OT: New Macbook Pros released

Macbook Pro: new aluminum frame (fabricated from one piece), backlit LED display -- GLOSSY ONLY, magnetic latch, glass trackpad (no button, the whole thing's a button), new Display port connector, dual graphics cards (nice), single FW800 port, no 400.

Some nice surprises (like the new graphics cards) but I'm somewhat underwhelmed. I don't like glossy screens, and I wish they would stop stripping high-speed ports from Pro machines. I need two Firewire ports when I work, even a second 800 port would have been nice; guess I have to budget for a bunch of Expresscard adapters...

JK

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SCQT! Self-contained QuickTime ? pass it on!

And no Blu-Ray?

I'd sooner have last months machine for less money.

15 inch max / No Blu-Ray / glossy screen (what I hate about the iMac = no matte screen offered) @ 1440-by-900 max resolution / shaved off one USB 2.0 & FW400 port (should have added a FW800 port to the Pro) / no DVI output port (need optional adapter - it's like a mini iMac.).

Glossy screen = not true colors. No native HD resolution. Who is their target demographic for these? Not Post Pros. Not a great release IMHO. I will stick with my 17" MBP.

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

Sweet looking machines I'd say. Looking forward to barefeats putting it through the tests.

I love the new Macbook. Would have to get a USB-FW adapter though. Those things are expensive. I maybe wrong but it looks like the high end macbook will do what my current 2.4 macbook pro will do for $700.00 less. In fact why would I get a new macbook pro for $2500 when I can go smaller and more airplane table friendly for $1500 and get same performance I am getting now on my "old" macbook Pro. This new NVIDIA chip is untested and, uh, - new and how much difference will a 9400 chip be from the 9600 chip. I guess the speed tests will tell a lot.

Yeah, I don't get glossy either. Its great when you are directly in front of it, but try sharing the screen with another person who is not directly over your shoulder. If lighting conditions are good which is rare, glossy is very cool and colors DO pop. But even in Apple Stores where you'd think they would try their best to light their machines with care, glossy screens look pretty awful when you walk up to them from the side, which of course we all do.

As for no Blu-Ray, it IS a bag of hurt as Jobs pointed out. And quite frankly no one cares about Blu-Ray except the movie industry and I doubt they care that much. No one is buying the players and marketing is practically non existent. And license fees are just to the left of insane for Indy filmmakers. Going to be awhile before blu-ray comes to a home near you in large enough quantities to make it a must have for the rest of us.

If "future proofing" is what you are worried about, blu-ray may not be the future. At least as it exists at this moment.

Michael Horton
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Oh shoot. no Express/34 slot in the high end Macbook. Oh well, that kills that.

Michael Horton
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I really don't get the griping about the screen. A glossy plastic screen, yes, can have some problems, though I've lived just fine with one on my laptop for two years now. But these new screens are glass, not plastic, which means they'll be just like the iPhone. I've never had a problem reading my iPhone screen in any lighting conditions.

As for judging the color, really, who cares? We all have broadcast monitors, right?

Have you tried sharing a movie with someone sitting next to you on one of these glossy screens? Not pretty. It's great if you are single trying to pick up girls.

"Here, sit on my lap. You can see it better."




Michael Horton
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See, that's the thing: My television has a giant piece of glossy glass for a screen. I've never had any problems with it. I fail to understand the fuss.

Agreed that it's a bit underwhelming.

Figured such a big announcement would mean 4-cores (and maybe Blu-ray).

(As for the screen, I've got the Matte screen + an after-market screen protector, so it's kind of the best of both worlds.)

I'm relieved, actually, because I've gotten so much dang use out of my MacBook Pro that I hate to see it superceded. (So I'm going to do a RAM and drive upgrade instead, which is a way better price/performance boost than the new machine anyway.)

Best,
Ron D.

--
At last, versatile, extensible & robust User Preferences for FCP!
[www.EditGroove.com]

Jeff,

This is me with glossy screens = GRIPE / GRIPE / GRIPE / FUSS / FUSS / FUSS.

You carry your Broadcast monitor to all shoots / remote sessions / client meetings / interviews? I don't. My "griping" is justified...glossy sux. I don't want to look at reflections of my client behind me texting while I am asking for input. The iPhone is 3.5 inches of glass as opposed to almost 16 inches horizontal. Might as well use a mirror in poor lighting conditions (which is most of the time).

My new television has a matte screen. My old Sony 32, I have to turn off the lamps on both sides of the couch unless I want to see 2 lamps composited over a baseball game.

HATE GLOSSY SCREENS = NO GLOSSY SCREENS...that's my opinion - so there

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

Quote

"Here, sit on my lap. You can see it better."

Hey Mike...you may have something there..may me useful during the interview process as well:

"Here you go, sir...if you'll just come over & sit on my lap, you will get a better view of my demo and avoid those reflections of the overhead flourescents burning holes in your cornias".

Hadn't thought of that...glossy screens bring people together

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

During the Q&A afterwards:

11:01AM Q: Concern about the glossy screens. Are you going to offer another option?
A: Steve: We're going all glass -- we won't offer another version.

Sounds like this is the way going forward, no plans for matte screens. I'm sure someone will come out with some matte finish adhesive screen protector... which is still lame.

JK

_______________________________________
SCQT! Self-contained QuickTime ? pass it on!

what type of cards does the Express/34 card read exactly to be a deal killer?

No Express/34 port means death for Pro users. It means no SATA card (no faster RAIDS), no FW800 card (need this to run Aja IO with a FW800 drive on the other bus).

That's enough for me.

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

Just so we're clear, the MBPro DOES have an Express card slot. The Macbooks do not, just as before.

_______________________________________
SCQT! Self-contained QuickTime ? pass it on!

Ah, so THAT'S how they fudge the numbers on the battery life!

Always knew the 'actual' battery life was roughly HALF of what they claimed, but didn't know how they messed with the numbers until just now.

See footnote #5 near the bottom of the page at Apple - MacBook Pro - Technical Specifications

> Testing conducted by Apple in October 2008 using preproduction 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo?based MacBook Pro units with a Better Battery Life setting. Battery life depends on configuration and use. See www.apple.com/batteries for more information. The wireless productivity test measures battery life by wirelessly browsing various websites and editing text in a word processing document with display brightness set to 50%.

First, they're not doing anything very demanding of the CPU. But more importantly, the display brightness is cranked WAY down. In the real world, you'd never actually do this during the day -- MAYBE only at night (and maybe then just in a dimly-lit room).

... Or if you're doing a "benchmark" test.

Wikipedia:
How to Lie with Statistics
Misuse of Statistics

Best,
Ron D.

--
At last, versatile, extensible & robust User Preferences for FCP!
[www.EditGroove.com]

agreed, underwhelmed as well. i'm not sure how i feel about the glossy screen and absence of an additional FW port. also, if you plan to connect a previous cinema display or another third party monitor it has to have a new mini display port. or, purchase the $100 dvi adapter. if the new macbook had a firewire port i would find that machine more tempting with the price point and portability. i have a mac pro so i don't need a macbook pro.

macapptraining Wrote:
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> if the new
> macbook had a firewire port i would find that
> machine more tempting with the price point and
> portability>

I would love to think the MB would be enough to edit...
I agree that the lack of firewire port is a bummer. Isn't there adapters that could do the trick?

Look at the bright side...

Serious fanboys who just HAVE to have the latest / greatest Apple thingy will drive down the prices of the previous generation Macbook Pros as they will be in less demand

Give it a few months.

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

For what it's worth ...
Originally, I'd actually bought a MacBook rather than my current MacBook Pro. It's a great machine, has a nice form-factor (and yes, especially on a plane!), etc.

And it is certainly capable of editing. The catch is that, while the overall performance (and certainly price/performance) are good ... traditionally, the Graphics (GPU) is less capable. That means potentially substandard performance with Effects & Rendering -- and particularly using Motion, which is heavily GPU-dependent.

Apple makes a ton o' great stuff, but it does pay to read the fine print. Bear in mind that they need to create ways to "drive" sales of their higher-end machines for more demanding users (like many of us).

Best,
Ron D.

--
At last, versatile, extensible & robust User Preferences for FCP!
[www.EditGroove.com]

HAHAHA Look at the picture of FCP in the photo left of "Brilliant brilliance./Graphics in full force."

[www.apple.com] numpty!

Obviously added some MP3 or similar to the timeline! All red need rendering...



For instant answers to more than one hundred common FCP questions, check out the LAFCPUG FAQ Wiki here : [www.lafcpug.org]

...and look at that RIDICULOUS REFLECTION on that glossy screen. I honestly thought they were smarter than that...dumping matte screens...how do you say it over there Bennie - BOLLOX!

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

AND WHERE'S THE FLOPPY DRIVE!? HOW WILL I LOAD EDLS?!

Here ya go Jeff - $20...HAVE AT IT



When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

>All red need rendering...

Steve should've read the FAQ first...

[www.lafcpug.org]



www.strypesinpost.com

And no included MacPaint and MacWrite? bummer!

Agree though - glossy is step backwards -- and one less firewire and USB port -- bad choice

> AND WHERE'S THE FLOPPY DRIVE!? HOW WILL I LOAD EDLS?!

Gee, Jeff, you're so far behind. Haven't you heard that those new JAZ disks are hot?


www.derekmok.com

...and no internal ZIP 100 drive. I hate Apple.

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

I'm still demanding SyQuest support! And where's the SCSI port??

_______________________________________
SCQT! Self-contained QuickTime ? pass it on!

At the bottom of the tech specs page it says you can order the optional "OS 7 BootCamp" for those times you need to go back to Quicken.

Michael Horton
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