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17" Unibody MacBook Pro, First Impressions
- Thread starter ayeying
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Whoa - only 6 hours with the discrete GPU off and the battery brand new? Damn, what about all those superfans who were screaming that Apple never exaggerates battery life and it would definitely be 8 full hours no problem? I'll be very curious to hear what results you get after the battery has been fully cycled a couple of times to break in (hopefully it may rise) and the with the GPU on (if it drops to 5 that would hurt).
Wait, what other 17" on the market can come close to 6 hours?
Everyone knows that when a company says 5 they mean 2-2.5 and when they say 8 they mean 5-6. If I set the screen to a lower setting and type I'm sure I can pull eight hours but using it like a do everyday I should pull 5 which is fine by me. On a full charge now I will probably get 3.5 since I've been running the screen on the second to highest, been transferring data over the network the entire time and copying data from an external drive.
This has been discuss too, I'm pretty sure these batteries don't have a calibration period like previous ones.
You're kidding right? I have 4GB of ram in my system and right now I have close to 1,000,000 page outs already.
Furthermore, if you look at the true prices of 8GB DDR3 SO-DIMM ram, it comes out that Apple isn't overcharging that much. The price of 8GB is high, therefore Apple also have to charge high to us.
I received my new 17" yesterday and I would have to agree with the OP. I have the previous model 17" and totally loved it. I was a little worried about this new one due to the keyboard and track pad changes. So far this new one seems to be everything the spec bumps promised.
Like the OP I am also having some issues with the new Track Pad features. I'm a mouse person but I'm trying to give it time and learn it better. Over all I'm very happy and very impressed with the construction of the uni-body.
I will post again on my Battery and Graphics performance later today when I have had more time to use it.
Like the OP I am also having some issues with the new Track Pad features. I'm a mouse person but I'm trying to give it time and learn it better. Over all I'm very happy and very impressed with the construction of the uni-body.
I will post again on my Battery and Graphics performance later today when I have had more time to use it.
I agree what Apple charge is a very good price, and actually suprisingly competitive, but i'd still wait until Snow Leopard is released in August and buy 2 x 4GB sticks for half the price they are now.
Wait, what other 17" on the market can come close to 6 hours?
Any system that can swap batteries out will allow 8 hours. In any event though, the point was that the "Apple is always right" crowd were screaming before this thing actually hit the shelves, in justification of using a non-removable battery, that unlike other OEMs, Apple accurately estimates the battery life of its laptops or even underestimates, and that you would no doubt get a full 8 hours out of it - go back and look at the threads. To see the battery life overestimated by 33% on a brand new battery, not giving even close to a regular workday even with the GPU turned off, would reveal this to be abjectly false.
It's also notable that the same people were arguing that going to a non-removable battery would allow Apple to use a non-standard shaping to get more in there, but if you look at the disassembly photos posted on the web, this is also shown to be completely false - the shape they're using is totally standard and could easily have been made removable. Apple just wants to force you into an Apple store and not to use third parties for a new battery. It's all about lock in, notwithstanding what the fanboys cried.
I hear you, brother.
There's no reason why Apple couldn't throw a 19x12 panel in a 15". That's the only reason why I am considering a 17" at this point - I just can't do 1440x900 again. Hell, even if they offered 1680x1050...
The battery life on the new 17" is - surprise, surprise - well under Apple's projections according to several initial reports. Which makes their decision to make the battery non-removable even more maddening. They should have invested more time in making 8 hours happen in real world use, not by just letting the ****ing thing sit there. Any laptop can do that.
Apple knows where it has folks - and yet, what's the alternative? Dell? Sony? Lenovo? No thanks; been there, done all of that. Sure, I can Hackintosh, but what's the point? I just wanna compute...I troubleshoot computers for a living and, it gets old.
Anyway, rant over. What were we talking about again?
If you're going to use that argument, you can say any laptop with swappable batteries can last forever as long as you have fully batteries in supply. That statement is not even valid when compared to the 17" non-removable battery.
What I said is not "Fan" based. It is basic common sense and fact.
Um, yeah, because people were really arguing that they can carry an infinite supply of batteries around - that's "basic common sense and fact." Noooo, but people very often do carry two or three batteries so that they can go a full day (and without having to carry an extra power supply, case around the whole of the battery, or cabling around).
You see, now you're making up absurdities (stepping away from what a huge number of people do in the real world and making it into something that sounds impossible) to defend Apple making a design decision specifically to keep you from using third party equipment. Sorry, that is fanboyism if ever I've heard it. (And note that I didn't refer to anyone specifically here, but if you want to jump in and be the guy who says notwithstanding not living up to either battery life claims or claims of some special shape that would not practically be swappable, Apple was still right to make this call and that it really benefits users, go right ahead.)
You assume many carries around 2 or more batteries around. While that is true for some users, many aren't. If everyone carries around multiple batteries on a regular basis, I don't think Apple would create a non-removable battery. Apple usually follows what you see in the real world as well as many other companies. Furthermore, you really think it is efficient to shut down the system, replace the battery, then reboot up the system? We don't have a hot-swapping battery such as the Compaq/HP TC1x00 tablet PCs.
I'm stating that my opinion of Apple's decision was wise one especially with its benefits. However, I never said there was no drawbacks to this decision. Every decision has benefits and drawbacks, apparently here, Apple decided the benefit outweighs the drawbacks I'm also not saying Apple's right or wrong. I'm judging what Apple thought when they decided to create this laptop with a non-removable battery.
From all the previous posts I've seen, it is YOU who is bashing on this system just because it does not reach 8 hours or whatever Apple advertised. Really now, does any laptop in the market have a 100% accurate battery time advertised by the company? No, because battery life is something that is dependent on how the system is used. No one will do the "exact" same items as how those companies tested the battery. Therefore, you cannot expect any system to have 100% accurate battery time as advertised.
Yeah, not much point in ranting - Apple won't listen anyway.
But I can see the pain. Often I wonder why Apple is doing this? Sticking to bottom low 15" resolutions while everyone else in the Windows World has moved on to 1680x1050 or higher.
- Are they just having fun torturing people not offering things they want as BTO options?
- Are they trying to get away with the cheapest low-res displays (i.e. highest profits) for as long as they can?
- Do all decision makers at Apple wear glasses and hence can't see the point of higher resolutions?
- Are they waiting for Snow Leopard's (hopefully included) Resolution Independence?
I just don't get it. Every major laptop manufacturer in the world offers different display resolutions as Build-To-Order options on their biggest selling models. Except Apple.
It really gives an arrogant impression, 'we know what's good for you - you don't need anything else'.
The last minute delays on the 17" MBP made me wonder. Was it really merely the Chinese New Year? (And who wouldn't have seen that one coming?!?) Or was there perhaps a last-minute glitch with a higher-capacity battery and they had to switch to a slightly lower one? Hence the 6 instead of 8 hours?
Somehow I can understand why they did not make it removable, though:
Their new battery tech splits up the battery into segments and provide an individual charging current to each segment. In other words, the battery connector has many more pins than the old one. I would expect these to be a bit of an engineering nightmare ensuring all these pins would always connect/disconnect in contact in the right sequence. What if one of them doesn't contact up? How do you ensure people not touching them?
And as has been found by the iFixit report, that battery is heavy. How do you ensure its latch mechanism holds it firmly in place after hundreds of take-in and take-outs? They might have to switch from current plastic latches to metal ones which means harder to manufacture (welding steel to aluminium) more difficult to recycle, etc.
Furthermore this battery can't be charged externally by current chargers on the market. Due to the adaptive charging a new type of charger with special circuitry would be needed. Who's going to manufacture that? Apple? They are not in the external battery charger business. Otherwise they'd have to sub-license their new battery tech which they might not want to do.
I'm sure these issues can all be overcome, but it's loads of extra headaches. Which all go magically away if you simply make the battery non-user swappable.
Uhm... Batteries? New 17" MBP? Something like that, no?What were we talking about again?
Not talking about the power adapter pins, but the pins from the battery to the motherboard. My PB's battery has 6 pins there.
It's kind of hard to see on this iFixit picture, but I'm counting at least 12 pins. Might be more.
Here's another picture of the wires going from the battery to the battery-motherboard connector. It's many more than 6.
The charging circuitry is likely not on the battery but on the motherboard so they don't need to replace it with the battery, hence each battery segment would need its own current connector.
And that's why they'll never offer a UXGA on a 15. That's a huge reason why most even get a 17". The 17" doesn't really have many improvements over the 15 save the screen and i'm sure the margins on the 17 are higher. Same reason why they'll never offer 1440x900 on their MB as well.
Man why are you so worked up about this? Ok the guy claimed to have a SSD and Matte umbp, but so what? It doesn't really affect you one way or the other if he made it up. If he doesn't post pics and such don't believe him, but polluting the thread with liar posts is exactly what he's after if he's just a troll.
Wait, what other 17" on the market can come close to 6 hours?
I get roughly what Apple claims out of my current MBP if not a little better, but then I don't run the screen very bright at all (max 2-3 dots off the bottom). I'm hoping the same with the new MBP.
I hear you, brother.
There's no reason why Apple couldn't throw a 19x12 panel in a 15". That's the only reason why I am considering a 17" at this point - I just can't do 1440x900 again. Hell, even if they offered 1680x1050...
The battery life on the new 17" is - surprise, surprise - well under Apple's projections according to several initial reports. Which makes their decision to make the battery non-removable even more maddening. They should have invested more time in making 8 hours happen in real world use, not by just letting the ****ing thing sit there. Any laptop can do that.
Apple knows where it has folks - and yet, what's the alternative? Dell? Sony? Lenovo? No thanks; been there, done all of that. Sure, I can Hackintosh, but what's the point? I just wanna compute...I troubleshoot computers for a living and, it gets old.
Anyway, rant over. What were we talking about again?
Not for me, a 15" screen with 1920x 1200 resolution is way overkill and I'd get a headache from squinting.
I've already owned the previous generation 17" hi resolution led mbp and it took a while to get used to the 1920x1200. Only thing I didn't like about it was that I couldn't really sit in my chair at a repectable distance from the mbp that's on my desk and always had to have it up close.
For a 15" I think the 1650x1050 or 1080 I forget would be the highest that I'd want.
Ha ha ha. YOU carry four or more pounds of batteries around. No one I know does, and I don't know anyone who doesn't have a laptop. Between my laptop, wacon tablet, cans, power plug, and phone I don't have room or strength for "3 or 4 batteries". I don't have the money for $600 worth of batteries either.
So Apple, you're going to give me one battery that lasts 6 hours? and for the same cost as the old model with the 3 hour one? I'll buy that for a dollar.
I have no qualms with mine it's amazing.
No back-light bleed, no scratches or dents, nothing squeaky, nothing loose, it's SNAPPY, very quiet, amazing build.
It ROCKS!
No back-light bleed, no scratches or dents, nothing squeaky, nothing loose, it's SNAPPY, very quiet, amazing build.
It ROCKS!
I am not worked up. It looks like you are though.
I think it is funny someone would think he would be believed.
..... it's a brand new 2800$ laptop. why in the world would it have scratches, dents, squeaky noise, loose objects, loud noise?