# 2011 Macbook pro's.



## metal_sam14 (Feb 24, 2011)

My honest opinion: epic.

Apple - MacBook Pro - The new MacBook Pro. Huge leaps in performance.

sandy bridge processors, new I/O (thunderbolt, a rebranded intel idea) hd webcam etc etc

I really like that they have done with this generation, might pick one of these up for my studio, or wait for the updated imac's

Thoughts?


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## MFB (Feb 24, 2011)

Looks sweet, but I don't know if I'll pick one up; all depends on what I need in the future.


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## metal_sam14 (Feb 24, 2011)

MFB said:


> Looks sweet, but I don't know if I'll pick one up; all depends on what I need in the future.



That new I/O system and brand spankin new processors should make it pretty future proof hopefully


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## MFB (Feb 24, 2011)

If I start doing more music like I hope to, then I would consider picking one up and making it my new go to; but at the same time, things like still a low battery life, and the high price, it's not necessary.


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## troyguitar (Feb 24, 2011)

ugh, starting at $1800 for the 15" = no thanks


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## metal_sam14 (Feb 24, 2011)

troyguitar said:


> ugh, starting at $1800 for the 15" = no thanks



For once you are actually getting quite a lot for the price from apple, but they are still fairly steep


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## troyguitar (Feb 24, 2011)

It's true, this is probably the most reasonable they've been in recent years. But Windows 7 is also the best OS Microsoft has ever put out so the competition is pretty stiff.


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## MFB (Feb 24, 2011)

I'm surprised there's such a huge price gap for the 2" difference  I assume specs wise they're all the same, except for maybe some minor things here and there, so why a $600 difference?


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## ROAR (Feb 24, 2011)

I'll just keep my last gen model 13' and replace the 
hard drive to a 1tera.


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## Chickenhawk (Feb 24, 2011)

I'm pretty excited about these. Makes me almost wish I hadn't gotten my MBP so soon. 

Then again, I can always sell mine off for a pretty penny, and get the new one


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## metal_sam14 (Feb 24, 2011)

MFB said:


> I'm surprised there's such a huge price gap for the 2" difference  I assume specs wise they're all the same, except for maybe some minor things here and there, so why a $600 difference?



better graphics card on the larger models, plus the processors get more powerful as the line gets bigger


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## troyguitar (Feb 24, 2011)

I'm also kind of surprised there's no USB 3.0 available.


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## metal_sam14 (Feb 24, 2011)

troyguitar said:


> I'm also kind of surprised there's no USB 3.0 available.



there doesn't need to be with thunderbolt, it is far faster, and it has connectivity to a bunch of different periphials including HDD's


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## groph (Feb 25, 2011)

I'm SURE you can get a better "PC" for $2499.


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## FretWizard88 (Feb 25, 2011)

I bought a 15 inch Pro last year and the only thing that has changed on it is that thunderbolt I/O and the case is a bit more rounded. I'm happy with what I have.


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## metal_sam14 (Feb 25, 2011)

groph said:


> I'm SURE you can get a better "PC" for $2499.



This thread is about the 2011 MBP's, not "better pc's for the price, or mac vs pc" or any bullshit like that.


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## WickedSymphony (Feb 25, 2011)

FretWizard88 said:


> I bought a 15 inch Pro last year and the only thing that has changed on it is that thunderbolt I/O and the case is a bit more rounded. I'm happy with what I have.



Not quite - 

Larger HDD
Better camera
Quad core cpu
Better video card
Faster RAM clock

But yea, I got a 15 inch Pro last year as well and I'm definitely happy with mine, too. Don't see any reason to upgrade just yet.


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## groph (Feb 25, 2011)

metal_sam14 said:


> This thread is about the 2011 MBP's, not "better pc's for the price, or mac vs pc" or any bullshit like that.



There appears to be sand in my vagina. I guess if you like the layout of Macs or prefer the operating system or whatever then fine, get one. I'd like to know what the other advantages are. Apparently they're more stable and fuck up less?


I'll never buy one because for the same money you can get higher end components and wind up with a better system in the end. Same goes for Alienware computers, they're just overpriced Dells. Make your own system and get better value.


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## metal_sam14 (Feb 25, 2011)

No sand mate, just trying to avoid a thread derail  no harm done


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## Marv Attaxx (Feb 25, 2011)

I own a 2010 Macbook Pro and the lack of bluray is fucking annoying!
It's 2011 and there's still no way to watch HD Videos on a 2000bucks laptop except shitty youtube videos


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## 13point9 (Feb 25, 2011)

hopefully there will be some semi good deals on the 2010 models as they try to get rid of them...


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## MaxOfMetal (Feb 25, 2011)

metal_sam14 said:


> there doesn't need to be with thunderbolt, it is far faster, and it has connectivity to a bunch of different periphials including HDD's



As of right now there are only two peripherals that take full advantage of Thunderbolt, one by LaCie and another by Promise. As far as I know both are still limited in availability, if they've even shipped yet. Apple is going to be rolling out a few small peripherals, but nothing breathtaking supposedly. 

Intel has already said that Thunderbolt is in no way exclusive to Apple, and that it'll be workable with any system, Intel powered or not. If the rumors are true we'll start seeing Thunderbolt on other brands of laptops by late 2011/early 2012. By then I'm sure there will be many more peripherals. 

The new MBPs are nice, they certainly brought them back to competitive specs, I just think Thunderbolt is still too new to tout its awesomness.


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## troyguitar (Feb 25, 2011)

metal_sam14 said:


> there doesn't need to be with thunderbolt, it is far faster, and it has connectivity to a bunch of different periphials including HDD's



I agree that it is better in theory, but it really depends on what companies choose to use going forward. If the market goes USB3 then your $2000 MacBook will seem to be lacking an important feature. 

Since they're backward-compatible, I figure it would be smarter to use USB3 ports instead of USB2. They're already charging more money than everyone else, they should at least make some effort to match the competition in features.


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## Cancer (Feb 25, 2011)

groph said:


> I'm SURE you can get a better "PC" for $2499.



Only if that "PC" can run OSX.....


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## MaxOfMetal (Feb 25, 2011)

Cancer said:


> Only if that "PC" can run OSX.....



Which is very doable.


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## gunshow86de (Feb 25, 2011)

13point9 said:


> hopefully there will be some semi good deals on the 2010 models as they try to get rid of them...



Check with Jonny Craig. I've heard he's got some good deals.


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## 13point9 (Feb 25, 2011)

gunshow86de said:


> Check with Jonny Craig. I've heard he's got some good deals.


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## Cancer (Mar 1, 2011)

MaxOfMetal said:


> Which is very doable.



Which was precisely my point.


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## Mordacain (Mar 1, 2011)

Cancer said:


> Which was precisely my point.



Agreed, though OSx86 is waaaaay too much of a PITA to setup and keep maintained. Not to mention the audio subsystem compatibility is one of the lesser-developed parts makes this not much of a solution Audio Production-wise (IMO of course).

As to the new MacBook itself, I'm glad they updated the video. I'm also in the not really excited about Thunderbolt camp. I'd much prefer they had some USB3 ports.


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## Xaios (Mar 1, 2011)

I'll give Apple this, I really like their design aesthetic. It's sleek and clean, and lacks the gaudiness and cheap plastic look of many of their competitors. They are sexy looking machines and their proprietary parts are very well made, as are the third party components they use.

Having said that, those differences don't justify the cost difference, not for me anyways. Apple is well known for marking up the cost of the hardware exorbitantly, especially RAM. Also, aside from media applications that have been primarily designed for Apple products since the dawn of time, Macs tend to perform inferiorly compared to similarly specced Windows machines.

I guess there's no point in railing about it though, at this point it's par for the course. The whole thing is documented well enough so that anyone who really wants a Mac should be quite aware of the fact that they're going to take it up the rear cost-wise. If they still want one knowing that, then power to them I guess. It's the same as Fender and Gibson afficionados, except I will admit Apple still innovates every now and then. They've yet to release a true Firebird X or Dusk Tiger level fuck-up.


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## Customisbetter (Mar 1, 2011)

When the Mac Mini gets Thunderbolt I'll be grabbing one lickety-split.


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## WickedSymphony (Mar 1, 2011)

Xaios said:


> Also, aside from media applications that have been primarily designed for Apple products since the dawn of time, Macs tend to perform inferiorly compared to similarly specced Windows machines.



Application-wise, I haven't noticed any differences in performance between a similarly specced Mac and Windows. As a machine, I've had far less problems with my Mac (zero so far) than any other laptop I've owned (Toshiba, HP, Dells - hardware failures within 6 months to a year), and that alone was huge in justifying the cost difference for me. Of course, this is only in comparison with manufacturer pre-built machines, never played around on a home-built laptop myself to compare.


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## Xaios (Mar 1, 2011)

WickedSymphony said:


> Application-wise, I haven't noticed any differences in performance between a similarly specced Mac and Windows. As a machine, I've had far less problems with my Mac (zero so far) than any other laptop I've owned (Toshiba, HP, Dells - hardware failures within 6 months to a year), and that alone was huge in justifying the cost difference for me. Of course, this is only in comparison with manufacturer pre-built machines, never played around on a home-built laptop myself to compare.



Ah, but that's the beauty of it. With boot camp, you don't have to buy a different machine to compare. For example, if you run World of Warcraft on a Mac with Boot Camp and Windows, you'll get a MUCH better framerate than if you run it on OSX on the same machine. Seems a little backwards, eh?


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## WickedSymphony (Mar 1, 2011)

Xaios said:


> Ah, but that's the beauty of it. With boot camp, you don't have to buy a different machine to compare. For example, if you run World of Warcraft on a Mac with Boot Camp and Windows, you'll get a MUCH better framerate than if you run it on OSX on the same machine. Seems a little backwards, eh?



I know you can install Windows on a Mac, but I've actually yet to install Windows on my Macbook since I use my home-built desktop more frequently anyway (let's be honest here, desktop > laptop for gaming  ), so I haven't really seen the point to do so but maybe I'll give it a shot and see if there's a huge difference on the same exact machine. But my comparison on application performance was between my Macbook and friends'/family's manufacturer built laptops with similar specs, I just haven't noticed much, if any, of a difference between them (at least not a HUGE one). My last comment wasn't about not having a machine to compare with, it was about not having a SELF-BUILT machine to compare with, and it was also more aimed at the quality of the machine, not the application performance.

What I did notice from my own past experience and friends' experiences was that Macs tend to have less problems in regards to hardware over time than pre-built Windows-based machines. I think this has more to do with the quality of hardware and build rather than the OS themselves, though, and OS's are up to preference, if you ask me. So for laptops, I prefer to go with Mac because my friends and I have had less issues with them than with other manufacturers laptops, but desktops I prefer to build my own.

(That said, I do prefer Windows to OSX since I grew up with it, and also because family that work at MS would kill me if I didn't  )


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## AK DRAGON (Mar 1, 2011)

I've been looking at MBP's as my next laptop/notebook. It'll have to be 2012 before I purchase one. I bought an Alienware M11x last year and I can't justify replacing it just yet. On an up note I WILL be getting an iPad 2 when they are released.


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## Hollowway (Mar 1, 2011)

The only thin keeping me from upgrading (my MBP is 3.5 yrs old) is that even with the ATI GPUs, they're still pretty weak in the graphics dept. The cards in the higher end models are only the equivalent of the 5730-5770 speeds. Why they couldn't put at least a 5850 in there I just don't know. For that price and the awesomeness of the the othr specs I'd like to see a faster card. That, plus Boot Camp or Parellels would keep me from reaching for my MSI notebook.


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## Mordacain (Mar 2, 2011)

Hollowway said:


> The only thin keeping me from upgrading (my MBP is 3.5 yrs old) is that even with the ATI GPUs, they're still pretty weak in the graphics dept. The cards in the higher end models are only the equivalent of the 5730-5770 speeds. Why they couldn't put at least a 5850 in there I just don't know. For that price and the awesomeness of the the othr specs I'd like to see a faster card. That, plus Boot Camp or Parellels would keep me from reaching for my MSI notebook.



Apple never compromises their form factor for additional power (especially on their laptops). A 6490M is a medium power part whereas the the higher end mobility end parts require greater power and cooling capacity. That's no problem with a DTR size laptop, but the MBP can't house the cooling solution or the power draw on one of the high-end chips.

There is also the issue that the high-end 6000 series Radeon is still in development (only mobility 5000 currently available for high end parts)


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## USMarine75 (Mar 2, 2011)

FYI... I love my MBP (now)...

I bought a MBP 17" last year and I got it with 4GB RAM... but when running Garageband 9 with Superior Drummer 2.0 and Amplitube 3 it kept crashing... I was getting pissed because that is why I bought it. I looked at upgrading the RAM from the MAC store and they wanted $600 for 8GB (2x4GB) upgrade... so I got on Newegg and bought Kingston 8GB RAM for $100. Now it runs perfect! If I had known I would have ordered mine with 2GB RAM in the first place and then upgraded! So... if you buy one order your RAM aftermarket.


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## HighGain510 (Mar 2, 2011)

Hollowway said:


> The only thin keeping me from upgrading (my MBP is 3.5 yrs old) is that even with the ATI GPUs, they're still pretty weak in the graphics dept. The cards in the higher end models are only the equivalent of the 5730-5770 speeds. Why they couldn't put at least a 5850 in there I just don't know. For that price and the awesomeness of the the othr specs I'd like to see a faster card. That, plus Boot Camp or Parellels would keep me from reaching for my MSI notebook.



Just a guess but another thing that Apple always touts is their ability to have their machines perform pretty decently with LONG battery life (my macbook is 2-3 years old now and I can STILL get 3-4+ hours of battery time off a full charge!) and I think if they push the video cards to a certain point, the battery life will suffer which would probably be a turn-off to a lot of their prospective buyers. Plus, to be honest, if you're buying a macbook to game, even with bootcamp/VMWare Fusion, you're doing it wrong.  It's not going to be quite as smooth as a machine where everything is dedicated to just a Windows OS.


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## PeteyG (Mar 2, 2011)

I don't like the new ones, purely because I got my new one to replace my old one literally the day before these new breeds were announced and now I have a sandy vagina due to it.

In all seriousness though they seem fucking great, and I wish I had one.


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## WickedSymphony (Mar 2, 2011)

PeteyG said:


> I don't like the new ones, purely because I got my new one to replace my old one literally the day before these new breeds were announced and now I have a sandy vagina due to it.
> 
> In all seriousness though they seem fucking great, and I wish I had one.



Return it and order a new one?


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## HighGain510 (Mar 2, 2011)

PeteyG said:


> I don't like the new ones, purely because I got my new one to replace my old one literally the day before these new breeds were announced and now I have a sandy vagina due to it.
> 
> In all seriousness though they seem fucking great, and I wish I had one.



If you just got it, I believe you can still return it and order one of the new ones. Same thing happened when I bought my macbook, the new ones with the NVidia cards were announced a week later and when I called them up about it they said I could keep it and they would refund me some of the money or they would take the full return and I could buy a new one (which was, of course, more expensive). You should be okay as long as you didn't damage the machine at all.


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## Sepultorture (Mar 2, 2011)

i already have a macbook pro, so my next purchase will be an iMac, big screen big time studio editing tastiness


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## PeteyG (Mar 2, 2011)

To be honest, after 3 days of installing software last week, and seeing how I'm now at the beginning of another epic install sesh, I don't care enough to return this one and go through it all again.


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## WickedSymphony (Mar 2, 2011)

PeteyG said:


> To be honest, after 3 days of installing software last week, and seeing how I'm now at the beginning of another epic install sesh, I don't care enough to return this one and go through it all again.



I still think it'd be worth it to get the new one with all the upgrades they put in, but it's totally up to you, Pete.


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## troyguitar (Mar 2, 2011)

USMarine75 said:


> So... if you buy one order your RAM aftermarket.



This is generally true of RAM and hard drives for all computers.


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## Faine (Mar 7, 2011)

I'm interested in getting one of these in the near future. The 15" Are these good for recording? I dont have a recording studio or anything. i'm just interested in plugging in my guitar to record some ideas I have or maybe just over lay a few things you know, be my own band for a while. Nothing serious, just first time recording. but I also want to use the mac for school and simple online browsing. Anyone use one for at home recording?


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## Daiephir (Mar 7, 2011)

Faine said:


> I'm interested in getting one of these in the near future. The 15" Are these good for recording? I dont have a recording studio or anything. i'm just interested in plugging in my guitar to record some ideas I have or maybe just over lay a few things you know, be my own band for a while. Nothing serious, just first time recording. but I also want to use the mac for school and simple online browsing. Anyone use one for at home recording?



Yes, I know a guy who runs OS X, WIN 7, and some form of Linux on his machine, works flawlessly (and I'm usualy a pro PC guy lol)


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## Faine (Mar 7, 2011)

Daiephir said:


> Yes, I know a guy who runs OS X, WIN 7, and some form of Linux on his machine, works flawlessly (and I'm usualy a pro PC guy lol)




He runs 3 operating systems on his macbook pro?


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## Daiephir (Mar 7, 2011)

Faine said:


> He runs 3 operating systems on his macbook pro?



Yup! he says it runs without any lag on OS X and Linux and it slows down a little on WIN 7 (I know a computer geek who runs OS X and WIN 7 on an older gen Macbook and he can play SC2 at low without any problem [although a bit laggy sometimes])

Point is: you can record shit without any problem, and from what I saw, you shouldn't have any


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## Faine (Mar 8, 2011)

Sounds good man thank you, another question what's thunderbolt?


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## MFB (Mar 8, 2011)

Faine said:


> Sounds good man thank you, another question what's thunderbolt?



It's the new hi-speed ports they're using along with USB


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## MF_Kitten (Mar 8, 2011)

Intel dropped the whole USB 3.0 thing, and is pushing all Thunderbolt from now on. it's vastly superior, so it's all good! you'll be able to use adapters and hubs to connect USB stuff to it too though, apparently.

the new MBP 2011 models are apparently among the fastest, if not THE fastest laptops that have been reviewed and benchmarked so far, according to several articles i've seen. it's pissing all over the PC competition so far, not because of the numbers on the paper being higher, but because the OS and design are both so god damn efficient and lightweight. which is why the PC vs MAC spec war will always be about as relevant as pissing in a cup to prove string theory.


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## Daiephir (Mar 8, 2011)

MF_Kitten said:


> Intel dropped the whole USB 3.0 thing, and is pushing all Thunderbolt from now on. it's vastly superior, so it's all good! you'll be able to use adapters and hubs to connect USB stuff to it too though, apparently.
> 
> the new MBP 2011 models are apparently among the fastest, if not THE fastest laptops that have been reviewed and benchmarked so far, according to several articles i've seen. it's pissing all over the PC competition so far, not because of the numbers on the paper being higher, but because the OS and design are both so god damn efficient and lightweight. which is why the PC vs MAC spec war will always be about as relevant as pissing in a cup to prove string theory.



Actually it's because Intel's Sandy Bridge platform fucks up with PCs' has of now, so yeah, the MBP's are the fastest, they have gen 2 i7's and shit you know  (I had a dream the other day, habing a laptop with the Xeon line of processors in there XD)


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## Faine (Mar 23, 2011)

There Is a 2009 15" macbook pro at Core 2 Duo 2.53GHz / 4g DDR3 1066 MHz /320g 5400 RPM, thats for sale at $990 around me... Is it Good for logic 9, with various plug ins good for recording? thanks.

There is also another one for sale around me for $1,500 that is also a 15" 2.66 Core i7 8 gbs ram and 500gb hard drive...
( whats ideal? what do you recommend?)


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## Daiephir (Mar 23, 2011)

take the 1.5K$ one IMO


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## metal_sam14 (Mar 23, 2011)

Daiephir said:


> take the 1.5K$ one IMO



This.
it will definitely be worth the extra cash.


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## asmegin_slayer (Mar 23, 2011)

Take the i7 too!


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## Faine (Mar 24, 2011)

Ok, thanks guys! It just sounds better all the way around.


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## Faine (Mar 25, 2011)

Quick question while i'm here... Do I have to upgrade the MBP's sound card? I'm most likely gonna be running a pod x3 and/ or guitar rig 4 for recording.


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## asmegin_slayer (Mar 25, 2011)

Faine said:


> Quick question while i'm here... Do I have to upgrade the MBP's sound card? I'm most likely gonna be running a pod x3 and/ or guitar rig 4 for recording.



nope.

I used to have a X3, and it played it perfectly via usb on my imac. Now I'm running a UX2 

Not so sure on the guitar rig though.


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## caparison_x (Apr 1, 2011)

metal_sam14 said:


> My honest opinion: epic.
> 
> Apple - MacBook Pro - The new MacBook Pro. Huge leaps in performance.
> 
> ...



one thought is 

*mod edit: that we're not here to have the mac vs pc debate, especially when you start posting about desktops in a thread about laptops*


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## metal_sam14 (Apr 1, 2011)

^not here to debate pc vs mac, just a thread about how much I like the new line of mac book pros, simple.

EDIT: dont get me wrong, the mark up on macs is out of this world though!


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## squid-boy (Apr 1, 2011)

Cancer said:


> Only if that "PC" can run OSX.....



It can, but often unstable. (I had a Hackintosh once.) 

I've used operating systems from Windows to FreeBSD and MINIX. I like OS X. It allows me to do cool Unix commands and what not. I'm not a gamer, nor really a picky person. 

I like my Macbook Pro.


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## Prydogga (Apr 3, 2011)

I'm excited to see Retina display and inbuilt blue ray hit the iMacs. It's just a matter of time I'd guess, when it does I'll strive to get myself one.


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