MacBook Pro Reviewed

phaedo00 writes "Ars Technica has an in-depth review of the MacBook Pro that compares performance with a Dell Inspiron running a hacked version of OS X 10.4.4: 'Yes, you read that right. We at the Orbiting HQ were able to have some benchmarks run on an acquaintance's Dell Inspiron 9100 with a 3.2GHz Pentium 4 HT chip running OS X 10.4.4, and decided that including the benchmarks from this machine would prove to be both interesting if not illustrative of what non-Apple x86 machines may be capable of if they could run Mac OS X (legally). Please keep in mind that the data from the Dell laptop is for illustrative purposes only and that no one at the Ars Orbiting HQ hacked a machine. As David Letterman says, this is not a competition. No wagering.'"

Head to head against Winders and *nix

[binaryDigit]

Another side effect of Apple switching to Intel chippies will be the increased number of comparisons of common apps (both functional and specific packages) across OS's. Before, it was always a bit sketchy comparing Win/*nix apps against OSX apps due to hardware differences. Now that the hardware is starting to become more "common", direct comparisions will take on more meaning.

Whether this is good or bad for Apple, we shall see.

Not a typical Ars review

[thatguywhoiam]

I do not mean any offence to Jacqui Cheng, but with the (notable) exception of the Dell comparison, this review was shallow at best. When I surf Ars I typically expect the nitty-gritty Hannibal type review, and instead we more or less have a completely mundane blog entry about someone's new toy. The writing style is all wrong for that site.

if we could get them to compare similar hardware

[TheAxeMaster]

This test obviously doesn't. It looks to me like they just picked up a laptop they had laying around to try. Like someone said (further down the page) this feels more like a "look at my new toy!" than it does a real comparison. Its a decent review of the item in question I guess. But single core vs. dual core isn't exactly an even comparison, especially on software that was designed to take advantage of it. Someone drag up a windows machine with similar hardware and then I'll be interested.

I dont see a lot here

[soloes]

I hope Im not offending anybody, but that review was lacking in substance. Even the dell comparisons are not explained. just some graphs with no explanation of what the test methodology was.

"Insightful"?

[Anonymous Coward]

Mods should learn the difference between Insightful, Informative, and Interesting. Or if there isn't any difference, why bother with the distinction at all? Perhaps it should just be thumbs up and thumbs down, if we're too stupid collectively to care.

Re:I am sticking with linux...

[Anonymous Coward]

No one gives a flying fuck.

Re:Did anyone notice?

[dr.badass]

The things I noticed were:

1) The Dell weighs 9 pounds.
2) The Dell is roughly the size of my apartment.
3) The Dell is among the ugliest objects in the world.
4) The Dell has an integrated subwoofer. Double-you-tee-eff.
5) The Dell has a 50% higher capacity battery, from which it coaxes less than half the battery life.
6) Comparing the Dell Inspiron 9100 to the MacBook Pro is one of the dumbest things I have ever seen attempted on the internet.
7) ArsTechnica may have jumped the shark.

Re:NY Times Review

[ThePhilips]

You are wrong. Apple officially said that it has no objections to running anything you like on hardware you bought from them. Apple isn't fancy about Mac OS X being run on something else - but otherwise hardware is yours. And when you buy Apple's hardware, you get the OS for "free".

Anyway, you always have choices. Unlike M$, Apple doesn't try to force everyone along its line. In other words, when M$ would make DRM mandatory part of their OS, rest assured nobody would be able to "refuse" such "offer".

Apple is here for more choices for you. Not less. As well as Linux.

Normally when I see such posts as yours, I can only guess that you are (as many other people, me in part too) are confined to Dell/M$ stuff. People who have learned about available choices and their price are more balanced in their view of situation.

IOW, for the first [CENSORED] time in decade you have real choice of operational system / platform you like to have at home. Go and learn them. That would be my advice to you.