[polldaddy poll=”4610739″]
Apple has updated the MacBook Pro line this morning with the additions of the new 15″ and 17″-inch models.
Speed is the key feature — they come equipped with the first implementation of Thunderbolt high-speed I/O technology as well as the first quad-core processor in a laptop. Prices range from $1,199 to $2,499.
Are you ready to buy or happy to pass?
Tell us why in the comments.
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141 responses to “Poll: Excited or Underwhelmed by New MacBook Pros?”
It’s cool having new Macbook Pros.
It’s bad not having the money to spend on one… and while it’s an upgrade, I was expecting more.
I do wanna buy the new MacBook pro, it’ll be my first mac, but I’m a little disappointed in the lack of ssd
It looks like some reasonable foundation things have been implemented to set it up for Lion and future generations. The Thunderbolt is a nice touch. That said, I was looking for the groundbreaking changes the rumors were supporting. For now, I’ll wait.
Victims of the hype machine they’ve built around their product releases. Everyone was hoping for the liquimetal black air-book pro…
Bought a MBP six months ago. Next machine due for replacement is a 4 year-old iMac 24. Maybe this fall, after the next refresh, or maybe go with a mini this time. Don’t know.
SSDs are a BTO option on all MBPs. I’m hoping the new iMac comes with an SSD boot and a 1TB data HDD.
I bought the former MBP, and then custom upgraded the HD to a hybrid 500gb unit with integrated SSD. Not dramatic, but definitely quite an improvement.
I agree that there were built up expectations with the black liquid metal, the ssd, and who knows if they will ever come with a retina-display-trackpad…
I will pass on this generation then!
Like the new chips, but that was a given. The HD camera is nice, and I’m actually not tired of the unibody design – it still seems fresh and sexy to me. My biggest source of disappointment is the lack of that little SSD boot drive that would run OSX. That would be KILLER. But it will all come in time…
I’m somewhere in between because I was really hoping for only SSDs, not an option for a hard drive, too.
Was already looking to move from an MBP to an iMac; while these look fine, I see nothing to make me change my mind. Will be graduating from grad school in May, and won’t really need to productive on the go. If necessary, we have a 13″ MBP that my wife uses that I can borrow. My question: how soon before Sandy Bridge and Thunderbolt come to the iMac line?
The only thing I see interest in is the facetime camera, but that’s not enough for me to go out and buy a whole new computer. I KNEW they wouldn’t be using liquid metals because Apple’s really not “there” yet with that technology, but…I guess I still have the iPad 2 to wait for.
I am waiting long enough to buy my first Mac, i still excited with it, but the question is, when it’s available in Indonesia?? Can’t wait! Hope tomorrow i can see it on the premium distributor store here… (because we don’t have apple store here)
Was hoping for the SSD boot drive, with a 500GB or 1TB HDD for user storage. Just bought my MBP about two weeks ago, altho it has a mfg date of 2009! Nevertheless, it is the latest prior to this update. Think I’ll stay with it for a while. Not worth the $$$ for me, to replace what I just bought.
“as well as the first quad-core processor in a laptop” – apple laptop, right ?
i wanted liquid metal :(
It’s rather like the iPhone 3G to 3GS upgrade. It wasn’t super exciting because the phone looked nearly identical to the 3G although it was faster and had a higher resolution camera. It was still cool just not as big of deal as the iPhone 4 naturally. Let’s face it, it’s nice to have people lust after your laptop a bit while at Barnes & Noble or Starbucks when they can see you clearly have a new product. This refresh looks nearly identical. I think the early part of this year is dedicated to upgrades in the Macbook and iPad HD and we will get the fresh new products (iPad 2 and Liquid Metal Macbook) once Lion comes out later this year.
I’m a PC user on the fence about switching to Mac. I really like the 13″ MB Air based on its size, weight and blazing fast boot time. Was hoping the new MPBs were moving toward the Air specs. Still hard to justify the added expense at this point…maybe next year
Shorter battery life than the previous generation, WTF??
Thunderbolt is an interesting technology, but unfortunately, I just purchased a 13-inch Air so I probably won’t be upgrading this time. I’m also waiting on an upgrade to the iMac.
I must admit, I’m not that impressed with Apple on this “advancement.” Sure there are great new features…but at what cost? My MacBook Pro (purchased July 2010) gets about 8 hours using wifi and 10 hours with AirPort turned off…these new MBPs have a max of 7hours…still better than any windows machine, by a long shot, but I’m not thoroughly impressed with Apple on this one.
Quad-core processors that are more efficient clock-for-clock, and boost up to 3.4 GHz if you’re only using one processor — that’s pretty huge. Thunderbolt will eventually be important. This is a solid upgrade.
No LiquidMetal to be seen and no flash memory for booting as some rumor had said. Otherwise, I’m satisfied since Thunderbolt tech seems rather useful for moving data around.
reduce GHz, reduce Battery Life, NO SSD boot, NO LiquidMetal.. = NO Buy!
Im excited, but got a new MacBook Pro last year, so excited for new tech but cant rationalize the purchase this year
People are upset because the case is not Liquid Metal, a rumor speculated only by “insider” blogs and never touted by Apple. If you compare the previous Mac Pro’s to these new models there are some very cool advancements, but rather than focus on that folks would rather focus on what it does not have because rumors from blog insiders got them all excited about a radical new design change up and Liquid Metal. Blame the blogs who sold you on specs that never existed, not Apple.
Very excited! It’s a dream machine. Unfortunately my 15″ i5 MBPro is only one year old, so I can’t justify an upgrade yet. :-(
I was really looking forward to a boot from SSD feature; optical drive to be dropped; a best of all, the hard drive to be solid state with an accompanying shell that looks similar to the MacBook Air. So I may upgrade my 2-year-old 17-inch MacBook Pro soon, or wait to get the complete redesign next year.
I’ll pass. Ordered my MBP in the second week of Feb 2011 and will replace the 500Gb hdd with an SSD. Collegue of mine did this, with apps and load times of 5 – 10 seconds. I can’t see buying this MBP version, there’s not devices yet for ‘light peak’ Thunder(Clap)Bolt technology yet. :-(
excited! im looking for a macbook and the pro series is the answer for my autocad 2010 use who needs 2gb ram and 256mb graphics with the brand new intel chip for under 1.500$… so 13,3″ screen it is! alexa from portugal.
Truer battery life. Apple explained it in the specs area.
Great refresh and pricing.
My son commented he paid more for his old 14″ WallStreet than what a 17″ i7 is going for today with all the latest technology. That in itself is good.
This is a substantial upgrade and I am only disappointed in one way. My dad was going to buy me my first NEW Mac when my used one broke, and I was hoping for better graphics. Since I want the 13″, I don’t know if that’s true. Is the new 13″ graphics better than the old 13″? If you know, please answer!
I didn’t expect LiquidMetal, they did just buy it last year and the redesigns were just in 2008. Nothing new in cosmetics NEEDS to be done.
I was hoping for SSDs to become standard as my dad said he would buy the cheapest option. Now I can’t get it because the cheapest option has an HDD. Damn! Still, not a big deal, that’s upgradeable down the line. The i5 processor isn’t sadly.
I was hoping for optical drive to be removed, though there are some companies that can do that for you, so that too is upgradeable. I may use two 512GB SSDs in future(way future) by taking out the optical drive.
Also, less battery life sucks, but is understandable and still way better than the plethora of cheap PCs out there.
Other than these four gripes, I love the new machine. I’m getting it tomorrow. The only one that’s a huge deal is the graphics card not being better than the old model. I know that this will be increasingly important for OS X, especially with Steam and the MAS. The other three are minor, upgradeable things(except LiquidMetal, damn these rumour sites), so no biggie.
Edit: One last thing is probably to make it more greener and to have the restore disks on USB flash drive instead. Or even better, a Thunderbolt flash drive ;P. THUNDERBOLT. FLASH. DRIVE. WOW!
Reduced GHz – go on YouTube, search “The Megahertz Myth”
Reduce battery life – Understandable, but also Apple’s choice is understandable, and it is still way better than PCs
No SSD – You can get these as BTO options. Granted, included would have been better, but you can get it, can’t you?
No LiquidMetal – Really? You need to stop hyping yourself up based on rumours, especially STUPID ones. They bought LiquidMetal Technologies last year and the redesign was just 2 and a bit years ago. Granted, LiquidMetal does make it lighter and thinner, but it’s already way lighter than PCs and lighter than before probably. MacBook Air like looks is for the future. Yes, Steve said it’s the future of MacBooks. He didn’t mean straight away. Take that “future” more literally.
“How did your date with Brooklyn Decker go?”
“Not bad. She’s nice and all, but she has a small freckle behind her left knee. You can’t see it but I know it’s there. She’s a 5.”
I like the new specs and potential of Thunderbolt. I am very tempted to sell my 15″ early 2009 2.66 GHz Core 2 Duo MBP and pick up the new 2.2 GHz i7 (even got the “ok” from my wife). But this is want vs need, since my present laptop does everything I need it to. So, I’ll pass and wait for the next revision. There will be more Thunderbolt products available and maybe even a black liquid metal version of the MBP. Now that’s worth waiting for.
Form factor change and even greater specs will come in 2012. Happy with my 15″ Late 2008 for now.
This is an honest refresh, Thunderbolt is cool but not immediately useful … I must confess I let me abused by rumors from every countries, maybe I hopped too much from Apple.
But some rumors did really made sense : when I see the MacBook Air 13′ with its high resolution screen + SSD powered, i’m a little disappointed by the new MBP 13. I also hopped there could be a mate screen option.
It looks like MBP series will never be considered as a strong innovative platform …let’s wait for the MB Air refresh ! Rumors says it is scheduled for … june :-) Oooops I did it again …
No higher screen resolution… MBP 13″ with 1280x800px??? WTH!!
No Blu-Ray drive (come on Apple, Blu-Ray is here to stay!)…
LiquidMetal? Actually, I don’t care for now… It was just a rumour, and it’s a new technology, something beyond 2011… Maybe 2013… xD
All I wanted was 1440×900 on the 13″, don’t care about liquid metal, SSD or a discrete GPU. Just 1440×900.
:(
My main concern was about the weight and the screen resolution. I was really hoping to have new Mac Book Pro 15″ with a weight around 2kgs. Same for the screen. What the hell Apple is waiting for to have screens with a 1920 x 1080 resolution? C’mon, Steve, don’t tell us it’s impossible!
Thunderbolt, the HD Facetime and the new Sandy Bridge are cool, but for me it’s minor in comparison of the weight problem and screen definition.
The credit card is definitely not out, but I’ll wait until Lion is released and pre-installed before I jump in the pool.
Just purchased the entry level 15″ MBP, huge upgrade from my previous 2008 white macbook
who gives a shit if its not liquid metal .this is the first and only laptop on the market with light peak(thunderbolt) and why all the sudden ssd has to be the standard this is a PRO which means pro users who need the space on a hard drive everyones mad because they arent exactly the same as the rumors
I want a new design! Seriously, if I buy this MBP, nobody’s gonna know its the latest. Looks like the same one from the past two years. Heck, half the appeal is sitting in the cafe sucking up looks of admiration ’cause I got the newest toy! Wahoo!
Really would have liked a new design. Still, the the best laptops around, but I think the kids will get new shoes this year as I won’t splash a grand on not much upgrade.
Overall, not bad. And thunderbolt is interesting – hence the ignoring of USB 3.0. Not that there are a pile of thunderbolt devices out there yet. I am not that concerned about liquidmetal – cosmetic. But the enticing rumor about using a small SSD for a boot drive along side the standard HD was intriguing. But I think Apple passed on that over space and price considerations. And for a scary moment, I feared they might have dropped firewire… but it’s days are surely numbered.
But like many of you, my current MBP is in fine shape, so not in the budget.
so how bout the display resolution on 13″ , 1280 by 800 ?
11″ Macbook Air got better with 1366 by 768
So buy a MacBook Air.
The weight will be dropped when Apple loses the optical drive and integrates the solid state storage onto the logic board like they have with the MacBook Air.
As for a 1920 x 1080 display… that would make the user interface (UI) elements really tiny on a 15″ notebook. Lots of people would complain that everything is too small. OS X doesn’t scale the UI well, so until that’s handled, you won’t see a display with pixels that dense.
The PowerBook and MacBook Pro line brought us FireWire, automatic bluetooth inclusion, Airport standard in computers and the first to use the fastest standards, backlit keyboards, the first 17″ displays in notebook computers, en masse use of the aluminum unibody, now Thunderbolt… there has been plenty of innovation in this line of computers.
Besides, if you want a matte display, why would you get a MacBook Air?
Maybe you should hold off and save up the money for the 15″?
If you ordered your MBP in the second week of February, you can still get the new one without paying anything. Why wouldn’t you want to? No matter which one you got, the processor will be way faster.
Reduced GHz? The computers are now QUAD core. They’re way faster than previous generations.
Reduced battery life is only because Apple is now testing the machines with the wireless turned on instead of leaving it off. It’s not that it’s less battery life, it’s just more accurate.
No SSD boot… you’re just going by a rumour that Apple never even said.
LiquidMetal can’t be manufactured in mass productions yet. If Apple had made the computers out of that, they’d never be able to make enough of them.
These are rated at 7 hours with AirPort turned on. That’s the difference in the battery results… oh, and the quad core processor kinda eats away at the battery too.
These are rated at 7 hours with AirPort turned on. The previous generation was with AirPort off. That’s the difference in the battery results… oh, and the quad core processor kinda eats away at the battery too.
Liquid Metal still can’t be mass produced yet. You won’t see that this year.
You’re probably still within Apple’s return policy. Look into it.
Probably the next update. I’d imagine we’re weeks to a couple of months away.
Like what?
Since my current MBP 13″ is a fully packed 09 model (8GB RAM, big SSD) their is no urgent reason to switch. Will wait for the next generation.
What would have made me swith though is an integrated 3G card! But anyway it feels as if my iPad takes over my eAttention while traveling…
im talking about the 13″ core i5 (dual core) 2,3 GHz, the mid 2010 model got 2,4 GHz (Core 2 Duo)
Macbook Air got SSD, so why Macbook Pro doesnt?
Do you know anything about computers? The i5 processor is way faster than the C2D, even at a lower GHz…
Interesting and useful post
Patience! When Lion comes out, it may increase resolution for some models, since it is resolution independent.
I’ll take that on the first day.
I think the 12″ G4 was the best computer Apple made and the 13″ is the closest I can get to that. Besides,
1) I’m a student, so the form factor of the 13″ is ideal
2) My dad is buying it for me. He said he would buy the cheapest one. If it was over £1000, he would buy it, because he promised me after I’m getting good feedback from teachers at school. But, if the cheapest is £1000, he would get that one. This is why I was hoping for SSDs built-in, instead of a BTO option. That way, I’ll definitely get SSD. Still, I’m typing this on the computer now, and I love it.
Graphics isn’t that important for the things I do, but I have a feeling it will count for a lot in future OS X releases.
If only they removed the optical drive. It would have made space for the same GPU the bigger models have. The SD is useless. I know you can take out the SD to replace with a HDD or SSD from 3rd parties. I hope some 3rd party will allow me to take out the SD and swap it out for a better GPU. That would be awesome. I still will have the i5, but at least it will make an i7 13″ with better graphics possible.
Huh? This makes no sense. Either the screen has the pixels or it doesn’t – installing a new OS will make precisely zero difference.
What *could* happen is that Lion’s graphics engine is so much better that you don’t need the extra pixels.
“Resolution independent” means that icons, window elements etc look the same size even on screens of different resolutions.
Put a sticker on it.
Sorry, my bad. I didn’t know that the OS can’t affect resolution. I know what resolution independence means, I thought if Lion is, then maybe Apple will allow the pixels to increase, I thought maybe they limited it because of the size of elements. Now that they’ll stay the same, they can increase it with no side effects. That was the thinking in my comment.
“What *could* happen is that Lion’s graphics engine is so much better that you don’t need the extra pixels.”
What do you mean by this? I checked Wikipedia, it doesn’t help.
Just got a 15″ i7 MBP about a week ago and am very impressed. Today, I ran about 6 straight hours working with no issues and I had about 1 hr left (so 7 hrs seems realistic). I would have never got that on my PC (which I always kept plugged in). Speed is good, the software mattered, Firefox is faster than Safari, MS office is really quick vs. iWork…
Call me when they add a keyboard backlight.
Add a backlight *and* a single USB 3.0 connector, then I’m excited. The USB 3.0 wish should come true with the advent of Ivy Bridge in early 2012. I just hope Apple don’t get stubborn on the backlight.
While BluRay is here to stay (until the next big thing), I don’t want one fattening up my MacBook air — but, I’d love a super slim external BluRay drive, with a Thunderbolt connector of course.
Not caring about liquid metal, the thing looks sexy enough as it us. Current screen resolution is just fine for the size of the screen.