs and then marginally increase cost with the better CPU. However, since the new CPU has a bunch of integrated parts, its actually cheaper overall across the board. They are charging the same as usual, getting the same profits as the end of last generation, and since it will take them a year to get a new refresh they will be making an even higher profit margin than now just before next refresh. Seriously, there is no reason to charge the same price for an entire year when hardware costs are always decreasing.
That brings me to an interesting point, / . is just "the ramblings of socially-inept, technology-literate news-mongers".
Not sure why Apple has refused to put any USB 3 ports in these new laptops. Obvious thing to include, and part of the chipset they are using. There are real USB3 devices available right now, but they can only connect in backwards USB2 mode to these supposedly advanced laptops. Maybe it's like their stupid insistence on Firewire instead of USB (a battle which they lost)?
Annoyed that Apple continues to refuse to include Bluray drives - I'd even accept Blu-ray read / DVD write (although Blu-ray write would be convenient). The screens have sufficient resolution to make Blu-ray playback quite attractive, but they don't include the drive.
Not thrilled about the Thunderbolt replacing Displayport decision. Less annoyed now that I learn that the port is compatible with mini-Displayport plugs, although I have wished they used full-size Displayport since they switched away from DVI. I'd have preferred to have one port for display and one for data.
I wonder what kind of SSD they are using - all the good ones come in capacities like 100GB / 120GB (not 128GB), 200GB / 240GB (not 256GB), etc. Makes me wonder if they are using something really primitive in the way of SSD.
Looks like this is another year when I don't replace my existing Mac :)
So your managers two year old computer might be under more strain then your new computer - or have a bad fan?
Oh, and look at that, when I option the Lenovo to have specs somewhat similar to the MacBook Pro 13, it's $30 more.
I'm sure it's a fine machine, I have no problem with PCs, I was raised on them from day one. I used high end business HP's up till late 2009. I only started using Mac's because that's what the company I work for uses, and like I said, the MBP has been a surprisingly pleasant experience.
Instigators of the glossy screen, the original laptop 'defective by design'
I think they've finally re-added mattefinish as an option though.
Take a class. Apple student discount is around $150, that at least meets your wants for the 13 inch. When I bought my Mac they also gave away a free iPod touch, which I promptly sold for another $100+ off the laptop bill.
Mac kernel panic is "pretty" compared to the others. If it happens in Linux and you're in an x session it will most likely just lock up and flash the num-lock, scroll-lock and caps-lock leds. It's possible you've observed a panic and not noticed it, but they are few and far between in most of them these days.
I'm in classes, and they don't have that deal at the U-Houston Apple store. Its like 50-100 bucks off. Not really worth it when you get the same or better from any other manufacturer via the web.
That brings me to an interesting point, / . is just "the ramblings of socially-inept, technology-literate news-mongers".
I'd hardly say it's a downgrade across the board. The HD 3000 is about on par with the 320M they were using in the 13". The 6490M is indeed a downgrade, but the 6750M is a significant upgrade over the 330M. I wouldn't buy one unless I had money to burn, though.
However, Thunderbolt is reason to get excited. Apple's the first to carry it, but Intel is backing it and I expect to see it proliferate further. One Port to Rule Them All. Want USB3? eSATA? Hell, probably even legacy ports like SCSI? Get an adapter and you have it. Just about anything you can stick on a PCIe bus can be made to work with Thunderbolt. Hell, we may even see half-decent external video cards for laptops.
Hell, we may even see half-decent external video cards for laptops.
That would be incredible and pretty much kill the gaming desktop over time.
That brings me to an interesting point, / . is just "the ramblings of socially-inept, technology-literate news-mongers".
I still miss the speed with which I could update my 2g iPod over firewire. USB 2.0 is so unsatisfactory.
I was also very much hoping for an eSATA connector. Not pretty enough I guess.
Of course, it's not like I'm going to buy any other machine. Stupid sexy Fland--I mean Apple.
Uh. Thunderbolt is faster than eSATA let alone USB 3.0.
Jesus was a compassionate social conservative who called individuals to sin no more.
I thought the same before using a MacBook Pro every day for work for a year.
You just don't get the stability, performance, battery life and build quality in a cheap Windows notebook (I've bought tons of them after much research when I worked in IT). Runs for months on end, 80 hour weeks, never shutdown, rarely restarted, basically never gets in my way.
What do you get from an expensive windows notebook. If your going to compair apples to poo. Be fair at least.
Right now on the online store the 13 inch and 2GHz 15 inch are $100 off, the others are $200 off. Not the best deal ever but it is a little better than their full retail.
At least compare the Macbook to a Windows laptop of equal pricing. Its safe to assume an EXPENSIVE Audi is going to have better build quality than a CHEAP Peugeot.
Dude. You "won't allow" your wife to make purchase decisions? Stick with "suggesting" instead.
So - is there actually an optical link hiding inside the socket on the new Macs?
Ah - apparently, the sockets are electrical-only, but the forthcoming optical cables will have a transceiver built in to the plug. How very 1980s Ethernet.... :-)
In a survey of 100 programmers, 111111 thought that duck-typing was a good idea.
Yeah, it pretty much is that way. If I had my way it wouldn't have been a Mac. So when I say "I won't allow" its really "We settled".
That brings me to an interesting point, / . is just "the ramblings of socially-inept, technology-literate news-mongers".
You wouldn't need to put the port onto an add-in video card, if you have a desktop setup then you would plug the monitor straight into the video card. The only reason to combine the ports is when you're working with a laptop and want a one-plug connection to you desktop peripherals.
What I'm finding quite interesting is that Thunderbolt is PCI Express, which makes me think it will eventually be possible to have a high-spec graphics card in an external box and run the big display from that, making the 13" MacBook Pro look like a pretty good option to have something that you can carry on the road and plug in at home.
You realize I was replying to someone who suggested you can get by just the same with a $600 Windows notebook?
For more money, you probably get a nice machine.
Not really worth the 500-1000 dollar upcharge IMO.
You can get a quad core i7 PC laptop with a high quality display that will still be usable in 5 years for $799? I'm impressed (and surprised).
(My wife likes Macbook and owns a refurb one as I won't allow her to buy a new one because of the ridiculous cost).
Dude, forbidding your wife to buy the computer equipment she wants is so 1950's. Or something.
Let me get this straight. You're complaining because you can't afford to buy a Macbook Pro.
That's like complaining to your favorite luxury car manufacturer to let you buy a top of the line car model, at a reduced price because you've specified that they do a custom job and swap out the drive-train, engine, and transmission from a mid-level model.
w...t....f ?
Remember, the components of the lower end models are designed to fit within the space limitations of the low-end models; that is where the price efficiency comes in. To have them swap lowend components into the high end body, means twice the work/design for less money. No company will do that... except for you know the commodity franken-Dells.
Not as much as you think. Since we're dealing with bits then it actually weight 64 grams. by Stenchwarrior (1335051) on Thursday February 24, @09:34AM (#35299528)
It's weighs, you stupid fuck. Learn to spell you retarded fuckbag.