
Apple upgrades MacBook Pro line with faster processors, gfx cards, more storage - ukdm
http://thisismynext.com/2011/10/24/macbook-pro-specs-update-october-2011/
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andrewljohnson
I'm never buying a computer that lacks an SSD again. SSDs make launching
programs instantaneous, compiling code much faster, and rebooting and/or
switching user accounts painless. These things save me so much cumulative
time, and when I touch a computer without an SSD it's a shock to the system.

~~~
gujk
I get the feeling Apple knows and uses extremely SSD upgrades to drive higher
checkout prices with artificially depressed advertised prices. (Yes, I am
bitter that my old MBP is not user upgradeable. I understand that the newer
ones are, though.)

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pbrumm
There are guides at <http://www.ifixit.com/>

You can look through the steps it would take to see if your comfortable doing
it yourself.

I have done many repairs on my MBP and they were pretty easy. just required
patience.

~~~
dustyreagan
If one were to get a MBP with the standard Serial ATA Drive, could it later be
replaced with SSD? I've never seen an SSD drive, I'm wondering if the conector
is the same as Serial ATA?

I'm thinking I might just get the standard drive and upgrade it aftermarket.

~~~
foresterh
I've done this with the two MBP's we have at our house. It was very simple
(around 8 screws). Just make sure you have a tiny screwdriver set (like those
used for glasses). You can usually search for macbook screwdriver and find
ones that work for <$10

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4ad
I find 1280x800 for 13'' and 1440x900 for 15'' pathetic. I have a 15''
ThinkPad R60 with 2048x1536, yes, you read that right.

But today not even ThinkPad screens have a good resolution, X220 has a
1366x768 screen. I had a better screen resolution in 1995.

I like MacBooks and ThinkPads from a hardware perspective but I won't buy a
new one until they start using higher resolution screens.

~~~
ugh
OS X doesn’t have resolution independence. That’s why the resolution is what
it is.

Apple tried (for years) and it was working – more or less – but with Lion they
just dropped that. What they have now is a HiDPI mode which quadruples the
size of UI elements. It’s not yet completely done (some bitmaps still have to
be updated). They are following the lead of iOS in that respect.

What this hints at is a 2880×1800 screen in some future 15" MBP. To figure out
when a MBP like that will arrive you only have to find out when it becomes
feasible to sell it for around $2000 (while also keeping the performance and
battery life at least constant).

I’m not sure whether it’s currently even possible to buy 2880×1800 panels for
any price, not sure where screen technology is standing in that respect. By
the way, a 2880×1800 15" panel merely (well …) has 230 PPI. Apple couldn’t
even call it a Retina display.

~~~
aaronajp
You must have absolutely amazing eyesight. 2800x1800 is entirely too many
pixels on a 15" screen. I could see a resolution that extreme on a 27" iMac,
or possibly even a 21.5" iMac, but on a 15" screen, no way.

Resolution for resolution's sake is pointless if its not useable.

~~~
m3koval
This is the point of resolution independence. Increasing resolution only
shrinks graphical elements if the operating system isn't smart enough to
render them using more pixels. With good resolution independence moving a
higher resolution screen will make everything look sharper (higher pixel
density) but not significantly smaller (same physical size).

Compare the screen on the iPhone 4 to the iPhone 3G. Graphical elements are
the same size on both but the iPhone 4 has twice the resolution.

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bconway
It seems that you still can't get a gaming-worth MacBook (upper model discrete
GPU) for less than 2500 bucks when spec'd appropriately. A PC-based laptop
with Core i5 and AMD HD6630M (also used in the upper model Mac Mini) goes for
$950 and is smaller/lighter than the 13" MBP, or $850 with a GT 540 and
similar size/weight.

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adamc
I noticed that you can't get a reasonable graphics card in the 13" model
anymore. That was actually a feature that helped convince me to switch back --
I wanted a portable laptop with some gaming options. Intel HD Graphics 3000
doesn't really cut it.

Ah, well. It may well return in a future model.

~~~
malvim
Yeah, I got the mid-2009 13-inch MBP, with the NVIDIA Graphics. Still waiting
on newer 13-inch MBPs with NVIDIAs / ATIs, though. Very sad they decided to
switch back to Intel... :/

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wmf
_Still waiting on newer 13-inch MBPs with NVIDIAs / ATIs_

Those are probably never going to come; there physically isn't room.

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jaxonrice
I am optimistically holding out for a 15" Macbook Air with 8GB RAM. Failing
that within the next 6-9 months, my next Macbook will be the 13" Air

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cridal
Same here... 15" MBA is what I've been waiting for for a long time. I'm on 2nd
generation 15" MBPro, which can die any day now. Not sure why this is not
considered a priority for Apple, since it would be a perfect work machine (13"
is just too small).

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dustinupdyke
I went to see if I could load one up with more than 8GB of memory, and alas,
one still cannot get this for any amount of money.

I may be the fringe, but a 16GB MBP would be very hard to beat.

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iramiller
You can get 16GB upgrades from OWC... And as a related point maxing out memory
directly from Apple has always been more expensive.

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dustinupdyke
You're right, but the OWC upgrade is fairly pricey at $629.

I was thinking that if Apple supported it right from the store, it would drive
down third party prices?

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astrodust
The 4GB DIMMs were stupidly expensive about a year and a half ago, but they're
stupidly cheap now. Give it a year and they'll be $80 each, not $310. There's
just not much demand for them yet.

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geophile
Just got a 15" MBP, 8GB memory, 500GB 7200 RPM disk, with a Thunderbolt
display. What a nice setup. I'm upgrading from a 2007 MBP that died, and the
new machine is _so_ much faster. I would have preferred a redesign without the
optical drive but that's a minor complaint.

~~~
thomasgerbe
"I would have preferred a redesign without the optical drive but that's a
minor complaint."

Thankfully there are ways you can install an extra HD drive bay in your MBP
replacing the optical drive.

But most people believe that the big redesign next year will not only include
Ivy Bridge and a new form factor but also the removal of the optical drive.

~~~
andreiursan
"also the removal of the optical drive" That will make me very, very,...very
happy! I hate the idea that I have a thing in my Mac that I don't use and adds
extra weight and complexity to the design :|. That will be my main reason to
upgrade my 2010 15" hi-res anti-glare Macbook Pro.

(I'm sticking with the Pro line because it has a 15" screen, bellow that I
don't like).

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colin_jack
Was hoping they might have taken the chance to drop the price in the UK to
bring it more in line with the US price (a bit above the US price due to VAT
of course). Without that change I refuse to buy one.

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xiaoma
AFIK, their prices are pretty standard across the world excluding import
tariffs, sales taxes and other state-imposed costs. I live in China, where
imports are taxed heavily and as a result Apple computers cost nearly 25% more
than in the US. In Hong Kong, however, there are no such import taxes and the
prices are the same as in the US.

I sincerely doubt Apple is the culprit here.

~~~
colin_jack
I havent' done the math recently but even if you assume no sales tax in the US
and factor in the 20% VAT in the UK the difference is still large.

In fact lets do it quickly for an Air. In US its $1600 which is pretty much
£1000. UK is £1349. US won't have sales tax whilst VAT is 20%, so thats part
of the difference but there's an additional £150 overhead. It varies between
products and has been documented online before. Other companies do it but I
find it pretty blatant with apple products and so tend to avoid their
computers.

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adestefan
So that's why I was able to pickup a 13" for $999 a couple weeks ago. I
figured an update was in order, but I don't really care that much about a
modest CPU bump.

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rayhano
Any ideas on when we are going to get MacBook Pros that are Air-like skinny
and have incredible battery life?

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tl
Well, you could buy a MacBook Air. Actually, I'd like to see an external GPU
over Thunderbolt possibly built into the next line of cinema displays, which
would remove the need for the GPU in the Pro line.

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sneak
Is the Thunderbolt bandwidth sufficient to run a modern GPU? AFAIK you'd only
have one 10 gbit/s lane to use for it, and modern PCIe video cards use a lot
more than that connecting directly to mainboards over multiple PCIe lanes...

~~~
Artagra
Yes. Thunderbolt bandwidth falls between a PCI-E 2.0 1x slot and 4x slot.

Tests that have been done comparing the performance of relatively high end
desktop cards on 1x, 4x, 8x and 16x slots have established that while there is
a performance penalty, such a solution would still out perform most mobile
GPUs.

[http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/HD_5870_PCI-
Express_S...](http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/HD_5870_PCI-
Express_Scaling/25.html)

[http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GTX_480_PCI-
Expres...](http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GTX_480_PCI-
Express_Scaling/24.html)

