MacBook Pro Gets Santa Rosa Chipset, LED Screen 452
frdmfghtr writes "TechNewsWorld is reporting that Apple has updated the MacBook Pro line with the Santa Rosa chipset from Intel. In addition, Apple is also introducing mercury-free displays with some models. 'When Apple presented new editions of its MacBook line last month, the company excluded the latest Intel Centrino chips, dubbed "Santa Rosa," which had been released just days prior. The chips have found their way into Apple's new high-end MacBook Pro notebooks, which the company revealed Tuesday. Certain models use mercury-free displays, falling in line with the company's recent ecological promises.'"
Re:Must...resist...first-gen...hardware.... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Apple surrenders? (Score:5, Insightful)
Apple simply issued a statement about its product environmental plans, among other things.
Numerous other vendors were "greener" by Greenpeace standards because they had a public "environmental plan", or even a "plan to have a plan", whereas Apple was silent on futures as it relates to future products, as it always is.
Perhaps Jobs thought it pragmatic to offer its plan publicly so that it would stop getting hammered by Greenpeace as having one of the worst environmental commitments in the industry, when in reality it has one of the best (sure, sure, cue the "but so-and-so is better/first/whatever than Apple is such-and-such category" comments). And besides, I thought it was actions, not lip service about possible future directions, that actually mattered?
But the bottom line is Apple didn't "surrender"; it just published what its already-existing environmental plans were. If you call that a "surrender", then, hey, wave the white flag, Apple.
Re:How about... (Score:2, Insightful)
How come they don't mention they come with iLife? How come they don't mention the OS has a *nix underbelly? How come they don't mention that Macs plug into the wall?
Perhaps Apple itself wants to position its hardware away from Windows and being "PC-like." Perhaps it's not relevant to the discussion regarding a simple hardware revision. Perhaps that comment is just a desire to see any Apple news be a commercial.
Re:How about... (Score:5, Insightful)
Oh, come on. Anyone even remotely considering buying a Mac can read all about its ability to run Windows programs on Apple's website. Given the fact that all new Macs have been able to do this for a year and a half now, it's not exactly news anymore. And it's not as if there has been a shortage of coverage of this ability, either. There's a difference between "bears repeating" and "repeating ad nauseam".
Re:How about... (Score:4, Insightful)
This is the single biggest factor in new Mac purchases at my institution, and many other settings.
Whether it comes with iDVD and GarageBand and iCal is not in the least.
And many, many people still don't fully understand that, yes, it really, really can run Windows. And yes, your Windows app will really, really work. Yes, even that one. Yes, really.
Wouldn't you agree that warrants at least a sentence alongside all the other drivel in the article?
Awesome (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Apple surrenders? (Score:2, Insightful)
So continue on with your anti-environment trolling, I am sure your president appreciates` your efforts, consumer.
I don't want more than one (Score:3, Insightful)
That's why Apple has the perfect solution - chording. You don't need to use the double tap right click thing on the keypad. I have it off. All you need to remember is that "Control" in conjunction with the mouse button acts as the second button, in all applications. And since your hand is already on the keyboard it's a little faster than trying to hunt for that second button.
That's the benefit of having a system designed from the ground up to work with a single button when two were not to be had, because you always had a control key.
On a desktop I prefer mice of many buttons. But on a laptop, I greatly prefer they leave it as one button that's easy to chord into various uses.
Re:How about putting some Zoom in the low end? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Apple surrenders? (Score:2, Insightful)
Greenpeace stopped being about the environment years ago.
Re:Dear lord (Score:3, Insightful)
They're obviously terrorists because they target civilian populations with brutal weaponry.
Oh wait, they don't do that.
Re:I bought one! (Score:2, Insightful)
So, given that people continue to buy Macbook Pros, there simply must be something I'm missing. I suppose now at least the Pros have better battery life, but surely there's more to the story than that. I refuse to believe the light-up keyboard has a significant influence.
Re:Awesome (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:I wish they quit keeping the "price points" (Score:5, Insightful)
When I bought my MacBook (in January), I was a little wary of the idea of share video/system RAM, but it actually makes sense if you're not doing 3D work. Why carry around a bunch of RAM for your display if you're only going to render 2D windows with text and images? I've even played a few 3D games on it, and it performs acceptably, though has to work pretty hard and gets quite hot. Plugging in a 1680 x 1050 additional screen was no problem and it looks great for photos/videos.
Seriously, if you're a gamer, get a desktop; if you're a 3D artist, get a MacBook Pro; but if you're someone who wants a fully-featured laptop for $1500, just give up on your 'I have to have the pro level gear' attitude and get the black MacBook. You'll be glad you did.
Re:How about... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:How about... (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes. And that's fine.
The fact that it can run Windows does not.
The fact that a *Mac* easily/natively/seamlessly runs Windows doesn't "distinguish" it from other computers, and that's exactly the point. And it does distinguish it from every other Mac for the over-two-decades before Intel-based Macs started shipping (horridly slow emulation aside, no matter how well it was done).
And as I said elsewhere, the fact that Macs can now run Windows is the single biggest reason people are buying Macs in many markets, especially education, research, and government, and there are still many people who don't understand that, Yes, Macs Really Can Run Windows.
It was at least worth a passing sentence in the article.
Yay! nVidia! (Score:5, Insightful)
(ATI's drivers are teh suck, on OS X as well as Linux.)
((Opinions mine, not IBM's.))
Re:I bought one! (Score:3, Insightful)
Besides the unimportance (like the nice aluminum finish), there are benefits. The larger screen is one. FireWire 800 is very nice. The ExpressCard/34 slot is something of a big deal (so I can add 3G or something else without the overhead of USB), the graphics matter quite a bit to me (I'd like to be able to play games, mess around with making 3D applications, etc). People using it for more professional work can really benefit from the optical audio jacks if they work in that kind of environment.
I'll agree the jump is a bit high, but it wasn't a question for me.
Re:Why bother with the higher end 15"? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:I wish they quit keeping the "price points" (Score:3, Insightful)
- if you *really* need something--Santa Rosa, matte screen, 1920x1200--then you'll take what they give you.
- what size screen do you want? Are you happy with the (aluminum/plastic) case that comes with that option? Then you're done.
- how much do you want to pay?
- you want a Santa Rosa with discreet graphics and a 1680x1050 13" LED matte screen? Sorry.
And the budget-minded, not-in-a-hurry consumer can always look at the refurbished/discontinued page. (Big 'save' tag in the right column.) When the MBPs went from Core Duo to Core 2 Duo, the price of the 15" Core 2s dropped from $1999 to $1399 overnight. The savings usually aren't *that* drastic but they're usually quite good. (Unfortunately, you lose the BTO-ness, so you can't order a refurbished model *and* inexpensively upgrade the RAM.)
* I still get print catalogs from Dell and HP in the mail. They both have a baffling array of notebooks. Literally. It makes no sense at all. And they market them so they're *all* superior at *something*--"This one is great for games. This one is great for media. This one is great for..." WTF?!?? Fast is fast. Please just QUANTIFY how THIS one is better than THAT one. You know what I tell people who ask me for advice? (Note that these are not techy types.) "Just pick the size you want, with the CD/DVD drive you want, and get the cheapest one you find with those features." Seriously, Apple has the right idea. Let someone else fight to the death on no-margin, infinitely-customizable systems.
Re:I bought one! (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Awesome (Score:3, Insightful)
I had used the MBP trackpad with two finger input for about 30 seconds when I realised I could never go back to the old ways. One finger for moving the cursor around like normal, two fingers for scrolling (horizontal as well as vertical). Only one finger or none on the trackpad with the mouse button is a left click (or drag), two fingers on the track pad is a right click. If you right click and it brings up a large menu, keeping two fingers on the track pad makes you scroll through the list like with a scroll wheel, lifting one finger means you go right back to a regular cursor to select in that right-click popup.
It sounds a bit complicated, but it literally takes seconds to figure out what is going on.
Now, whenever I'm on an older mac or any wintel laptop, I really miss the MBP trackpad. It's a major step backwards.
the AC
Re:How about... (Score:3, Insightful)
surrender (Score:4, Insightful)
People ironically love to bash their own advocates. (Greenpeace being indirect advocates for our wellbeing.) Y2K people are now discredited because the end of the world did not happen - but their actions helped funnel billions into preventing problems especially on mission critical systems. They won but get no glory.
The only good public recognition a whistle blower gets is after the disaster when everybody gets to hear them say "I told you so." Even then, that still creates a large amount of resentment or people upset they didn't push hard enough to convince us before the disaster.
We wouldn't know how bad or good apple was without somebody taking the effort. Greenpeace was doing their job and were not trying to get elected to office.
Mull over that one.
You SysAdmins who must have had to advocate preventive measures to the bosses in your career; and who also likely have to remind people when your plans saved them from "disaster."
Re:How about... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:surrender (Score:4, Insightful)
Mull over that one.
I write this as a life-long environmentalist, Sierra Club member, and huge liberal.
Greenpeace is evil.
They rate companies not based on their impact on the environment, but rather what they say they will do at some future point. Their website [greenpeace.org] rates Apple last, not because they polute or because they're killing baby seals, but because they refuse to tell Greenpeace what they're doing. We now know that Apple was innovating in a green way, they just didn't brag about their future plans. Despite this, Greenpeace still rates Apple as the worst company in the list.
Meanwhile, companies are rated 'good' based on their statements, and not their actions.
Greenpeace was not trying to get elected to office, true, but they are raising money. And that's what drives the organization these days, not saving the planet.
coyote
Re:How about color quality? (Score:4, Insightful)
They will likely be, but not "necessarily" be. There's no requirement that makes it "necessary". CRTs work much different and shouldn't be included in the discussion.
"If a given portion of the spectrum is not present in the "white light" (using that term very loosely here) backlight, no amount of filtering by the LCD screen overlay can put it back. If this is not intuitive, imagine trying to create blue using only a pure-red LED backlight. (You can't do it - the backlight must have at least some blue)."
Yes, but LCD displays work using color filters and the "white light" does not need to have a particularly full spectrum. It only needs to offer what the filters wish to pass.
"So if, for example, the LED backlight has more green and red light available in its "white light" spectrum than a CCF backlight has, the LCD overlay so-illuminated can produce yellow tones (since red and green are the constituent primaries that make yellow) that a LCD illuminated with a CCF cannot. That gives the LED-illuminated LCD a wider gamut."
What do you mean by "more green and red"? If it has simply "more" then you are wrong. The gamut will be the same but the brightness will be different. In order for there to be differences in possible yellow tones there needs to be qualitative differences in the green and red itself.
"However, if both the LED-illuminated and the CCF-illuminated LCD overlays only filter light at a resolution of 8 bits per channel, they will both be able to display the same amount of information about color, but because the gamut of one is different from the gamut of the other, in many cases they will not be able to display the same colors."
Who says the gamut of one is different from the other? The LCD panels may be the same thus required spectra the same and the color balance of the light sources may be the same. In that case, even though the backlights are different and have different CRIs, the result will be a matching gamut.
"In general, an 8-bit display should in fact have a larger (but not necessarily wider) gamut than a 6-bit."
The color gamut is the range of color possible to achieve. The bit depth determines the quantization within that gamut. Your use of the confusing and similar term "larger" is not helping matters any. Most people will equate "larger" and "wider" (understandably) as meaning the same thing. You should not be creating confusion in an effort to eliminate it. Having more bits does not make a gamut "larger". What it does is provide smoother tonality.
"In an LCD display the spectrum of the backlight will determine how wide the gamut can be at its absolute maximum..."
"...if a color is not present in that spectrum, it cannot be filtered into existance by the LCD overlay."
but a metamer of it can. That's how tristimulus display works!!! Whether a given spectral line exists in a backlight has no impact on whether a given color exists in the resulting gamut. If what you say were true, we wouldn't be using LED OR CCFL for backlights and CRTs wouldn't work worth a shit!
"By the same token, the bit-depth-per-channel of the LCD overlay will determine how many individual color tones are in that gamut."
Finally you got something right. Bit depth determines tonality, not gamut "largeness".
"In reality, it's a lot more complicated than this, but this is the gist of it."
Yes it is, and you know just enough to be dangerous. What you offered isn't "the gist of it" at all.
Two button trackpads suck (Score:3, Insightful)