Macworld: MacBook Pro: First day, first Lab tests ...

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85 Replies Last post: Feb 24, 2006 6:14 PM by Jason Snell Go to original post 1 2 3 4 5 6 Previous Next

robco

174 posts since
Jan 13, 2005

30. Feb 23, 2006 3:14 AM

in response to: HiRez

Re: MacBook Pro: First day, first Lab tests

The 2 hr battery life was playing a DVD and Energy Saver turned off. This will diminish the battery life of any notebook. Not good if you want to watch an extended LOTR DVD, but it should get better battery life performing less disk-intensive tasks.

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mark_G4

330 posts since
May 7, 2001

31. Feb 23, 2006 5:09 AM

in response to: MW Forums

Re: MacBook Pro: First day, first Lab tests

It seems to me from this that if the next version of the iBook runs the Solocore chip then it won't be that much faster or any faster than the current G4 PowerBook. That would be a very disappointing.

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KenAF

8 posts since
Sep 14, 2005

32. Feb 23, 2006 5:12 AM

in response to: robco

Re: MacBook Pro: First day, first Lab tests

The tested 2 hr battery life for DVD playback with Energy Server turned off is obviously -not- indicative of the battery life you would see using, say, iTunes or a word processor on a plane. The Core Duo has a lot of 'automatic' power saving features that aren't fully utilized in this DVD playback scenario.

Note Intel also has a lower-power, lower-voltage version of the Core Duo, which Apple isn't currently using. This probably has something to do with its more limited availability at the moment.

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williamb

3 posts since
Feb 22, 2006

33. Feb 23, 2006 6:14 AM

in response to: Jason Snell

Re: MacBook Pro: First day, first Lab tests

Hi Jason,

The whining is reported by some to begin when dimming, beginning just a notch below Full Brightness. At full brightness, the whining is reportedly not heard, at least by some. Can you confirm this either way?

>Of course we'll look into it, but I haven't seen (heard?) it in any of the units I've tried.

>Jason Snell, Editorial Director, Macworld

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cambro

4 posts since
Feb 23, 2006

34. Feb 23, 2006 6:39 AM

in response to: MW Forums

screen opening angle???

Several people have pointed out that the MBP screen cannot open as wide as the previous generation PB by something like 10. They have also pointed out that Aluminum PB G4s cannot open as wide as Ti PB G4s. Apple seems like it is going in the wrong direction here in terms of imposing greater and greater constraints on how wide the PB can open.

Can you please comment on the usability of the system in a situation OTHER than sitting on a desk? How about on a elevated iCurve? Or on an angled podium? Or just on your lap? Or on your knees in bed?

I see a design trend that increasingly constrains screen opening angle as very bad!

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frankie

61 posts since
Sep 24, 2004

35. Feb 23, 2006 6:50 AM

in response to: MW Forums

And that's using GCC

Once the Intel compiler is released and fully available, expect every CPU-bound benchmark to jump upwards by a good amount. Especially when Apple uses it to compile OS X 10.5.

Note: the Unreal benchmark is most likely GPU-bound, and the Zip benchmark is certainly disk-bound.

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scottmyers

18 posts since
Mar 19, 2001

36. Feb 23, 2006 7:13 AM

in response to: tiborg

Has anyone been able to install Windows NT yet?

Either on a partition or simply as a second operating system?

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entspeak

56 posts since
Aug 6, 2004

37. Feb 23, 2006 7:32 AM

in response to: eskaywoo

battery

Yes, there are major considerations to take into account when comparing the battery performance of the MacBook Pro with the G4.

Considering that the battery is powering a processor with two 2Ghz cores as opposed to a single 1.67Ghz processor, I'd say having roughly the same battery life means that the Dual Core performance is more efficient in terms of power consumption just as advertised. And yes, the new LCD, the new graphics system, the Serial ATA interface (maybe, I'm not sure about that one) all may take more power. So the fact that these new machines have roughly the same battery life as the older G4's is a good thing.

That said, hopefully, better batteries will come.

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badlydrawnboy

1 posts since
Feb 23, 2006

38. Feb 23, 2006 8:07 AM

in response to: MW Forums

Re: MacBook Pro: First day, first Lab tests

This may sound strange, but my main concern is "responsiveness" of the Finder and Applications. 80% of what I do is with Safari, iLife, iWork and Mail. The other 20% is Aperture and Photoshop, with probably 15% of that being Aperture which will be Universal Binary in March.

One of my only complaints about Macs over the years has been that they just "feel" so much slower than PCs with everyday tasks such as web browsing, opening folders, etc. This is what makes the biggest difference in my workflow, since I'm not rendering huge video files or doing processor-intensive Photoshop actions. While a Mac may be faster than a comparable PC in these tasks, it's my experience that the PC blows the Mac away on "responsiveness".

My hope is that the MacBook Pro and other Intel CD Macs will change this. Am I right?

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sigma8

575 posts since
Aug 30, 2004

39. Feb 23, 2006 8:13 AM

in response to: tiborg

Re: MacBook Pro: First day, first Lab tests

I wonder how IBM's newer, low-power G5's it claims to have developed would have compared. I guess we'll never know, now!

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bigpics

352 posts since
Aug 3, 2001

40. Feb 23, 2006 8:29 AM

in response to: sigma8

Re: MacBook Pro: First day, first Lab tests

In reply to:<hr />

I wonder how IBM's newer, low-power G5's it claims to have developed would have compared. I guess we'll never know, now!

<hr />

Don't be TOO sure about that.

None, well few, of us ever thought we'd ever see, let alone be salivating over Intel-based Macs, and the apps, after all, haven't gone solely Intel-native, they've gone.... ...UNIVERSAL...

PPC, i.e., IBM's "Power" line isn't going away -- it's strategic to IBM and still has KEY non-IBM customers in the gaming machine world, so IBM's not just thinking of its own server line....

...so what Steve tacketh away from, Steve can re-tacketh toward if circumstance dictates... ...and if Apple's market share increases and its line of products broadens, there could well be an emphasis on "Macness" and OS X over the hardware guts with BOTH x86 and PPC products in the longer term, differentiated by the purpose of the machines.

And would we buy 'em if they did what we needed and delivered value?

Damn straight.

Never say never, and meanwhile....

...Full SPEED ahead.......

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chewygoat

189 posts since
Sep 2, 2004

41. Feb 23, 2006 8:31 AM

in response to: MW Forums

Shutting down one of the cores?

Someone needs to come up with a hack, if it's possible, to turn off one of the cores, hopefully resulting in extended battery life. Is the Core Duo capable of running with only one core powered?

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EndUser

2 posts since
Feb 23, 2006

42. Feb 23, 2006 8:42 AM

in response to: MW Forums

Re: MacBook Pro: First day, first Lab tests

Does the SuperDrive in the MacBook Pro read double-layer DVD's?

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shoaf

57 posts since
Jun 22, 2005

43. Feb 23, 2006 8:51 AM

in response to: sigma8

Re: MacBook Pro: First day, first Lab tests

To Jason & The Macworld staff:

Since it seems (in my world) that nearly everyone -- including myself -- that's contemplating a MBP purchase is considering it as a replacement to a G4 tower. In your benchmarks, I would suggest throwing in the scores from a G4 tower just for comparison's sake. Taking this a step further, maybe include both a Dual- and Single-Processor version. I think this would help many of us put a better perspective on the speed of the MBP.

To put this request into context, many purchase Macs with the intent on them being their primary rig for at least 2 years. Our company (and I'm sure many others) uses a 3-yr amortization of the cost because that's how long AppleCare lasts. You think of what was being sold 3 years ago, and you're looking a DP G4's.

And I'd also like to add my thanks for getting this info out and live.

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wintomac

113 posts since
Jun 24, 2005

44. Feb 23, 2006 8:55 AM

in response to: mark_G4

Re: MacBook Pro: First day, first Lab tests

Sort of looks that way doesn't it. Hopefully with recent price cuts in duo chips Apple can outfit the new iBooks with core duo chips. A 1.6ghz would do nicely, don't you think?

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