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Ars Technica Reviews the MacBook

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the shiny-will-not-sway-me dept.

phaedo00 writes "Ars Technica has performed another of their in-depth and thorough hardware reviews. The subject in this review is the newly released MacBook. From the article: 'The Apple portable web site proudly announces that the "family is finally complete." What began with an announcement from Steve Jobs at the MacWorld conference in January has come full circle with the release of the MacBook this week. Every Apple laptop is Intel powered and moving in what I would consider is the right direction. The laptop line is finally better delineated by pro and consumer features, and the prices have been fixed at points that better reflect the minute differences in the models.'"

3 of 453 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Benchmarks by znu · · Score: 5, Informative

    Don't take the Xbench OpenGL scores Ars reports too seriously. In MacWorld's benchmarks with real-world OpenGL (UT2004), the MacBook Pro, with real video, delivered three times the framerate of the MacBook.

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  2. Not one person has mentioned the hard drive by falcon5768 · · Score: 5, Informative
    The one neat feature on the Macbook that the pro doesnt have and not one person has mentioned it. You can remove the Macbooks hard drive through the battery bay and replace it with whatever size you want by just simply removing 3 screws. No more cracking open the case to replace the hard drive on them.

    K maybe I like those types of neat little nuances.

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  3. Re:GMA950 graphics, bah! by MBCook · · Score: 5, Informative
    Where did you get THAT number?

    I go to Dell and check out the same model...

    2 GHz Core Duo, 1 Gig of RAM, XP Pro, 100 Gig 7200 RPM drive, glossy screen, you're looking at $1746 shipped.

    The price YOU quoted was for 1.66 GHz, XP Media Center, 5400 RPM drive, non-glossy screen.

    By the way, both prices are after a 22% SALE that Dell is holding. I know they're always holding some sale or another, but even with the sale your price is flat out wrong for the specs you quoted.

    This doesn't include all the great software that OS X comes with like iLife, iWork, and more. Also, the Dell is 50% thicker than the Mac. The video out is VGA only (not DVI). On the plus side, you do get the 5-in-1 media card reader (I'm still surprised Apple hasn't done this yet with all the media stuff they push).

    If I make a white Macbook match the Dell (by upping the RAM, the hard drive, and adding Apple Care)... it costs $1798.

    Ladies and gentlemen, the Macintosh premium: $52

    That's 3%.

    I'd GLADLY pay $52 to get OS X, iLife, and a laptop that isn't 50% thicker.

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