Comments on: MacBook Pro 17″ 2.6GHz ordered http://damieng.com/blog/2007/11/04/macbook-pro-17-26ghz-ordered A .NET developer in Redmond Tue, 07 Oct 2008 16:07:47 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 By: Ken Egozi http://damieng.com/blog/2007/11/04/macbook-pro-17-26ghz-ordered#comment-5441 Ken Egozi Thu, 06 Dec 2007 08:25:15 +0000 http://damieng.com/blog/2007/11/04/macbook-pro-17-26ghz-ordered#comment-5441 I've had a great experience with Dell. A Latitude LS (PIII 400MHZ / 128MB) that I had baught second hand, still work. Can run WinXP Office2003 with no problems. VS2005 is overkill due to low memory. This buddy sufferred a cuppa tea. lcd went off, but after 2 days left open, the thing went back to life. So I guess that Dell Latitue = great, Dell Inspiron = crap. It should be the same for all vendors. Fujitsu Amillo are shaky, while the lifebooks are solid machines. I now own a Toshiva Tecra A3. I've had bad sectors on HD (apparently OEM HD in toshiba has only 1 year warrenty so I had to replace it myself). Also, the mother board does not like 2MB memory for some reason, so I'm using 1.5 only. besides that, it's working great. it's almost 3yrs old, yet the battery can still juice almost an hour with VS and WiFi have a good luck with the new MBP. 17" on laptop - sounds great to me .. I've had a great experience with Dell.
A Latitude LS (PIII 400MHZ / 128MB) that I had baught second hand, still work.
Can run WinXP Office2003 with no problems. VS2005 is overkill due to low memory.

This buddy sufferred a cuppa tea. lcd went off, but after 2 days left open, the thing went back to life.

So I guess that Dell Latitue = great, Dell Inspiron = crap.
It should be the same for all vendors.
Fujitsu Amillo are shaky, while the lifebooks are solid machines.
I now own a Toshiva Tecra A3. I've had bad sectors on HD (apparently OEM HD in toshiba has only 1 year warrenty so I had to replace it myself).
Also, the mother board does not like 2MB memory for some reason, so I'm using 1.5 only.
besides that, it's working great.
it's almost 3yrs old, yet the battery can still juice almost an hour with VS and WiFi

have a good luck with the new MBP. 17" on laptop - sounds great to me ..

]]> By: Windows Experience Index on the MacBook Pro 15″ 2GHz compared » DamienG http://damieng.com/blog/2007/11/04/macbook-pro-17-26ghz-ordered#comment-5429 Windows Experience Index on the MacBook Pro 15″ 2GHz compared » DamienG Wed, 05 Dec 2007 22:04:54 +0000 http://damieng.com/blog/2007/11/04/macbook-pro-17-26ghz-ordered#comment-5429 [...] my new 17" MacBook Pro arrives (hopefully this Friday) I will produce another set of scores which should show how much faster the [...] [...] my new 17" MacBook Pro arrives (hopefully this Friday) I will produce another set of scores which should show how much faster the [...]

]]> By: Damien Guard http://damieng.com/blog/2007/11/04/macbook-pro-17-26ghz-ordered#comment-4999 Damien Guard Tue, 06 Nov 2007 21:31:20 +0000 http://damieng.com/blog/2007/11/04/macbook-pro-17-26ghz-ordered#comment-4999 Yeah the first logic board replacement was in fact caused by the whining on-battery CPU bug on the first Core Duo chips. /me crosses fingers [)amien Yeah the first logic board replacement was in fact caused by the whining on-battery CPU bug on the first Core Duo chips.

/me crosses fingers

[)amien

]]> By: Damon Stephenson http://damieng.com/blog/2007/11/04/macbook-pro-17-26ghz-ordered#comment-4996 Damon Stephenson Tue, 06 Nov 2007 20:03:29 +0000 http://damieng.com/blog/2007/11/04/macbook-pro-17-26ghz-ordered#comment-4996 I bet Damien will get much less problems with the new MBP. As product lines get older bugs are ironed out :P Even CPU's have bugs etc. I'd like a Mac Pro when they are ever updated. Also, if I ever get enough monies for one ;) I bet Damien will get much less problems with the new MBP. As product lines get older bugs are ironed out :P
Even CPU's have bugs etc.
I'd like a Mac Pro when they are ever updated. Also, if I ever get enough monies for one ;)

]]> By: Damien Guard http://damieng.com/blog/2007/11/04/macbook-pro-17-26ghz-ordered#comment-4969 Damien Guard Mon, 05 Nov 2007 13:46:30 +0000 http://damieng.com/blog/2007/11/04/macbook-pro-17-26ghz-ordered#comment-4969 I think part of the death of the 5000e was due to thermal design - I was running Asherons Call on it quite often when it started playing up. If they can't cool it enough to run 3D apps then don't advertise it as having it ;-) [)amien I think part of the death of the 5000e was due to thermal design - I was running Asherons Call on it quite often when it started playing up. If they can't cool it enough to run 3D apps then don't advertise it as having it ;-)

[)amien

]]> By: steve http://damieng.com/blog/2007/11/04/macbook-pro-17-26ghz-ordered#comment-4967 steve Mon, 05 Nov 2007 11:08:03 +0000 http://damieng.com/blog/2007/11/04/macbook-pro-17-26ghz-ordered#comment-4967 I burned out 2 Acer notebook motherboards within a year because the thermal design was awful - they had good specs but if you did a lot of GPU work it seemed like it would eventually fry the machine. My other experiences were with Compaq (ages ago), a 3rd-party UK system builder called Paco, and Sony Vaios. The Vaios get flak because of the software bundle but in my experience the physical construction of the machines is impeccable. The only machines I've ever had to return were the Acer (twice) and now the MacBook. I burned out 2 Acer notebook motherboards within a year because the thermal design was awful - they had good specs but if you did a lot of GPU work it seemed like it would eventually fry the machine.

My other experiences were with Compaq (ages ago), a 3rd-party UK system builder called Paco, and Sony Vaios. The Vaios get flak because of the software bundle but in my experience the physical construction of the machines is impeccable.

The only machines I've ever had to return were the Acer (twice) and now the MacBook.

]]> By: Kezzer http://damieng.com/blog/2007/11/04/macbook-pro-17-26ghz-ordered#comment-4963 Kezzer Sun, 04 Nov 2007 23:27:31 +0000 http://damieng.com/blog/2007/11/04/macbook-pro-17-26ghz-ordered#comment-4963 I've had my Acer for 4/5 years now and the only problem I've had is that the hard disk died which I replaced myself. I've never had to send it back to Acer for repairs. I know it's getting on now though, some hardware such as the wireless card is giving up I think, although that could be driver related. It's alright for some though, I'd love to get a MacBook Pro. All in good time ;) I've had my Acer for 4/5 years now and the only problem I've had is that the hard disk died which I replaced myself. I've never had to send it back to Acer for repairs. I know it's getting on now though, some hardware such as the wireless card is giving up I think, although that could be driver related.

It's alright for some though, I'd love to get a MacBook Pro. All in good time ;)

]]> By: Damien Guard http://damieng.com/blog/2007/11/04/macbook-pro-17-26ghz-ordered#comment-4962 Damien Guard Sun, 04 Nov 2007 22:47:36 +0000 http://damieng.com/blog/2007/11/04/macbook-pro-17-26ghz-ordered#comment-4962 Well the only other laptops I've owned were Dell's and the experience was much worse. The 5000e arrived with a dead LCD, whole machine swapped out, wrong video, swapped again. Motherboard died, 2 week repair, hard drive died, 2 week repair, intermittent crashing and had to threaten legal action which resulted in a brand new 8100 replacement and I got to keep the 5000e which went on to have the PCMCIA slots die and the hard drive die again. Hard drive in the 8100 died too and if I remember correctly both were the recipient of battery recall programmes. [)amien Well the only other laptops I've owned were Dell's and the experience was much worse.

The 5000e arrived with a dead LCD, whole machine swapped out, wrong video, swapped again. Motherboard died, 2 week repair, hard drive died, 2 week repair, intermittent crashing and had to threaten legal action which resulted in a brand new 8100 replacement and I got to keep the 5000e which went on to have the PCMCIA slots die and the hard drive die again.

Hard drive in the 8100 died too and if I remember correctly both were the recipient of battery recall programmes.

[)amien

]]> By: steve http://damieng.com/blog/2007/11/04/macbook-pro-17-26ghz-ordered#comment-4961 steve Sun, 04 Nov 2007 22:16:22 +0000 http://damieng.com/blog/2007/11/04/macbook-pro-17-26ghz-ordered#comment-4961 It does concern me a little that the Macs seem to need so many repairs. Hearing about how many times yours has been fixed, and now mine busting after 3 months, compared to my previous laptop experience where out of 4 machines in the last 10 years or so, only one gave me trouble (an Acer, which I vowed never to buy again because the build quality was terrible and their support services apalling). It's good that iQ fix the machines locally, although it's been over a week now when they originally told me 2 days. They're nice chaps though and they seem to be having some staffing issues so I'm hanging in there. It does concern me a little that the Macs seem to need so many repairs. Hearing about how many times yours has been fixed, and now mine busting after 3 months, compared to my previous laptop experience where out of 4 machines in the last 10 years or so, only one gave me trouble (an Acer, which I vowed never to buy again because the build quality was terrible and their support services apalling).

It's good that iQ fix the machines locally, although it's been over a week now when they originally told me 2 days. They're nice chaps though and they seem to be having some staffing issues so I'm hanging in there.

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