Macworld Forums: Apple 15-inch MacBook Pro (Spring 2010) - Macworld Forums

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Sad performance with Parallels

Lack of Expresscard slot is a deal killer, especially at this price. Everything else seems pretty cool.

The price/performance ratio between the MacBook Pros and iMacs is huge. Apple, IMO, is charging a much higher premium for portability than their competitors with equal or better specs.

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I bought the i7 yesterday, but didn't know you could get the higher resolution for $150. Not sure that is practical on this screen (for me), so I wouldn't have bothered. Guess I would have seen that if I bought online, but it was at Best Buy right away and a little cheaper (they gave me enough points for about $25 in gift certificates).

I don't get the criticisms. For one thing, it is a beautiful piece of aluminum craftsmanship in a very thin profile. It is worth every penny and can't really be compared to an iMac. I have a 24 inch iMac as well, and they do different things. For one, I can carry the Pro around. Seems like it's worth the premium. It is to me anyway. As a designer and entrepreneur, the cost is pretty negligible.
To be honest, Apple doesn't have competitors, unless you want a black plastic piece of junk with giant battery cells and a VGA port. Maybe throw that baby in a nice big bag along with a power brick and a giant mouse and top it off with a version of Windows. Yeah baby! Wow, that would make me feel like buying a nice vinyl chair to sit in while I'm at it. The nice man in the blue shirt says they will come to my house for a couple of hundred more and setup my router for me. LOL

Expresscard slot? I hook up to everything wirelessly now, and expect to even sync my iPhone soon using bluetooth when 4.0 comes out. Cables will go away soon, and I wont miss them.

Everyone drools when they see this machine. My only tiny complaint is that it is difficult to open. That mag seal is strong with this one....., and they only give you a couple of millimetres to grab onto. Maybe I'm doing it wrong? Maybe I'm supposed to ask the computer to open with a slight Scottish accent? "Hello computer?" =/\=

Lack of official BluRay Playback, and software to accommodate means none of my $ goes to Apple. It's not just about resolution. It's about the option to play the actual media. That's one fight Apple Shouldn't hold out on. Just go ahead and support it.

What happened to the 17" models?It sounds like the I5 model is shipping now. The I7 model still says 5-7 days. Has anyone out there receive their 17" I7 Intel MacBook Pro? I haven't received any shipping date yet for my 2.66 GHz 17" I7 model with a 7200 rpm HDD & the anti-glare screen.

I use an Apple 30" display & an HP 30" display both requiring a DL DVI connector. All of the articles I have read says that the Apple DL DVI to mini displayport adapter is still a piece of junk. Do you know of any one else that makes an adapter that will handle this case. By time I'm done I'll be spending more on mini displayport adapters than to increase memory from 4 GB to 8 GB.

The 15" models sound good. My daughter still uses my old 1 GHz TI 15" PowerBook. After using 30" or larger screens with my Intel Mac Pro desktop, 17" seems too small to go. I came close to purchasing a 27" I7 iMac as when a see a customer at his location I'm seldom farther than 4-6 ft from AC power. But as some say when one needs a true portable an iMac just won't do.

My next question will be whether I should remove the optical drive & install a second hard drive? Any ideas on that?

Right now i am needing a new laptop, like the new model except for my most wanted new feature which Apple Continues to stonewall.

GIVE US THE BLU-RAY OPTION!!! its time.

stop stonewalling Blu-Ray ! enough of the delays to protect the itunes movie store. many of us apple consumers have Blu-Ray collections, and needs for backing up large amounts of video/photography on the go.

no idea why Apple keeps a lid on great technology just on corporate agenda. it isn't like they need more profits, damn they are making money hand over fist.

klahanas, on 23 April 2010 - 05:53 PM, said:

So YOU'RE the one who bought an express card device!

Here's my short list of most egregious omissions: USB 3, IPS, BluRay, USB 3. Did I mention USB 3?

The new models are such a yawn, they might as well have included Betamax support.

George_Reynolds, on 24 April 2010 - 04:19 AM, said:

Macs are never going to have USB3. I bet Apple bypasses it in favor of LIghtWave. And, if I understand correctly, Intel is doing the same thing by not putting USB3 into its chipsets.

Macs will never have BR either. If anything Apple wants to dump the optical drive altogether. Not support it for another 5-10 years. I imagine the next big redo of the MBP will have no optical drive. Apple has already foreshadowed this with the MBA and the "long time coming" SD card slot throughout its lineup.

All is not lost though. Better screen tech will always work its way into Macs as price/performance/performance per watt dictate.

This post has been edited by trip1ex: 24 April 2010 - 05:29 AM

George_Reynolds, on 24 April 2010 - 04:19 AM, said:

My dear friend, I own a 2008 15in which does have the Expresscard slot.  I have an eSATA adapter for it, and a Multicard reader for it, and I can use it with my Win 7 laptops also.  When I dock the Macbook to an external monitor, and hook up an eSATA drive, this thing flies.  I even use an external drive to boot Win 7.  The external drive, at SATA speeds, blows away any laptop drive short of SSD.  But wait!  I could do that too.


As for USB 3, did you mention USB 3?  It's a cheap add-on this way.




None are possible with the 2009 or later 15 inch Macbook SemiPro.  Apple just felt that it wasn't "Pupulerrr!" enough to include it.  I think they really didn't want a laptop that was more upgradable than any iMac, unless it was the 17 in >$2000 version. 

"The price/performance ratio between the MacBook Pros and iMacs is huge."

Which is the reason I changed gears recently and for the first time in years went back to a desktop, a new iMac, as my primary machine instead of a MBP. The new iMacs are just phenomenal computers for the price, and there is a big difference in performance and ergonomics in comparison to MBPs. I never realized how much I was giving up with a laptop until this switch. The high performance combination of hardware and Snow Leopard, along with that ultra-sharp high res display, make for unbeatable rig in the iMac.

I still do a lot of mobile computing but, incredibly, I'm finding my iPad is pretty much covering all the bases for my mobile computing needs. The combination of the new iMac and an iPad end up being around the same price as a MBP, and for my needs give me a lot more computing power and flexibility than just the MBP alone. For power computing the iMac can do a lot more than the MBP, and the iPad makes for an optimal "satellite" computer to my "mothership", the iMac. Without doubt a killer combination!

The continued lack of an expresscard slot on the 15-inch is killing me. I run several Metric Halo firewire audio interfaces using expresscard on my 2008 MBPro. Adding FW ports via expresscard makes my mobile recording work much easier. Buying a 17-inch MBPro just for the slot is not an appealing alternative. Replacing the Expresscard slot with an SD slot was a weak move.