My comments (showing 1 to 10 of 25)
- @bladebarrier the bit about the X220 is due to someone replying to a review somewhere on here about the X220 being a superior computer. And CNET's interface caused me to apparently "update" my review with a response to the individual in question instead of replying to the thread as I wanted. And they give me no way to resolve this. The criticism I was trying to reply to the thread with was that they shouldn't use a computer that isn't even comparable, running on an older chipset, etc as a claimed "better" option...
In reply to: "Amazing computer with a huge drawback."
November 23, 2012
- Initial Thoughts part 3:
One surprise that I've observed since my RMBP arrived is the lack of an IR reciever, which means all the old apple remotes I have will not work with this laptop. This means if you a remote for media or presentations you'll have to get a third party solution, which all seem to be significantly larger in size and most require a USB dongle to work and the few that use bluetooth cost nearly $100. I'm teaching a summer course in computer systems at a college this summer and the loss of a presentation remote is quite noticeable as currently requires more interaction with the computer and less with the students.
Regardless of the few apps that haven't caught up and loss of IR receiver my overall opinion is that this was a good purchase. Hope this follow up is useful and let me know if you have any specific questions, will try to answer when I can.In reply to: "Amazing computer with a huge drawback."
July 19, 2012
- Initial Thoughts part 2:
The RMBP is fast. I had never had a computer I couldn't push to the point it became unresponsive til my previous macbook pro 17" (2.66Ghz dual core i7, 8GB RAM, 128GB SSD) and this new RMBP is significantly faster. I only can tell this though by running benchmarks on the system to see how much of a performance boost I'm seeing. Short story is that my RMBP (2.7GHz quad core i7, 16GB RAM, 512GB flash) is over 2X faster. Scored a 13451 on the RMBP vs 5949 on my old 17" MBP via Geekbench Pro running the 64bit benchmarks, which tests the speed the computer can do math. Also benchmarked the filesystems via XBench showing a 2X improvement in drive throughput in the RMBP vs the 2010 Macbook Pro I came from. Actually putting it to use I got all 6 of the VMs I currently have in my library up and running all at the same time with no issues or noticeable issues w/ responsiveness in any of the VMs or in the native Mac OS.In reply to: "Amazing computer with a huge drawback."
July 19, 2012
- Initial Thoughts:
Had my new Macbook Pro Retina (RMBP) for roughly 24 hours now and thought I'd share my thoughts.
The screen is amazing as expected; however, its disappointing as well since there are still a number of applications that haven't updated to support the retina display and thus look grainy, which is the case on any of the retina products from apple. If you are an avid user of VMs like me then one issue you'll notice quickly is you have to get your VMs to use a fixed resolution vs auto scaling to fill the screen in full screen mode since on linux/windows having the retina resolution makes everything so tiny it's impossible to use.In reply to: "Amazing computer with a huge drawback."
July 19, 2012
- @lilcliff yes, you can run a copy of windows inside of the Mac OS in a Virtual Machine. It is what I do when I need any windows functionality. I don't like boot camp myself, because I only need windows on a rare occasion and never need the full functionality of the graphics processor, because if I wanted to play games I would do that on my actual windows gaming box. In your case I think you would be fine running a VM. Oh and check my previous reply to jonreiter that Parallels is my least favorite choice for the virtualization environments available for the mac. VMware Fusion 3 is what I use, and I've had experience with virtual box that would make it a second recommended choice (harder to configure/use though). I have had bad experiences with parallels 2 versions ago, and don't see any real reason to try them again. Hope that helps.
In reply to: "Finally apple moves to the latest intel chip technology"
November 1, 2010
- @brian neary I am not sure what the DVI-d cables are that you mentioned; however, you can get a mini-display-port to DVI adapter and then connect standard DVI cables to that, which is what I would do. Hope that helps.
@jonreiter I'm not sure if your saying you have a 15" core 2 duo or the new 15" (dual core) core i7 macbook pro... I know the core 2 duo was less functional at handling virtualization. Additionally I never found parallels to be very functional. I prefer VMware Fusion and if I didn't own that I would be using Virtual Box, which is harder to use but nearly as functional. There could be a configuration issue too? Still I haven't used Parallels since version 3, and was so unhappy with it I gave up on virtual machines on the mac until I got onto the beta for VMware Fusion 2, I have Fusion 3 now.In reply to: "Finally apple moves to the latest intel chip technology"
November 1, 2010
- @conroy17 The 7200rpm drive is definitely a good choice over a 5400rpm drive, I haven't had anything slower than a 7200rpm in any of my laptops prior to this new one. I will say the speed increases of a SSD are noticable and as they have no moving parts are more resilient to jostling. Its a costly investment and well I care more about speed than space as I have over 10TB of storage available as network shares accessible from my laptop. The biggest question is what are you going to be doing with your laptop? As most users wouldn't be able to push their computers to the point the speed boost would be as noticeable.
Not sure if that entirely answered your question, but a SSD is basically a super-sized USB flash drive. So very fast, near memory speeds, and doesn't have moving parts. If I was you I'd stick w/ the 500GB 7200rpm drive, unless you have some reason for the added speed. Let me know if you have more questions or if this didn't help.In reply to: "Finally apple moves to the latest intel chip technology"
July 19, 2010
- @TNcaptainQT the 15" provides the new intel chip whereas the 13" is still running a core 2 duo. As to apple products release they are all rumor until they come out and so I have no idea. As far as using a mac they are really simple... my mom curses having to use her windows machine at work since she got one of my old macs.
@lukas10 The question would be more what are you planning on using the computer for. If all your doing is sending emails/word processing than you likely won't notice much if any difference. I run multiple virtual machines on occasion so I'd notice a difference between an i5/i7 though one of my friends has the new i5 and is raving about it as well.
Sorry it took so long for a response, didn't see that I had new ones till recently :(In reply to: "Finally apple moves to the latest intel chip technology"
July 19, 2010
- Apparently another review that doesn't actually understand the differences between the mobile core i7's and the fact that the one in the current macbook pro is newer than most core i7's on the market and isn't an accurate comparison. Alienware w/ the new 2 core i7 is the most accurate comparison and does cost nearly the same. I've already mentioned why HDMI/BD is a bad idea. Also on a mac the 5400rpm drive isn't as big of a loss as on a pc. Yeah usb 3.0 would be nice, but almost nothing has it currently. Still try to actually get informed before you claim this is overpriced.
In reply to: "What a Joke. Biased reviewers."
May 11, 2010
- The initial cost isn't higher than PCs w/ similar specs/quality of internal hardware components... alienware laptops w/ the same processor, ram, etc (bit different graphics, though can't not use the graphics so means less battery life) actually costs a bit more than this laptop. But the biggest payoff from owning a mac is the fact that they are usable far longer than PCs since they use superior components, don't slow like windows machines, and aren't as easy to burn out as a PC. Though the benefit of reduction of software and IT costs makes it even more functional for businesses that don't have specialized graphics intensive windows software they need.
In reply to: "Awesome performance and incredible battery life!!!"
April 28, 2010
