Apple.com: The new Mac Book Pro.
The specs are impressive, especially on the 15″ – keeps the size and weight manageable but can be pimped out to almost match the 17″ specs – it looks like the only things exclusive to the 17″ are an extra USB port and speed of the SuperDrive… the 15″ can be bumped to the 17″ class with Core 2 Duo @ 2.33GHz, 3GB RAM, 200GB HDD, X1600 256MB (which can drive the 30″ monitor), and all the trimmings – impressive. Heat? No idea, but I’m hoping Apple learned how to apply the thermal grease that was the scapegoat for the original MBP – if not, this thing should be hot enough to fry an egg steak in under five minutes.
What I do feel I have to point out is that this unexpected release highlights my ongoing gripe with Apple and their obsession with secrecy: how sorry do you feel for the people that decided to buy a new Mac Book Pro, just last night? Can’t use the “oh, they didn’t do their research” argument here: while people expected a new model of the MBP, there was no indication that it would hit today. This cloak and dagger game that they play just sucks for the end consumer.
Harder to swallow than broken glass.
I’ve heard Intel actually has learned from there mistakes, and the new core duo’s run VERY cool. I have seen those run on heatsinks without fans at 100 load forever with out the temp running wild. Now the other components will probably all still heat up a bit, but I think were looking at a medium rare steak and not the charcoaled ones of the past. All in all I still gotta go with AMD, I just hope they can bring something out that can actually compete again soon. Core Duo has wiped the floor with AMD. :(
Well the problem with the original MBP’s want the chips. Or I shouldn’t say that it wasn’t only the chips causing a problem.
It’s a well documented saga that Apple – in the original MBP – was putting globs of thermal grease on each of the three core chips (CPU, GPU, Bridge). This was letting heat leak out into the general computer and/or prevented the fans from getting proper temperature readings and/or prevented the heat sinks from properly grabbing the excess heat – between the three things the machine was getting much hotter than it should and the chips weren’t being kept cool enough (IMHO). Add to that the fact that Apple wraps the entire package in a material that is very, VERY good at thermal transfer, and you end up with a hot metal notebook. [While I’ve been sensative to heat since my Powerbook experience, I’m *not* the only person to think this!]
Of course, if the Core 2 chips are running cooler AND Apple factory techs have updated their procedure, they have the stone cold nuts of notebooks.
Doesn’t matter to me though – I have at least another 18 months before I upgrade again :)
Yeah, I know how those folks feel buying an Mac recently gone obsolete. In 1999, I bought a Blue & White G3 tower one week before the G4 was announced.