Disappointed switcher **solved - Happy switcher now**

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)
 
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)

If you read the rest of the thread, the MBP was faulty and Apple switched it out for a working new one. :)
 
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!

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 note you were having hardware problems and these have been resolved with a replacement, but pardon me for interjecting with a few app suggestions:

a) MPlayerX walks over VLC in absolutely every way, except perhaps WMV playback. Better video playback, nicer UI (including trackpad gestures to resize windows, very nice touch), etc. It's a relatively new project, so it's not widely known, but it's now a rare occasion for me to touch VLC;

b) If you're playing high bitrate 1080p x264 video streams, Plex is a slightly bloated media center solution but has by far the best x264 decoding of any OS X app. If you're kicking back and watching a film on an external display, this is the way to go;

c) Leave Firefox behind, the OS X port is absolutely dire. I suggest Chrome (which I now couldn't live without), but before that I used Safari religiously, despite its various quibbles, simply because it is infinitely faster and nicer to use than Firefox;

d) Check out Microsoft Office for Mac 2011; it's absolutely excellent, and a massive improvement on the previous version, 2004. Most notably, they have brought Outlook back to OS X with this version and it is superb. You'll be tossing Thunderbird out the window in no time.

Happy macintoshing :D
 
c) Leave Firefox behind, the OS X port is absolutely dire. I suggest Chrome (which I now couldn't live without), but before that I used Safari religiously, despite its various quibbles, simply because it is infinitely faster and nicer to use than Firefox;

d) Check out Microsoft Office for Mac 2011; it's absolutely excellent, and a massive improvement on the previous version, 2004. Most notably, they have brought Outlook back to OS X with this version and it is superb. You'll be tossing Thunderbird out the window in no time.

Happy macintoshing :D

First two, I agree with.

Third one, personally I use Safari, Chrome isn't quicker for me but personal preference on that front.

Fourth one, Office 2011 is still hellishly buggy and scrolling in Excel is painfully slow, it's quicker in office 2010 on VMWare Fusion which is just silly.

If anyone has any ideas why Excel 2011 is so slow to redraw for me then im all ears!
 
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
 
If you seriously think that this is normal then please step away from the keyboard.

Get it replaced and be happy.

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.
 
Obvious troll is obvious. Oh and wrong... :rolleyes:

Maybe he is and maybe he isn't. Speaking for myself I can't remember the last time I used my iMac - I just prefer the matte 24" screen with my PC and despite valiant efforts to like OS X I still find Windows 7 a more satisfying experience overall. As they say at MS - Windows - it just works. :D
 
If you're looking for a mail client then search for Sparrow on the App Store, I've only got the lite version which is free and allows 1 account at a time, but I love it, it's quick, no cluttered menus, in fact it looks a lot like an iPhone app.
 
Glad to hear you got the issue ressolved and sounds like great customer service from Apple, nice one.

Quick question regards MPlayerX, it says it is able to do "Direct Pass through", what does this mean exactly?
 
Any form of MPlayer for PC? I've found something on Google but not sure if it's the same.

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. :)
 
This experience kinda proves the other major selling point for macs, which is the customer service.

Apple are really second to none for their aftersales care. For myself and my friends and family that use macs they consistently go above and beyond what I'd expect for hardware support. When you take something that has developed a minor fault back to the shop and they offer you a full cash refund, despite it being nearly a year since you bought it, it kinda instills brand loyalty. Not to mention the times they fixed things for free that are well outside of their Applecare.
 
This experience kinda proves the other major selling point for macs, which is the customer service.

Apple are really second to none for their aftersales care. For myself and my friends and family that use macs they consistently go above and beyond what I'd expect for hardware support. When you take something that has developed a minor fault back to the shop and they offer you a full cash refund, despite it being nearly a year since you bought it, it kinda instills brand loyalty. Not to mention the times they fixed things for free that are well outside of their Applecare.

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?
 
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?

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!
 
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