Apple Releases New MacBooks

[Azurael]

You've got to get used to the fact that now Apple directly competing in the faster moving x86-based computer industry, minor speed bumps between major re-designs are going to be a regular thing. This brings a long needed bump to 1GB for base configurations to the table, essential considering the fact that OS X and Vista both take very well to extra RAM.

Stop moaning. Santa Rosa will come in the MBP first. GMA 3000 is part of the package with the 965GM/PM (FSB800 'Santa Rosa') chipsets, and as long as the MacBook is based on 945GM, you're stuck with GMA950. GMA 3000 isn't anything special anyway. All integrated graphics suck for any kind of 3D rendering and perform well enough for day-to-day computer usage. The X3000 might make a difference to that, but early benches suggest that even that is pretty disappointing.

 

[ModestINK]

Uhh... You ever heard of a little application suite called FINAL CUT STUDIO??? The ONLY reason I don't buy a MacBook is because it can NOT run Final Cut Studio. That one little reason forces me to spend almost $2,000.00 more.

Instead of buying an expensive mbp why dont you get an imac

 

[drumforfun19]

IMO I think the mac mini is completely useless!

I'm probablly going to get flammed for this, but Apple should ditch the Mac Mini. It doesn't come with any Monitor or anything, for a little more you can get the imac which is about 50% better all around and comes with everything you need and more. isight for one thing... anyway

this has nothing to do with the MB upgrade, but... Mac Mini's suck. do away with them! or offer a 17" ACD with them for like 100 more bucks.

This was a stupid rant.

 

[Eraserhead]

Then maybe Apple should remove iDVD and iMovie from the iLife suite.

Well I suppose that is an issue, you can always get an External DVD burner if you want one, and you don't do this every day.

Some people can't afford 2 computers, friend. If you can afford to have a dedicated system for games, then that's sweet, but I can't.

But no laptop plays PC games well, unless you spend like $5000, and then you need a new one in 18 months, so you'll have to get a desktop for your gaming anyhow.

 

[bombboy]

I just purchased a MacBook on Saturday :[

Is paying a $150 restock fee to go from a Black MacBook (2 GB RAM and 120 GB HD) to the 160 GB HD and 2.16 GHz processor is worth it? I'm happy about my MacBook as it is, having used it for the past three days extensively. But I feel the need to atleast have the most up to date system.

Really on the fence about this. Apple Store rep said they would transfer data from my current MacBook to the new one and put the memory in the new one as well.

 

[pieman02]

wow 824 negatives

thats gnarly...

I hate the fact that there is no new graphics card - would much prefer that over the stock 1gb of RAM...come on Apple we like graphics cards!

 

[Draythor]

To be honest, this has probably sealed the deal, I was planning on getting one this summer when leopard was released. Now that it's been pushed back to October (pfft ) I'll be happy to get one this summer.
On another note. How well will it run Vista on Boot Camp?

 

[zioxide]

Uhh... You ever heard of a little application suite called FINAL CUT STUDIO??? The ONLY reason I don't buy a MacBook is because it can NOT run Final Cut Studio. That one little reason forces me to spend almost $2,000.00 more.

lmao. You're bitching about a Macbook not running Final Cut Studio and that you have to pay $1000 more to get a Macbook Pro to run it? lmao.

If you can afford to pay $1300 for Final Cut Studio, then you can afford to buy a Macbook Pro.

 

[OllyW]

I don't see the big deal about a DVD Burner nowdays, it's not easy to burn a DVD to watch on a TV using one without buying expensive Dual Layer disks or having a lot of technical know-how,

Have you never used Toast?

In the latest version you just bung the video files in and it will automatically resize them to fit a standard DVD disk, no technical know-how required

 

[Eraserhead]

I hate the fact that there is no new graphics card - would much prefer that over the stock 1gb of RAM...come on Apple we like graphics cards!

Why do people have this view? It's moronic.

1GB>>Better graphics card unless you are a gamer, in which case you aren't buying a Mc . More RAM allows you to multitask better and for the 99% of MB owners who don't game it is far more useful.

 

[headhammer]

I just purchased a MacBook on Saturday :[

Is paying a $150 restock fee to go from a Black MacBook (2 GB RAM and 120 GB HD) to the 160 GB HD and 2.16 GHz processor is worth it? I'm happy about my MacBook as it is, having used it for the past three days extensively. But I feel the need to atleast have the most up to date system.

Really on the fence about this. Apple Store rep said they would transfer data from my current MacBook to the new one and put the memory in the new one as well.

i would say no, because if you were to get the hard drive upgrade from 120gb to 160gb in a new macbook, it would only be costing you $75.

you're better off putting the $150 into an external hard drive if you want more storage, and with 2gb of ram, you wouldn't notice a huge speed increase to 2.16ghz anyway.

 

[Eraserhead]

Have you never used Toast?

In the latest version you just bung the video files in and it will automatically resize them to fit a standard DVD disk, no technical know-how required

I didn't realise that.

 

[bombboy]

i would say no, because if you were to get the hard drive upgrade from 120gb to 160gb in a new macbook, it would only be costing you $75.

you're better off putting the $150 into an external hard drive if you want more storage, and with 2gb of ram, you wouldn't notice a huge speed increase to 2.16ghz anyway.

Thanks for the input. I guess I'll go buy the Western Digital 160 GB Portable HD on sale at BestBuy this week ($110) instead

 

[g7by08believeit]

deju vu. it seems like it was just yesterday that people were complaining about how other companies were releasing the newest chips just to find out that Apple ended up SHIPPING at the same time, if not before.

now, for those that realise that the MB is a great machine NOW, and has been since its release:
i'm selling my 1.83 CD macbook soon. any offers?

 

[Bizmac]

How much money does Apple lose from having it's store down during almost 5 hours?

 

[leekohler]

I don't really see your point at all, you NEED 1GB RAM to run more than about 2-3 applications at once on the MB.

I don't see the big deal about a DVD Burner nowdays, it's not easy to burn a DVD to watch on a TV using one without buying expensive Dual Layer disks or having a lot of technical know-how, also they are too small for sensible data backup especially when you can get a 300GB USB Hard Drive for $100 you might as well use that.

If you want to burn your girlfriend a CD, you can do that with the base model, so I don't see why it's a big deal.

Umm, it's very easy to burn DVDs without using expensive discs. DVD2OneX is just about one of the simplest programs out there. And they're great for data storage and an easy way to give clients copies of large projects. I see a superdrive as MUST, not an option.

 

[2tallyAwesome]

I think these discussions are hilarious.

You guys are debating specs, but besides gamin, and obviously DVD burning, how many of these specs are really effecting your practical experiences?

As someone who considers myself the average consumer, my macbook is BLAZING fast with my normal tasks (email, internet, chatting, amateur photo editing, imovie, etc.) With 1 gig of ram I rarely see a beachball unless I am downloading a bunch of torrents, or running a million different processes, and I couldn't be happier.

I'm sorry that the MB doesn't play you're fancy games (not what apple is targeted at) or handles professional apps (not what the MB is created for) or that you imagine some phantom deficiency because there are minute differences in performance compared to more recent chips, but apple completely succeeds in what it attempts to do. Creating a fast, efficient laptop that handles the VAST majority of normal consumer tasks quickly.

Seriously, get your heads out of the forums, and out of the reported specs, and actually enjoy your ACTUAL experience.

Geesh.

Oh, and YOU may see a superdrive as a must, but I personally don't, and neither do the majority of people I encounter.

VCDs work perfectly fine thanks.

 

[headhammer]

deju vu. it seems like it was just yesterday that people were complaining about how other companies were releasing the newest chips just to find out that Apple ended up SHIPPING at the same time, if not before.

now, for those that realise that the MB is a great machine NOW, and has been since its release:
i'm selling my 1.83 CD macbook soon. any offers?

i'll give you $1. will you ship it free?

hey, you never said anything about *reasonable* offers...

 

[Wolfpup]

I am pretty annoyed by the non SR update. I've always owned the highest end powerbooks because I needed all the power I could get. When I heard that there was a possible SR update I got really excited because I love the form factor of the MB and I love the fact that I could get it in black. I didn't want to get a MBP because of the size, I need something more portable that I can hook up my 20' lcd when I'm home. Now I'm stuck because I just sold my powerbook and need to purchase a machine soon. I didn't really want to have to make the choice between the size I want and the performance I need. Either way I'll have something new on my desk whether it be a blackbook or a MBP that I know I won't like the size on.

Do you need a GPU on your laptop? If not, the Macbooks and Macbook Pros have always been pretty much the same hardware.

The Macbook Pro should be getting updated within the next few months at worst though. And should be a much bigger upgrade than what this was.

 

[steve_hill4]

So many negatives, but I don't fully see why. For the UK at least there has been a £50 price drop across the board, mainly I guess due to the ever weaker dollar, (£749>£699, £879>£829, £999>£949).

However, I would have liked to see them add a superdrive into the £699 machine, and 2GB RAM into the BlackBook. If needed, keeping them at the old price to offset the spec increase. That way, they could have even introduced a new lower base spec at say £599-£649 with the same spec as the old base had, (so effectively lowering the price of that model while adding another between the top white and black, as the £699/£749 model would effectively be identical to the previous £879 one).

That way we'd also have a sub-$1000 MacBook stateside, which as we all know so many have cried out for.

 

[leekohler]

Why do people have this view? It's moronic.

1GB>>Better graphics card unless you are a gamer, in which case you aren't buying a Mc . More RAM allows you to multitask better and for the 99% of MB owners who don't game it is far more useful.

Then answer this question: if integrated graphics is such a good thing, why doesn't Apple use it in all their products?

 

[Kaptajn Haddock]

Don't worry. The MBP will have the SR chip, and probably be born with 2Gb of RAM (now the prices on RAM are so low). Why? Well it would seem stupid to keep the line at their current 2.33GHz max. when the Macbook now comes with 2.16ghz. The updates must come soon or the MBP will be the laughing stock when people start comparing specs, and wonder why you pay double the prize for what is now a much smaller difference then before MB update.

My main reason to upgrade is the LED rumour.

 

[CptnJustc]

Why do people have this view? It's moronic.

1GB>>Better graphics card unless you are a gamer, in which case you aren't buying a Mc . More RAM allows you to multitask better and for the 99% of MB owners who don't game it is far more useful.

What's moronic is your assumption that 99% of MB owners (many of whom are students, who have been known to crack a game or two) aren't gamers. We've heard from people on this thread who want to play Warcraft on MacBooks, and others who do play it on their MacBooks. Certainly, Blizzard thinks a large enough share of their 8+ million subscribers use Macs to maintain a Mac version.

Though I guess if you wanted to play all the latest games, you'd need Windows, which of course Macs don't run, right?

1 GB was always an option. What you're really saying is that $30 (or whatever the extra memory costs these days) is >> better graphics card, which is quite debatable.

 

[LxTxNx]

I was hgoing to pick one up the black one to be exact but the Emeryville store didn't have'em in stock until tommorrow... Umm I guss I'll wait to get the iPhone and my 1st Mac. computer at the same time and that would allow me to see if anything else is going to be released (MBP?) anyway i thought I would share my experiance here at the No. Cal Store with no new MBs.

 

[KurtangleTN]

I have to agree with some of the people who find this bad.

In the Intel world you have to be able to update fast. Bragging about updating the price, and speeds of the model and not upgrading to the new thing.. doesn't cut it.

Although I still think the MB's are fine, but the Intel GMA just kills it, Apple should be finding ways to make the MBP more appealing without handicapping the Macbooks. Maybe by keeping up with the latest technology, and be one of the first?

I worry about the iMacs more, now that they use notebook parts.. it will become more and more noticeable as Apple doesn't update their technology.

Now, people will argue the iMacs and Macbooks are both for consumers. But consumers still want the latest stuff, so that's just a stupid statement. Just because it's consumer, doesn't mean a consumer may not play games.. or need something for graphic intense programs.