Thinking of getting 13" MBP

prizrak

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So it's time to retire this thing in favor of something with more power. So despite my general dislike for Apple and Macs I have been looking at the 13" MBP. Mainly the 10 hour battery life (well probably more like 8 with normal usage but close enough really) and the fact that Apple makes sturdy machines. (My g/f dropped her MB 3-4 times already and roommate actually dented, it looks horrible I should post a picture of the scary, her 17" MBP and its still running like a champ). Also it plays SC2 :)

Any thoughts are appreciated.
I like the 13" form factor but I am wondering if there is any reason to go for the 15" one (aside from faster CPU). Also is there much of a performance difference between the 2.4C2D and the 2.66? It seems that the CPU and slightly bigger hard drive are the only difference between the two 13" MBPs that Apple offers.

If anyone wants to post PCs with similar performance/specs and bullet proof reliability feel free to do so as well :)

Thank you.
 
I guess it depends what you're using it for and how you use it .... but I think the component that most affects the performance is the hard drive. I'd recommend you look at the different MacBooks available and try to configure an SSD (as top priority) into your budget. I've had a MacBook Air for about 2 years and love it .. mine has a 2.2GHz(approx) processor and a 128GB SSD. With 2 years of solid use, I still have about 50GB free. The SSD is the key ... 20 second boot up and 5 sec shut down.

I'd always been a PC bloke, but the Mac is better made and more reliable than any PC notebook I've had .. it was also better value (on purchase price alone).
 
I'd definitely recommend you to wait a bit longer if you can as Apple should come up with revised models (Sandy Bridge) fairly soon. I expect the new models to have better displays with the same resolution as the 13" MacBook Air (1440*900) among other things.

If you really can't wait, don't waste your money on the 2.66GHz, get a faster hard drive or SSD and more RAM instead, that'll make a bigger difference.
Aside from the faster CPU and bigger display, the 15" also has a faster graphics card.
 
Two main things when opting for Apple hardware these days:
1. Try the keyboard. While some people love it to pieces, to me it is an absolute dealbreaker.
2. If you want a matte display, you have to go 15", as Apple only offers glossy on the 13" models. Another dealbreaker for me.

Apart from that, it's some of the best-designed and best-made hardware money can buy, one has to give that to Apple.
 
My g/f has a MacBook so I'm well familiar with the keyboard. Also my work laptop has the same style (chiclet) keyboard so I'm somewhat used to it. Performance is not a concern, neither is bootup/shutdown time (I don't turn off my machines, suspend works well enough) just wanted to know if faster CPU makes much of a difference. Basically all I want it to do is play Star Craft 2 (which I know it does fine) outside of that I don't much care :)

When does Apple usually do hardware refreshes for their MBPs? I'm in no rush, won't be buying it until about Summer most likely.
 
Usually in the next couple months. Even if they decide to ruin them instead of improve them (which they do in cycles with ipods so it wouldn't be too shocking) the older ones will get a massive refurbished price drop.
 
It is said that they should renew them in the coming month, but with all the issues that have plagued Sandy Bridge since its birth, nobody's sure anymore...
 
13" MBP, try 4 hours battery life not 10 unless you use your pc with the brightness turned right down, and wifi turned off
 
Word of warning: don't get it unless you really like OSX.
They stopped making Bootcamp and Linux for them? :p
It is said that they should renew them in the coming month, but with all the issues that have plagued Sandy Bridge since its birth, nobody's sure anymore...
Thanks. Seems like Intel got a handle on it at this point tho.
13" MBP, try 4 hours battery life not 10 unless you use your pc with the brightness turned right down, and wifi turned off

I'm not expecting 10 but I would assume around 8 or so of normal usage, it's more than 4 for sure my g/f's 2 year old MB does around 3. Even if it does 5-6 it would still be way better than my current 45 minutes or so :p
 
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Word of warning: don't get it unless you really like OSX.

^ This.

There's plenty of alternatives if you're after battery life. My new 13.1" Sony Vaio Z should be arriving soon and it'll have 7 hours of battery life, or 10 hours if I get the 9 cell instead of the 6 cell. It was rather spendy though as that model is high end (two SSD's in RAID 0, etc.).

SSD's are the biggest battery saver I hear.
 
What are the potential problems with running Windows on a MBP? Driver issues?

Sent from my Milestone using Tapatalk
 
What are the potential problems with running Windows on a MBP? Driver issues?

Sent from my Milestone using Tapatalk

Pretty much yeah...
@Viper and ahpadt,
As far as the OS goes I'm fairly agnostic in that respect. I've gone through 4 or 5 different Linux distros in my time, was on Ubuntu since Warty came out and switched back to Windows when 7 shipped. I mostly use my laptops for interwebs and Chrome seems to work just fine on OS X :p

Main things I'm looking at right now.
1) Playing StarCraft 2 - most 13" laptops I know of can't as they come with asthmatic Intel video
2) The Airport router I use for wireless has a capability of sharing a USB drive to the network, however when it shares to Windows machines it shares as FAT32 so no HD movies can be downloaded onto it (most are over 4GB). OS X sees it as a normal HFS+ volume (which it is) so no file size limitation (well ok there is but I'm unlikely to hit it within my lifetime)
3) Ability to damn near take a bullet. The only other laptops (outside of special ruggedized ones) that are built as tough as MBs are the ThinkPads.
4) Battery life - this is pretty much the least of my concerns, I mentioned it because its a nice little feature to be able to go all day without having to plug in the laptop but in reality I almost never use my laptop outside of my house. Have a smart phone for on the go stuff :)
 
13" MBP, try 4 hours battery life not 10 unless you use your pc with the brightness turned right down, and wifi turned off

Bull. I can watch a DVD for 4 hours and browse the net for 10 on my 6 month old 13" MBP.

Wait until sandy bridge comes out, then buy one. It's that simple.
 
^ This.

There's plenty of alternatives if you're after battery life. My new 13.1" Sony Vaio Z should be arriving soon and it'll have 7 hours of battery life, or 10 hours if I get the 9 cell instead of the 6 cell. It was rather spendy though as that model is high end (two SSD's in RAID 0, etc.).

SSD's are the biggest battery saver I hear.

I'm gonna get one of those aswell but holding back in the hope that they will upgrade them to Sandy Bridge soon. Really sexy machine.

They stopped making Bootcamp and Linux for them? :p

No, but having lived with one for a while I can tell you it will never be as good an experience with Windows compared to one that came with it out of the box. Never. I agree it's got fabulous hardware, I think it's awesome in that respect, but OSX is just lacking for me, personally. Also, the battery lasts for about 5 seconds if you run Windows on it.

Pretty much yeah...
@Viper and ahpadt,
As far as the OS goes I'm fairly agnostic in that respect. I've gone through 4 or 5 different Linux distros in my time, was on Ubuntu since Warty came out and switched back to Windows when 7 shipped. I mostly use my laptops for interwebs and Chrome seems to work just fine on OS X :p

I find OSX very good for surfing (apart from flash sites) the web (the touchpad+surfing combo beats EVERYTHING on the market, hands down). But when it comes to moving a bunch of files around all the time I find myself frustrated, missing a lot of features from Windows. A decent music player is something I think is a big fault aswell. I don't want my whole damn screen filled with iTunes just to play a song. I like it to be plain, simple and effective (Winamp).

Basically I'm saying it's a good laptop as long as you really understand that OSX does many things differently.
 
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No, but having lived with one for a while I can tell you it will never be as good an experience with Windows compared to one that came with it out of the box. Never. I agree it's got fabulous hardware, I think it's awesome in that respect, but OSX is just lacking for me, personally. Also, the battery lasts for about 5 seconds if you run Windows on it.

Originally Posted by prizrak
Pretty much yeah...
@Viper and ahpadt,
As far as the OS goes I'm fairly agnostic in that respect. I've gone through 4 or 5 different Linux distros in my time, was on Ubuntu since Warty came out and switched back to Windows when 7 shipped. I mostly use my laptops for interwebs and Chrome seems to work just fine on OS X
I find OSX very good for surfing (apart from flash sites) the web (the touchpad+surfing combo beats EVERYTHING on the market, hands down). But when it comes to moving a bunch of files around all the time I find myself frustrated, missing a lot of features from Windows. A decent music player is something I think is a big fault aswell. I don't want my whole damn screen filled with iTunes just to play a song. I like it to be plain, simple and effective (Winamp).

Basically I'm saying it's a good laptop as long as you really understand that OSX does many things differently.
I agree with you on OS X pretty much completely. (I have a decent amount of experience with it thanks to g/f running a Mac for two years now) The thing about OS X is that its a BSD with a nice interface. The interface is very limiting, however if you know your way around CLI (I support UNIX for a living so I'm quite comfortable with it) you can get it to do a LOT of things that the GUI won't let you. Also AFAIK it can use a lot of Linux software pretty much straight out of the box :)

My thing about hardware is not so much the quality of it (I find pretty much all decent brands fairly equal on that front) its the ability to be thrown at the wall and keep on trucking. I tend to have an abusive relationship with my electronics :)
 
I'm gonna get one of those aswell but holding back in the hope that they will upgrade them to Sandy Bridge soon. Really sexy machine.

I couldn't wait. Tired of my current POS and a CPU is a CPU when you get down to it.
 
My MBP 15" is specced to have a 9 hour batterylife.. Haven't been close to that ever, really. 5-6 hours with web browsing is more likely. Not that it bothers me, my old computer could barely last an hour, 5 hours worth of battery is a lifetime in comparison :)

Besides that, it's the best computer I've owned. Browsing the internet is perfect with the touchpad, I do have a mouse that I use for some light gaming, but for internet the touchpad is so much better.
 
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