MacBook Pros in November 2006 - First Post!

[appledu]

Hello all,

This is my first post on here, and 6 months ago, I wonder never have dreamed of posting on a Mac forum.

I've been a PC guy for over 10 years and remember advising school friends against those ugly "one button" Macs (the colour iMacs in the late '90s)...

I mean, I've never actually used a Mac before!!!

However, I bought a 5G iPod in January, and that prompted me to find out more about Apple and the fascinating world of Mac computers...

Ah, the "halo effect", you say...maybe, though, I've not bought one yet...

Anyway, as I said, I have never used a Mac, well, I do remember once using one in school, where we did stupid exercises on them...I seem to remember it having a black and white screen....

Anyway, I don't play anymore, as I have no time for it, and my Dell Inspiron 8200 (P4 2Ghz, 1Gb DDR) can't really take games...

My main activities are:
- Internet & email
- Photography
- Course work for Uni
- Watching stuff (either DVDs or Divx)
- Word processor and spreadsheet
- Messing around with various programs, from Dreamweaver to Photoshop...

Anyway, I plan on buying a MacBook Pro (probably 17'') this November. Everyone on here is excited about Merom and Leopard, I'm not sure if I will need these, but hey, I won't complain if they are included...

What specs are we likely to see around November (hardware & software)?
Will the MBP (look, I even know the jargon.... ) have a HD-capable screen?

I also don't get this Superdrive thing you all rave about...how does it work, if I just want to copy one CD/DVD to a blank?

Thanks,

I hope I am happy here...

appledu

 

[laidbackliam]

superdrive is the dvd burner thats built into the mac, if you want to make a disc to disc copy, you'll need to create an image, or get an external drive.

 

[chaosbunny]

It's rather hard to predict anything, since apple is very secretive about any future upgrades/ upcoming products. It is almost certain that the MBPs will have merom processors by november, but I won't expect Leopard until January 2007. The 17" ones currently have a resolution of 1680x1050 px, and while it would be nice to see new screens with 1900x1200 with the next revision I would not count on it.

 

[®îçhå®?]

It's rather hard to predict anything, since apple is very secretive about any future upgrades/ upcoming products. It is almost certain that the MBPs will have merom processors by november, but I won't expect Leopard until January 2007. The 17" ones currently have a resolution of 1680x1050 px, and while it would be nice to see new screens with 1900x1200 with the next revision I would not count on it.

I agree with chaosbunny in every way. He is right and the MBP update i expect before the end of the year so if not november, not far afterwards. Merom will be a speed bump but not considerably. I will guess at the 17" going up to a 2.33GHz Core2Duo.

 

[generik]

I expect the updates to be in during WWDC though..

 

[theknowles]

probley been asked a million times but i dont come on here often, but does any one know when apple are planning to fix the bugs like heat and mooing etc? or are they already in the process of doing so?
thanks alot

 

[risc]

probley been asked a million times but i dont come on here often, but does any one know when apple are planning to fix the bugs like heat and mooing etc? or are they already in the process of doing so?
thanks alot

My MacBook Pro runs perfectly. It has never moo'd, it doesn't suffer from any heat issues at all. So I'd say they have dealt with these issues if they actually ever existed.

edit: spelling

 

[appledu]

Hi all,

What's mooing? I guess it's noise made by the computer?

So, does the current screen not allow me to watch full resolution HD material?

So, with this Superdrive, if I wanted to copy from one disc to another, it would take twice as long due to the fact that I would have to create an image first?

Thanks,

appledu

 

[ImNoSuperMan]

So, with this Superdrive, if I wanted to copy from one disc to another, it would take twice as long due to the fact that I would have to create an image first?

Not exactly twice. It`ll take you just 3-4 minutes to create an image on your HDD. The DVD burning process will take longer. I guess 10-12 minutes minutes. So in case you just want to make a copy of a dvd expect it to take arround 20 minutes at most.

But why this confusion. This will be the same for any laptop/desktop with one DVD writer. So I dont understand what exactly is your concern .

 

[appledu]

Not exactly twice. It`ll take you just 3-4 minutes to create an image on your HDD. The DVD burning process will take longer. I guess 10-12 minutes minutes. So in case you just want to make a copy of a dvd expect it to take arround 20 minutes at most.

But why this confusion. This will be the same for any laptop/desktop with one DVD writer. So I dont understand what exactly is your concern .

In my current Dell, I actually had a swap burner that I could just pop in, making me able to copy "on the fly"...
But, to be honest, it's not that big a deal...

appledu

 

[risc]

So, does the current screen not allow me to watch full resolution HD material?

The current MacBook Pro 15" has a resolution of 1440x900, and the 17" is 1680x1050. HD is either 720p 1280x720 or 1080p 1920x1080 so sure you can watch either they'll just be scaled up or down (fullscreen) depending on which you choose. The current machines can handle 1080p H.264 without skipping a frame so not much to worry about here.

 

[appledu]

The current MacBook Pro 15" has a resolution of 1440x900, and the 17" is 1680x1050. HD is either 720p 1280x720 or 1080p 1920x1080 so sure you can watch either they'll just be scaled up or down (fullscreen) depending on which you choose. The current machines can handle 1080p H.264 without skipping a frame so not much to worry about here.

OK, thanks,

But is this downscaling noticeable?

Sorry, I'm really new to all this...

 

[risc]

H.264 is fantastic at scaling _BUT_ what are you expecting to actually get in HD? The only H.264 HD content I've seen is movie trailers at http://www.apple.com/quicktime/ sure they look great, but who really cares?

If you are more interested in HDTV using El Gato EyeTV or some other TV hardware yeah it looks great on the MacBook Pro screen.

 

[appledu]

H.264 is fantastic at scaling _BUT_ what are you expecting to actually get in HD? The only H.264 HD content I've seen is movie trailers at http://www.apple.com/quicktime/ sure they look great, but who really cares?

If you are more interested in HDTV using El Gato EyeTV or some other TV hardware yeah it looks great on the MacBook Pro screen.

Thanks,

It's really for watching TV shows/films that are in HD, that I would watch on my laptop...
Eventually, HD DVDs will be out, I suppose...

I guess it's a case of wanting what's best....

Does anyone think that MBPs will have HD-DVD drives soon?


appledu

 

[risc]

Does anyone think that MBPs will have HD-DVD drives soon?

No!

 

[appledu]

No!

Care to elaborate?


appledu

 

[risc]

Care to elaborate?


appledu

Okay how many PCs do you see with HD-DVD or Blu-ray players/recorders? How many consumer electronic manufacturers do you see selling HD-DVD or Blu-ray players? How many movies have you seen in either format at your local rental store, or movie retail store? Once these machines actually start hitting the market you may see them in notebooks but they are miles away.

Apple have already said they will support Blu-ray but it's all a matter of when (if) it becomes a standard of any sort.

 

[appledu]

Okay how many PCs do you see with HD-DVD or Blu-ray players/recorders? How many consumer electronic manufacturers do you see selling HD-DVD or Blu-ray players? How many movies have you seen in either format at your local rental store, or movie retail store? Once these machines actually start hitting the market you may see them in notebooks but they are miles away.

Apple have already said they will support Blu-ray but it's all a matter of when (if) it becomes a standard of any sort.

OK thanks.

Sorry, I actually did mean Blu-ray, honest...

appledu

 

[RBMaraman]

Care to elaborate?


appledu

Apple will not be using drives that support HD DVD's. They have chosen to back Sony's Blue-Ray format for hi-definition DVD content. Over the next year to three years, there's going to be a big battle to see which format (HD DVD or Blue-Ray) will become the new standard for hi-definition DVD content. It's very similar to the Beta vs. VHS battle that took place in the 1980's.

Just so you know, you won't see any Blue-Ray drives in Apple's machines for at least another year (Probably more like 2, actually). The price of the drives now are ridiculously expensive.

 

[appledu]

Apple will not be using drives that support HD DVD's. They have chosen to back Sony's Blue-Ray format for hi-definition DVD content. Over the next year to three years, there's going to be a big battle to see which format (HD DVD or Blue-Ray) will become the new standard for hi-definition DVD content. It's very similar to the Beta vs. VHS battle that took place in the 1980's.

Just so you know, you won't see any Blue-Ray drives in Apple's machines for at least another year. The price of the drives now are ridiculously expensive.

Thanks for that...
So I guess that that isn't a factor to take into account when buying an MBP later this year.

appledu

 

[theknowles]

would it be possible to later upgrade things like the dvd drive when the time comes any way? or is this quite tricky on the macbook considering its size?

 

[dpaanlka]

In my current Dell, I actually had a swap burner that I could just pop in, making me able to copy "on the fly"...

Look at your Dell, then look at the MacBook Pro. Yeah...

 

[Dreadnought]

would it be possible to later upgrade things like the dvd drive when the time comes any way? or is this quite tricky on the macbook considering its size?

By the time these things come standard, the complet innards of a mac will look different and probably don't fit in the in a MB you buy now.