So Apple recently just refreshed their MacBook Pro line-up, and unfortunately imma be buying one in the very near future.
My current laptop is a beast, and in a few ways, the MBP will be a downgrade for me. But it's so pwetty! I honestly have a hard time imagining how Apple could re-design the MacBook Pros to look any better.The processor in the MBP configuration I'm buying is a 2.2 GHz i7, which is a step up from the 1.73 GHz i7 in my current laptop. Yay.The memory of the MBP is 4 GB DDR3, which is what I'm currently equipped with. The MBP's ram is clocked at 1333 MHz though, one-upping the 1066 MHz ram in my current laptop.500 GB 7200-rpm drive, same on both laptops.By-the-numbers, the MBP's screen is a downgrade at 1680x1050 versus the 1920x1080 I'm running now, but the quality of screen on this laptop is pretty mediocre. Not to mention the fairly annoying stuck pixels my current laptop's screen has. Apple's screens are, in contrast, always top-notch.The graphics card is seemingly going to be a step down from my current laptop's NVIDIA GTX 460M, but I can't find any benchmarks on the MBP's AMD Radeon HD 6750M. Unpleasant, but nonetheless I'll definitely still be able to run modern games at playable framerates.Backlit keyboards, from my experience, typically aren't all that useful. But it's a nice touch to the MBP anyway. The new webcam on the MBP is definitely a step up from just about any other laptop's webcam, but I don't use 'em hardly ever.I'll be losing a few features from the switch entirely, including fingerprint scanner, USB 3.0 port, and a Blu-ray drive. The fingerprint scanner's drivers are pretty shoddy though and I don't use any USB 3.0 peripherals. The loss of a Blu-ray drive is pretty shitty, but then again I usually opt to buy movies on DVD anyway due to them being cheaper and easier to rip. The loss of the USB 3.0 port is also more than made up for by the "Thunderbolt" port on the MBP, assuming it gets some decent support.tl;dr: I'm buying it 'cause it's pretty. That and it's just a better quality product than my current laptop.Edit: There's no turning back now, I have placed the order. $2,255.40 after all is said and done. My wallet is in agony. lol
Yess another MacBook user XD
Oh yeah, baby. B)
Though I've actually been a Mac addict for a while now. I have an early unibody MBP back home with Core 2 duo in it, lol.Actually, I can right-click easier on a Mac's single-button trackpad than I ever could on any Windows-based laptop. lol
And yeah, there's a so-called "Apple tax", but it's exaggerated by the Apple haters. Some of it is genuinely warranted due to the quality of the design. Unibody aluminum design, glass trackpad, LED battery indicator, Magnetic power cable, etc. A lot of small but nice little touches that really add up.…Not to mention that the "Apple tax" is made up for by the much better re-sale value of Macs anyway. I could probably sell my old MacBook Pro with its Core 2 Duo and midrange graphics card for more than I could sell my current laptop with its i7 and its high-end graphics card.That said, I can understand why some people prefer PCs to Macs. If you care less about aesthetics and just need power, or if you don't have a lot of disposable income, it makes sense to go with a PC.It sounds like Light Peak (Which is a much cooler name than thunderbolt) is going to be mac-exclusive for a few years.
Basically, that'll turn it into another firewire. A great port that nobody ever uses. Unfortunate, because it's a great standard and I was really hoping it'd replace USB.Personally, I dislike OS X on both a design level and a usability level, so to say the only reason to not buy a mac is not caring about aesthetics or being poor is somewhat of a fallacy. The hardware is generally decent, but I really don't see that making up the price difference. It seems silly to go on crusades over OS choice, and I think we can all agree that it could be worse - you could be buying alienware.I really…really really hate Macs. Windows forever!
But at the same time I can't help but love them…I just love the interface and how smooth everything is.This is a problematic issue here, guys.Yeah, after reading that comment I also found some clarification on that, thankfully. It's still an open standard, however there are no addon cards for it and it has to be built in to the motherboard - which means it's really up to them. It also seems that TB isn't the 'full' light peak, getting only 10GB/s in a dual-channel configuration (Meaning, impressively, it can drive two very large monitors with room to spare), wheras LP was planned to be 100GB/s. Really it's one hell of a standard and I really hope it takes off.
Personally, I like the look of apple's hardware, but their software? Eugh, ugly.Copper does let them power it as well, though, rather than it being a purely data port.