MacBook Pro (April 2010) Review - Part 3/3

In part three of this review, I want to look at networking, heat, and Windows on the new MacBook Pros. I’ll also revisit the screen briefly before wrapping up. In case you missed the earlier parts of this review:

Part One
Part Two

Networking

With notebooks in the modern world, networking is synonymous with a species of networking: wireless. Although the new MacBook Pros have ethernet ports, I doubt mine will ever see an ethernet cable (similar to how my PowerBook G4 has a phone jack for the internal modem, but has never seen a phone line). My experience with Apple notebooks and wireless receptivity is mixed. My first notebook was an iBook, which could seemingly fasten onto any wireless network that was even remotely close, even through several layers of concrete (once I purchased and installed the Airport card). My PowerBook G4, on the other hand, is lucky to be able to pick up a network whose base station is one room over.

The good news for me is that this new MacBook Pro picks up networks very easily. In my immediate vicinity, a MacBook picks up 12 networks. My iPod Touch picks up 3 networks, and my PowerBook G4 picks up 2 of them. In contrast, the MacBook Pro picks up 16 networks. Now of these, most of them have a signal that is extremely weak; I could probably only get decent performance out of my neighbour’s. But after years of being frustrated with receptivity, the MacBook Pro is a welcome change.

Heat

I’ve never had a notebook that doesn’t get hot, and this one is no exception. When under heavy load, it can put out quite a bit of heat. But it doesn’t seem to get any hotter than any other notebook I have used. Mind you, I haven’t tried to use it on my lap while running Quake IV. I have run World of Goo though, and Plants vs. Zombies under Windows-and-VMware with 3D enabled. I also imported a large iPhoto library and let the Faces function sort through everything. In each case, the machine gets warm, particularly near the hinge (both top and bottom). Here is what I gathered from iStat Pro (temperatures in Celsius):

World of Goo:
Fans (left/right): 2000/1990 RPM
CPU: 66 degrees
GPU: 62 degrees
Subjective: no noticeable increase in heat except at hinge, bare legs probably okay, fan noise not noticeable

Plants vs. Zombies (Windows-and-VMware):
Fans (left/right): 3600/3550 RPM
CPU: 69 degrees
GPU: 64 degrees
Subjective: no noticeable increase in heat except at hinge, bare legs not okay, fan noise not noticeable

iPhoto Faces:
Fans (left/right): 2869/2869 RPM
CPU: 77 degrees
GPU: 62 degrees
Subjective: no noticeable increase in heat except at hinge, bare legs probably okay, fan noise not noticeable

iPhoto Faces (after 20 minutes):
Fans (left/right: 3700/3700 RPM)
CPU: 73 degrees
GPU: 60 degrees
Subjective: no noticeable increase in heat except at hinge, bare legs probably okay, fan noise somewhat noticeable

When commenting on fan noise above, I’m thinking of the fan noise with me sitting at typing distance from the machine, in a quiet room. Volume is at about 65% in the games, but there are no generated sounds while iPhoto is up. When the fans are at 2000 RPM, you really can’t hear them unless you are bending close to the machine and listening for them. When they are at 3700 RPM in a quiet room, you hear them, but they are still in the background in a quiet room.

One other thing I have noticed is that the fans are always on, spinning at about 2000 RPM even when the machine is idle. This is different from what I have experienced with previous Apple notebooks, which under normal loads did not have fans on at all, and under heavier loads the fans were quite loud. I’m not sure whether fans on at all times is normal, but I’m going to reset the power management to see if it makes any difference.

Windows

My experience with Windows on a Mac is very limited. When I run Windows XP under VMWare, with all animations and fanciness turned off, things seem to run well. There is nothing I really need my notebook to do that requires Windows, but I do appreciate the occasional adventure game (in the old style). Time will tell whether VMWare can run these sorts of games, or whether it will be necessary to use Boot Camp.

I do have, however, one point of comparison. I have tried to play Plants vs. Zombies on a Core2Duo 2.16 GHz MacBook under VMWare. What I noticed is that it was not really possible to do this with 3D graphics. Without 3D enabled, the game was playable; but anything involving 3D made the machine grind to a halt. In contrast, it is quite possible to play Plants vs. Zombies with 3D on the MacBook Pro.

Screen

I’d like briefly to add a bit about the screen, in response to a comment someone made to Part Two of this review, and something I’ve noticed with the screen of this MacBook Pro in particular. First, the comment was to the effect that a high resolution screen was more desirable for a developer, and this claim was backed up with a number of compelling examples. I think there is a certain amount of truth here: developers may be able to put the extra screen area of the high resolution screen to good use.

I suspect that whether you will be satisfied with a standard resolution screen depends a lot on where you are coming from: if you are accustomed to using a screen smaller in size, the standard resolution screen will probably work fine for you. If you are accustomed to larger screens, perhaps the high resolution screen is a better choice.

One thing I have noticed with this screen: the pixels in the top left corner of the screen walk a bit, particularly greys. This isn’t ideal because most windows have a grey title bar, so it makes the walking more noticeable than it would otherwise be. If you are not familiar with pixel walking, have a look at this page on LCD Testing while using an LCD screen.

Conclusions

This new Arrandale MacBook Pro is a great machine for writing and developing, and not bad for casual gaming. Give the tasks I use a machine for, the previous generation of MacBook Pro would have been absolutely fine. But I do like the fact that I do not have to manually manage which graphics chip is being used, and the inertial scrolling is something I’ve become quite used to. Compared to my PowerBook G4 of course, it seems lightening-quick.

That said, the price of the machine is very high. It is not without some sense of guilt that I have purchased an expensive notebook when there is so much poverty close by (thanks so much, Peter Singer). But, I’m intending to assuage that guilt by working hard on my next book. Or maybe just playing some World of Goo.