[iomatic]

So now that this is out, what does this mean for the MacBook Pro line? I think a lot of pros (digital media, e.g., photo, design, video, audio) have been staying with the PowerBook line for some of the hardware features (FW800, PC Card, DL burner, etc.), but CS3 is around the corner, and by then, a new MacBook Pro investment would make lots of sense. I know though, that the hardware is lacking a bit for those who require them, and that there are some alternate workarounds.

What's the likelihood of adding back some of those great features from previously (my guess is pretty low) in a new lineup? I don't think a CompactFlash card can fit in an ExpressCard format?

Heat problems?

[skucera]

Um, the 17" has Firewire 800 and a DL burner. Just thought you'd be interested.

[iomatic]

Yeah. Saw that. But no PC Card transfer (fast!) and the 15" form factor is pretty sweet. IMO.

thx

Originally Posted by skucera

Um, the 17" has Firewire 800 and a DL burner. Just thought you'd be interested.

[SierraDragon]

Originally Posted by iomatic

Yeah. Saw that. But no PC Card transfer (fast!) and the 15" form factor is pretty sweet. IMO.

The (faster than PC cards) Express Card/34 slot will not fit a CF card but we can expect fast dongle-type adapters to come out.

We will have to see what happens with the 15 inchers as regards FW800 and better DVD burners. I expect that I will be forced to a Merom 17" to get max graphics capability.

[skucera]

I think the 15" lacks the DL burner is because of size constraints. I'm sure Apple is working on that one, though. As for the lack of the FW800, maybe they figure that the port never was widely accepted, except in high-end/high-priced devices. Maybe they figure it's a way to cut costs and have more space inside... or it might be that the change in the port configs in the current MBP offerings (as opposed to the PB's) has more to do with the rumored revamp of the MBP form factor. I have a 17" personally, but I realize that the 15" is very popular. The exculsion of the FW800 doesn't really make much sense, I guess.

[Simon]

The MBP rev B will likely start shipping in September. It will have Merom and probably will get a DL burner.

I don't see FW800 though. Apple screwed up wide adoption of the bus (instead of replacing FW400 with FW800 they tried to market it as some kind of expensive pro feature) a long time ago and now it's being used my a tiny minority for the rest of its abysmal life till it gets put out of its misery by something like eSATA.

IMHO Apple will keep FW800 off the 15" just because they'd rather sacrifice that port than another.

[iomatic]

Yeah. I'll just migrate/stick to USB 2.0 and FireWire 400, then. Still, the PC Card Cardbus transfer speeds edged out FireWire nicely. I don't see the use for FireWire 800 in other than the most demanding and specialized applications. Maybe they'll integrate SAS?

I saw the 17" MacBooks; I love both the glossy and matte. I wouldn't know which to get; though that screen is immensely large and nice, I just think it tips over a bit on the portability factor. Which would explain why the 15" form-factor is so popular.

[SierraDragon]

Originally Posted by iomatic

Yeah. I'll just migrate/stick to USB 2.0 and FireWire 400, then. Still, the PC Card Cardbus transfer speeds edged out FireWire nicely. I don't see the use for FireWire 800 in other than the most demanding and specialized applications.

Folks shooting DSLR professionally typically need more hard drive capacity than found in laptops. Also Photoshop likes a fast physically separate hard drive for its scratch disk. PS users plus DSLR users add up to a substantial mainstream market segment needing fast hard drive connectivity.

USB 2 throughput for batch graphics file transfers sucks; the USB 2 speed specification is very misleading. FW 800 works very well and really should be part of any pro box. If I were to upgrade my PB 1.67 today I could only buy the 17" MBP because FW 800 is so important.

eSATA is very fast, but today it is not commonplace, whereas a wide variety of all kinds of FW 800 hard drives are available and are already part of the menagerie of hard drives on most graphics pros' desktops.

-Allen Wicks

[crzdc0l0mbian]

when will the new ones come out ... i dont start school till sep 10... so hopefully b4 then

[iomatic]

Totally agree here, but it's a case of Apple limiting choices. Where at the time, the 15" and 17" PowerBooks were fabulous for most user needs (fast external, widespread reader connectivity, etc.), today's offerings are a bit ahead of the curve, (and less so in some circumstances). I'm a dSLR shooter as well, but for me, FW400 is adequate. Not fabulous, mind you, but adequate. I'm not sure about Photoshop's requirement for a different disk from the startup as really affecting performance; can you share benchmarks? I remember back in 1999 that was the case, but surely not today? Curious.

Surely, the next revision will be "the one". Lightweight, bombproof (physically, and software-wise), speedy, battery life longevity, connectivity options, etc.

At least, let's hope.

Originally Posted by SierraDragon

Folks shooting DSLR professionally typically need more hard drive capacity than found in laptops. Also Photoshop likes a fast physically separate hard drive for its scratch disk. PS users plus DSLR users add up to a substantial mainstream market segment needing fast hard drive connectivity.
…

-Allen Wicks

[br-]

Prayin' for an enclosure redesign.

[fuzzball963]

I don't mind having firewire400 on the MBP but I'd love an intel core 2 duo upgrade at the WWDC. It'd be such an easy one for Apple to put in and would be quite the performance increase . as well as hopefully bringing support for 4GB or even 8GB of RAM.

Give me an Intel Core 2 Duo chip with native 64 bit technology and a gigabyte of RAM. Maybe a 512MB graphics card although the 256MB is nothing to sneer at either. That and Firewire 800 as well as a Dual layer burner and I'll be happy.

[amanmann]

Are we going to see a price increase in the MBP's having CD2 once they are out ?

[Simon]

I doubt it. C2D costs exactly the same as Yonah costed when the rev A MBP was introduced.

[SierraDragon]

Originally Posted by iomatic

...I'm not sure about Photoshop's requirement for a different disk from the startup as really affecting performance; can you share benchmarks? I remember back in 1999 that was the case, but surely not today?

Yup, surely today as well. A separate (meaning partitioning is irrelevant) hard disk for Photoshop's scratch disk has a huge impact on PSCS2 speed. I do not have hard benchmark data, but it is fairly common knowledge among advanced Photoshop users. You could go to the PS forums at <http://www.adobeforums.com/cgi-bin/webx/.ee6b362/> and ask "Is a separate hard drive for scratch important?"

-Allen Wicks

[crzdc0l0mbian]

ok im not really that good with comps and all so can someone tell me really what is going to be the big diff between the intel core 2 dup and the one that out right now.. because im getting tired of waiting but I really dont have to have a comp till sept 10 when college starts again but Im using my dads emachine whihc is probably the worst comp ever, my mac mini broke , beer was spilled on it by my stupid roommate, it was really old but he gave me 500 cause he broke it haha. Any way, all i really care about is that the labtop is cooler because all the macbooks and pro are soooooooo hott. I want something that wont burn me while using.

[analogika]

Originally Posted by iomatic

Yeah. I'll just migrate/stick to USB 2.0 and FireWire 400, then. Still, the PC Card Cardbus transfer speeds edged out FireWire nicely.

ExpressCard is three times the speed of the old CardBus.

[masugu]

C2D means better multi-tasking and more power...it's a good thing.

[mduell]

Originally Posted by crzdc0l0mbian

ok im not really that good with comps and all so can someone tell me really what is going to be the big diff between the intel core 2 dup and the one that out right now.. because im getting tired of waiting but I really dont have to have a comp till sept 10 when college starts again but Im using my dads emachine whihc is probably the worst comp ever, my mac mini broke , beer was spilled on it by my stupid roommate, it was really old but he gave me 500 cause he broke it haha. Any way, all i really care about is that the labtop is cooler because all the macbooks and pro are soooooooo hott. I want something that wont burn me while using.

Core 2 Duo is about 20% faster than the current Core Duo, at the same clockrate. It also clocks higher, so you can get even more performance if you want to pay for it.
It uses the same amount of power as Core Duo, but I've read reports that the newer revisions of the MacBook Pro logic board cools down the case quite a bit.

H.264 video and MP3 audio encoding performance comparison:



And the power consumption is identical:

[iomatic]

Sounds like it's going to be quite nice; as usual, thanks mduell.

crzdc0l0mbian, please — for your sake — take lots of English and liberal arts studies.

I hope some day colleges and universities offer "Succinct and Grammatically-Correct Website Board Posting: Reflecting Your Intelligence"

Originally Posted by crzdc0l0mbian

ok im not really that good with comps and all so can someone tell me really what is going to be the big diff between the intel core 2 dup and the one that out right now.. because im getting tired of waiting but I really dont have to have a comp till sept 10 when college starts again but Im using my dads emachine whihc is probably the worst comp ever, my mac mini broke , beer was spilled on it by my stupid roommate, it was really old but he gave me 500 cause he broke it haha. Any way, all i really care about is that the labtop is cooler because all the macbooks and pro are soooooooo hott. I want something that wont burn me while using.