New Macbook Pros

Talisman

Presumably the 10.6.7 software update will be released later today/tomorrow, I recall that was the case when there was a new hardware refresh last summer.

opinion guy

Talisman wrote: »

Presumably the 10.6.7 software update will be released later today/tomorrow, I recall that was the case when there was a new hardware refresh last summer.

Thought it wasn't expected till june or sometime like that ?

Johnmb

opinion guy wrote: »

Thought it wasn't expected till june or sometime like that ?

I think you're thinking of Lion (i.e. 10.7), Talisman is referring to the update to Snow Leopard (i.e. from current 10.6.6 to 10.6.7)

CivilServant

These are not even worth an update from the 2009 macbook pro. Ah well more mileage out of this lappie.

barryj

Store is back up.

- barry

conor.hogan.2

Last gen apparently had 10 hour battery it really had 4-5 wifi battery.
So it is likely this 7 hour wifi battery time is more like 3-4 hours.

I got caught up in the hype and was thinking about selling my 2 ish month old 13 inch macbook pro and taking a bit of a loss in money and buying a new one, but even despite the fact I won't get two student discounts in a year I don't see the point.

For me:
isight is good enough for me rarely using it
I rarely push the cpu up to 200% if ever so the core 2-duo is fast enough
spending the 100 ish euro for 2 4gb ram sticks for my laptop seems much better
the i/o seems good but is it just another firewire type connection?

Even if I didnt buy a macbook pro recently and was still on a macbook, I still wouldnt be keen on buying this, a laptops priority should be battery over "minor" speed increases.

I think ram is the maxing out factor for most people, 8gb of ram instead of 4 is more important than any processor bump. I would even take a processor decrease to a 2ghz core 2-duo tbh.

opinion guy

CivilServant wrote: »

These are not even worth an update from the 2009 macbook pro. Ah well more mileage out of this lappie.

My thoughts exactly. I just hope there aren't left over coke particles inside eroding my babies circuits

TheVoodoo

Right so, i'd held off buying a MBP until they released the new models. I'll be ordering one soon.

But, I'm a complete Apple Noob ( This'll be my first mac ) and had a question or two.


I'll be using photoshop cs5 + Lightroom on whichever model i get. I'v always had a 12/13" laptop up and until now, so seeing a 15" seems odd..

Would the higher end 13" be in any way similar to the 15" 'Lower' end one? Or would i just be better off spending the extra few quid and getting the 15"?

conor.hogan.2

Considering that would be graphic intensive I would go 15 as for 300 euro you get two graphics cards and the extra screen size - most everything else is similar to the high end 13" - especially over the high end 13" one as its only 300 euro diff as oppose to 600 euro.

The 15" has a 2ghz (its quad core though) as opposed to 2.7ghz high end 13" - I dont know how heavy lightroom is on a processor but 2ghz should be able to handle cs5 and lightroom. But not sure.

docdolittle

conor.hogan.2 wrote: »

Considering that would be graphic intensive I would go 15 as for 300 euro you get two graphics cards and the extra screen size - most everything else is similar to the high end 13" - especially over the high end 13" one as its only 300 euro diff as oppose to 600 euro.

The 15" has a 2ghz (its quad core though) as opposed to 2.7ghz high end 13" - I dont know how heavy lightroom is on a processor but 2ghz should be able to handle cs5 and lightroom. But not sure.

You pretty just answered questions I had there too Might buy a MBP next week now... At least I'll get a student discount

Is the store down for anyone else?

TheVoodoo

Is the store down for anyone else?

Nope! Ah yea, didn't even think about getting a discount that way! Is money off or an apple product, like a free Touch / nano or something?

Edit :Just looked on UCD site 15" works out at just over 1600€

Sad Professor

conor.hogan.2 wrote: »

Last gen apparently had 10 hour battery it really had 4-5 wifi battery.
So it is likely this 7 hour wifi battery time is more like 3-4 hours.

No, if the Air is anything to go by, it should really be 7 hours, possibly more. Apple are using a more "rigorous" battery test than they used to. According to the website, the test was done while wireless browsing top sites with the brightness set to 50 percent. So in real world usage, it's probably almost as good as the battery life on the previous model.

conor.hogan.2

It is very unlikely these laptops will get 7 hours on wifi (stated on site) on fullscreen brightness.

Is the battery different than the last gen? It would have to be to get 7 hours on wifi with a more intensive cpu and graphics cards (even if more effecient).

I used to be able to get 4 hours wifi on only when needed (good part of that 4 hours) and screen turned low-ish - out of the plasticbook old base 13" - and I reckon you could get maybe 6ish out of the current macbook pro base 13" with turning the screen down low and wifi on and off only when needed

Elessar

I can't wait to see Anandtech's review on these. Scores of over 10,000 being reported on Geekbench - better than the quad core 27" iMac. SATA 6GBps confirmed aswell.

Hmm, will I wont I.....

OctavarIan

conor.hogan.2 wrote: »

The 15" has a 2ghz (its quad core though) as opposed to 2.7ghz high end 13" - I dont know how heavy lightroom is on a processor but 2ghz should be able to handle cs5 and lightroom. But not sure.

Important distinction, the 15" Macbooks is 2ghz when spread over four cores, its dual core usage matches the 2.7ghz of the high end 13". So despite being marked as 2ghz, the performance is equal to the 2.7ghz (with the obvious benefit of twice as many cores if needed!).

Both will easily handle anything CS5 and Lightroom throw at them. Although the 15" will have an advantage in some cases due to the AMD graphics.

nesf

Bah, bought a MBP 10 days ago (was dumb yes) and threw out all the packaging, so no return then update for me.

Ah well, happy enough regardless, just the shininess of new tech etc.

conor.hogan.2

nesf

I dont see why you should be kicking yourself over this. There is really nothing huge in it tbh.

Biggest thing is in the future the faster i/o and 64gb slot will be useful as will "hd" facetime camera but not atm.

It is very few people who will max out any processor in any macbook/pro with 2ghz so these specs are nice but even in 3 years wont be fully used.

nesf

conor.hogan.2 wrote: »

nesf

I dont see why you should be kicking yourself over this. There is really nothing huge in it tbh.

Biggest thing is in the future the faster i/o and 64gb slot will be useful as will "hd" facetime camera but not atm.

It is very few people who will max out any processor in any macbook/pro with 2ghz so these specs are nice but even in 3 years wont be fully used.

Better graphics card would be nice for gaming. Could live without the rest.

wingnut

Screw these Irish prices - I'm going to get someone to bring one back from the states next month. I wanted one this week, but saving €300 (even factoring in sales tax in PA) is worth the wait.

melekalikimaka

photoshop utilises the gfx cards to a small degree, not a major boost but boost non the less, lightroom does not, the gfx card is largely irrelevent. ram and cpu are key for image editing not gfx

docdolittle

wingnut wrote: »

Screw these Irish prices - I'm going to get someone to bring one back from the states next month. I wanted one this week, but saving €300 (even factoring in sales tax in PA) is worth the wait.

Ah I get a 10% student discount so it isn't that bad... €1618 for the lower 15"

Edit:

melekalikimaka wrote: »

photoshop utilises the gfx cards to a small degree, not a major boost but boost non the less, lightroom does not, the gfx card is largely irrelevent. ram and cpu are key for image editing not gfx

I thought the newer versions of photoshop gave you an option to set what it uses the most (CPU, GFX or whatever )

melekalikimaka

only since cs4 has it had graphics card acceleration, theres a small boost, tbh if theres a choice, ram or cpu will show greater improvements

scotty_irish

conor.hogan.2 wrote: »

Last gen apparently had 10 hour battery it really had 4-5 wifi battery.
So it is likely this 7 hour wifi battery time is more like 3-4 hours.

I got caught up in the hype and was thinking about selling my 2 ish month old 13 inch macbook pro and taking a bit of a loss in money and buying a new one, but even despite the fact I won't get two student discounts in a year I don't see the point.

For me:
isight is good enough for me rarely using it
I rarely push the cpu up to 200% if ever so the core 2-duo is fast enough
spending the 100 ish euro for 2 4gb ram sticks for my laptop seems much better
the i/o seems good but is it just another firewire type connection?

Even if I didnt buy a macbook pro recently and was still on a macbook, I still wouldnt be keen on buying this, a laptops priority should be battery over "minor" speed increases.

I think ram is the maxing out factor for most people, 8gb of ram instead of 4 is more important than any processor bump. I would even take a processor decrease to a 2ghz core 2-duo tbh.

the battery is the same battery as the outgoing model, they've just been more realistic with the battery life. also, updated processor is much more efficient than the old one being 32nm instead of 45nm so expect a realistic 7hr battery life.

conor.hogan.2

huh you learn something new everyday - i thought gfx would be as important as a fast computer for editing.

New processors are generally more efficient but i doubt it will get 7hrs wifi on full brightness.

Sad Professor

Apple say it will on half brightness. The Air did pretty well in tests, better than 5 hours in many cases, so it might be accurate. I guess we will find out soon enough.

boblong

What are Apple like with shipping times?

Are the estimated delivery times usually accurate?

nesf

boblong wrote: »

What are Apple like with shipping times?

Are the estimated delivery times usually accurate?

Yup, very decent in my experience.

melekalikimaka

conor.hogan.2 wrote: »

huh you learn something new everyday - i thought gfx would be as important as a fast computer for editing.

New processors are generally more efficient but i doubt it will get 7hrs wifi on full brightness.

gfx is utilised mainly for 3d rendering, only a small amount on 2d

Talisman

melekalikimaka wrote: »

only since cs4 has it had graphics card acceleration, theres a small boost, tbh if theres a choice, ram or cpu will show greater improvements

The reason the GPU doesn't accelerate things significantly is because the modern day CPUs are so fast and there are at least two cores available. The base requirements for CS5 is a Pentium 4 or AMD64 processor. Adding more RAM will speed things up significantly as will using a faster hard drive.

conor.hogan.2

Its the same battery as the current pros and they get about 5-6 max on wifi and brightness on lowest bearable.

It seems I still no feck all about graphics.

OctavarIan

Wow it seems the new Sandy Bridge architecture really does make an unbelievable difference! The new lowest spec 13" is now on a par with the previous highest spec 15" and 17".*



*If you don't game/CAD/FCP

mfield

Feck ya anyway, I only bought a 15" Macbook Pro a month ago

Sad Professor

OctavarIan wrote: »

Wow it seems the new Sandy Bridge architecture really does make an unbelievable difference! The new lowest spec 13" is now on a par with the previous highest spec 15" and 17".*

Yeah, this is a huge speed bump for the 13-inch. Too bad about the graphics.

tylerdurden94

My 13" Macbook will be coming up on 2 years old in June and I had been thinking about upgrading to a newer model in the last few weeks.

Didn't think they were coming out this soon, with the release of the new OS soonish is it better to hold off until then and buy it preloaded with that or will they do some system that if you buy it now you will get a free OS upgrade?

I would assume they hold their prices well any good sites to give you a guideline on what you would expect to sell one for?

barryj

tylerdurden94 wrote: »

Didn't think they were coming out this soon, with the release of the new OS soonish is it better to hold off until then and buy it preloaded with that or will they do some system that if you buy it now you will get a free OS upgrade?

You're unlikely to receive a free upgrade if buying now. Typically, for systems bought a couple of weeks prior to a major upgrade, Apple offer a 'free' upgrade, though usually with a shipping/handling fee.

As to what an upgrade will cost - nobody knows - last time round it was just 29 euro. Previous upgrades had been around the 129 euro mark.

tylerdurden94 wrote: »

I would assume they hold their prices well any good sites to give you a guideline on what you would expect to sell one for?

MacBooks do hold their values quite well. You could check adverts.ie to see what kind of money they go for.

- barry

Sad Professor

tylerdurden94 wrote: »

Didn't think they were coming out this soon, with the release of the new OS soonish is it better to hold off until then and buy it preloaded with that or will they do some system that if you buy it now you will get a free OS upgrade?

No, don't plan your hardware purchases around OS upgrades. We don't know when Lion will be out. Apple say the summer, but OS X isn't exactly Apple's priority anymore - iPhone and iPads are. It could easily get delayed like Snow Leopard was.

I would say either buy now or wait for the next refresh, possibly in November. Rumours suggest that could be a redesign, which might be worth waiting for. Your machine is only two years old.

I would assume they hold their prices well any good sites to give you a guideline on what you would expect to sell one for?

Like Barry said, look at completed sales on Ebay and Adverts. I wouldn't bother with sites that give estimated second hand value. They are usually outdated.

Narcissus

OctavarIan wrote: »

Wow it seems the new Sandy Bridge architecture really does make an unbelievable difference! The new lowest spec 13" is now on a par with the previous highest spec 15" and 17".*



*If you don't game/CAD/FCP

Was going to post this.

Here is the link:
http://www.primatelabs.ca/blog/2011/02/macbookpro-benchmarks-early-2011/

Is it harder to upgrade ram in the more recent macbook pro models (unibody)? just curious

Sad Professor

Nope, it's easy. You just take the bottom case off.

boblong

Interesting - it would appear that my MBP is being shipped from Shanghai. I had previously heard a rumour that Apple had shipped the new laptops to Ireland before the announcement.

barryj

boblong wrote: »

Interesting - it would appear that my MBP is being shipped from Shanghai. I had previously heard a rumour that Apple had shipped the new laptops to Ireland before the announcement.

Did you customize your order? Any build to order options tend to mean it ships from China. I think if you take a 'stock' spec machine it often ships from closer to home.

- barry

boblong

barryj wrote: »

Did you customize your order? Any build to order options tend to mean it ships from China. I think if you take a 'stock' spec machine it often ships from closer to home.

Nope, did not customize it. Interesting info though, thanks.

docdolittle

Hmm... This is my first time buying off the apple store... Is upgrading to the hi-res screen worth it on a 15"? Is there a noticeable difference?

I'll be using it for 3d work, rendering, vid editing, game and web design so screen space is fairly important...

Oh and what's with the ridiculous upgrade prices!? An extra €100 for a faster HD with the same capacity....?

500GB Serial ATA Drive @ 5400 rpm
500GB Serial ATA Drive @ 7200 rpm [+ €99.99]

barryj

docdolittle wrote: »

Hmm... This is my first time buying off the apple store... Is upgrading to the hi-res screen worth it on a 15"? Is there a noticeable difference?

I have an older 15 with the lower resolution (there was no higher res option) - works ok for me - but then I've a 27" at home. If I was buying again, I'd seriously consider the higher res. option.

docdolittle wrote: »

Oh and what's with the ridiculous upgrade prices!? An extra €100 for a faster HD with the same capacity....? [+ €99.99]

Apple have never been good value on any of the BTO options - better keep your money and buy third-party yourself. Warranty is unaffected by upgrading memory and disk yourself.

- barry

tylerdurden94

Are they available to buy anywhere in Ireland yet, CompuB or HMV or wherever?

Cheers.

Sad Professor

Any decent Apple reseller would have had them a week after they were released, so I assume everywhere has them by now. CompuB definitely does anyway.

tylerdurden94

Sad Professor wrote: »

Any decent Apple reseller would have had them a week after they were released, so I assume everywhere has them by now. CompuB definitely does anyway.

Thats great cheers for the heads up thinking about getting a new one in a couple of weeks

Joe Gt

Got my new MBP 15' with 2ghz today,ordered it off Apple on thursday as i couldnt find a local retailer to me that would sell it to me as a student , very very happy with it so far

tylerdurden94

Sup folks couple of quick questions, I was saying awhile ago I was gonna get the new 13" Macbook Pro probably on Tuesday or Wednesday, any of you hear anything about Lion or any insider bits and bobs that I might of missed out on?

I have gone to Mac2sell and my Macbook is coming in around €640 I think but when I checked adverts I seen my versions going for around 800+ with maybe just increases in ram if I was reading it correctly, I'm sure some of you would probably have more experience in this than myself as I wanna get a fair price for it. How reliable would be Mac2sell?

Mine was bought in July 09 and is an American version with slight differences in keyboard layout and power adapters afaik, its running Snow Leopard with a 2.26 Core 2 Duo with 2gb Ram and a 160gb HD when it comes to the care of it its in very good condition bar the one time I dropped it and took a small chip out of the case that would have a small effect on the price I would guess.

As always cheers for any help

!MAVERICK!

silvine wrote: »

Anyone else think the current MacAirs are a better buy?

Compared to the pros they are nothing, I despise the things. No superdrive, useless storage capacity, slow hard drive, they are flimsy and I think they are well overpriced as well

tylerdurden94

So I got the new 13" a couple weeks back (apologies forgot to put it up then) but straight out of the box could notice the difference in performance, have to say I am absolutely delighted with it

Bought it in Compub on Grafton Street was in and out of the shop in under 10 minutes bing bang boom!

Any tips on what I should be adding to it program wise or any little tips tricks etc??

Been doing some photography stuff with it and can notice that its running grand when I have multiple applications open and editing and importing stuff out of Adobe Lightroom and no hanging on only other programs or whatnot