Macbook Pro 17" Looks very good.

magick

magick

magick

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I've never really notived how good Macbook pros appear. They're very slim and very light for there relative size and have a battery life of 8 hours according to apple.

Can anyone tell me

1) Are they quiet?

2) Do they really have a battery life of 8 hours?

3) Can the 9600GT play the following at 1920x1200 ok?

-- World Of Warcraft
-- Call Of Duty 4
-- Quake 4

4) Can a Macbook Pro run logic with very low latency with it's onboard soundcard?
 
1) The MacBooks are relatively quiet unless you're doing intensive stuff, in which case the fans can kick in. I can't say it's any different to any other laptop in that respect.

2) You can guarantee that Apple's claim of 8 hours is done under the most optimized conditions - so it's unlikely that it will be replicated by the end user. I would imagine 5-6 hours would be more accurate, which is still very good.

3) I believe it'll hand those okay but would await a second opinion.

4) I've never used it before so I can't say.
 
As I recall, the 8 hours battery life is with a decrease in brightness on the screen and only during text editing / browsing.
 
Thanks. I'm seiously tempted by one of these now. Was looking towards an alienware m15x I think a macbook pro mayb a better choice.

One more question : Is it true that windows bootstraped won't run very good on a macbook because the drivers for the mousepad aren't complete and windows can't control the fans in laptop properly causing overheating?
 
magick said:
Thanks. I'm seiously tempted by one of these now. Was looking towards an alienware m15x I think a macbook pro mayb a better choice.

One more question : Is it true that windows bootstraped won't run very good on a macbook because the drivers for the mousepad aren't complete and windows can't control the fans in laptop properly causing overheating?
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The OS X install disc comes complete with all drivers.

They are installed as part of the Bootcamp process, but can be upgraded in Windows using the standard Vista/XP method (e.g. Device Manager)

You can download fan controls, but I'm sure the heat would not be a problem.
 
I have a 15" MBP Late 2008 (the new one with the 1066Mhz RAM) and I don't have a problem with heat in Windows. From what I can tell it defaults the faster video card so it does get warm in the top left but the fans spin up & down as you'd expect.

I've yet to see anything above 84degs when running Windows stuff, maybe a little hotter when encoding video in OSX and with a VMW Windows image running, but it cools soon enough once the fans crank up.

Ref the 17", I was massively surprised how big the unit ISN'T. The screen acreage seems fantastic (It's HD I think) whereas it's not that big & heavy.

I don't move around much - I tend to be at one site all day - so I think I may move up to the 17.
 
I always used to have 17" MBPs, until the unibody MBPs were announced.

TBH I would have gone with a 17" if the option was there at the time, but I suppose I'll see how the battery lasts on this gen before upgrading.

FYI: The 17" is only something like 2cm x 2cm bigger than the 15", so it's nothing :)

Also, the HD resolution and crispness of the display is probably the biggest thing I miss...
 
Is it easy to change the HD in a macbook pro and do you void the warranty if you do?

On the mac site they can only be brought with 320gb drives but ocuk has a new 500gb 7200rpm drive that i'd probably swap for. And does it come with a clean install mac os disc?
 
magick said:
Is it easy to change the HD in a macbook pro and do you void the warranty if you do?

On the mac site they can only be brought with 320gb drives but ocuk has a new 500gb 7200rpm drive that i'd probably swap for. And does it come with a clean install mac os disc?
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It's very easy and a user servicable part that doesn't affect your warranty. I have 320Gb WD 7200RPM unit in mine and it flies. I'll be getting the 7200 500Gb when available as well I think.

You get OSX install disks with the unit.
 
Erm can you remove the battery on the 17" model? The spec says "Built in"- What are you supposed to do in 2 years when the battery is performing poorly? buy a new MBP?
 
But they are not cheap. I bet Apple will charge a fortune for that.

ALso if you want to use the MBP on a desk connected to external monitor/ KB for a long period, you will kill the battery by keeping it 100% charged all the time. What would be better is like with the 15" model where you can remove it and just run it off the mains, thus preserving the battery.

Looking to get a MBP soon, but really put off by the internal battery on the 17".
 
Bes said:
ALso if you want to use the MBP on a desk connected to external monitor/ KB for a long period, you will kill the battery by keeping it 100% charged all the time. What would be better is like with the 15" model where you can remove it and just run it off the mains, thus preserving the battery.
Click to expand...

Once the battery is charged and it is still plugged in, it will run entirely off the mains so the battery doesn't get killed.
 
Justin, so is this different to how a normal laptop works?

I thought the issue was that the charge gets held at 100%?

An example is my work laptop (IBM T60) Great laptop, but the battery is terrible as it spends nearly all its life plugged into the mains. I get about 40 minutes out of it, so it's practically useless. Will the MBP be different?
 
They don't run at full speed with the battery removed in case it needs more power than the AC adapter can supply, so you wouldn't want to do that anyway!
 
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