Is there any laptop that has the quality, THINNESS, stylishness, and performance of the MBP?? (15")

I know there's, like, the Sony F series but that's got a 540M which is pretty terrible compared to the 6770M...

Budget is $2300 and was about to buy a MBP 15" with the 2.4Ghz i7/6770M.

Is there any computer out there that matches the MBP in every way? I guess not, but, the closest competitor?

 

How many threads have you started on this same issue on various subforums of NBR? Dozens of members have offered every possible competitor, and you don't like any of them as much as the MBP. Just. Buy. The. MacBook. Pro. Already.

Or if you don't need to buy right away, wait for the new Envy 15 with the 1080p Radiance screen, which looks like it could be awesome, IF Hewlett Packard doesn't drop the ball on the intangibles (and knowing HP, that's a big "if").

http://forum.notebookreview.com/not...-17-first-look-good-design-3d-discussion.html

 

Well what are the specs on the Envy?

 

TBA. That's why I said you had to be patient. For example, HP has said that it'll have ATI graphics, but hasn't said yet which specific GPU it will offer. The only concrete thing we know specs-wise is that the Radiance panel which used to be the Envy's top selling point is back.

But the real solution is to just buy yourself a MacBook Pro, which is what you've been talking about doing in a half-dozen threads now while each and every competitor was offered up and rejected for one reason or another. To summarize, you like the MacBook Pro better than anything else out there, but you want to have a more "unique" brand name for some reason. Don't.

Just buy the product you want and don't worry if lots of other people at your school own the same machine as well. And as you've made abundantly clear, the product you want is a MacBook Pro.

 

I have to admit that I don't like my macbook pro as much as I hoped I would... but indeed there is one big thing (for a notebook) that makes me still love it and it's the trackpad Not because of the multitouch but because of it's big mouse button... at first it is uncomfortable to push it down instead of double tap but now I miss it so much on all other notebooks (way more than I miss the two finger inverted (or natural xD) scrolling)

I can only speak for my self... but I had the Vista RC, Windows 7 RC and now the Developer Preview of W8... but I never experienced so much crashes, freezes or just a "slow" experience than on Lion... sure Windows Notebooks/PCs are more power for the same bugs but I don't think this is the reason for my disappointment...

just my 2 cent

PS: btw Alienware mad me really happy

 

did they release that samsung 7 with exactly same specs?
6750m. 2.3kg, 7+ hours of battery and all

 

Honestly, if you don't mind the cost, I say get the MBP 15". When ever I use my friend's, I remember why I got a Mac.

 

I had a 2007 MBP 15, the one with the infamous GeForce 8600 GT. The only problem I ever had with it in almost 3 years of ownership was the fact that I kept stripping the screws that hold the RAM door shut. Each time, the local Apple Store happily replaced them. The video card gave no trouble whatsoever. In fact, I would go so far as to say it was the best computer I've ever owned.

 

Performance>Looks

 

It depends on why you are buying the computer and how much cash you have. I know someone in the upper middle class who buys nice furniture and nice decor. An MBA fits in a lot better with it then a $300 netbook, so in her case, Looks > Performance, even though she has no need for more power.

I had the same problem when I was shopping, I couldn't find the package of the MBP with the convenience of having a local "repair station" for free, so I just got the MBP. This is even with me being engineering, which typically has the most Windows only programs. The Envy line is a solid choice, but the squaretrade warranty information that showed HP failed the most scared me away.

Also lots of people in my school own the MBP too. If you really want to be unique or whatever, get a sticker or a case for the back. Otherwise I mean for a lot of people in school its a good computer.

 

Performance > Looks

 

Do you walk into every house with nice furniture and nice decor and tell them that about their furniture and decor? People buy granite counter tops, stainless steel kitchenware not just because of "performance" but because they like the way it looks. Many consumer products are sold on "looks", and I don't have a problem with that. Laptops too, if someone has the cash and they want something that looks nice, well that is their prerogative.

 

HP redesigns its Envy laptops, announces the Envy 15, 17 and 17 3D (video) -- Engadget

lists the base specs. looks like the 15" gets IPS treatment

 

The samsung series 7 is not macbook pro quality. The screen on it is horrible and it has trackpad tracking issues....

 

So lemme guess.. you have a beater honda with primer paint with a k20 swap?

YEAAAAAHHH

 

I was in the same boat before I picked up my MacBook Pro 15" (Early 2011).

I was looking everywhere for comparable options and style.. Including the lightness and thinness of the MBP. There was nothing out there.. Till now, the Envy might be the only close thing.

You just can't find a 15" or 17" as thin with a quadcore, a respectable GPU, with above-average screen like the MBPs have.

My buddy just picked up a late 2011 MBP 15 with the 2.4ghz and 6770M and luckily it's not any noticeably faster. Especially when in Windows7 (boot camp).. I overclocked my 6750m to 800mhz/1000mhz and he can achieve the same overclock on his 6770m and we both pull nearly the exact same 3dMark scores.. except where his CPU bench is slightly higher due to having 200mhz more per core.

I would make a bet that the 6770m is just coded to run at 6770m specs through it's firmware and the cards are virtually identical hardware wise. The 6770m is probably higher binned 6750m's that can handle the higher clock without getting flakey. They are indeed the same core at the end of the day.

If gaming is important, you can find Geforce 555M inside some lighter machines... but still not as light as the MBP with 6770m.. And the 555M versus the 6770M is about the same performance.. The 555M slightly edges out overall.

The next step is the 6970m/6990m or Geforce 560M and all 3 of these cards require huge airflow to stay cool, so you won't be finding that kind of GPU in anything thin.

Since the new HP Envy's have been announced and their bodies shown off - there's no word on the exact AMD Radeon cards being used. I expect to see them with the 6770m just like the new MBPs though. I doubt they could cram anything more powerful from AMD inside that frame. And from the looks, the new Envy's don't "appear" to be as thin or light as the MBP, but again - no body size/weight specs have been released.

I'm no Apple fanboy by any means.. I originally didn't want an Apple because of the cost - but i'm sure glad I ended up with my MBP15.. it's one amazing machine with the technology they were able to squeeze inside. The screen on the MBP is at least WAYYYY better than anything else out there until you can find a Radiance/IPS/similar tech screen and that's just going to make those notebooks cost nearly as much as a MBP.

So if you want some advice, get a late-gen MBP.. it's all-around one of the best machines you can get for looks and performance and lightweight design/thin. The only negative is the price.

 

You're WRONG.

You're also WRONG.


Tell me, would you rather have a Ferrari or a Caterham? The Caterham's faster!!! Yeaaaaah, I thought so.

Hey.... you sure? PassMark Software - Video Card Benchmarks - High End Video Cards Seems like the 6770M is a LOT better...
That's the reason I didn't purchase an M14x - because I thought the 6770M in the MBP was a lot better... am I missing something here??

Anyway, thanks for the informative answer. The games I play are Microsoft Flight Simulator (max. settings), Dirt 2/3 (max. settings), and Need for Speed Carbon (max. settings) - so, you see nothing at all too demanding - certainly nothing like Crysis - I don't like war games or any of that. But, the 6770M should be able to handle all of these easily because it's really powerful.... I guess? (according to Passmark, anyway).

 

This is an oversimplification which just does not hold true in the real world. You can demand both.

Look at cars that cost 15k, and then 30k, 50k, 75k, 100k. Note the trend in performance and appearance. That 100k car could have been left unpainted, and given a simple drab interior, and they could have invested those extra dollars back into 3% more performance. Why did they put leather in the interior and paint on the outside of the vehicle? Because performance gets diminishing returns in cars just like in most other things. Performance is a more fundamental need than aesthetics, so on the low end, you don't see amazing looking cars that get shipped without an engine. Once you start getting into the higher performance category, the cost of adding (constant amounts of) performance starts to grow exponentially. At some point, refinement becomes more beneficial than additional performance.

Case in point: remove as many of the dash and floor panels in your car as you can. They serve merely an aesthetic function. You can increase your 0-60 time by .1 seconds or so, and/or get slightly better gas mileage. If it was worth it, you would have done it already.

A nice looking house that doesn't stop the elements (wind, rain, temperature variation) isn't very helpful. But a nice house that can provide the function of a house can provide a much nicer experience than a dumpy house that also meets the basic functionality requirements of a house. If you are on a budget, you may need to give up "looks" to make sure you get the functionality you need. Past that, your desire will likely shift moderately to aesthetics.

Performance is a more fundamental need than "looks" (aesthetics)- but that is different than being STRICTLY more important. Also, bear in mind that there is often overlap between usability, functionality, and design.

TL;DR - food is more important than friendship, but both are desirable. You need to take care of one before the other, but it doesn't mean that friendship is not important. Moreover, if you already have food taken care of, friendship suddenly becomes more important in the context of your personal situation than acquiring excess food. It doesn't make any sense to say food > friendship because many aren't in a position of needing to compromise on one for the other. It's the exact same situation with performance and aesthetics. If you have nothing and a strict budget, you need to make sure whatever you can get is going to work. However, people have vastly different amounts of disposable income, and many people are operating on a different level, where they can definitely get something that is going to work, and can be free to focus on other selective aspects, such as aesthetic quality. It's a higher level need that you can only tackle once the basic need of functionality is met.

 

You're basing this based on a single synthetic benchmark. The specific 555M in the M14x is faster than the 6770M. The 555M found in other notebooks, such as the Sager NP5165 is on-par with to slightly slower than the 6770.

If you want to see actual gaming, search Youtube videos of the machines you're interested in.

 

Didn't read everything, but wanted to confirm there are 2 versions of the 555m, one with fast memory, one with slow memory. The fast memory version is stronger than the 6770m, the slow memory version is weaker than the 6770m.

 

Wait. Are you telling me that there are DIFFERENT 555Ms? What??
I may be making an idiot of myself now, but please clarify how there can be a fast GT 555M in one laptop and a slow GT 555M in another laptop.

 

For the same reason Ford makes the Mustang with a V6 and a V8 engine. NVIDIA is making multiple versions of this card to give manufacturers a choice based on cost and what they want to provide to their customers.

GeForce GT 555M

 

yes nvidia has been binning the same chip with different VRAM and even memory busses for years. one example is a Best Buy specific ASUS with a DDR3 560m w/128 memory bus vs the normal one with 192 bus and DDR5. same base chip, both are labeled a 560 but about a 30% speed difference

the above poster has a great link i missed at first my apologies. I also see some cuda cores are disabled on the ddr3 555

 

Well how am I supposed to know which is which?

 

If the manufacturer doesn't explicitly state GDDR3 or GDDR5, look at the amount of video RAM. 1.5 or 3 GB is the GDDR5 version, 2 GB is GDDR3.

 

Has anyone tried the ultrabooks yet???

 

The fast memory or slow memory doesn't make a huge difference. It really only matters if your being type A about needing to beat the macbook pro in every specification.

You're basically trying to get a checklist and tie-at-worst for all specs. It really doesn't matter and it doesn't work that way. 555m is about the same as a 6750 / 6770. They're all similar.

 

Isn't that an... ultraportable?

 

Well, yes it is and it is supposed to be a turbocharged windows 7 notebook with tablet like quickness.

 

Good post, I think you pointed out the differences between performance and looks. You could say performance is a "lower level need" and performance is a "higher level need", like your analogy where food/performance is a fundamental need but things like friendship are more of an "emotional need" which is like wanting aesthetically pleasing items.

 

Well... okay, but that's not exactly what I'm looking for...
Why are you mentioning it here? That's like a MacBook Air thing. I'm looking for a more powerful computer.

 

By the way, does anybody know if the MBP gets hot under gaming?

 

IMO yes it does. some dont seem to mind chips @ 90C though. but forget gaming on your lap, the base gets awfully hot

 

That's okay, I never put laptops on my lap. I need to know exactly how hot "hot" is. For instance, I had an HP HDX that got so hot it was hard to touch. Is the MBP that hot? I mean, I know what 90 C IS, but - you know - it's kind of hard to determine what that would feel like to your hands.

 

just running Skype (video) my MBP gets very hot, to the point were it can hurt to touch certain parts of the machine (right above the keyboard and on the bottom near the CPU).

my MBP is pretty much the hottest I've owned. that's the price of Thin.

 

agree with you. even my 17" gets uncomfortable

 

I dunno about "turbocharged" or "tablet-like quickness"...while not inaccurate, they don't help really define the genre. An "ultrabook," which is a name invented by Intel, is a Windows ultraportable with a low-voltage Intel CPU, an SSD, no optical drive, and certain Intel-specified maximum thickness, minimum battery life, and maximum base price ($999, I believe). In short, it's a Windows competitor to a MacBook Air 13 that slightly undercuts the MBA 13 in price.

Because it undercuts the MBA 13 in price, it inherently has some compromises compared to the MBA 13. Some have a lower-resolution screen (everyone but Asus). Some have no backlit keyboard (everyone but HP). Some have poor-quality keyboards (Acer). Some are not as thin and light as the MBA (Lenovo, HP).

On the other hand, some exceed the MBA 13 in certain ways. The Toshiba is lighter than the MBA 13. The Asus offers higher screen resolution (1600x900 instead of 1440x900). Etc.

 

Yeah, when gaming, my MBP's case would get so hot that it was uncomfortable to touch in certain areas, particularly the top-left quadrant (near the WASD keys, unfortunately). The air coming out of the vent of the Vaio F is hot enough to keep tea warm, but the case itself stays nice and cool. Turns out a thick plastic case does have some real advantages over a thin aluminum case after all

 

The only thing I use when gaming are the arrow keys; I would never need to touch that part of the computer while gaming. What about the palm rest and arrow key area?

 

What sort of game uses nothing but the arrow keys? I'm used to either WASD being important and/or the number keys being important.

Anyway, the palmrest stayed calm; it was the top-left quadrant. But this is the 2008 model; internal layouts may have changed since then.

 

No, I mean, I constantly keep my hand on the arrow keys but my other hand is not on the computer until it needs to press a key... know what I mean?

 

I put SMC at 6000 RPM and I stay under 80 on ultra on SC2. More like 70 average. Windows temps are higher. Those are CPU temperatures in celsius. As soon as I turn the dGPU off I can get it back down to 30c to 40c.

The top of the comput never ges hot only the bottom.

 

If you remove (or drill holes in) your backplate you will have much lower temp compared to normal ^_^


Back on topic, I think you should buy on of those new ENVY series or get a 15" vaio. If you don't mind the absence of OS X

 

I also wont' have a warranty.

 

Even more reason to drill.

 

You will have lower temperatures at the thermostat. That doesn't mean you'll have lower temperatures throughout the machine. Air is normally pulled in at one point in the machine, pulled through the machine past all the heat-producing devices, and then exits. If you alter the pattern of airflow, you may just create a situation where one of the heat-producing components (just not one where the thermostat is mounted) is no longer receiving adequate airflow because the normal course of airflow has been disrupted by the owner's do-it-yourself project.

Another way to think of it: if there was no downside to having a vent drilled in the bottom of your laptop, Apple probably would have done that right from the factory.

 

Well, when I touch the area above the heatsink it's cooler than having the backplate on.

And I can overclock higher than using bottom plate on.


I'm also thinking of removing the heatsink thermal monitor cable so I can get 300x7.5 and 570MHz/1380MHz GPU core/shad


Oh well, but back on topic. Do you really need OS X for an OS?

 

I have have asked a local guy for laser drilling, he gave me a high estimate to say the least i will and explore other options but laser is bound to produce wonderful finish.

I also had a chat with a AC designer guy who says that 26 small lines will better cool than holes, not sure if lines can be done with a laser.

 

I hate OS X. But I can convert just for the MacBook Pro. I will probably spend a good chunk of my time in Windows, though.

 

Sigh. You want something *like* a Macbook Pro, and hate OS X. Why are you even on this forum?