Design-wise, do not expect a laptop thinner or lighter. The only change in design is the addition of a flash next to the mini-DisplayPort. MacBook Pro 15-inch (Thunderbolt) holds its shape and form wonderful, as all changes are inside. Currently, I do not see the need to change its appearance. It is even thinner, more streamlined notebook in its class, it is by cutting the middle of a thin aluminum foil. It is at least a quarter of an inch thin and about a pound lighter than 5.5 pounds, the Dell XPS 15 ($ 1,115 direct, 4.5 stars) (6.3 lb) and Asus N53JF-XE1 (1015 $ street, 4 stars) (6.3 pounds).
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Apple MacBook Pro 15-inch (Thunderbolt) |
The MacBook Pro15-inch (Ray) has several options on the screen, all of which require you to pay a significant premium, although I can not think of laptops for many consumers who have anti-glare screen (an option) $ 150 . There are laptops that can be adapted to higher resolutions, however. The XPS 15 and N53JF-XE1, a boat or an optional 1080p display (1920 by 1, 080), the 15-inch MacBook Pro is available with a 1,440 by 900 or 1680 by 1050 display ($ 100). However, with the display options is a luxury that few are willing to offer. The HP Pavilion dv7-4283cl, for example, is only available with a glossy screen and 1600 by 900 pixels.
Chiclet-style keyboard continues the tradition of the MacBook Pro black keys to match the black side of the bezel of the screen. The backlight, which is located between the keys and aluminum base, is invaluable in low light situations. You can also find a backlit keyboard for the XPS-15. Signature Apple ClickPad eclipse all others in terms of size and responsiveness. No other touchpad can recognize two four-finger gestures as precise and fluid as Apple, and the reason is twofold: First, it is made of glass does not wear out over time. Others use acrylic or other less important in their design touchpad. Second, drivers and software coding for the touchpad has created in-house (rather than third-party developers), so that each click, push, or pinch works perfectly.
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Apple MacBook Pro 15-inch (Thunderbolt) |
What is lightning?
The last time a new relationship with technology leaders as Apple was when it started the FireWire standard. Thunderbolt, I / O with Intel (code name for the Light Peak), is similar to the principle that will improve the speed of transfer to a new level. Technique to live in a mini DisplayPort, both structurally door looks the same as that of the previous MacBook Pro repeats. But when connected to the board with a lightning-speed data transmission can theoretically hit the 10 Gbps. It is about 21 times the speed of USB 2.0 and FireWire 400, FireWire 800 12 times, and twice as USB 3.0.
Thunderbolt port, Apple says it is, essentially taking the channel PCI Express each door and the place goes through the window. And 'how to find a link that takes you directly to the highway five. Originally, Intel has designed the Thunderbolt to work for more than an optical cable, but it has not yet figured out how to power external devices with this method, copper is used instead. You will need a new cable runs Thunderbolt / Mini DisplayPort to an external device. Yes, you can still output to an external monitor or connect to any device for that matter. Apple has demonstrated a RAID server (to make the Promise Technologies) on a laptop, which was then connected to an Apple Cinema Display in a series configuration. Thunderbolt is a bi-directional, which means that you can go two streams at the same time, up to 10 Gbps for each stream.
In practice, for example, you can simultaneously four video streams uncompressed 1080p clips from the RAID server to the laptop (current), and then shown on the big screen at the same time (second line), without delay or distortion. You can only play uncompressed 1080p video through a FireWire port, much less four. During the demonstration of Apple, transfer rates have increased to 5 Gbps of realistic lightning speed, judging by the flow meter Apple had created.
You can also think of the Universal Port Thunderbolt. If a company was to create a hub or adapter Thunderbolt, can serve all types of networking technologies, such as FireWire, USB 2.0, USB 3.0, eSATA, and Gigabit Ethernet. Remember, all these techniques through a PCI Express at some point. Before you get too excited, however, Thunderbolt devices will not be available for months (those who were exposed were prototypes), and Apple is rumored to have an exclusive on this technology until 2012. So the doubts about his adoption rate is perfectly understandable. Update: Intel has pointed out that there is no exclusive right to Thunderbolt, OEMs are free to take it when they think the right time).
FaceTime HD and features The Usual Suspects
With the new HD Webcam sensor that feeds the video does not look like grainy or stretched grotesquely when you fill the entire screen. The output stream with a resolution of 1280 by 720 (720p), which is about 3 times the resolution of webcam in previous models MacBook Pro. Video chat with FaceTime app via Wi-Fi was free of distortions. MacBook Pro 15-inch (Thunderbolt) is not the only notebook webcam with HD, however. You can find the Dell XPS 15, which has a Skype-certified HD Webcam. Lenovo, Sony and HP has also made a laptop with webcam 720p HD-capable.
Every other port and the castle remains intact from the previous iteration. It has two USB ports, FireWire 800, Gigabit Ethernet port and slot SDXC media. Burning double layer DVDs seem generic, compared to Blu-ray players available on the Dell XPS 15 and HP Pavilion dv7-4283cl ($ 999.99 list, 4 stars). And do not expect to see a Blu-ray in a Mac laptop soon, as a way to Apple so far refuses to take. This configuration of vessels with a 750 GB hard drive running at 5400rpm, Dell XPS 15 and HP dv7-4283cl come with 7200rpm drive faster. MacBook Pro 15-inch (Thunderbolt) offers SSDs as well, 128 GB ($ 100), capacity 256 GB ($ 500) and 512GB ($ 1,100).
Massive component overhaul
With the second generation of Intel architecture core, it is not only a brain transplant, where you replace one processor to another, it is a multi-body makeover. For the first time in history, the MacBook Pro, MacBook Pro 15-inch (Thunderbolt) is equipped with a quad-core processor, an Intel Core i7 2.2GHz 2720QM (earlier models had dual-core processors). The two additional cores play a crucial role in multithreaded tasks like those found in professional video and photo editing packages (think Final Cut Pro and Adobe products). Modern architecture, the memory is also faster speeds (up to 1333 MHz), but the ability is still 4 GB to start, 8GB ($ 200) maximum.
In our indicator PCMark Vantage test the overall performance of 15-inch MacBook Pro received 8315 (Windows 7 Home Premium via Bootcamp), higher than the Asus N53SV-A1 (7257), which has a second generation i7 2 GHz CPU Intel Core 2630QM and 4 GB of memory (stay tuned for our review) .. The 15-inch MacBook Pro (Ray) Handbrake has finished testing a single-threaded transcoding video, 1 minute 53 seconds, well ahead of the Asus N53SV-A1 (2:06). Overwrites the previous 15-inch Apple MacBook Pro (Core i5), particularly in Cinebench 11.5 (5.07) and the handbrake (1:53) tests in which profits have doubled. It's not even fair to compare 15-inch MacBook Pro (ray) for Dell XPS 15, Asus and HP-XE1 N53JF dv7-4283cl, and the other three in execution of the previous generation of Intel parts. Suffice to say it was a slaughter, but I think to be the first with new technology in our lab bench has its advantages.
One of the most unexpected change is the graphics. Apple has long been a proponent of Nvidia laptop on the side, even if she used the ATI (now AMD) graphics chips in the past. But the company estimates that AMD Radeon 6750M is a better 3D chip, and the figures confirm the performance. For the first time a MacBook Pro broke the 10,000 mark in 3DMark06 points (he scored 10.878), ahead of Asus N53SV-A1 (10 073) and Nvidia GeForce 540 GPU. MacBook Pro15-inch (Thunderbolt) blew from Dell Inspiron 15 (8174) and HP dv7-4283cl (4723) in the same test, even though Dell Inspiron 15 is updated with a new chip from Nvidia, as we speak. At high quality settings, was popular game titles such as Crysis (18.8 frames per second) and Lost Planet 2 (30.8 fps) definitely playable, when I found out by running them in Windows 7 via Boot Camp.
Apple has found a way to link their automatic graphics (AGS) of AMD graphics chip, while still running Windows laptops to perform the operation manually using the software. The switch, as the previous iteration, is performed automatically by recognition applications or tasks require heavy graphics chips. So an external monitor, run 3D games or HD video transcoding to a defect in AMD Radeon 6750M, while the basic tasks (email, web browsing, etc) default to the HD 3000 integrated graphics from Intel. Apple also allow the strength of the laptop to run on AMD graphics, done by the system preferences.
Although the size of the battery has not changed and the inmates are more energy efficient than the previous platform, the 15-inch MacBook (Ray) has improved its score on MobileMark 2007 battery life (running on Windows via Bootcamp ) 4 hours 40 minutes (3 hours, 21 minutes in the previous version). Needless to say, the power management and battery optimization are better in tune with the Mac OS 10 on Windows 7, which also completed an MP4 video file on the OS 10 and the battery is dead. The 15 inches that lasted 6 hours and 43 minutes in the event. Either Windows 7 or Mac OS 10, who survived the Dell XPS 15 (3:48 on MobileMark 2007) and Asus N53JF-XE1 (3:15).
Final Thoughts
Now I realize that it is still early in the game, when dozens of laptops will eventually get on my bench with the second generation of Intel chips and graphics chips as powerful as those found in the new laptops from Apple. As it is now, but Apple MacBook Pro 15-inch (Thunderbolt) is the fastest laptop fastest shipping and so far (you can walk into the Apple Store and buy one as we speak) and c ' is all thanks to a glitch that prevented Intel any other manufacturer of shipping their new laptops on time. Apple has assured me that this parasite will not affect any of the MacBook Pro because they all use the new chipset from Intel and insensitive.
What's new Intel architecture, this happens once a year if not more, and Apple has an important part of it. Since the clock speed of the full range of performance tests have been mind-blowingly fast, because it was the frame rate of graphics that came a renewed partnership with AMD. Although the Thunderbolt is still very early in the third phase of the support, it is a new technology that Apple has struggled away from everyone else. Add to FaceTime HD Webcam and Apple MacBook Pro 15-inch (Thunderbolt) is a technical tour de force.
Rating: 5
Reviewer: HotblogReview
ItemReviewed: Apple MacBook Pro 15-inch (Thunderbolt)
