MacBook Pro (new edition) - reliability and WinXP real-world performance

Hi guys,

I am planning to purchase the new MacBook Pro (aluminium casing, etc.) but have some questions based on those who HAVE owned past MAcBook or the new one:

1) BOOTCAMP
Is there any performance issue if I run WinXP using BootCamp? I.e. graphics design, games, etc. My understanding is that BootCamp makes the MacBook Pro a native "Windows" machine

2) VM
Which one is better in term of performance and stability: Parallel or VMWare? OF course, I will not run games when runing VM. BUt if it can, do share with me!

3) APPLECARE
I have heard that Apple MacBook have quality issues. I actually had a friend with the older version of MacBook Pro, which he bought new and had to send it back to Apple THREE times. Is it worth it to get AppleCare plan?

FYI, I am coming from a Windows background and from the 12 laptops I bought in the last 13 years, only 1 failed: Sony.

 

Considering you're a long time member, I'm surprised you don't read the sticky at the top of this subforum and use search.

 

I did, but I am looking for answer for the NEW MacBook Pro. It seems that different generation of the MBP have different issues.

PLus, I want to get the straight fact before plunking $2K

 

1. The only downside running XP in bootcamp is that the notebook wont utilize the efficient power saving etc which it does during the OSX session, so you consume the battery power a lot faster and the notebook gets hotter I guess.

2. I prefer VMWARE. They both have pros and cons, but I think all around VMWARE is better.

3. If there are defects and quality issues your first year guarantee will cover it, but to answer your question Apple Care is definitely worth it. Notebooks are fragile machines, its better to be on the safe side, and Apple support is known to be great, so I'd say go for it.

3.

 

I come from a Windows background just like yourself lanwarrior. This will be my first Mac. I just ordered a new MBP yesterday. I went all out and got the high end version. From what I understand from searching and reading around is that there isn't any performance issue running Windows XP or Vista with boot camp. There is the issue with the right click in Windows on the trackpad and you won't have a long lasting battery while running Windows compared to OS X. I don't know about you but I'll always a small mouse with me. I didn't take any chances and got the extended Apple Care warranty. Also just from reading posts a lot of users go with VMWare over parallel, which is also what I'll be doing as well.

 

That is interesting! I read up about BootCamp from Apple website and it "sounds" like the WinXP drivers (ACHP, etc.) will allow WinXP to use the power savings feature. So are you saying that I cannot even let the, say, hard drive turned off after 10 minutes (through Power Properties)?

I am just wondering, what makes you think VMWare is better? I have used VMWARE for Windows and they get the job done, but performance is laggy. Of course, I can't compare with Parallel because there is none for WinXP.

Agreed, notebook are fragile, but I was referring to the build quality of Apple notebook itself. With my past SOny laptop I mentioned in my 1st post, I had really bad experience from the get go. I just don't want to send my Macbook 7 times to Apple (there was an article about that, I have to look it up). Coupled that with my friend MacBook dying all the times, I am just leery on whther I should spend the $349 on AppleCare.

Ah, good to know about that right click! I played around with my friend MacBook and, given that I am coming from a Windows environment, I was wondering: where is the **** right click?!.

Battery wise, how SHORT it is? 2-3 hours in Windows XP?

 

I have parallels and it does everything I need it to do. I can't compare to VM because I've never used it, but a friend swears by it. I think VM is the consensus favorite.

 

As of now, Bootcamp with Windows XP & Vista makes the computer extremely hot. It's very cool when running OSX. I figure the reason for that is that they haven't really updated the Windows drivers that they include with bootcamp for the newer MacBooks. If you're going to go mobile, I'd recommend only using OSX w/ VMware if needed to get around 4hrs of moderate use?

If you were to use Windows, I would recommend only using it when plugged in and not on your lap lol. It gets pretty hot on your lap. I would estimate that with all the wasted battery power used in Windows XP & Vista, about 2-3 hours worth of battery life?

I'm currently waiting (and hoping) for new Windows Boot Camp drivers before I use Windows for anything but gaming.

 

As far as Windows XP goes (on bootcamp), I have some benchmarks

I just installed XP SP2 on a new 2.53GHz Macbook Pro I just bought a couple of days ago.

I installed Fallout 3 and Dead Space, 1440x900 everything on max, never dips under 30FPS, it's ridiculous, I love how it performs.

And I also like how recent games are very well coded, it's awesome!

edit: forgot to mention, I did install the latest laptopvideo2go.com driver...

 

Hmm, that's really interesting! I have to watch out for that. I hope it doesn't cause any overheating damage?

 

That's cool! Do you have the one with 256MB or 512MB VRAM? I don't know what significant impact in performance by having 512MB VRAM. I.e. add another 3-5 fps or (big jump) 10-20 fps.

 

FYI, here's a benchmark between the MacBook and MacBook Pro: REVIEW

May not be relevant to this discussion, but the review does show the benchmark for the MacBook Pro running Crysis on WinXP.

 

I myself wonder the difference in performance between the 256mb and 512mb versions. I know it's stickied and everyone says that since it's a 128 bit card it cannot fully utilize the 512mb. The other day though there was a thread on here with a link posted that proved that belief was false. Just to make myself feel at ease I ordered the 512mb along with my MBP.

 

Yeah I've got the 512Mb. I really don't know if there's any bump in performance. I just bought it for the 2.53 CPU and the 4GB of DDR3 ram, and 320GB HDD...

That alone made me spend another $500 on it. I had the money anyways, so I just bought the higher model...

 

VMWare is what I have for my installation. Works very well, and you can indeed play many Windows games with it as well. Keep in mind though that VMWare Fusion only handles DirectX 9 (and earlier) games.

You can actually save on battery power by running XP through VMWare Fusion as you'll gain OSX's power maintenance scheme. I could get about 4 hours out of my MBP when using a Fusion-ized XP virtual machine.

 

That's amazing! I couldn't even play WoW on VMWARE running on WinXP. I know, it may seem redundant, but I was just testing. Since the performance was so bad, I came to conclusion that VMWAre cannot handle games. BUt your statement seems to say otherwise, which is good.

Of course, I wouldn't dream of running Crysis at med settings in VMWare.

 

BTW, I finally splurge on ordering the high-end MBP (512MB VRAM, 2.53Hz Core2Due) using Microsoft Cashback Live. Final price is:

$ 2,299: eBay Price
$ -200: Microsoft cashback
======+
$ 2,099: FINAL Price

No tax and free shipping. Let me know if you want to know about Cashback and/or the eBay seller.

 

What is this "cashback" thing?

Congrats on getting the MBP!

 

It's a promotion from Microsoft. Basically, through Live.com you can search for items (like Froggle) but it will tell you if a particular site participate in Microsoft Cashback.

You search for the item from Live.com and when it finds it, it'll tell you whether the website participate in Live Cashback.

The stetp-by-step instructions is here: http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/hot-deals/838081/

eBay is ONE of the participant. I got my MBP from eBay and when I go through the payment process, it said at the bottom I will get $200 cashback. After the purchase, eBay sent me an email saying that the Cashback will be credited to my Microsoft Live account. I can only withdraw the money after 60 days though, but that's ok I guess. I got the MBP high end for basically $400 off with no tax ($2,099)

 

The problems with prev-gen MacBook Pros are generally related to bad nVidia chips. The new MBPs look like they have the problem fixed.

Battery life on Windows XP on my MBPs is 2-3 hours. It's 5+ on Mac OSX. My hunch is that antivirus and other Windows background processes are chewing up additional CPU and disk resources. Mac OSX seems to just be more efficient than Windows XP.

 

Can you tell me if you buy this item on ebay. Do you have apple care? if not, do you know where and how we can purchase one?

 

Yes, I bought it form eBay. The seller is very good, with great packaging and fast shipping. The item is totally new and still sealed. The buyer name is onlineauctions714.

It didn't come with AppleCare, which will be an extra $349. But if you search in eBay, you can find one cheaper and use the MS Cashback again.

 

I think you got the last one already

 

Try to contact the seller, he may have more.

Furthermore, other seller may have the same deal. It took me about 3-4 days searching before I found the right one.

Remember though: the MS Cashback will not last forever.

 

i just ordered one from ebay as well, sealed in box. I didnt know about the microsft cash back at the time though. The laptop did have a 3 year apple care plan though $2275

 

I wished somebody buy my laptop faster .

 

Windows is considerably warmer than when you're in OS X. Just a thought.