Apple destroys MacBook Pro

[Kim Frank]

This thread Rocks. Time to open ye eyes and see that there are computing options several times more efficient in cost and performance than Apple's Hardware... and thanks to the Intel move a good few actually run Leopard anyway.
.

All time Mac user Im afraid I dont get this.
Is it possible to run Leopard on a Pc including all the only Apple applications like FCP?

 

[Karl Gustav H.]

3gbps Sata is now restored via firmware update. See macrumors.com

 

[JosephArthur]

3gbps Sata is now restored via firmware update. See macrumors.com

OH YEAH !!!. But the express port is still on the 17 Inch Mac Book Pros, I got mine the first week. But now I have a want to get the 3.06 Ghz processor for the MacBookPro. (I got mine from Silverado Systems, and they were happy to slam me the new one after i had ordered the lower chip version).

 

[Blair S. Paulsen]

It still blows my mind that Apple can't manage to put even one eSATA port on the MacBookPros. Hell, you have to burn a PCI slot to get an eSATA HBA on the frakkin' towers.

I hate to say it but Apple seems to be carefully doling out features ala Sony to keep a carrot on the stick for every incremental upgrade (downgrade?!). The whole internal battery deal seems to indicate a desire to promote shorter upgrade cycles.

WTF happened to "Think Different"? Aren't they making enough money on the consumer gadgets anyway? Pathetic.

IF 2009 ends with no legitimate improvement for pro apps on the Mac platform my 25 years as a Mac evangelist will have to end.

FWIW I do feel compelled to rebut the assertion that Macs are for people too dumb to use PCs - there are different kinds of smarts, there are some brilliant but very right brained people out there that find Macs much more intuitive than PCs - most of those people don't hang out much on tech forums but they do buy and use pro apps. Just sayin'.

 

[M Most]

It still blows my mind that Apple can't manage to put even one eSATA port on the MacBookPros. Hell, you have to burn a PCI slot to get an eSATA HBA on the frakkin' towers.

Have I not been looking closely enough, or is it also true that PC laptops don't have built in eSATA ports either?

 

[Peter Lundström]

I dont think standard PC laptops have eSATA. Some more expensive ones do I believe, but the cheaper ones no.

 

[Casey Green]

I believe Dell, HP and, Asus make some Laptop models with built in eSata.

 

[Damien Molineaux]

I started bitchin about the 15 inch laos, but then realized it's quite logical on Apple's part, from their perspective and looking at their user base. Now, the only true pro machine is the 17 inch, and it has dramatically dropped in price costing only $100 more than the previous 15 inch. About size, the 17 inch is barely 1 inch more in width and not even an inch more in depth. You not only get higher resolution (full HD), but a lot more screen real estate. All in all a better machine, hardly bigger or heavier.

Forget about the 15" and go for the 17", you'll never regret it. You even have the option of getting it with an anti-glare screen.

Cheers,
Damien

PS And I don't believe they will drop the Xpress card slot on the next gen 17" I would be really dissapointed if they did.

 

[hmurchison]

Apple clearly doesn't like eSATA. Probably because the connectors are poor and frankly it's already a bit slow.

How about they deliver FW 3200 so that I can get a fast array going at 400MBps?

 

[Andrae Palmer]

3Gbps firmware update interfering with MBP upgrades

A recent Apple firmware update is causing major problems for some MacBook Pro owners, talk on Apple's support forums indicates. The update was intended to bring full 3Gbps throughput to the Pro's SATA controller, after it was discovered that the newest models had been artificially limited to 1.5Gbps. While the cap does not affect conventional hard drives, some SSDs cannot operate at peak speeds without the higher threshold.

Pro owners report that if installing the new firmware on a system with upgraded or otherwise non-standard storage, drives may work only intermittently, if at all. The only solution may be to reinstall the default hard drive supplied with a computer; Apple has not produced a means of rolling back the firmware update, and it is not handling support for aftermarket parts. Genius Bar technicians say they are also unable to restore a controller to its original state.

Source: MacNN
Apple Discussion: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2054387&start=60&tstart=15

 

[Van Din]

Actually, you're right. And not just due to copyrights, etc, but instabilities and performance hits. So I take that back, I wouldn't recommend a "hackinmac" in an environment that demands stability. Which means you should just shell out for the real thing.

I would have probably purchased a 13" Macbook Pro had these changes/hits to overall performance not reared their ugly heads. Having personally dealt with the headaches of said hybrid-OS Machines, it just ain't pretty when something doesn't work right.

Even still... my new toy will arrive on Wednesday. It happens to be a mobile Quad Core notebook that weighs a mighty 7 lbs... has express and eSata ports and lots of other things. I am curious (... yes, curious, not already aware of... ) if it will play nice with other OS's

...

Can you elaborate about your purchase, model, configuration, price, store, etc?
________
Ford Fn Platform History

 

[Hrvoje Simic]

At least that MacBook Air doesn't look so bad now, for web browsing, office and entertainment - with dropped price, new CPU and Nvidia 9400.

I'd be interested if it wasn't for the connector housing/cover which will break and lose contact on all (three) connectors within a year and cost $300 at minimum to fix. Funny how it's everyone's goal to make as few moving parts as possible - hence SSD's, but Apple decides to introduce a movable part for audio connector, USB and DisplayPort.

 

[Hrvoje Simic]

And oh yeah, eSATA:

 

[Hrvoje Simic]

Not top model laptops, btw.

 

[Hrvoje Simic]

I started bitchin about the 15 inch laos, but then realized it's quite logical on Apple's part, from their perspective and looking at their user base. Now, the only true pro machine is the 17 inch, and it has dramatically dropped in price costing only $100 more than the previous 15 inch. About size, the 17 inch is barely 1 inch more in width and not even an inch more in depth. You not only get higher resolution (full HD), but a lot more screen real estate. All in all a better machine, hardly bigger or heavier.

It's not about the price. 17" is not as practical to carry around and use on all the same occasions and locations. Plus the weight difference matters a lot if you are often mobile. I'd rather have a smaller fast laptop and connect it to an external 24" then carry 17" everywhere just to have a slightly larger screen.

 

[JonathanF]

Yet another reason to get tools on Linux so you're not beholden to Apple for machines. Linux gives you options.

Joy of Apple.

:J

 

[hmurchison]

Yet another reason to get tools on Linux so you're not beholden to Apple for machines. Linux gives you options.

Joy of Apple.

:J

Yup Linux

Shitty ...

and Shittier.

No thanks.

 

[Jim Klatt]

I have the new 17' macbook pro and I couldn't be happier...

 

[Abd Samad Hassan]

Remember in Star Trek they have the Personal Access Display Device (PADD) which is essentially one big touch screen where file transfers are through something like blue-tooth.

Maybe there's a Trekker in Apple who wants to go into that direction?

 

[Antoine Baumann]

Or, more importantly, Jim can you start to build Windows or Linux based tools so (us Mac users included) can build onset tools with machines that are small, light and have lots of expansion capabilities without being screwed around by Apple's moronic dumbing down of their range. There's no 'i' in Pro.

Yes, that's it. Please RED stop developping for proprietary platform, and start dev for Linux. RedcineX for linux.

cheers,
antoine.