8GB RAM. Next-up: upgrade to a SSD.
MacBook Pro Benchmarks (Early 2011) vs (Late 2008)
“Even though Apple’s new MacBook Pros look like the old MacBook Pros, there’s a lot that’s new and exciting under the hood…” -primatelabs.ca
- Late ‘08 MacBook Pro 15” 2.53 GHz Core2 Duo score: 3390
- Early ‘11 MacBook Pro 15” 2.3 GHz Core i7 score: 9886
- Early ‘11 MacBook Pro 15” 2.0 GHz Core i7 score: 8804
2.6 to almost 3 times as fast as my first generation unibody MacBook Pro! These scores do make the new MacBook Pros more tempting than just judging on face value. The high-end 17” MacBook Pro is even faster than all but the recent high-end Mac Pros.
Not quite the huge update I was hoping for.. Might make my late 2008 MacBook Pro last a little longer.
Thunderbolt is real, and cool. HD “FaceTime” cameras are now standard. 7 Hour battery life. Core i7 CPU in all 15” and 17” models. Also of note, Apple has switched to AMD (ATI) graphics cards from Nvidia for the first time in years.
No rumored “hybrid SSD” that I was hyped for. An SSD for the OS and Apps to run from and a standard hard drive for media and documents would have been a dream come true.
Source: apple.com
If I were to upgrade to a new MacBook Pro, here’s the specs I’d pick.
I’d have to look at the benchmarks to see if the CPU speeds are worth the +$100 for the fastest i5 or +$300 for the i7.
But I’m not upgrading for a while, I’m going to wait at least until fall to upgrade from my late 2008 15” unibody; 2.53 GHz Core 2 Duo, 4GB RAM, 500GB HDD. It’s still doing it’s job, though I’d love to have 8GB of RAM.
New i5 and i7 MacBook Pros out today.
Would love to upgrade, but I’m going to squeeze another year (or so) out of my late 2008 (first gen unibody) 15” before I upgrade again. This is the first Mac I’ve owned that hasn’t felt like it’s becoming outdated (slow) while I own it; CPU speeds have finally caught-up with most software demands.
![Cool minimal design: BookArc Stand Turns a MacBook Into a Desktop [via gizmodo.com]](http://www.tumblr.com/photo/1280/networkshadow/171505703/1/tumblr_koy725UVId1qzngc9)
Cool minimal design: BookArc Stand Turns a MacBook Into a Desktop [via gizmodo.com]
Late 2008 MacBook Pro screen flicker/blink fix
I’ve been noticing a slight flickr in my MacBook Pro’s display lately, mostly when an external display is connected and only when booted into Mac OS X (I also run Windows for games). This morning I did a quick Google on the subject and came-up with what seems to be the most likely cause and fix.
MacBook Pros are more likely to exhibit this issue when using the GeForce 9400M integrated GPU (Better battery life) rather than the GeForce 9600M GT standalone card for better performance. This makes total sense; the lesser GPU would be more stressed by also running an external display.
With a quick check of my Energy Saver preferences I noticed that my MBP was somehow set back to the “Better battery life” setting (ie the GeForce 9400M integrated GPU)… This may also explain lower framerates when I’m playing games in Windows. I reset my PRAM and switched back to the “Better performance” setting, and so far so good.
[fix via macfixit.com]
Useful tips for installing Windows 7 on a Mac
A few drivers might be missing after you install. Check out this link for more info.
I just got Windows 7 installed and running smoothly on my MacBook Pro. I just need to install the additional Boot Camp drivers off my Leopard disc to get full use of my Apple hardware (will post update later). The surprising part is that most of my hardware including the WiFi and graphics drivers were installed automatically and ran properly.
I also left my XP install/partition intact by using iPartition (well worth the price) to create a new partition. The only issue I had was caused by my not checking the “Visible in Windows” option on the partition. I also had to manually boot back into the Windows 7 partition to finish the install but it wasn’t an issue.
I’ve also found that VMware Fusion 2 was unable to boot into Windows 7 but still able to boot into XP without any issues. I’ll be working on the issue to see if this can be fixed.
I also plan to migrate my XP settings to 7 so I don’t lose any game progress.
MacBook Pro Boot Camp Tip: Play games on external displays
UPDATE: Windows 7 just works with external displays. No need for tweaks or hacks.
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Last night I stayed up late tinkering with my late 2008 15” MacBook Pro’s Windows XP install again in hopes of getting my games to run on my 40” 1080p Samsung TV, for reasons that should be obvious. I managed to successfully accomplish what I had set out to do, and it’s quite easy.
This is also a way to get the latest Windows Nvidia driver updates for your Mac (Boot Camp drivers are very old).
First you should uninstall your old Nvidia display driver from the add/remove control panel, (also a good idea to disable antivirus before doing this). DO NOT UN-INSTALL ANYTHING OTHER THAN THE NVIDIA DISPLAY DRIVER ONLY; if you do remove the other Nvidia drivers too you will have to reinstall the Boot Camp drivers from your Mac OS X install disc and start this process over. You will likely need to reboot after uninstalling.
Download the latest Nvidia drivers for your OS and run the EXE. Do not run the installer just yet even if it pops-up. The EXE by default puts the driver in the C:\NVIDIA\ folder where you can get to it later.
Now to enable the option to make your external display the primary display you need a modified INF file to for the driver installer. You can generate this file on the following link: laptopvideo2go.com/enhancer
Pick the correct driver version number (for the driver you just downloaded) then scroll to the bottom of the page and select “Enable” Primary for Dual Display. Download the INF file.
The last step is to put the INF file into the C:\NVIDIA\your os version\driver version\IS\Display\ folder replacing the existing file. Once this is done just run the installer Setup in the C:\NVIDIA\your os version\driver version\IS\ folder (make sure your antivirus is off) and then reboot when finished.
Your MacBook Pro’s Windows install should now allow you to use an external display as primary and even disable the internal display. I found I had to disable my internal display before the game I tested F.E.A.R. 2 would launch on my TV’s screen. You may need to re-adjust your games’ resolution settings, and also tweak the color gamma through the Nvidia control panel before you play.
Also noteworthy: I found that the Windows XP text rendering looks like pixelated poop on my TV; barely readable… I’m not sure why, but all other graphics seem to be displayed at native resolution perfectly sharp on my TV. I may look further into this text issue.
UPDATE: The above issue was caused by my TV’s sharpness settings being nearly at full and was easily fixed by lowering the sharpness. The TV’s brightness and contrast also should be checked, don’t rely on your computer’s settings.
MacBook Hard Drive Upgrade = Free PS3 HDD Upgrade & External Drive
I’m thinking about upgrading my MacBook Pro from it’s stock 320 GB hard drive to 500 GB, to make more room for my Windows gaming partition. The pleasant side effect of this upgrade is a free upgrade for my PS3 and a bonus 80GB external drive.
This round of upgrades would cost me around $130 (or less) to buy the 500 GB 2.5” SATA hard drive and a 2.5” SATA external enclosure.
Since the PS3 also uses 2.5” SATA drives; after cloning my Mac’s system onto 500 GB drive (via the external enclosure) I’ll put the Mac’s old 320 GB hard drive into my PS3. As a bonus I’ll make my PS3’s old 80 GB into an external drive with the enclosure.
Note: The only complication will be making a backup of my PS3’s files (because of DRM). I plan to use another external drive formatted to FAT32 to backup my PS3 files before the upgrade. Any other PS3 compatible flash memory will also work.
The Nvidia Driver I'm using for my MacBook Pro's Windows install
UPDATE: I’ve switched drivers since this post, see my new post.
I have a late 2008 MacBook Pro that I’ve BootCamped to play PC games on. The Apple provided BootCamp Nvidia GeForce 9600M GT drivers are quite dated… I had been getting some small graphics glitches so I installed the above linked driver.
The MacBook Pro is actually a great PC gaming laptop, I’ve been able to run any newer PC game at mid-high to high graphics settings without any problems or slowdowns.
I’m thinking about doing a big blog post for Mac users getting started with Windows PC gaming.
