Comments on: MacBook Pro 17″ Unveiled; 15″ vs. 17″ ‘Books

By: Dig

Dig — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 16:37:51 +0000

So, canÃ‚Â´t i use an Echo Indigo with a Macbook Pro ???

By: Max Cascone

Max Cascone — Tue, 25 Apr 2006 20:06:38 +0000

Eric, I feel your pain, i have an indigo i/o. I asked Echo if they’re planning on moving to ExpressCard, and got a pretty unsatisfactory response:

- We don’t have immediate plans to create an ExpressCard version of Indigo.
> But, we will be introducing a new FireWire product soon that will meet
> all the needs of our customers looking for such a solution…

By: Peter Kirn

Peter Kirn — Tue, 25 Apr 2006 18:52:44 +0000

Yeah, that seems more like something to use with TV watching, etc., though it would be welcome . . . the speakers are indeed very soft on the older models.

If anyone is looking for portable speakers, there are some nice models out there. I use Altec Lansing XT1s:

http://www.alteclansing.com/product_details.asp?pID=XT1

They’re perfect for informal rehearsals (i.e., any time you’re not competing with real amps), playing a quick track, etc. And they’re really, really compact, so it’s no big deal to toss them in your laptop bag.

I will say, the 17″ is looking like the MacBook to beat. It’s a welcome change, because it no longer punishes users buying the larger screen real estate. I’m hearing some 15″ early-adopters complaining, though it seems to me that logic board differences may have forced the DVD burner and FireWire downgrades — the 15″ MBP is configured similarly to competing Core Duo PCs. More on this soon.

Let us know what you decide to buy, folks, and how it works out for you!

By: dave ahl

dave ahl — Tue, 25 Apr 2006 18:27:54 +0000

i wouldn’t expect anything fantastic from the internal speakers… they are just laptop speakers… but more low end and more wattage would certainly be nice. The key, i think, would be making it loud enough to be able to deliver enough volume for DVD playback etc… the old 800 MHz G4 Powerbook i am rocking isn’t quite loud enough for this purpose if there’s background noise.

By: velocipede

velocipede — Tue, 25 Apr 2006 05:05:23 +0000

Here is an interesting statement from the downloadable technology overview pdf”

Hear the big picture
With twice the number of speakers, larger
speaker enclosures, and increased total power,
MacBook Pro delivers double the sound and
plays more low frequencies than the 17-inch
PowerBook G4.

I wish they provided some numbers. I wonder if these speakers might actually sound okay for ordinary listening.

By: Eric Richmond

Eric Richmond — Mon, 24 Apr 2006 22:46:40 +0000

There are a small number of us (like me) who specifically bought a RME Fireface 800 so I could have a mobile studio that could handle any inputs I needed.

Now, once they get a PCMCIA card so I dont need to replace my echo dj card, then I’ll consider upgrading :)

By: gse

gse — Mon, 24 Apr 2006 22:46:33 +0000

Mostly unrelated, but I did some performance tests of a Macbook Pro doing compiles on the open-source platform that I work on at the day job… compiles were about 2x that of a recent model G5.

details here: http://weblog.openlaszlo.org/archives/2006/03/intel-macs-openlaszlo-32-and-fast-fastness/