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Apple Kills Off White MacBook as Educational Institution Distribution Halted
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kockgunner
macrumors 68000
I wonder how long ago they stopped production and how long it took to sell all of these Macbooks. I've only seen one person with this version of the Macbook. I never really liked plastic Macbooks because I would always see them scratched up, the trackpad would always be shiney and the body would be yellowing/greying/cracking. The build quality on these always felt un-Apple like.
The design of them are really nice though. I really miss the look of the plastic Macs. They were more friendly and had more character.
Also I just noticed how much of the plastic Macbook's design made it into the unibodies. Look at the keyboard, keyboard well, and screen notch 🙂
The design of them are really nice though. I really miss the look of the plastic Macs. They were more friendly and had more character.
Also I just noticed how much of the plastic Macbook's design made it into the unibodies. Look at the keyboard, keyboard well, and screen notch 🙂
MBP13
macrumors 6502
That's cool, you don't have to believe it.
The school is not paying for the iPads. The fee for the iPad is going to be included in the cost of the tuition. The student, not the school, is paying to lease the iPad from Apple.
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I'm not sure about you guys, but when I travel I would much rather carry around a small little MacBook air then a mb. The MBA is not designed to be a powerhouse, it is meant to do everyday things like iTunes, web browsing, stuff like that. Also, you have to remember that the air has the sandy bridge processor and not an outdated intel core 2 duo or just core duo or w/ever the mb shipped with.
Still going strong with my 2008 penryn MacBook. Upgraded to 4gb ram and 640gb hdd, and it runs nicely. Looking to get an Air this summer though.
powers74
macrumors 68000
Well, I guess we all knew this day would come.
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It's happening at the private schools in my town as well.
http://www.baylorschool.org/admission/ipad_overview.aspx
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It's happening at the private schools in my town as well.
http://www.baylorschool.org/admission/ipad_overview.aspx
shahr04360
macrumors regular
I got my sis white mb c/w mighty mouse last monday from nice local seller... Best luck for hunting!...
Drunken Master
macrumors 65816
The only thing about the build quality that bothered me were the unibody ones with the giant rubber mat on the bottom. After some serious use they would get filthy.
SpaceKitty
macrumors 68040
The screws kept falling out on mine and the bottom rubber was peeling off. Apple replaced it free of charge last month. A few of the screws keep coming loose. Just now I looked and had to tighten one of them again.
r0k
macrumors 68040
My 4 year old white Macbook is still going strong. DARN IT! I wanted a MBA but no... mine is working too well. I wanted one of the early 2011 MBPs but no... mine is working too well. About a month ago I got out the windex and cleaned all the yellow discoloration from my keyboard. My white MB looks pretty much as good as it did the day I picked it up at the Apple store. When Lion came out, I upgraded my RAM to 4GB and my HDD to a 500 GB Seagate Momentus XT. I consistently get 20 second boot times and app launching is variable. Frequent apps launch like they were in RAM. Infrequent apps take a little longer.
When upgrade time does finally come around, I think I'm most tempted by a MBA with Thunderbolt, provided TB peripherals have come down to earth in price by then. If they are still too high-priced for my needs, I'll go for the 13 in MBP.
I'm not surprised to see Apple finally kill it off as the white MB has more in common with its more expensive cousin the 13 in MBP than it has in common with its equal-priced cousin the 11 in MBA. The end might have come mostly because schools have switched to iPad.
If iBooks was ever finally available on OS X, Apple might see some "upsales" of schools that were considering iPad but want more capability. To me there isn't much difference carrying around an iPad versus carrying around an 11 in MBA.
When upgrade time does finally come around, I think I'm most tempted by a MBA with Thunderbolt, provided TB peripherals have come down to earth in price by then. If they are still too high-priced for my needs, I'll go for the 13 in MBP.
I'm not surprised to see Apple finally kill it off as the white MB has more in common with its more expensive cousin the 13 in MBP than it has in common with its equal-priced cousin the 11 in MBA. The end might have come mostly because schools have switched to iPad.
If iBooks was ever finally available on OS X, Apple might see some "upsales" of schools that were considering iPad but want more capability. To me there isn't much difference carrying around an iPad versus carrying around an 11 in MBA.
ryannel2003
macrumors 68000
Wow I thought I was the only one that had the screws falling out of a Unibody MacBook. I called Apple about this and they were going to have me send it in but right before I did I noticed the hinge was cracked for the 3rd time in less than a year. I ended up selling it; it's unfortunate because I loved the look of the plastic MacBook's but after having 3 that cracked I decided it was time to get a MacBook Pro. It's a nice computer, but I do miss the friendliness the white model offered.
Jynto
macrumors 6502
There's talk in this thread about unifying the MacBook line, but I for one would not like to see the 13'' and 15'' Pro models replaced with Airs. The result would be almost like Apple only selling one type of laptop. That is maybe what some people want, but I for one would like to see some variety. I'm not asking for an insane level of choice, like in the 'ultrabook' market, but just something different.
There are too many identical looking computers where I used to work. What's the harm in a little variety? I am writing this on a MacBook Pro that would look just like everyone else's, were it not for the rainbow-colored sticker on the back.
There are too many identical looking computers where I used to work. What's the harm in a little variety? I am writing this on a MacBook Pro that would look just like everyone else's, were it not for the rainbow-colored sticker on the back.
Drunken Master
macrumors 65816
Weird.
I never got a unibody (skipped straight to a MBP) but my non-unibody MB made a clicking sound where my right wrist rested.
Otherwise a great computer, I gave it to my dad to replace his netbook so he can watch football games while traveling.
iphone1105
macrumors 68020
I will always cherish my Late 09 Model White Macbook. The unibody design, nice crisp white shell. She's the prettiest computer ever!
Yebubbleman
macrumors 603
With Lion taking up 12GB, and apps taking up a variable amount thereafter, that doesn't leave much space left over for actual data. School environment or not, that's simple math. And that gets worse when subsequent versions of the OS come out requiring more stuff. Do I think a 128GB SSD would fix this problem for the lifetime of any computer bought now for the education market, absolutely, but they are not yet affordable, making it a terrible downgrade for that market. Even beyond that, you could've easily upgraded a Unibody white MacBook to have an SSD and therefore been just as resistant to student abuse. Plus, again, plastic dings, aluminum dents. Either way, it's a moot point as whitey is gone.
😕
With the movement towards offsite and cloud storage I am not surprised at the 64gb drive. Not a single computer in my office environment right now has an install greater than 32gb as most data is stored the server or offsite shares.
64gb may not be enough for the home/home office market, it is perfectly adequate for the education/business environment.
64gb may not be enough for the home/home office market, it is perfectly adequate for the education/business environment.
andrewlgm
macrumors 6502
Even the unibody bodies came with a few serious flaws of their own, and I'm happy apple is killing them for good. The first unibody version which came out in late 09 was and is my first macbook, and got me hooked on OS X and pretty much everything Apple-made. I swapped the HDD for an SSD and maxed out the ram so the computer runs quite smoothly - even though it's a C2D. But if I could go back, I would definitely have picked the Macbook Pro over the white unibody which seemed like the better looking option at the time.
The first major scratch I got was from the genius bar guy who was trying to figure out what was wrong with my airport card, and from there on - LOTS of scratches. The rubberized bottom looks more like a highway in need of repair, dirty and peeling - one of the screws come out every other week, so I must constantly be checking the bottom to see if it's coming loose - and just recently discovered a hairline crack growing from where the lid meets the body on the left side. Never bumped or dropped this laptop, so that for me is unacceptable. I'm out of applecare, so probably will be upgrading to the new macbook air or pro once it's out this june.
SpaceKitty
macrumors 68040
The case cracking is a well known problem on the unibody white MBs. Apple will repair the case free of charge even out of warranty.
The bottom rubber case is also a known problem. Apple is replacing the bottom case free of charge due to the rubber peeling and will replace it at your word and doesn't require the old part back. They will over night the rubber bottom case to you. I ordered mine on the website on a Thursday morning and had it installed on my MB Friday morning.
It seems all of the plastic MBs had issues, even my 2008 black MB has a very slight chipping on the palm rest from the lid.
I'm saying they will upgrade the Air and turn it into a kind of MBA-MBP hybrid and then slowly phase out the optical drive- MBP.
Or they could go even a step further and leave the Air as is and just replace the MBP with a MBA-MBP hybrid (so there are no more optical drive macbooks at all)
Or they could go even a step further and leave the Air as is and just replace the MBP with a MBA-MBP hybrid (so there are no more optical drive macbooks at all)
theelysium
Suspended
I work for a large school district and we thought about buying these, but the spec were way too old. $999 for 2 GB of ram and a core 2 duo? Please!
pagansoul
macrumors 65816
My first laptop was a blackbook. I loved it but it got replaced with the first unibody 15" with the left side slot to add additional USB or Card Readers. My mother currently has the old blackbook, still in perfect condition with not a mark on it but I think the Kindle Fire I got her for Christmas has taken over it's place in her heart.
Bubba Satori
Suspended
Because there's also the issue of the hard drive and if the rumors are correct, the new MPB will only have a solid state drive, which either means much smaller capacity or much higher cost. I recently replaced my 256GB MBP drive with a 750GB drive (which also has an embedded 6GB flash drive, which I assume is used for cache) and even with the drive shortage, I was able to do that for $200, including a case for the old drive, which I can now use as a portable external drive. In the current Apple MBP configurations, for the 15", if you replace the 750GB 5400RPM hard drive with a 256GB solid state drive, it costs an extra $500 for almost one-third the capacity!
Futhermore, to date, the MacBook Air specs have NOT met the MBP specs. That was the difference in the lines. I would not like to see Apple take backwards steps just to fulfill someone's idea of Zen and I don't want to be forced to do everything in the Cloud. There's nothing wrong with the Air, but the machines fulfill different purposes and I think Apple needs to maintain both lines.
Yebubbleman
macrumors 603
These issues are news to me, but if Apple has issued a Repair Extension Program (R.E.P.) then it must be a widespread issue. That being said, I'm only aware of the issues on the pre-Unibody models of which there were more than plenty.
If you don't like the optical drive on the MacBook Pro, don't use it. Or get a MacBook Air as they are today. Most people on here fail to realize that a MacBook Air like MacBook Pro would only yield a larger screen and none of the other benefits of the MacBook Pro. Most people on here are also convinced that the optical drive is the root of all problems with Apple's entire line and I fail to see the logic behind that.
Well this model has a Core i5, but even still a fixed 2GB of RAM limit is unacceptable in 2012.
They won't merge. The MacBook Pro does way too much with all of the things that the ultra-portable-obsessed want removed.
Apple keeps turning its back on the enterprise
Once again, Apple turns its back on the enterprise and the K-12 market. The white MB had its share of flaws, but overall, it was a reliable machine that stood up pretty well to the abuse enterprise level users inflicted on it. It was the "fleet car" of the Apple line, and though pedestrian in many ways, it did what we needed a computer to do and helped me manage my budget during a time of zero growth or budget cuts. Now I'm hosed. I either have to pony up the extra dough for the unibody MBP (until they get rid of that line) or pretend that the Air is sturdy enough to take the punishment I know it will get, which it won't, despite the claims of my Apple rep.
I love the iPad, but it's a real pain in the butt to support at the enterprise level (the VPP totally sucks, for example), and it isn't ever going to do a good chunk of what we need it to do in schools. Even our students know that.
My IT budget shrinks a little more each year, and as Apple abandons the enterprise, it's becoming more clear that I will have to find my "fleet car" somewhere else.
Once again, Apple turns its back on the enterprise and the K-12 market. The white MB had its share of flaws, but overall, it was a reliable machine that stood up pretty well to the abuse enterprise level users inflicted on it. It was the "fleet car" of the Apple line, and though pedestrian in many ways, it did what we needed a computer to do and helped me manage my budget during a time of zero growth or budget cuts. Now I'm hosed. I either have to pony up the extra dough for the unibody MBP (until they get rid of that line) or pretend that the Air is sturdy enough to take the punishment I know it will get, which it won't, despite the claims of my Apple rep.
I love the iPad, but it's a real pain in the butt to support at the enterprise level (the VPP totally sucks, for example), and it isn't ever going to do a good chunk of what we need it to do in schools. Even our students know that.
My IT budget shrinks a little more each year, and as Apple abandons the enterprise, it's becoming more clear that I will have to find my "fleet car" somewhere else.