Customer Reviews

Apple MacBook Pro MC724LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop (OLD VERSION)

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Let's assume you're confused between buying the "standard" $1199 Macbook Pro 13 and this "high end" $1499 Macbook Pro 13.

I'd like to help in simplifying the decision making process.

This "High end" model is still not a good purchase (with regards to value) when compared to the "standard" Apple MacBook Pro MC700LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop

The ONLY differences between the two 2011 MBP 13's are minor and consist of a super small processor speed difference and hard drive space. The standard MBP 13 has a 2.3GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor + a 320 gb 5400 rpm hard drive while the high end MBP 13 has a 2.7GHz dual-core Intel Core i7 processor + a 500 gb hard drive.

For value conscious consumers, I've pasted Speedmark 6.5 and Geekbench results below. Speedmark is Macworld Lab's standard test tool for benchmarking Macs. It's used to test overall speed and efficiency of macs. Geekbench is the most recognized benchmarking software for Mac.

Speedmark 6.5 results:
2011 Macbook Pro 13

13" MacBook Pro 2.3GHz Core i5 dual-core - Score = 140
13" MacBook Pro 2.7GHz Core i7 dual-core - Score = 155

Only 15 points more. Not even a 15% difference.

Geekbench Benchmark results
13" MBP 2.3 GHz dual i5 2011: 5948
13" MBP 2.7 GHz dual i7 2011, 6796

A difference of 848 points - which equals up to a 12% difference.

So you're paying $300 more (20% of the cost of the $1499 MBP 13 or 25% of the cost of the standard $1199 MBP 13) for a 12% difference, a 400 mhz processor speed difference (not at all major in any way as seen in the benchmarks) and a 180 gb hard drive space increase.

EVERYTHING else is is the same in both models, from the 1280 x 800 resolution 13 inch LED screen to the Intel HD 3000 integrated graphics to the Superdrive DVD burner to the Thunderbolt Port,FaceTime HD Camera, backlit keyboard, 4gb ram, two USB 2.0 ports, Wi-fi B/G/N, bluetooth 2.1 and Gigabit ethernet

The software included in both models is the same too, Mac OSX 10.7 "Lion" and the iLife suite of content creation tools. A 1 year warranty on parts and 90 day telephone technical support is also standard on both models

What if you chose to buy the standard MBP 13?

If you did that, you could then buy a 500 gb hard drive Western Digital Scorpio Blue 500 GB Bulk/OEM Hard Drive 2.5 Inch, 8 MB Cache, 5400 RPM SATA II WD5000BEVT for $ 55 and install it yourself in your standard MBP 13 which would then have a hard drive just as large as the higher end MBP 13.The installation instructions are included in the MBP 13 manual and it doesn't void the warranty. Installation videos are also available online.

And you'd still have $245 left to buy an AppleCare Protection Plan for Mac Laptops 13 Inches and Below (NEWEST VERSION) or a SquareTrade 3-Year Laptop/Tablet Warranty Plus Accident Protection (Laptop/Tablet $1000-1250) to protect your shiny new MBP 13 for 2 more years after the standard one year warranty is up.

Until Apple actually puts in a major differentiation feature or upgrade in the higher end MBP 13, I'd recommend you shop smart, save your money and opt for the standard Apple MacBook Pro MC700LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop. It's 99% identical to the more expensive MBP 13 and a much stronger product when it comes to the value for money factor. And use the rest of the money to buy a warranty and a hard drive upgrade if you feel like.

Hope this helps!

NOTE - Fellow Amazon customer Diane (Her comment can be seen in the comments section of this review) has spoken to an Apple rep and she had this to say "Even the Apple Rep that I spoke with at the Apple store recommended the MBP 13 as is and said the differences were not worth the extra money. Said the average user would not notice any differences in the 2 units - just cost." Another Amazon customer, Marcin (His comment can be seen in the comments section of this review) said an apple salesperson told him ""We have both on the shelf. But there is no reason to buy i7, you will not see the difference".

Something to think about. Thank you.

UPDATE - Professional review site Notebookcheck.net did a review of both Machines. I've posted the links to the full reviews below as well as summary quotes.

Quote # 1 - referring to the performance difference between the standard and high end MBP 13 - ( link - [...]

"It's also interesting to take a look at how the model at hand measures up to the weaker MacBook Pro 13 version with a Core i5 processor. The less powerful model performs 91% as quickly as the Core i7 model, that is, only slightly slower."

Quote # 2 - Referring to the battery life of the standard MBP 13 ( link - [...]

"The model we're reviewing here trumps the more powerful version of the MBP13 with an 11-16% longer battery life in all test scenarios (note: wifi test results not comparable)"

So the standard Apple MacBook Pro MC700LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop has better battery life by 11 to 16%, has 91% of this "higher end" MBP 13's performance ability AND costs 25% less.

Hope this helps!

I have been on a MacBook C2D 2.4 Ghz (with 6GB RAM) for the last 3 years and wanted to upgrade and the MB Air seemed to be the right way to go. Selling the iPad and the MacBook and getting the Air 13" w/ 4GB RAM and the 256GB SSD, to be precise. At the Apple store I realized the the MacBook Air (at this time) is really older technology in an amazing form factor, but I did not feel compelled to spend $1800 on pretty much the same CPU as I just had for 3 years already. Then the new MB Pro showed up, and after 72h with it I am super happy.

This MBPro with the new i7 2.7 Ghz CPU is about twice as fast as the 2008 MacBook I had. It scored 6800 points on Geekbench. Installing Office Mac 2011 and Adobe CS3 was super fast and I look forward to have VMWare Fusion running much better than on the older MacBook. I just watched the full iPad2 keynote (1h) over wireless on battery plus 1 hour of surfing, battery says 4h left, awesome! I already swapped the hard drive for a 320GB/7200 and in 6-12 month I might go SSD, but for now I stay with regular disks. There are some great 750GB /7200rpm drives now for about $100.

It's slick. I love the illuminated keyboard, finally on the smaller pro machine. The trackpad is awesome. The new LED screen is super crisp and bright. The new graphics HD 3000 chip is pretty good and enough for light Photoshop work. I can only recommend it. If you think MBP 13", go for the fastest CPU like this one (2.7 i7) and get all the rest of the upgrades later. Additional RAM is cheap these days and better HDD and soon the prices for the SSD will come down as well. Swapping the hard drive is easy and the same as will all the Pro models of the last 2 years or so. I can't wait to put like 500GB of SSD into this in 1-2 years and have it fly... Love this machine, best Mac ever (after PowerBook and 2 MacBooks).

I went looking for a new laptop. My requirements were 13" Screen, backlit keyboard and 8+ hours of advertised battery life. I have always been a PC user and do IT support for a living. This is my first Mac and I am very pleased with it so far. While the OS is a learning curve the hardware is plain awesome. The new core i7 processor is blazing fast. I'm able to run 2 Virtual machines which keeps my gets me my Microsoft fix without even having to reboot. Backlit keyboard is everything I hoped it would be and the battery lasts a solid 6 hours which isn't bad for the advertised 7 hours of wireless surfing.

I am a long time PC user that has gradually migrated over to being a Mac fan. This review is not really technical but instead general observations I've had changing from PC to Mac and some things I ran into along the way.

It all started with an iPod touch and finally sold me on Mac after having an iPad for the last six months. So when my old HP started giving troubles after nearly six years I decided to break down and try a Mac. But I decided to wait for the 2011 version to hit the stores before I made my investment. Two days ago they were announced so I found myself in Best Buy earlier this evening. I spent some time chatting with a very nice Apple rep in our Greenville, SC store named Bobby. The store didn't even have them on the shelves yet but he made sure I got one from the high racks where they were stored.

I asked things like would it work with my existing flash hard drive, is the wireless N compatible with my old G router, can I upgrade the memory and hard drive later. I was pleasantly surprised with a yes on all accounts!

The thing that got my attention was that he says the hard drive can be upgraded to solid state drive (SSD) later on...when the prices for those become more reasonable. At first I thought about getting the SSD but the amount of memory I wanted didn't justify the added price so I got the SATA instead. I also thought about the 750GB drive but ended up with the 500GB and will opt for an external drive later. The memory is also upgradable to 8GB later as well...not a hard DIY fix.

So I've been playing with my shiny new toy all evening. When I opened up the box and started going through the initial setup I got a little frustrated because, being a PC user, I didn't know the track pad actually clicks! So I went through the menus with tab and what I discovered to be the spacebar for enter. It didn't take me very long to figure out how to change the track pad settings to work with a light touch to single click instead of physically clicking the pad button. Hint: go for the settings gears icon along the bottom first.

I also didn't like the name that got selected for my home folder during the initial setup. (I clicked through it a little too fast...). To change this I just went in the users and made a new profile that was admin, logged off, logged on as new, and then deleted the old one. Of course I had to make my track pad settings again.

Google mail, calendar, and contacts were a breeze to set up!

Overall, I am very happy with my purchase. I was worried that it would be hard to learn a new operating system but with a little playing around I think it'tonot too hard to figure out. When you get stuck, hit the Google website and usually you find someone before you had the same questions.

A good place for news and how to guides is the iPhone Blog, Lifehacker, and Make Use Of (look them up on Google).
...and so the discovery continues!

This is my first Mac in my 15 years of IT life. My requirements were 12" or 13" screen, lightweight, good battery life, and should look beautiful. I am a Software Engineer and do a lot of photography, and sometimes make videos too. So I needed a laptop which has high performance, good battery life, and a beautiful design.

I was considering Macbook Air, Macbook Pro, and new VAIO Z for a month, and decided to get this Macbook Pro 2011. The price on Amazon was pretty good. This Amazon price (discounted & no tax) was actually better than the student price after tax. I decided to get an Macbook Pro with core i7 2.7Ghz since I cannot use nice CPU for Air (it is limited), and I had been using 3 VAIO models (SR, SZ, Z) laptop for last 3 years so wanted to try Mac. I am very pleased with my purchase.

I love the user interface most, the speed, and battery life although it took me little time to get used to my first mac. The new core i7 is really fast, and I upgraded the ram from 4gb to 8gb to use Parallels faster. Backlit keyboard is so beautiful, and multi-touch trackpad is super convenient. Two fingers with all-way scrolls, and three fingers with browsing back and forward.

I would say this Macbook Pro (lighter than 2010 version) is the best laptop for me so far over my former experience with VAIO, HP, Compaq, Acer, Samsung, Netbooks, and etc. Someone complained about heating problems, but I don't feel like that. This amount of heat is much better than HP, Compaq, and better than VAIO.

If you don't need super fast laptop, I recommend you a basic model of Macbook Pro. Your main usage is web surfing and documenting, I recommend you to get a Macbook Air. If you never used Mac, I strongly recommend you to experience it. BTW, when you buy a Mac, get a basic model if it is possible and upgrade it. It will save you a lot of money. I upgraded RAM by myself, and will upgrade HDD to SSD soon. I can't wait to use SATA III SSD on my MBP!

It's well known that these 13" MacBook Pro's don't have a discrete graphics chip but that didn't stop me from buying one anyway. I was so desperate to switch from my behemoth of a laptop, the 15" MacBook Pro, to the smaller, more portable, 13" MacBook Pro. I was hoping that despite the lack of a discrete graphics chip, the huge increase in processing power would offset its absence. Boy was I wrong.

When people mentioned how poorly this laptop fared against other laptops in video game performance, I thought, fine, they're comparing this laptop with the newly released 2011 15" ones with discrete graphics chips. But what if we compared this laptop to a 3 year old 2008 15" MacBook Pro? Would the huge upgrade in CPU help the 13" MacBook Pro compete with the older, 15" model?

To my disappointment, it could not. I ran games like Left 4 Dead 2 and Resident Evil 5 on this MacBook and found them barely playable. These games ran smoothly on my '08 MacBook. I was so disappointed I actually considered returning it. But I didn't when I thought about the hefty 15% restocking fee Amazon charges for opened computers.

On the plus side, 1080p HD video played silky smooth on the 13" MacBook Pro, while on my older '08 15" model it stuttered. I was really excited to see this as this was evidence of a vastly improved CPU. The 13" MacBook Pro also has a built-in SD card reader and a unibody construction that my '08 15" model lacked.

By the way, I found it strange this MacBook didn't come with a remote. My '08 15" model came with one. I'm not sure if only the 15" ones included remotes or Apple simply stopped including them with all their laptops.

For me this is an upgrade from an already well loved MacBook Aluminum 2.4 GHz / 6 GB / 240 GB SSD. Apple makes the finest notebooks in the industry, period. The current aluminum design is a functional work of art. The glass track pad and screen are a joy to use. Plastic PC notebooks feel like junk after using one of these. And performance is top notch.

What's different from my old MacBook?

* I'm seeing about a 1.5x-2x speed boost. This thing screams with my SSD which I moved from the old MacBook. Hint: these MacBook Pros need a newer build of 10.6.6. The included DVD will update a drive with an older version while leaving all your stuff intact. Make a backup just in case before transferring.

* I love finally having FireWire. I keep a large photo collection on an external 2 TB drive and FireWire really improved file open/save times in Photoshop. I can't wait to see Thunderbolt drives and eSATA adapters.

* The battery life is excellent. I don't doubt Apple's 7 hour estimate for web browsing. For me working away from an outlet, often with VMWare Fusion running, it looks like I'll be able to get a solid 5 hours.

* Windows XP and 7 in VMWare Fusion also scream on this notebook. Windows 7 runs faster on my MacBook Pro than on my neighbor's quad core machine, and he also has a SSD. That's quite a testament to the i7 on the Sandy Bridge chipset.

* This MacBook Pro is consistently running about 10-15C cooler than my old one. I use smcFanControl so that I can better keep things cool with the computer on my lap. It helped with the old, but I'm not sure I even need it with the new.

* I didn't care about the SD card slot (my cameras all use CF) until it dawned on me that it would make a good secondary storage on the road. When you're trying to live with a smaller SSD an extra 32 or 64 GB is nothing to sneeze at even if it's slower storage. That's fine for documentation and infrequently used files.

Complaints? I really can't think of any. Obviously a gamer would want one of the larger models with the discrete GPU. But I'll take the light weight and portability of this model any day.

I highly recommend this notebook. And if you can swing it I also recommend getting a 3rd party SSD. (Apple's prices are a bit high for the SSD option.)

I bought this computer for music production only (Logic, Reason, and Ableton Live). After realizing how much I love Mac computers / operating system, I have transferred all files over from my PC and put the PC up for sale. I will never buy a PC again....take that to the bank!!!

The new sandy bridge core i5 is screaming fast. I can't see how a quad core can be much faster for what I'm using this computer for. Plus the 13" is the sweet size for portability and use. This computer is also $1,000 cheaper than the 15". I just don't get why people would buy the 15" or 17" models. Some claim it's because of the discrete graphics card. If you are a hardcore gamer, you shouldn't buy a macbook pro period. Macbook pro's are for creation (music production, photo editing, and video editing / development)....period!!

You could buy the 2011 AND 2012 macbook pro 13" for the same price as the 2011 macbook pro 15". Keep in mind that the 2011 macbook pro 13" is faster than EVERY macbook pro model from 2010 (technology moves too fast!). I wouldn't be surprised if this happens again next year, and you will be able to get a quad core in the 13" for $1200.

Warning: Don't get the 13" i7 processor. Apple has disabled the turbo boost because the computer gets too hot. The 2.3ghz i5 processor turbo boosts up to 2.9ghz, while the i7 is only 2.7ghz (and supposed to turbo boost to 3.4ghz). What's the point of having the i7 when you can't turbo boost to 3.4ghz (b/c of being disabled by APPLE)?? Apple should be sued for false advertising, or at least offer the i7 at the same price as the i5. Save yourself the $300 and have a faster processor!!!!

Also upgrade to 8gb of ram...totally worth it. It cost me $60 to do this, and then I sold the 4gb stock ram for $30...for a net cost of $30!!! Apple charges $200 to upgrade the ram for you, which can be done by a middle schooler (watch youtube videos on it). What a ripoff. My next upgrade will be an Solid State Drive...once the 256GB drive comes down in price. Again this is easy to install yourself.

After may hours of hand wringing and research on Intel HD 3000 integrated graphics, I placed an order. Then, even though I knew it was a mistake, I began reading the amazon reviews. Many reviews mentioned that this MBP was absolutely worthless for playing games and how it overheated. More hand wringing ensued. I didn't want the 15 inch. I had an early 2006 macbook and the 13 inch was just so portable and perfect I couldn't stand going to a 15". Plus the macbook 2006 spoiled me being able to lounge on the couch and play/work/surf/stay connected; lazy wins again.

I have had it for about a week now and I really couldn't be happier. I won't go into all of the cool productivity applications MacOSX come bundled with because if you are thinking of buying one you probably know about them. This little guy knocks them all out. I want to address specifically the gaming and the overheating issues. I have played WoW with near maxed out settings and it looks beautiful. Left for Dead with moderate settings and team fortress 2 with moderate settings. Both with very little trouble. Youtube has a variety of demo's that show Crisis and other higher end games running just fine. Truth is if you like to play games this can do it and pretty darn well. Its no monster gaming PC but I have built several of those over the past 10 years and I have come to the conclusion that being a minimalist is far more appealing than being chained to a giant machine that requires a substation to power. Not to mention the sinking feeling you get as you watch the state of the hardware you bought plummet in value. Conversely, Macs by design are meant to endure longer and retain there value. The Intel HD 3000 integrated graphics is on par with many entry level discrete video cards; most benchmark sites will confirm this. In addition, they are relatively new and as drivers are perfected and more development companies become more familiar with them, the overall experience should improve. Most people bristle when they hear "integrated graphics"; in my opinion this is not your older brothers integrated graphics system. The architecture is fundamentally different; I won't go into detail, but Google it if you'd like to understand more.

That leads me into the overheating issue. I used SMC fan control to monitor my old Macbook temp. Did a fine job. I installed it on the new MBP and the first thing I noticed was a dialogue saying that the software wasn't updated to support the new MBP yet but it should work. The readings I got were near double that of what I would get on my old Macbook; ambient and loaded. ~170 F or more loaded. 6300 rpm fan speed reported. At first glance this is OMGHAWT! But I suspect that there are a couple of reasons for this. I have no hard evidence I am simply offering my educated opinion having worked in the technical field for a number of years.
First, the integrated graphics and the Processor are on the same die; they are physically one piece. As a result, the heat sink and fan system have to account for this with their footprint. The heat and fan speeds (and this is a stab in the dark based on other pieces of hardware Ive worked with) are reported via millivolt readings. The SMC fan software (probably) reports based on the millivolt readings. Given that this is the first generation MBP with Intel HD300 integrated graphic (again, different in many sharing respects than previous integrated systems), it is quite possible that the millivolt span changed and the reporting is skewed using the old span. As an example, assume the older macbooks had a span of 0-6mv; 0 being ambient and 6 being fully loaded. The new macbookpros use a span of 0-10mv. Using the same reporting tool on both spans would result in incorrect readings in the 0-10mv example because at 6 the reporting tool would reflect maximum load temp and maximum fan rpm even though there were 4 more millivolts of span to use. Again, this is my guess.

TLDR version of cooling issues: The MBP after running team fortress2 for 1/2 hour does get warm around the power supply area and you can feel the heat coming from the exhaust ports. Macbooks do run warm and as I understand this is fairly well accepted; but not "we need a recall! its melting!" hot. Its typical in my opinion.

Anyway, I hope this helps people out there like me who were on the fence about what the bottom line is regarding performance and cooling of the item.

Love it love it love it.

***Update 1/25/2012****
Just wanted to check back in and update my experience. Everything is fantastic with the machine. Its still my #1 prized possession. I added a hard clear snap on case, a screen protector film and a keyboard cover here from Amazon to protect my investment. The bottom got a few scratches on it from normal wear so I went ahead and decided to add armor.
Some things I have done this year with it:
1) Manage my Linux server
-Really all I need is the command terminal, but OSX makes the working in terminal easypeasy.
2) Ive loaded Eclipse Europa and have written some programs in various languages.
3) Added Adium to unify my chat clients
4) Had a lot of fun with photo booth.
5) Got all my Itunes migrated over from My old windows machine and bought a bunch of new ones.
6) Played lots of WoW.
7) Bought Call of Duty Modern Warfare from the App store and am super pleased with the performance of the machine.
8) Bought an OEM copy of Windows 7 and loaded using Bootcamp.
-What a snap this was. The OSX disk that comes with machine doubles as a automatic drivers loader for Windows 7. Pop it in and it loads all the drivers and monitors when Apple releases updates.It runs Windows 7 as well as Windows 7 can run. Having gotten use to OSX, I honestly can't stand working in it unless I am forced to. I could go on but Ill leave it at that.
9) Bought Star Wars The Old Republic and have been playing on Windows 7 since early release. I get maybe 30fps on avg; dips down to 20 or so in super populated areas and reaches upper 50s at its best. I am very pleased with how it performs.
Coming This Year
-Upgrade to 16g ram; I think this is going to help with graphical performance given the nature of the shared memory architecture.
-Try and really get down and dirty with iMovie, Time Machine, and some of the other applications that came with the machine that I haven't had a chance to use.
-Interested to see where the thunderbolt/PCI video card ideas go.
-Working on my Masters in CS and am I sure that I will have much fun and get an amazing amount of value out of this little guy.

Still 100% happy with it.

I ordered this laptop directly from Amazon. Shipping was fast, packaging was great. I had the computer for less than a week and I noticed the CAPS button wasn't working properly. You had to be sure to press slowly and right in the center for the button to work, and even then it worked intermittently. Normal typing would not turn the caps on. We took the laptop up to an Apple Repair store where they said the keyboard was faulty. The entire keyboard was replaced under warranty, but I did not get my laptop back for about a week. Upon return all of the keys worked great for about 24 hours. The same problem has returned so it's off to the repair shop again! I'm not sure what's going on, or who's to blame. If this problem would resolve itself I'd be quite happy with this laptop.

Pros:
-Eye catching looks! (I recommend speck covers from Amazon, they fit great!!)
-Great screen!
-AWESOME battery (7-9 hours if you turn the screen brightness down 2-3bars)
-Runs smooth and fast!

Cons:
-Faulty keyboard
-It's a Mac (lol swapping over from a PC isn't the easiest...but it's doable. This isn't really a con, just a learning curve)
-Apple Care & warranty do NOT cover accidents (dell, sony, & hp have great accident coverage, Apple needs to man up)