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Honestly, any noticeable difference?

dukebound85

dukebound85

macrumors Core
Original poster
Between a 2.0ghz core duo blackbook with 2 gig ram and no gaming and the newest mb?

I am contemplating selling mine but and now wondering about the actual effect i would see computer wise if you know what i mean
 
i'd hazard a guess at not much difference, the bus speeds would be faster and 2.53ghz against 2Ghz, dont think you'd really notice it much
 
It's hard to say, depending on what you do. My girlfriend has a 2ghz blackbook with 2gb of ram, and I have the 13"MBP 2.26ghz with 4gb of ram. If I'm just doing word processing, internet browsing, chatting, basic stuff I cant notice a difference. However, for the little bit of photoshop and other more intensive things I do, it's necessary to have the extra power.
 
reebzor said:
It's hard to say, depending on what you do. My girlfriend has a 2ghz blackbook with 2gb of ram, and I have the 13"MBP 2.26ghz with 4gb of ram. If I'm just doing word processing, internet browsing, chatting, basic stuff I cant notice a difference. However, for the little bit of photoshop and other more intensive things I do, it's necessary to have the extra power.
Click to expand...

mainly its music, internet, some word processing and maybe light photo editing and some dvd watching
 
i would say there's a pretty significant and very noticeable difference. core duo vs the latest core 2 duo is like a generation basically, and the nvidia 9400m is a hell of a gpu for an integrated chip. but is it worth the price of upgrading if your laptop works just fine now? not sure
 
Thanks for asking this question. I have a white MacBook with a 2GHz Core 2 Duo. It came with 1GB RAM originally but I have upgraded to 2GB since then and upgraded to a larger hard drive. I may as well just save my money as tempting as the MacBook Pro 13.3" UniBody is 😱

I may just get a nice 24" external display and sell my 20" iMac...good idea or won't the Intel GMA950 integrated graphics be able to handle driving a 24"?
 
If you can smoothly play fullscreen, HD/High Quality Hulu Desktop or Youtube, then the only difference you'll notice is the gaping hole in your bank account 😛

I have a 2.16Ghz iMac and 2.5Ghz MBP, and I only notice a difference when I'm converting video (a file that takes 90 min. to convert on the slower machine might take 80 minutes on the faster). The main bottleneck is the Hard Drive- anything 2Ghz or faster with an SSD will be much quicker than anything under 3Ghz or so with a HDD.

Of course, SSDs are still crazy expensive, and installation can be challenging, but no, you'll not notice a difference in most tasks, in my experience.

EDIT:

@slashjunior: I believe the Macbook can do up to 1920x1200 (so max native res for most 24" monitors).
 
The differences you WILL notice:

Trackpad with gestures
Longer battery life
Better screen
Louder speakers
S-I-L-E-N-T. Even playing Civilization IV, while backing up to Time Machine, this White unibody will barely make a sound, compared to the previous 2008 and 2006 MBs I had. Incredibly silent, and running cooler.

Speed-wise, haven't felt the need yet to upgrade to a 7200 RPM drive, which is good.

Patrix.
 
yea, i think i am going to shut myself off of apple product releases lol. i have decided my lappy is awesome for now!

for online, i can BAREly notice a difference in browsing or general tasks over my core2quad 2.7 ghz 8 gig ram machine

i just need to remember not to buy into the hype lol
 
patrixl said:
The differences you WILL notice:

Trackpad with gestures
Longer battery life
Better screen
Louder speakers
S-I-L-E-N-T. Even playing Civilization IV, while backing up to Time Machine, this White unibody will barely make a sound, compared to the previous 2008 and 2006 MBs I had. Incredibly silent, and running cooler.

Speed-wise, haven't felt the need yet to upgrade to a 7200 RPM drive, which is good.

Patrix.
Click to expand...

Very good point: an upgrade would not give you any real speed boost at all.

However, on the point of silence, my 2009 (2.13) white macbook is as silent as the white unibody macbook I had
 
chill. said:
i would say there's a pretty significant and very noticeable difference. core duo vs the latest core 2 duo is like a generation basically, and the nvidia 9400m is a hell of a gpu for an integrated chip. but is it worth the price of upgrading if your laptop works just fine now? not sure
Click to expand...

For what OP mentioned as his tasks with the computer, neither the CD-->C2D or the GMA950-->9400M bump matter much.
 
reebzor said:
It's hard to say, depending on what you do. My girlfriend has a 2ghz blackbook with 2gb of ram, and I have the 13"MBP 2.26ghz with 4gb of ram. If I'm just doing word processing, internet browsing, chatting, basic stuff I cant notice a difference. However, for the little bit of photoshop and other more intensive things I do, it's necessary to have the extra power.
Click to expand...

Necessary is relative. If you can't wait the extra 5-10 seconds for things to render, sure (like if you're in an intense work environment, for example). But overall? For the casual CS4 user there's not a huge difference between the two models; of course, if you have neither and want to buy one, it makes more sense to spend the extra bit of cash...
 
bit of a silly point, but don't forget that the black macbooks look awesome, and to my mind at least, will likely hold their value very well over time
 
honestly with my blackbook 2007 with the gma950, and 2gb of ram i do photoshop, illustrator, firefox, itunes, iweb, adium, cyberduck,excel, word and socialite all at once and not a hiccup, its still smooth as silk, but this is with all the updates on all the software on snow leopard after a clean install from leopard. i think im really making my monies worth with this blackbook, plus it looks sexy, blackbooks are rare now and well not yet useless, i might try boot camp and windows 7, i got 250gb on mine with a new battery from a friend and free topcase replacement. thanks apple

also i dont think you will notice much speed difference but i do envy the new screens 🙂

honestly this laptop can still play my fav game of all time homeworld 2. and i love typing on it.
 
i have an early 2008 white macbook (2.4GHZ, 4GB Ram, 320 HD). This thing still flies. I compared it to my friends new unibody macbook 2009 and sometimes mine is faster!

But im thinking about getting a Macbook Air 2.13GHZ + SSD or mayb wait till REV D Air because of it's weight. I dont really need extra power coz all i do is Browse the web, iLife and itunes and watch videos online.

Do you guys think that the Macbook Air 2.13GHZ is slower or faster than my macbook?
 
Wow, glad I am not alone in thinking they are still fine and in many cases, not a huge upgrade almost 4 years later

seriously, who would have thought that 4 years ago, that the computer would still more than suffice in comparision to the new ones?
 
dukebound85 said:
Wow, glad I am not alone in thinking they are still fine and in many cases, not a huge upgrade almost 4 years later

seriously, who would have thought that 4 years ago, that the computer would still more than suffice in comparision to the new ones?
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Yes the 2-3 year old white macbook are still FINE! if you are an average user, it'll do fine for another couple of years for sure. All you have to do is upgrade the RAM and change to an SSD in the future.

CPU speed doesnt matter when you do word processing or browse the internet.

On geekbench my white macbook scored 3233.

Though i envy the better screen on the new unibody pro. When i got my white macbook, it was the top end of the macbook (2.4GHZ, 2GB RAM, 160GB HD).

I've upgraded RAM and HD and it's faster than when i got it. I only hope the next Macbook Air can be a sole and primary computer because i only need one machine for my needs.
 
NewMacbookPlz said:
For what OP mentioned as his tasks with the computer, neither the CD-->C2D or the GMA950-->9400M bump matter much.
Click to expand...

it depends what you mean by "matter much". my old 1.8 ghz pentium m dell laptop could handle music/internet/word processing/dvds just fine. but when i upgraded to a core 2 duo i noticed a significant difference.

he's asking if there's a noticeable difference. and i'm saying YES you will definitely notice a difference. obviously any computer made in the last 5 years can handle his workflow, but that's not what he's asking.
 
patrixl said:
The differences you WILL notice:

Trackpad with gestures
Longer battery life
Better screen
Louder speakers
S-I-L-E-N-T. Even playing Civilization IV, while backing up to Time Machine, this White unibody will barely make a sound, compared to the previous 2008 and 2006 MBs I had. Incredibly silent, and running cooler.

Speed-wise, haven't felt the need yet to upgrade to a 7200 RPM drive, which is good.

Patrix.
Click to expand...


You make a great point here. I just went from a mid 2007 Macbook to the lastest gen. The silence is incredible and I love the new trackpad.

All this and not to mention I was able to eBay the old Macbook for a solid 75% of what I paid for the new one. I'll do the same again in a few more years.
 
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