World's Fastest Vista Notebook: The Apple MacBook Pro

[Ralf Maximus]

Holy irony, Batman.  The fastest Vista notebook ever tested by PC World is made by Apple.

http://www.pcworld.com/product/review/id,30190/apple_macbook_pro.html



And priced below $2,500 USD it's reasonable for what you get:

- 17 inch widescreen
- 2.4-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7700 CPU
- 4GB RAM
- nVidia GeForce 8600M GT graphics
- 160GB drive
- 802.11n and Bluetooth
- Honking Big Apple logo

Note that it outperformed every other notebook tested, even machines specifically designed with Vista in mind.  And clocking 141 FPS on Crysis it's a damn sight faster than my desktop.  Getting past the fact it's only got one mouse button and moderate/sucky battery life, I can still see myself with one of these.

But (surprise, surprise) it doesn't come with Vista.  You'll have to supply your own copy of that. 

[f0dder]

141fps in crysis? Sounds like the GPU lacks support for some of the fancier things, and a less eye-candyish shader path is chosen? Same reason some of the linux guys get insane fps, simply because the DirectX clone only has basic features

[Darwin]

4GB RAM in a notebook for less than $2500 - sweet. I haven't seen any high-end Windows based notebooks on offer with 4GB RAM in that or any price range (I live in a small town) - makes me wonder if Apple is beginning to realise that there's money to be made now that their hardware will run either Windows or OSX? Actually, stupid me, I thought this was the whole point with they switched to Intel and then they seemed to be proving me wrong. Maybe I was right after all...

[nontroppo]

Getting past the fact it's only got one mouse button

I thought this too for the first 10 seconds of using my macbook. But the *great* feature of Apple trackpads is you simply chord two fingertips and click. This is simply faster and causes less strain on my hands; it really is better than a second button. Oh, and two fingertips and slide scrolls horizontally, vertically or both - this is just fast and ergonomically brilliant. I dread using my older Acer with its crappy Synaptics hotzones for scrolling or contorting my hand to its 3 buttons.

I would never go back to a standard laptop trackpad ever again. This is one case where Apple hardware got things really right (they are doing penance for also designing the mess that is the mightymouse). IMO.

Oh, this may sound pointless, but the Apple laptop power supplies are so much better designed. Smaller  overall, you can swap the wall->supply cable with a direct plug for portability, and with little popup wings to neatly fold cables they make fornicating-snakes cable hell when travelling less hellish. A small detail but it does make a difference.

[Ralf Maximus]

Thanks, nontroppo.  I had no idea single-button life could work. 

I don't need a new laptop right now, but if I did I'd seriously consider this one.  Isn't there a rumor floating around that Apple's bringing out a super-portable to compete with the Asus Eee?  Now THAT would be interesting.

[Lashiec]

Apple and cheap in the same sentence?

I can attest nontroppo's report about MacBook's trackpad, the two-finger idea is certainly sounding and neat. Unfortunately, a trackpad is still a trackpad, and still works like any other, so a Logitech mouse for me

Ow, what a review. First, they mistake Crysis for FarCry (I clicked on it yesterday and I swear it read "Crysis" instead of "FarCry" like today), and not a single note: "We made this mistake, bla bla bla". Fantastic.

No charts comparing those other notebooks that are slower (no Alienware notebooks tested by PC World as well), no configuration details (we tested FarCry at this resolution, with this turned on and that off)... a mess. I saw forum signatures longer than that review.

[Ralf Maximus]

Alienware is off the table for me, as we have one of their notebooks and it's the twitchiest, most fragile thing I've ever worked with.  Install an updated device driver and it breaks.  The only PC we own with a direct link to System Restore on the desktop.

Maybe I'll try one of the Dell/Alienware hybrids someday, give them a chance to absorb some of the Dell reliability.

[Lashiec]

Something I forgot to mention is that 141 fps in FarCry is not a big deal (unless they're running it at maximum).

I mentioned Alienware because those guys even pack two cards in SLI within a notebook. Of course, such beast should not be used for everyday work. Only for gaming

[nontroppo]

...some of the Dell reliability.

Yikes, UK Dells must be built differently to yours; most laptops purchased in our University are Dells, and they break with an uncanny reliability ;-)

[Ralf Maximus]

...some of the Dell reliability.

Yikes, UK Dells must be built differently to yours; most laptops purchased in our University are Dells, and they break with and uncanny reliability ;-)

Indeed.  My wife has a European Dell laptop and it's quite different than the four other Dells I have in the office.  The US ones appear to be of much higher build quality.

FWIW, she also has a North American built Volksvagen, and swears it's a different car than the VW's she drove in Europe.  So what the regional quality gremlins give, they also take away.

[jgpaiva]

FWIW, she also has a North American built Volksvagen, and swears it's a different car than the VW's she drove in Europe.  So what the regional quality gremlins give, they also take away.

I can attest that as true. 2 of the WV models are build in Portugal, and i've read several times that different versions of the car are made for different countries, since different countries have different demands.

[Darwin]

Hyundai and Samsung used to do this - crap for the Korean market (no competition anyway, courtesy of insane import duties on foreign goods) and better stuff for export. Note that as recently as 17 years ago products by both companies were considered good bang for the buck but service nightmares. My how things have changed! Incidentally, I don't *think* that they're still doing this in the Korean market...