[DCuerpoJr]

In addition to teh 7,200 rpm Hard Drive, the Mac Books and Mac Book Pros have their processors tuned down a bit in order to have more control over heat and power consumption. While the iMacs don't have to worry about this problem. So in performance tests, an iMac would usually beat out a similarly spec Mac Book Pro.

[schafdog]

oluf said:

Why is the 15-inch 2.53 GHz faster than the 17-inch 2.66 GHz model ?

Yeah that triggered me as well. The 15" wins the disk related tests, so it must be a snappier disk. Any knowledge on which brand and models that are used?

[MobileUser]

RE: jimbob777 & External Display Issues



I could not agree more. Apple is not addressing this at all, in terms of informing its customers as to the true nature of this issue(s). Is this related to Mini Display Port, the adapters, the GPU, or all of the above? The usual response is "I have never heard about that before or you are the only person that has ever mentioned that". I have only gotten one straight answer from anyone in three weeks from Apple, and that was a "Genius" who was aware of the issues who recomended holding off on purchasing for a month (that was the last week of February). I am trying to decide whether or not to go with a MBP 17 or just go with a solid higher performing PC workstation that has the standard Display Port and most also include a second video out port as well, not to mention RAID, RGB LED or dual lamp CCFL non glare screens, higher performing and ISV rated GPU's, and air tight/on site/accidental coverage warranties. The Macbook Pro 17 is great because it is the most portable, and has the longest battery life of anything else in a 17 inch notebook, to say nothing of the UNIX based OSX and Windows option. Still I am a bit turned off by the lack of acknowledgement or awareness of this problem by Apple Support and staff. Being able to have confidence in connecting to your desktop monitor is critical.

Macworld this is where the public interest and specificaly your readers interests depend on objective and timely reporting of these kinds of issues. The New York Times recently was the first to come out and call the Blackberry Storm on its not ready for prime time performance and inferior usability. That saved countless consumers from getting stuck with a dog phone for two years. Macbook Pros are a very serious investment for most people and it is unacceptable for these to be sold to people without them being made aware of how this may or may not effect them. I would greatly appreciate an update on this, and a weekly heads up until this has been addressed one way or the other.

[DIESEL_X]

Only recently received mine after a long wait (like a kid before Christmas).. I did tick a few upgrade boxes and therefore going for the 2.93GHz processor, the rather expensive 8GB RAM and the 320GB HDD spinning at the faster 7200rpm for increased performance because more often than not the 5400rpm drives create more of a performance bottleneck point than most other components of a laptop (therefore will be working day and night to pay for this new MacBook Pro). However I held back from the real jewel in the crown performance improving 256GB MLC 'SSD' (Samsung SSD) only because very soon in the second quarter Toshiba will be releasing their 512GB MLC SSD 2.5" 9.5mm unit which despite being double thecapacity at half a Terrabyte, it has even better transfer rates at apprx up to 240 Read and 190/200 Write. This should help jolt the performance of the new MacBook Pro 17" unibody, providing Toshiba don't release it for a silly price only for the rich. On a negative side though is the fact that current SSD's on today's offering's for consumer level and being at a barely affordable price on decent capacities, are all regrettably MLC type SSD's and not the immensely and far more reliable longer lasting superior SLC type SSD's.. Oh well, maybe in time.

Back to the MacBook Pro 17" unibody, and well.. it grows on you from day one providing you can or have got over a couple of really annoying initial shocks. The first down-right annoying detail that instantly infuriates and feels like a kick in the teeth from Apple, is that the all swinging all dancing flagship of Apple's professional 17" MacBook Pro now only has 'ONE' Firewire port as apposed to TWO Firewire ports on the old MacBook Pro 17". What on earth is going on at the think-tank in Cupertino? My old MacBook Pro was a nice setup having 'one' Firewire 400 port for an external high quality sound input/output unit for use with Logic Studio and the even faster 'second' Firewire port being Firewire 800 was ideal for fast performance external HDD units where data transfer speed is critical.. so why? frankly there is no justification at all period and I don't want to be told to use my PC Express card slot because I constantly have that occupied with a very vast Media Card Reader/Writer. What is Apple's problem with Firewire of late?

The second thing I noticed was to do with the display's overall brightness power output, this is with regard to the Glossy Display. Now I have to admit that this probably will not be a problem to everyone and that the display itself is still very impressive in appearance, form and function (very classy looking) , however I noticed that the overall brightness power output was not quite as much as my now old Macbook Pro 17" glossy HiRes screen. When actually putting them both side by side and remember they are both identical with both having Glossy HiRes (1920x1200) LED backlit screens, it was quite noticeable that the older unit both had a brighter screen and that the whites were 'whiter'. Naturally I ensured that both had the same brightness settings and 'Color Profile' and I even created and tweaked a separate color profile to death just to make sure, but sadly and regrettably I could not get the new MacBook Pro 17" unibody to match the older MacBook Pro 17". Admittedly the difference may only be slight, we are talking somewhere between one or two notches here i.e. with the new MacBook Pro 17" unibody having its brightness bar set to the maximum - it only appears to match the old MacBook Pro with the older unit having its brightness level set somewhere around/between one to two bars 'short' from the end maximum level.. and just that very last bar on its own within the brightness level gauge can make all the viewing difference in more brightly lit surroundings and environments. How could Apple overlook this.. do they test every conceivable aspect of their products? .. mmm I'm not so sure.

I personally have always preferred the display of a glossy screen, the colors are more vibrant, the contrast is more superior, images tend to have a better quality of 'look' to them like a glossy photograph compared to a dull matt photo, but then obviously there is the very slight occasional drawback where reflections can disturb viewing and this is why the overall brightness level power output is critical and important for overpowering any reflections and for shining brightly in brightly lit environments, yet the new MacBook Pro 17" display has just taken a Brightness power hit! (dip!)

Anyway, on the good points.. The new MacBook Pro does feel very nice in use! The machine does have that solid look and feel to it, the solid machined Aluminum is nice to the touch under your hands, the new trackpad is just amazing with not only the additional hand gestures but also the amazingly smooth gliding operation from your fingertips, also the lack of buttons is actually quite pleasing and there's the peace of mind that you know this trackpad will last a very long time being coated with glass.

Brightness problem aside (albeit slight and some people may not even notice), the screen itself looks flawless and drop dead gorgeous with its real glass pane, making it have that quality look like the iPhone 3G's screen once its been polished. The processor upgrade option is most welcome and even more so is the fact that the RAM now operates at a speed of 1066MHz at long last 'hallelujah', also having the option to upgrade to 8GB is a bonus. All of this is very welcome to help make a much more faster Macbook Pro 17" although so far I've only noticed slight improvements, but to be fair I haven't tested the unit properly yet and I'd rather pass judgement for now until I've eventually stuffed the Toshiba 512GB SSD unit into the MacBook Pro, because all to often HDD's are a common performance bottleneck point.

The machine on the whole, gives a very nice welcome feel and experience which, if I may draw upon one more disappointing factor - an experience that could have been made far better if the new MacBook Pro 17" unibody could have finally and finally possessed a 'Blu-ray' read and write drive, put it this way, the unit has a HiRes 1920x1200 pixel screen making it able to output Full HD 1080p video and that coupled with the processing power improvements and running Apple's own Final Cut Pro or/and Studio for editing HD video compositions, BIZARRELY you have no proper optical media to burn your projects to for viewing in HD media player's, that being Blu-ray the now only winning final format . Needless to say that dual layer Blu-ray disks also make a fantastic way to backup anything because they can store 50GB's on one dual layer Blu-ray disk, fantastic! But a shame the MacBook Pro 17" still refuses to support one internally (I don't want an external unit version thanks)

Also don't know why but I prefer the 'metal look' of the older buttons, I know its only cosmetic but its not all bad as the new black plasticky buttons are growing on me a little and don't let that detract you from what is an overall very impressive experience.. I just can't wait until I eventually insert the 512GB SSD unit in at a later date when it becomes available. (if ever it does?)

[heisetax]

From all of the reviews I expected the glossy screen to look great & integrated & that the matte screen looked like a jumbled up mess.In my opinion the reverse is true. The 17" model with its matte screen looks like the well though out model with the glossy screened model looking as if it was thrown together without much thought.
The black keyboard continued the bad look that Apple appears to have wanted. In the AL world of the professional Macs, silver is the color. That would have made the best keyboard color. The white of Apple's extended keyboard still look better than the black keyboard. Maybe on a black model like the black Intel MacBook. But not on an AL Mac of any model.
Not being a heavy battery user the so called non-user replaceable battery doesn't matter so much to me. It seems to be a poor way to do a professional model. But Apple is all about sealed systems with batteries just part of it all.
Apple finally offers a 500 GB hard drive in one of their laptops. Of all models it is the entry level White Plastic Intel MacBook. As a $180 option, it cost $30+ dollars more than I spent on a 500GB, 7200 rpm Seagate model. But the point is that at least they offer it. The AL body models top out at a mere 320GB.
The new student $229 rebate on an iPod Touch is making it more difficult to put off my Intel MacBook Pro purchase until the next model. Then I also want a 64GB iPod Touch. So it looks like I'll have to keep using my 17" AL PowerBook for another 6 months to a year. Either late this year or halfway early next year will be when Intel has new processors to put into the 17" Intel MacBook Pro. Some expect new models now, but what has Intel done since the last models? And the 17" model has only been shipping for a couple of months now. I've waited this long so I guess I can wait a little longer.