Apple MacBook Pro 13: Can a Mac Be a Decent Windows Laptop?
by Vivek Gowri on October 14, 2010 9:00 PM ESTApple MacBook Pro 13—Average Battery Life
Apple claims 10 hours of battery life for the MBP13 when running OS X, and Anand hit pretty close to that mark when testing it out with his light web browsing test. Now, we’ve shown before that OS X is more optimized for mobile power consumption than all versions of Windows, so going into this test the expectations were a fair bit lower.
And for good reason; the MBP13 showed fairly similar battery life to some of the older Core 2-based systems. With it’s 63.5 Wh lithium polymer battery, the MBP hits 5.5 hours on our ideal-case battery test, and exactly 5 hours on the web browsing test. While this is decent for the average Core 2 notebook, it’s pretty woeful compared to the OS X battery life of the MBP. If you have no reason to run Windows (program compatibility, gaming, etc) you’re better off in OS X just so that you can get about double the battery life.
This reduction of battery life in Windows is pretty much along the same lines that Anand saw with the MacBook Air he tested under both OS X and Windows. This is a problem that’s been noted in both Vista and 7, and doesn’t look to go away anytime soon (though we’ll see if Microsoft can fix it in Windows 8).
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piroroadkill - Friday, October 15, 2010 - link
I have some Pavilion DV6 right here that have only superficial markings for left and right, and infact are capacative to sense the side of the touchpad, and essentially is one button.I'm not a fan. I actually LIKE having seperate buttons, because it means I can have a finger on the button and one on the touchpad, to have accurate click timing (it's possible to game on a touchpad, just about, but not on a mac style one button touchpad).
marraco - Friday, October 15, 2010 - link
It's obsolete.And it have problems and Gray Screen of Death.
When you have problems, you are again in DOS age. Macs forces you on command screens, to write cryptic unix commands that never work.
Shadowmaster625 - Friday, October 15, 2010 - link
Leave it to anandtech to try and justify paying $1500 for a $800 notebook.Sufo - Friday, October 15, 2010 - link
now, are you saying that just because you disagree with some of the conclusions or because you feel anandtech frequently oversells hardware?If the latter, then i'm somewhat suprised - i find anandtech to be one of the most comprehensive and objective reviewsites i've come across (if not the most). If there is some other source that you feel is even more objective and trustworthy, please throw a link this way because i'm actually in need of a few more sites to browse at work.
fujii13 - Friday, October 15, 2010 - link
Anyone point out the fact that the audio drivers only allow for 50% volume compared to OS X, and that not all the speakers are powered in Boot Camp?mrsmegz - Friday, October 15, 2010 - link
read about 5 comments up, I mentioned the Speaker problem, I was hoping they would address if this was still a problem w/ the crappy bootcamp drivers. Its one of the main reasons I got rid of the macbook. I listen to a lot of music, and wanted to use foobar in windows, but forget it w/ bootcamp.TEAMSWITCHER - Friday, October 15, 2010 - link
I get the impression from reading this article that the reviewer is feeling conflicted. Apple has obviously created an awesome small laptop that oozes quality and design, but the Core 2 processor makes it impossible to give the machine an overall favorable review.I would second this notion, and that's why I bought the 15" model. Hopefully next week, the 13" MacBook Pro will get some core i3/i5 love and discreet graphics.
Then there will be nothing to prevent the looming Macpocalypse.
Dustin Sklavos - Friday, October 15, 2010 - link
Yes, absolutely nothing...Except distasteful corporate arrogance and customer-gouging prices. People should vote with their wallets, which is why I'm always disappointed to see Apple products on the street.
Any company that would actually put "We care about our customers" as a major bulletpoint in a presentation cannot and should not be trusted.
TEAMSWITCHER - Saturday, October 16, 2010 - link
Where do you get this Corporate Arrogance thing? I just don't see it! When I look at Apple I see a company that is trying to produce something that is unique and better than the average. Sure they talk the BIG talk about their products, but they are supposed to, they want to sell them, that's Marketing 1.0. Would you buy a computer from a company that thought their products were complete crap?Every Apple product has at least a few worthy qualities. The author of this article clearly gets that. I can't say the same thing for many of the PC products I have used over the years.
JarredWalton - Saturday, October 16, 2010 - link
iPhone 4, Steve Jobs: "You're holding it wrong!"There have been numerous cases of Jobs blaming the users for problems with the product, and the elitist mentality of Jobs often extends to the users. That's not to say Apple can't make good product, but that there are plenty who refuse to buy an Apply product just because of the "culture" that goes with it.