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You are here: MacNN Forums > Hardware - Troubleshooting and Discussion > Mac Notebooks > MacBook Pro [Macworld Official Thread]

MacBook Pro [Macworld Official Thread] (Page 8)
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sbc
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Jan 12, 2006, 01:50 PM
 
Okay, I like it. I have been patient in waiting since I've been wanting a PB for a long time. I guess the only issue is the skepticism of battery life. If it can be consistent at 4.5-5 hours, I'd be a happy camper.

If the EC/34 cards come out on time with MBP then losing FW800 and S-Video isn't so much of an issue; at least I don't think. Losing the USB modem is no big issue to me.

I guess my only question is when more EC/34 components will be available?

I give Apple a thumbs up; I do believe there will be steady improvement as it has always been in the past!!!! Good "Job"
Am I ready for the Mac? I want a 60G iPod!!!!!
     
zoetrope
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Jan 12, 2006, 02:20 PM
 
Originally Posted by sbc
Okay, I like it. I have been patient in waiting since I've been wanting a PB for a long time. I guess the only issue is the skepticism of battery life. If it can be consistent at 4.5-5 hours, I'd be a happy camper.
I'm not sure if this will stop you from camping or not, but the new MacBook Pro's battery life isn't anywhere near 4.5-5 hours. More like 3.

MacBook Pro battery life meh
-- Power Mac G5 Dual 2.7GHz | 2.5GB RAM | 2x250GB HDs | 16x SuperDrive | 20" ACD
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Gee4orce
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Jan 12, 2006, 02:29 PM
 
and yet I"ve read several report from people who did exactly the same (pulled out the plug on a MacBook at MacWorld) and they reported number varying from 6 to 6 to 8 hours +
     
chu-ka-pi
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Jan 12, 2006, 02:37 PM
 
Originally Posted by Scooterboy
The McBook's screen bezel with the iSight is lopsided and top heavy. An aesthetic quibble, I grant you, but aren't design aesthetics paramount in a PowerBook? I'd rather they offer the screens with the built in iSight as a BTO option, though I suppose few would have added the iSight if there was a choice.
Exactly my opinion. The iSight addition totally breaks the harmony of the design.

As a side note, the french site MacBidouille has some info about why Apple don't mention battery life at all...

http://www.macbidouille.com/news/2006-01-12/#12186

Bottom line: Apple rep says that the current machines are mere prototypes and the final version is still under development... Well... call me cynic, but this doesn't bode well imho...

CKP
     
icruise
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Jan 12, 2006, 02:44 PM
 
People have to stop putting so much faith in what the battery life readout says. It's FAR from accurate, especially right after you just yank out the plug.
     
crouchingtiger
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Jan 12, 2006, 02:50 PM
 
re: battery life. I can confirm that the "prototypes" line is the official line that the Apple reps are giving on the Macworld show floor. I am doubtful that much will change between now and February though... I posted previously in this thread that from my unscientific test (but at least one that goes beyond mere unplugging) I think the battery life will be on the order of 3.5-4.5 hours. Full screen brightness, moderate usage, "Normal" Energy Saver settings.

re: built-in iSight. I don't think the iSight really makes a big difference in the "harmony" of the design. Honestly, I didn't even notice it while I was there until I noticed a videoconferencing IM pop-up. It's incredibly small -- really not much beyond the space that's there for the latch already. I'd be very surprised if anyone took more than a day or two to get used to the look.


Originally Posted by chu-ka-pi
Exactly my opinion. The iSight addition totally breaks the harmony of the design.

As a side note, the french site MacBidouille has some info about why Apple don't mention battery life at all...

http://www.macbidouille.com/news/2006-01-12/#12186

Bottom line: Apple rep says that the current machines are mere prototypes and the final version is still under development... Well... call me cynic, but this doesn't bode well imho...

CKP
     
chu-ka-pi
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Jan 12, 2006, 02:51 PM
 
Indeed. I just tried that on my 867Mhz Titanium... Right after yanking out the power cable, it read 8:41 for a minute or so and jumped down to 4:41 afterwards...

CKP
     
shabbasuraj
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Jan 12, 2006, 03:30 PM
 
FW800 is fast. What a shame. Sux to be a FW800 external drive. Maybe more will show up on auction sites... or maybe the price of current units will rise....

...perhaps not.
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Voch
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Jan 12, 2006, 03:34 PM
 
With all the griping about FW 800 being absent I was wondering about the relative speeds of the internal SATA drive. Any comments? Would they be comperable?

Personally, I like the MacBook Pro a lot so far and think it's a great potential TiBook replacement for me. I may hold out for the rumored 13" for a few months though and see if it materializes (and if it does, will it be dual-core or compromised like the 12" AlBook).

EDIT: question mark fix

Voch
     
shabbasuraj
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Jan 12, 2006, 03:35 PM
 
Originally Posted by one09jason
I'd rather have the screen space and carry an extrernal camera. Especially if they made the external iSight as small as the internal one.
No you would not want this as you would then use up a FW port which we all know is already severely lacking.

sux to be us.
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frdmfghtr
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Jan 12, 2006, 03:55 PM
 
Originally Posted by Icruise
Obviously windows programs won't run in OS X just as they are, but it is possible to create something like WINE for Linux, which allows Windows programs to run within Linux. I don't think anything like this exists yet, but it could very well allow people to run Windows programs within OS X. Whether this is a good thing or not is another question, since having the ability to run Windows programs within OS X could actually hinder the development of OS X native software.
Things like WINE or Virtual PC (which I use for my Windows-specific apps such as OrCAD PSPICE and Oracle Calendar*) are what I consider to be a stopgap measure, good for short-term or light use but really aren't that good as serving as full-on replacements for native software or native hardware. I tried running Age of Empires II on a Win2K virtual machine and it ran like molassas uphill in January.

I don't think it will hurt native OS X software at all, especially for the more professional applications.

(*I know that Oracle Calendar comes in an OS X flavor, I use it on my iBook and Mini...but the Palm syncing software for it doesn't support the Tungsten E2, but the Windows version does, so to properly sync I have to sync using the WIndows virtual PC...PITA but it works.)
     
zoetrope
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Jan 12, 2006, 03:55 PM
 
Originally Posted by Gee4orce
and yet I"ve read several report from people who did exactly the same (pulled out the plug on a MacBook at MacWorld) and they reported number varying from 6 to 6 to 8 hours +
Well, if that was the case, you would think Apple would boast about that on their MBP website. I'm sure that battery life will vary with use and depends a lot on the settings. Still, I find it very suspicious that there's no mention of battery life on Apple's product page, when they certainly brag about the previous PB's battery life.

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hyteckit
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Jan 12, 2006, 04:12 PM
 
They should have called it: PowerBook Extreme, kinda like Airport Extreme
Bush Tax Cuts == Job Killer
June 2001: 132,047,000 employed
June 2003: 129,839,000 employed
2.21 million jobs were LOST after 2 years of Bush Tax Cuts.
     
jamil5454
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Jan 12, 2006, 04:21 PM
 
Or even the SuperBook Extreme.
     
icruise
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Jan 12, 2006, 04:53 PM
 
Originally Posted by frdmfghtr
Things like WINE or Virtual PC (which I use for my Windows-specific apps such as OrCAD PSPICE and Oracle Calendar*) are what I consider to be a stopgap measure, good for short-term or light use but really aren't that good as serving as full-on replacements for native software or native hardware. I tried running Age of Empires II on a Win2K virtual machine and it ran like molassas uphill in January.

I don't think it will hurt native OS X software at all, especially for the more professional applications.
I agree that it isn't a great solution, but what I'm afraid of is that some companies will say "you can just use the Windows version in emulation, so we don't need to make a Mac version of our software." There are already some companies who say this about Virtual PC. You can imagine what would happen if such emulation was more transparent (and possibly free). It won't affect professional apps much, no, but it might affect some of the more minor programs.
     
crouchingtiger
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Jan 12, 2006, 05:32 PM
 
Some more minor notes from the Expo:
The MacBook Pro aisle was swamped with people so I spent more time with the new iMacs (which should be similar in performance to the MacBooks).

I played the 1080i Narnia and Memoirs of a Geisha trailers with no stuttering, full 24fps. When I played them both together, they were both playing at 24fps with no problems until QuickTime Player crashed. Subsequent launches allowed me to play either one with no problems but when I tried both it crashed. So, some sort of bug in QuickTime, I imagine. Nevertheless, I was pretty impressed with the performance.
Another interesting thing was that in the process of checking out iWeb on another iMac, I started playing around with iPhoto 6 on that machine. Immediately I noticed that it was appreciably slower than when I had been using iPhoto 6 on the MacBook Pro and Intel iMacs (I was flipping through images in full screen mode, doing adjustments, etc.). Indeed, it turns out that this was iPhoto 6 running on an iMac G5 (20 inch). So, the speed of iPhoto on the Intel Macs is not expressly due to the new version of iPhoto but indeed reflects the increased speed of the machines.
     
baw
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Jan 12, 2006, 05:39 PM
 
Remember though, you have two cores to play with. If Apple included a dual G5 core in the iMac, the speeds between the Intel and G5 would be the same.
     
crouchingtiger
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Jan 12, 2006, 05:49 PM
 
Originally Posted by baw
Remember though, you have two cores to play with. If Apple included a dual G5 core in the iMac, the speeds between the Intel and G5 would be the same.
Right, point is well-taken, but I don't deal with hypotheticals. The bottom line is that I'm pretty happy that the iMac I was considering buying for $1299 3 days ago is now all of a sudden much faster and still costs $1299.
Likewise, anyone who, for reasons I personally don't fathom, MUST have an iMac with a G5 in it, can now get one on craigslist for cheaper than you could before. It really is just a win-win situation.
     
templetalker
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Jan 12, 2006, 06:06 PM
 
Originally Posted by Voch
With all the griping about FW 800 being absent I was wondering about the relative speeds of the internal SATA drive. Any comments? Would they be comperable?

Personally, I like the MacBook Pro a lot so far and think it's a great potential TiBook replacement for me. I may hold out for the rumored 13" for a few months though and see if it materializes (and if it does, will it be dual-core or compromised like the 12" AlBook).

EDIT: question mark fix

Voch

Good questions Voch. I'm typing on a Ti 800 mhz which is an absolutre trooper of a computer since I purchased her she's just about gone everywhere around the world but is finally showing signs of age. Personally I think that this Macbook is a transitional model, one that will be a weak link or a learning tool for the company, yet something to satisfy the market until Apple re-designs the MacBook in say the next six months and puts back the FW 800 and Modem. I mean look at this outcry for those two features on this board it's becoming daunting to read anything but those messages.

So yes to a new re-vived faith in Macbook in the next six months, no to the new one because I'd rather spend my cheddar on 10 insane risks like sky diving lessons and enjoy the memories than 1 not so exciting insane risk.
     
zoetrope
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Jan 12, 2006, 06:38 PM
 
Anybody that's thinking about buying the current Rev A of the MacBookPro (which should go without saying) might give pause before you twitch that card out of your wallet. Trust me, those of us who wait for the Rev B, C, etc.. will be rubbing your lack of foresight and patience in your nose.

The Inside Dope on Steve Jobs' Weird Keynote
( Last edited by zoetrope; Jan 12, 2006 at 06:49 PM. )
-- Power Mac G5 Dual 2.7GHz | 2.5GB RAM | 2x250GB HDs | 16x SuperDrive | 20" ACD
-- PowerBook G4 12" 1.33GHz | 1.25GB RAM | 80GB HD | 4x SuperDrive
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paul w
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Jan 12, 2006, 07:01 PM
 
Originally Posted by zoetrope
Anybody that's thinking about buying the current Rev A of the MacBookPro (which should go without saying) might give pause before you twitch that card out of your wallet. Trust me, those of us who wait for the Rev B, C, etc.. will be rubbing your lack of foresight and patience in your nose.

The Inside Dope on Steve Jobs' Weird Keynote

don't be silly, not all of us can arbitrarily decided when we upgrade to suit the product cycle. For me it was either the macbook or the latest powerbook. No brainer for my needs. Naturally it is rev a, so we'll see, sure.

but I must say:

He also said that if he were me, he probably wouldn't order one of the new MacBook Pros.

I asked if there would be MacBook replacements for the 17-inch and 12-inch PowerBooks, but he said, "Oh, it's much cooler than that. Much cooler."

     
Chuckit
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Jan 12, 2006, 07:04 PM
 
Originally Posted by zoetrope
Anybody that's thinking about buying the current Rev A of the MacBookPro (which should go without saying) might give pause before you twitch that card out of your wallet. Trust me, those of us who wait for the Rev B, C, etc.. will be rubbing your lack of foresight and patience in your nose.

The Inside Dope on Steve Jobs' Weird Keynote
An anonymous source says there's stuff "much, much cooler"? I feel so enlightened!
Chuck
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f1000
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Jan 12, 2006, 07:05 PM
 
Originally Posted by crouchingtiger
I played the 1080i Narnia and Memoirs of a Geisha trailers with no stuttering, full 24fps.
     
shabbasuraj
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Jan 12, 2006, 07:17 PM
 
Originally Posted by jamil5454
Or even the SuperBook Extreme.

Anything marketing 'Extreme' is so tasteless.
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typ993
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Jan 12, 2006, 08:02 PM
 
More disturbing was the fact that abolutely no one at Apple could define any parameters concerning what will or won't run under Rosetta
From Macintouch today

Rosetta does not run the following:

- Applications built for any version of the Mac OS earlier than Mac OS X; that means Mac OS 9, Mac OS 8, Mac OS 7, and so forth
- The Classic environment
- Screensavers written for the PowerPC architecture
- Code that inserts preferences in the System Preferences pane
- Applications that require a G5 processor
- Applications that depend on one or more PowerPC-only kernel extensions
- Kernel extensions
- Java applications with JNI libraries
- Java applets in applications that Rosetta can translate; that means a web browser that Rosetta can run translated will not be able to load Java applets.
     
analogika
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Jan 12, 2006, 08:15 PM
 
Originally Posted by crouchingtiger
Likewise, anyone who, for reasons I personally don't fathom, MUST have an iMac with a G5 in it
Classic support is the big one here, and the reason Apple will be selling the PowerPC-based machines for quite some time yet (remember that news tidbit about IBM/Freescale signing a contract to supply Apple with PowerPC chips until a couple of years from now? This is why.)

A client of mine just bought an iMac G5 for that reason today.
     
analogika
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Jan 12, 2006, 08:23 PM
 
An article from the CEO of WiebeTech (Firewire storage vendor) from 2004 (!), predicting exactly why Firewire 800 will fail, and - lo and behold! - be removed from Apple's machines in 2006:

http://www.wiebetech.com/pressreleas...eevolution.pdf

VERY interesting read.

To wit:

CONCLUSION
Apple’s attempt to be a standard bearer on peripheral interconnection technologies has hit
a significant speed bump with FireWire 800. For FireWire 800 to have been broadly
successful, it should have been promoted as a consumer technology, not as a professional
technology. This would have spread costs over many more platforms, and would have
allowed FireWire 800 a great chance to become ubiquitous. This did not happen, and
FireWire 800 is used (and will continue to be used) mostly by professionals as a result.
Users have missed out on the benefits of FireWire 800, which include speed and
durability.
The alternatives are making a push for market share, and are having some success. NAS
has great potential; but will have to work through some huge implementation issues.
SATA is a hot technology and is on the upswing. Those who promote SATA correctly
perceive that high speed interconnection technologies are best created and promoted as
broad consumer technologies. This has lead to the promise of nearly immediate 3Ghz
transfer rates at low costs. SATA will have a profound impact in the marketplace,
affecting the competitive landscape across Windows and Macintosh platforms. The
world is changing and consumers will benefit.
Apple’s role as a storage standard bearer has been diminished because of errors in the
FireWire 800 rollout. While professionals and high end consumers will continue to
acquire and use FireWire 800 for a long period of time, purchasing decisions will move
in other directions, starting in 2005. FireWire 400 will continue to retain market share.
USB2 will be popular among cost conscious consumers. NAS will offer benefits for
some, but SATA will be the biggest winner, because of its low costs and high
performance.
FireWire 800 is a great technology which was not supported by great planning or great
marketing. It succeeded in its mission to provide a technically superior alternative to
FireWire 400, but failed to gain prominence in the market. Due to a variety of errors and
miscalculations in how it was marketed, it has not been a cost effective choice for
consumers. It will continue to have a role of prominence for professionals, because it
does work extremely well, but will be threatened by SATA and other emerging storage
technologies.
Remember, this is from 2004.
     
mrmister
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Jan 12, 2006, 08:30 PM
 
"And this is the thread for malcontents to complain about what a terrible travesty that is for all of mankind, we get it. Should the moderators allow you ten more threads to complain about the same thing?"

I think the moderators should allow multiple threads so that people can talk about multiple topics in a clear way.

"You do realize that research covers economic studies as well, right? I thought that market research was implied, but I suppose you need it spelled out better. Apple actually needs to, y'know, make money. Unless you have some kind of actual evidence that Apple solely considered cost-cutting when taking away the modem and FW800 ports, you don't have much of an argument here."

Your condescension is noted and doesn't do much for your arguments--it makes you sound like a child. Of course I know they ****ing study market research...and, yes, Apple needs to make money. Were the old PowerBooks somehow unprofitable? No. Most PB revisions have not actually removed features--wondering why they are gone, and trying to speculate why they'd be removed, isn't actually treason.

"That's called a tradeoff. More speed and fewer features, or less speed and more features."

That's funny--before today we weren't losing features, especially 4 ports simultaneously.

"It's something that every other laptop on the market has to deal with. Issues with heat and CPU load are bound to come up, especially since Apple decided to make the casing smaller."

Apple saved negligible weight and thickness, and actually had to make the laptop larger in two dimensions; for this questionable "design" we lose 4 ports and can't even get an extra USB port.

"I couldn't care less, despite the fact that I do photo and video editing with mine and travel quite a bit with it. And I'm guessing Apple figured out there are way more people who feel the way I do than feel the way you do."

Or maybe Apple knows it will annoy people, but Apple will do what it often does, and see just how much they can take away and still have people put up with it. This behavior seems more in line with that philosophy. We've been losing features since the Pismo, and this time we don't even get a better case to ease the pain.
     
can
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Jan 12, 2006, 08:44 PM
 
is the battery compartment bigger than previous model? http://third-design.net/macintouch/m...6/IMG_3151.jpg
     
bcaslis
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Jan 12, 2006, 08:50 PM
 
Has anyone compared the screen brightness on the MacBook Pro to the current 17"? When the latest 17" was introduced they made a big deal on how it was 67% (or something similar) to the previous 17". I'd like to know if the MacBook Pro is just the same brightness as it or if it's brighter.

Also is the screen the normal PowerBook non-glare/fuzzy surface? Most of the newer Intel notebooks have an X-Brite (or similar sounding technology) screen that is brighter but very shiney/glare prone. I personally don't mind this but I haven't seen anything about the screen comments that mention this.

Originally Posted by hldan
I was at Macworld and this machine (Macbook Pro) is really nice. The screen is incredibly bright (finally). It's amazing that so many people tend to trash anything new that Apple makes and trash the company for being the first to introduce something new (Express Card Slot) that we know PC's are gonna have later on just as the modem being omitted, PC companies are gonna do away with that too. Then everyone will complain that the PC companies are copying Apple.

What's even more amazing is that nobody gives praise to Apple for finally including things that most people have complained for the Powerbook not having and wishing it did. Speed has been the main concern for so long, this was handled very well with the core duo processor.
Graphics cards have been a main complaint on every Mac machine, now this was addressed quite well with the ATI X1600 with 256MB ram.
Screen brightness has been awful on the all Apple notebooks, and since I was at Macworld I can tell you that this machine was as bright as my Cinema Display.
Many people have tried to bootleg Front Row, it's obvious Apple is including it on all forthcoming Macs and this machine comes with a remote and an I.R. window for many uses.
The top model comes with a 1GB ram stick. Most high end PC's ship with (2) 512 sticks.

Where is the praise for everything that's been asked for and granted?
Get real if most of you actually used the FW800 slot and at full potential. I would bet good money if more than 10% of this forum still uses the dial up modem 100% of the time.

This is a Rev A machine and it's pretty darn great no matter which model you get.
MacBook Pro 17" 2.4 Ghz, 4GB ram, 200GB 7200rpm HD
     
chabig
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Jan 12, 2006, 08:53 PM
 
Originally Posted by analogika
Anybody dealing seriously with audio or video production will have no choice but to use the ExpressCard 34mm slot for Firewire or S-ATA storage.
Anybody working seriously with audio or video production won't be doing it on a laptop!
     
shabbasuraj
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Jan 12, 2006, 08:58 PM
 
Originally Posted by chabig
Anybody working seriously with audio or video production won't be doing it on a laptop!
sure pal
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templetalker
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Jan 12, 2006, 09:00 PM
 
Originally Posted by chabig
Anybody working seriously with audio or video production won't be doing it on a laptop!
hmmm... That's funny, a couple of producers named the Neptunes used a 12 incher to produce "Drop It Like Its Hot" in the pop culture world. Speaking of pop culture what about John Mayer, Herbie Hancock, System of the Down etc, etc. The list for groups that use Apple laptops to produce their music on the fly is quite infinite. There's a lot of quality external audio interfaces for midi and fire on the market.
     
chabig
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Jan 12, 2006, 09:10 PM
 
Originally Posted by debohun
On the world's top-rated luxury cruise line, where the number of Macs brought onboard by guests has increased from 0% to 30% (and sometimes as high as 50%) in the last two years, Mac laptop owners will no longer be able to access the Internet from sea. Why? Because those ships only offers dial-up access via a modem connection. (So of course, the solution is too spend an extra 50 on the USB modem, but the extra gadget floating around my travel case will indeed be an annoyance, and, has someone else has pointed out, a likely potentional issue with TSA clearance processes at US airports.)
That's just ridiculous! Carrying a modem is not a TSA issue.

Chris
     
romeosc
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Jan 12, 2006, 09:11 PM
 
Originally Posted by shabbasuraj
Anything marketing 'Extreme' is so tasteless.
Should have been "Mac Portable" since we are starting all over again!
     
chabig
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Jan 12, 2006, 09:11 PM
 
Originally Posted by templetalker
hmmm... That's funny, a couple of producers named the Neptunes used a 12 incher to produce "Drop It Like Its Hot" in the pop culture world. Speaking of pop culture what about John Mayer, Herbie Hancock, System of the Down etc, etc. The list for groups that use Apple laptops to produce their music on the fly is quite infinite. There's a lot of quality external audio interfaces for midi and fire on the market.
OK. Point taken. But if they did on a 12 inch machine, they did it with Firewire 400.

Chris
     
derekw
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Jan 12, 2006, 09:37 PM
 
that's it. i have set up a petition to ask Apple to change to MacBook Pro name, while there may still be a small chance. nothing to loose. follow the link below to sign and optionally suggest a better name ...

http://new.PetitionOnline.com/macname/petition.html
     
olePigeon
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Jan 12, 2006, 09:50 PM
 
I'm waiting for the Rev B MacBooks, with the built in modem and the Core Duo Extreme with 64-bit.
"…I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than
you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods,
you will understand why I dismiss yours." - Stephen F. Roberts
     
chabig
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Jan 12, 2006, 09:51 PM
 
Originally Posted by derekw
that's it. i have set up a petition to ask Apple to change to MacBook Pro name, while there may still be a small chance. nothing to loose. follow the link below to sign and optionally suggest a better name ...

http://new.PetitionOnline.com/macname/petition.html
There is no way Apple will change the name. That name is emblazoned on the front of every machine, printing on the packaging of every box, and no doubt is littered throughout the user's guide and other literature that ships with the machine. Your effort is futile.
     
uicandrew
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Jan 12, 2006, 09:52 PM
 
I saw a picture of the new MacBook's bottom, and it looks like the 17" powerbook (in terms of where the battery and ram slots are). So if the battery is larger than the old 15," then there could be a problem with the battery life where they needed a larger battery to compensate. and the larger battery could have caused some compromises (loss of ports) to be made.

especially how the apple employees are guarding the battery compartment and the battery life info with their life.

http://third-design.net/macintouch/m...6/IMG_3151.jpg
Mac User since Summer 2005 (started with G4 mini bought from macnn forums!)
     
mduell
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Jan 12, 2006, 09:55 PM
 
I really hope to see e.SATA in the next revision (partially since I own an external SATA drive).

Originally Posted by ClassicMac
If Windows Vista is the only version that will boot with EFI how come Gateway has already shipped a machine that uses EFI running Windows Media Center last November? I am guessing Windows Vista will take advantage of additional features provided by EFI.

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/hardware/chi...9118819,00.htm
XP 64-bit supports EFI and EFI can emulate a legacy BIOS.

Originally Posted by zoetrope
I'm not sure if this will stop you from camping or not, but the new MacBook Pro's battery life isn't anywhere near 4.5-5 hours. More like 3.

MacBook Pro battery life meh
3 hours means the power draw is about 20W, which is typical for a Centrino laptop that size under moderate load (I usually see 10-15W idle, 20-25W under moderate load, and 30-35W under 100% load).
     
frdmfghtr
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Jan 12, 2006, 09:57 PM
 
Originally Posted by debohun
On the world's top-rated luxury cruise line, where the number of Macs brought onboard by guests has increased from 0% to 30% (and sometimes as high as 50%) in the last two years, Mac laptop owners will no longer be able to access the Internet from sea. Why? Because those ships only offers dial-up access via a modem connection. (So of course, the solution is too spend an extra 50 on the USB modem, but the extra gadget floating around my travel case will indeed be an annoyance, and, has someone else has pointed out, a likely potentional issue with TSA clearance processes at US airports.)
Dial-up on a cruise ship? I wonder how they're doing their link back to shore. Perhaps they're using dial-up as a form of "bandwidth governor" to share bandwidth with all the users. I'd expect the ship to be running Ethernet and share a T1 satellite link back to shore. After all, how many users are going to be doing anything that really requires more bandwidth than email or web surfing?

I doubt they would use INMARSAT unless they have several terminals, as they only run at 64kbps (although 128kbps is on the way if not already available.)
     
Scooterboy
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Jan 12, 2006, 10:42 PM
 
now I got the wrong quote! I give up
( Last edited by Scooterboy; Jan 12, 2006 at 10:59 PM. )
Scooters are more fun than computers and only slightly more frustrating
     
Thraxes
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Jan 12, 2006, 10:44 PM
 
Well it's cutting edge and hence has inherent drawbacks that were obvious for weeks if not even months beforehand: The first macs with Intel CPUs would be a bit of a hodge-podge.

The new express /34 slot is currently very undersupported but since alot of newer PC laptops have them I guess by the middle of the year there will be wider availability of some cards. I personally am hoping for a nice Atheros WLAN card at some point -for KisMAC goodness-, an external SATA card for video editing storage would also be nice and FW800 cards are probably not very far off for those that need them.

What I am really perplexed about is this though: Most of the loudest whiners here are obviously more at home in the pro area due to their dependence on FW800 but for exactly those people there probably won't be any native pro software for the machines (Logic, Apperture, FCpro being the exceptions) until well into the second half of 2006 / beginning of 2007. By then new hardware revisions (perhaps with eSATA or FW800 - hello Apple!), a wider choice and availability of express cards. So, anybody with half a brain and limited supply of $$moohlah$$ will wait this one out until at least the end of 2006.

I am wanting to get a 15" Apple notebook sometime mid 2007 after I graduate and will have to make do for now with my lowly iBook... cursed be a students budget
15" MBP - 2.16 - 2GB - 120GB + 500GB External
Backup: Athlon XP2200+ - 1GB - 600GB
MythTV DVR: Intel PIII-500 MHz - 384MB - 60GB
     
crouchingtiger
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Jan 12, 2006, 10:54 PM
 
Why wouldn't the most direct comparison for the Macbook Pro be against the old Powerbook? Obviously there's always some indirect comparison against PC laptops, but if someone is thinking about buying a Powerbook/Macbook isn't it because they want to run OS X?

Am I missing something really obvious here?

Besides, if comparing against the Powerbook, the MacBook Pro is a huge technical advance at the expense of some nice features that a minority of their customers used (Trust me, if more than 10-20% or so of Powerbook buyers reported using FW800, it would NOT have been left off).
If comparing against PC laptops, the MacBook Pro is certainly a hell of a lot closer in performance and overall feature set than the old Powerbook used to be.
     
shabbasuraj
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Jan 12, 2006, 11:00 PM
 
I want more ports.

Hopefully the next one will have more.

Probably not.
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templetalker
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Jan 12, 2006, 11:20 PM
 
Originally Posted by uicandrew
I saw a picture of the new MacBook's bottom, and it looks like the 17" powerbook (in terms of where the battery and ram slots are). So if the battery is larger than the old 15," then there could be a problem with the battery life where they needed a larger battery to compensate. and the larger battery could have caused some compromises (loss of ports) to be made.

especially how the apple employees are guarding the battery compartment and the battery life info with their life.

http://third-design.net/macintouch/m...6/IMG_3151.jpg


Holy shinto! Wow. That be there a might big bugga?
     
CaliforniaMac
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Jan 12, 2006, 11:23 PM
 
Originally Posted by RedStar
About to buy one... BUT ... How do I get online with my EVDO pc card no that they have abandoned Cardbus?
Install your EVDO card in one of the new WiFi routers. This has the added advantage that it won't draw power off your laptop's battery.
     
CaliforniaMac
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Jan 12, 2006, 11:52 PM
 
Originally Posted by Trygve
The lack of FW800 is odd tho... many people are using a laptop as their only machine They could have included FW800 and no 400 sine it is backwards compatible. I think I'll stick with the G4 for now.
The main advantages of FW800 was its longer cable lengths and having your drives on a separate channel from your video equipment, as well as extra bandwidth if you have multiple drives conneced or are reading a lot of data that can be "cached" in the external drive/SAN's memory buffer. Now you can connect your external FW800 drives into a miniSAN and connect to the miniSAN using the MacBookPro's GbE port, or someday buy an FW800 card for the ExpressCard/34 slot (assumes you can find an Intel version of the OS X device driver to support it). miniSAN is probably the way to go if you don't want to downgrade to FW400. The big question about going with GbE though is whether or not the mobo chip that implements it on the MacBookPro can handle Jumbo frames (frames larger than 1500 bytes) so as to be able to be more efficient when transfering multi-GB files. (The old PowerBooks do GbE but are limited to 1500 byte frames, so you won't get close to GbE throughput, but Apple's desktop PowerMacs don't have such an issue.)
     
CaliforniaMac
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Jan 13, 2006, 12:09 AM
 
Originally Posted by templetalker
Holy shinto! Wow. That be there a might big bugga?
They upped the clock-rate to 1.83GHz and added a second core (doubling the power requirement over a single core), so I'd expect MacBookPro to draw more power off its battery than the old PowerBook G4 clocking under 1.67GHz. Also, the backlight in the MacBookPro is reportedly very bright which could account for a lot of its power usage. To its credit, the new MacBookPro includes a new battery technology and their CPU chip reportedly offers more "performance per watt" than the G4 chip (either because the Intel chip has a second core or because it is fabricated better, or both).
     
 
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