Disappointed switcher **solved - Happy switcher now**

Rainmaker

Rainmaker

Rainmaker

Soldato
Joined
18 Aug 2007
Posts
9,785
Location
Liverpool
Well I've had my 2011 13" MBP for a week now, and I have to say the initial gloss has worn off somewhat. I've got long experience of Linux as well as Windows, so the OS change learning curve was insignificant. However, I have to say I'm immensely disappointed in the product, especially given its 'Pro' title and the cost.

As soon as you start using the machine above 5% CPU the temps are hitting the high 80s, the fan sounds like a jet engine and it's unstable as all hell. I've not seen so many apps needing to be force quit since Windows ME. It's literally barely above Alpha experience from what I've seen so far. :o

The graphics can struggle a fair bit on 1080p video playback, mostly when something else is open in the background. A £1,000 'Pro' laptop shouldn't have anything close to that kind of difficulty imho. I'm having to force quit apps two and three times a day - and not just 3rd party apps (like Thunderbird) but also parts of the OS itself (eg TextEdit).

I was in love with the machine at first, but I have to say it's starting to sour big time. I love the look and feel of the OS; I always preferred *nix over Windows, and since OS X has the extra polish and gloss I thought I'd finally found a Windows killer. How wrong was I? :(

Has anyone else found this, or am I alone? I've clean installed Snow Leopard btw, and still have issues. It seems a combination of unstable apps, and poor performance from the new SB chip (and possibly some bottlenecking from the 5,200rpm hdd). I am disappoint. :\
 
Thanks for the replies guys.

EVH, as I said earlier I have already carried out a full format and reinstall, followed up by Software Update. This didn't help any. Video stutters like crazy, and pixelates badly, when anything tries to open or run in the background. This is especially apparent using VLC, but also happens with QuickTime X.

I'm having to force-quit applications several times a day, so something is clearly up. :( When single-tasking the machine is actually quite decent, and I enjoy using it, but a £1,000 laptop shouldn't choke and die when you try to open a plain-text file while watching a movie. :o

I'll take it into the Apple Store and see what they have to say. Seeing as the CPU barely gets above 5% usage, and the RAM is half-unused, I'm suspecting the hdd may be faulty. That, or the new on-die gfx are just plain inadequate.

EDIT: I forgot to add, my trackpad doesn't seem very sensitive towards the bottom. Literally to the point where I have to make movements four or five times before the screen/cursor picks up the movement. As above I'll see what the Store has to say, maybe I just lucked out and got a duff machine.
 
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Well I just started a 1080i video converting in Turbo.264 which took the CPU to around 85% (the rest is taken care of by the gfx card), then launched not one but TWO high bitrate (13+ Mbps) 1080p rips. One was an MKV launched in VLC, the other a Subler remuxed m4v. [EDIT: Just realised one is 720p with a high bitrate, but the point stands]

The laptop is running smooth as ice - including seek, pause, play, sound, video output, expose etc. Well aside from the fans being over 6,000rpm at the moment but considering the workload I can forgive that!

osx-1080p.png


Yet yesterday I couldn't even play a single stream. Intermittent probably means a dodgy RAM stick or bad HDD sectors, maybe?... Either way it seems the machine IS capable, just stalling at times. At least I can rest a little knowing it's not a crap computer (no offence but my experience had suggested it was, thus far).

I'll let you all know what the Genius Bar comes back with. :)
 
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Hmm... Sorry to drone on, but the video I was converting in the screenshot above (MKV > MP4) will play fine in iTunes and QuickTime with the window maximised, but as soon as it goes full screen it goes into stutter-mode (normal audio, slideshow style images changing every few seconds). Weird. It plays perfectly in VLC, full screen or otherwise. I'll keep back the vid to show the Apple Store, but does anyone have any ideas?

I'm thinking bad codecs/filters, or else the integrated gfx is borked. GPU acceleration of HD files does still work on these machines (with only the Intel integrated gfx), as I've tested extensively (eg 40% CPU in VLC, 3% CPU in QuickTime). Maybe the gfx component of the CPU is screwing up, or just not very good at certain things?
 
purplesky said:
Very true mate. A laptop costing half as much running Windows 7 will outperform a Macbook. With Apple, you're mainly paying for the name and image.

All show, no GO!!
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Yeah. Right.

I'm the first person to look for the best bang for buck, hack things, run three OSs at once etc - I'm no Apple fanboy. But you're blatantly trolling. And wrong.
 
DezUk said:
I have a late 2009 2.4Ghz C2D with 4Gb ram and I found it stuttered playing back full 1080p video using VLC. The solution was to use Plex as I believe it utilises both cores where as VLC can only use one. Give that a try.
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Thanks for the suggestion mate, but that's definitely not the issue. Most times VLC plays better than QuickTime or iTunes - and CPU usage is only about 5% so it's not a CPU usage issue. That wouldn't cause the other problems either, so I reckon the other guys were right about hardware faults (RAM maybe?). We'll see at 2pm. :)
 
Update:

The genius bar spent about five minutes on the machine, looking rather puzzled. The guy said it was 'fubared to say the least', and offered me a brand new replacement. :D When I asked what he thought was wrong, he said "Well, the graphics for sure... and the hard drive is wrecked... and the memory seems dodgy... and... well, here's your new machine Sir, we apologise for this isolated incident". :p

They gave me a brand new warranty with the new MBP, and said I have two more weeks to decide if Mac is for me (I told them I was a new switcher and it hadn't given me a good impression). They'll provide a no quibble refund to the full retail value of the machine (even knowing I bought it at student pricing) if I don't get on with this new one, plus a new full year of AppleCare. Not bad! Try getting that kind of service at [insert generic big PC retail store here]. :)

Even the keyboard feels better (more 'new'/rigid feeling) than the last one. I had nothing to compare it to since it was my first Mac but this one is definitely sturdier feeling!

I'll let you know how the machine bears up once I've got my backups restored and I can try out some multi-tasking and movies. Thanks again so much for all the advice and tips.
 
Thanks. :) Well so far, I don't want to tempt fate but this machine is 10x better than the last one. The backlight wasn't on until just a second ago when the room light went off, whereas the last machine refused to turn it off no matter how light it was. Also, despite installing iWork and running a full virus scan (yeah I know, but it pushes load so...), the CPU is around 35-40% used and the temps aren't even hitting 56oC, with the fans on minimum with no noise. On my last MBP, you only had to fire up one app and it was hitting 90oC and the fans were roaring. This one idles around 35 to 40oC (compared to 45 to 50 on the last one).

Win. :)

Now just to make sure it can play a movie without dying haha

EDIT: Forgot to add that this trackpad is lovely. Very responsive, no 'dead' spots etc. So overall it seems I'm getting the real Apple experience this time instead of the disappointing crud I had with the last machine lol
 
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No-One said:
I wonder if the first one had some problem with cooling, making it throttle things down to prevent overheating. Poor cooling could also explain the poor reliability too. I remember reading when ifixit did a teardown of the new mbp they found excessive amounts of thermal paste was used
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That was quite possibly a contributing factor, yes. But there were definitely other faults. For example, I asked about the security of my personal data, since the Apple Store were keeping my old machine (and hence, hdd). The guy said that wasn't an issue, and that he was happy to secure erase my old drive before my eyes before I left the store. :)

However, no matter how many times he tried, the usb hdd he booted from just couldn't mount the drive, and it (my old machine) kept crashing out. So there were different issues for sure. I'm wondering if it wasn't a logic board fault, since gfx, hdd, cpu, and RAM all being faulty is possible but highly improbable. The logic board (which controls all of the above) being faulty would be a reasonable assumption, I think.

Any any rate, I'm much happier now and the new machine feels much better.
 
steveo said:
weird that your 2011 13 MBP struggles with one 1080p film yet my 2010 can handle 2 1080p mkvs as well as a 1080p trailer from apple trailers and a few other programs running in the background (aperture and toast)
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If you read the rest of the thread, the MBP was faulty and Apple switched it out for a working new one. :)
 
Thanks Al. :) I've already played around with Plex, but I do prefer to keep Firefox (it syncs with my desktop PC so I don't have to worry about bookmarks etc getting out of touch). I hate the way Mail and Outlook handle IMAP (even though I do have a copy of Office 2011 Mac and it's better than the Win version!), so Thunderbird stays. :D
 
Robert said:
If you seriously think that this is normal then please step away from the keyboard.

Get it replaced and be happy.
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Ignoring the fact that I got it replaced about a dozen posts ago (:p)... there are so many apologists on MacRumors et al. that you'd be surprised how easy it is for a switcher to think this kind of thing IS normal for Mac.
 
Robert said:
Any form of MPlayer for PC? I've found something on Google but not sure if it's the same.
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I actually came back to this thread to update my experience, but just saw this post (never spotted it earlier, sorry). MPlayer is an open source player available across most platforms. If you go to their website it links to a Windows build. :)

As for me, I've had the MBP a while now and I have to say all my initial doubts, niggles and issues have evaporated. As it happens, I'm now at a stage where I absolutely 'luffs' my MBP and I wouldn't go back to Win laptops for all the tea in China! :D

This one idles around 35oC; running Skype, Firefox (with several tabs), Thunderbird and a few other bits I'm currently at 43oC. It hits 50-odd under moderate load (1080p flash etc) and I saw it in the 80s once under very heavy load. The fans barely hit 2000rpm, quietly, and the temps were soon back down.

The difference between this and the old faulty machine is night and day. I'm so glad I persevered and didn't just grab a refund and run. I'm a complete convert now, and I'm not sure how I ever lived without it. Thanks for all the help, I'm sticking around. :)
 
Faustus said:
Looking at this and other forums I have to say that for an expensive brand these products seem to suffer from a great deal of "minor problems". This really shouldn't be if they are as good as their hype?
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Well I got burned more than most but even I realise that it's just life. Stuff happens, things go wrong. They're built in a factory, using humans, and not everything or everyone is perfect. C'est la vie.

At least with Apple you can just walk into a store, and walk out again with either a full cash refund or a spanking new machine less than five minutes later. Try that at the purple shirt place or similar. ;)

<3 Apple - and I never, ever though I'd be saying that!
 
n1blo said:
Hard drive needs replacing though as it's only the 160GB model, and maybe a RAM upgrade. :p
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Likewise. :D I'm thinking Vertex 3 and 8GB RAM. Which reminds me (saves making a new thread now you're all in here lol)... I run Parallels and use Spaces to allow the VM to run full-screen. Ubuntu 10.10 runs lovely, and with around 2% CPU usage and a small temp increase. Perfectly acceptable.

Windows, however, hogs CPU and the temps climb towards 80+. All fanboy comments aside, I've not noticed this happening on any other machine (whether running it as a VM guest, or as host). I'm presuming this is graphics related - Windows Aero consuming gfx power and heating up the CPU? The downside of on-die gfx I suppose.

I sat contemplating this, then realised I didn't need Windows anyway. So it's a moot point. I deleted the VM and I'm much happier now lol
 
n1blo said:
I'd love a vertex but don't think I can justify it.
How much does 8GB RAM come to?
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When I looked last week it was around £75 iirc. Not much for what it is, at any rate. I paid 50% more than that just for 4GB for my desktop 2 years ago lol

EDIT: OcUK are out of stock, but my local reputable competitor have Corsair and Hynix 2x 4GB 1333 kits at £70. :)
 
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