New Macbook Pro questions


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Some of these questions might be kind of dumb but i need a few definitive answers.

1) I've read before that apple downgraded sata speeds on MBP's from II to I. Is this true? In a couple of threads I've read some ppl say theirs is at 1.5, others say its at 3.

2) Apples SSD's: Do they use any kind of garbage collection to put off performance degradation associated with long term(or short term if you use it enough)use?

3) Apples SSD's are VERY pricey. I've read in a few places that it is not a top of the line product in terms of performance. If I replace the stock Hard drive, does opening the MBP to replace it with an alternate SSD (lets say corsair or intel) is the applecare or standard warranty voided in any way?

4)I did a quick google and apparently the 2.66ghz i7 in the laptop is not quadcore? I find it odd seeing as how other 2.66ghz i7's (such as in vaio z) are quadcore. Then again I do not have part number. Does anyone know?

I think thats it for now. Thank you for helping me with these hardware questions.

P.S. Does anyone have any opinions on the quality of the antiglare display?

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1) its been fixed with an update a while back I believe.

2) I haven't heard of Apple using garbage collection yet.

3) I investigated this a while back and determined that if you mess anything up then it's your fault but otherwise the warranty is ok. (How would they even know if you got an Apple certified tech to do it?)

4) Yes. Most mobile i7s are dual core only the QM or higher models are quad core but they require a lot of power and generate lots of heat. Thats the main reason Apple didn't use them. The Sony Vaio Z isn't quad core either. They both use the i7-620M.

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P.S. Does anyone have any opinions on the quality of the antiglare display?

Unless it's a new technology it's just a matte screen without the glass sheet. Having used a glass Macbook in sunlight I'd say they've come a long way in reducing glare, so unless you're working outside all the time in direct sunlight and need something like that you'll save yourself $50 and have a nicer-looking screen if you skip it.

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Some of these questions might be kind of dumb but i need a few definitive answers.

1) I've read before that apple downgraded sata speeds on MBP's from II to I. Is this true? In a couple of threads I've read some ppl say theirs is at 1.5, others say its at 3.

2) Apples SSD's: Do they use any kind of garbage collection to put off performance degradation associated with long term(or short term if you use it enough)use?

3) Apples SSD's are VERY pricey. I've read in a few places that it is not a top of the line product in terms of performance. If I replace the stock Hard drive, does opening the MBP to replace it with an alternate SSD (lets say corsair or intel) is the applecare or standard warranty voided in any way?

4)I did a quick google and apparently the 2.66ghz i7 in the laptop is not quadcore? I find it odd seeing as how other 2.66ghz i7's (such as in vaio z) are quadcore. Then again I do not have part number. Does anyone know?

I think thats it for now. Thank you for helping me with these hardware questions.

P.S. Does anyone have any opinions on the quality of the antiglare display?

My MBP is the first generation unibody MBP's (15.4 in).

1) My MBP reports 3 Gb link speed in System Profiler. Not sure about newer models.

2) Not sure about Apple's SSD's but I recently invested in a new SSD for my MBP and I got the Kingston SNV425-S2, which apparently has the garbage collection feature and TRIM.

3) Pretty sure hard disks are user replaceable in the Macbook Pro line. It is for my model at least (user manual has instructions) and it is relatively easily to swap out.

4) No idea.

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On the issue of SSD, I'd wait a 6-12 months for the next generation of SSD's to come out because right now you're going to get ripped off. Don't believe the hype, SSD's aren't as great as some try to make them out to be.

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On the issue of SSD, I'd wait a 6-12 months for the next generation of SSD's to come out because right now you're going to get ripped off. Don't believe the hype, SSD's aren't as great as some try to make them out to be.

Why aren't they as great as they are made out to be? I have one and a traditional magnetic platter drive is just not the same. Guess my real world experience is just "hype" then?

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Why aren't they as great as they are made out to be? I have one and a traditional magnetic platter drive is just not the same. Guess my real world experience is just "hype" then?

The fact that the battery life saved isn't noticeable due to the need for a controller and hard disks these days already very power efficient with power saving policies. That then doesn't include the situations where SSD are slower than traditional hard disks, the smaller size, more expensive - I've got a 640GB hard disk for NZ$180; when are we going to see similar priced SSD's?

For me personally, SSD only benefit is if you have a rugged notebook or something because it is nothing sort of a ball of rip-off based on the pricing.

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The fact that the battery life saved isn't noticeable due to the need for a controller and hard disks these days already very power efficient with power saving policies. That then doesn't include the situations where SSD are slower than traditional hard disks, the smaller size, more expensive - I've got a 640GB hard disk for NZ$180; when are we going to see similar priced SSD's?

For me personally, SSD only benefit is if you have a rugged notebook or something because it is nothing sort of a ball of rip-off based on the pricing.

For me, SSDs are worth the premium. Sure you can get much bigger sized HDD for the same price, but weighing it against the transfer speeds and access times which affect the "feel" of your operating system, it was a worthwhile investment. Even a "value" SSD has a significantly lower access time than a good HDD.

From my experience, I've been using it in my laptop for a few months with significantly shorter boot/shutdown times and starting applications all dramatically improved. Noise and vibration dropped to none after moving from the 7200rpm disk (also because that laptop doesn't run a fan most of the time). I also felt safer chucking my laptop around as well because I know it wouldn't be a problem. :laugh:

I'm wondering whatever happened to those hybrid HDD/SSD drives? I'm sure that would be a great compromise of speed and capacity.

Back to the OP, I'm sure you already know this but make sure you pick an SSD with a good controller that's free from stutter and easy to flash. That is what pointed me to the Vertex because of their non-destructive firmware.

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The fact that the battery life saved isn't noticeable due to the need for a controller and hard disks these days already very power efficient with power saving policies. That then doesn't include the situations where SSD are slower than traditional hard disks, the smaller size, more expensive - I've got a 640GB hard disk for NZ$180; when are we going to see similar priced SSD's?

For me personally, SSD only benefit is if you have a rugged notebook or something because it is nothing sort of a ball of rip-off based on the pricing.

Haven't had any degradation in speed as I picked one with garbage collection and TRIM. Although TRIM is not supported by Mac OS X, garbage collection does the trick anyway. The speed gained is absolutely worth the premium, in my opinion. Any latency previously caused by platter disks is essentially eliminated; i.e., Microsoft Word actually loads in roughly 3 seconds and boot times have never been faster. As SojIrOu stated, the ability to not have to worry about casually chucking your laptop is fantastic. As for battery life, it hasn't been significantly better or worse, so I have no opinion of that matter.

Admittedly, it is about 2x as expensive, but for the advantages I think it is completely worth it. I got a 64 GB drive of the value line of Kingston's (SNV425-S2) solid state drives and I dedicated that to the operating system and moved storage of data like music and videos to the external that contains the old 250 GB internal of my Macbook Pro.

Works out pretty well and I would not consider downgrading my lappy back to a platter disk.

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