The radeon X1600 256 MB is a nice video card, but you should be aware that it's a downclocked video card. It's possible via windows to upclock it at the normal speed, but when you do this, you encounter heat and noisy fans issue.
I know the 15" is downclocked, but is the 17" confirmed downclocked as well?
I know the 15" is downclocked, but is the 17" confirmed downclocked as well?
I don't know for the 17 incher. But I fear it will be also the case : otherwise they have found a way to have a much better cooling system in the 17 incher
I don't know for the 17 incher. But I fear it will be also the case : otherwise they have found a way to have a much better cooling system in the 17 incher
Well, theoretically, the larget case should lend itself to better cooling, but whether it is better enough to allow Apple to keep the x1600 at stock configuration is uncertain. Also I guess it could be considered somewhat controversial that Apple is shipping the same card in slightly different machines with very different performance outputs.
The radeon X1600 256 MB is a nice video card, but you should be aware that it's a downclocked video card. It's possible via windows to upclock it at the normal speed, but when you do this, you encounter heat and noisy fans issue.
I bought it for work. I do web development and design.
An all-platform, no 2nd screen set-up will be a wonderful and dramatic change from my current 12", extra screen and a supporting test-PC set up. As I work a lot at my customers offices, I will now be able to set up my workplace in 2 seconds, compared to 20 minutes.
my review
Comming from a 12" 1GHz G4 PB this is a different ballgame.
SIZE:
It's HUGE. But elegant and surprisingly slim. I can't carry it around like i used to. It's quite heavy, and the screen will fall forward if you tilt the machine too much.
SCREEN:
Abso-fuckin'-loutly beautiful... crisp, clear, a hint of blue-ish maybe, terrific gamma-balance.
SPEED:
OMFG... This is markably faster than the a dual 2ghz g5 I used on a project last year. at least gui-wise. browsing is amazing. I haven't tested heavy use of rosetta yet, but I'll get back to that.
I tested out WOW (universal) and Civ III (Rosetta) to check the speed, and WOW really flies (but the graphics card playes an imortant role here as well). CIV III, though old, was never playable on my 1ghz 12", but even under rosetta it feels fast, smooth and nice. finally. Probably not the test-game of choice, but I'm an old Civ-fan so bear with me.
Conclusion: Snappy?
GRAPHICS:
Finally I feel like my mac is pc-comparable graphics wise. The smoothness of WOW (on this magnificent screen), really makes it into a whole different game. Video playback is ultra-smooth. (But flip4mac is not universal yet )
fast-forwarding in VLC actually works smoothly.
TEMPERATURE:
Well, the hinge-area and the middle of the bottom gets HOT, really H-O-T...
Which means no more playing wow on the couch with the mac on my lap, (which was difficult with this new size anyway).
NOISE:
Yet the 17" is really silent. No markable fan noise yet at all!
My 12" was lound. The fan running after only 10 minutes of use. Silent compared to a PC maybe, but louder than any other mac I've had.
This is maybe my most silent mac yet. Hot but silent. A trade-off I can live with.
BATTERY:
Close to three hours of real use. Best batterylife since my dual- battry Pismo.
And that magnetic thing is magical...
SPEAKER SOUND:
It might be loud enough for a small party without my soundsticks...
FINAL VERDICT:
****1/2
Four and a half stars.
I guess I'll have to get used to the size. ? I've gotten real used to the screen and the graphics already !
Pricy compared to the 13" MB, with only the graphics and a faster HD being the main difference.
Close to three hours of real use. Best batterylife since my dual- battry Pismo.
And that magnetic thing is magical...
sigh, i miss the extra bay from the pismos (well, not really... we have a pismo at home... i just miss it in the new designs). unfortunately, unless you wanted a battery for it, it kinda just housed the cd/dvd drive that came with it, since 3rd parties were reluctant to make bay modules for it.
and for good reason... make a drive module that fits the pismo, and if apple changed the size at all, you've got an entire inventory fire sale you've got to go through, and get more modules manufactured, stat. not QUITE as easy with, say, an optical drive as it is with the injection-mold cases for the ever-changing ipod sizes). which meant the modules didn't get swapped out as much as apple designed them to be, meaning extra wasted space. but i have been tempted to just get two nupower batteries for pismo, and see just how long the pismo would run.. hell, it's a little slow, but i can check e-mail and web browse wirelessly pretty well on the lil' guy, and still with firewire and usb as my i/o ... and he's SIX YEARS OLD! (going on SEVEN!)
but darn, it's be nice to add a few extra pounds to an already heavy computer to make a full coast-to-coast trip without swapping. or a day in the field with meetings, clients, and off-site coffee shop brainstorming.
BTW two things sucks in the macbook introduced today :
- shared video with GMA 950 : it sucks
- two RAm module ( more expansive if you want to upgrade your ram)
he GMA 950 blows the socks off the Radions from the iBook, from what I hear in Windows land, it has about the same proformance as an nVidia 5200; so it shares ram; big deal! anyone who would get a new Mac today and expect good proformance with 512 is in for a soar dissapointment no matter what the GPU. Upgrade the thing to 2GB ram for about $180, and have a really solid little notebook for just under $1300.
As for the RAM, Apple isnt cheaping out at all, on these chipsets, with DDR2, pairing nets better proformance, furthermore, in the old iBooks, 256 was built into the mainboard, non-replacable, so you could only go to like 1.25GB.
There is a differance in proformance from the low to high end, no one expects great game proformance from the MB, just like no one expects top-notch gaming from any laptop under $1500 -
All the Macbook has to do is run iLife, which could be done pretty well on the ibooks, so, this is a good deal for what it is.
You wouldnt do heavy Photoshop work on a MacBook, but you wouldnt do it on a MacMini either...the right tool for the right job.
furthermore, in the old iBooks, 256 was built into the mainboard, non-replacable, so you could only go to like 1.25GB.
You're mistaken. That was the 12-inch PowerBook. The iBook G4 (its last revision, anyway) had 512 MB soldered on, so its max was 1.5 GB: more than the PowerBook.
You're mistaken. That was the 12-inch PowerBook. The iBook G4 (its last revision, anyway) had 512 MB soldered on, so its max was 1.5 GB: more than the PowerBook.
You are right, but my point still holds, I would rather have two swappable slots than one slat and one soldered on.
I am on my waiting for my 3rd 17" MBP. The issue I had with the two I received is that the backlighting is uneven. The bottom of the LCD has a bright line running along the bottom. There are bright spots on the bottom right and left hand corners.
Has anyone else run into this issue or could this be a bad batch of LCDs?
Quote:
Originally posted by New
Well I finally got it...
my reaction:
\
I bought it for work. I do web development and design.
An all-platform, no 2nd screen set-up will be a wonderful and dramatic change from my current 12", extra screen and a supporting test-PC set up. As I work a lot at my customers offices, I will now be able to set up my workplace in 2 seconds, compared to 20 minutes.
my review
Comming from a 12" 1GHz G4 PB this is a different ballgame.
SIZE:
It's HUGE. But elegant and surprisingly slim. I can't carry it around like i used to. It's quite heavy, and the screen will fall forward if you tilt the machine too much.
SCREEN:
Abso-fuckin'-loutly beautiful... crisp, clear, a hint of blue-ish maybe, terrific gamma-balance.
SPEED:
OMFG... This is markably faster than the a dual 2ghz g5 I used on a project last year. at least gui-wise. browsing is amazing. I haven't tested heavy use of rosetta yet, but I'll get back to that.
I tested out WOW (universal) and Civ III (Rosetta) to check the speed, and WOW really flies (but the graphics card playes an imortant role here as well). CIV III, though old, was never playable on my 1ghz 12", but even under rosetta it feels fast, smooth and nice. finally. Probably not the test-game of choice, but I'm an old Civ-fan so bear with me.
Conclusion: Snappy?
GRAPHICS:
Finally I feel like my mac is pc-comparable graphics wise. The smoothness of WOW (on this magnificent screen), really makes it into a whole different game. Video playback is ultra-smooth. (But flip4mac is not universal yet )
fast-forwarding in VLC actually works smoothly.
TEMPERATURE:
Well, the hinge-area and the middle of the bottom gets HOT, really H-O-T...
Which means no more playing wow on the couch with the mac on my lap, (which was difficult with this new size anyway).
NOISE:
Yet the 17" is really silent. No markable fan noise yet at all!
My 12" was lound. The fan running after only 10 minutes of use. Silent compared to a PC maybe, but louder than any other mac I've had.
This is maybe my most silent mac yet. Hot but silent. A trade-off I can live with.
BATTERY:
Close to three hours of real use. Best batterylife since my dual- battry Pismo.
And that magnetic thing is magical...
SPEAKER SOUND:
It might be loud enough for a small party without my soundsticks...
FINAL VERDICT:
****1/2
Four and a half stars.
I guess I'll have to get used to the size. ? I've gotten real used to the screen and the graphics already !
Pricy compared to the 13" MB, with only the graphics and a faster HD being the main difference.
I am on my waiting for my 3rd 17" MBP. The issue I had with the two I received is that the backlighting is uneven. The bottom of the LCD has a bright line running along the bottom. There are bright spots on the bottom right and left hand corners.
Has anyone else run into this issue or could this be a bad batch of LCDs?
When I first opened my 15-inch MBP and booted it up, I noticed the same "bright line along bottom" issue during the grey boot screen. When actually using the machine, it is completely unnoticeable.
People love their screen. I have been to two apple stores and I noticed that the bottom of the screen where the app bar is located has a bright line and the two bottom corners are brighter than the rest of the screen. This has also been the case for the two 17" MBP I have gotten.
So either people are ok with this or they don't really notice it. I think it may be the latter. It is more obvious when you move the docbar to the right or left and select a solid color desktop background.
Comments
Originally posted by Powerdoc
The radeon X1600 256 MB is a nice video card, but you should be aware that it's a downclocked video card. It's possible via windows to upclock it at the normal speed, but when you do this, you encounter heat and noisy fans issue.
I know the 15" is downclocked, but is the 17" confirmed downclocked as well?
Originally posted by New
I know the 15" is downclocked, but is the 17" confirmed downclocked as well?
I don't know for the 17 incher. But I fear it will be also the case : otherwise they have found a way to have a much better cooling system in the 17 incher
Originally posted by Powerdoc
I don't know for the 17 incher. But I fear it will be also the case : otherwise they have found a way to have a much better cooling system in the 17 incher
Well, theoretically, the larget case should lend itself to better cooling, but whether it is better enough to allow Apple to keep the x1600 at stock configuration is uncertain. Also I guess it could be considered somewhat controversial that Apple is shipping the same card in slightly different machines with very different performance outputs.
Originally posted by Powerdoc
The radeon X1600 256 MB is a nice video card, but you should be aware that it's a downclocked video card. It's possible via windows to upclock it at the normal speed, but when you do this, you encounter heat and noisy fans issue.
Just add a huuuuge gob of thermal grease.
cpu : 400 mhz (15 inch : 300)
VRAM : 450 (15 inch 300)
XLR8 mac
Originally posted by Powerdoc
It seems that the mac book 17 inch has a faster clocked version of the radeon X1600 pro :
cpu : 400 mhz (15 inch : 300)
VRAM : 450 (15 inch 300)
XLR8 mac
great! Mine will be delivered thursday... but is it worth a 100$ more than the macBook!?!?
Don't you mean 1000 $ ?
BTW two things sucks in the macbook introduced today :
- shared video with GMA 950 : it sucks
- two RAm module ( more expansive if you want to upgrade your ram)
Originally posted by Powerdoc
100$ ?
Don't you mean 1000 $ ?
BTW two things sucks in the macbook introduced today :
- shared video with GMA 950 : it sucks
- two RAm module ( more expansive if you want to upgrade your ram)
Yeah... I do mean 1000$...
my reaction:
I bought it for work. I do web development and design.
An all-platform, no 2nd screen set-up will be a wonderful and dramatic change from my current 12", extra screen and a supporting test-PC set up. As I work a lot at my customers offices, I will now be able to set up my workplace in 2 seconds, compared to 20 minutes.
my review
Comming from a 12" 1GHz G4 PB this is a different ballgame.
SIZE:
It's HUGE. But elegant and surprisingly slim. I can't carry it around like i used to. It's quite heavy, and the screen will fall forward if you tilt the machine too much.
SCREEN:
Abso-fuckin'-loutly beautiful... crisp, clear, a hint of blue-ish maybe, terrific gamma-balance.
SPEED:
OMFG... This is markably faster than the a dual 2ghz g5 I used on a project last year. at least gui-wise. browsing is amazing. I haven't tested heavy use of rosetta yet, but I'll get back to that.
I tested out WOW (universal) and Civ III (Rosetta) to check the speed, and WOW really flies (but the graphics card playes an imortant role here as well). CIV III, though old, was never playable on my 1ghz 12", but even under rosetta it feels fast, smooth and nice. finally. Probably not the test-game of choice, but I'm an old Civ-fan so bear with me.
Conclusion: Snappy?
GRAPHICS:
Finally I feel like my mac is pc-comparable graphics wise. The smoothness of WOW (on this magnificent screen), really makes it into a whole different game. Video playback is ultra-smooth. (But flip4mac is not universal yet
fast-forwarding in VLC actually works smoothly.
TEMPERATURE:
Well, the hinge-area and the middle of the bottom gets HOT, really H-O-T...
Which means no more playing wow on the couch with the mac on my lap, (which was difficult with this new size anyway).
NOISE:
Yet the 17" is really silent. No markable fan noise yet at all!
My 12" was lound. The fan running after only 10 minutes of use. Silent compared to a PC maybe, but louder than any other mac I've had.
This is maybe my most silent mac yet. Hot but silent. A trade-off I can live with.
BATTERY:
Close to three hours of real use. Best batterylife since my dual- battry Pismo.
And that magnetic thing is magical...
SPEAKER SOUND:
FINAL VERDICT:
****1/2
Four and a half stars.
I guess I'll have to get used to the size. ? I've gotten real used to the screen and the graphics already !
Pricy compared to the 13" MB, with only the graphics and a faster HD being the main difference.
Did I metion it got hot?
But is'nt it just too big? 17" how do you carry that thing??
Did I mention I'm going for the 15" 2.16 GHz (love the recent speedbump)
Soeren
Originally posted by New
BATTERY:
Close to three hours of real use. Best batterylife since my dual- battry Pismo.
And that magnetic thing is magical...
sigh, i miss the extra bay from the pismos (well, not really... we have a pismo at home... i just miss it in the new designs). unfortunately, unless you wanted a battery for it, it kinda just housed the cd/dvd drive that came with it, since 3rd parties were reluctant to make bay modules for it.
and for good reason... make a drive module that fits the pismo, and if apple changed the size at all, you've got an entire inventory fire sale you've got to go through, and get more modules manufactured, stat. not QUITE as easy with, say, an optical drive as it is with the injection-mold cases for the ever-changing ipod sizes). which meant the modules didn't get swapped out as much as apple designed them to be, meaning extra wasted space. but i have been tempted to just get two nupower batteries for pismo, and see just how long the pismo would run.. hell, it's a little slow, but i can check e-mail and web browse wirelessly pretty well on the lil' guy, and still with firewire and usb as my i/o ... and he's SIX YEARS OLD! (going on SEVEN!)
but darn, it's be nice to add a few extra pounds to an already heavy computer to make a full coast-to-coast trip without swapping. or a day in the field with meetings, clients, and off-site coffee shop brainstorming.
Originally posted by Powerdoc
BTW two things sucks in the macbook introduced today :
- shared video with GMA 950 : it sucks
- two RAm module ( more expansive if you want to upgrade your ram)
he GMA 950 blows the socks off the Radions from the iBook, from what I hear in Windows land, it has about the same proformance as an nVidia 5200; so it shares ram; big deal! anyone who would get a new Mac today and expect good proformance with 512 is in for a soar dissapointment no matter what the GPU. Upgrade the thing to 2GB ram for about $180, and have a really solid little notebook for just under $1300.
As for the RAM, Apple isnt cheaping out at all, on these chipsets, with DDR2, pairing nets better proformance, furthermore, in the old iBooks, 256 was built into the mainboard, non-replacable, so you could only go to like 1.25GB.
There is a differance in proformance from the low to high end, no one expects great game proformance from the MB, just like no one expects top-notch gaming from any laptop under $1500 -
All the Macbook has to do is run iLife, which could be done pretty well on the ibooks, so, this is a good deal for what it is.
You wouldnt do heavy Photoshop work on a MacBook, but you wouldnt do it on a MacMini either...the right tool for the right job.
Originally posted by a_greer
furthermore, in the old iBooks, 256 was built into the mainboard, non-replacable, so you could only go to like 1.25GB.
You're mistaken. That was the 12-inch PowerBook. The iBook G4 (its last revision, anyway) had 512 MB soldered on, so its max was 1.5 GB: more than the PowerBook.
Originally posted by Chucker
You're mistaken. That was the 12-inch PowerBook. The iBook G4 (its last revision, anyway) had 512 MB soldered on, so its max was 1.5 GB: more than the PowerBook.
You are right, but my point still holds, I would rather have two swappable slots than one slat and one soldered on.
College student:
iTunes
Mail
WWW Browser
word processor
IM clients
and Maybe
spreadsheet app
BitTorrent
GarageBand
iPhoto
iSync
light home user / non-art-related mobile pro:
iLife
Mail
Browser
word processor
IM Client
Presentation software
why is a GMA960 less than suitable for these purposes?
Originally posted by a_greer
About the GPU, look at the workload of the Macbooks target audiances.
College student:
iTunes
Mail
WWW Browser
word processor
IM clients
and Maybe
spreadsheet app
BitTorrent
GarageBand
iPhoto
iSync
light home user / non-art-related mobile pro:
iLife
Mail
Browser
word processor
IM Client
Presentation software
why is a GMA960 less than suitable for these purposes?
well sucks is perhaps a bit too much : sucks for games by today standart would be a much better wording.
The new mac book are as fast as the macbook pro except for game : the 17 incher is three times faster granted to the radeon X1600 pro GPU
Has anyone else run into this issue or could this be a bad batch of LCDs?
Originally posted by New
Well I finally got it...
my reaction:
I bought it for work. I do web development and design.
An all-platform, no 2nd screen set-up will be a wonderful and dramatic change from my current 12", extra screen and a supporting test-PC set up. As I work a lot at my customers offices, I will now be able to set up my workplace in 2 seconds, compared to 20 minutes.
my review
Comming from a 12" 1GHz G4 PB this is a different ballgame.
SIZE:
It's HUGE. But elegant and surprisingly slim. I can't carry it around like i used to. It's quite heavy, and the screen will fall forward if you tilt the machine too much.
SCREEN:
Abso-fuckin'-loutly beautiful... crisp, clear, a hint of blue-ish maybe, terrific gamma-balance.
SPEED:
OMFG... This is markably faster than the a dual 2ghz g5 I used on a project last year. at least gui-wise. browsing is amazing. I haven't tested heavy use of rosetta yet, but I'll get back to that.
I tested out WOW (universal) and Civ III (Rosetta) to check the speed, and WOW really flies (but the graphics card playes an imortant role here as well). CIV III, though old, was never playable on my 1ghz 12", but even under rosetta it feels fast, smooth and nice. finally. Probably not the test-game of choice, but I'm an old Civ-fan so bear with me.
Conclusion: Snappy?
GRAPHICS:
Finally I feel like my mac is pc-comparable graphics wise. The smoothness of WOW (on this magnificent screen), really makes it into a whole different game. Video playback is ultra-smooth. (But flip4mac is not universal yet
fast-forwarding in VLC actually works smoothly.
TEMPERATURE:
Well, the hinge-area and the middle of the bottom gets HOT, really H-O-T...
Which means no more playing wow on the couch with the mac on my lap, (which was difficult with this new size anyway).
NOISE:
Yet the 17" is really silent. No markable fan noise yet at all!
My 12" was lound. The fan running after only 10 minutes of use. Silent compared to a PC maybe, but louder than any other mac I've had.
This is maybe my most silent mac yet. Hot but silent. A trade-off I can live with.
BATTERY:
Close to three hours of real use. Best batterylife since my dual- battry Pismo.
And that magnetic thing is magical...
SPEAKER SOUND:
FINAL VERDICT:
****1/2
Four and a half stars.
I guess I'll have to get used to the size. ? I've gotten real used to the screen and the graphics already !
Pricy compared to the 13" MB, with only the graphics and a faster HD being the main difference.
Did I metion it got hot?
Originally posted by knifegun
I am on my waiting for my 3rd 17" MBP. The issue I had with the two I received is that the backlighting is uneven. The bottom of the LCD has a bright line running along the bottom. There are bright spots on the bottom right and left hand corners.
Has anyone else run into this issue or could this be a bad batch of LCDs?
When I first opened my 15-inch MBP and booted it up, I noticed the same "bright line along bottom" issue during the grey boot screen. When actually using the machine, it is completely unnoticeable.
Loving the 17"-extre retail estate over my old 15" PB is nice, not too big to carry around.
Speed & sound are fantastic!!
People love their screen. I have been to two apple stores and I noticed that the bottom of the screen where the app bar is located has a bright line and the two bottom corners are brighter than the rest of the screen. This has also been the case for the two 17" MBP I have gotten.
So either people are ok with this or they don't really notice it. I think it may be the latter. It is more obvious when you move the docbar to the right or left and select a solid color desktop background.
Anyone have the 17" glossy screen?