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Apple Quietly Updates Entry-Level White MacBook
- Thread starter aa521490
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i JUST bought my wife one on saturday. what is the return policy? can i return hers and get this new one? it's seems silly not to be able to. i can't believe i just bought it and now they upgrade it!😱
Unfortunately, Apple will charge you a restocking fee.
But that restocking fee is a small price to pay when you consider just how much longer the system will be usable thanks to the 9400M. Not taking the plastic cracking issues into account 😉
i was reading on a blog about this and people were saying they will waive the fee if you ask nicely... wonder if that is true.
Yeah it varies from store to store and employee/manager to the next.
All you can do is try and hope, but its always best to be prepared for the worst. And the faster you get in there and do it the easier it would be to talk your way out of it.
Vulcan
macrumors 65816
Significantly? DDR3 RAM, 40GB Hard Drive space, aluminum (easier to dent), comparably poor display, no firewire?
They are pretty similar in my eyes and it is hardly worth $300. I am even inclined to sell my MacBook to grab one...
It appears this is available in the Australian Online store as well.
very tempting.
while saving 4 grand for a macbook pro I'd be very tempted to grab one of these once I had saved 2 grand instead.
very tempting.
while saving 4 grand for a macbook pro I'd be very tempted to grab one of these once I had saved 2 grand instead.
Whoa, you're talking to someone who has owned two different plastic MacBooks, one of which was a replacement system.
If you want to try to convince someone that the plastic MacBooks have better casing and build quality, you're talking to the wrong person.
Both of the plastic MacBooks I owned were rarely used. They never left the desk and the only time they got picked up was once or twice a week when they were moved around on the desk. Yet, despite the lack of use, I still had discoloration issues (white turning yellow due to heat) and cracking in multiple areas due to heat.
Also, the display is WORSE on the aluminum unit? Again, I had two plastic MacBooks. Both had LG screens, considered by many to be the best for that series. I have the LG screen in my unibody and theres no comparison. The plastic MacBook screen is just flat out crap in comparison.
And finally, the RAM issue. You're comparing DDR3 running at 1066MHz versus DDR2 at 667MHz. Thanks to architectural differences and the speed difference, you're looking at up to 40% performance increase in games and other bandwidth intensive applications. As another posted pointed out earlier, you almost essentially have one channel of the "dual channel" mode available to the GPU for games. And I can tell you from experience that going up to DDR2 800 will have no increase over DDR2 667.
ryannel2003
macrumors 68000
The WhiteBook's are great machines, and this update only proves that Apple needs that low-end $999 machine to compete with Windows. It's also clear they don't feel the AluBook is that machine. I have to say, I've had my WhiteBook for almost a year and wouldn't thinking of giving it up for anything. I usually get sick of my computers after 6 months, but not this one. I'll be keeping it for awhile...
NT1440
macrumors P6
Acorn
macrumors 68030
im really confused now wich one to get. the alum or the whitebook. my biggest concern is the trackpad. im not so sure i will like not having a real button on the trackpad. so the whitebook is really appealing. i will get the graphics update without that crazy buttonless trackpad. 1 minute i want one the next minute i want the other. arrrgh. as long as they will both play diablo 3 when it comes out i dont care about "slightly better".
California
macrumors 68040
Return it for the new white one and buy a ram upgrade from them at the same time. This will make them happier not to charge a restocking fee.
Eric S.
macrumors 68040
I have both and for me adjusting to the new trackpad was not a big deal. Except, if you want to run Windows (I run XP through Boot Camp), the trackpad performance is still sucky. It's much better since Apple recently updated the driver, but it definitely underperforms the old plastic Macbook trackpad.
I think he simply was trying to say, in general, macs are too expensive for most people to buy or even consider purchasing. When someone can walk into a store and look at specs alone and see a windoze and see that it is $300 bucks or for that matter just turn on the tv and catch shopnbc and get a whole bundle of something with 33 rebates and you will be set. 😀
I think most people who have never used a mac are frightened or terrified by the price. Yeah, you get what you pay for and they aren't for everyone. I started out with a $50 B&W years ago.
I, being a mac user the majority of my computer days, like the small market and would rather it stay that way. So if that means no sub $999 notebook so be it. Either pinch some pennys or hit up ebay or craigslist.
Oh, by the way, I am going to be sad to see whitey go. 🙁 That design is classic. They will be missed.
Have you seen how much apple charges for ram???
The only way I would consider this, or even let that thought enter my brain is if they weren't going to take it back. Then I may utter something like that out but only if it was in desperation.
Acorn
macrumors 68030
i have an older macbook i bought last year. when i first bought it i had bootcamp on it to ease my transition from windows. i dont know what happened one day i woke up and deleted my bootcamp partition. its been like 7 months now and i never looked back. so the chances i would use bootcamp on the new macbook are very low. if you say the trackpad isnt that bad. maybe i will give it a shot.
Right, because the memory speed is going to affect a real-world application, like, ever, and the 100 Mhz matters at all.
Vulcan
macrumors 65816
I'm not saying the casing is better, but plastic won't dent. I will freely admit, if you pick up a plastic MacBook by one end, it feels like it is going to break in half so it isn't as great as the new unibodies. Cracking, yes, but it's getting much rarer.
In my opinion, both displays are horrible and I get annoyed with my MacBook if I'm not using it with an external display. I'm not endorsing one is better than the other, I don't like either. I prefer the Air.
While the MacBook does have the same old plastic shell and DDR2, it is still a great value for $300 less than the aluminum MacBook.
New white mac book with NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics now available from uk online store for £719.00
!¡ V ¡!
macrumors 6502a
That is why I love my SR MBP it has both FW 400 and 800, choices. 😉
Mac OS X can handle up to if not more than 16 Gigs of ram, it all depends if the processor can handle and if Mac OS X will recognize over 4 Gigs of ram. I know the SR processor will handle 8 Gigs of ram, however I have yet to try. Safer to just put 1x SO DIMM 4 Gig.
Actually the Al MB are not justified, since most of the cost is to cover the UniBody manufacturing process. If you believe otherwise then I suggest you review the Apple Event that happened last year when the UniBody MB was released and Steve Jobs was praising it. LED display is power savings is fractional and it depends on the brightness level and user preference. MDP does not improve video, and if you are referring to HDCP then that is a different situation.
I remember similar claims with the Al MBP. I have an Al MBP and I have no such palm wear, must be the acidity level in those customers that is in they sweat due to excessive acid intake in food/drink.
I agree, if I had not purchased this 10" NetBook I would have jumped on this model. I also paid less than $500 for this NetBook, it way due to price that sold me in the end.
!¡ V ¡!
macrumors 6502a
How true, these brag specs look disappointing when conversing with friends. However in the end this update is actually better than the UniBody. LED display is user preference.
!¡ V ¡!
macrumors 6502a
I always wished that Apple could offer the option to not have ram or a HDD for those technical users who are comfortable to do this on they own. I wonder how much more a user would save by having no HDD or ram offered by Apple.
DDR2 and DDR3, one would hardly notice the difference. Might save a few seconds here and there and even if you add it up, it would not be much. LED displays are user preference, the power savings might amount to 30 mins make of portable use, then again it also depends on the brightness level. If you want instant-on then LED BL is the way to go. 🙂
Spoken like someone who has never built a PC 😉
Today's CPUs are still bandwidth limited. You take a Core 2 Duo at 2GHz and give it double the FSB speed and double the RAM speed and it will perform much better than it had with the slower FSB and slower RAM. I'd go so far as to say that even with DDR3 1066 and the 1066 FSB on the unibody Macs, the Core 2 Duos are still not being fed as much bandwidth as they could eat.
It's foolish to believe, however, that there would be little difference between the DDR2 667 model and the DDR3 1066 model. Even in clock speed alone, you're still talking a good 35-40% difference. When you take into account the bandwidth and architectural differences, you easily have a real world difference of 40% in bandwidth intensive applications like gaming.
Cracking is most certainly not getting rarer. I had my MacBooks sent out for repair multiple times due to case cracking and coming apart when I didn't even move the system around. It never left the desk.
And I honestly can't see how one would dent the unibody MacBook. I take mine with me everywhere. It would have to take a very significant hit, one that would be strong enough to crack the plastic MacBook, to make a dent in the aluminum casing. It's not as weak as the MacBook Pro was, it's a very strong case in comparison to the plastic MacBook, but not as strong as equally priced plastic PCs.
All of the MacBook Air's I've played with have had displays that looked more along the lines of the plastic MacBooks. I've been disappointed in the screen quality of the MBA, even when properly calibrated.
As far as a Mac is concerned, it is somewhat reasonably priced. But its still beter for any potential buyer to go with the unibody MacBook.
Actually, since you're quoting that whole Apple launch period, they claim the LED backlight saves about 30% less energy compared to the same CCFL. Also, DDR3 RAM uses about 30% less energy in comparison.
And, having had multiple plastic MacBooks and now a unibody MacBook, I can say with absolute certainty that the unibody MacBook has a much better display, thanks in part to the LED backlight.
How is it better than the UniBody MacBook? You have inferior battery life, a lower quality display (it is NOT user preference, it is a fact), you have a case that WILL crack in MULTIPLE areas, you have about 40% real world slower RAM (in games and other bandwidth intensive applications), and you have a case that will run hot. I know from experience, plastic MacBooks get H O T. Too hot to use on your lap, while the unibody Mac doesn't even reach half the external temperature of the plastic version, and it cools off fast enough to where you can shut it down and come back 5 minutes later and its as cool as if you hadn't used it all day.