Apple Releases New MacBooks

[Southern]

...So far only three have been released, so where's the rest?...2 new 15" MBP's with LED backlights, but when?

I predict WWDC. No real reason why, only I can see that Jobs could easily devote 20 minutes of his keynote to these features as "first for an Apple product", outside of the expected big Leopard and iPhone bits. They're a lot bigger additions than CPU, RAM, HDD and Wireless updates, so I expect that they will want people all hyped up and expecting to be presented with a "fantastic" MBP update.

 

[Evangelion]

Well this was definitely a small update and disappointing update then.

Well, I'm looking at faster CPU, bigger HD and lower price. That doesn't seem like a bad update to me.

 

[xfiftyfour]

Sure, there's also some grumbling going on about the graphics board, but even a Student is supposed to be doing work...not playing games .

Yeah, I honestly cannot understand why people expect a dedicated card in the MB. It is very clear that there are only TWO things that Apple is using to differentiate the Pro line from the consumer: bigger screen and a dedicated card. There is absolutely NO way that Apple will introduce a dedicated card in the MB - that would even further skew the line between pro and consumer, and essentially cannibalize the pro sales.

Remember how different the PB and the iBooks were in regards to specs? The iBook was very crippled, comparatively. Lower specs, no widescreen displays, thicker case... The MB, on the other hand, has basically always had the same specs (essentially - processor-wise) as the MBP, with very little separating the lines. Why would Apple take away yet ANOTHER difference?

 

[Nym]

Calm down people! It's not like there's a metheor coming straight to earth in the next 20 minutes! Take a chill pill!

If you are so disappointed because "you're not going to buy your first Mac because the MB's weren't updated with SR and therefore you're buying a Windoze PC" then my friend, you really have no idea of what "owning a Mac" is. It's not about specs, it's about OS X. It's not about speed but stability and coherence, the sooner you learn this the quicker you can stop whining and buy a Mac already.

After a week of computing with OS X you'll never think about specs the same way.

 

[headhammer]

And the 17" screen, and the 7200 RPM drive...



The MBP has a full DVI out, backlit keyboard, better speakers, larger screen, aluminum case, Express Card 34 slot, FW800... etc., etc., etc.



You're not a very good salesman and you don't know your product very well.

ya. ok. i'll quit my job tomorrow. whatever.

if a uni student walks in (about 40% of my weekly sales) i'm not going to sell a desktop over a laptop over how many rpm the hard drive can do. they don't care.

likewise, they don't need (or, in most cases, even know about) firewire 800.

this is the same with most families (about 50% of my weekly sales).

the people that really need this need more out of the computer than a 15 inch screen, and normally opt for the better of the 15 inch pros.

your average consumer is not goig to look at rpms or firwire and doesn't care either.

if a single mom walked into a car shop, the salesman there is not going to try and sell her a ferrari unless she specifically is asking after it.

if i was selling to you, maybe a mbp would be better. but most people don't have your needs, and won't be convinced to spend another $1000 over firewire 800, speakers and a hard drive that's a bit faster when they can save that money and get a bigger hard drive and the same amount of ram.

for most people, that's a really hard sell.

fyi, i'm an certified apple product professional and certifed apple support techinician, so don't tell me that i don't know my product when you don't even know me.

 

[BigPrince]

You people are pathetic. 45nm isn't hitting til the end of the year, so no new processor.

Santa Rosa is a minimal update. Most people want the Robson caching but it is smarted for Apple to wait for NAND to plummet as more companies start using it.

This is a nice bump, those who were waiting have no reason not to buy. The graphics are fine, I run Aperture just fine. Quite your whining you babies.

I don't think we are pathetic at all. This update left a lot to be desired. For me I enjoy the excitement and sometimes we leave happy and other times we leave disappointed.

Do you want the people to lie and pretend they are happy? Its good to share opinions and instead of calling us pathetic just explain why you feel this was a good update like you did after you called us pathetic.

 

[Flaki]

Imo the MB update is not so bad , guys the most wonderful thing that MB have is the OS X , and personaly i think OS X is woth 1000000$.

 

[eenu]

Has anyone else noticed the 50 quid price drop for all the MB's in the Apple UK Store? this combined with a student discount puts the MB base model at under 700 quid... What a bargain!! Also, I'm from outside the EU, so I can buy it here and claim VAT back on it when i go back home. woohoo... Thank you .. This is an awesome update!!!

Puts it at £601 at my educational dicount

 

[Evangelion]

It's funny that people still complain about the combo drive.

As someone with a base macbook, I don't miss the superdrive at all. If I need to watch a movie I just use VCDs.

Um, you can watch DVD's on the combo-drive. What you can't do is to burn DVD's.

 

[Zadillo]

No, we don't like paying full price for a year old model when it was released AFTER everyone else updated their notebooks to SR. People kinda get mad when their premium computer maker pulls out bargain basement tactics.

You do realize that not everyone has updated to Santa Rosa yet.

Dell, for example, is still only selling Napa Inspirons, for example.

 

[mattscott306]

So we got the opposite...we don't have the latest chipset, the prices did not go down(did one increase or did they stay the same), nothing changed in the monitors, nothing changed in the thickness, we still have combo drives lingering around and a small ram upgrade for the base model...

Apple doesn't work that way as far as chipsets go, It takes them a little longer to get in the latest chipsets. The only point I will concede to you is on the Combo drive, that does need to go away.

 

[BigPrince]

Well, I'm looking at faster CPU, bigger HD and lower price. That doesn't seem like a bad update to me.

Did the price go down? If so, please tell me from what price to what price. I can't remember what they were, but it seems like they went up.

I guess the "level" of the update is in the eye of the beholder.

 

[statikcat]

Calm down people! It's not like there's a metheor coming straight to earth in the next 20 minutes! Take a chill pill!

If you are so disappointed because "you're not going to buy your first Mac because the MB's weren't updated with SR and therefore you're buying a Windoze PC" then my friend, you really have no idea of what "owning a Mac" is. It's not about specs, it's about OS X. It's not about speed but stability and coherence, the sooner you learn this the quicker you can stop whining and buy a Mac already.

After a week of computing with OS X you'll never think about specs the same way.

That is your OPINION. Of course it is about specs. Sounds like you would buy a POS computer as long as it had OSx. This other poster wants to play WoW.. you cant do that on a Macbook because of SPECS! OSx has nothing to do with it.

 

[Hattig]

And the 17" screen, and the 7200 RPM drive...

The MBP has a full DVI out, backlit keyboard, better speakers, larger screen, aluminum case, Express Card 34 slot, FW800... etc., etc., etc.

MacBook has DVI output too, the mini-DVI to DVI dongle is £15 in the Apple Store. BackLit keyboard costs what? $5? Speakers, yeah, but not $100s, just $10s at most. ExpressCard34 slot - that's just a PCIe x1 + USB2 interface you know, you just need the space in the case to have it. FW800 sure, if you need it. Now the styling is worth something too, and of course the graphics and larger screen. But not as much as the difference is. Especially in Europe now the MacBook prices have been price adjusted.

£699 optoin would be fine if you could upgrade to a DVD-RW for even £30, but that isn't an option. So you're stuck with the £829 (what was this before? £899?) option, which gets you +40GB and +1.66GHz.

 

[furcalchick]

now the one i got 5 months ago is no longer the new one....

but good update.

 

[Leoff]

this is now the third time i've said this in the last half hour *cries*

the only difference between the top macbook and the superdrive 17 inch imac is a dedicated graphics card in the imac

the top macbook actually now has a bigger hard drive and faster superdrive than the entry macbook pro, which again, only has a dedicated graphics card over the macbook.

updates can't be far away for the imac and macbook pro, especially given that there's now a difference of AUD$1000 between the top macbook and the bottom macbook pro.

i sell these for a living, and selling macbook pros got a whole lot harder with this update.

If you seriously sell these for a living, you're a poor salesman because you really don't know your product.

Yeah, the ONLY difference between the top macbook and the superdrive 17 inch imac is a dedicated graphics card in the imac. Apparently you didn't notice the 4 extra inches of real estate on the screen...

 

[2tallyAwesome]

Um, you can watch DVD's on the combo-drive. What you can't do is to burn DVD's.

Well DUH...I mean on a tv. If I need to watch on television, I burn a vcd. I had hoped people would get that without having to spell it out.

 

[headhammer]

If you seriously sell these for a living, you're a poor salesman because you really don't know your product.

Yeah, the ONLY difference between the top macbook and the superdrive 17 inch imac is a dedicated graphics card in the imac. Apparently you didn't notice the 4 extra inches of real estate on the screen...

hey, READ BEFORE POSTING

ya. ok. i'll quit my job tomorrow. whatever.

if a uni student walks in (about 40% of my weekly sales) i'm not going to sell a desktop over a laptop over how many rpm the hard drive can do. they don't care.

likewise, they don't need (or, in most cases, even know about) firewire 800.

this is the same with most families (about 50% of my weekly sales).

the people that really need this need more out of the computer than a 15 inch screen, and normally opt for the better of the 15 inch pros.

your average consumer is not goig to look at rpms or firwire and doesn't care either.

if a single mom walked into a car shop, the salesman there is not going to try and sell her a ferrari unless she specifically is asking after it.

if i was selling to you, maybe a mbp would be better. but most people don't have your needs, and won't be convinced to spend another $1000 over firewire 800, speakers and a hard drive that's a bit faster when they can save that money and get a bigger hard drive and the same amount of ram.

for most people, that's a really hard sell.

fyi, i'm an certified apple product professional and certifed apple support techinician, so don't tell me that i don't know my product when you don't even know me.

 

[Roderick Usher]

Apple is under no obligation to satisfy you.

Holy cookies. This the most incredible thing I've ever read here. Of course they're under an obligation to satisfy us. We're their customers. We're the reason they exist. How can anyone possibly think otherwise?

Yeah, I honestly cannot understand why people expect a dedicated card in the MB.

I think it boils down to Apple's total indifference toward gaming. Professionals would use the MacBook Pro for Photoshop, Maya, etc., I can understand that. But consumers still have one big use for dedicated video hardware, and that's gaming. You don't need to be a digital editing pro to want to play Quake 4 or World of Warcraft on max settings, and if Apple recognized that, they'd outfit their "consumer" model laptop with better graphics.

 

[Manatee]

That wasn't very exciting.

Wake me up when the 3 pound sub-note with 64GB SSD and built-in 3G arrives.

 

[CptnJustc]

Yeah, I honestly cannot understand why people expect a dedicated card in the MB. It is very clear that there are only TWO things that Apple is using to differentiate the Pro line from the consumer: bigger screen and a dedicated card. There is absolutely NO way that Apple will introduce a dedicated card in the MB - that would even further skew the line between pro and consumer, and essentially cannibalize the pro sales.

There's a bit more differentiating the MB and MBP, as someone mentioned above. But screen size is a pretty big deal -- those Pro apps definitely don't like being squeezed into 13". And I doubt they'd run all that well (at least, not up to a 'pro' standard) even with SR and an X3100.

So I don't think differentiation had that much to do with it. Probably more just a matter of price. The other guys' SR laptops are not, IIRC, not all that cheap yet.

 

[drwrbrts]

I don't know if anybody else has noticed/posted anything about this, but the education discount on the new Macbooks is $100 compared to only $50 with the first version of the MB. This brings the base model down to 999 instead of 1049.

 

[justflie]

Rabble, Rabble, Rabble!

 

[Evangelion]

Did the price go down? If so, please tell me from what price to what price. I can't remember what they were, but it seems like they went up.

They did in Finland at least. IIRC the base-model used to be €1129 and now it's €1049. The other models went down by around 50e as well.

 

[Diatribe]

Was anyone expecting Mini to get SR? Mini has traditionally trailed MacBook in the specs-department. So in the next update, Mini will probably get 1.83 and 2GHz C2D's.

Yeah, some people are expecting a dedicated graphics card in the MB every time it updates too.