Apple MacBook Pro MC700LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop
Apple MacBook Pro MC700LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop
- 2.3GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor
- 320 GB Hard Drive, 8x DVD/CD SuperDrive, 4 GB DDR3 RAM, Precision aluminum unibody
- 13.3 inch LED-backlit display, 1280-by-800 resolution
- Intel HD Graphics 3000 with 384MB of DDR3 SDRAM shared with main memory
- High Speed Thunderbolt Port, FaceTime HD Camera, Mac OS X v10.7 Lion
Just when you thought your MacBook Pro was state of the art, Apple introduces the MC700LL/A 13″ MacBook Pro with new advanced processing power and graphics. New connectivity capabilities potentially speed large file transfers beyond any current connection. All MacBook Pro models are state-of-the-art. This new one takes it out to another edge.
New Thunderbolt technology lets you connect high-performance peripherals and high-resolution displays to one port – with data transfer rates up to
List Price: $ 1,199.00
Price: $ 1,199.00
Switching from PC to Mac,
When I purchased this MacBook Pro, most reviews seemed to be from existing Mac users who were comfortable with the device. There are a lot of reviews talking about the technical specs of this Mac, so I’ll spare those coz I myself am still coming up the curve on them. My review is based solely on my experience from the perspective of a PC user for the past 16+ years. Hopefully if you, like me, are considering making the switch, you will find this at least partially useful. I mostly use the Mac for Office and Adobe applications and don’t know much about computers beyond that as far as technicals are concerned.
Set up – Set up is as straight forward as it is with any Apple device. They make it intuitive and a breeze to set up their devices. Absolutely no issues there.
Updates – One thing that really bothered me about Windows was that it was constantly updating itself – I mean I bought a brand new PC and Windows took a good 10 minutes to “update” (huh?). This slowed down my PC, and shutting it down took several minutes as Windows did its thing. No such complaint with the Mac. Even if it does automatically update, the process is not visible and does not slow down the speed of the Mac.
Compatibility – I really only need the Adobe Suite and MS Office on a daily basis. I purchased these 2 suites and setting them up was easy. Transferred all files from my PC through a shared network and the process was seamless. Apple’s interface is terrific for the entire initial set up process.
Programs – I have been able to run pretty much all programs that I ran on my PC. The only two programs I am currently having problems with are Google Talk and WINRAR. Google Talk seems erratic in iChat. It will log in at times, while most of the time it will give a username/password error. This is an issue Google seems to be aware of but haven’ fixed it yet. WinRar doesn’t work on Mac as far as I know. Stil looking for a compatible file compressing software that can open RAR files. Other than that, all MS Office applications run the same. The differences are minor – Excel has a very sparse shortcut key menu on the Mac, one of the main things I greatly miss about having a PC. Same applies for Outlook as well – I could work in both programs without having to touch my mouse, but with the Mac, I really need to rely on the mouse.
TouchPad and keyboard – Plain and simple – Mac’s touchpad and keyboard is the BEST. Typing on the Mac is such a better experienced – the quality of the material and overall layout of the keys is more ergonomic and well thought out. Toshiba, Dell and HP laptops that I have used in the past have a more crammed keyboard. Scrolling on the Touchpad is phenomenal. Even if I did consider going back to a PC, this feature alone would probably keep me glued to the Mac. It’s hard to use a regular mouse after using this touhpad. With my previous HP laptop, the TouchPad was problematic because the left click would get pressed even if I was simply scrolling. Haven’t had a single accidental click on my Mac for over a month of use.
Browser – Safari works great, but I was so used to Firefox, I just downloaded Firefox for Mac and it runs absolutely fine. One thing I am still trying to figure out is how to switch between various Firefox Windows on the Mac (similar to ALT+TAB on the PC). If any one know the answer, please let me know!
Goodbye Norton!! – No more pop-up windows, no more slowing down of the browser as websites try to gather information about you (happened on my PCs every single time), no more worries about crummy viruses that have on one ocassion rendered one of my prior PCs useless, no more buying expensive Norton software and having to renew every year!
Support – I had to call Apple’s support line only once for some basic questions. I was on hold for about 5 minutes and all my questions were appropriately answered by the reps. Excellent overall support.
Downside – the one downside of owning an Apple product is the list of accessories and their expense. A PC doesn’t require a case or screen protective film. With a Mac, you can choose to leave it bare, but given how beautiful this device is, you will likely be tempted to accessorize it for protection. Any other Apple accessory you might need (power adapter, software, superdrive, etc) are all expensive. I have only bought a case, keyboard cover, and a screen film, and I am already out a $100! I need to buy another AC charger for my office and that will run I think another $75-80 right there.
Upside – well, a Mac does have a cool factor to it!
Online forums are a beautiful thing. If I had any questions or doubts about using the Mac, some previous user had already posted them and others had already answered them on the forums. I found all answers with a few searches on those forums (MacForums is fantastic!).
Hope this helps. This is no way meant to…
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|A Solid Computer Gets Faster,
I stopped by my local Apple Store the morning this MacBook Pro was made available to the public and bought one, replacing my over two year old unibody MacBook. These are premium computers, and well made. My old computer, which looks very much like this one, still looked great after two years, with a little scratching on the bottom, and an unfortunate denting of one corner. I do not regret for one minute paying more for a device I use several hours a day, and from which I derive my living.
The strong point of this computer over previous 13 inch unibody MacBooks is the processor. It is noticeably faster at computationally intensive tasks. For example, I have a large application written in the C++ programming language which Xcode on my late 2008 vintage MacBook could compile in 16.5 minutes, this MacBook can do the same task in 8.5 minutes, a nearly doubling of speed. Similiarly, converting a 10 minute MP3 file to AAC in iTunes used to take 21 seconds, now it takes 14 seconds. Unsurprisingly, computer processors have gotten faster. The new processor does tend to heat up fast under full load, so be prepared for more frequent fan noise.
The weak point is the stock hard drive, a 320GB 5400 RPM Hitachi laptop drive. Any operation depending on hard drive throughput is not going to be much faster on this computer than in years past. If you do not have large capacity needs, you may be better served special ordering a model with a smaller but much faster solid state drive (SSD), they do not come cheap, but will result in a much more balanced computer that does not leave its high performance CPU idling awaiting data. I would do so, but the higher capacity SSDs cost as much as the computer alone.
If you were to upgrade to an SSD, be aware that while this model has one type III SATA port, you might have trouble using one of the new type III SATA SSD drives in it. [Update: online reports indicate Apple has started shipping these laptops with the optical bay also using an SATA III port.] I tried to install a 128 GB Crucial RealSSD C300 into the hard drive bay and the operating system installer failed to install. Online forums indicate people are having troubles with type III drives, and whether the problem is with the drive used, a bad cable, or firmware is in dispute. You might want to wait on a type III upgrade until this settles out. In the meantime, I’ve purchased a bracket allowing me to replace the optical drive and put the SSD on the type II port formerly used by the SuperDrive.
This and the new MacBook Air are the only laptops Apple sells without a discrete graphics processing unit (GPU), instead relying soly on the Intel integrated 3000HD GPU. Intel has previously not been known for its GPU prowess, but space constraints and Intel’s design restrictions, and improvements in performance finally pushed Apple into going integrated only. I would have preferred a discrete GPU, especially in a premium laptop, but I am not a gamer, and will make do with the much better CPU. I’m sure Apple would have preferred a discrete GPU, as their strategy for performance improvements is to use the GPU for general purpose computing using the OpenCL framework.
New to this year’s models is the Intel Thunderbolt connector superseding the Mini Display Port connector. This flexible port will likely become more and more useful as hubs and peripherals become available to make use of its fantastic speed. Adaptors and docks will be available to use this one port as a USB, DVI, Firewire, Ethernet port simultaneously, making one data cable for easy desktop docking. But, I don’t have any use for it now. Media reports indicate Apple will have this port to itself this year, although Intel is insisting that other motherboard manufacturers could start to include it, and I hope they do. Whether the port is a marketplace success is not a foregone conclusion, but I look forward to syncing and charging a future iPad over this speedy port; sadly the iPad 2 does not have this port, but someday.
I am glad to have a standard FireWire 800 port, and an SD Card reader, neither of which were found on my previous non-Pro laptop. I’ll be able to charge my iPad at maximum speed with the 2 Amp USB ports, something I couldn’t do before. The FaceTime app for OS X comes pre-installed, you don’t have to buy it from the Mac App Store.
Little luxuries include the backlit keyboard, the MagSafe power cable, the firm responsive keyboard, and the big multitouch capable trackpad. The display is bright and has a good, but not great range of viewing angles, certainly worse than an iPad, but better than most cheap laptop monitors Yellows are a bit saturated while using the default color profile. I’m sure many would prefer a higher resolution than 1280×800, but I’d prefer a jump to very high resolutions combined…
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|To Upgrade or Not Upgrade? MacBook Pro 2011 compared to previous models,
Pros:
– much faster cpu (latest Sandy Bridge processors)
– faster memory
– support for fastest data drives (sata III connection)
Neutral:
– same solid construction
– HD webcam
– Thunderbolt port
– Battery life?? UPDATE: tests confirm slightly better battery life (+10%)
Cons:
– inferior graphics compared to 2010 model
Quick take:
The 2011 model is a significant upgrade in processing power over the 2010 model. There are a couple of additional upgrades, such as Thunderbolt or the HD webcam, which may be useful in the future, but currently are not that important. Battery life, which is important for many users, is probably as good or better than the older Macbook Pro, but it is hard to determine how it compares. On the downside, the graphics are actually inferior to the 2010 model, but should work for the majority of users.
UPDATE: Laptop Magazine found the battery life is approximately 10% longer on the 2011 Macbook Pro. Thanks to the commenters for pointing this out.
DETAILS:
Full Review:
I use my Macbook Pro as my main computer at work where I have it hooked up to an external monitor. I do a lot of number crunching (i.e. statistics) so upgrading from my 2010 Macbook Pro to this 2011 version with the latest CPU made a lot of sense. It may not make sense for many people who own 2010 or 2009 versions of the Macbook Pro. I list all the pros and cons below.
PROS:
– Much Faster CPU
This Macbook Pro (MBP) update is all about the CPU (i5 “Sandy Bridge”). The 2010 MBP missed out on a generation upgrade last year, keeping the same Core 2 Duo family that was in the 2009 MBPs. This made the 2010 version only marginally faster than the 2009 version. The benchmark scores on the 2011 13″ 2.3 GHz MBP are 35% to 40% higher than the 2010 13″ 2.4 GHz MBP. That is a HUGE leap in computational performance. It is true that the Core 2 Duos were very dated, but the low end 2.3GHz 2011 MBP is just as fast as last year’s high end 15″/17″ MBPs which had i5 and i7 2.8 GHz processors! Very awesome. Here are some benchmark scores I got off the web.
Model: Geekbench Score (Speedmark Score)
MacBook Pro 13″ i5 2.3 GHz (2011): 5900 (140)
MacBook Pro 13″ Core2 Duo 2.4 GHz (2010): 3351 (106)
MacBook Pro 13″ Core2 Duo 2.4 GHz (2009): 3137 (??)
MacBook Pro 15″ i7 2.67 GHz (2010): 5564 (151)
MacBook Pro 17″ i7 2.8 GHz (2010): 5837 (??)
As you can see, this is a significant bump over the 2010 and 2009 models.
- Faster Memory:
This is part of the faster performance observed, but it means that you can’t use your memory from your old MBP.
- Support for the fastest SSD hard drives
If you want to upgrade to an SSD this is an important upgrade. The latests SSD hard drives are blazing fast, but require a Sata III 6Gb/s connection to achieve their 500 MB/s reads. (Right now, OCZ’s Vertex 3 and Intel’s 510 Series are the only drives that really need the higher speed port, but more are coming.) On the downside, it appears that the optical drive connection is Sata II 3 Gb/s. So if you were planning on removing the optical drive in favor of a second SSD, it will be running on a slower connection.
NEUTRALS:
- same solid construction
Not much to report. Still on of the best builds in the business, but no reason to upgrade.
- HD Webcam
Nice I suppose, if you are using you laptop as a camcorder, but if you are streaming video (like over Skype) you are going to have a bandwidth bottle neck so the HD webcam it isn’t going to make any difference.
- Thunderbolt
Awesome technology, but there isn’t anything out there right now that takes advantage of it. Maybe in six months it will be more of a benefit. It doesn’t hurt to get it now though.
- Battery Life
This is hard to determine. One of the marketing points of the Sandy Bridge CPUs are the integrated Intel HD graphics which are supposed to increase battery life. However, Apple changed their battery tests since 2010. The reported battery life is “7 hours” for the 2011 MBP vs “8-9″ hours for the 2010 MBPs, but battery life for the same usage may actually be longer for the 2011 MBP. I’m not sure how to tell, but I would guess that battery life is at least as good as the 2010 MBP due to the integrated graphics in the 2011 MBP.
UPDATE: Someone has done an apples to apples comparison on battery life. According to tests by Laptop Magazine, the 2011 MBP has approximately 45min more battery life than its predecessor. Using a web surfing via WiFi based test, they found that the 2011 MBP lasted 8:33. The 2010 MBP…
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