Buying a MacBook Pro

jim <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> Rowland McDonnell <real-address-in-(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> .
> >
> > And we'll be getting 10.7 in the house. Oo-er, that'll be odd.
>
> Apple really should have called 10.7 "Marmite", because it seems to invoke
> the same love-it-or-hate-it that Marmite does.
>
> Personally I love it. 10.7 that is - cant abide Marmite.

I love both!


--
Woody

jim <(E-Mail Removed)> writes:

> Rowland McDonnell <real-address-in-(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> .
>>
>> And we'll be getting 10.7 in the house. Oo-er, that'll be odd.
>
> Apple really should have called 10.7 "Marmite", because it seems to invoke
> the same love-it-or-hate-it that Marmite does.

I found Lion to be a bit naff, but after disabling this and
reconfiguring that, it's fine. Really, nothing to complain and lots to
like.

And I love Marmite, even if I'm not even from your funny island. Hard to
get here in Euroland, but there are ways. How can one eat cheese on
toast without Marmite? Without bread at all, yes, but with bread and no
Marmite? But then I'm strange, obviously. Don't trust me.


Jochem

--
"A designer knows he has arrived at perfection not when there is no
longer anything to add, but when there is no longer anything to take away."
- Antoine de Saint-Exupery

On Mon, 19 Dec 2011 22:06:22 +0100, Jochem Huhmann <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>jim <(E-Mail Removed)> writes:
>
>> Rowland McDonnell <real-address-in-(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>> .
>>>
>>> And we'll be getting 10.7 in the house. Oo-er, that'll be odd.
>>
>> Apple really should have called 10.7 "Marmite", because it seems to invoke
>> the same love-it-or-hate-it that Marmite does.
>
>I found Lion to be a bit naff, but after disabling this and
>reconfiguring that, it's fine. Really, nothing to complain and lots to
>like.
>
>And I love Marmite, even if I'm not even from your funny island. Hard to
>get here in Euroland, but there are ways. How can one eat cheese on
>toast without Marmite? Without bread at all, yes, but with bread and no
>Marmite?

You are me. So how can we possibly disagree about Stanza and iBooks?

Cheers - Jaimie
--
To every complex problem there is a solution which is simple, neat and wrong.
-- HL Mencken

Jaimie Vandenbergh <(E-Mail Removed)> writes:

> You are me. So how can we possibly disagree about Stanza and iBooks?

Hmm.

I ended up with iBooks this way: After I got my iPhone 4 running a
recent iOS and iBooks (my 2007 iPod touch was stuck with 3.1) I loaded
the same book (something by Iain M. Banks, don't remember exactly which
one) into Stanza and iBooks and read it with both, alternating with each
chapter between Stanza and iBooks. I ended up using iBooks for the last
chapters and never looked back.

Do that too and then we discuss it. OK?


Jochem

--
"A designer knows he has arrived at perfection not when there is no
longer anything to add, but when there is no longer anything to take away."
- Antoine de Saint-Exupery

On Mon, 19 Dec 2011 22:42:26 +0100, Jochem Huhmann <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>Jaimie Vandenbergh <(E-Mail Removed)> writes:
>
>> You are me. So how can we possibly disagree about Stanza and iBooks?
>
>Hmm.
>
>I ended up with iBooks this way: After I got my iPhone 4 running a
>recent iOS and iBooks (my 2007 iPod touch was stuck with 3.1) I loaded
>the same book (something by Iain M. Banks, don't remember exactly which
>one) into Stanza and iBooks and read it with both, alternating with each
>chapter between Stanza and iBooks. I ended up using iBooks for the last
>chapters and never looked back.
>
>Do that too and then we discuss it. OK?

I don't have any unread Iain M (or non-M) Banks books right now, but
I'll be sure to try it when the next one is out!

Cheers - Jaimie
--
....most SF writers are small blokes; they spent a lot of time grubbing
around on the floor for old SF mags, not stretching up to the top shelf
for pornography... As an aside, Douglas Adams is quite tall.
- Terry Pratchett

Jaimie Vandenbergh <(E-Mail Removed)> writes:

> I don't have any unread Iain M (or non-M) Banks books right now, but
> I'll be sure to try it when the next one is out!

It surely works the very same way with other books that have lots of
chapters...

Apart from that I think the iPhone surely is the closest thing to a
Terminal (as known from M.'s books) you can get right now. And Google is
the closest thing to a Mind. That Apple is just no contender here should
give Apple some thought, really. Even if Siri on a 4S helps a bit, I'll
give them that. Still, the first Mind on this bloody backwardly rock
will grow out of Google some day, no doubt. If they just could hurry it
up a bit...


Jochem

--
"A designer knows he has arrived at perfection not when there is no
longer anything to add, but when there is no longer anything to take away."
- Antoine de Saint-Exupery

On 2011-12-19 21:52:44 +0000, Jaimie Vandenbergh said:

> On Mon, 19 Dec 2011 22:42:26 +0100, Jochem Huhmann <(E-Mail Removed)>
> wrote:
>
>> Jaimie Vandenbergh <(E-Mail Removed)> writes:
>>
>>> You are me. So how can we possibly disagree about Stanza and iBooks?
>>
>> Hmm.
>>
>> I ended up with iBooks this way: After I got my iPhone 4 running a
>> recent iOS and iBooks (my 2007 iPod touch was stuck with 3.1) I loaded
>> the same book (something by Iain M. Banks, don't remember exactly which
>> one) into Stanza and iBooks and read it with both, alternating with each
>> chapter between Stanza and iBooks. I ended up using iBooks for the last
>> chapters and never looked back.
>>
>> Do that too and then we discuss it. OK?
>
> I don't have any unread Iain M (or non-M) Banks books right now, but
> I'll be sure to try it when the next one is out!

That'll be "Stonemouth", out April-ish.

<http://www.iainbanksforum.net/showthread.php?476-Stonemouth-Pre-Release-Information-Thread>


--
Chris

On Tue, 20 Dec 2011 06:47:30 +0000, Chris Ridd <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>On 2011-12-19 21:52:44 +0000, Jaimie Vandenbergh said:
>
>> On Mon, 19 Dec 2011 22:42:26 +0100, Jochem Huhmann <(E-Mail Removed)>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Jaimie Vandenbergh <(E-Mail Removed)> writes:
>>>
>>>> You are me. So how can we possibly disagree about Stanza and iBooks?
>>>
>>> Hmm.
>>>
>>> I ended up with iBooks this way: After I got my iPhone 4 running a
>>> recent iOS and iBooks (my 2007 iPod touch was stuck with 3.1) I loaded
>>> the same book (something by Iain M. Banks, don't remember exactly which
>>> one) into Stanza and iBooks and read it with both, alternating with each
>>> chapter between Stanza and iBooks. I ended up using iBooks for the last
>>> chapters and never looked back.
>>>
>>> Do that too and then we discuss it. OK?
>>
>> I don't have any unread Iain M (or non-M) Banks books right now, but
>> I'll be sure to try it when the next one is out!
>
>That'll be "Stonemouth", out April-ish.
>
><http://www.iainbanksforum.net/showthread.php?476-Stonemouth-Pre-Release-Information-Thread>

Ta. I see there's an M coming out late 2012 as well - catching up from
the 2010 gap in publishing schedule I guess.

Cheers - Jaimie
--
"Every Little Thing She Does Is Sufficiently Advanced Technology"

WAIT!!!

I bought mine before Xmas last year and 2-3 months later Apple released the new batch. If you can hang on til Feb/March you'd be better off!

Andy_D

On 19/12/2011 18:45, Rowland McDonnell wrote:
> We're looking to buy a new MacBook Pro (to replace the MacBook destroyed
> by water - the firm is paying for the new machine).
>
> It's for my wife at work - mostly for document preparation and accessing
> various Web-based services provided by the firm (she's a uni. lecturer).
>
> (an Air's not quite up to the job, due to needing the flex of the MBP's
> wider set of interfaces)

I had a similar dilemma over the summer: 13" Air vs 13" Pro. There was a
thread regarding this if you care to look it up.

I agree the shortage of USB ports is an issue, but I still went with the
Air.

> What I'm wondering is this: how do the CPU options compare? All I can
> find out about the CPUs on Apple's Website is marketing flim-flam which
> explains nothing of any use.
>
> I'm particular concerned with future-proofing - is there any reason to
> think that the i5 will have its support dropped significantly sooner
> than the i7?

Like Woody, I doubt it. But, I'm a recent convert to Macs so have no
knowledge to base that on other than the fact the iCore family of procs
are so similar to each other that it'd be difficult to differentiate
between them.

> Also, the Wikipedia page on Intel Core family suggests that the Core i5
> CPU in portable computer form has hyperthreading turned off, but Apple's
> Web site says that all MacBook Pros support hyperthreading. Can anyone
> explain this discrepancy? And would it really matter if hyperthreading
> were off?

My late 2011 Air has a Core i5 1.7GHz which Activity Monitor declares as
having four cores. Presumably two physical and two hyperthreaded.

Performance wise I haven't really noticed any issues with the CPU other
than when I'm doing some intensive statistical analyses with R. 'Office'
or web type stuff is very smooth and quick.

> And finally: Apple seems to be offering Mini DisplayPort to<other
> video> adaptors for these machines, but they don't seem to have Mini
> Displayports fitted.

The Thunderbolt socket is the same as miniDP, so any miniDP cable will
work (I've tried several Apple and non-Apple). The advantage of
Thunderbolt is that it can *also* work as an I/O port. See the Apple 27"
Thunderbolt display and you notice that the screen works as a docking
station with additional USB and thunderbolt ports. Note: to drive any
external display above 1920x1200 you must use DP or thunderbolt.

I went for the Air over the Pro for two main reasons: portability and
screen resolution. The Air is very portable as it's very light and the
battery usually lasts 6 hours or more. In testing the Pro vs Air in an
Apple shop I noticed that the native screen resolution is noticeably
better on the air: 1440x900 vs 1280x800.

Another slight worry I had was the maximum ram of 4Gb. However, I
currently have Firefox with 30-odd tabs, Word, Powerpoint, Excel,
Preview with 10-odd pdfs, Mail, Thunderbird, Eclipse plus other sundry
apps all open with no performance problems. So, unless you work with
many VMs or large image/movie manipulation, I doubt more RAM would make
any difference.