17-inch Apple MackBook Pro

[tjobeid]

Well
Guys i went to the apple store and looked at some of the computers that you can test and , I just love the new mackbook pro. Photoshop , sony vegas media editor, and other 1000's of great programs. Any one suggest anything like it or any thing i should now before going overe there tomorow at 10am and buying me one? Take a look http://img47.imageshack.us/img47/4184/mackbook1fi.jpg

 

[IsR]

Well
Guys i went to the apple store and looked at some of the computers that you can test and , I just love the new mackbook pro. Photoshop , sony vegas media editor, and other 1000's of great programs. Any one suggest anything like it or any thing i should now before going overe there tomorow at 10am and buying me one? Take a look http://img47.imageshack.us/img47/4184/mackbook1fi.jpg

Your link is for the macbook, not the macbook pro... I don't think there's any black macbook pro just yet.
All depends on what you want to do with your laptop. There are lots of laptop out there nowadays... Then again you've got the option to run both mac osX and window with the macbook/macbook pro

 

[heySkippy]

I bought one of the first MacBook Pro 15" models last year and have been very pleased with it overall. Had to replace the battery last summer under warranty, but all else has been good.

 

[lrsudog]

Had to replace the battery last summer under warranty, but all else has been good.

Yeah, you, me, and about 4.5 million other laptop owners with that same battery. Ouch.

Any one suggest anything like it..

I use both PC & Macs, depending on the application I am using. PC notebooks are incredibly inexpensive, have more and less expensive software, and more common. Macs are essential for some applications, elegant, more expensive, and arguably more intuitive.

With the Mac going to the Intel core-duo, and with programs like boot camp allowing windows applications to run on Mac, I will be able to kick the need to own two different computer systems all the time when I update from my Powerbook to the Macbook Pro.

 

[JDMnsxR]

i'm awaiting to pull the trigger as soon as the new OSX update comes out... was it tiger or jaguar?:tongue:

 

[rickysals]

You do know Photoshop doesn't come with the computers, right??

Otherwise - My 2.5 yr old 12" Powerbook has been a reliable machine - never a reformatting needed. *knocks on wood*

Unless you're in the graphics industry, the plain ol' Macbook is more than enough. The Macbook Pro's are pricey for more power that the average user will never use.

 

[remotemonkey]

Watch out for RSS (Random shut down syndrom) google it, im sure you can find info about it. My grilfriend has a macbook, it caugt it, huge hassel to aparently "fix".

But overall great, Apple tech support is A+. We had a G5 power mac, one of the hard drives failed completely, a new one was shipped and was there next day by lunch time.

 

[0ctan3]

Unless you're in the graphics industry, the plain ol' Macbook is more than enough.

Games would be another factor. The "pro" has a dedicated 3D card, while the macbook does not.

 

[Arshad]

i'm awaiting to pull the trigger as soon as the new OSX update comes out... was it tiger or jaguar?:tongue:

Tiger is 10.4, which is the currently shipping OS.

Leopard is 10.5, which is the new version of the OS to be released this year.

 

[tjobeid]

Im still looking at it and getting the 3 year warranty with it, I'm getting in to photoshop and other programs that suppose come with the mac pro that i tested at the apple store. I'm taking a class in school that teaches photoshop and what you can do.But i also enjoy the functions on the mac more then the crappy computer i have know.

 

[JDMnsxR]

Tiger is 10.4, which is the currently shipping OS.

Leopard is 10.5, which is the new version of the OS to be released this year.

someone told me they'd confirm the release date of the leopard once macworld was over... didn't that just pass (with release of the iphone)... any idea when leopard will launch?

 

[NSXrebel]

I bought one of the first MacBook Pro 15" models last year and have been very pleased with it overall. Had to replace the battery last summer under warranty, but all else has been good.

Weren't those Sony batteries that went bad on the Mac Books? :wink:

 

[Arshad]

someone told me they'd confirm the release date of the leopard once macworld was over... didn't that just pass (with release of the iphone)... any idea when leopard will launch?

Actually, I do know as I work very closely with them (we supply the graphics subsystem+drivers, so we get daily builds), but it hasn't been publicly disclosed .

Apple did not announce Leopard release date at Macworld but general speculation is "Spring 2007".

 

[JDMnsxR]

ahh.... ok.... can you give a brother a clue?

as in... WOULD it be WISE for me to buy a macbook pro this month? or wait a month? :tongue:

 

[rickysals]

ahh.... ok.... can you give a brother a clue?

as in... WOULD it be WISE for me to buy a macbook pro this month? or wait a month? :tongue:

Wait on Leopard.

This spring it'll be out.

The iPhone will run Leopard so the absolute latest will be June

--

Yes - those were Sony batteries that were bad. The same situation caused the huge Dell battery recall.

--

tjobeid — What programs were you looking to use? Many of the programs in the store are available for purchase, but don't come with the Macbooks. Only Apple software comes on the machines.

 

[Arshad]

Hehe, unfortunately I can't do that. However, one "common sense" thing to keep in mind is that Apple will always want to put the latest/greatest CPU/architecture on their machines. Now that they've moved to Intel, it's easy to get ahold of Intels roadmap to see when things like the Santa Rosa platform (new platform for laptops) will be released and make the reasonable assumption that Apple will likely move to this platform soon after its released. Of course there's no guarantee that Apple will move to this, but whenever there's a big change (eg. Core Duo -> Core 2 Duo), Apple will want to take advantage of it to remain competitive.

 

[NimbleSexyXquisite]

Mac's are overated unless you do a lot graphics, music, rendering. But if you're just starting off TJ. I would go for a PC.

One you get a lot more bang for your buck. Mac's are over priced for waht you get.

I have a Dell 1505, Duo Core 2 Gig Processor, 2 Gig Ram, 256 Vid Card, and much more goodies for just $1,100.00 and i bought it in the summer, and its cheaper now.

You should wait a little bit for the Quad Processors to take over the Market, so the Duo Core Processor combo's will be slashed in prices. March would be a ideal time for a lot prices to be dropped. Also look out for discounts and coupons on the net. I saved $750 off of my Dell purchase on a online coupon. Great deal. But all of a sudden the newest tech I bought is out of date, due to the Quad Processors. Ugh! :tongue:

And you should wait and see how MS Windows Vista will affect pricing in the tech market. Mac must pull something up their sleeves to counter MS's move.

Good Luck!

 

[SilverStone05]

Take a look at the IBM (Lenovo) Thinkpads. Very plain looking, very well built, state of the art technology and they cost several hundred less than the MacBook Pros.

If you're looking for maximum bang for buck, Dell laptops are a fantastic choice.

G/F has a MacBook pro. It looks nice. I just CANNOT stand Mac OS, or the Mac keyboards (no page down/up, no end/home buttons) or the mouse. And for some reason, the thing seems very slow considering the powerful processor. Yea, I don't like it very much.

 

[NSXrebel]

Go with the Macbook. If you really need/want, you can run windows XP on it with Bootcamp. I dont know if you'd be able to run windows vista though. You dont get Photoshop with any Macs though. I dont think any computers do.

As for Macs being overrated....hmm..I dont know about that. I hate having to wait a few minutes after I turn on my Sony VAIO before I can actually use it. All these protectors have to load, slowing down the notebook making it useless for a minute or so. anti-virus, spyware, etc... With the Mac (Mini) I dont have that problem. Alot of PC users also argue about all the freeware available to them. Most freeware sucks, I'd like to see a freeware equivalent of Photoshop.
I have alot of friends that are professional DJs and they all use Macbooks. Some of them started with PC notebooks, but they couldnt hang when they were being used. They were either slow or froze up (the software).

This is how alot of DJ's spin their music nowadays. Using Scratch Live by Serato, and only digital music (mp3,wav, aacc, etc) on their notebooks, they no longer haul around crates of records. They do use two special records that send a signal to the notebook, so if they were to stop playing on the turntable, the music would stop playing on the notebook.

 

[Arshad]

Mac's are overated unless you do a lot graphics, music, rendering. But if you're just starting off TJ. I would go for a PC.

Actually, I would give the opposite advice. All of those things can be done just as well with PC software. On the other hand, if you're just starting off, a Mac is much easier, comes bundled with intuitive, usable software out of the box and you don't have to worry about spyware, malware, viruses, device drivers etc.

One you get a lot more bang for your buck. Mac's are over priced for waht you get.

My experience has been that you get what you pay for. Apple USED TO charge a huge premium for their hardware, but nowadays other than RAM pricing, they are fairly competitive. The difference is that if you want a bottom of the barrel PC, you CAN do that (eg. eMachines), but you can't do that with a Mac.

With a MacBookPro, you're going to get a Core 2 Duo and FW800 and 802.11n WiFi and a high end discrete GPU and motion sensors and all kinds of frills right out of the box. Basically you're getting a premium PC, much like if you bought one of the higher end Dell's or Sony's or whatever, and you pay for that accordingly.

I have a Dell 1505, Duo Core 2 Gig Processor, 2 Gig Ram, 256 Vid Card, and much more goodies for just $1,100.00 and i bought it in the summer, and its cheaper now.

You're comparing a budget laptop to a premium laptop. A lot of the standard options on the MacBookPro are either optional or not even available for the 1505. Don't get me wrong, the 1505 is a lot of bang for the buck, but you're comparing two different things. I just configured a base 1505, bumped up a few things to make them somewhat comparable to the MBP (eg. screen resolution) and didn't even add the stupid amounts they want for basic things like paying extra for basic photo editing/music software or another $149 for XP Pro (!?). The price I got was over $1400.

Next I went and configured a high end Dell that would be comparable to a 17" MacBookPro which sells for $2699. I took a base XPS 1710, upgraded to 2GB memory, upgraded to 100GB drive, upgraded to 2.33Ghz CPU, upgraded to a DVD burner -- all to make it comparable to the base MacBookPro. Cost: $3438. That's $739 more than the Mac and the only advantage that it has over the Mac is 512MB GPU vs a 256MB GPU. How exactly is that cheaper?

You should wait a little bit for the Quad Processors to take over the Market, so the Duo Core Processor combo's will be slashed in prices. March would be a ideal time for a lot prices to be dropped. Also look out for discounts and coupons on the net. I saved $750 off of my Dell purchase on a online coupon. Great deal. But all of a sudden the newest tech I bought is out of date, due to the Quad Processors. Ugh! :tongue:

I think you're confusing desktop with mobile CPU's. Intel has not released a public roadmap showing a quad-core mobile CPU. The forseeable future shows the 45nm Penryn which replaces the Merom in 2H 2007 and is also dual core. Before that (coming up this spring), you'll see new laptops using the Santa Rosa platform.

And you should wait and see how MS Windows Vista will affect pricing in the tech market. Mac must pull something up their sleeves to counter MS's move.

Actually, they pulled Tiger out of their sleeves to counter vista last year. They are going to be releasing Leopard next and Vista SP1 is so far away that Apple will have their post-Leopard OS ready by then.

 

[SilverStone05]

Actually, I would give the opposite advice. All of those things can be done just as well with PC software. On the other hand, if you're just starting off, a Mac is much easier, comes bundled with intuitive, usable software out of the box and you don't have to worry about spyware, malware, viruses, device drivers etc.

My experience has been that you get what you pay for. Apple USED TO charge a huge premium for their hardware, but nowadays other than RAM pricing, they are fairly competitive. The difference is that if you want a bottom of the barrel PC, you CAN do that (eg. eMachines), but you can't do that with a Mac.

With a MacBookPro, you're going to get a Core 2 Duo and FW800 and 802.11n WiFi and a high end discrete GPU and motion sensors and all kinds of frills right out of the box. Basically you're getting a premium PC, much like if you bought one of the higher end Dell's or Sony's or whatever, and you pay for that accordingly.

Next I went and configured a high end Dell that would be comparable to a 17" MacBookPro which sells for $2699. I took a base XPS 1710, upgraded to 2GB memory, upgraded to 100GB drive, upgraded to 2.33Ghz CPU, upgraded to a DVD burner -- all to make it comparable to the base MacBookPro. Cost: $3438. That's $739 more than the Mac and the only advantage that it has over the Mac is 512MB GPU vs a 256MB GPU. How exactly is that cheaper?

Eh....the base macbook pro is a 2.16 ghz processor/core duo/120GB HDD/and 1 GB Ram. Its two grand before a mail in rebate.

A Dell XPS equipped exactly as the macbook pro is around $1624. Go to dell.com and price it. If you think a Dell XPS laptop is a budget computer, an IBM Thinkpad, which is a top of the line machine, can be had in exact same trim for around the same price as well. The adage "you get what you pay for" is only true to a point.

I priced machine after machine. Either way you stack it....an apple machine is always going to cost you more for the same specs.

P.S. I'm using a macbook pro to type this right now. I'm not enjoying it.

 

[rickysals]

Eh....the base macbook pro is a 2.16 ghz processor/core duo/120GB HDD/and 1 GB Ram. Its two grand before a mail in rebate.

A Dell XPS equipped exactly as the macbook pro is $1624. Go to dell.com and price it. If you think a Dell XPS laptop is a budgt computer, an IBM Thinkpad, which is a top of the line machine, can be had in exact same trim for around $1600 as well. The adage "you get what you pay for" is only true to a point.

I priced machine after machine. Either way you stack it....an apple machine is always going to cost you a good deal more for the same specs.

P.S. I'm using a macbook pro to type this right now. I'm not enjoying it.

I'd pay a $500 premium if I had to (thank goodness I don't) to avoid using anything by Microsoft. Mac only builds premium machines. They don't have budget machines. Don't forget that ontop of the hardware, you get a beautifully designed machine and the best operating system you can buy.

Vista won't affect any Mac... because the Mac OS of 2 years ago is still more advanced than Vista. Vista is an embarassment for Microsoft, just like the Zune is... Microsoft trying to do what Apple already had, and doing it poorly.

(p.s. - no Page Up/Page Down buttons on a Mac, just press the spacebar when not in a typefield (pg down) and shift+spacebar for page up, I like it better, the less buttons the better. – Also, what is an end/home button??)

People who complain about a Mac mouse should just plug in their Windows-machine mouse. It'll work instantly, even with rightclicks.

I don't know of many real reasons why anyone should not atleast consider buying a Mac.

 

[mohaji]

I'd pay a $500 premium if I had to (thank goodness I don't) to avoid using anything by Microsoft. Mac only builds premium machines. They don't have budget machines. Don't forget that ontop of the hardware, you get a beautifully designed machine and the best operating system you can buy.

Ricky,

when a lot of macbooks and macbook pros are having Random shutdown syndrome, and remembering the macbook pro(core duos)'s overheating problem of not too long ago, I would not be too quick to say Apple only builds premium machines with "best operating system you can buy".

certainly mac is very appealing and I like the look so much I want to buy one, but windows xp is very solid operating system, IMO, has only failed 4 times in last 4 years on 2 machines combined. of course me being computer science student, and working in IT support/programming/QA positions over the years helped use it properly as not to fail, probably,
but i gotta say, i had more trouble with Linux/Mac OS than XPs.

I'm not saying Mac is "overrated/overpriced" etc, just that I think crapping on MS for XP is un-deserved.

 

[heySkippy]

I priced machine after machine. Either way you stack it....an apple machine is always going to cost you a good deal more for the same specs.

P.S. I'm using a macbook pro to type this right now. I'm not enjoying it.

If I have to pay an "Apple tax" to have a useful computer that doesn't run Windows, then so be it. That's why I work -- to be able to afford the things I want.

I've have to use Windows at work every day. I don't enjoy it.

 

[Arshad]

Eh....the base macbook pro is a 2.16 ghz processor/core duo/120GB HDD/and 1 GB Ram. Its two grand before a mail in rebate.

As stated in my message, I was comparing the base 17" MBP at $2699 vs the 17" Dell laptop.

A Dell XPS equipped exactly as the macbook pro is $1624. Go to dell.com and price it. If you think a Dell XPS laptop is a budgt computer, an IBM Thinkpad, which is a top of the line machine, can be had in exact same trim for around $1600 as well.

I did go to dell.com and price it out, that's where I got the numbers from above. I never said the XPS is a budget laptop, I said the 1505 is a budget laptop. Dell's XPS lineup is their high end laptop line. My point was that Apple makes premium laptops with lots of extra features and that's what you're paying for. When you configure a Dell or Sony with equivalent features you end up paying roughly the same (or in the case above a LOT more for the Dell!)

The adage "you get what you pay for" is only true to a point.

Agreed, but you have to compare apples to apples. You can't compare a computer with half the memory, smaller HD, or slower CPU and gloat about what a great deal you got. Whether a turion based machine with 512MB of RAM and integrated graphics is "good enough" is a completely different story.

I priced machine after machine. Either way you stack it....an apple machine is always going to cost you a good deal more for the same specs.

See above. The Dell XPS laptop with roughly equivalent specs to Apple laptop costs $700+ more. I'm not even counting things that the Apple has over the Dell like the built-in drop motion sensor, built in IR, built in Webcam , backlit keyboard etc.

Since you quoted the IBM thinkpad, I went to their site and configured it to be roughly equivalent to the Apple 15" 2.33Ghz base model.

I took the base thinkpad T60 widescreen, and upgraded memory, CPU, screen, HD etc so that it was equivalent to the MBP. Guess what? $2399. The Apple is $2499 and comes with additional things like 802.11n WiFi, a better GPU, (plus all the stuff I mentioned earlier like the webcam, backlit keyboard etc.). Let's not forget that the Apple laptop is also thinner and lighter.

Hardly an earth-shattering delta. Yeah if you bought that same machine with base configuration of 512MB of RAM (vs 2GB), 1.66 Ghz CPU (vs 2.33Ghz), WXGA screen (vs WSXGA), 60GB HD (vs 120GB), DVD ROM (vs Dual layer DVD burner), Intel integrated graphics (vs discrete ATI GPU) etc. then yeah you could have it for much cheaper. Is that surprising?

That's like someone contending that they paid a lot less for their base model 328 vs an M3. No kidding. If a base model 328 is all you need, good for you. But if you want that extra performance, you're going to be paying a premium.