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New MacBook Pro series

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Re: New MacBook Pro series

#181

Post by Splines »

samatman wrote: post #176
CountSessine wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, why not? Among top tier laptop and cellphone manufacturers, the only name that appears on both lists is Apple (well, I guess Samsung makes laptops too...). Adding a SIM/RUIM slot and a 3G chip makes so much sense. I know a lot of laptop manufacturers in Europe have offered this as an option. Why not Apple?

Because it's more profitable for Apple if you get your 3G from a tethered iPhone?

Maybe more profitable for AT&T. It's not like you're not going to buy an iPhone because they add 3G to their laptops.

Re: New MacBook Pro series

#182

Post by weaksauce »

jasonkester wrote: post #170
tomkarlo wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This... the cost of my computer hardware is basically inconsequential given that these days I'll often get 3-4 years out of it. If I'm using it for work, that's like $2 a day total cost over its lifetime. I'll happily pay an incremental $1 a day for a system that saves me 10 minutes of dicking around and forgo starbucks if that's what it takes. Justifying choice of your primary work system on the basis of even a $1,0…

Well said. Though a cynical contractor could counter that having less productive tools means you get to bill more hours for a given task. Sort of a flip side of the old job creation parable: "Why are those men digging that ditch with shovels? Wouldn't it be more efficient to use a backhoe?" "Yes, but this way we create more jobs." "OK, but if that's the case, why not give them spoons instead?"

Ha. There is always paralells and win xp if you want to be slow. But for the rest of the time i am so fast on os x. I had to do some automation programming and that was the only way to do it.

Re: New MacBook Pro series

#183

Post by abhikshah »

mgrouchy wrote: post #109
wheels wrote: post #18

Color me disappointed. I was hoping for: • Ditching the optical media for longer battery life • 4 cores in the 13" • Max RAM of 12 GB (this one isn't listed ... maybe?) • The higher resolution 1440x900 resolution in the 13" that the Macbook Air has Altogether it's a pretty wussy update. Basically it looks like the diff (on the 13" model, which is what I care about) is: • Faster CPU (finally!) • Thunderbolt port (coun…

The main thing that bothers me in your list that I was really hoping for, was the better resolution on the 13inch. boo.

I'm getting the 15" for just that reason. The extra weight is worth having two vim buffers side by side.

Re: New MacBook Pro series

#184

Post by sandGorgon »

maweaver wrote: post #149
xuki wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your configuration is about $1600, not $1049. Did you actually try to configure it? http://d.pr/jSut+

You did the 2720QM instead of the 2620M he specified, and added a few extras (windows ultimate, 750gb hdd, etc). What he claimed is almost true, except he missed that the $1050 model's display is not 1920x1080, you have to pay an extra $150 for that.

very true - my mistake. I could, however, be very much on the mark - if we account for the frequent coupons that Dell puts out.

Re: New MacBook Pro series

#185

Post by sandipc »

billybob wrote: post #113

Thunderbolt is the coolest thing here to me. The way I read this, Intel at least partly owns the IP on it, so it should be available on PCs in the future, too? (I hope so, because that will create a bigger peripheral market.) UPDATE: Answer appears to be "yes." "...the fastest way to get information in and out of your PC and peripheral devices..." http://www.intel.com/technology/io/thunderbolt/index.htm

when the 11" Macbook Air gets Thunderbolt and a newer generation of processors, I will be first in line to pick one up.

Compact size, internal SSD, and only two cords to plug in each time I sit down - power and data - and data happens to also carry video to a large external monitor setup.

Re: New MacBook Pro series

#186

Post by sandGorgon »

achompas wrote: post #117
sandGorgon wrote: post #100

hmm - you need to go to 1799$ before you end up with a half decent graphics card and 2199$ for a decent card. Compare it with a Dell XPS 15 Sandy Bridge - $1049 for i7 2620M, 1920X1080 display, nVidia GT525 Optimus card, HD Camera. For a first time possible mac buyer (me) - is it well justified ?

Have you used OS X before? I pay the Mac premium for two reasons: (1) my laptop is supported by tons of Apple Stores across the country, and (2) OS X is awesome (and since it's Unix-based, I can work in the terminal without a problem). There's also a great reselling market for Macs. If (1) and (2) don't really matter to you, go with the Dell. I'll pay the extra price to get exactly what I want in my computer.

this is not a rhetorical question - would you say that a similarly priced Dell warranty cover (what we call CompleteCover in Asia: it includes accidental damage protection) is worse than a walk-in Apple Genius support ?

Dell's coverage is usually next day onsite.

Re: New MacBook Pro series

#187

Post by mike-cardwell »

Uchikoma wrote: post #162
SandB0x wrote: post #78

Didn't get as much coverage, but there are also new ThinkPads this week: http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/22/lenovo-trots-out-new-thin... The 14" models look good: 30 hours (claimed) battery on the T420, 0.83" ultrathin T420s with discrete graphics. Edit: Here's the official announcement, which took a bit of digging around to find: http://news.lenovo.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=1421 . synacksynack has posted a…

My 2 year old X200 has 1.3 hours battery time, decreasing rapidly. The display plastic is broken, the camera is broken and the mouse tracking nob is broken. It's the worst piece of laptop hardware I've ever had (compared to older IBM Thinkpads, DELLs and iBooks, Macbooks and MacbooksPro).

Strange. I never had any problems with my Thinkpads, but my Macbook has had several. The plastic casing is brittle and just breaks off after a certain amount of time, the battery died and needed replacing, the hard drive died and needed replacing and the power supply died and needed replacing too.

Seriously considering getting one of these new Thinkpads and sticking Ubuntu on it. Maybe the T420 or T520.

Re: New MacBook Pro series

#188

Post by meric »

wheels wrote: post #18

Color me disappointed. I was hoping for: • Ditching the optical media for longer battery life • 4 cores in the 13" • Max RAM of 12 GB (this one isn't listed ... maybe?) • The higher resolution 1440x900 resolution in the 13" that the Macbook Air has Altogether it's a pretty wussy update. Basically it looks like the diff (on the 13" model, which is what I care about) is: • Faster CPU (finally!) • Thunderbolt port (coun…

I am still waiting for a 13" Macbook Air with an Apple ARM processor, 10 hours of battery, RAM upgradeable to 8GB and 512gb SSD drive by default, for less than $1500. Hopefully it'll be out in a year. Maybe two.

Lugging around my Core2Duo MBP weighing at over 2kg does get quite tiring. :( I need its battery life though.

Re: New MacBook Pro series

#189

Post by weaksauce »

vandalizeit wrote: post #115
sandGorgon wrote: post #100

hmm - you need to go to 1799$ before you end up with a half decent graphics card and 2199$ for a decent card. Compare it with a Dell XPS 15 Sandy Bridge - $1049 for i7 2620M, 1920X1080 display, nVidia GT525 Optimus card, HD Camera. For a first time possible mac buyer (me) - is it well justified ?

Yes. I was a first timer on the first unibody. I still LOVE it. I've never loved a PC, Dell, Sony, HP, ACER, Lenovo or otherwise. Part of that is OSX. I find it so much better than Windows, even after having using Windows most of my life.

I am pretty much the same way. I got a 13" mb a bit before the unibody was announced and the got the 15" in late 2009. Great machine and still very fast. I LOVE it and am amazed at how useful it is to have a computer that you trust to come out of sleep so quickly and that has good battery life. I only wish I have the 15" with the higher resolution screen.

Re: New MacBook Pro series

#190

Post by abhikshah »

joshfinnie wrote: post #9

I never understood why the 13" version is such a second class citizen? Is it that different of a footprint that Apple can't fit the same technology in it... or is this Apple's plan?

Space might be an issue but it's also strategic. I need the higher-resolution screens and have bought (and will continue to buy) the 15" versions even though I don't really need the better CPU or GPU. I'm sure there are many others like me who grudgingly or not will fork over the extra cash.
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