Thinking of getting 13" MBP

Didn't know this, but it's valuable information as another friend of mine who does not like the clitoral device is in the market for a 12" i7 notebook.

Might be advisable to wait for the x220 since I would hope Lenovo finally update the screens on the x series to something half decent.
 
Might be advisable to wait for the x220 since I would hope Lenovo finally update the screens on the x series to something half decent.

She's a plone core developer so her main requirements for the display is that it can display vim in a Terminal.
 
^ Viper's model drop tested.


This is a very very gentle drop test. System off, lid closed is pretty much best case scenario for one. When I drop laptops its usually screen open and system running. Another problem is not so much drop/spill resistance is the actual build. I have an LED screen XPS and because the screen is so thin the bracing is not enough to keep it from flexing which is causing some internal cracking (started after about a year had the machine for 3 or so).

The new specs are official and the 13" MBP now only has Intel GFX.... Not too sure if I want it now and 15 while nice is a bit on the pricey and bulky side. Also battery life is down to 7hours (though it says 7 hours on wi-fi which is still quite impressive). Looked at the ThinkPads as an alternative but they only have 14" models (unless I go X which are Intel GFX again).
 
They downgraded the graphics? That doesn't make any sense to me, it was one of the huge plus points of the device.... I guess the general buying public really just don't care.
 
Well, the 6490 in the 15" should be roughly equal to the one it replaces? The 330m. You can BTO upgrade it to a 6750..

But it is weird, maybe they just really wanted to get away from nVidia for some reason.. :b
 
Sure, but that's in the 15." There aren't a lot of 13" notebook options with decent graphics.
 
Oh yeah, right, the thread is about the 13" my bad :)
 
They also left the display untouched without making a higher resolution an option. :( That Vaio starts at ?2400, might as well go for a Macbook Air then.
 
Looked at the ThinkPads as an alternative but they only have 14" models (unless I go X which are Intel GFX again).

I think the X-series can be upgraded with real graphics.
 
They downgraded the graphics? That doesn't make any sense to me, it was one of the huge plus points of the device.... I guess the general buying public really just don't care.
There is some debate to that, not too many tests around so far but what I have seen suggests that the i5 GPU core performs about on par with the old 320m from nVidia in just about everything. I suspect the main reason was packaging, Apple did state before that they didn't originally go for the iX CPUs in the 13" MBP was because they couldn't put another GPU in there and still maintain battery life so they decided to keep a slightly slower CPU in favor of better GFX. Even with the built in i5 GPU they lost 3 hours of stated battery life I suspect if they put an AMD chip in there on top of it all it would drop battery life too much for their liking.
I think the X-series can be upgraded with real graphics.
Didn't see any option other than Intel on their US site (can't judge internationally)
 
There is some debate to that, not too many tests around so far but what I have seen suggests that the i5 GPU core performs about on par with the old 320m from nVidia in just about everything. I suspect the main reason was packaging, Apple did state before that they didn't originally go for the iX CPUs in the 13" MBP was because they couldn't put another GPU in there and still maintain battery life so they decided to keep a slightly slower CPU in favor of better GFX. Even with the built in i5 GPU they lost 3 hours of stated battery life I suspect if they put an AMD chip in there on top of it all it would drop battery life too much for their liking.

Didn't see any option other than Intel on their US site (can't judge internationally)

I see, when I hear "Intel GPU" I think of the terrible GMA IGPs, but if Intel is stepping up the game, then I guess it's not really an issue. The 320m can play many if not most modern games which is great for a small notebook, whereas the old GMAs can barely handle Windows Aero effects....
 
I think my next machine could be a 13" MacBook Air if Apple or another company release a Gigabit Ethernet Thunderbolt (what a stupid name :-D) adapter.

I was a bit disappointed when I saw the specs, yeah the Core i7 is a nice option, even if only a dual core, but I would have been mostly excited about a new display to be honest. Oh well, looks like a solid upgrade nonetheless, it just means that I'll stick with my MacBook for one more year, which isn't bad news since it still runs great and is loaded with lots of SSD and RAM goodness :-d
 
I see, when I hear "Intel GPU" I think of the terrible GMA IGPs, but if Intel is stepping up the game, then I guess it's not really an issue. The 320m can play many if not most modern games which is great for a small notebook, whereas the old GMAs can barely handle Windows Aero effects....
Oh I'm with you on that one, I was strongly considering a 15" simply because of that but decided to do some research first. (Aside from a very noticeable price difference the 15" is bulky for my taste)
I think my next machine could be a 13" MacBook Air if Apple or another company release a Gigabit Ethernet Thunderbolt (what a stupid name ) adapter.
Thunderbolt is 10gbps and is not a networking device, not sure why you would need an Ether adapter running on that port.
I was a bit disappointed when I saw the specs, yeah the Core i7 is a nice option, even if only a dual core
The i7 is a Quad the i5 is a dual.
 
I saw on Intel's press release and Apple's page that Thunderbolt is able to adapt to a lot of standards and ports like USB, FireWire, Ethernet, etc. In which case you're only an adapter away to have Gigabit Ethernet whereas the only option on a MacBook Air before was a crappy 100mbps USB adapter.

Also, the 13" only has a dual-core i7, but it will be seen as a quad-core because of Hyper-Threading.
 
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I saw on Intel's press release and Apple's page that Thunderbolt is able to adapt to a lot of standards and ports like USB, FireWire, Ethernet, etc. In which case you're only an adapter away to have Gigabit Ethernet whereas the only option on a MacBook Air before was a crappy 100mbps USB adapter.
Ahh yeah didn't think about the USB2.0 480 limit. I would think they would just make a USB3.0 adapter for that.

Also, the 13" only has a dual-core i7, but it will be seen as a quad-core because of Hyper-Threading.

Ahh yes, thank you for some reason I thought the difference between the two was speed and they were both i5s. I didn't think Sandy Bridge even had a Dual Core figured they went quad. I suppose it would save you some juice.
 
Yeah they still have the faster FireWire 800, but not on the MacBook Air for lack of space in imagine.
 
Someone said that if the Thunderbolt interface is 'electric' the range of the cable you can use is.. 3 metres. However if it's 'optical' it could be a fair bit better.

Obviously the Apple sites doesn't tell you sh*t.
 
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Yeah they still have the faster FireWire 800, but not on the MacBook Air for lack of space in imagine.

That's what they say, but my 9" netbook has 3 USB Ports, ethernet, VGA out, headphone and mic jacks, and two card readers..... it can be done.
 
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