New MacBook Pro 15" - A serious let down...

[Christopher Drews]

Seriously - this isn't even a redesign. A faster front side bus, better graphics and alloy case is all they are offering? Am I missing something here? No integrated eSATA, No optional 2x HD's, No BD support. Ugh - Don't call it new Apple!

Apple - MacBook Pro

-C

[Boyd Ostroff]

Well it looks pretty nice to me... the new touchpad is cool. OTOH, it certainly doesn't offer any reason for me to upgrade from my 9 month old 2.4ghz MacBook Pro. But if someone is getting their first Mac, or upgrading from an older machine, it's a small improvement over the previous models.

[Eugenia Loli-Queru]

I think the issue is more with the Macbook rather than the Macbook Pro. No firewire! They removed it. All these consumer and prosumer videographers who might have needed a laptop on the go sometimes, are out in the cold. And from what I read online, the audio recording guys with garageband are equally unhappy.

[Jason Boyette]

What I was hoping for...

Final Cut Studio 3 (with Blu-Ray workflow)
MBP with a Blu-Ray SuperDrive (Read/Write)
HDMI in/out

Back to dreamland

[Justin Benn]

I was hoping for something that could compete with those new über-laptops that sport 8GB RAM, and give you the option of I/Os. I wanted 2 express card slots (unreliable Superdrive be damned) and an option for a serious, 1GB gfx card. I don't care if it weighs more, I need mine to work for a living, not take up precious desk real estate.

A total non-event.

[Christopher Drews]

I just looked at the complete specs of the new 15" MBP - It has NO FIREWIRE 400! It says it has 800 only! APPLE, you release three new laptops without firewire 400 (air, mb, mbp)?

I think I will retract everything I thought about "apples forward thinking model".
Why would you remove something so useful and so pertinent to creative people?

As it stands, you cant hook up an AJA Io LD box (require FW400) and numerous other devices which require a 400 port. If you wanted to, you'd have to buy a 34 card, therefore clogging it for other devices (P2 slot, eSATA card slot).

My advice to you is to buy an older generation MBP on ebay.
-C

[Eric Emerick]

I have a cable that has FW 800 on one end and FW 400 on the other, wouldn't that work?

[Theodore McNeil]

That's correct: Firewire 800 is backwards compatible so you can hook a firewire 400 device with an adapter like this... Sonnet | 6-Pin FireWire-400 to 9-Pin FireWire-800 | FAD-824

[Dino Leone]

Yes, as Theodore mentioned, fw800 is backwards compatible, so that will work.

What worries me more is that the omission of firewire in the macbook and more importantly in the new 24" display could be the beginning of a trend to move away from firewire. That imo would be really bad.

[Simon Wyndham]

I think that Apple has lost the plot with these new machines. Even more so because they are more expensive than the old models.

As other forums have pointed out we are not in the best financial shape as a world. What we need is less expensive options, not more. We also need the laptops to do what we need them to do.

Jobs seems to have lost his vision. He doesn't appear to be catering for the userbase any more. I know he has a history of doing a 'Jobs Slap' (to paraphrase Google Slap) to certain standards. But I think the new laptops have gone too far down this road.

[Andy Wilkinson]

I agree. And the real downer is those super shiney new screens (I say typing this on a Dell laptop that has one - watching my reflection as I do). Never again will I buy a shiney screen!

My 3 month old 15 inch MBP, 4GB RAM (non-Apple), 2.5Ghz Duo 7,200 rpm 200GB HD, FW 400 and 800 etc. (and with it's lovely and sharp/clear matt screen!) is, in my opinion, a step up from the newer version announced yesterday, at least how I see it. Better get them while stocks last everyone!

[Mathieu Ghekiere]

I was very dissapointed also. I really think Apple just officially turned it's back to prosumers and professionals:

- No Firewire 400 on the Macbook. You want to capture your home video? Do a small edit on a Macbook? Hook up an audio-interface? Bad luck, you have to spend 2000 dollars to have firewire on a Mac-laptop now (in the U.S.). iMovie?

- No Firewire 400 on the Macbook Pro. Yes, you can buy an adapter (to an already expensive laptop, considering the competition) but some of us really need that port.

- Glossy screen on the Macbook Pro... WTF? What are they thinking? They responded on the question that 'consumers love glass'. WHAT ABOUT THE PRO's? It IS called a Macbook PRO... right?

- Glossy screen on the Apple Cinema Display... This product is pretty wrong on many points. Yes it's a LED display, and 24", so considering that, price is right. But you can only use it with the new Apple laptops. But the professionals won't really buy those new laptops because it doesn't offer them what they want (matte screens, firewire400, no blu-ray...). So mostly consumers will buy the screen. Will they buy a 900 dollar 24" screen, if they can get one for 300 from Dell? I know the Dell won't have the quality of the Apple Cinema Display, but a consumer won't care. Your money only goes so far...
Secondly: glosse Apple Cinema Display? Another hit in the face for professionals who loved the original Apple Cinema Display's, that could be trusted, color-wise... Yes, these old displays still exists, but considering everything above, it's very worrying on which direction Apple is going.

I really defended Apple a lot, I love(d?) their computers, their software, their OS, their iPod and iPhone.
But now they REALLY struck to me as 'that iPod company', it's not about GOOD computers anymore, for creative people or creative professionals.

And of course, I'm sure that the high-end staff at Apple knows better what they are doing then low-life me. But I'm hearing this complaints from a lots of angles...

[Marc Burleigh]

Oh, so wrong, so wrong, Steve Jobs. This is the first laptop update by Apple in quite a few years that has left me cold.

The big advantage of Apple -- the reason we pay a premium price for the BMW of laptops -- is its superior multimedia handling, right?

So what the hell is the company thinking this time around? A Macbook with NO firewire whatsoever (take that you video camera owners! who needs ya?) and a MBP with only a meagre update over the old version at a hefty price tag and a glossy screen thrown in to boot (not to mention some uncomfortable heat on the standard 2.53Ghz processor -- I shudder to think of the frying problems the 2.8Ghz version will bring to first-adopters).

The iPhone culture of catering to consumers has superseded Apple's old ethos of raising the bar. It used to create machines that gave us more than we could initially use so we could grow into them. Bang for your buck. Now the tables have turned and they are giving us what consumers have shown they like from the iPhone range. Sure a touchpad that emulates the iPhone screen is kind of cool. But it isn't that important. And being able to switch between two graphic chips might be handy for battery life, but seems kind of indecisive or retro (why not let buyers choose which chip they get put in at the factory? -- they know best whether the machine will be used on long-haul flights or tethered to a desk with a power outlet).

Fine, I can agree with Jobs that Blu-Ray would have pushed the price to unacceptable heights. And I guess we can buy an external burner whenever they come down to what mortals pay.

But, on the MBP at least, where's the 1TB harddrive (or at least 500 MB)? Why not the Firewire 400? Why not the matte-screen option of yore? Why is memory stuck at 4GB (an 8MB option should be more than doable)? Hell, maybe the time has come for Apple to produce something like the Air but with a docking station that would turn it into a MBP. A docking station with a big hardrive and all the ports we've come to rely on. With the advantage that we can just lift the Air out of the slot for road warrior duty.

I'm not usually a betting guy. But I'm figuring we'll be seeing an update to the MB and MBP lines next year that will make anybody buying one of these new-but-castrated models rue their 2008 purchase.

[Meryem Ersoz]

I bought a new loaded 17'' Macbook Pro right before the release of these models was announced.

Aren't I supposed to be having buyer's remorse? Isn't that the way the game is supposed to be played?

Instead, I'm having the opposite feeling, buyer's rejoice, first time ever!

It's a sign Apple, pay attention....

[Jonathan Levin]

I'm not sure what to think of Apples new glossy glass screen thing. But a couple of things to consider: Before flat panel monitors we were using crt Apple studio displays, sony artisansand so on. They had "glossy" glass surfaces, but it did not matter because for the most part, our photo editing was done in a darkened room, walls painted 50% gray, and very little problem with glare. Didn't Apple at one time offer a choice of glossy or matte?

On the other hand, if these are used in the field, which they will be, then glare and ambient light are going to be issues. People used to buy these big laptop "hoods" to block out as much of the unwanted light as possible, but it was never really ideal.

Personally, I'venever been that fond of "matte" displays. Never really seemed sharp or appear to have a great dynamic range.

Then again, this is coming from someone who is still using a 1.67mhz Powerbook G4!

Jonathan