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You are here: MacNN Forums > Hardware - Troubleshooting and Discussion > Mac Notebooks > What's down the road for MacBook Pros?

What's down the road for MacBook Pros?
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kaido
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Jan 31, 2007, 04:53 PM
 
I'm interested in getting a 15" MacBook Pro - the features are looking really nice (2.33ghz Merom, 3gb ram, faster DVD burner, etc.). I got burned on my MacBook (bought it in May, when they first came out) - lots of overheating/random shutdown/buzzing power adapter problems, you name it, I got it. I got everything fixed, but you know how it is...weeks of back and forth, repairs, time away from the machine, etc. Now that the MacBook Pros have been out for about a year and have (hopefully) had the bugs worked out, I'm interested in picking one up.

First question, how's the heat issue on the Core 2 Duo models? That was a major turnoff for me and one of the reasons I got a 13" in the first place. My brother's Core Duo MBP is a small oven, I'm afraid I won't be able to have children after using it! The 13" had less heat problems, but it still got toasty sometimes; plus I actually found that I liked the 15" more because of the thinness and lighter-feeling weight, and larger screen.

Second question, why isn't a 7200rpm hard drive offered on BTO 15" MacBook Pros? It's an option on the 17", after all. I chatted with an online rep about it and they said they won't do upgrade installations at a Genius Bar, although it won't void the machine's warranty if you have a professional 3rd party installer do it - it will merely void the warranty on the hard drive. I thought that was interesting. I installed a 7200rpm drive in both my 13" MacBook and my brother's 15" MacBook Pro and there is a very noticeable speed difference, especially for the types of applications I use my machine for. I also spoke with OWC (MacSales.com), and they wanted about $120 just for installation. Sigh. Swapping a hard drive in a MacBook Pro is a lot more difficult than a regular MacBook; it's way harder to put back together again. I've done it before, but since I want to keep the warranty on my nearly $3,000 BTO MBP, I'd rather not.

Third question, what's down the pipe for MacBook Pros? The two major features I've seen are LED backlighting and a possible 12" MacBook Pro. The backlighting isn't a major issue for me; I'm quite pleased with the currently glossy screen that they offer. The 12" MacBook Pro does pique my interested, however - an ultraportable with power to spare sounds awesome to me. Again however, I got burned on the first-generation MacBook and have promised myself that I will never again buy 1st-generation hardware. Which leaves me with the 15" MacBook Pro - it's been out for awhile, the features are satisfactory to me...what do you think?
     
Ken_F2
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Jan 31, 2007, 05:04 PM
 
Third question, what's down the pipe for MacBook Pros? The two major features I've seen are LED backlighting and a possible 12" MacBook Pro. The backlighting isn't a major issue for me; I'm quite pleased with the currently glossy screen that they offer. The 12" MacBook Pro does pique my interested, however - an ultraportable with power to spare sounds awesome to me. Again however, I got burned on the first-generation MacBook and have promised myself that I will never again buy 1st-generation hardware. Which leaves me with the 15" MacBook Pro - it's been out for awhile, the features are satisfactory to me...what do you think?
I will be surprised if we see the new LED backlit displays this year.

In late April / early May, Intel releases its next-generation mobile platform, otherwise known as Santa Rosa, along with a slate of new mobile processors. The Santa Rosa platform provides for improved performance with a 800MHz memory bus (among other tweaks) and reduced power consumption for improved battery life.

The new Core2 Duo mobile processors coming in May include the X7800 (2.6GHz) @ $795, the T7700 (2.40GHz) @ $529, the T7500 (2.20GHz) @ $315, the T7300 (2GHz) @ $241, and the T7100 (1.8GHz) @ $209. All of these processors feature a 4Mb L2 cache and use a 800MHz bus, except for the T7100 which has 2Mb and the older 667Mhz bus.

That's it for new processors until October, when Intel will refresh its Core2 lineup with several faster models. All that's known at this point is that will include the X7900 @ 2.8GHz for notebooks and a new quad-core desktop processor @ 3.0Ghz.

In early 2008 (January), Intel is expected to release its next-generation Core processors for desktops, servers, and notebooks based on the new 45nm "Penryn" design. The "Penryn" design will be used in dual-core processors and quad-core processors with 6Mb and 12Mb L2 cache, respectively, and a 1333MHz bus. In addition to the larger cache and faster bus, "Penryn" includes various tweaks and optimizations, improved 64-bit application performance, enhanced floating point performance, and a significant overhaul of SSE (SSE4). These processors are expected to debut at 3.4 to 4.0Ghz on the desktop in dual-core and quad-core versions.
( Last edited by Ken_F2; Jan 31, 2007 at 05:12 PM. )
     
kaido  (op)
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Jan 31, 2007, 05:10 PM
 
Originally Posted by Ken_F2 View Post
I will be surprised if we see the new LED backlit displays this year.

In late April / early May, Intel releases its next-generation mobile platform, otherwise known as Santa Rosa, along with a slate of new mobile processors. The Santa Rosa platform provides for improved performance with a 800MHz memory bus (among other tweaks) and reduced power consumption for improved battery life.

The new Core2 Duo mobile processors coming in May include the X7800 (2.6GHz) @ $795, the T7700 (2.40GHz) @ $529, the T7500 (2.20GHz) @ $315, the T7300 (2GHz) @ $241, and the T7100 (1.8GHz) @ $209. All of these processors feature a 4Mb L2 cache and use a 800MHz bus, except for the T7100 which has 2Mb and the older 667Mhz bus.

That's it for new processors until October, when Intel will refresh its Core2 lineup with several faster models. All that's known at this point is that will include the X7800 @ 2.8GHz for notebooks and a new quad-core desktop processor @ 3.0Ghz.

In early 2008 (January), Intel is expected to release its next-generation Core processors for desktops, servers, and notebooks based on the new 45nm "Penryn" design. The "Penryn" design will be used in dual-core processors and quad-core processors with 6Mb and 12Mb L2 cache, respectively, and a 1333MHz bus. In addition to the larger cache and faster bus, "Penryn" includes various tweaks and optimizations, improved 64-bit application performance, enhanced floating point performance, and a significant overhaul of SSE (SSE4). These processors are expected to debut at 3.4 to 4.0Ghz on the desktop in dual-core and quad-core versions.
Thanks for the informative post...I'm very excited to hear that 3ghz Quad Core desktop chips will be out in October, do you have a link to that source? I'd kill for a dual-processor 3ghz Quad Core machine

The LED backlight thing isn't a dealbreaker for me and a 2.33ghz Merom is plenty for my desires. My PC laptop is sporting a 2ghz C2D and I'm very, very pleased with it's performance. Being able to drop in 3gb ram is great since I use Parallels often. Now all I need is some user reviews of the C2D models...anyone wanna chime in with how hot the 2.33ghz models are getting?
     
solofx7
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Feb 2, 2007, 01:53 PM
 
Originally Posted by kaido View Post
Thanks for the informative post...I'm very excited to hear that 3ghz Quad Core desktop chips will be out in October, do you have a link to that source? I'd kill for a dual-processor 3ghz Quad Core machine

The LED backlight thing isn't a dealbreaker for me and a 2.33ghz Merom is plenty for my desires. My PC laptop is sporting a 2ghz C2D and I'm very, very pleased with it's performance. Being able to drop in 3gb ram is great since I use Parallels often. Now all I need is some user reviews of the C2D models...anyone wanna chime in with how hot the 2.33ghz models are getting?
mine does not get that hot really.
warm, but no where rearly as hot as my past powerbook.
     
seanyepez
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Feb 4, 2007, 01:38 AM
 
My 2.33-gigahertz MacBook Pro does not get hot unless I'm using the optical drive and doing something that requires a lot of processing power. It is louder than my old 1.67-gigahertz PowerBook G4. However, it does seem to run quite a bit cooler.
     
SierraDragon
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Feb 5, 2007, 12:14 PM
 
C2D MBPs are quieter and cooler than previous laptops. My C2D MBP amazes me with how cool and quiet it is. IMO they probably even could have put a little more power/heat into the design.

-Allen Wicks
     
   
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