Apple Updates MacBook Pro Line with Faster Processors, Next-Gen Graphics

[DeathByTray]

2 cores and a last gen GPU? I guess that's awesome by Apple standards.

 

[entropy13]

2 cores and a last gen GPU? I guess that's awesome by Apple standards.

It isn't even last gen, they're still based from the 9000M series. The G100 and GTX/GT/GTS 200 series are refreshes of the previous gen, while the GT/GTS 300 series are refresh of the 200. lol

 

[gumpty]

I too found it surprising that Apple went with Nvidia's 'next-gen' (lol) graphics chips, but here's my theory as to why.

Adobe CS5.

It seems to me that 90% of people that buy Macbooks are 'creative' types that have jobs in media-type industries. Now just the other day CS5 was released that exclusively uses Cuda to accelerate real-time rendering etc. Now if Apple had gone with an ATI graphics solution, then a whole bunch of Apple kiddies would be left wondering 'why doesn't Premiere Pro work on my Mac like it used to?'
Unfortunately for Apple, Nvidia is still a good while away from producing Fermi mobile GPUs, so Apple are stuck with this for now.

 

[DeathByTray]

CS5 works on ATI as well as Nvidia.
The only difference is the Mercury Engine which uses the GPU (CUDA). This feature is only found in Premiere. Additionally, it might only work with workstation cards and I've yet to see the image quality of such a GPU-rendered video.
So, I've a hard time imagining people who work with Premiere are buying such an underpowered MacBook. People who do video editing on a semi-professional/professional level are not the target market.

Yes, I know, Apple works hard on its image as home for 'creativisionists'. The 'I want to be part of them' feeling is one of the reasons for the ongoing hype. Dream != reality though.

 

[AsRock]

WOW thats a lot for a i5 laptop, one thing for sure you paying a lot for that name tag.

 

[gumpty]

Additional, it might only work with workstation cards ...

The latest Nvidia drivers added CS5 support.

So, I've a hard time imagining people who work with Premiere are buying such an underpowered MacBook. People who do video editing on a semi-professional/professional level are not the target market.

Yes, I know, Apple works hard on its image as home for 'creativisionists'. The 'I want to be part of them' feeling is one of the reasons for the ongoing hype. Dream != reality though.

Yeah, I agree with all of that; although I think you'd be surprised how many creative types have MacBook Pros as their secondary/personal computer, while using the beast Mac Pro workstations for their professional work.

But bugger me Apple people are dense. I have two creative friends, both designers of graphical stuff. Creative A is looking to get a iMac so she can work from home, while asking my advice about it (not that I know jack all about them).

Creative A: 'So this iMac will be more powerful than Creative B's work Mac?'
Me: 'No idea, what type of Mac do you have Creative B?'
Creative B: 'Umm ... I dunno what it's called. It's a big box that sits under my desk.'
Me: 'Errr ... right, that'd be a Mac Pro then. No, you're new iMac probably wont be as powerful as her work Mac.'
Creative A: [crestfallen] 'But I thought it'd be better because it's newer?'
Me: 'Indeed. Sooo ... who wants beer?'

 

[DeathByTray]

The latest Nvidia drivers added CS5 support.

Nice, so the OpenCL equivalent will work on consumer cards too.

Yeah, I agree with all of that; although I think you'd be surprised how many creative types have MacBook Pros as their secondary/personal computer, while using the beast Mac Pro workstations for their professional work.

But those people aren't into Premiere/AE or they'd do something horribly wrong.

 

[ToTTenTranz]

2 cores and a last gen GPU? I guess that's awesome by Apple standards.

But Appletards will all rush in saying "but it's got 10 gazzillion hours of battery life!!".



Big deal, so does my EeePC.

 

[DrPepper]

But Appletards will all rush in saying "but it's got 10 gazzillion hours of battery life!!".



Big deal, so does my EeePC.

Everywhere I go execpt buses there is plug space to plug in laptops and even in cars you can charge them so I really don't see it as a problem.

 

[ToTTenTranz]

Everywhere I go execpt buses there is plug space to plug in laptops and even in cars you can charge them so I really don't see it as a problem.

Yeah but the macturds will hype the battery life as if it was the most important thing in the world, even if they never use the laptop without having it plugged.

 

[DrPepper]

Yeah but the macturds will hype the battery life as if it was the most important thing in the world, even if they never use the laptop without having it plugged.

Yeah I was kind of backing you up saying there are plugs everywhere anyway.

 

[angelkiller]

Yeah but the macturds will hype the battery life as if it was the most important thing in the world, even if they never use the laptop without having it plugged.

But Appletards will all rush in saying "but it's got 10 gazzillion hours of battery life!!".



Big deal, so does my EeePC.

So hostile. It's just a laptop. Chill out. :shadedshu

Just becasuse you don't like it, doesn't mean you should make unfounded arguments.

Battery life in vacuum is meaningless. Your eee gets 10 hours of battery life? Yeah, well so does my Nintendo DS.

The Macbook gets many hours of battery life using standard laptop parts. Please show me another laptop that can match its battery life with similarly spec'ed components.

Battery life is important to me. If it isn't to you, maybe you should post in that Eurocom laptop.

 

[Fourstaff]

Please show me another laptop that can match its battery life with similarly spec'ed components.

Just use extra size battery pack/extra batteries, every laptop can last quite long.

 

[kid41212003]

It isn't even last gen, they're still based from the 9000M series. The G100 and GTX/GT/GTS 200 series are refreshes of the previous gen, while the GT/GTS 300 series are refresh of the 200. lol

What do you expect a laptop can do? DX11 tells?

 

[angelkiller]

Just use extra size battery pack/extra batteries, every laptop can last quite long.

Extra batteries add weight, cost and inconvenience.

 

[DrPepper]

Just find somewhere to plug it in ?

 

[angelkiller]

Just find somewhere to plug it in ?

Why have a battery at all then? You can just plug it in?

 

[DrPepper]

Why have a battery at all then? You can just plug it in?

It's hard to travel for 4 hours and not find a place to plug it in = battery life isn't rediculously important.

 

[Fourstaff]

Extra batteries add weight, cost and inconvenience.

Weight and inconvenience, maybe. But definitely not cost. Mr Jobs overprice everything of his by over 9000% Even then the weight is not that much of an issue, a battery is probably much less than half a kg, and the inconvenience is negated by the fact that you almost always need a bag when you have a laptop. Just my £0.02

 

[angelkiller]

It's hard to travel for 4 hours and not find a place to plug it in = battery life isn't rediculously important.

I'll admit it's not necessary.

But I literally use my laptop for 6+ hours everyday. I would like to have good battery life, so it's important to me. To each his own.

Weight and inconvenience, maybe. But definitely not cost. Mr Jobs overprice everything of his by over 9000% Even then the weight is not that much of an issue, a battery is probably much less than half a kg, and the inconvenience is negated by the fact that you almost always need a bag when you have a laptop. Just my £0.02

Not cost? Any kind of battery that isn't standard is going to cost extra. 2nd battery? Extra. Bigger battery? Extra. And laptop batteries are expensive. Apple or not. The battery is actually one of the heaviest parts of a laptop. I would say it's about 40% of a laptop's weight. In absolute terms, of course it's not much. If you get one of those big SLI laptops, sure, it only weighs 5 kg. You can lift 5 kg no problem. But relative to everything else. It's really heavy. I keep my laptop in my backpack. No separate bag outside of a small, flexible cover.


Edit: I'm out of this thread. You people are so ingrained in what you believe that you are failing to understand my points.

 

[kid41212003]

There are plugs everywhere.

School, work, cafe, ect...

Only in widerness is not.

 

[Steevo]

I love my toshiba, dropped it out of my work truck today, a few smacks to get the sand and junk out of the ports and put in inside. Plenty of power, a shiny new screen a couple years ago since it was dropped 12' onto concrete, more RAM and it still goes. Bent frame and all.

 

[ToTTenTranz]

So hostile. It's just a laptop. Chill out. :shadedshu

Just becasuse you don't like it, doesn't mean you should make unfounded arguments.

Battery life in vacuum is meaningless. Your eee gets 10 hours of battery life? Yeah, well so does my Nintendo DS.

The Macbook gets many hours of battery life using standard laptop parts. Please show me another laptop that can match its battery life with similarly spec'ed components.

Battery life is important to me. If it isn't to you, maybe you should post in that Eurocom laptop.

The Macbooks only get that many hours if the wireless is off and the screen light is set to lowest.
Using a decent light intensity and turning the wireless on, it won't do much better than the average laptop.

So, it has the same battery life as my EeePC only when it's doing the exact same thing as my EeePC can do, which is doing some very light processing (text editing and such).

Edit: I'm out of this thread. You people are so ingrained in what you believe that you are failing to understand my points.

We're all failing to understand your points because we're not under the effect of a certain Reality Distortion Field.
So please, try to spread the Jobs religion elsewhere.

 

[btarunr]

Relax guys, stick to the topic.

 

[Wile E]

Weight and inconvenience, maybe. But definitely not cost. Mr Jobs overprice everything of his by over 9000% Even then the weight is not that much of an issue, a battery is probably much less than half a kg, and the inconvenience is negated by the fact that you almost always need a bag when you have a laptop. Just my £0.02

Depends on what you are talking about.

Dual cpu workstations? Not really, as long as you buy the base configuration.

iMac (which has an IPS based screen)? Not really overpriced either.

Mac Mini? Priced lower than all other mini PCs on the market of the same size and power.

Laptops? Absolutely. They are way overpriced for their specs. The biggest difference between an Apple laptop and a normal one, is the Apple uses an all aluminum enclosure. Price increase doesn't seem justified to me. $100 more, maybe, but not hundreds. Maybe if they used IPS panels it would be worth the price increase.