Thinking of going MBP...

Ok ive been bashing them for years... I hate apple... I own a ipod... I hate it in so many ways... but cant find anything else to beat it...

Now I am faced with teh same problem with laptop's... can't find anything that suits all my needs (maybe thats the problem... I need to rethink my needs...) main problem being I cant stand gloss and the MBP has the option for matte...

If your wondering my needs/desires are 13-15", T9300 processor, 2-4 gb of ram, 8600M GT graphics, 7200 RPM drive (size doesnt matter), and of course non glossy LCD with a decent resolution (larger then 1280x800...).

So... MBP fits all those desires and is small and light to boot.... and looks cool and the magnetic power thing is nice...

But! I will not be running mac OS only windows. So here in lies the problem.

1. How easy is it to install vista/xp on to a MBP?
2. What functionality do you lose with windows on a MBP?
a. does the new touch pad features work under windows?
b. does the auto adjusting brightness and keyboard back light work under windows?
c. how does the CD/DVD eject work under windows? (being that theres no phyical button and its all software)
d. how does left click and right click work with only one mouse button? (assuming using the touch pad)
3. does replacing the ram void warranty?
4. is it picky on what ram you can use?
5. can you replace the wiress adapter or is it integrated?
6. Anyone know the brand of hard drive used?
7. Is the apple care really worth the $300+?
8. can either OS see the other OS's partition?

ill stop there...lol

Thx for any advice/help/whatever =D

 

1. Very easy. Bootcamp is very user friendly and all you need is a valid copy of Windows kicking around to install it
2. None? Bootcamp will have all the drivers you need for your MBP in Windows
a. I don't think they do
b. I'm sure it does.
c. There is an eject button on the keyboard
d. Not sure about this one... I've never actually used Windows on a Mac before
3. No it does not.
4. Not really... I've heard stories of people installing all different brands of RAM in them. Crucial is best I believe, but OCZ, Corsair, Kingston, etc. work just fine.
5. I'm not sure about this one either... I think it's integrated but I might be wrong.
6. Not sure.
7. Yes and no... it really depends. It's definitely great to have... especially if plan on keeping it for a long time.
8. Not sure.

 

Hope that helps

 

a Thinkpad would also fit those needs

 

I couldn't find a thinkpad that had a T9300 and 8600M GT. If it exists please show me.

 

It helps but I want to be sure that the touch pad and keyboard backlite ect. work under windows (and the eject button on the keyboard works proper under windows?)

 

NVIDIA Quadro FX 570M (256MB Open GL) in mobile workstation thinkpad is somewhat comparable to a 8600gt in the mb pro. I only say somewhat, i believe mb pro has gddr3 mem and t-pad mobile workstation has ddr2. try notebookcheck.com to find the difference between the cards.

 

XPS M1530 is a cheaper version of a Macbook PRO IMO

 

What thinkpad as the 570M? I can only find thinkpads with the 140M and thats garbage.

Your right it is... a lot cheaper... about $1,000 cheaper. But! its glossy and you can not get it without its true-life glossy garbage... thus elimating it as a possibility. And yes I hate glossy just that much to think about spending $1,000 more. But trust me if I could order the M1530 without true-life (and get a 1680x1050 or 1440x900 screen in matte) then I wouldnt be here.

 

Do not buy a Macbook Pro for Windows only. My machine heats up twice as fast and the fans are constantly running. However, the new T9300 processors do run cooler so I dont know there.

The Thinkpad and the XPS 1530 are excellent machines that are better bang for buck as well, and their Windows native.

 

Buying a mac to run Windows kinda defeats the purpose, doesn't it? Almost like installing a 4-cylinder VTEC engine into a Bentley.

However yes, aside from the GeForce graphics requirement, a Thinkpad would be perfect for your needs...

IBM had an awesome employee deal on their T61's a few weeks ago, and I was considering buying one to install OSX on, but the voice of reason smacked me upside the head and said "If you wanna run OSX, buy a Mac. If you wanna run Winblows, buy a Thinkpad."

So I ordered an MBP with the full intention of moving my daily tasks from Winblows over to OSX and live that way for a few years..

 

The 15.4" Thinkpad T61p has the 570 card no? I thought it did...

 

Look a little harder:

http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/...-category-id=EDF9B632F1BC41729ACCB25B2F44E097

The T61 Mobile Workstation has the 570M.

 

Backlight works, and touchpad is limited to basic features (scrolling using 2 fingers, no tap clicks).

Every button on the keyboards works in windows to the same extent it works in OS X. The only limitation I have seen is the trackpad and tap clicking. Everything else works the same. Although, as stated it does get hotter in Windows than it does in OS X.

 

Not to mention the wifi problems the MBP supposedly has

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1352518&tstart=0

Seriously, this thread is 200+ posters along and not one viable solution has been proffered yet

 

Weird, second time I'm hearing about this (heard it the first time a day ago). I've had my MBP since October and have never suffered a disconnect, neither have any of my friends, or actually any MBP owned I've ever talked to :/

Guess it's the new models eh?

 

All Dell XPS are glossy, I refuse to spend money on a glossy screen.

However I am looking at the Thinkpad even though they are ugly. The T61p 14.1" has caught my attention although its not widescreen...

And as far as windows on a mac goes ive heard from lots of people that it works great and it is the same hardware now. For a desktop I would never buy a mac but for laptops there are no good barebones out there anymore and everything is freaking glossy... MBP offers the option to go matte. Therefore has become a vialbe option for me. I would love to have a M1330 or M1530 but you cnat get them without there true-life crap.

But the touchpad not working right would be an issue for me...

Also it running hotter under windows doesnt make any sense. It must be a configuration thing that the max OS is throttling down the CPU or whatever.

 

OK! I think ive decided on the T61p! It's ugly as !@#$ but it has everything else and is $1,000 cheaper then the MBP!

... now I just need to get the money saved up lol

 

No down throttling, just mac has better system management than that of windows. And really, if you are that close to buying a MBP you should try Mac OS X and definitely check it out.

 

The only system management it could possible be doing is the power saving features built into Intel chipsets and CPU's. Which I disable anyway on all of my systems (unless I am running in battery mode in which case I usually downclock and undervolt manually anyway and still dont use the built in features).

Other then that there is nothing that could explain that it runs hotter under windows.

And I hate apple and all apple made things. Theres no software I can use under Max OS so there is no point in even spending a second in it. the only reason I am considering a MBP is the simple fact they allow the option to not have a glossy screen. But for over $1,000 cheaper the uglyiness of the thinkpad T61p is attractive...

EDIT: run both systems at 100% load and if the windows system is still running hotter (with the same fan speeds and ambient temps) then windows is utilizing more of the CPU then mac os and in that case the windows system is better.

 

That's the thing...its not. Its just the default fan RPM in Windows is 1000 RPM, while in Mac OS X its default is 1800 RPM, nearly twice as high, so its cool. Using Windows for more heat is not better .

 

I totally agree with you! And I am in the same situation whereas im considering a MBP since all the PC manufactureres out there are going nuts with those glossy screens.
I can only wait so long until i have to buy a notebook, and if then it doesn't exists a viable option, speced like a MPB, but is a PC then i will buy a MPB.

 

Lenovo T61p has the same specs, and its built better!

 

But lacks the looks of the m1530..

If Lenovo just polish thier design some, then I'll buy.

 

Lenovo T61's have a problem in that if you have 2 sticks of ram inside the thing, it'll hang unexpectantly. It's happening quite regularly for me - I've got a T61 supplied to me for work, and I'll soon have a MBP for personal use.

Stylistically I don't see a problem with the T61. It's marketed as a business portable, and it excels at that. It's not meant to fulfill the prosumer market like the MBP, nor the budget gamer in the Dells.

 

Ok so its just a configuration thing. Use Speedfan or some other program to adjust fan speeds... problem solved.

Yeah... if Dell would offer True-Life as an option then buying a laptop would be easy!

Ugly as butt though!

This isn't a problem with all of them though. Seen lots of reviews aroudn with 4gb equpied T61's that work just fine.

Im pretty sure I am going with the T61p. Found out today I may be doing some traveling with my job so I am goign to need to be able to play games on this.

 

I happen to like the look of the TP myself. I think it has an understated class that few notebooks offer. They are built extremely well, and are not designed for the mainstream market but for business. Hardly ugly as butt, although there are some notbooks out there that fit the bill.

Deciding to go with the TP was probably the right decision. If you are only going to use a MBP for windows, then you are truly missing out. In any case it sounds like you are settling for the lesser of two evils. You hate Apple and dislike the looks of the TP. Perhaps you do need to rethink your criteria. Like it or not, laptops with the configuration you're looking for (especially with that graphics card), are not likely to come with a matte screen.

 

I happened to buy a Macbooko Pro instead of a PC laptop because it was the only 15.4 inch available during Summer 07 that sported an 8600m GT and wasn't ASUS. Odd that the best gaming 15.4 laptop of that season was an Apple, eh?

Anyway, the glossy vs matte thing has always been overblown, but some people just CANNOT live with glossy. To be honest, the gloss on the glossy MBP is so muted compare to PC gloss that I ended up getting glossy over matte.

I usually run in Vista because I do a lot of gaming, otherwise I'd use OSX.

Working with Vista on the MBP is an interesting experience. It runs it REALLY REALLY well, so that is good. It is a shame that OSX cannot run a large swath of the games I play, because it feels like a waste to be running Vista 90+ % of the time.

I would still suggest a Sager or Dell or something else just because the price would be so much better and it would be a native PC laptop, but I understand your plight. You wont be dissapointed with an MBP on any front, but maybe 6 months from now you will realize that you probaby could've gotten along just fine with a PC laptop.

 

Compared to other laptops (even dell's buisness laptops) they are ugly as butt. But I will agree with you on they are built very well. I see 15 year old Thinkpad's still kicking around (and they still have some battery life!)

the only dell with a matte option that might work is the Vostro 1400... but I think i want more power then that.

Its' come down to the Sager NP2092 and Lenovo T61p and I think the T61p wins for being more compact and lightweight...

 

Well, for me, the Thinkpad look isn't too bad, but its certainly not sleek like the MacBook Air is sleek. But say an old Dell Inspiron (with the white bumpers) or a Thinkpad, I'd consider the Thinkpad to have a better design.

 

The 1530 is sweet and way cheaper.