Tag archive for 'macbook-pro'

24
Apr

Boot Camp 2.1, VMware Fusion 1.1.2 and MacBook Pro firmware

By Damien Guard Categories: Apple Tags: , .

Boot Camp 2.1

Apple have released Boot Camp 2.1 which finally includes official 64-bit support on Vista and support for Windows XP Service Pack 3.

This update may mean that 3D games will play without locking up or installing NVidia's own drivers and that the trackpad functions correctly again (broken since Boot Camp 1.x)

MacBook Pro Firmware 1.5.1

Apple's MacBook Pro Firmware Update 1.5.1 applies to all recent MacBook Pro's including the ones with MBP31.0070.B05 firmware that the 1.5 update failed to upgrade leaving 17" owners on MBP31.0070.B07.

The new firmware does not fix a problem where trackpad input would become jerky after suspending/sleeping and turning Airport off would make it even worse.

VMware Fusion 1.1.2

VMware Fusion 1.1.2 is just out and includes a host of fixes and improvements including:

  • Windows XP Service Pack 3
  • Network and USB compatibility
  • Time Machine compatibility

Now that VMware lets Time Machine backup the VM image file and that Time Machine backs up modified files in their entirety you might want to exclude ~/Documents/Virtual Machines it unless you fancy loosing several gigabytes per hour whilst using a VM. Of course if you have your VM running off it's own partition to allow Boot Camp too then that's not an issue.

With any luck VMware will figure out a way of Time Machine backing up changed individual files within the Windows filesystem...

[)amien

0 Comments
19
Dec

One week with a MacBook Pro 17″

By Damien Guard Categories: Apple and Hardware Tags: , , .

It has been one week since I picked up my new MacBook Pro 17" to replace my aging first-generation 15" model.

My initial concern was that the size and weight would be unwieldy after 4 years of lugging around a 15" MacBook Pro and a prior to that a Titanium PowerBook G4. The actual problem was that my trusty Samsonite Trunk & Co. backpack could not accommodate it and that I'd have to hope Santa would deliver something a little bigger. Being properly kitted up might reveal if the dimensions and weight are uncomfortable so expect an update once I've travelled with the beast.

MacBook Pro 17The screen is fantastic, a little brighter, and provides me with a desktop-like experience in terms of real estate thanks to the combination of the increased size and the high-definition 1920x1200 option. I had examined the glossy finish in-store and found having my face and the rest of the store glaring back at me far too distracting for real work (it might be nice for watching DVD's in the dark I guess) and so went with the matte finish. Surprisingly it is a little more reflective than the older MBP but not overly so and it does make removing unwelcome fingerprints easier.

One problem I had with m 15" was that heavy use of Visual Studio within Parallels wasn't always cutting it on performance. Compilation was faster than the cheap HP/Compaq desktop I'd been using but still wasn't snappy enough to keep my attention tightly focused ;-)

I went with top options - a 2.6GHz processor coupled with 4GB of RAM and a 7200RPM 200GB drive - to ensure maximum performance. Mac OS X and native Vista did not disappoint and felt like a speedy desktop despite Vista being 32-bit and limited to 3GB of RAM until Apple ship a 64-bit ready Boot Camp drivers and tools.

My .NET development typically takes place inside a virtual machine - previously Parallels but now evaluating VMware Fusion with its enticing dual-core and 64-bit guest OS support. Both Parallels and Fusion had similar almost-native performance in the disk and processor department on my 15" according to Vista's performance index and I've yet to rerun those (stay tuned). Whichever gets Aero/DirectX 9Ex shader support first will be my home for a while.

Battery life was a big surprise offering over 3 hours and I certainly feel less conscious of where the next power feed is coming from although that is partly due to the poor battery on my old machine being rather tired and worn.

One big disappointment is the keyboard. Firstly it is the same size as the 15" model which leaves the extra space to the speaker grille. Whilst the speakers do sound far superior - good enough to actually listen to music on - I couldn't help but feel a wider enter key, a second ctrl and a little f-key spacing could have gone a long way. What is more concerning is that many keys do not register if hit off-centre even by a slight amount :(

There are still some things to try:

  • Games under native Vista taking advantage of the Nvidia 8600M GT chip
  • Time Machining my MyBook Pro external drive over FireWire 800 (800 Mb/s) instead of USB2 (400 Mb/s)
  • Burning DVD performance
  • Removing DVD drive (UJ-85J FBZ8) region protection (RPC) to play my DVD collection

[)amien

5 Comments
05
Dec

Windows Experience Index on MacBook Pro 2GHz compared

By Damien Guard Categories: Apple Tags: , , , , .

I just got the opportunity to try out the latest version of VMware and thought I'd do a quick Windows Experience Index on Boot Camp, Parallels and VMware to see what the performance is like before my new MacBook Pro 17" arrives (hopefully on Friday!)

When I installed Leopard on my machine I took the opportunity to carve out a dedicated 20GB partition again to put a fresh install of Vista on. As well as being able to boot natively this also now means I can run my single Windows partition switching between native, Parallels or VMware at will which admittedly drives Windows Activation crazy.

Host machine

Hardware MacBook Pro 2GHz "MacBookPro1,1"
Memory 2048MB DDR2 667MHz
Processor 2.0GHz Core Duo
Graphics ATI Radeon X1600 256MB
Disk 100GB 5400RPM
Operating system Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.1

Configuration

Memory 848MB (Virtual machines only)
Disk 20GB Boot Camp partition
Operating system Microsoft Vista Ultimate Edition 32-bit

Testing notes

  • No other applications running in OS X or Vista
  • Full-screen mode
  • Vendors guest OS tools & drivers installed

Scores

VMware
1.1 62573		 Parallels
3.0 5570 beta		 Boot Camp
2.0 drivers
Processor 4.7 4.7 4.7
Memory (RAM) 3.9 3.9 4.9
Graphics 1.9 1.9 4.1
Gaming graphics 1.0 1.0 4.4
Primary hard disk 5.9 5.9 5.9
Overall 1.0 1.0 4.1

Thoughts

Processor: A little surprising given that VMware supports multiple cores but that Parallels doesn't.
Memory: To be expected given that the VM was only running with less RAM.
Graphics: Disappointing and likely caused by the VM vendors graphics drivers not being WDM which based.
Gaming graphics: Very disappointing and caused by lack of DirectX 9 graphics support.
Hard disk: Like processor this is a pleasant surprise.

After my new 17" MacBook Pro arrives (hopefully this Friday) I will produce another set of scores which should show how much faster the 2.6GHz is with all the options and let me compare like-for-like on the memory front.

I also want to run some Visual Studio 2008 build time comparisons (probably of SubSonic) because compilations are what really counts ;-) If you have any further suggestions for benchmarks, leave a comment!

[)amien

6 Comments
04
Nov

MacBook Pro 17″ 2.6GHz ordered

By Damien Guard Categories: Apple, Guernsey and Personal Tags: , .

Since moving house I have been using my MacBook Pro 15" 2.0GHz at home, for contracting and even for the odd diagnostics and organisation in the office.

The last 20 months have been a bumpy ride with the logic board being replaced twice once for whining and the second time when the inner memory slot went dead. The battery has been recalled and the power supply cable started melting and the paint started flaking off the enclosure but thankfully Apple sorted out all these problems rather swiftly with advanced replacement parts and speedy repairs through local service centers iQ Guernsey and Guernsey Computers.

Every company has problems with products, especially first revisions, but how they deal with them is important and one of my logic board failures was a couple of months out of warranty but their customer services department authorised the replacement anyway. Such service counts for a lot in my book and so now I have outgrown my notebook another MacBook Pro will be it's replacement...

My paltry 100GB disk space got eaten up with an extensive music library and plenty of 10 megapixel RAW digital camera images. Subtract a 15GB Boot Camp and I was soon looking at external storage. Parallels and Visual Studio 2008 meant I needed to up from 2GB to 4GB of RAM and I found myself constantly missing my 24" Dell monitor. I also need to be able to test 64-bit applications now that I am developing Cocoa apps.

The Apple Store UK just added the 2.6GHz processor and 200GB 7200RPM drive options this week and although Guernsey is barred from The Apple Store UK local reseller iQ matches their ex-VAT prices on Pro gear so on Saturday I ordered my new dream machine complete with the high-resolution 1920x1200 anti-glare LCD (no glossy mirror for me thanks).

They also have friendly shop staff unlike Guernsey Computers (although Vernon in their service department is helpful if you can get to him). One thing I really can't stand though is Apple's pricing policy on RAM.

To upgrade from 2GB to 4GB they want £450 extra! Crucial UK will do a 4GB kit of the same spec for just £98. I'm not alone in this observation.

It's just insanely ludicrous.

[)amien

9 Comments
21
Mar

Apple’s next enclosure material?

By Damien Guard Categories: Apple Tags: , , .

Olivier wonders about Apple's next enclosure material and that got me pondering. Jobs has already utilised:

  • magnesium (NeXT stations/cubes)
  • titanium (PowerBook)
  • aluminium alloy (MacBook)
  • polycarbonate (iMac, iPod, iBook)

The current Intel machines reused the existing PowerPC enclosure designs - at least superficially - for the iMac, MacBook Pro and MacPro machines. Only the MacBook got to knock the older iBook design away.

What material could be next?

Carbon fibre has already been partially used by the likes of Acer and Sony on laptops. Whilst it might be light and strong it is brittle and the thermal conductivity is opposite to what you're looking for in a laptop.

Jobs also loves metal enclosures at least at the high-end of the market where the price can cover the cost - although apparently not enough to absorb commercial-grade titanium any more hence the PowerBook switch to aluminium.

There are plenty of metals and alloys out there but besides cost they need to be tooled into the designs Apple want, finished to a high standard that won't corrode or easily mark, strong and inflexible, lightweight and ideally possess good thermal conductivity.

Beryllium?

MacBook Pro beryllium Beryllium is cheaper than titanium and has all the important characteristics described above plus a few extra bonuses that make it a primary candidate:

  • easily x-ray'ed through (think laptops at airports)
  • tarnish resistant to high skin acidity (a problem with existing painted aluminium enclosures)
  • available in a variety of colours (why not have a selection... the iMac, iBook and iPod Nano have)

Bear in mind that most of Apple's equipment (and indeed the majority of the worlds laptops) are manufactured at only a handful of companies out in the far east (Quanta, Compal, Foxconn) they would need to be heavily involved in the process.

But then pushing for breakaway designs that require advanced tooling and alternative manufacturing approaches is one of Job's passions and what keeps Apple's hardware looking that one step ahead.

Update

There are two potential problems with beryllium.

  1. in gas or dust forms it is dangerous to humans (as a gas this is Berlyium Oxide BeO .... spookly almost BeOS ;-)
  2. it reacts with lithium - as used in the current Lithium Ion batteries

Given that Apple use batteries by Sony and there are a couple of stories about the laptops catching fire this could be a problem - especially given that your laptop catching fire is bad enough when it isn't violently reacting with the battery and producing carcinogenic gases.

[)amien

2 Comments
23
Aug

MacBook Pro whine fix in 3 hours

By Damien Guard Categories: Apple Tags: .

It's been an odd couple of weeks for my MacBook Pro 15".

First of all I find that my battery is one affected by a recall and so Apple send me a new battery complete with incorrect instructions on how to return.

Then I find that the whine that my machine emanated from under the left of the keyboard when on battery power gets semi-acknowledged in a knowledge base article.

Quick turnaround on service

Unable to live with my MacBook Pro for more than a day or two now that it's my primary machine for work and home and being that this issue is more an annoyance than a show stopper I tried the following:

  1. Locate my nearest Apple Authorised Service Center
  2. Call Apple support, explain the problem and reference the KB article
  3. Obtain the case ID from Apple and tell them I want it repaired at the aforementioned service centre
  4. Head to the service centre, demonstrate problem to engineer and provide him with case ID, KB article and my phone number
  5. Wait for engineer to call back confirming that parts have been requested against the case ID (in this case a new logic board)
  6. Continue using my machine until I get a call from engineer that parts are in
  7. Arrange to drop-off machine to engineer when he will be able to work on it and then drop it off
  8. Get call from engineer that machine is ready and collect it!

Total time MacBook Pro out of my hands ... 3 hours.

The afterglow of replacement logic board

The annoying whine is gone and the case has yet to get too hot to touch!

They also supply new 10.4.6 CD's (v1.3) with a note that if I need to reinstall Mac OS X I will need to use these as the original ones supplied with my machine will not contain necessary support for this logic board revision.

There are a few odd issues though...

  • It now reports its serial number as SystemSerialNumb. Hope that doesn't cause a problem with any shareware applications.
  • Windows XP required quite some time to boot the first time after the replacement board and the fans whirred right up whilst doing so.
  • The iSight camera driver reported "unprogrammed" in device manager. A quick uninstall and detect sorted that out.

[)amien

1 Comment
29
Jun

Keeping an eye on the MacBook/Pro temperature

By Damien Guard Categories: Apple and Hardware Tags: , .

As most people know these things run quite warm but at last two applications are available for getting hold of those elusive CPU temperature figures.

When in Mac OS X grab a copy of the free CoreDuoTemp.

In Windows the excellent (but not free) Everest 3.0 will reveal each core's temperature individually as well as more detail about your machine than you ever cared to know.

[)amien

0 Comments
29
May

Hardware hacking the MacBook movement sensor

By Damien Guard Categories: Apple Tags: , .

Developers keep finding new and unexpected uses for hardware and software - seemingly never more so than on the Mac and OS X.

Whether they're using the iSight camera to scan bar codes into your Delicious Library or turning the AppleRemote into a alarm key-fob in TheftSensor there's always some novel hack around the corner for the latest bit of kit.

Current attention is focused on the motion sensor added to MacBook and MacBook Pro's that is used to park the hard-drive should sudden movement be detected.

In true Apple fashion rather than add a simple yes/no movement sensor the device can detect tilts and both the X and Y axis as well as the current level of force.

With a little imagination those enterprising third-party developers have come up with...

Sudden Motion Sensor
Amit Singh is a man with a mission - which is just as well because he doesn't have a MacBook or a MacBook Pro. So quite how he's written a bunch of fun apps and a useful command line motion sensor tool is another matter.

Amit includes some technical coverage of the sensor and how it works over the I2C bus Apple also use for temperature sensing, fan control etc.

He also has a useful command-line tool and some fun hacks such as showing a MacBook Pro in 3D oriented as yours currently is and a window that self-adjusts itself to always be horizontal. Alas, at least on my MacBook Pro, the X axis seems to be inverted and the invert X axis didn't work so the effect fails to impress.

More interesting is his page on using the motion sensor as an input device. While not as advanced as the Nintendo Wand - it doesn't support detection of position - it still holds some promise as he illustrates.

MacSaber
With the sensor sporting a force level it was only a matter of time before somebody used that sensor magic to come up with something like MacSaber.

The sole purpose of this app is to make your $2,000 laptop hum like a StarWars lightsaber as you swing it dangerously around the room with a satisfying tzzzzum and sheuw.

Just don't rely on the midichorians to stop your MacBook slipping through your fingers...

SmackBook Pro
You might be thinking this sensor is nothing but a curiosity but SmackBook Pro illustrates a rather novel use to desktop switching.

Desktop switching is one of those problem areas for short cuts. You might be using any one of tens of apps and finding a good shortcut that's not taken by any of those applications could really be a problem.

SmackBook Pro's solution is to tap the side of your machine to switch desktops and the way the new desktop flies in from the side is a great visual indicator of what has just happened as the video illustrates.

I'm not sure constantly tapping the side of an LCD is good for it's health.

Update: Many more hacks to be found at Raul's blog.

[)amien

1 Comment
« Previous Entries

Feed subscription

Feed count

Subjects