The "yellow cast" thing does seem to be a problem with some of the new L.E.D. backlit 15"ers, with some reporting that calibration fixes it, and some reporting that it doesn't.
On the other issues, he was/is definitely exaggerating, but the uneven backlighting (on CCFL panels, L.E.D. helps with this problem a lot, apparently) and hiss through the headphone jack definitely are "problems". However, I put "problems" in inverted commas, because they are problems with all laptops, not just Apple's.
Now, see, on the forums I've looked at, and I've only heard from maybe 3 people who say that the display calibration tool didn't help, and still have the yellow cast. I have probably this time heard more responses from people happy with their MBP than the people angry about the yellow tint problem they're having.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Go Banana
Well maybe he is right then about the yellow LED thing because I haven't heard anything on that yet. But I maintain that many "problems" can be misconstrued as epidemics when it comes to getting information on the internet. 10 million products could be sold but if the manufacturer produces 99.9% quality product that means that 10,000 people ended up with bad products. All of those people will report on the web that the product sucks while you'll never hear a word out of the people happy with the product.
I think this is the problem we're experiencing with the yellow tint thing... I like your explanation.
I dont really think that hd-dvd/blueray discs are of any more importance. It's like desperately holding onto something given the example of cds. Sure I have a stereo with cd trays. Do I ever use them? Rarely! Do I use my Aux-In for the iPod? Always! Even on my computer now, I barely use the cd/dvd drive.
I think HDDs are the new medium to watch movies... Even my DVD recorder has a USB port so i can connect my external harddisc.
Bottom line: please no blueray/hddvd drives. Get rid of the drive and make the mbp lighter altogether.
Noise from the headphone port (first identified by a MacInTouch reader) is a real problem, which has three components, we found in testing with sound-isolating headphones:
First, a very quiet hiss is present whenever the laptop is awake with headphones plugged in. It's on the same scale as the hiss we noted in the aluminum iPod Shuffle, so many people will never notice it.
A greater problem is a quiet but ubiquitous static. It is present only when the audio circuitry is working, and ceases within a second of pausing iTunes or QuickTime player. It is easily masked by music but shows itself during quiet passages.
The last component is an intermittent high-pitched noise. We've heard four distinct pitches, but never more than one at a time; it varies from a high tone to a faint whine. It goes away within five or six seconds of pausing iTunes; we believe this is when the audio circuitry turns off to save power. We cannot consistently cause the high pitched noise to happen, nor affect the pitch. We cannot trigger it with hard drive activity, spin-up or spin-down, display or keyboard brightness, or display activity. We assume it is caused by interference from other components within the machine.
These audio problems probably can't be solved without a hardware redesign, which is disappointing, given Apple's previous audio quality. If audio playback (or recording) is critical to your work, you'll probably need something like an external USB or FireWire audio interface. (We didn't test digital output from the headphone port.)
Also from Macintouch
Quote:
Steve Hobs
Hey it's me again, but I just wanted to try to describe what this yellow tint looks like. Try this, go to apple.com then make the window smaller for the picture of the leopard disc with the white apple in the middle and place it on the top of the screen. Then open a new safari window and load the same leopard disc picture from the apple.com site, then do the same thing by putting it on the bottom of the screen (right above the dock). Then compare the white apple logo from the leopard disc pics and you can tell the differences of the white, where the top looks very white and crisp but the bottom's apple's white is barely duller with a slight yellow tint.
try this same test with the folders from the finder and compare the blue color. Another thing is that if you're in a totally dark room and tilt your screen to where you look inside the edge of the top of the screen and you can clearly see that the back light on the top edge is vibrant white, but if you do the same and look at the back light on the bottom edge its yellow! Are there two different lights shining the bottom and the top of the led screen? Also people have started to complain already. You can check the thread here and some people have gone back to the apple store to get it exchanged but came out with the same results.
[We have now confirmed the phenomenon on our $1999 MacBook Pro 15" LED model. -MacInTouch]
Now I have seen the new 15" LED Santa Rosa Laptop on my desk and don't see the yellow tint. But the display is warmer than before and probably need a calibration for the LED backlight.
The whole point of this thread is about the next MacBook Pro. Back on topic, if the current design is so wonderful and flawless explain to me the benefit of needing to remove 40 screws to change the fucking hard drive?
I've wondered the same thing. In terms of looks alone, the TiBook is much more elegant.
I've been saying that for years and you're maybe the 2nd or 3rd person to agree with me. We should form a support group or something.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DHagan4755
The current design was introduced on January 8, 2003 at MacWorld SanFrancisco. The design has many flaws. Those flaws include limiting maximum display angle, non-user replaceable hard drive, and marginalized wireless reception.
Why can't Apple make it out of the same plastic design they are using for the black MacBook?
Agreed. I love the idea of metal enclosures. They really differentiate Apple computers from generic PCs, but they also mess with Wi-Fi reception. The aluminum 'books are better than the titanium ones, but they don't hold a candle to the reception I get on my ThinkPad (or the various MacBooks I've played with, for that matter). As much as I'd hate to see a plastic MacBook Pro, I kinda think it's the right thing to do.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tenosce
TRACKPAD CHANGES
1. Apple mice now have right-click functionality, so why not give us a RIGHT-CLICK button - the current single one is too big anyway (the large size makes it less responsive than smaller buttons on other notebooks); the 2-finger right-clicking function is not that easy to execute for us older folk - I often have to try several times as I typiclly end up moving something than achieving a right-click
Eh, no thanks. Apple trackpads are lightyears ahead of anything I've seen in the PC world. The trackpad on my ThinkPad is roughly the side of 4 postage stamps. I'll stick with 1 button too. I'm always right-clicking when I mean to left-click on my ThinkPad because I don't look at the buttons and they feel exactly the same. The 2 finger + click = right-click is an elegant and perfectly usable solution for me.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tenosce
USB PORTS
For the 15" Macbook Pro, please put both UBS ports together - or better yet, give us another one. There are an increasing number of USB devices (e.g. portable hard drives) that require one port for power.
You can never go wrong by adding more USB ports.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tenosce
DOCKING SYSTEM
This has been raised many times in the past. The Macbook Pro really needs a docking solution (a real one, not one of those horrible 3rd party ones that just stick connectors into the various ports) so that more corporate users can consider it as an alternative to the Dells and IBMs and Vaios out there. At the minimum, consider putting all the connectors at the back - a MBP connected to an external display is a mess today.
Yet another stumbling block on the road to corporate adoption of Macs. I consider a docking station to be a necessity if I'm going to use an Apple laptop as my primary workstation. Of course, given that my ThinkPad likes to randomly bluescreen after I undock it (not too frequently... maybe once or twice a month), I can kinda see why Apple shies away from docking stations.
Well, more than 2 USB ports would be nice for something I'm planning to spend $2000 purchasing.
IMO, you should buy a $10 hub for at home/work/main use place, and when you're on the go, you probably won't need more, right? and if you do, take the hub with you. I'm not saying that they should only have 2, but its not like saying 2 sucks is going to change anything.
IMO, you should buy a $10 hub for at home/work/main use place, and when you're on the go, you probably won't need more, right? and if you do, take the hub with you. I'm not saying that they should only have 2, but its not like saying 2 sucks is going to change anything.
Of course I could buy a hub. But something is just wrong when my years old HP notebook has 4 USB ports and a Macbook Pro only has 2. Surely Apple could add an extra port. (There are 3 on the iMac, I believe)
I'm sure the next case/shell update, this will happen.
Your "buy a hub" comment is not valid in many cases. How many times does this have to be mentioned??
Many USB audio interfaces are NOT supported when using hubs, many just don't work at all Digidesign Mbox is one example. Besides that, audio guys need about 4 ports, 2 for USB dongles, 1 audio interface or controller keyboard and a mouse (bluetooth devices are unreliable).
The logic boards support up to 8 USB ports anyway, I think it not unreasonable to request 4 USB ports.
We really need also an ESATA port along with 1 Firewire port. Current situations force us to use external bridged SATA to Firewire cases, the problem with the MBP is that the 2 FW ports are sharing ONE controller, this basically severely impacts performance an cause many issues when a FW Audio Interface is used and or a DV camera, external storage is required (all the time). Bare in mind the Logic Board's support 4 SATA controllers, 2 internally for the internal HDD and the Optical drive, the other 2 could be used externally for eSATA. Using eSATA for a native SATA drive in a case with eSATA ports finally overcomes the issues associated with Firewire devices for A/V.
Ideally the following would be great. (since the MBP removed the Internal Modem and the S-Video ports there should be more than enough space to put the below ports)
4 x USB 2
2 x eSATA
1 x 400Mb Firewire
Note Also: The Express/34 expansion slot may also be in use for audio cards so this is usually taken thus an eSATA card cannot be used. ppl need to understand also working in Audio one needs a dedicated Audio interface for Digidesign's ProTools and another audio interface either Express/34 for all other audio applications like Cubase, Logic etc. You cannot share a Digidesign Audio interface with other applications when Pro Tools is running, Obviously we need all the audio app's to be running concurrently. Could you imagine having to quit PhotoShop to launch Illustrator all the time because the 2 apps can't share the same video card?
Your "buy a hub" comment is not valid in many cases. How many times does this have to be mentioned??
Many USB audio interfaces are NOT supported when using hubs, many just don't work at all Digidesign Mbox is one example. Besides that, audio guys need about 4 ports, 2 for USB dongles, 1 audio interface or controller keyboard and a mouse (bluetooth devices are unreliable).
The logic boards support up to 8 USB ports anyway, I think it not unreasonable to request 4 USB ports.
We really need also an ESATA port along with 1 Firewire port. Current situations force us to use external bridged SATA to Firewire cases, the problem with the MBP is that the 2 FW ports are sharing ONE controller, this basically severely impacts performance an cause many issues when a FW Audio Interface is used and or a DV camera, external storage is required (all the time). Bare in mind the Logic Board's support 4 SATA controllers, 2 internally for the internal HDD and the Optical drive, the other 2 could be used externally for eSATA. Using eSATA for a native SATA drive in a case with eSATA ports finally overcomes the issues associated with Firewire devices for A/V.
Ideally the following would be great. (since the MBP removed the Internal Modem and the S-Video ports there should be more than enough space to put the below ports)
4 x USB 2
2 x eSATA
1 x 400Mb Firewire
Note Also: The Express/34 expansion slot may also be in use for audio cards so this is usually taken thus an eSATA card cannot be used. ppl need to understand also working in Audio one needs a dedicated Audio interface for Digidesign's ProTools and another audio interface either Express/34 for all other audio applications like Cubase, Logic etc. You cannot share a Digidesign Audio interface with other applications when Pro Tools is running, Obviously we need all the audio app's to be running concurrently. Could you imagine having to quit PhotoShop to launch Illustrator all the time because the 2 apps can't share the same video card?
A. How many times have hubs been mentioned? Once?
B. Complaining is NOT going to solve this problem. If the hub is not an option, I do not know what is. I was trying to offer a practical solution to a problem that is not going to be solved by flaming. Sorry I tried to help.
C. I am not disagreeing with you that the MBP, being a 'pro' machine needs more ports and a better GPU (side topic but w/e). This is a serious issue for you, but not so much for me since I do not use my computer for the same things you do, but it still I would like to see updates that reflect the needs/wants of the consumers. 4 USB is reasonable. I still think 2 FW is as well. And although I currently have no use for eSATA, I may in the future and it would be reasonable to include at least one. There. Fine. I agree with you. Are you happy now?
D. Don't buy the computer if it does not suit your needs. It's that simple. I do not need a Mac Pro and therefore I do not buy it. I have no use for a crappy PC and I do not buy it. Simply amazing how these things work. Now, if you follow the pattern... The MBP does not currently have what you need, so my advice to you is...? That's right. Don't buy it.
Does anyone know if the Santa Rosa (or future) MBPs will support 4Gb SODIMMs (for an 8Gb total) once such capacity SODIMMs are available?
This is a fantastic question.
I also wonder if some techno-smarterthanI person could tell me if higher-capacity RAM machines will outlast their lower-capacity brethren? In other words, if my Powerbook G4 with 1GB (the max) could be running faster than it is currently, if I could put in, say, 3 more GB for a total of 4? I find the fan goes on much more often now, and when multiple apps are running, it's slower than I wish it were. Is this because I'm maxing-out the RAM?
I've always guessed that the max RAM is best when buying a new machine. Even so, the $675 price gap between stock and max RAM of the new MBPs is inhibitory. In this case, when I'm ready to buy, I won't be ready to drop an additional $675. Too bad.
So...when will 8GB laptops be available from Apple? Is this important?
I also wonder if some techno-smarterthanI person could tell me if higher-capacity RAM machines will outlast their lower-capacity brethren? In other words, if my Powerbook G4 with 1GB (the max) could be running faster than it is currently, if I could put in, say, 3 more GB for a total of 4? I find the fan goes on much more often now, and when multiple apps are running, it's slower than I wish it were. Is this because I'm maxing-out the RAM?
I've always guessed that the max RAM is best when buying a new machine. Even so, the $675 price gap between stock and max RAM of the new MBPs is inhibitory. In this case, when I'm ready to buy, I won't be ready to drop an additional $675. Too bad.
So...when will 8GB laptops be available from Apple? Is this important?
Sure I don't need an 8GB laptop now, but I'm sat here on a 4.5 year old 1GB 1GHz TiBook thinking what specs will I need to install Lion(10.6?) l on my 2007 MBP in 4.5years time.
I've often installed over Apple's maximum specs i.e. iMac G4 running 1.5GB (1GB Max), iMac DV 1GB (512MB max) but I wondered if Santa Rosa suffered the same addressing limitations that Napa had (i.e. other components use the address above 3.3GB).
CoolHandPete. Read this Apple kbase article to assess whether you are maxing your RAM or some other system components out.
The Santa Rosa chipset supports up to 4GB of memory so, until Intel offer a laptop chipset which supports 8 or 16GB, Apple cannot. My guess is this might happen in 2009.
I have my new LED 15.4 screen and there is no yellow problem and no perceivable hissing in the headphone jack. The only issue I have with it is it runs very hot. As in, on a table with proper ventilation for fan, it is hot to type on after running FF and iChat and iTunes, and previously MarbleBlast Gold on it. Oh well, not a big problem at this point.
Comments
I'm not so sure about that.
The "yellow cast" thing does seem to be a problem with some of the new L.E.D. backlit 15"ers, with some reporting that calibration fixes it, and some reporting that it doesn't.
On the other issues, he was/is definitely exaggerating, but the uneven backlighting (on CCFL panels, L.E.D. helps with this problem a lot, apparently) and hiss through the headphone jack definitely are "problems". However, I put "problems" in inverted commas, because they are problems with all laptops, not just Apple's.
Now, see, on the forums I've looked at, and I've only heard from maybe 3 people who say that the display calibration tool didn't help, and still have the yellow cast. I have probably this time heard more responses from people happy with their MBP than the people angry about the yellow tint problem they're having.
Well maybe he is right then about the yellow LED thing because I haven't heard anything on that yet. But I maintain that many "problems" can be misconstrued as epidemics when it comes to getting information on the internet. 10 million products could be sold but if the manufacturer produces 99.9% quality product that means that 10,000 people ended up with bad products. All of those people will report on the web that the product sucks while you'll never hear a word out of the people happy with the product.
I think this is the problem we're experiencing with the yellow tint thing... I like your explanation.
I think HDDs are the new medium to watch movies... Even my DVD recorder has a USB port so i can connect my external harddisc.
Bottom line: please no blueray/hddvd drives. Get rid of the drive and make the mbp lighter altogether.
From Macintouch:
Audio Noise
Noise from the headphone port (first identified by a MacInTouch reader) is a real problem, which has three components, we found in testing with sound-isolating headphones:
First, a very quiet hiss is present whenever the laptop is awake with headphones plugged in. It's on the same scale as the hiss we noted in the aluminum iPod Shuffle, so many people will never notice it.
A greater problem is a quiet but ubiquitous static. It is present only when the audio circuitry is working, and ceases within a second of pausing iTunes or QuickTime player. It is easily masked by music but shows itself during quiet passages.
The last component is an intermittent high-pitched noise. We've heard four distinct pitches, but never more than one at a time; it varies from a high tone to a faint whine. It goes away within five or six seconds of pausing iTunes; we believe this is when the audio circuitry turns off to save power. We cannot consistently cause the high pitched noise to happen, nor affect the pitch. We cannot trigger it with hard drive activity, spin-up or spin-down, display or keyboard brightness, or display activity. We assume it is caused by interference from other components within the machine.
These audio problems probably can't be solved without a hardware redesign, which is disappointing, given Apple's previous audio quality. If audio playback (or recording) is critical to your work, you'll probably need something like an external USB or FireWire audio interface. (We didn't test digital output from the headphone port.)
Also from Macintouch
Steve Hobs
Hey it's me again, but I just wanted to try to describe what this yellow tint looks like. Try this, go to apple.com then make the window smaller for the picture of the leopard disc with the white apple in the middle and place it on the top of the screen. Then open a new safari window and load the same leopard disc picture from the apple.com site, then do the same thing by putting it on the bottom of the screen (right above the dock). Then compare the white apple logo from the leopard disc pics and you can tell the differences of the white, where the top looks very white and crisp but the bottom's apple's white is barely duller with a slight yellow tint.
try this same test with the folders from the finder and compare the blue color. Another thing is that if you're in a totally dark room and tilt your screen to where you look inside the edge of the top of the screen and you can clearly see that the back light on the top edge is vibrant white, but if you do the same and look at the back light on the bottom edge its yellow! Are there two different lights shining the bottom and the top of the led screen? Also people have started to complain already. You can check the thread here and some people have gone back to the apple store to get it exchanged but came out with the same results.
[We have now confirmed the phenomenon on our $1999 MacBook Pro 15" LED model. -MacInTouch]
Now I have seen the new 15" LED Santa Rosa Laptop on my desk and don't see the yellow tint. But the display is warmer than before and probably need a calibration for the LED backlight.
The whole point of this thread is about the next MacBook Pro. Back on topic, if the current design is so wonderful and flawless explain to me the benefit of needing to remove 40 screws to change the fucking hard drive?
I've wondered the same thing. In terms of looks alone, the TiBook is much more elegant.
I've been saying that for years and you're maybe the 2nd or 3rd person to agree with me. We should form a support group or something.
The current design was introduced on January 8, 2003 at MacWorld SanFrancisco. The design has many flaws. Those flaws include limiting maximum display angle, non-user replaceable hard drive, and marginalized wireless reception.
Why can't Apple make it out of the same plastic design they are using for the black MacBook?
Agreed. I love the idea of metal enclosures. They really differentiate Apple computers from generic PCs, but they also mess with Wi-Fi reception. The aluminum 'books are better than the titanium ones, but they don't hold a candle to the reception I get on my ThinkPad (or the various MacBooks I've played with, for that matter). As much as I'd hate to see a plastic MacBook Pro, I kinda think it's the right thing to do.
TRACKPAD CHANGES
1. Apple mice now have right-click functionality, so why not give us a RIGHT-CLICK button - the current single one is too big anyway (the large size makes it less responsive than smaller buttons on other notebooks); the 2-finger right-clicking function is not that easy to execute for us older folk - I often have to try several times as I typiclly end up moving something than achieving a right-click
Eh, no thanks. Apple trackpads are lightyears ahead of anything I've seen in the PC world. The trackpad on my ThinkPad is roughly the side of 4 postage stamps. I'll stick with 1 button too. I'm always right-clicking when I mean to left-click on my ThinkPad because I don't look at the buttons and they feel exactly the same. The 2 finger + click = right-click is an elegant and perfectly usable solution for me.
USB PORTS
For the 15" Macbook Pro, please put both UBS ports together - or better yet, give us another one. There are an increasing number of USB devices (e.g. portable hard drives) that require one port for power.
You can never go wrong by adding more USB ports.
DOCKING SYSTEM
This has been raised many times in the past. The Macbook Pro really needs a docking solution (a real one, not one of those horrible 3rd party ones that just stick connectors into the various ports) so that more corporate users can consider it as an alternative to the Dells and IBMs and Vaios out there. At the minimum, consider putting all the connectors at the back - a MBP connected to an external display is a mess today.
Yet another stumbling block on the road to corporate adoption of Macs. I consider a docking station to be a necessity if I'm going to use an Apple laptop as my primary workstation. Of course, given that my ThinkPad likes to randomly bluescreen after I undock it (not too frequently... maybe once or twice a month), I can kinda see why Apple shies away from docking stations.
edit: oh, and black as well...
Well, more than 2 USB ports would be nice for something I'm planning to spend $2000 purchasing.
IMO, you should buy a $10 hub for at home/work/main use place, and when you're on the go, you probably won't need more, right? and if you do, take the hub with you. I'm not saying that they should only have 2, but its not like saying 2 sucks is going to change anything.
IMO, you should buy a $10 hub for at home/work/main use place, and when you're on the go, you probably won't need more, right? and if you do, take the hub with you. I'm not saying that they should only have 2, but its not like saying 2 sucks is going to change anything.
Of course I could buy a hub. But something is just wrong when my years old HP notebook has 4 USB ports and a Macbook Pro only has 2. Surely Apple could add an extra port. (There are 3 on the iMac, I believe)
I'm sure the next case/shell update, this will happen.
Many USB audio interfaces are NOT supported when using hubs, many just don't work at all Digidesign Mbox is one example. Besides that, audio guys need about 4 ports, 2 for USB dongles, 1 audio interface or controller keyboard and a mouse (bluetooth devices are unreliable).
The logic boards support up to 8 USB ports anyway, I think it not unreasonable to request 4 USB ports.
We really need also an ESATA port along with 1 Firewire port. Current situations force us to use external bridged SATA to Firewire cases, the problem with the MBP is that the 2 FW ports are sharing ONE controller, this basically severely impacts performance an cause many issues when a FW Audio Interface is used and or a DV camera, external storage is required (all the time). Bare in mind the Logic Board's support 4 SATA controllers, 2 internally for the internal HDD and the Optical drive, the other 2 could be used externally for eSATA. Using eSATA for a native SATA drive in a case with eSATA ports finally overcomes the issues associated with Firewire devices for A/V.
Ideally the following would be great. (since the MBP removed the Internal Modem and the S-Video ports there should be more than enough space to put the below ports)
4 x USB 2
2 x eSATA
1 x 400Mb Firewire
Note Also: The Express/34 expansion slot may also be in use for audio cards so this is usually taken thus an eSATA card cannot be used. ppl need to understand also working in Audio one needs a dedicated Audio interface for Digidesign's ProTools and another audio interface either Express/34 for all other audio applications like Cubase, Logic etc. You cannot share a Digidesign Audio interface with other applications when Pro Tools is running, Obviously we need all the audio app's to be running concurrently. Could you imagine having to quit PhotoShop to launch Illustrator all the time because the 2 apps can't share the same video card?
Your "buy a hub" comment is not valid in many cases. How many times does this have to be mentioned??
Many USB audio interfaces are NOT supported when using hubs, many just don't work at all Digidesign Mbox is one example. Besides that, audio guys need about 4 ports, 2 for USB dongles, 1 audio interface or controller keyboard and a mouse (bluetooth devices are unreliable).
The logic boards support up to 8 USB ports anyway, I think it not unreasonable to request 4 USB ports.
We really need also an ESATA port along with 1 Firewire port. Current situations force us to use external bridged SATA to Firewire cases, the problem with the MBP is that the 2 FW ports are sharing ONE controller, this basically severely impacts performance an cause many issues when a FW Audio Interface is used and or a DV camera, external storage is required (all the time). Bare in mind the Logic Board's support 4 SATA controllers, 2 internally for the internal HDD and the Optical drive, the other 2 could be used externally for eSATA. Using eSATA for a native SATA drive in a case with eSATA ports finally overcomes the issues associated with Firewire devices for A/V.
Ideally the following would be great. (since the MBP removed the Internal Modem and the S-Video ports there should be more than enough space to put the below ports)
4 x USB 2
2 x eSATA
1 x 400Mb Firewire
Note Also: The Express/34 expansion slot may also be in use for audio cards so this is usually taken thus an eSATA card cannot be used. ppl need to understand also working in Audio one needs a dedicated Audio interface for Digidesign's ProTools and another audio interface either Express/34 for all other audio applications like Cubase, Logic etc. You cannot share a Digidesign Audio interface with other applications when Pro Tools is running, Obviously we need all the audio app's to be running concurrently. Could you imagine having to quit PhotoShop to launch Illustrator all the time because the 2 apps can't share the same video card?
A. How many times have hubs been mentioned? Once?
B. Complaining is NOT going to solve this problem. If the hub is not an option, I do not know what is. I was trying to offer a practical solution to a problem that is not going to be solved by flaming. Sorry I tried to help.
C. I am not disagreeing with you that the MBP, being a 'pro' machine needs more ports and a better GPU (side topic but w/e). This is a serious issue for you, but not so much for me since I do not use my computer for the same things you do, but it still I would like to see updates that reflect the needs/wants of the consumers. 4 USB is reasonable. I still think 2 FW is as well. And although I currently have no use for eSATA, I may in the future and it would be reasonable to include at least one. There. Fine. I agree with you. Are you happy now?
D. Don't buy the computer if it does not suit your needs. It's that simple. I do not need a Mac Pro and therefore I do not buy it. I have no use for a crappy PC and I do not buy it. Simply amazing how these things work. Now, if you follow the pattern... The MBP does not currently have what you need, so my advice to you is...? That's right. Don't buy it.
Does anyone know if the Santa Rosa (or future) MBPs will support 4Gb SODIMMs (for an 8Gb total) once such capacity SODIMMs are available?
This is a fantastic question.
I also wonder if some techno-smarterthanI person could tell me if higher-capacity RAM machines will outlast their lower-capacity brethren? In other words, if my Powerbook G4 with 1GB (the max) could be running faster than it is currently, if I could put in, say, 3 more GB for a total of 4? I find the fan goes on much more often now, and when multiple apps are running, it's slower than I wish it were. Is this because I'm maxing-out the RAM?
I've always guessed that the max RAM is best when buying a new machine. Even so, the $675 price gap between stock and max RAM of the new MBPs is inhibitory. In this case, when I'm ready to buy, I won't be ready to drop an additional $675. Too bad.
So...when will 8GB laptops be available from Apple? Is this important?
This is a fantastic question.
I also wonder if some techno-smarterthanI person could tell me if higher-capacity RAM machines will outlast their lower-capacity brethren? In other words, if my Powerbook G4 with 1GB (the max) could be running faster than it is currently, if I could put in, say, 3 more GB for a total of 4? I find the fan goes on much more often now, and when multiple apps are running, it's slower than I wish it were. Is this because I'm maxing-out the RAM?
I've always guessed that the max RAM is best when buying a new machine. Even so, the $675 price gap between stock and max RAM of the new MBPs is inhibitory. In this case, when I'm ready to buy, I won't be ready to drop an additional $675. Too bad.
So...when will 8GB laptops be available from Apple? Is this important?
Sure I don't need an 8GB laptop now, but I'm sat here on a 4.5 year old 1GB 1GHz TiBook thinking what specs will I need to install Lion(10.6?) l on my 2007 MBP in 4.5years time.
I've often installed over Apple's maximum specs i.e. iMac G4 running 1.5GB (1GB Max), iMac DV 1GB (512MB max) but I wondered if Santa Rosa suffered the same addressing limitations that Napa had (i.e. other components use the address above 3.3GB).
CoolHandPete. Read this Apple kbase article to assess whether you are maxing your RAM or some other system components out.