I like how the thunderbolt display is just a downgraded 30". Lower resolution and smaller. I'd much rather have the older 30" Cinema display Apple used to offer. Probably leaning more towards a 30" Dell Ultrasharp. Much better monitor. 16:9 just seems small now after using 16:10 for so long.

8/16/2011 6:48:46 PM

Quote :

"16:9 just seems small now after using 16:10 for so long."

You do realize you sound like a monumental douche bag when you say things like this, right? Like those people that complain that their $15,000 speakers don't sound right because their living room is 3 inches too wide on one side and their wife won't let them put sound dampening materials on the ceiling.

8/16/2011 7:21:06 PM

the 27in panel is the same IPS display as apples other cinema displays, the 30 in panel from the past required dual video cards to support if i remember correctly.
not to mention that resolution (or size) isn't practical in 90% of user cases..

its obvious that you want to keep hating on apple (cue your response about how you own a mac this or an ithat),,,but all your points are fucking weak,..if that shit really matters to you, buy a PC.

honestly, PCs are so cheap, many people buy both.

[Edited on August 16, 2011 at 7:29 PM. Reason : s key]

8/16/2011 7:28:27 PM

Quote :

"You do realize you sound like a monumental douche bag when you say things like this, right? Like those people that complain that their $15,000 speakers don't sound right because their living room is 3 inches too wide on one side and their wife won't let them put sound dampening materials on the ceiling. "

Yes that was my point. Sarcasm. Trying to mimic glassssssss here.

Quote :

"the 30 in panel from the past required dual video cards to support if i remember correctly."

No just a single video card. It does require a dual link port though (which pretty much every video card has had for years).

Quote :

"not to mention that resolution (or size) isn't practical in 90% of user cases.. "

It's only 3" larger than the 27" and it's 2560 by 1600 compared to 2560 by 1440. It's only an extra 160 vertical lines. Come on people have been using them for years. My boss has 2 side by side. It's great.

Quote :

"its obvious that you want to keep hating on apple (cue your response about how you own a mac this or an ithat)"

Haha yes I do own a mac but I prefer PCs.

Quote :

"but all your points are fucking weak,..if that shit really matters to you, buy a PC."

I'm only responding because nothing you have really said ITT is relevant or makes sense. All you've simply said is "bleh bleh I bought an Air then upgraded it. Bleh bleh I have a thunderbolt display. You haven't really mentioned anything other than your spending habits.

Quote :

"honestly, PCs are so cheap, many people buy both."

Apples are cheap too. Both my work PC and home PC are quite a bit more expensive than an Apple computer. I think you're just sad because you're stuck with an under powered Air as your primary machine.

8/16/2011 7:41:41 PM

Quote :

"Yes that was my point. Sarcasm. Trying to mimic glassssssss here. "

Ah, my bad. I didn't pick up on that cause I hardly bother to read anything that idiot posts in Tech Talk anymore.

8/16/2011 7:45:04 PM

^yet both of you can't keep yourselves out of this thread..

8/17/2011 10:24:17 AM

You keep bringing us back.

8/17/2011 10:32:42 AM

Oh he sucking that glasssssss dick again haha. Good job Steve jobs.

8/17/2011 10:41:40 AM

.

[Edited on August 17, 2011 at 11:52 AM. Reason : pointless]

8/17/2011 11:45:15 AM

Quote :

"the 30 in panel from the past required dual video cards to support if i remember correctly. not to mention that resolution (or size) isn't practical in 90% of user cases.."

This is a good example of what speculation is all about with very little based on facts. 30" screens that are higher than 1080p are a niche market and those who use or need that kind of screen real-estate or resolution is either doing 1 of 2 things: content creation or gaming.

So of those people who have invested in said 30" screens do deem the size and resolution practical, otherwise they wouldn't have wasted 1-2 grand on a display for no apparent reason at all.


Personally, apple monitors are worthless; its their weakest product line up imho. They weren't years ago, but times change and their designs haven't kept up with the competition. Dell and HP have had some very good 30" offerings in the last few years. I would forgive apple's design if they made their expensive monitors with 3 axis' of control and be able to do portrait mode.

Honestly, I wouldn't mind to see some even wider screen monitors. Like 2.39:1 ratio's

8/18/2011 7:42:12 PM

Going to the Apple Store today.

Give me a good reason not to get a 13" Macbook Air.

9/16/2011 10:39:37 AM

wait till the MBP refresh coming soon and get a Pro

9/16/2011 10:51:47 AM

^

9/16/2011 10:55:15 AM

personally, I think the macbook air is useless unless you have a regular apple laptop or desktop to go with it. MBP would be a much more sound investment if you were looking to get an apple product that's not that more expensive but far more usable than the air. The 13" MBP are pretty decent at the same price and still hold quite a bit of battery life still.

Although, I can't believe some would be stupid to spend $200 to upgrade from 4gb to 8gb of ram... When they doing MBP refresh?

9/16/2011 11:28:43 AM

Probably pulling the trigger on a 13" MBP for $1099 here in a bit. Going to need parallels and a USB -> Serial converter though.

It's that or the Lenovo T420 series which is nearly identical in terms of specs for $864. I'm going with the 'build quality' as justification for the extra cash.

Thoughts?

9/16/2011 11:36:03 AM

Okay...this is good stuff. I think I'll wait. I heard the rumors about a 21 Sep conference for Apple. Not sure if they will drop the iPhone 5, but I can wait a week to see what they say about the MBP.

Aside from that, I just did a side-by-side comparison between the 13" MBA (1.7) and the 13" MBP (2.3), and selecting the 128GB SSD for the MBP. It's only $75 difference for the MBP.

http://store.apple.com/us_epp_55499/compare/MjUxMDA2NjA

9/16/2011 12:05:56 PM

They just updated the laptop line, why would they mention anything about them again.

9/17/2011 1:26:40 PM

Apparently they are.

http://goo.gl/h1r8G

Quote :

"Exclusive: With Intel's next-generation Core i-Series mobile platform not expected until the second quarter of 2012, Apple is reportedly preparing a refresh of its professional notebook line ahead of the holiday shopping season to better bridge the gap, AppleInsider has been told. According to people with proven insight into Apple's future product plans, the late-2011 MacBook Pro refresh will deliver marginal speed bumps to the notebooks' Core i-Series of Sandy Bridge processors but will otherwise introduce no material changes over the existing models. While precise timing for the update may change, those same people say the Mac maker currently anticipates an introduction of the refreshed line before the end of the month, possibly following the close of the company's Back-to-School promotion, which ends on September 20th. Word of the new models comes just one week after Intel quietly refreshed its Sandy Bridge lineup of processors, adding four new Core i7 chips suited for adoption by the MacBook Pro in addition to slashing prices on some other chips, while phasing out a handful of others. In particular, the chipmaker introduced new 2.4GHz, 2.5GHz and 2.7GHz quad-core Core i7 processors that could replace the 2.0GHz, 2.2GHz and 2.3GHz versions offered in the current 15- and 17-inch MacBook Pros, in addition to a 2.8GHz dual-core Core i7 that could serve as an upgrade path for the current 2.7GHz 13-inch MacBook Pro. As for the entry-level 13-inch MacBook Pro, Intel continues to list a couple of Core i5 chips at speeds of 2.5GHz to 2.6GHz that Apple could elect to use to bump 2.3GHz Core i5 MacBook Pro for little to no cost increase. In addition to these chips, which are listed on Intel's latest price sheet [PDF] dated September 4th, Apple may have discounted access to handful of older Core i5 and Core i7 chips that were introduced early this year, such as the 2.1GHz and 2.3GHz quad-core Core i7 models. Although the new models may come as somewhat of a surprise for industry watchers given that there has been no indication that Apple is drawing down inventories of existing models, the refresh is likely geared towards assuring the Mac maker's top-selling notebook family remains competitive in the market until Intel releases its next-generation Ivy Bridge platform at some point in 2012. Ivy Bridge was originally slated to debut in late 2011, but leaked documents from Intel surfaced in May and revealed that the next-generation processors are slated to arrive at some point in the first half of 2012. The Ivy Bridge chips are now scheduled to become available at some point in March or April of next year. This week, Intel began to share details on its 2012 Ivy Bridge lineup, promising up to 60 percent faster performance with its integrated graphics. All mobile versions of the chips bound for Apple's next MacBook Pros will sport Intel's GT2 GPUs, known as HD Graphics 3000. The MacBook Pro remains the bread and butter of Apple's mostly mobile Mac business, even as the newer, thin-and-light MacBook Air gains in sales. Apple's MacBook Pros are the only notebooks offered by the company that still offer discrete graphics, making them the only option for video professionals and power users on the go. In addition, the MacBook Pro remains the only Apple notebook with screen sizes larger than 13-inches. While the MacBook Air (and now defunct white MacBook) max out at 13-inches, the MacBook Pro still comes in 15- and 17-inch screen sizes, with faster CPUs and graphics to accompany the greater screen real estate. Apple last updated its MacBook Pro lineup in February, giving its entry-level 13-inch models dual-core Sandy Bridge Core i5 and i7 chips at speeds of 2.3GHz and 2.7Ghz. The higher-end 15- and 17-inch models gained quad-core Sandy Bridge Core i7 chips at speeds of up to 2.3Ghz. The new notebooks, which are depicted in the chart above, were also upgraded to add Apple's new high-speed Thunderbolt data and video port. All of the early 2011 MacBook Pros sport discrete AMD graphics processors."

9/17/2011 3:43:58 PM

oh good... apple finally late to the i7 2nd gen party. While they are at it, could they update their piss-poor of a dedicated mobile graphic cards? The 6490M and the 6750M on a $1800+ laptop is an insult. Shit, my $450 tosser laptop has a 6720.

Quote :

"This week, Intel began to share details on its 2012 Ivy Bridge lineup, promising up to 60 percent faster performance with its integrated graphics. All mobile versions of the chips bound for Apple's next MacBook Pros will sport Intel's GT2 GPUs, known as HD Graphics 3000."

I hope this statement doesn't mean Apple's MBP 2012 ivy bridge lineup will abolish discrete gpu's... AMD's 6550M built into the APU's is still miles faster than the Intel 3000 HD. A 60% jump for the 3000 HD is still worthless for a turd on a stick.

9/18/2011 2:13:30 AM

parallels or bootcamp?

9/21/2011 8:50:33 PM

new version of parallels is pretty awesome

9/22/2011 5:39:40 PM

I enjoy the new version of VMWare Fusion. It's pretty fantastic, is Parallels that much better than the VMWare? I remember wanting to get Parallels but the NC State bookstore was out of it so I got the VMWare instead.

9/22/2011 5:52:43 PM

^^How so? Debating whether to upgrade.

9/22/2011 7:10:36 PM

The reduced battery life using bootcamp is pretty annoying. I bought Parallels because there was a 50 dollar MIR through macmall and a free upgrade to 7.

9/23/2011 12:16:09 PM

^^ all the machines i work on run lion, so 7 is a must. being able to run a virtual version of lion is pretty neat as well. i don't see a need for it myself, but i can see how it could be a benefit. it's definitely a performance boost, but i don't ever use parallels unless i'm at work. still haven't had a chance to mess around with the mobile app though.

9/25/2011 3:13:46 AM

I picked up a 13"/4gb/128gb mba yesterday @ Best Buy for my wife...I tried to get her to get a Win7 laptop but for some reason (that she can't explain) it had to be a Mac. First thing I did when I got home with it was have to use my Win7 laptop's dvd-r drive to install MS Office

9/25/2011 9:09:56 PM

Pwnt stay home.

9/25/2011 9:18:40 PM

got a thunderbolt display today. I am very pleased with how well everything works...I was expecting some choppiness with some of the animations at such a high resolution on my mba, but it runs the huge display just as smooth as with the built-in lcd. I don't really play many games, but I assume they wouldn't run too well at such a high resolution.

This is my first IPS display (other than iPad or iPhone) and the color and contrast is really better than anything I have had before. As far as thunderbolt related I/O...I have used the gigabit ethernet and FaceTime HD cam, as well as one external hdd plugged into the display, everything runs as expected. I have a firewire cable coming tomorrow so I will be able to plug my other external drive in via firewire 800 on the display(hoping for slightly better performance than I am getting right now with it).

For any owner of a new macbook air, this is an easy purchase..it adds a ton of capability to the air when you are home at your desk..feels like I am working on a nice workstation.

[Edited on September 26, 2011 at 1:54 AM. Reason : /]

9/26/2011 1:51:58 AM

why would you think thunderbolt was going to be bad? its got more than enough bandwidth and the protocols are very similar to that of hdmi/display port; plus it allows for various other types of communications other then just video and audio. it not a bad tech, just very new and expensive right now and sucks that apple is the only one being the test ground for it. Then again, hdmi/displayport is very capable and provides the same bandwidth.

9/26/2011 4:45:43 AM

not sure where I said that I expected anything "bad" from thunderbolt...

my only question had to do with how well the HD3000 could handle the 2560x1440 resolution of the panel...thunderbolt is just PCIe, that has plenty of bandwidth.

9/26/2011 1:34:17 PM

Well, the new MBPs dropped (without so much as an announcement).

True to my word, I've got one on the way. A 13" 2.4 with a 128GB SSD. Comparison of the MBA and MBP below.

http://store.apple.com/us/compare/Mjc0MTU5ODc

Military discount helps, too.

Woohoo!!!

10/24/2011 11:48:30 AM

it's probably been covered in this thread a bit already but

can somebody make some recommendations on similarly sized/weight/specs laptops from non-apple manufacturers?

12/24/2011 9:15:44 AM

The Lenovo U300s looks pretty cool, but at $1200 I'd rather spend the extra $35 and get a Macbook Air (which I think I'm gonna get in about a week, btw).

12/24/2011 9:37:08 AM

Where do you get a $35 price difference? The higher spec 11" Air is $1200 and the lower spec 13" is $1300.

12/26/2011 2:32:55 PM

Thunderbolt is the shit. Also the thunderbolt monitors are convenient -- it's basically the dock for the air.

12/26/2011 2:37:37 PM

^^ $1234.99 on Amazon. No tax + free shipping = way cheaper than the Apple Store.

12/26/2011 2:51:21 PM

Okay...not an air, but like above (^^^ ^^^)...I was watching the Belk bowl on my new MBP and found that we got it via espn3/watchespn. Anyway, I bent down to plug the MBP into the mini-DVI-to-HDMI and (duh!) it didn't work! No connection.

I was buzzed with the Perc's I was on, so I used the old black MB and after deleting all cookies and deleting cache from Safari on my MB account, I managed to get the game.

After that, I started looking into it and lo-and-behold find out that the TBLT port replaced the mini-DVI port on the new MBPs. (yeah...I already knew this...but Percocet will make you think funny things)

So I go to the Apple Store and look for TBLT to HDMI and don't see any, but I see mini-DP to HDMI cables.

Had I been in my right mind, or done a little research (wiki search for miniDP is good enough), I would have known that TBLT = miniDP + PCIE on one cable.

So now I can go to monoprice and get a miniDP to HDMI cable for cheap.

And in case you didn't know, now you do.

1/1/2012 5:17:20 PM

so i broke down and got one

and i absolutely hate it

for now i'm holding out hope that it's the lack of mouse - which is why i typically hate laptops anyway

1/14/2012 10:13:49 AM

That's interesting. Is it your first Mac?

1/14/2012 3:09:17 PM

Yes

First thing I did was bootcamp win7 for the times I'm frustrated as shit and want something I know.

[Edited on January 14, 2012 at 3:24 PM. Reason : ]

1/14/2012 3:22:54 PM

Would you say its more a matter of not having the muscle-memory familiarity with how to do things quickly, or is it something about the hardware? I had the same frustrations when I got a MBP a couple years ago, but the only hardware-related things I could really say I didn't like about it were no home/end/page up/down keys

[Edited on January 14, 2012 at 3:29 PM. Reason : .]

1/14/2012 3:28:30 PM

it's mostly the lack of knowing where anything is, how to do things, etc.

and the page up/down/home/end keys are seriously pissing me off, too.

I suppose I'll just have to get used to it.

I mean, overall, it's a great machine - it's just annoying me so far.

also, right clicking is a fucking hassle - i don't care what anyone says - although i just looked something up where i can program a portion of the track pad to act as a right click. WE'LL SEE.

[Edited on January 14, 2012 at 3:47 PM. Reason : ]

1/14/2012 3:42:36 PM

Oh yea, is there some known issue with networking printing to a printer connected to a windows machine? fucker keeps asking for a password that is nonexistant and no other machine has a problem printing to it

1/14/2012 5:14:34 PM

I seem to remember having trouble printing to a PC networked printer too, but that could just be coincidence.

double tap right click >> regular right click

1/14/2012 5:27:34 PM

jaZon and qntmfred

Try fn->up-arrow and fn->down-arrow for page up and down, fn->left-arrow and fn->right arrow for home and end. Be aware that on a mac, home means the beginning of the page and end means the end of the page. For beginning and end of a line, use command->left-arrow and command->right-arrow (or as I'm typing this, I discover control left and right arrow works as well).

Other keys: Option left and right move one word at a time, and option up and down move one paragraph at a time.

And jaZon, right clicking you can tap on the track pad with two fingers to get a right click (you may need to turn that on in the preferences)

Quote :

"Oh yea, is there some known issue with networking printing to a printer connected to a windows machine? fucker keeps asking for a password that is nonexistant and no other machine has a problem printing to it"

If it's windows XP, you may want to check that guest printing is enabled (I don't know if this is still a problem in Win7). I've had scenarios before where two windows computers that use the same user names and passwords can print to each other just fine, but other computers (macs and linux machines) can't because apparently if guest printing is off, windows asks for authentication, and the other windows box by default tries its current user and password.

[Edited on January 14, 2012 at 6:07 PM. Reason : asfg]

1/14/2012 6:04:51 PM

thanks a bunch for the info so far, guys!

1/14/2012 6:54:10 PM

^^ didn't realize you could just "tap" the trackpad...I've been two-finger holding it down and dragging.

welcome to the club cult family, jaZon!

got my mini-DP-to-HDMI connection from Monoprice a few days ago and have yet to use it...was going to try for the BB game, but the quality on ACC.com was crappy

1/15/2012 10:04:32 AM

I was just thinking about going down to Starbucks and starting on a screenplay while discussing politics.

That's what we do, right?

1/15/2012 2:16:46 PM

Quote :

"Try fn->up-arrow and fn->down-arrow for page up and down, fn->left-arrow and fn->right arrow for home and end"

yeah, i mean i figured that out, but never got used to it. too used to the dedicated keys

1/15/2012 2:36:28 PM

inorite

what's this about easier and more intuitive?

what's easier than a dedicated fucking key

1/15/2012 3:43:09 PM