MacBook PRO

tigeba

Well-known member
Apple announced the new notebook today. Appears to be an Intel Duo notebook.

5.6lbs. iSight, Front Row; $1999 1.67 Core Duo; 667 DDR bus, x1600; $2499 1.83GHz.
 
I'm not really surprised they dropped FW800. FW400 and USB 2.0 are vastly more used ports and for those that need FW800 just buy a FW800 ExpressCard (new version of PCMIA that runs off a PCIe bus, IIRC).


-A
 
I like to talk more about the Intel MACs out there. (I know, long time no see)

As an employee of Apple, I never get any info from Apple and end up learning more from others like you as well as the website.

Now whats this I hear about FCP will not work on the Intel MACs? first off, one of their speed tests shows FCP will run more of less 2x faster on an Intel MAC than baseline PowerPC CPUs.
Second, Will it be a good buy? after all it is a good price, Im eyeing an IMAC. It claims to be much faster which I believe tis true. But its new technology, or should I say, 2 proven technology put together. So what should I be worried about or praising on?
 
I think they mean it won't run on the new Macs right out of the box, but instead requires an upgrade. I think that $49 for the upgrade of a $1200 program (Final Cut Studio) is a reasonable deal.
 
I personally think its more consumery, its targeted less at prosumer video editors. Apple hopes to increase their market by offering an intel machine, notice the built in isight. So for me I still rather use a Powerbook G4.

Even though eventually I will end up running an Intel/Apple tower of some sorts, ina long time, I dont think the intel Macbook apeals to me.
 
Yeah, an "upgrade" if I know apple well, which I do. They'll sell a starving homeless guy a can of soup and sell the can opener 2 months later.

BUT anyways, as average joe consumer still, I wonder what about the intel chip that forbids it from having FCP work on it? What about other progs, Motion? AE? Photoshop even??
Just curious
 
Did yall see the article about Final Cut Pro Extreme that is supposed to be in the price range of $10,000!!!! According to the article Apple is going after Avid with that system. Its supposed to be top of the line video editing software. I thnk its supposed to debut around the same time as FCP 6 later this spring.

Now about the MAC BOOK. I am interested in getting a laptop so I can work on projects on the go. But I am wondering now with this new lap top with intel processors. If I am working on a sequence on the laptop then when I get home will I be able to transfer that sequence back into my G5 machine? I need to go to the Apple store and find some of this stuff out.
 
To clarify some of the questions about the MacBook Pro:

1) FCP, Motion, DSP, Aperture, Photoshop - OK, anything except what comes with it (iWork, iLife) - all need to be re-written to talk to the Intel chips. This is a massive undertaking, and different companies will do it at different speeds. Microsoft already has Office ported - it will be out in March I believe. Apple will have a port of Studio by the end of March.

2) Rosetta is a PowerPC emulator that comes on the new Macs. It allows software that is not yet ported for Intel to run on Intel, but with a performance hit of some kind.
HOWEVER: if the app needs a G5 to run, it WILL NOT run in Rosetta. So, Final Cut Studio will NOT run on the new Macs until the port comes out in March.

3) These are not "consumer level" laptops. These are the new "pro" laptops - they replace the Powerbook, not the iBook. According to Apple, they are 4x faster than the G4 Powerbooks, but that remains to be seen.

4) They are dual-core, which means they should have a tremendous performance increase over the "old", single-processor laptops. Are they going to be faster than the first-gen dual-processor G5? Good question. Probably not, or just barely. Laptops are slower than desktops overall, because they have slower hard drives, slower buses and run with less power (all in order to keep the heat down and the battery lasting more than 5 minutes).

I'd hold off getting a new MacBook or iMac until they've been out for a bit, and certainly would wait until after the FC Studio upgrade in March. There are many questions about these Macs that will only be answered over time (are they reliable? how well does Rosetta work? Are they really 4x faster? If so, is a program running with a performance hit in Rosetta still faster than running natively on an "old" Mac?)

Just in case you are wondering - my job is installing, fixing, maintaining and working with Macs.

Jason
 
If you own FCP studio you will need to purchase a "universal disc" for 49.00
This disc works on both intel and powerpc MACS. This is how they will bridge current mac owners to intel.

March is the target date for Universal discs so by April you may see a new macbook.....probably worth the wait to see newer models. If you need a laptop have fun, if you own a PB hold out.
 
I don't know about anybody else, but it's time for my Fianl Cut Expressed iMac G4 to be upgraded.

I'm going to wait for a second revision of the iMac, probably in the summer sometime. I'm talkin' fully loaded - 500GB HD, ATI X1600 256MB video card, etc...

Perhaps if I'm up for it - FCS!

Anyone else watch Steve Job's keynote at Macworld? I'm a pretty huge Apple fanboy...
 
Dunno, about you guys, but these new intel chips don't really seem -that- sexy. Most of the benchmarks are heavily slanted, and many "experts" are heavily questioning them. They may technically be 2-4x faster - but in what tasks?

As the owner of a Powerbook Ti 1 Ghz and a first gen G5 1.8 DP computer, I have found that the power of these two machines are plenty enough. How much speed do you really need out of a laptop anyway?

I used to be an apple fan boy.. but I guess I grew out of it. Its fun trying to keep up with technology and drool over every new thing apple puts out there and having a little cult to belong to. Truth be told, I used to think apple was this super entity that was hell bent on giving the end user the best possible computer experience. Well they are, but they are more hell-bent on keeping up with investor expectations - and the move to intel chips seems to be doing exactly that.

They're basically saying "**** you" to anyone who doesn't have an intel chip, and to ibm with their less than stellar job of providing a supply of G5 processors. Apple will make more money with this move, and a lot of people (those of us with non-intel chips) won't have the same kind of access to software in a few years.

Does anyone remember when apple moved away from motorolla's processor in favor of the almighty IBM powerpc chip set? History does repeat itself. I give it three years before they stop updating the OS for PPC mac's.

Lets hope they don't end up going the way of BeOS and OS2Warp.
 
Sorry if this question has already been asked since Apple is going with the new processors, I have been hearing some folks here at my job talking about getting a DELL or other brand laptop and putting FCP on that instead of getting an apple...is that going to even work?
 
Anyone seen the new Mac commericals on TV about the Intel processors? I just started seeing them tonight. They show an iMac.
 
According to a rep in the local Apple store they told me that if you already have FCP or any of the other "studio" programs installed on your computer, you can upgrade to the entire studio (universal version for $99) Those folks that don't have any studio programs at all will have to shell out the $1299 price for the entire thing. He might be slightly off with the $99. I just looked at the APPLE site and unless I read it wrong I think it stated it would be $199 to upgrade to the entire production studio package if you already have FCP 4 HD or the current production studio. Either way its better than paying $1299 for it! If your currently using FCP 5, I think is a $99 upgrade to the whole package. The thing that kinda sucks is that I am sure they are going to release FCP 6 sometime after NAB.
 
I used to love apple. Used there computers my whole life. I'd love to be excited about the mac book. But my powerbook (over 3000CAD) came with a faulty screen which apple refused to repair even under warranty.

So all I can say is NEVER EVER buy a mac they will screw you any chance they get.


-rook
 
rook said:
I used to love apple. Used there computers my whole life. I'd love to be excited about the mac book. But my powerbook (over 3000CAD) came with a faulty screen which apple refused to repair even under warranty.

So all I can say is NEVER EVER buy a mac they will screw you any chance they get.


-rook


Hmmmm. I've never had a problem with my PowerBook. Back when I bought my iMac, it developed a problem with the monitor, I took it in and they replaced the computer. No hassles at all. :thumbsup:
 
rook, I think that is the one time you are allowed to get hostile and put your foot in their you know what until the job gets done! LOL!!!! Maybe you needed to contact the BBB or something but they should have taken care of the problem for you unless you clearly did something to the screen to mess it up and they werent going to fix it.
 
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