sounds like money is your main concern but you'd like to get the unibody... easy solution: buy a refurbished unibody...
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any strong opinions between white and unibody?
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Stop dropping your Macbook! Your never going to convince me that the build quality of the aluminum is worse than the plastic. I will concede however, that it is rediculous how much they cost for repair work.
Listen, I don't know about you, but when I hold $1300 or more computer in my hand, I'm pretty darn careful. Maybe that is just me though.
Just to add my 2cents, I was in a similar position last week. In the end I went the new White. (nearly) All the performance for several hundred dollars less, oh and a firewire port. Seemed a no brainer in the end and I'm very happy with it and have gone and used the change to buy an iomega 1TB minimax.
i've just bought my first ever mac and went with the unibody MB. the DDR3, awesome trackpad and far superior build quality swayed me.
I was the exact reverse. Here is my opinions of why:
1. Trackpad
2. Unibody
3. Backlit LED
4. DDR3
All for 300 bucks. Can't beat that.
Aluminum is EXTREMELY strong. BUT, it is very ductile and malleable. Meaning, you drop it hard enough, it will bend. My friend has a unibody mb that he dropped maybe four feet off the ground, and there is a slight bowing of the aluminum at the top, it is not even noticeable. He had to point it out and even then I still had to move to laptop under the light to get a better view of the nick.
He covered the laptop with one of those clear speck cases, and you can't tell there was ever anything wrong.
On my 17" pro, if i literally clean it, it looks brand new.
Honestly, get yourself the aluminum one.
I'm gonna buy my first macbook. But I really can't decide which one is the better choise: unibody mac 2.0/ 4gb /ddr3 1066 mhz OR white 2.0/ 4gb/ ddr2 667mhz...?? White macbook is a freaking 200euros cheaper and i'm not that sure is there any huge difference between ddr2 667mhz and ddr3 1066mhz.. So why should I spend 200e more to the unibody? I just wan't to make the right decision. Thanks guys..
Geez, you just love opening up a can of worms, huh?
I have a white one - my sis has the unibody. Both are great. Mine was cheaper - hers is "sexier." Mine has a slightly longer battery life, hers has an LED backlit screen. Mine has firewire, hers has DDR3.It all depends on your priorities. To me, price was #1 - add to it that you can get the NEW model white Macbook for $849 from the Apple refurb store, and my mind would be made up.
In my case, it was for $500 since I got my whitebook for $800 new (nvidia model).
1. Trackpad - Nice, but not critical
2. Unibody - Nice, but is prone to damage as much as plastic. Chips/dents.
3. Backlit LED - REALLY liked this feature but the screens are still a notch below MBP. If they shared the same screen, then I'd do it.
4. DDR3 - speed gains are not there, DDR3 is almost equivalent to DDR2 800 (which the new whitebooks now accept).
I find the 2 things I bolded from you original comments to be a negative compared to the white macbooks. Such as the glass screen actually is too reflective at times and smears substances easily and a little harder to clean but in general almost the same as the white macbook's screen since their both the glossy type. Its a shame that its backwards though, keeping the fw for the white macbooks and not the other way around.
But I would definitely get the unibody its worth it.
Does it actually run the memory at 800 MHz though? Since the FSB won't be increased (would increase clock speed and add heat) it can only automatically set a memory divider to run the memory at 800 MHz but I seriously doubt it does that. So that 800 MHz RAM will only run at 667 MHz.
Of course, you won't see any difference in real world performance whether it's 667 or 800 MHz.
The trackpad and unibody construction are the only real reasons to go for the unibody IMO. For the white MB you'd pick it because of the cheaper price and/or FireWire.
Well it seems that those with white ones are going to say white and the unibody ones will say unibody lol.
Personally I have the unibody and have had 2 friends ask for recomendations... my advice to both was if you can afford the extra go for the unibody... it is an awesomly nice laptop and I do think that the case, touchpad and backlit keyboard (for the 2.4) is worth the extra let alone any performance benefit.
That said I also pointed out that the white macbook is pretty damn expensive for a laptop over here (UK) and its still a damn good laptop.
One friend went for a unibody and loves it to bits, the other friend went for a white one and loves it to bits. sooo if you can afford the extra go for the unibody, if you cant then go for the white one... simples
Personally I have the unibody and have had 2 friends ask for recomendations... my advice to both was if you can afford the extra go for the unibody... it is an awesomly nice laptop and I do think that the case, touchpad and backlit keyboard (for the 2.4) is worth the extra let alone any performance benefit.
That said I also pointed out that the white macbook is pretty damn expensive for a laptop over here (UK) and its still a damn good laptop.
One friend went for a unibody and loves it to bits, the other friend went for a white one and loves it to bits. sooo if you can afford the extra go for the unibody, if you cant then go for the white one... simples
In my experience, the white has better wifi reception as well. My friends new nvidia whitebook will pull up access points like crazy.
Not wanting to detract from the holy war currently going on in this thread, I think either one will serve your needs nicely. If the whitebook still had intel integrated graphics, the unibody would win hands down, but it doesn't. If you're going to be using this machine for a while, the led backlighting and unibody construction should wear better than the whitebook (IMO) over time.
I'd go into an apple store, carefully look over and try out the two machines, and decide which one I'd prefer, or at least live with.
I'd then go online to the applestore and buy a refurb version of the machine I chose.
We can sit here all day and argue over the merits of the two machines. (Actually, we just about already have.) But I'd contend that it all comes down to aesthetics and our personal, intuitive, emotional reactions to the machines.
On the plus side, whichever model you choose, you win!
Okay, I'll shut up now and let this thread get back to the jihad already in progress...
Not wanting to detract from the holy war currently going on in this thread, I think either one will serve your needs nicely. If the whitebook still had intel integrated graphics, the unibody would win hands down, but it doesn't. If you're going to be using this machine for a while, the led backlighting and unibody construction should wear better than the whitebook (IMO) over time.
I'd go into an apple store, carefully look over and try out the two machines, and decide which one I'd prefer, or at least live with.
I'd then go online to the applestore and buy a refurb version of the machine I chose.
We can sit here all day and argue over the merits of the two machines. (Actually, we just about already have.)
But I'd contend that it all comes down to aesthetics and our personal, intuitive, emotional reactions to the machines.On the plus side, whichever model you choose, you win!
Okay, I'll shut up now and let this thread get back to the jihad already in progress...
Okay my bad, I should have not said it is Weak. But yeah, an AluBook is weaker than WhiteBook. and it can be tested. I wouldnt volunteer though.
Aluminum is strong, and I know that. Its a friggin metal and used for so many purposes, like in Aeroplanes and stuff. Light and strong. Does that help here?
My Battery cover got dented so easily I had to use force to straighten it. It doesnt fit snugly anymore.
Polycarbonate shell can take much more impact than an Aluminum one. The Aluminum one will instead transfer the force to the internals, which is more harmful.
By all means, get the Aluminum if you can and if you think 300$ more isnt much a difference. Its not like you throw your laptop to ground everyday.
But in case that happens, The WhiteBook should have better chances of survival. The case might crack though. But in case of AluBook, the shell will dent and in the process, mess up with either the screen or the internals.
I'm curious, do you or anyone else have a link to the proper connector that I need to buy to hook a white MacBook up to a monitor?
