Macbook 13" aluminum unibody non pro general

[zuluedison]

I am one of the unfortunate early adopters of the aluminum non-pro unibody macbooks, and I just wanted to as some general information about them (even though that may seem a bit odd...)

A)Does anyone know exactly (month-wise) how long they were produced?
B)What the cost was (in my case for the 2.4 ghz. It wasn't put on my credit card, so I can't look it up)
C) The initial price (is it the same as now?) of the MBP aluminum unibody 13"
D) If there was ever anykind of restitution for the early adopters (there wasn't that I know of, just checking)


and before anybody tells me that I'm just complaining, Look (assuming my facts are straight, which is why I am making this thread)...I bought this laptop and not but a few months later, they basically re-released a pumped up (and by pumped up I mean included features that were standard in many other laptops at the time I bought mine, for example 4gb of ram instead of 2..) version of it at a lower price. Now I'm not whining, the laptop has served me pretty well (although it's had just as many hang-ups and problems as any other laptop I've owned, apple or other) I'm just a bit dissapointed with apple, and if things stand as I believe they do, this will certainly be the last apple laptop (the only thing from apple that I do buy) I buy .

[NewMacbookPlz]

I am one of the unfortunate early adopters of the aluminum non-pro unibody macbooks, and I just wanted to as some general information about them (even though that may seem a bit odd...)

A)Does anyone know exactly (month-wise) how long they were produced?
B)What the cost was (in my case for the 2.4 ghz. It wasn't put on my credit card, so I can't look it up)
C) The initial price (is it the same as now?) of the MBP aluminum unibody 13"
D) If there was ever anykind of restitution for the early adopters (there wasn't that I know of, just checking)


and before anybody tells me that I'm just complaining, Look (assuming my facts are straight, which is why I am making this thread)...I bought this laptop and not but a few months later, they basically re-released a pumped up (and by pumped up I mean included features that were standard in many other laptops at the time I bought mine, for example 4gb of ram instead of 2..) version of it at a lower price. Now I'm not whining, the laptop has served me pretty well (although it's had just as many hang-ups and problems as any other laptop I've owned, apple or other) I'm just a bit dissapointed with apple, and if things stand as I believe they do, this will certainly be the last apple laptop (the only thing from apple that I do buy) I buy .

A) October 08 through June 09
B) $1299 for 2.0ghz, $1499 for 2.4ghz when new.
C) The MBP 13" now starts at $1199 for 2.26ghz and $1499 for 2.53ghz
D) No. It's technology and things advance, I'm in the same boat, oh well.

[zuluedison]

Thanks, I was just curious and about part D...

I know it's technology and things advance, but that really wasn't entirely the case here. Apple shorted us, and often in these kinds of situations a company will offer something of some kind to those who were actually willing to go out and buy the first wave of a product, especially in cases where a new product came out uncharacteristically soon after the first. I would even feel better about it if the allmighty :apple: atleast acknowledged it in some way.

it's one thing to be jealous of another companies competition, but to be outdone by the same company you are choosing to support so quickly...that's pretty lame.


thanks for all the info though, I appreciate it.

[NewMacbookPlz]

There have been TONS of threads on this very topic, and I'd rather not start another debate on whether or not Apple ripped people off with the first run of Unibody MacBooks.

I'll just remind you, that you pay $$ to be an early adopter, and that's just what we were when purchasing the first revision of the Unibody machines. Same thing happened with the EDGE iPhone (but there I waited for the price drop, day after :D )

[zuluedison]

oh sorry about that, I searched first, but couldn't find anything...weird. Must have been searching wrong.


I guess maybe ripped off is a bit strong, however even if its not apples fault, it is none-the-less a low move by them, especially in not acknowledging it to their customers, and as such they have now lost me as a customer. that's that I guess, it's just too bad, because it wouldn't have taken much on their part to rectify the situation.

[skrutzen]

I'm perfectly happy with mine. Would I like firewire? Sure. Would I use the SD card slot? Maybe. Would I see much benefit from the 2.53 over my 2.4? Probably not that much for what I'm doing.

[firewater]

Love my O.G. Aluminum:)

[robanga]

I too have one of these and use it as my travel around "netbook". I upgraded to 4GB of Ram and also run Windows 7 on it through bootcamp and VM Fusion.

I do not feel slighted by Apple at all. I knew the specs, it met my needs and it has served me well.

How long do you want companies to offer "upgrades" to new products? That is a slippery slope. The only sure way to not have tech purchases go obsolete is to never buy anything.

[zuluedison]

I'm perfectly happy with mine. Would I like firewire? Sure. Would I use the SD card slot? Maybe. Would I see much benefit from the 2.53 over my 2.4? Probably not that much for what I'm doing.
As I remember it, the screen received an upgrade as well. As a photographer, I would love the addition of the sd card slot. Firewire, maybe not as much. The extra ghz, I wouldn't mind as well as the addition to go past 4gigs of ram for my gaming and editing.

Love my O.G. Aluminum

please, guys, don't get me wrong, I am happy with my purchase, it is a well built laptop, maybe not the infaliable dream that apple sells it as (don't tell me I'm the only one who has run into trouble from time to time, haha) but very well made none the less.


I too have one of these and use it as my travel around "netbook". I upgraded to 4GB of Ram and also run Windows 7 on it through bootcamp and VM Fusion.

I do not feel slighted by Apple at all. I knew the specs, it met my needs and it has served me well.

How long do you want companies to offer "upgrades" to new products? That is a slippery slope. The only sure way to not have tech purchases go obsolete is to never buy anything.

well judging by the first sentence, you seem to have atleast somewhat of an expendable income, to warrant the macbook as being your secondary sub par (sub to whatever your main) laptop, so I'm not sure if you are the best person to answer. Like you, I have also upgraded to 4gb of ram, and run win 7 through bootcamp, though if I may ask, why do you run it through both bootcamp and fusion? seems like a bit of a waste of disk space?

Knowing the specs is one thing, I knew the specs as well, it is the rushing out of another unit to replace it. It's not as if a few weeks after our unibody mb's were put out the decision to upgrade them occured. For whatever reason I think we can assume that decision had already been made, and instead of delaying the release to give the consumers the best laptop they could, they released it anyway, knowing full well that SHORTLY, and shortly is the key here, after they would be essentially re-releasing a beefed up version of it. whether they had decided on the price drop is arguable.

as for your last comment, I think you are still misunderstanding me. It is not the fact that new hardware exists that bothers me, of course this will always be the case. the part that bothers me is apple's irresponsibility to their customers, especially to those first in line, willing to support them, in not giving them the best product they knew they could.

[chill.]

the ways in which my macbook are falling behind in tech just gets me more excited over how big of an upgrade my next laptop will be :P

in 2-3 years the standard might be mobile i13 and affordable ssd!! i really can't wait

[robanga]

well judging by the first sentence, you seem to have atleast somewhat of an expendable income, to warrant the macbook as being your secondary sub par (sub to whatever your main) laptop, so I'm not sure if you are the best person to answer. Like you, I have also upgraded to 4gb of ram, and run win 7 through bootcamp, though if I may ask, why do you run it through both bootcamp and fusion? seems like a bit of a waste of disk space?


My primary laptop is an older MBP 15 in, because I like the slightly larger screen and matte finish for longer working sessions. I run Win 7 in both a bootcamp and virtualization mode because one is for one I want to mainly be in Windows with all of its native speed, and the other is for when I want to just briefly go over to Windows for something or use its unity mode

Being in hardware development myself, I can appreciate how difficult it is. You have to keep the revenue streams going and also have to plan well in advance. Our models were likely in pre-production long before the next model was out of the lab prototype stage. Feature updates keep rolling on.

I see this in hardware all the time, so I guess I am immune to it. Sometimes the next upgrade takes forever to arrive (Mac Mini) and sometimes it seems like you barely have something out of the box and the next version is out.

[powerbook911]

zuluedison -

Your computer is still really really fast, and it has the identical structure as the current 13-inch. You really have no worry to be upset. You have a great computer. They added 3 words to the end of the name and added FW. That is all. The speed bump would have happened anyway.

Someone more sad might be one who bought a plastic model for the same price right before your model came out.

Your model will serve as a great computer for a long time yet. You effectively still have a current generation machine. Yes, it has been speed bumped and whatnot. However, you have the same graphics, same speed memory, same size hard drive, same type of processor, etc. etc. The machines are almost identical. Enjoy it.

[Artagra]

OP, you do realise that if you had bought a Dell / Lenovo / IBM / Acer / Asus laptop in October 08, there is a very, very good chance that there would be a newer model with better specs by June 09? Just mentioning it. I own a computer retail store, and I can tell you know that launching new computers every now and again is something that computer companies do! :)

I think one reason why everyone is upset is because they went from "Macbook" to "Macbook Pro" - the name change seems to have made people feel it's a bigger change than it was.

[adder7712]

Don't feel bad, we're in the same boat, got mine in December.

Mine's 2.0GHz C2D is still pretty good IMHO, it's just 260MHz less than the low-end 13 inch Pro. ;)

But mine could use a RAM and HDD upgrade.

[andalusia]

As I remember it, the screen received an upgrade as well. As a photographer, I would love the addition of the sd card slot. Firewire, maybe not as much. The extra ghz, I wouldn't mind as well as the addition to go past 4gigs of ram for my gaming and editing.

If you are a photographer, why would you buy a Macbook for editing on? I would have expected a photographer to have wanted at least a 15-inch machine, as well as the better specs that come with owning a more expensive Macbook.



well judging by the first sentence, you seem to have atleast somewhat of an expendable income, to warrant the macbook as being your secondary sub par (sub to whatever your main) laptop, so I'm not sure if you are the best person to answer. Like you, I have also upgraded to 4gb of ram, and run win 7 through bootcamp, though if I may ask, why do you run it through both bootcamp and fusion? seems like a bit of a waste of disk space?

If you set it up through Bootcamp first, you can use Fusion to use that partition so whether you use Bootcamp or Fusion you are using exactly the same OS and the same files etc. Saves space.

[Mindinversion]

Okay, so I'm a little disspointed at missing the screen refresh, but outside of that I'm PROUD to own a limited collector's edition 13" Macbook. As for the rest of the "upgrades" the 13" pro receives, I upgraded the ram and HDD myself, my printer has all the SD card slots I could ever need, and despite what anyone SAYS you won't see a real world performance increase from 130Mhz, especially from laptops which traditionally downclock themselves most of the time anyway to save battery.

Do you have a right to be upset about buying a limited run product that was quickly replaced by an upgraded model? Absolutely. Should you abandon macs entirely because of it? That's up to you. Personally, I think that particular reaction is a bit extreme in this situation.

If they'd moved straight to 8 gig loaded quad cores, I'd have gone up in flames ;)

[zuluedison]

If you are a photographer, why would you buy a Macbook for editing on? I would have expected a photographer to have wanted at least a 15-inch machine, as well as the better specs that come with owning a more expensive Macbook.

Well as it stands it seems to be a rather good thing I didn't...or else I'd be quite a bit more upset about spending the extra cash at this point on one of the older MBP's and then seeing the refresh.

however the reason I didn't is that I'm also a student, and while having the best of the best, would be great, financially it's really not an option. Remember that people edited photos for years with machines less powerful than my MB. my MB accomplishes the task fine. As i've said before I am perfectly happy with my MB, what I AM upset about is the way in which apple handled the transition.





If you set it up through Bootcamp first, you can use Fusion to use that partition so whether you use Bootcamp or Fusion you are using exactly the same OS and the same files etc. Saves space.

neat, I was unaware of this, but I'm not sure I fully understand what you are saying...
Are you saying if you set up bootcamp first (I did) I could then have fusion boot from that partition? That would be extremely helpful I didn't know you could do that.

[acfusion29]

Steve Jobs: "k guys.. people are complaining, let's just release 1 product every couple of years, we don't need to make money, screw technology as well..."

:rolleyes: sigh...

You knew what you were buying at the time, don't complain when there's a refresh.

[zuluedison]

Don't feel bad, we're in the same boat, got mine in December.

Mine's 2.0GHz C2D is still pretty good IMHO, it's just 260MHz less than the low-end 13 inch Pro. ;)

But mine could use a RAM and HDD upgrade.

no, definitely. I agree, it's just unfortunate.


Okay, so I'm a little disspointed at missing the screen refresh, but outside of that I'm PROUD to own a limited collector's edition 13" Macbook. As for the rest of the "upgrades" the 13" pro receives, I upgraded the ram and HDD myself, my printer has all the SD card slots I could ever need, and despite what anyone SAYS you won't see a real world performance increase from 130Mhz, especially from laptops which traditionally downclock themselves most of the time anyway to save battery.

Do you have a right to be upset about buying a limited run product that was quickly replaced by an upgraded model? Absolutely. Should you abandon macs entirely because of it? That's up to you. Personally, I think that particular reaction is a bit extreme in this situation.

If they'd moved straight to 8 gig loaded quad cores, I'd have gone up in flames ;)

haha, true.

But because you upgraded the ram and hdd yourself, you paid an additional amount. You were already paying more, and got less, and then you paid even more to make those two features even. On top of that even if you wanted to upgrade your ram further, you are unable to, and as of yet it seems this is just an arbitrary limit set by apple for no apparent reason...

In another situation it'd make sense, but with the time of the refresh, it's just upsetting that apple planned out this release so poorly, and then after doing so didn't offer so much as a statement of apology to those of us who bought early.


Whether or not I abandon mac entirely, I guess I was being a bit hasty. But seeing as the only apple product I'd consider buying is a laptop (I would build my own desktop, and ipods don't offer anything near what some other players (the Cowon brand is my personal favorite) do in terms of sound quality and file types supported (both audio and visual)) I'd have a tough time convincing myself everything would work out fine this time.

As I've said again and again. It is not the computer itself that i'm particularly upset with (as that would make me a bit strange :p ) it is Apple's handling of the situation that has really put me off.

[zuluedison]

Steve Jobs: "k guys.. people are complaining, let's just release 1 product every couple of years, we don't need to make money, screw technology as well..."

:rolleyes: sigh...

You knew what you were buying at the time, don't complain when there's a refresh.

what a polite response, thanks.


As a company Apple prides itself (as any company should) on giving their customers a complete well planned out package. At the time they released my MB, I assumed it was their best effort and thats why I bought it. Due to the very quick refresh, and the fact that many of the features included in the refresh were already prevalent in most competitors laptops at the time, it became apparent that obviously at the time they released the unibody MB they knew full well they were going to very quickly release it as the MBP.

now I understand as a company their primary goal is to make money, but I believe they also have a responsability at that point to say, hey, it seems kind of unfair to all those people who enjoy our product and want to be the first to get them to immediately push out another better version of their laptop.

now in this situation companies have two options,

1) delay the release (obviously not a popular option, and I am not suggesting realistically that they should have done this)

or

2) Acknowledge after the release of the bumped up model, that those who purchased the first model will recieve some kind of basically present for being an early adopter.

is it required of a company? no absolutely not. Does it happen? yes, and often enough that its not ridiculous for me to be saying this. Am I whining about my laptop? no. Am I whining about apple's handling of the situation? yes.

[zuluedison]

if a mod wants to lock this thread, please go ahead.

as its been noted this conversation has surely transpired before, and its just going to be the same thing over and over again. Sorry for bringing it up, it was really an honest question to begin with, I was just curious.

[Fuchal]

How did Apple mis-handle the transition? The Alu Macbooks were available for almost a full year before they changed to the 13" Macbook Pro. And even then there isn't a huge difference between the two. If you drop the name change, the new laptop is simply a spec bump up from the old one, same as you would expect every 9 months or so from Apple.

[BeachChair]

The only thing that saddens me is the poor viewing angles and black levels of the screen. But even knowing that at the time wouldn't have made me postpone the purchase 9 months. At the time the LED was brighter and more powerefficient than the competition.

The uMB was a fantastic machine at release and so was the uMBP nine months later.

[acfusion29]

what a polite response, thanks.

No problem.. it seems like you're having trouble understanding how technology works.

Delay what release? It was 8 months, EIGHT. What more do you want from them?

And a present? lol. this has to be a joke.

Do you go back to dealerships when a new car is released because it has new features for a cheaper price?

[zuluedison]

No problem.. it seems like you're having trouble understanding how technology works.

Delay what release? It was 8 months, EIGHT. What more do you want from them?

And a present? lol. this has to be a joke.

Do you go back to dealerships when a new car is released because it has new features for a cheaper price?



actually to set it straight, there were two iterations of my Macbook.
and as it turns out I was wrong, I thought the refresh time was much shorter than it was. And actually looking at apples track record I see now, that their refreshes are sometimes quite quick. I think it was the powerbook (not sure) that had 6 refreshes in two years.


Delay what release? It was 8 months, EIGHT. What more do you want from them?

cool apart from speaking rudely for no reason, it appears you can't read at all, let me quote for you what I said (obviously not a popular option, and I am not suggesting realistically that they should have done this)
so if you read it, as I said...I do not think that was a viable option or even think that they should have done that. Just mentioning an option that companies sometimes take, so sue me.

And a present? lol. this has to be a joke.

but I'm still confused by this...how is that a joke, have you really never heard of companies doing this? The practice of reparations is completely common practice in the technology market, maybe in this situation it doesn't apply...but its not out of the ordinary at all...


I guess I don't understand what your problem is. by saying any of this, am I personally offending you? everything you said, you could have said in a nicer way, but if you get off on treating people badly just because its over the internet, more power to you I guess. just take it easy and have a good day alright, I don't mean you any harm...

[mosx]

As much as I rip on Apple's notebooks (love my iPhone, half a dozen iPods), I don't see what Apple did wrong. They updated a system 8 months after the last update.

If anything, Apple doesn't update fast enough. Look at their line of notebooks. What exactly has changed in the last year? Same CPUs, same screens, same GPUs. While HP and Dell have the same designs and models as a year ago, they've moved on to Core i7, faster CPUs, they've revised the GPUs in them several times over the last year.

Apple really doesn't update quick enough. The only real difference between the current 13.3" MacBook Pro at $1199 and last year's aluminum MacBook is 260MHz, a single format card reader, and Firewire that most people have never used and will never use. Oh and the battery was downgraded and made non-user replaceable.

Look at PCs from a year ago to today. You have 16x9 screens, cheaper blu-ray, significantly faster GPUs, Core i7 options across the board (even standard), etc. While Apple is still using the same CPUs, nearly 2 year old GPU technology (older if you want to get really technical), and still using 12 year old DVD only technology.

Apple definitely doesn't owe anything to anyone other than the people they suckered money out of for systems with Intel GPUs

[adder7712]

Apple definitely doesn't owe anything to anyone other than the people they suckered money out of for systems with Intel GPUs They stopped using Intel GPUs in their laptops and the 9400M is not 2-year old technology. It came out last year, along with the rest of the GeForce 9 series.

[mosx]

They stopped using Intel GPUs in their laptops and the 9400M is not 2-year old technology. It came out last year, along with the rest of the GeForce 9 series.

The first GeForce 9 was introduced nearly 2 years ago at the beginning of 2008, Feb. 2008.

Most of the GeForce 9, particularly the mobile series, were just rebadged GeForce 8 cards with slightly faster clock speeds, or chip shrinks, or both.

So yeah, one could argue that GeForce 9 technology is two years old or more.

Edit: Plus millions upon millions of MacBooks at $1099, $1299, $1499, as well as Mac minis at $599, and $799 were sold with those POS Intel GPUs.

[bimmerfreak0]

Look, I am with the OP, it pissed me off to know end that they retrofitted the MB with firewire and a better screen...

I could care less about a card reader (usb...done), same with spec bump in processor, nobody would notice...

BUT, I really do not like my screen 8C9C (the most horrible one I think) and I really do/did want firewire...but I chose to be an early adopter because my Asus laptop pretty much died...so it was either wait 6-8 months while in college with no lappy or know I was going to get screwed with Rev. A...

Fu Apple...they were simple addon's...I knew spec bumps were coming, did not expect there to be an upgraded screen, better battery, card reader and (OH WAIT!!!!) FIREWIRE THAT YOU ORIGINALLY HAD ON THE OLDER ONE!!!!!!!!!

[bimmerfreak0]

They stopped using Intel GPUs in their laptops and the 9400M is not 2-year old technology. It came out last year, along with the rest of the GeForce 9 series.

I don't care how you roll the ball the 9400m is junk...I play homeworld 2 and it struggles (this is a game developed in 2002 btw, before there was widescreen gaming even!)

The 9400 was an excuse to get rid of intel...but still put crap in the computer...

They should have at least given some options for graphics cards (you could even upcharge...what a concept) like every other laptop manufacturer out there...

[pellets007]

I don't care how you roll the ball the 9400m is junk...I play homeworld 2 and it struggles (this is a game developed in 2002 btw, before there was widescreen gaming even!)

The 9400 was an excuse to get rid of intel...but still put crap in the computer...

They should have at least given some options for graphics cards (you could even upcharge...what a concept) like every other laptop manufacturer out there...For what is being paid for the laptop, I agree that the 9400M is junk. However, relative to most IGPs, the 9400M is quite well off.

To the OP, don't let the 'Pro' sticker irk you. Really, the only notable changes were in the battery and the screen, and if you bought you MacBook after February, the screen change is null. Sure there is FireWire and an SD slot, but you knew what you were buying, and if FireWire or an SD slot were considered necessities, it is likely that you wouldn't have bought a computer without those ports. The processor speed differences (for example, 2.0 Ghz to 2.13Ghz) can only been seen under a microscope; through meticulous testing.

[KnightWRX]

Here's a tought. Use the fact that the Macbooks have great resale value, sell it on kijiji or any other free site, take the cash to the Apple store and buy a MBP.

You lost some money on the dollar, but you got your upgrade, not to mention over a year of use on your Macbook.

Seriously, you knew what it was when you bought it. At the time, the price charged vs the goods given was good enough for you. It's a computer, you just knew that somewhere down the line, one with better specs would come out.

Heck, I bought my WRX in March '08. They announced the '09 models in July. That's 4 months. The new WRX had 35 more horses, more peak torque, better looking body panels, many other accents and wasn't really more expensive (1k$ on a 32k$ car is nothing). I didn't piss and moan and cry. When I bought my car, I knew the price and the specs and those were satisfying to me.

[polaris20]

Here's a tought. Use the fact that the Macbooks have great resale value, sell it on kijiji or any other free site, take the cash to the Apple store and buy a MBP.

You lost some money on the dollar, but you got your upgrade, not to mention over a year of use on your Macbook.

Seriously, you knew what it was when you bought it. At the time, the price charged vs the goods given was good enough for you. It's a computer, you just knew that somewhere down the line, one with better specs would come out.

Heck, I bought my WRX in March '08. They announced the '09 models in July. That's 4 months. The new WRX had 35 more horses, more peak torque, better looking body panels, many other accents and wasn't really more expensive (1k$ on a 32k$ car is nothing). I didn't piss and moan and cry. When I bought my car, I knew the price and the specs and those were satisfying to me.

Do you have the hatchback? Great cars, I'm envious.

I agree with you in terms of the topic at hand though. The original uMB is a nice laptop, however the much better battery life, FW800 (which I use all the time), and the screen would make it worthwhile (to me anyway) to sell it on Evilbay and get the newer model. The memory capacity is a big factor too, because it'll extend the usable life of the laptop when 4GB DIMMs fall more.

[Chaosen1]

I bought my uMB in October. I'm not even the slightest bit disappointed in how Apple handled the situation. I had arguably the best computer on the market for 8 months, before the competition stepped up. Why would you buy a laptop that didn't have everything that you wanted? The current uMBP is virtually identical! Being easier to upgrade HDD and RAM, and the ability to swap out your battery outweigh some of the other features that the uMBP doesn't have.

If you can remember back to when the uMBP was released, if you had bought a regular uMB 2 weeks before the announcement, you could return/rebuy and get back $100 (due to the price drop).

[darngooddesign]

You should start an online petition.

I supposed if you complain loudly enough to Apple you might get an iTunes card.