The one item of difference I didn't mention before is the 256MB vs 512MB of video ram. I noticed that on the 15" MBP later. The 17" MBP comes with 512MB even for the i5. Makes me lean more toward the 17" now.
Crucial says 2 slots. You'll have to do something else with your 2GB sticks later. Upgrade when 4GB prices drop further and you need the RAM.
Wow...and the Apple prices don't suck either. The 8GB kit (2x4GB) is $499 from Crucial and $433 from NewEgg (for Crucial).
I'm really curious what the difference is between the Apple specific memory and the standard memory. The G.Skill standard is 360 for 2x4GB, the Apple specific from them is $400. Why an extra $40? Will the $360 version work fine?
I'm really curious what the difference is between the Apple specific memory and the standard memory. The G.Skill standard is 360 for 2x4GB, the Apple specific from them is $400. Why an extra $40? Will the $360 version work fine?
Yes. The same difference between G.Skill ($359) and say Crucial ($433) and Corsair ($459). Just reputation of reliability and branding.
There are few bad reviews of G.Skill on NewEgg for their older modules. But any brand can have dead sticks and it seems like G.Skill is addressing those in a timely fashion.
Still, many folks swear by Corsair despite the extra cost. If you want a reduce chance of a RMA and rock solid RAM you go with one of the usual suspects (Corsair, Muskin, Crucial).
For someone like Apple they go with a 1st tier brand so the $400 is very reasonable. My older Macs came with crucial RAM in them if I remember right. If you want 8GB from the get go, I'd just order the Apple RAM vs the hassle of buying from NewEgg and installing yourself.
I never said it wasn't. I was just trying to explain why they likely didn'tcall out the fact that their i5 and i7 processors are all dual core. All of them are Arrandale and all Arrandale are dual core. Clarksfield is quad
I was wondering the same thing, so I checked ramseeker.com and the price of an 8GB RAM upgrade makes simply buying the 8GB upgrade through Apple a reasonable deal.
Tossing or trying to sell RAM is a waste and a pain, IMO. I have a RAM museum in a drawer somewhere... "leftover" RAM from I have no idea how many Macs over the years. I used to just give the leftovers to friends to see it get some use.
I agree that the price on the 8GB upgrade option is fairly reasonable, I just don't know that I actually NEED more than 4GB. Right now I get along just fine on my Mac Pro with only 6GB. However, I would love the have the best of both worlds in being able to buy the 4GB base config now and then simply add another 4GB to it down the road if I feel I need to. Plus, the lower the sticker price, the easier it is to convince the wife.
What other brand runs Mac OS X? None but Apple. And certainly none with the same elegance and build quality.
What's the point of saying "none with the same elegance and build quality" when you've already established that no one else runs OS X? Any property is trivially true for a null set.
13" with 10 hour battery life? Oh yeah. I bought one this morning to replace my old MB Al. Unibody mac book.
I am going to be happy except I lost the ability to open the bottom and replace the hdd and ram very easily. The 10 hour battery life makes up for it though.
Even with the unibody MacBooks/MBP that have user replaceable battery you needed to actually open the whole bottom to replace the RAM. However, I did it and it is real easy.
Anyone notice the "antiglare" option on the high res 15" display? It's not advertised at "matte" - so what is it?
Anti-glare is the actual term for the anti-reflective screen treatment.
(I have a link to that somewhere here... )
Matte finish is really a term from photo-finishing printing which has somehow gotten associated with LCD screens, even though not technically accurate. It comes from back-in-the-day when people would choose between glossy finish or matte finish picture prints.
Apple's own description only refers to matte in terms of user "experience" :
Quote:
"If you prefer a display with antiglare coating for a matte rather than glossy viewing experience, choose the antiglare widescreen display."
So anti-glare is the real deal.
And for me, always the better choice, as my eyes seem to get easily confused by the reflections on all the mainstream glossy screens.
Not exactly sure how that comes into what I was saying considering I just pointed out that all the i5 and i7 chips Apple is using are dual core with hyper-threading, but ok. They are correct. They are using the fasting mobile chips Intel makes. If they were using desktop chips they would sink their battery life.
Theories as to why the 13" didn't at least get an i3?
Intel did not license its next generation interconnect technology so only it could make chipsets for its CPUs. Probably with that is that their integrated GPU technology is beyond horrible. I'm guessing there wasn't enough room for a dedicated GPU.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Josh.B.
In the real world, that difference in capacity would cost almost nothing.
The best bet is to get the smaller drive and plan on putting in something bigger someday. The $200 could be used at any time to get more capacity - maybe MUCH more than 500 even.
In the meantime, 320 is really not so small, and easy external drives are plentiful (altho I'm not sure why Apple decided against incuding an eSATA port...)
And intel laptop hard drives are cheap and upgrading the MBPs is easy. A 750GB 5400 9.5mm drive is only $120.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jeffharris
What other brand runs Mac OS X? None but Apple. And certainly none with the same elegance and build quality.
Both their greatest strength and most glaring weakness. User groups can and have been left out in the cold on a whim with no place to turn.
I look for quality. I care less about convenience. .
And you tout Bose as a positive example? Bose is the quintessential company that sells overpriced items to people more interested in "name", looks, and convenience and NOT sound quality.
LOL! Geforce 330M is just renamed Geforce what 9600? Which was renamed Geforce 8600... Is that 17" actually slower than the previous MacBookPro?
EDIT: I was hoping that this refresh would bring the graphics department up to date. It didn't. I need to look elsewhere for a new laptop.
HAHAHA My old 8800GTX (sold it away ages ago) from 2006 had 128 cores. 330M (same family BTW) has 48 cores... Not buying that old tech again, sorry Steve.
How do you sift through the realities of the different chips and video card memory options?
Is the i7 better to an average user than the i5? Will double the video memory mean that much to an occasional gamer?
Yeah that is my questions too. If the i7 isn't much better than the i5 (according to the Notebookcheck.com article) does the i7 MBP perform better overall due to the doubled graphics memory?
Intel did not license its next generation interconnect technology so only it could make chipsets for its CPUs. ...
User groups can and have been left out in the cold on a whim with no place to turn.
Although slightly outside the original question, I do agree and find it sad that the Mac User groups have been so spurned by Apple.
Years back the various MUGs (Mac User Groups) would even be at the MacWorld conferences, and were a great source of Mac info, help, social connection, and free publicity and evangelizing for Apple and Apple vendors. I used to belong to the BMUG wayyyyy back.
I think Apple really made a mis-step when they stopped being friendly with the MUGs.
Yeah that is my questions too. If the i7 isn't much better than the i5 (according to the Notebookcheck.com article) does the i7 MBP perform better overall due to the doubled graphics memory?
The 330M has 48 processing cores. My old desktop card 8800GTX (same family, BTW) had 128 cores. And it was launched in 2006. You do the math.
Comments
The one item of difference I didn't mention before is the 256MB vs 512MB of video ram. I noticed that on the 15" MBP later. The 17" MBP comes with 512MB even for the i5. Makes me lean more toward the 17" now.
Crucial says 2 slots. You'll have to do something else with your 2GB sticks later. Upgrade when 4GB prices drop further and you need the RAM.
Wow...and the Apple prices don't suck either. The 8GB kit (2x4GB) is $499 from Crucial and $433 from NewEgg (for Crucial).
I'm really curious what the difference is between the Apple specific memory and the standard memory. The G.Skill standard is 360 for 2x4GB, the Apple specific from them is $400. Why an extra $40? Will the $360 version work fine?
I think that you have a couple of choices: Settle for LCD performance or look at another brand of laptop. Gamers have looked elsewhere for years.
What other brand runs Mac OS X? None but Apple. And certainly none with the same elegance and build quality.
I'm really curious what the difference is between the Apple specific memory and the standard memory. The G.Skill standard is 360 for 2x4GB, the Apple specific from them is $400. Why an extra $40? Will the $360 version work fine?
Yes. The same difference between G.Skill ($359) and say Crucial ($433) and Corsair ($459). Just reputation of reliability and branding.
There are few bad reviews of G.Skill on NewEgg for their older modules. But any brand can have dead sticks and it seems like G.Skill is addressing those in a timely fashion.
Still, many folks swear by Corsair despite the extra cost. If you want a reduce chance of a RMA and rock solid RAM you go with one of the usual suspects (Corsair, Muskin, Crucial).
For someone like Apple they go with a 1st tier brand so the $400 is very reasonable. My older Macs came with crucial RAM in them if I remember right. If you want 8GB from the get go, I'd just order the Apple RAM vs the hassle of buying from NewEgg and installing yourself.
I never said it wasn't. I was just trying to explain why they likely didn'tcall out the fact that their i5 and i7 processors are all dual core. All of them are Arrandale and all Arrandale are dual core. Clarksfield is quad
They did:
"New Core i5 and Core i7 processors.
The 15- and 17-inch MacBook Pro feature the fastest dual-core processors available, which boost performance up to 50 percent."
I was wondering the same thing, so I checked ramseeker.com and the price of an 8GB RAM upgrade makes simply buying the 8GB upgrade through Apple a reasonable deal.
Tossing or trying to sell RAM is a waste and a pain, IMO. I have a RAM museum in a drawer somewhere... "leftover" RAM from I have no idea how many Macs over the years. I used to just give the leftovers to friends to see it get some use.
I agree that the price on the 8GB upgrade option is fairly reasonable, I just don't know that I actually NEED more than 4GB. Right now I get along just fine on my Mac Pro with only 6GB. However, I would love the have the best of both worlds in being able to buy the 4GB base config now and then simply add another 4GB to it down the road if I feel I need to. Plus, the lower the sticker price, the easier it is to convince the wife.
What other brand runs Mac OS X? None but Apple. And certainly none with the same elegance and build quality.
What's the point of saying "none with the same elegance and build quality" when you've already established that no one else runs OS X? Any property is trivially true for a null set.
13" with 10 hour battery life? Oh yeah. I bought one this morning to replace my old MB Al. Unibody mac book.
I am going to be happy except I lost the ability to open the bottom and replace the hdd and ram very easily. The 10 hour battery life makes up for it though.
Even with the unibody MacBooks/MBP that have user replaceable battery you needed to actually open the whole bottom to replace the RAM. However, I did it and it is real easy.
Anyone notice the "antiglare" option on the high res 15" display? It's not advertised at "matte" - so what is it?
Anti-glare is the actual term for the anti-reflective screen treatment.
(I have a link to that somewhere here... )
Matte finish is really a term from photo-finishing printing which has somehow gotten associated with LCD screens, even though not technically accurate. It comes from back-in-the-day when people would choose between glossy finish or matte finish picture prints.
Apple's own description only refers to matte in terms of user "experience" :
"If you prefer a display with antiglare coating for a matte rather than glossy viewing experience, choose the antiglare widescreen display."
So anti-glare is the real deal.
And for me, always the better choice, as my eyes seem to get easily confused by the reflections on all the mainstream glossy screens.
macbook pro's have no blu-ray?
They did:
"New Core i5 and Core i7 processors.
The 15- and 17-inch MacBook Pro feature the fastest dual-core processors available, which boost performance up to 50 percent."
Not exactly sure how that comes into what I was saying considering I just pointed out that all the i5 and i7 chips Apple is using are dual core with hyper-threading, but ok. They are correct. They are using the fasting mobile chips Intel makes. If they were using desktop chips they would sink their battery life.
Theories as to why the 13" didn't at least get an i3?
Intel did not license its next generation interconnect technology so only it could make chipsets for its CPUs. Probably with that is that their integrated GPU technology is beyond horrible. I'm guessing there wasn't enough room for a dedicated GPU.
In the real world, that difference in capacity would cost almost nothing.
The best bet is to get the smaller drive and plan on putting in something bigger someday. The $200 could be used at any time to get more capacity - maybe MUCH more than 500 even.
In the meantime, 320 is really not so small, and easy external drives are plentiful (altho I'm not sure why Apple decided against incuding an eSATA port...)
And intel laptop hard drives are cheap and upgrading the MBPs is easy. A 750GB 5400 9.5mm drive is only $120.
What other brand runs Mac OS X? None but Apple. And certainly none with the same elegance and build quality.
Both their greatest strength and most glaring weakness. User groups can and have been left out in the cold on a whim with no place to turn.
I look for quality. I care less about convenience. .
And you tout Bose as a positive example? Bose is the quintessential company that sells overpriced items to people more interested in "name", looks, and convenience and NOT sound quality.
EDIT: I was hoping that this refresh would bring the graphics department up to date. It didn't. I need to look elsewhere for a new laptop.
HAHAHA My old 8800GTX (sold it away ages ago) from 2006 had 128 cores. 330M (same family BTW) has 48 cores... Not buying that old tech again, sorry Steve.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeForce_300_Series
Is the i7 better to an average user than the i5? Will double the video memory mean that much to an occasional gamer?
Something weird - when i enter the MBA page and I click on store - it sends me to the UK store. . . are they not available on the US?
Has anyone else seen this?
C-
How do you sift through the realities of the different chips and video card memory options?
Is the i7 better to an average user than the i5? Will double the video memory mean that much to an occasional gamer?
Yeah that is my questions too. If the i7 isn't much better than the i5 (according to the Notebookcheck.com article) does the i7 MBP perform better overall due to the doubled graphics memory?
I was hoping for a MacBook Air refresh
Something weird - when i enter the MBA page and I click on store - it sends me to the UK store. . . are they not available on the US?
Has anyone else seen this?
C-
Just go to the bottom of the page and change your country back to the US.
Intel did not license its next generation interconnect technology so only it could make chipsets for its CPUs. ...
User groups can and have been left out in the cold on a whim with no place to turn.
Although slightly outside the original question, I do agree and find it sad that the Mac User groups have been so spurned by Apple.
Years back the various MUGs (Mac User Groups) would even be at the MacWorld conferences, and were a great source of Mac info, help, social connection, and free publicity and evangelizing for Apple and Apple vendors. I used to belong to the BMUG wayyyyy back.
I think Apple really made a mis-step when they stopped being friendly with the MUGs.
Yeah that is my questions too. If the i7 isn't much better than the i5 (according to the Notebookcheck.com article) does the i7 MBP perform better overall due to the doubled graphics memory?
The 330M has 48 processing cores. My old desktop card 8800GTX (same family, BTW) had 128 cores. And it was launched in 2006. You do the math.