Finally took the plunge and bought a new 2.16GHz MBP,,,
,,,and I'm still agonizing over the matte vs glossy decision. But I went with the glossy (unless I change my mind again. I have until 8PM PDT time tonight to change my order).
I'll be going from a 450MHz G4 single processor to a 2.16 MBP so it should be a nice and noticeable speed improvement.
I have to admit that I was hesitant about getting it after reading about the following MBP issues:
Excessive heat and thermal paste issue
Warping of the top cover (I did notice this on all MBP's at the Apple store but it wasn't much in my opinion).
Yellow tint of the display (I've read that some people have fixed it with proper color calibration)
Stuck pixels
Another screen issue when looking at the LCD screen when it's a solid gray color (I forget what the issue was).
So I hope mine is without issues because this is the first new mac computer I have bought since I bought a new powermac 8600AV.
I picked it up on the web and saved $450.00 off the original price (with rebate). I also got a free laptop bag (with rebate) and a $50.00 (rebate) for a printer and saved $144.00 in taxes. This looked like a good deal to me, especially when I compare it to the current high end MacBook prices.
Should get it next week...
I'll be going from a 450MHz G4 single processor to a 2.16 MBP so it should be a nice and noticeable speed improvement.
I have to admit that I was hesitant about getting it after reading about the following MBP issues:
Excessive heat and thermal paste issue
Warping of the top cover (I did notice this on all MBP's at the Apple store but it wasn't much in my opinion).
Yellow tint of the display (I've read that some people have fixed it with proper color calibration)
Stuck pixels
Another screen issue when looking at the LCD screen when it's a solid gray color (I forget what the issue was).
So I hope mine is without issues because this is the first new mac computer I have bought since I bought a new powermac 8600AV.
I picked it up on the web and saved $450.00 off the original price (with rebate). I also got a free laptop bag (with rebate) and a $50.00 (rebate) for a printer and saved $144.00 in taxes. This looked like a good deal to me, especially when I compare it to the current high end MacBook prices.
Should get it next week...
Comments
,,,and I'm still agonizing over the matte vs glossy decision. But I went with the glossy (unless I change my mind again. I have until 8PM PDT time tonight to change my order).
I'd go with matte - it's the safer option. At worst, you will get a display that might not look as vivid whereas with a glossy, you might find that the reflections affect everything you do with the computer. I used a glossy screen for a few days and it annoyed me so much that I totally changed my opinion on them. I thought they were great when I saw them in store but in real use, it annoyed me. Experience varies though and it's down to personal preference.
I'll be going from a 450MHz G4 single processor to a 2.16 MBP so it should be a nice and noticeable speed improvement.
Definitely, you should see upwards of an order of magnitude increase in performance for some things.
II have to admit that I was hesitant about getting it after reading about the following MBP issues:
Excessive heat and thermal paste issue
Warping of the top cover (I did notice this on all MBP's at the Apple store but it wasn't much in my opinion).
Yellow tint of the display (I've read that some people have fixed it with proper color calibration)
Stuck pixels
Another screen issue when looking at the LCD screen when it's a solid gray color (I forget what the issue was).
The excess heat has been helped by the Core 2 Duo and the paste issue was on the original Core Duos, the newer ones should be ok.
The yellow tint as you said seems to be easily fixed.
The grey issue is perhaps to do with the 6-bit display and dithering. That will probably still be an issue. It just means the screen can't replicate millions of colors.
I'd recommend getting Applecare at some point but you can get it up to a year after you buy the machine.
That's the machine I have. It's been fantastic for me. It has exceeded my expectations. How much RAM did you get with it? I've got 2 gbs and it runs very smoothly with that. I check my iStat pro daily and I've never seen a page out.
As far as the other issues you're worried about, they've not happened to me. My aluminum exterior has a couple of small dents where it took a spill but I can't blame Apple for that.
I think you'll be very happy.
Mark,
That's the machine I have. It's been fantastic for me. It has exceeded my expectations. How much RAM did you get with it? I've got 2 gbs and it runs very smoothly with that. I check my iStat pro daily and I've never seen a page out.
As far as the other issues you're worried about, they've not happened to me. My aluminum exterior has a couple of small dents where it took a spill but I can't blame Apple for that.
I think you'll be very happy.
I got 1 Gig. That's enough for me for now.
Did you get matte or glossy and how do you like it?
I got 1 Gig. That's enough for me for now.
Did you get matte or glossy and how do you like it?
I've got the matte. I like it. The glossy is ok, IMO, but I prefer the matte. YMMV.
What do you plan to do on your new machine.
http://www.powersupportusa.com/produ...hp?category=pb
or something like this, many types available in the market, to protect the screen. The effect is as good as a glossy screen. Thats what i'm using now. At least this way, when you're bored of it, tear it away.
I've got the matte. I like it. The glossy is ok, IMO, but I prefer the matte. YMMV.
What do you plan to do on your new machine.
Just basic stuff: Email, surfing the web, excel and word docs. I do some photo editing but I'm a hack at this. I'm just a computer user using photoshop elements to do minor editing or touchups. I do have a lot of family movies on VHS that I need to put on DVD's. So I will be using iMovie or whatever app Apple has for this.
I'd go with matte - it's the safer option. At worst, you will get a display that might not look as vivid whereas with a glossy, you might find that the reflections affect everything you do with the computer. I used a glossy screen for a few days and it annoyed me so much that I totally changed my opinion on them. I thought they were great when I saw them in store but in real use, it annoyed me. Experience varies though and it's down to personal preference.
I ended up changing my order to matte after reading about a dozen different forums and websites on these two types of displays. Most people said go with matte. So I went with it because I read that the glossy scratches easier and these scratches are easier to see. I do like the glossy better and I don't care about the glare as you can move the laptop or your head a little. But I don't want to look at scratches. And again, most people said go with the matte. So matte it is...
I'll have to admit though that I'm still thinking about the gloss...
I'd recommend getting Applecare at some point but you can get it up to a year after you buy the machine.
I'm planning on giving this laptop to my son next year when he goes to college. So I will definitely get the extended Apple care before the year is up. And then I will be in the market for another laptop and I hope the new ones have at least 1080 lines of resolution, and H.264 hardware video decoding with Blue-ray drives.
My username has absolutely nothing to do with matte or gloss screens (or anything else, really), but I've actually been totally happy with my Macbook, which, as you know, has a glossy screen. It's been about 15 months now and I can't really think of any time when the reflections bugged me at all. No scratches either, FWIW.
I went to an Apple store today and again compared the gloss vs matte side by side. I definitely like glossy over matte but this time, I paid more attention to the reflection and it was quite a bit more than I had realized. There is always the option of connecting the MBP to an external LCD with a glossy screen. This way, I can get the best of both options.
1) I don't need all of the languages.
2) If I remember correctly, you can install a whole bunch of printer drivers with OS X but I only need only need one driver. Is it worth it to do a OS re-install to save out HD space by not installing the printer drivers?
3) I don't want some of the apps that only work for a limited time.
If anybody has any other suggestions on configuring a new computer, I'd like to hear them...
And has anybody with a 2.16 MBP upgraded their memory to 2G from the 1G and did you notice a speed increase?
Thanks.
Well, I got the MBP and so far, so good. I'm wondering if I should re-install the OS for the following reasons:
1) I don't need all of the languages.
2) If I remember correctly, you can install a whole bunch of printer drivers with OS X but I only need only need one driver. Is it worth it to do a OS re-install to save out HD space by not installing the printer drivers?
3) I don't want some of the apps that only work for a limited time.
If anybody has any other suggestions on configuring a new computer, I'd like to hear them...
Use this program to remove languages:
http://monolingual.sourceforge.net/
But be careful to check the 3rd tab on architectures and makes sure you don't remove PPC stuff! Only leave English in the languages. This saves about 1GB.
The printer drivers are stored in /Library/printers so delete what you won't use. You can probably just delete the entire contents of the folder.
Get this program:
http://www.id-design.com/software/whatsize/
and select your main drive and let it run through. It will tell you what space is being used by what. Garageband is one of the worst at over 3GB with all the uncompressed audio loops.
Limited apps are usually a drag to trash and delete affair.
And has anybody with a 2.16 MBP upgraded their memory to 2G from the 1G and did you notice a speed increase?
It depends on what you do with it. You'd only really notice if you start maxing out your Ram, for example if you run a lot of memory intensive software together. 1GB should be sufficient for most people. Memory doesn't play a huge part in performance until you start running out of it, as you can see from the benchmarks here:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/mem...y/2gb-ram.html
Frankly, I don't think the small amount of space you'll save will be worth the effort.
Well, I ended up re-installing the OS and freed up an additional 6GB from the original installed OS. The HD size is 120GB so while 6GB is not much, it's not too bad either.
Use this program to remove languages:
http://monolingual.sourceforge.net/
But be careful to check the 3rd tab on architectures and makes sure you don't remove PPC stuff! Only leave English in the languages. This saves about 1GB.
The printer drivers are stored in /Library/printers so delete what you won't use. You can probably just delete the entire contents of the folder.
Get this program:
http://www.id-design.com/software/whatsize/
and select your main drive and let it run through. It will tell you what space is being used by what. Garageband is one of the worst at over 3GB with all the uncompressed audio loops.
Limited apps are usually a drag to trash and delete affair.
It depends on what you do with it. You'd only really notice if you start maxing out your Ram, for example if you run a lot of memory intensive software together. 1GB should be sufficient for most people. Memory doesn't play a huge part in performance until you start running out of it, as you can see from the benchmarks here:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/mem...y/2gb-ram.html
Thanks for the tips and software links Marvin.
I ended up re-installing the OS and gained an additional 6GB of space.
I've had this MBP for two days now and so far, so good. It's way way faster than my 450MHz G4 (single proc) and it also boots up in 20 to 25 seconds compared to what seems like a minute or more for the sawtooth G4.
I did notice an issue when I put in disk 1 of the install disk, the drive was vibrating and making a lot of noise. I thought I had a bad drive until I put in disk 2 which didn't vibrate at all and the only noise I heard from the drive was a soft whirring sound. So it may be that disk 1 is off balance somehow.
Thanks again for the information.