MacBook Pro follow-up

During a very brief briefing with Apple on MacBook Pro–Apple was just caling to announce the announcement, not to answer questions–I managed to get some answers that are helping to set the direction of my research into Apple’s new architecture.

Availability

When these boxes ship only matters if you already have an order placed. If you were to place an order at the time I posted this, you’d have to wait 3-4 weeks for either model of MacBook Pro.

If you placed an early order for MacBook Pro, please let me know when you receive(d) it.

Performance

I have no misgivings about Apple’s characterization of a 4X performance boost over a 1.67 GHz PowerBook G4. MacBook Pro’s design closely mirrors iMac’s, which is machine now know well. The idea of stuffing 65 to 75 percent of the capabilities of an iMac (my conservative guess) into my carry-on bag gives me a tingle. Farewell, G4.

Heat

A ten year old can look at MacBook Pro’s specs and know that it’s hot in at least two ways. Apple said that MacBook “satisfies Apple’s stringent standards for surface temperature.”

How does Apple keep MacBook Pro cool? I don’t know; I’ve never been alone with one. But I’m having fun guessing. I won’t bore you with the whole hypothesis, but the only opening in MacBook Pro’s chassis is the grille under the display. The two-piece hinge gives this vent more breathing room. I think the grille is split, cool below and hot above, and when the fan runs, it blows over the broad surface area of some horizontal radiator.

Or maybe it’s a bunch of fins with a fan, PC style. Apple’s engineers don’t always have time for miracles.

Bus

MacBook Pro is PCI-Express through and through. The ATI graphics chip is hooked to a 16-lane interface, just like a desktop. The notebook’s expansion card slot externalizes a one-lane PCI-Express interface with a maximum theoretical transfer rate of 256 megabytes per second.

Like the iMac, MacBook Pro has a 667 MHz front-side bus and uses 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM. The DDR2 SDRAM’s clock is quad-pumped, so yes, it’s fast. Unlike iMac, the $2,499 model MacBook Pro with 1 GB of RAM uses a single SODIMM module, leaving one memory socket open.

Power

Apple didn’t respond to my question about battery life definitively, saying only that it’s consistent with Apple’s philosophy of keeping battery life among its key design objectives. There are reports of rapid battery drain problems with other Core Duo designs, and all I know is that Intel blames it on Windows.

Knowing well the shocking differences derived from using 3rd-party utilities to bypass Windows’ opaque power management, it wouldn’t surprise me if Intel’s finger-pointing had a point. Apple’s got a learning curve on x86 power management. Microsoft hasn’t traversed it yet.

I’m letting the issue rest for now. The one thing I’m sure of is that Apple will issue firmware and OS updates that improve battery life over time.

One more thing

I had given Apple a long ten minutes, which was eight minutes over my allotted time, when I asked my last question: Does the 7,200 RPM drive option turn MacBook Pro into a notebook you’ll want to run on your charger all day?

From the pause before the answer (“no”), I believe they thought me a proper idiot rather than someone trying to lighten things up on the whole issue of battery life. Tough room.