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Apple Announces New Aluminum MacBooks

Peace said:
you know what it doesn't have ?

1066 FSB
DDR3 1066 memory
The better NVidia video.
Backlit LED display
Backlit keyboard.
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That is not worth $500 to me.

I do not use it in the dark, I do not play games, and the bus/RAM speed will make a negligible real world difference. LED would be nice, but that doesn't really bother me.

Hickman
 
Torajima said:
So, backing up data to a firewire harddrive, using iMovie with a firewire camcorder, and using GarageBand with a firewire audio interface puts you in 'pro' category? What kool aid have you been drinking...
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I have a Canon mini DV camcorder, A Nikon D90 camera and both have USB connections.
 
PeteyKohut said:
I'll be holding onto my 12" Powerbook thank you very much.
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Same here.. strangely enough, with every new revision of MacBooks, my love for my 12" PB increases (though I still hate that dull display and the poor speed of the G4 processor is starting to annoy me... well, maybe I'll go for the X200 Tablet).
 
editguy said:
As a Broadcast TV teacher I will now be recommending that my students get a PC laptop and Premiere Pro. I also recommend that they buy camcorders with firewire (there are still plenty of them available. And there's no way we will capture through USB through proprietary software and then have to go through a conversion process to use it in an editor. And if iMovie offers USB capture, we wouldn't use it because we don't teach iMovie. We teach professional editing softwares. I think apple may be damaging themselves in the educational market if this is a trend.
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I think that they may also be damaging themselves in EDU simply because of the price. Granted, there is the $999 Macbook but for how long?

I'm not complaining, though. I love the looks of the new Macbook and it looks like an incredible machine. I can't wait to try one in person.
 
Brian Hickman said:
That is not worth $500 to me.

I do not use it in the dark, I do not play games, and the bus/RAM speed will make a negligible real world difference. LED would be nice, but that doesn't really bother me.

Hickman
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so....dont buy it?
 
myca said:
Fool,

I'm not complaining about the new feature set, in fact there seems to be some nifty features in the new macbooks, granted the British and others have been raped by the prices. But again the lack of firewire is gonna kill so many sales to those who can't afford the MBP, and that's from consumers who've invested in FW gear, to professionals to educational markets.

All those consumers with DV gear, thinking about a cheap mac, oops can't or I'll have to get a new camera, looks like Vista, damn.

Say are all the educational facilities that teach Final Cut pro gonna upgrade their current FW decks and or Cameras, or are they gonna think about switching platform and telling all those students who don't have the money for MBPs to maybe get PCs and use some other software, same with Audio institutions.

It's stuff like this that could hurt Apple in years to come, pricing themselves out the market, especially the creative and educational markets, two of their most loyal and strongest proponents.
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I understand that Firewire is important... I use it for my backup HD quite frequently. However, Apple had to "drop the ball" in some areas, and picked up in many other areas. My guess is they figured that if you're using Firewire, you're more of a Pro user than a average user. If you want Firewire now, pick up a Pro or go for a refurb plastic model. Or buy the $999 model.

While the aluminum is nice, I still like my white MacBook. Sure it isn't as sleek, but it does the job. Refurb is the way to go.
 
:/

Hey Ya'll!!!
I was really excited about the updates to the macbook/macbook pro, but with all these negative reviews, it makes me feel discouraged especially since I am switching. I know very little about macbooks, so I was wondering if I should purchase the new macbook or go with a refurbished macbook pro?
I am going to be receiving it for Christmas.
Any insight would be very much appreciated. I am pretty much clueless when it comes to this. :D
Thanks!
 
ryannel2003 said:
Everyone shut up and get over it. Everyone complained when the new iMac's came out... people got over it. No firewire? Who cares? The price probably would've been $1399 base instead of $1299. Don't judge until you see and use it in person.

Sure does look nice. Might sell my white MacBook and pick one up.
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I don't have to use it to judge it. Without firewire, it's of no use to me or my students whom I've always recommended it to. No more. Does it look good? sure. but this is a perfect example of form over function. And firewire is a very basic function. It was apples baby in it's infancy. It's ironic they're the ones dropping it.
 
So how necessary is 4GB memory upgrade for the MacBook?

I've been running with 1.5GB DDR on my iBook G4 Tiger, so 2GB DDR3 seems like more than enough.
 
Hmmm - Back to Dell

Forget it...

A bit of a dissapointment.

I was going to get a new Macbook for my daughter for her last years at school, bt really I get more bang for my buck with a Dell or a Toshiba. I love my Macbook Pro and I would have loved to get her one or the new MB. But I will spend my $$$ elsewhere now.

Nothing really spectacular at this Special Event!:(
 
ryannel2003 said:
Everyone shut up and get over it. Everyone complained when the new iMac's came out... people got over it. No firewire? Who cares? The price probably would've been $1399 base instead of $1299.
Click to expand...

Obviously lots of people care, but you're probably right - surely this is a good reason to voice your frustration?

I'm not complaining about any of the new laptops, why even consider them at these prices?
 
dissapointed the only things they got right were the SSD and the RAM other than that this upgrade was pointless for the consumer am looking to january for the spec bumps

sure they might have had breakthroughs but i will wait
 
Why not an option to delete the Superdrive?!

How many DVD's am I going to be compelled to burn with this rig with no Firewire and a 5400 rpm drive? What is the reason to have a Superdrive now on an Al Macbook?

I rather have the old combo drive back and $100-150 price break.
 
ryannel2003 said:
I understand that Firewire is important... I use it for my backup HD quite frequently. However, Apple had to "drop the ball" in some areas, and picked up in many other areas. My guess is they figured that if you're using Firewire, you're more of a Pro user than a average user. If you want Firewire now, pick up a Pro or go for a refurb plastic model. Or buy the $999 model.

While the aluminum is nice, I still like my white MacBook. Sure it isn't as sleek, but it does the job. Refurb is the way to go.
Click to expand...

That's fine if you're a professional with extra cash. My high school students can barely afford a MacBook. Now, they're out of the game, at least on the Mac side of things.
 
I apologize if this has already been addressed (I haven't read the entire thread yet), but given the price of third-party 4GB DDR3 SDRAM, is the $135 (edu discount price) Apple is asking for the upgrade worth it? It seems so, but I'm not sure if I'm overlooking something here.
 
myca said:
Say are all the educational facilities that teach Final Cut pro gonna upgrade their current FW decks and or Cameras, or are they gonna think about switching platform and telling all those students who don't have the money for MBPs to maybe get PCs and use some other software, same with Audio institutions.

It's stuff like this that could hurt Apple in years to come, pricing themselves out the market, especially the creative and educational markets, two of their most loyal and strongest proponents.
Click to expand...

Exactly.

On the educational front, these machines are 1 step forward, 2 steps back.

On the plus side, with the better video card you can finally run Maya on a Macbook.

On the minus side, you can't use them for video editing, because the good camcorders are still using firewire, nor can you use them for audio creation, as the industry standard audio interfaces are also firewire.

Sure, there are USB camcorders and USB interfaces available, but these are generally lesser units and are most likely NOT the ones owned by your university.
 
Torajima said:
So, backing up data to a firewire harddrive, using iMovie with a firewire camcorder, and using GarageBand with a firewire audio interface puts you in 'pro' category? What kool aid have you been drinking...
Click to expand...
Please... the Kool-Aid thing is SO cliche. I doubt you even know what it is in reference to.

- backing up data to a firewire harddrive: FW400 vs. USB 2 is not a significant day to day difference
- using iMovie with a firewire camcorder: you're really using iMovie on a MacBook? C'mon. If you want to do video production you need a better rig than a consumer laptop.
- using GarageBand with a firewire audio: see above.

Yes, for some people it will be a deal breaker. As vocal as they might be, I doubt they're more than a few percent of potential MacBook buyers.
 
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