To Macbook Pro or not to?

S

SiliconSwitch

Limp Gawd
Joined
Feb 6, 2006
Messages
233
Hey guys,

So I am going to be buying a laptop for school in the next few days and I wanted a 2nd opinion on my choice.

I need a laptop with good battery life and a decent gpu to handle 3d stuff such as catia, solidworks, autocad and any other 3d modeling software I throw at it.

I am looking at getting the 15 inch MBP:

* 2.0GHz quad-core
Intel Core i7
* 4GB 1333MHz
* 500GB 5400-rpm1
* Intel HD Graphics 3000
* AMD Radeon HD 6490M with 256MB GDDR5
* Built-in battery (7 hours)2

This MBP has the beauty of the switching intel gpu/amd gpu to save battery life, quad core, decent amount of ram and decent hdd size. My personal first hand experience with mbp battery life is that its the best ive ever seen.

I understand I could go for maybe a Dell XPS which in general is a better bang for your buck as far as the hardware is concerned but even the 1300$ xps doesnt come with a quad core. The alienwares might meet my hardware needs with the quad core and good gpu but size and battery life just suck.

Also I forgot to mention that I am getting 25% off the MBP so it brings the price down to 1386$ + tax, very close to the XPS with the dual core but much better battery life.

I plan on triple booting osx, windows 7 and SL so software isnt really in the debate anymore.

What do you guys think? Can anyone think of any reason not to go for the MBP? Anyone have a better solution for me?

Any and all opinions/advice are welcome.

Thanks
 
I've got the same MBP as you're considering. It's a fantastic laptop, but you won't find many Mac fans in this forum. I suggest getting the higher end model, especially with that sweet student discount. The higher model has a 1GB ATI 6750M card which will handle heavy graphics tasks (and games) a lot better. My MBP isn't my main computer, so the lower GPU is fine.

Get the hi-res (1680x1050) display, too. It makes a big difference. Also, spring for the extended AppleCare warranty. You can delay the purchase until just before the first year standard warranty expires, but get it. If you have a problem, there's no better customer service than Apple.
 
The higher end gpu would be nice but it starts becoming a financial issue I'll have to figure out myself, same goes for the high res screen.

I looked at the lenovos, still dont see their battery life beating the MBP...

The only issue I'm seeing with the MBP is that Catia and Solidworks dont run on OS X so I would have to run them in bootcamp on windows. Thats fine except that the gpu switching still doesnt work in windows so I'll probably have crappy battery life while using in windows doing 3D stuff.
 
There's plenty of Macbook owners and fans around here but there are a number of extremists around here. I'd never by a MBP because none are convertible, haven't bought a non-convertible laptop outside of a netbook since 2003, I've bought 6 convertibles since.

But the MBPs are very nice machines however and will server most people pretty well though the pricing probably isn't work it to a lot of folks but you're getting a good deal I think. That price on your quad core 15" MBP is significantly less than what I paid for my dual core i7 x220t.

If you want it I'd say go for.
 
I have a 13" MBP, and a couple friends have 15" ones.

Pros:

Good screen
Best Touchpad I've ever seen by far.
OK keyboard. Get used to random 4 or 5 key shortcuts under Windows for things like Insert and PrintScren.
Amazing OSX battery life, middle of the road windows battery life
Decent Performance
Quite easy to rip out RAM, HDD, DVD drive and replace them.
Best tech support ever (though quite pricy, so get Applecare) who have ignored my rampant replacement of third-party parts.
It's small, light, and thin. Also, flat bottom means it can go on your lap if you need to.

Cons:
It's one big piece of metal with poor cooling. It gets hot. Very hot. Especially with a better video card in there. Apple's optimizing for battery life rather than temps doesn't help. My CPU routinely hits 100C under Win7 and 94C under OSX and the fans will still be at the lowest setting. Just turning up the fans with a third-party program will instantly drop it 30 or 40C though.
Could really use a couple extra ports, so get a $15 USB hub.
Not quite as durable as you'd expect. Mine's headed in soon for its 4th mobo in 2 years. Also, second screen (don't push on back of lid ever), and second battery. Luckily, this is all paid for by AppleCare (except the battery).
Price, which isn't (much of) a problem for you.

Personally, GET THE GOOD SCREEN. It's one of the best laptop screens out there, and worth every penny, especially if you're doing any graphics work. Maybe get the better GFX card if you think you'll need it. I don't know how much power CAD stuff takes.
 
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I just got the new 15" MBP, and I sprung for the high res anti glare screen and the upgraded video card.

You should really look at upgrading the screen if you can fit in the extra 100 bucks (150 for anti glare). The upgraded video card would be nice for what you want to do, but isn't a deal breaker. Pixel count IS a deal breaker for that type of work. Do your self a favor, get the 1680x1050 screen.

I've been using this MBP for about 2 weeks now (my first mac), and I LOVE it. It's easily the best computer I've ever had. I've set up bootcamp as well (for some gaming), and it seems to work great.
 
This MBP has the beauty of the switching intel gpu/amd gpu to save battery life
Click to expand...

many laptops do this, my Asus 1215N does this with nvidia Optimus which i bought... last year.
 
Honestly, the tremendous battery life of a MBP is really only running OSX. The Win7 drivers aren't nearly as power optimized as the OSX implementation is.

That said, I personally run OSX almost always, and only reboot/start VM of Win7 when I need to use the 1 program I use that doesn't exist for OSX. (It's a 3D seismic interpretation program, when I'm just pulling something up real quick Parallels is fine, if I'm working for a while, it's faster to boot into Win7 completely as it's pretty processor intensive).
 
MrGuvernment said:
many laptops do this, my Asus 1215N does this with nvidia Optimus which i bought... last year.
Click to expand...

But a lot of high end computers didn't bother to implement it (still don't in a lot of cases). And AMD switchables are pretty much brand new.
 
Thanks for all the replies guys. I looked into the lenovos but with my discount at apple it comes to almost the same price for one with the same specs.

I've come to terms that battery life in windows wont be as good but I plan on only using win7 when I need to use catia or solidworks, everything else ill do on osx so it's not a big issue.

I think what I'm gonna do is get the 4gb, 6490m with the high def anti-glare screen.

The 4gb can be changed to 8gb for like 70-80$ if I do it myself... And I can't really justify the 400$ price jump to get the 6750m. The stuff I will be doing isn't so demanding on the gpu that I need the better one.

I looked at the two screen types in store and I think you guys are right about the high-def antiglare, especially sitting in classrooms and auditoriums I could see the glossy bugging me.
 
I will mention, not knowing the requirements/usage of catia/Solidworks, the 8gb of ram might be overkill.

Personally, I planned on upgrading instantly to 8gb of ram, but for various reasons I held off. I've been watching system monitor, and I rarely use more then 2-3gb of active memory.

Instead, I would use the money for something else. As you mentioned, your a bit budget limited overall, and 70-80 is a months groceries or what-have-you. You can always upgrade the RAM later if needed, but I would try it out for a bit first to see.

I will suggest getting some kind of clip-on-case. I don't know why, but my MBP "felt" like I was going to scratch the hell out of it, when I opened it. I immediately put an incase clipcase on it, just in case. It's not needed, just "better safe then sorry" (and it's blue!). It's such a pretty machine, even in the clipcase it's still amazing, but I feel like I'm less likely to scratch it. /shrug. Too each their own.
 
Yeah that's exactly what I plan on doing Zumino, I'll see how it does on 4gb and upgrade to 8 if needed.
 
Chibo said:
...and the MBP has done graphics switching for almost three years now. (Oct. 2008)
Click to expand...


My w500 does it and it's even older. I think it's been possible on windows ever since vista came out.
 
Also due to the artificial scarcity of MBPs (meaning there is only one and it get's an update once per year if we're lucky), the resale value is very high. I sold my white MB for 60% of it's original price over 3 years after I bought it.
 
Ryan711 said:
Also due to the artificial scarcity of MBPs (meaning there is only one and it get's an update once per year if we're lucky), the resale value is very high. I sold my white MB for 60% of it's original price over 3 years after I bought it.
Click to expand...

It's not so much the hardware, it's the software. Macbooks would be worth less after market if OS X were officially supported on generic hardware.
 
meyerkev said:
But a lot of high end computers didn't bother to implement it (still don't in a lot of cases). And AMD switchables are pretty much brand new.
Click to expand...

didnt know that! learn something new every day, figured AMD would of had it by now. :)
 
It will run much warmer when booted into Windows and there is no GPU switching in Windows. Also once you get used to the track pad in OS X and then reboot into Windows you will be in for a major shock: Massive suckitude.

Many of the things I like about my MBP totally suck when booted into Windows. I still haven't found a reliable method to increase the fan speed within Windows. The fans in Windows should default to 3K, not 2K RPMs.

Anything else you need to know?
 
BGK said:
My w500 does it and it's even older. I think it's been possible on windows ever since vista came out.
Click to expand...
Possible way before then. Except back in XP, you has to use special vendor drivers, and toggle a BIOS switch...
MrGuvernment said:
didnt know that! learn something new every day, figured AMD would of had it by now. :)
Click to expand...

AMD now also has muxless switching, but had "normal (nonBIOS/reboot)" switching quite a while ago, too. nVidia had, and still has, the lead in this reguard, so far, first to do switching outright, first to do muxless switching.
 
It's a fantastic laptop, i've had no problems using win7 on it, the apple drivers work great.

And using OSX out and about for the net etc is awesome, longgggg battery life.
 
KENNYB said:
It will run much warmer when booted into Windows and there is no GPU switching in Windows. Also once you get used to the track pad in OS X and then reboot into Windows you will be in for a major shock: Massive suckitude.

Many of the things I like about my MBP totally suck when booted into Windows. I still haven't found a reliable method to increase the fan speed within Windows. The fans in Windows should default to 3K, not 2K RPMs.

Anything else you need to know?
Click to expand...

Lubbo's fan control.
 
nightwalker said:
It's a fantastic laptop, i've had no problems using win7 on it, the apple drivers work great.

And using OSX out and about for the net etc is awesome, longgggg battery life.
Click to expand...

There are plenty of powerful PC laptops that rival and excel Macbooks in battery life these days.
 
Except you can't find one that has:

A large centered trackpad
A 16:10 display
Aluminum case/shell
Magsafe power connector

The MBP is in a class of its own. There just isn't any competitors.
 
I am a PC person... running 8 different Win7 machines at home including my main/photoediting rig. I recently bought a MBP 15" antiglare, 2.3ghz, etc... I put a OCZ Vertex 3 240GB SSD, moved the default 750GB HD to the optical bay, and upgraded my memory to 8GB.. man this laptop screams. I am loving it a lot. When I was spec'ing out laptops with similar hardware, the MBP was just a tad more expensive but not much. I also used my education discount from my old college ID. I have been out of college for a few years :)
 
danman said:
Except you can't find one that has:

A large centered trackpad
A 16:10 display
Aluminum case/shell
Magsafe power connector

The MBP is in a class of its own. There just isn't any competitors.
Click to expand...

But no Maubook has an IPS screen and the aluminum shell isn't necessarily all that great. Looks good but heat can be an issue. There a zillion options when it comes to PC laptops so if the list you gave is what is important to someone great but there is much more to consider.
 
So what's wrong with the aluminum shell? I like mine a hell of a lot. Aside from the sharp corners where the touchpad is, I don't see any flaws. As for it making the machine overheat, I don't believe it. If anything it radiates the heat outside of the case, which is a good thing.
 
My 2011 17" Macbook Pro gets REALLY hot. Sure it is fast, but you can't get those speeds because the stupid thing overheats.

I manually set the fan speed to max first. I then ran Prime95 on all 4 cores. The thing sits at 90-95 degrees Celsius on each core at stock speed. Turbo boost is a no go or it would just fry. I cringe at the thought of running prime95 and OCCT at the same time. I am pretty sure it would just melt into a pretty little puddle with a small apple floating on top.

I have it on top of a stainless steel desk now so it can act as a giant heatsink. I have a normal house fan blowing on it. That does the trick at least. The underside of the desk is really hot to touch after running a full load test. It actually burns if I hold my hand there longer than a few seconds.
 
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xDezor said:
Same reasoning for why heatsinks on CPU's are bad right?
Click to expand...

the point is it is effective at keeping the components cool, however the device itself gets very hot....it is a common "complaint" from MBP/MB users......
 
danman said:
Except you can't find one that has:

A large centered trackpad
A 16:10 display
Aluminum case/shell
Magsafe power connector

The MBP is in a class of its own. There just isn't any competitors.
Click to expand...
OH THANK GOD ITS GOT THE MAGSAFE CONNECTOR!

what?

MBP is a nice laptop to look at, and with your discount it might be a better buy than it otherwise would be, but I can't stand OSX and don't want to be associated with all the rest of the mactards..
 
I have windows 7 on mine... The new macs have the latest OSX which has bootcamp built in. All you do is load up OSX then go to your bootcamp app. Click it and choose a couple options then reboot. Next thing you do is install windows and forget you ever bought a Mac. It even boots into windows by default. I only loaded up OSX once and never plan to again. I wanted the laptop for the appearance. I even have an anti mac wallpaper on windows 7 in case any of those mactards see me with it.
 
Crucible1001 said:
I have windows 7 on mine... The new macs have the latest OSX which has bootcamp built in. All you do is load up OSX then go to your bootcamp app. Click it and choose a couple options then reboot. Next thing you do is install windows and forget you ever bought a Mac. It even boots into windows by default. I only loaded up OSX once and never plan to again. I wanted the laptop for the appearance. I even have an anti mac wallpaper on windows 7 in case any of those mactards see me with it.
Click to expand...
and yet, as has been stated repeatedly in this thread, a MBP is not optimized for windows and probably performs worse then other comparable laptops
 
xDezor said:
So what's wrong with the aluminum shell? I like mine a hell of a lot. Aside from the sharp corners where the touchpad is, I don't see any flaws. As for it making the machine overheat, I don't believe it. If anything it radiates the heat outside of the case, which is a good thing.
Click to expand...

Aluminum dents and bends. Magnesium alloy doesn't as easily (though it occasionally cracks).
 
Pylon said:
Aluminum dents and bends. Magnesium alloy doesn't as easily (though it occasionally cracks).
Click to expand...

Yeah, the aluminum is aesthetics. Even high-grade plastics and be more durable though not as attractive.
 
Activate: AMD said:
and yet, as has been stated repeatedly in this thread, a MBP is not optimized for windows and probably performs worse then other comparable laptops
Click to expand...

Well, as I have already significantly tested it, I can tell you it runs perfectly in Windows 7. It does not have to be "optimized" to run Windows 7. No computer does. The i7 CPUs, the mobile 6750 GPUs, DDR3 RAM, and 2.5" SATA hard drives are designed to use Windows. The laptop even came with Windows 7 drivers in case you wanted to install it with bootcamp. Maybe old Macs are problematic, but these 2011 ones are designed to run both Windows 7 and OSX.
 
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