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Hands-On With the New MacBooks
Paige Philuer writes "Macworld has a hands-on article examining the new MacBook and MacBook Pro — not a quickie look from Tuesday's event, but a lengthy, in-depth look with laptops they actually have in their offices. Some interesting observations: No FireWire on the MacBook; the TrackPad doesn't feel like you're running your finger across a pane of glass, though that's what it is; and switching between graphics cards in the MacBook Pro requires you to log out."
Reader Bourbon contributes three links at CNET related to the new models, too: a positive written review (giving a score of 8/10 to the new MacBook), a video review, and a behind-the-scenes look at how the new models are machined.
I'm a huge Mac fan (I'm typing this on an older MacBook Pro), but man, I really think these new laptops are ugly as sin. I really prefer the look of previous model MacBooks and MacBook Pros, though when the Air came out it was probably inevitable that the other laptops would follow its lead.
"There is no time, sir, at which ties do not matter," Jeeves, (Jeeves and the Impending Doom)
Great! The displays are bright.
How about dim? Can they be dim too? My 24" iMac is painfully bright to use in a dark room at its lowest backlight setting. Some people resort to software that puts a neutral gray, transparent window over the whole screen just to keep the pain down at the expense of color resolution. I keep sunglasses by the computer so I can see to work on late night emergency calls while my eyes adapt to the light.
I guess that's so when the first one de-laminates you have a backup. *Bah-dum-bump*
Actually it's pretty cool to have both high- and low-power options. Too bad they can't switch on the fly. But since the GeForce 9600M GT can do CUDA, maybe you could use it as a compute accelerator while you use the 9400 for display.
The Lenovo laptops running Vista with two graphics cards can switch completely on the fly. It's a bit disappointing that Apple, with full control over everything, couldn't manage the same. See http://lenovoblogs.com/insidethebox/?p=154.
The black border isn't that great imho, but it's ok. Same for keys I guess.
But new macbook vs old one? Definitly. Way better than plastic.
Watching the video, the Mac guys talk about all of the innovations that have gone into making the computer friendly to the environment. But the aluminum machining looks like a pretty energy intensive and wasteful process. Does anyone know if this is a true observation, relative to the process used to make other laptops?
Wish the low end still had Firewire, though.
Even if you get the new display that can fit along with the new MacBooks... it has three USB ports in the back yet no Firewire!
I wonder if it's a power issue...
CAD:USD exchange rate isn't as favorable as it used to be. They priced aggressively before, and with the rate change they have to re-price. Won't be good for ROW sales in a recession...
Our dollar slipped 20% (rather, the US dollar recovered 20%). That makes the difference.
CIV 4? Should work great on the integrated graphics. I'm pretty sure I've run it on my mini.
The integrated graphics is only slow compared to a cutting edge dedicated board. CIV 4 is a few years old.
Maybe they designed it for people who want to cross the US border a lot?
One doesn't only replace the hard drive due to failure. The last time I replaced my laptop hard drive was when I discovered I needed more room and didn't want to carry around another drive. I'm guessing most people upgrade their laptop drives for this reason.
You're not the only one. I personally think these look pretty tacky, especially compared the sleek/slick, classy look of the previous model MBP.
In two years these will look like even uglier, like that K-car your stuffy old man used to drive. Of course by then all the others notebook manufacturers will have copied the design and nobody will notice that they all look cheesy.
The pursuit of absolute tolerance leads to the most rigorous and ludicrous intolerance. - REX MURPHY
I've been checking out the MacBooks to console my sister who I advised to buy a white MacBook two weeks ago (d'oh!). I can't speak for the Canadian dollar, but in USD there's been a branching among MacBook models.
Before there were two: a $1049 model with 1 GB memory, etc and a $1299 model with 2 GB memory, etc. Both were white plastic. If you go to the store now there are two aluminum versions: a $1299 model with 2 GB memory, etc and a $1599 model also with 2 GB memory plus a 90 GB larger drive and a 2.4 GHz CPU versus 2.0 GHz for the cheaper model. If you look closely, there is also a $999 white plastic version with 1 GB memory, etc like before.
So the low end model did get cheaper. But it's still plastic, not the unibody aluminum. (So much for that being a cheaper process.) The old high-end model is the same price but with faster graphics. Then there is a new top-end model that is bigger, faster, and more expensive.
You should take a gander at the user manual for the new MacBooks, as the RAM is user replaceable. http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/MacBook_13inch_Aluminum_Late2008.pdf As for your rant about the hard drive, this is a great move.
Do you realize what the most likely component on any given laptop to fail is? Setting aside occasional bad crops of GPUs, logic boards, the most likely component in a laptop to fail is the hard drive. Making replacing that simpler and easier is a great idea. In addition, apple charges ridiculous prices on their upgrades, so making yet another component in the machine readily user replaceable is both technically useful and empowers the consumers to make more relevant choices for themselves.
More information at ifixit.com with complete tear-aparts as usual:
MacBook: http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/First-Look/Mac/MacBook-Unibody
Pro: http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/First-Look/Mac/MacBook-Pro-Unibody
In theory, theory always works in practice. In practice, theory rarely works. <><
My quick comments while I'm erasing the hard disk and reinstalling it: (I always erase the HDD on all new machines to check for any SMART errors, and to know that the install is clean)
First, the package it comes in is 20% smaller than the black MacBook's tote box. Styrofoam is a thing of the past, replacing it is plastic. Its easy to pull out the MacBook and peel off the plastic on it, easy to yank out the power adapter, but you have to use a thin piece of cardboard to pull the OS media box out as it is set flush, with no fingertip grips to make it easier. This is a very minor thing, though.
Second, the MacOS CDs are not 10.5.0 as with the black MacBook. You get 10.5.5, and a DVD with the applications.
Third, like every article says, if you need FireWire for mLAN or other music tasks, go for a Pro, or hit Apple Refurb for a previous model. FireWire is a thing of the past with this model. For what I'm using it for, the two USB ports are good.
Fourth, its noticably thinner than the MacBook it replaced. Its not thin enough to slide into an envelope, but its definitely able to be slipped in a briefcase. Its definitely a nice student notebook for sling through classes.
Fifth, I personally have not noticed any significant changes to the screen between the previous generation, but I'm glad Apple went this route, because LEDs supposedly have a much longer life than the CCFL backlights.
Those are my first impressions for now, while I blank the disk on it. Overall, for what I need it for (slinging it around campus) it should do the job well.
I don't buy it either. Has Apple seen an HDMI port? It's downright tiny AND carries audio data (would work great if you want to put a movie on your TV!)... DisplayPort might be the new hotness, but HDMI is well-established, with lots of hardware and software support, and is small enough that Apple really wouldn't miss the room.
But new macbook vs old one? Definitly. Way better than plastic.
Way better than the white plastic MacBook, which looks like a tacky toy IMO. OTOH, I think the black plastic looks pretty good.
I must be the only one who thinks Apple's white plastic products (iBook, iPod, iMac, MacBook) look lame. I like Apple's current move away from white plastic and toward uncolored (MacBook, iMac) and colored (iPod nano) aluminum.
TO START
PRESS ANY KEY
Where's the 'ANY' key? I see Esk, Kitarl, and Pig-Up...
Nope. Steve figures if you can afford a camera with a firewire port you will spring for the MBP. You might piss and moan but in the end you will pull out the credit card. It's all about the money.
I think it's a general sign of Firewire disappearing from general consumer products. The first major sign that I noticed was the lack of easy backwards compatibility between Firewire 800 and Firewire 400. Now the port is disappearing from Apple computers too.
I wonder if Target Disk mode and such will be implemented for USB in Mac OS X? External hard drives were nice with Firewire because of how it in didn't burden the cpu like USB. But as with SCSI/ATA, chips are invented that offload the work from the CPU (sometimes diverging from the technology's spec to do so).
Meh.
Once you start despising the jerks, you become one.
The latch is locked when the kensington cable is in. I don't remember where I read this, but I'm 100% positive.
Just to make other readers 100% HIV positive, here's one place I read this: "Hands on with the Macbook/Pro's removable hard drive".
From TA:
I'm surprised anyone would complain about an easy-to-replace hard drive on a Mac. Some current and previous model Macs make it a pain in the arse to replace the hard drive.
TO START
PRESS ANY KEY
Where's the 'ANY' key? I see Esk, Kitarl, and Pig-Up...
You are NOT alone. I have hated these white plastic toy things they produced forever. Nobody ever agreed with me before though.
Personally I think the new look is an improvement, at the very least over the white ones, as you said.
HDMI only supports resolutions up to 1920x1200. Apple's 30" displays use greater than this.
No, you're sane. Glad to see there's another REAL Conservative still hiding out there, getting more and more frustrated at the ass-hats who are spending billions on credit cards to buy shit they can't afford... ruining the country.
Enjoy the fruits of your labor -- with your new MacBooks. I'm working on saving up for something else myself, but have the budget to buy if the wife's old iBook or my Black MacBook (original model) croak... they're not showing any signs of doing so, but it's almost "time" for a new MacBook for one of us...
Keep up the good fight telling people that no... they DO NOT *DESERVE* loans. They *DESERVE* to learn to save for things and buy them WHEN THEY CAN AFFORD THEM. Great job, sir.
All the best (that you can afford...!)...
+++OK ATH