To Upgrade or Not Upgrade? MacBook Pro 2011 compared to previous models

This review is from: Apple MacBook Pro MC700LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop (Personal Computers)

Pros:
- much faster cpu (latest Sandy Bridge processors)
- faster memory
- support for fastest data drives (sata III connection)


Neutral:
- same solid construction
- HD webcam
- Thunderbolt port
- Battery life?? UPDATE: tests confirm slightly better battery life (+10%)


Cons:
- inferior graphics compared to 2010 model


Quick take:
The 2011 model is a significant upgrade in processing power over the 2010 model. There are a couple of additional upgrades, such as Thunderbolt or the HD webcam, which may be useful in the future, but currently are not that important. Battery life, which is important for many users, is probably as good or better than the older Macbook Pro, but it is hard to determine how it compares. On the downside, the graphics are actually inferior to the 2010 model, but should work for the majority of users.

UPDATE: Laptop Magazine found the battery life is approximately 10% longer on the 2011 Macbook Pro. Thanks to the commenters for pointing this out.


DETAILS:

Full Review:
I use my Macbook Pro as my main computer at work where I have it hooked up to an external monitor. I do a lot of number crunching (i.e. statistics) so upgrading from my 2010 Macbook Pro to this 2011 version with the latest CPU made a lot of sense. It may not make sense for many people who own 2010 or 2009 versions of the Macbook Pro. I list all the pros and cons below.

PROS:

- Much Faster CPU

This Macbook Pro (MBP) update is all about the CPU (i5 "Sandy Bridge"). The 2010 MBP missed out on a generation upgrade last year, keeping the same Core 2 Duo family that was in the 2009 MBPs. This made the 2010 version only marginally faster than the 2009 version. The benchmark scores on the 2011 13" 2.3 GHz MBP are 35% to 40% higher than the 2010 13" 2.4 GHz MBP. That is a HUGE leap in computational performance. It is true that the Core 2 Duos were very dated, but the low end 2.3GHz 2011 MBP is just as fast as last year's high end 15"/17" MBPs which had i5 and i7 2.8 GHz processors! Very awesome. Here are some benchmark scores I got off the web.

Model: Geekbench Score (Speedmark Score)
MacBook Pro 13" i5 2.3 GHz (2011): 5900 (140)
MacBook Pro 13" Core2 Duo 2.4 GHz (2010): 3351 (106)
MacBook Pro 13" Core2 Duo 2.4 GHz (2009): 3137 (??)

MacBook Pro 15" i7 2.67 GHz (2010): 5564 (151)
MacBook Pro 17" i7 2.8 GHz (2010): 5837 (??)

As you can see, this is a significant bump over the 2010 and 2009 models.


- Faster Memory:

This is part of the faster performance observed, but it means that you can't use your memory from your old MBP.

- Support for the fastest SSD hard drives

If you want to upgrade to an SSD this is an important upgrade. The latests SSD hard drives are blazing fast, but require a Sata III 6Gb/s connection to achieve their 500 MB/s reads. (Right now, OCZ's Vertex 3 and Intel's 510 Series are the only drives that really need the higher speed port, but more are coming.) On the downside, it appears that the optical drive connection is Sata II 3 Gb/s. So if you were planning on removing the optical drive in favor of a second SSD, it will be running on a slower connection.



Click Here for the Apple MacBook Pro MC700LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop


NEUTRALS:

- same solid construction

Not much to report. Still on of the best builds in the business, but no reason to upgrade.

- HD Webcam

Nice I suppose, if you are using you laptop as a camcorder, but if you are streaming video (like over Skype) you are going to have a bandwidth bottle neck so the HD webcam it isn't going to make any difference.

- Thunderbolt

Awesome technology, but there isn't anything out there right now that takes advantage of it. Maybe in six months it will be more of a benefit. It doesn't hurt to get it now though.

- Battery Life

This is hard to determine. One of the marketing points of the Sandy Bridge CPUs are the integrated Intel HD graphics which are supposed to increase battery life. However, Apple changed their battery tests since 2010. The reported battery life is "7 hours" for the 2011 MBP vs "8-9" hours for the 2010 MBPs, but battery life for the same usage may actually be longer for the 2011 MBP. I'm not sure how to tell, but I would guess that battery life is at least as good as the 2010 MBP due to the integrated graphics in the 2011 MBP.

UPDATE: Someone has done an apples to apples comparison on battery life. According to tests by Laptop Magazine, the 2011 MBP has approximately 45min more battery life than its predecessor. Using a web surfing via WiFi based test, they found that the 2011 MBP lasted 8:33. The 2010 MBP lasted 7:48 using the same test. Thanks to those who left comments that pointed out this battery test.

CONS:

- Graphics Performance

The integrated Intel HD graphics are not as powerful as the discrete Nvidia graphics found in the 2010 MBP. Call of Duty gaming tests achieve 26fps with Intel graphics (2011 MBP) vs 33fps with Nvidia graphics (2010 MBP). For me this is a non-issue as don't game and don't run graphics intensive programs (Photoshop, AutoCAD, etc). The most graphically intensive task I have is running a 27" external monitor which the Intel graphics handle without a problem. In theory, the integrated graphics have the advantage of increasing the battery life, but this is not verifiable.


SUMMARY:
In short, if you are maxing out the CPU on your current laptop, then this guy will be a MAJOR improvement. Otherwise you may not see a big difference and you might want to opt for an SSD upgrade instead.

By 

J. Cullen "researcher" (Boston, MA) 

Click Here for the Apple MacBook Pro MC700LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop 

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A Solid Computer Gets Faster

This review is from: Apple MacBook Pro MC700LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop (Personal Computers)

I stopped by my local Apple Store the morning this MacBook Pro was made available to the public and bought one, replacing my over two year old unibody MacBook. These are premium computers, and well made. My old computer, which looks very much like this one, still looked great after two years, with a little scratching on the bottom, and an unfortunate denting of one corner. I do not regret for one minute paying more for a device I use several hours a day, and from which I derive my living.

The strong point of this computer over previous 13 inch unibody MacBooks is the processor. It is noticeably faster at computationally intensive tasks. For example, I have a large application written in the C++ programming language which Xcode on my late 2008 vintage MacBook could compile in 16.5 minutes, this MacBook can do the same task in 8.5 minutes, a nearly doubling of speed. Similiarly, converting a 10 minute MP3 file to AAC in iTunes used to take 21 seconds, now it takes 14 seconds. Unsurprisingly, computer processors have gotten faster. The new processor does tend to heat up fast under full load, so be prepared for more frequent fan noise.


Click Here for the Apple MacBook Pro MC700LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop


The weak point is the stock hard drive, a 320GB 5400 RPM Hitachi laptop drive. Any operation depending on hard drive throughput is not going to be much faster on this computer than in years past. If you do not have large capacity needs, you may be better served special ordering a model with a smaller but much faster solid state drive (SSD), they do not come cheap, but will result in a much more balanced computer that does not leave its high performance CPU idling awaiting data. I would do so, but the higher capacity SSDs cost as much as the computer alone. If you were to upgrade to an SSD, be aware that this model supports 1 SATA 3 drive. If you shop for SATA 2 SSD drives, they top out at about 280 megabytes per second read and write, while some SATA 3 drives claim have maximum speeds of around 500 megabytes per second for compressible data.

This is the only laptop Apple sells without a discrete graphics processing unit (GPU), instead relying soly on the Intel integrated 3000HD GPU. Intel has previously not been known for its GPU prowess, but space constraints and Intel's design restrictions, and improvements in performance finally pushed Apple into going integrated only. I would have preferred a discrete GPU, especially in a premium laptop, but I am not a gamer, and will make do with the much better CPU. I'm sure Apple would have preferred a discrete GPU, as their strategy for performance improvements is to use the GPU for general purpose computing using the OpenCL framework.

New to this year's models is the Intel Thunderbolt connector superseding the Mini Display Port connector. This flexible port will likely become more and more useful as hubs and peripherals become available to make use of its fantastic speed. Adaptors and docks will be available to use this one port as a USB, DVI, Firewire, Ethernet port simultaneously, making one data cable for easy desktop docking. But, I don't have any use for it now. Media reports indicate Apple will have this port to itself this year, although Intel is insisting that other motherboard manufacturers could start to include it, and I hope they do. Whether the port is a marketplace success is not a foregone conclusion, but I look forward to syncing and charging a future iPad over this speedy port; sadly the iPad 2 does not have this port, but someday.

I am glad to have a standard FireWire 800 port, and an SD Card reader, neither of which were found on my previous non-Pro laptop. I'll be able to charge my iPad at maximum speed with the 2 Amp USB ports, something I couldn't do before. The FaceTime app for OS X comes pre-installed, you don't have to buy it from the Mac App Store.


Click Here for the Apple MacBook Pro MC700LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop

Little luxuries include the backlit keyboard, the MagSafe power cable, the firm responsive keyboard, and the big multitouch capable trackpad. The display is bright and has a good, but not great range of viewing angles, certainly worse than an iPad, but better than most cheap laptop monitors Yellows are a bit saturated while using the default color profile. I'm sure many would prefer a higher resolution than 1280x800, but I'd prefer a jump to very high resolutions combined with support for resolution independence in the operating system and applications. Maybe someday. The high resolution iSight camera surprised me with its clarity and size when doing a FaceTime chat.

A few things have gone downhill. It takes the removal of 12 screws to swap out the hard drive, my old MacBook had but 1. There used to be a dedicated microphone port next to the headset jack, but that has gone the way of the dodo, and I never used it anyway.

I chose to purchase my own 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) named brand memory from a favorite online vendor and saved quite a bit of money over Apple's charge for 8GB of RAM (2x4GB). Installation was simple enough with the right sized Phillips screwdriver, although it is odd that we are expected to change the RAM while the battery is still connected. Still the installation went without incident, and is certainly simpler than most other laptops. I was a bit disappointed that the added RAM didn't appreciably improve my Xcode compile time, slicing at most 20 seconds off the 8.5 minutes, but hopefully it will help when multitasking multiple applications.

This is a refinement to previous generations, and I would bet likely to be the last for this series of machined unibody anodized aluminum enclosures, as elegant and perfect as they seem to be. If you wait a year or more, you might get such changes as awesome Liquid Metal cases of fantastic shapes, Retina Display monitors, touch screens, standard SSD boot drives, 4G cell networking and the loss of the optical drive. But I couldn't wait, I needed the horsepower now, not next year.

Compared to other Macs.

Owners of recent vintage 13 inch MacBooks will have to make an informed decision to stay pat or move up. Many will get better value for their money replacing their spinning hard drive with an SSD, something I was tempted to do. Seriously, a Core 2 Duo with a separate NVidia GPU and an SSD will run great under OS X Lion in a few months, so think about just doing a hard drive upgrade instead of the whole computer. Having said this, this model has much better battery life than that of a few years ago, and a better set of ports, along with the backlit keyboard, much faster CPU and a higher resolution camera. Another advantage against my late 2008 model is the maximum RAM, this model has a maximum capacity of 8GB, the same as last years model, but higher than my old capacity.

Versus the 2.7 GHz i7 version of this same screen size. I have never thought clock rate bumps were worth much money, and certainly not the money difference here. Until I get an SSD drive, the component keeping my computer from being faster is going to be the drive, better to save my money towards that end then towards marginal CPU gains.

Click Here for the Apple MacBook Pro MC700LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop

Versus the plastic MacBook. The move to i5 CPUs in the Pro line has made what was once a close decision into not much of one. For an extra couple hundred dollars, you get a much faster CPU, twice the RAM, a bigger hard drive, and an enclosure which will age very well. You do give up the discrete GPU. I would not get the polycarbonate MacBook; it is not competitive.

Between this and the MacBook Air, you have a hard choice, especially if your data capacity requirements are low. The Air has standard SSD drives, which will obliterate this base MacBook Pro in performance, but it has a much inferior CPU and much less port flexibility. I needed the hard drive space, so my decision was made for me.

Between larger MacBook Pros. As I carry my laptop back and forth to work daily and prefer to work with it on my lap, I've never had any urge or wish for the 15 inch, much less the 17 inch version. But they do have real discrete GPUs, and i7 processors, so for people with large display and maximum horsepower needs, they are an excellent option. One advantage of not having a discrete GPU is a more consistent battery life; the discrete GPU should only be in use when the horsepower is needed, but sometimes it becomes unnecessarily active resulting in decreased battery life of perhaps an hour less, something 13" owners don't have to worry about.

Compared to PC Laptops

Obviously, if you need a Mac, you're choices are limited, but some people buy MacBooks for use as Windows 7 laptops. There is the extra expense of buying Windows 7 for System Builders separately, but basically, Apple's Boot Camp makes any Mac into an excellent Windows box. My wife has been running Windows on a 4 year old Mac Mini for years without major issues. Alternatively, you could buy third party virtualization software like VMware Fusion and run both OS X and Windows simultaneously. The question is why would a Windows user bother.

Mainly because MacBook Pros are premium laptops, and most laptops sold by non-Apple manufacturers are economy models. Apple ships more thousand dollar plus laptops than anyone else, and it has the economies of scale to make expensive laptops cheaper than other manufacturers--see for example the Dell Adamo. Take the enclosure, a single block of aluminum machined by robot into a lightweight yet rigid piece and anodized to resist most scratches, with a reliable hinge that keeps the monitor closed when closed and opened at your angle when opened. Possibly the best enclosure in the world. Other manufacturers don't do this or don't do it as cheaply because they don't make a million premium laptops a quarter. Similarly, I wouldn't know where to find a PC laptop with a Thunderbolt port, mini-Display Port, Firewire 800, optical audio out, a MagSafe power connector, and 7 hours of claimed battery life. On the other hand, any reasonably priced PC laptop will have a Blu Ray drive, and might have USB 3. The MacBook Pro market for Windows 7 users are those consumers with the money and the wish for quality, which isn't being met in the PC marketplace, not for people who are on a tight budget, or who's computer isn't a big deal to them, or who just dislike Apple for whatever reason.

Windows laptops targeting the same general consumer need would be the (amazingly long battery life) Lenovo Thinkpad X220, and the Sony Vaio S. Windows users should be sure to compare these models and other Sandy Bridge chipset based 13 inch laptops.

In summary, this is an excellent, computer if a bit pricey. I expect to get a couple of years of service out of it, and then hand it off to a relative for many more years of useful life. These things are built to last.


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By 

Glenn R. Howes (Nashua, NH) -

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