Hello Everyone.

I would like to apologise if this has been posted before, I just have not found the answers all my questions.

I am in the market for a new highend lappy, and in my searches, the MBP keeps coming up. I have also been threatened by Mac Users if I do not buy one... I have a few unanswered questions I hope you all can solve for me.

1: I will be using the lappy in my lap.!!! Happily sitting in the living room in my favourite recliner. Is the 15 or 17 inch a better choice?

2: How hot will it get?

3: The 15 inch does not seem to come with the sata 7200rpm hdd option. Only the 17inch MBP. Is there realistically any worth upgrading to the 7200rpm hdd? Thereore being locked into a 17inch model. (Please consider point 1.)

4: The sales crew dude (**cough**) was kinda flakey, and not able to explain the wireless side of things. I run a 108Mbit network at home. I am surprised that the MBP is on 54Mbit. Now Sles Crew Dude told me that the MBP was way faster than that. I think he mentioned "N Spec." Huh..???? Also that I should get the Airport Extreme as that is blisteringly quick. Not at 54Mbit it ain't....

5: Bootcamp and XP. Sorry, I do have a need for this. Will XP run exactly as it does on my normal PC? Will USB ports react the same?. This is vitally important. I chiptune cars, and if that USB port etc screws up, I may turn a car into a 1.4 tonne paperweight.

Thank you all for your time. I am playing currently with a Dual CPU G5 from work. Just to get my head around this one mouse button thing......

1. depends what size you want, 17" may be big for your lap but it would be best to look at an apple store.
2. not sure how hot it would get but there are some programs which can control the speed of the fans, just in case u may need to cool it down before putting it on your lap
3. depends if you need more space or speed, you could get th 7200rpm and then get an external drive for more space
4. yes the airport extreme would be a good choice, much more faster with 802.11n, you can get a firmware upgrade so The MBP will work on 802.11n
5. Yes USB ports will be the same when you plug somthing it it should come up with no problem

Alright matey, I've only got a 15" Powerbook so might not be able to comment on a few of those performance questions you've asked.

However I do find that size could be a bit of an issue especially if you're going to be treating the machine as a portable warrior. By the sounds of things you'll be carrying your MBP around for quite a fair bit so the bigger it is the more weight/space it will take up. Especially you'll be taking it around to tune ECU's and so forth do you really think you can justify the extra price and weight for that little extra screen real estate when you don't need it?

My personal point of view is to get something as small as possible if your intending to use a notebook for its primarily purpose (to be taken around). You'll thank yourself later when you have a million other things to carry with you.

If you really must have a 7200rpm SATA drive in a 15" just get a certified mac tech to fit one in for you, depending on your location there's quite a few of them floating around here somewhere that would be more than happy to assist you.

Temperature wise my G4 gets bloody hot, to the point where is unbearable to be used on my lap if its a 30c plus day. Your millage may vary on the intel chips but I wouldn't bank on that too much.

Just to give you a rough idea of the CPU temp on a 22c day. bottom of my CPU reads 50c and power supply is at a whopping 55c. I'd sit that on my lap just not for extended period of time.

Wireless side of things the MBP is running on 54Mbit (802.11g) only. Although I'm not 100% sure there might be a software update to get it up to 108Mbit? The range has slightly improved from the powerbooks as far as I can see, but its still a little disappointing as most PC's with a built in chip will generally out perform our range. Once again personal experience.

You might have to talk to a few expert bootcamp users to find out more about the driver issues, if possible try to find a local member in your area that is happy to test those softwares out for you. Frying an ECU is no fun, as reliable as mac's are in general I still wouldn't trust it with windows installed...

Last but not least, get as much ram as you can afford! You'll thank yourself later!

Thats my 2c worth at 10am in the morning, hope I haven't rant on too much...

Thanks for that.

In terms of lugging it around, I just toss it in the car and take it to work where it sits on my desk. Sometimes interstate by plane. That's about it. My main concern is how usable it is physically in my lap.

So this "N Spec" that I was told about is hogwash.??? He mentioned something about 300 (ish) Mbit.?? I'm pretty tech savvy, but hey......

Id go 15 for sure. If they had a 13 like the macbook I probably would have got the pro, but the smaller and lighter the better for me when Im using it around the house or taking it out.

I've got a 17" and wouldn't think of buying anything smaller.

17's the way to go, especially if you like to use multiple windows or app's at once.

BUT... they might be all too hot to comfortably sit on your lap for hours.
I always put it on a magazine or something to stop the burn.

xerodude,

I understand that the MBP runs the new draft 'n' spec wireless which is significantly faster than the old 'g' standard. Check out http://www.apple.com/au/wireless/80211/ for more info. A new 17" should be 'n' compatible out of the box. If you hook up an Airport Extreme, you'll get best performance but I've been told that if you connect a 'g' spec device to the network it throttles the whole lot back to 54Mb/s.

dlmuller

The fact that you mentioned this means getting a 15" and not a 17"

A 7200RPM drive isn't worth it if all you are going to do is watch videos, email and web browse. Only if you do something like audio/video editing would a 7200RPM be useful. There is an improvement if you go for the faster drive. Just depends on what your using it for. So it depends if you opt for space over speed or vice versa.

My personal opinion on the HDD is you can never have enough space. More space is better than having a few hundred revolutions per minute.

Okie Dokie....

"N spec" is on the 15" & 17" MBP. But i need the Airport Extreme basestation to run it. Answers that question.

Thanks to everyone.

(editted due to previous reply)

regardless of size, you will not be dissapointed with the pro series, as I was on a powerbook previously, now ordered/waiting on a macbook pro, weeeeeee!

5400rpm will be ample anyway, i've done audio production on notebooks with 4500rpm even (i.e. my powerbook) and it did the job.

The one thing missing in your post xerodude is what you intend to do with the mbp.

Are you doing photo retouching with photoshop for a few hours a day? or a couple of hours a month?

Are you writing C#, javascript or XHTML everyday? Or just writing stuff in Word?

Are you using it for recording music or editing video on the go? Or playing with garage band and watching DVDs?

The thing about the 17" is that it is LARGE... even compared to the 15". If you want the 17" purely because it's the biggest and the most expensive, then use the extra money to buy yourself something fun... but don't bother wasting it on the price difference between a 15" and a 17".

I have a 17" MBP C2D (current model), but an average day for me will see photoshop open for 4+ hours and Dreamweaver open for 6+ hours. Coding and graphic designing is my work... so I need the extra screen space... but if I didn't spend much time doing these sorts of things I would have DEFINITELY gone for the 15". It's lighter, it's cheaper and it will do everything other than hard-core work just as quick. Neither machine has full 1080p display resolution, so unless you really REALLY need the extra screen size for holding palettes or showing more code then the difference you'll notice is more in your wallet than anything else. The screen resolution isn't much different -1440 x 900 for the 15" and 1680 x 1050 on the 17". The thing you will notice isn't so much the extra real estate, as much as the resolution - the 15" will display the same window smaller than the 17" will due to a higher resolution.

Weight these things up as you decide.

Uncyherb speaks the truth...
I have a 15" and for what I do with it... it is too large... I want an ultraportable...
(there was a time when it was my main computer and then it was fine).. now I take it everywhere and use it in cafes and at school.... basically just doing internet stuff.. and word processing... dont need all that real estate...

I could easily go out and buy a new macbook and sell the powerbook (just cause it is smaller) and I could also buy a 17 inch macbook... but for my portable needs neither fit the bill... and that is what Im trying to say... only you know what you will be really doing with it.... think about it carefully... if you start travelling around with it a lot.. you will begin to curse the larger computer....

as for laptop... there is a reason they are now called notebooks....

Now the Mice are endowed with 4 buttons (pressure sensitive clicking regions): 3 on top (Left, Right, 360 degree scroll ball) and the 4th is activated by squeezing the grey things on either side.

For the 2-button functionality on an Old one-button Mouse, press Control as you click to emulate the second button.

Anyway, if you have a different USB mouse, it will work, and all its buttons will operate too (you just have to go into system preferences and designate a function for each).

It's just the hardware people that were being pissy with the one-button-ness. The software side of Mac can handle a heck of a load of input devices. No drivers needed to be installed unless it doesn't work when you plug it in...
...Which is yet to happen to me.

ALTHOUGH you haven't found your anwers, some of the ones you're getting here are doubling up a bit on some threads we had a while back... do a forum search...