Apple Releases New MacBooks

[hasah]

What does this mean, and does it apply to the United States, or just the UK? It sounds like you're saying there are TWO educational discounts? The normal one, and a better one you can get somehow?

If so...how to I get it? I see the same discount regardless of whether I visit Apple's education store from a computer on my university's domain, or at home.



As coren2000 says, we're talking about CURRENT video. I mean I could say "the 386 is way worse than that Celeron..." but that's not saying anything.

yes there are two different educational discounts offered by Apple in the UK.. i dont know about the USA.

as far as the UK is concerned, if you want the better discount you have to click the link "Apple Store for Higher Education" and NOT the link for "Apple Store for Education".

basically, click the second link (from your HE institution - i.e. your uni - computers) on the following page:

http://store.apple.com/Catalog/uk/Images/routingpage.html

hope this helps... if u still have problems, let me know.

 

[Wolfpup]

yes there are two different educational discounts offered by Apple in the UK.. i dont know about the USA.

as far as the UK is concerned, if you want the better discount you have to click the link "Apple Store for Higher Education" and NOT the link for "Apple Store for Education".

basically, click the second link (from your HE institution - i.e. your uni - computers) on the following page:

http://store.apple.com/Catalog/uk/Images/routingpage.html

hope this helps... if u still have problems, let me know.

Thanks. That looks similar to the US segmentor page, although all the prices for University people seem to be the same.

Yes, it's nice that Apple is able to ship a few Octos that are a small fraction of a GHz faster than the norm - but they can't put the current Intel chipset in a MB upgrade? Pathetic.

Yes, that is pathetic. I'm certainly not defending this Macbook "upgrade".

 

[anthony11]

Waiting to see what the edu pricing will be since I have kids going back to college soon.

So, they're already in college and haven't had or needed a laptop before, but happen to need one right now?

Until they fit a DVD writer as standard - it isn't. There are PC laptops out there for half the price of the base spec with DVD writers included. When you sell the package as being for home media, then take away the ability to write DVD's - something is wrong.

It seems reasonable that the average "home media" customer is going to watch legitimate DVD's and stuff downloaded from ITMS. The ability to write DVDs is irrelevant.

EVERYONE would've been happier had they stuck with 1.8 and 2.0 and gone with Santa Rosa.

In the real world, only a very small number of people have any idea what Santa Rosa is, and even fewer care.

Now the graphics, CPU and chipset on the MB will be a generation behind every other laptop for the next 6 months.

So? Very VERY few people care about the insignificant differences in "chipsets". Shipping graphics have been plenty for 99% of users for years - the same for CPU.

Good work Apple. Idiots.

Apple sells two lines of notebooks, a casual/entry model at a certain pricepoint for the hipster coffee-swilling / student set, and a "pro" model at a higher pricepoint. They aren't price-competing with the likes of Dell.

As someone waiting to buy their first Mac I am FURIOUS with Apple and their continued raping of MB buyers.

If an MB doesn't fit your ego, then buy an MBP.

The MBs are the line of computers that will benefit most from SR

That isn't clear.

Apple knew they needed to get more people in to the flock than us power users, loyalists, creative professionals, etc. They knew that to do this they's have to appeal to the non-spec conscious mass market--a market that knows only brand names and clock speeds.

I submit that much of the market doesn't even know clock speeds. Most MS-Windows people who I encounter have no idea what the speed of their machine is.

Yes, Apple has just two laptop models from which to choose, with a small number of choices within each. I much prefer this to eg. the mess that Dell pushes, where they seem to have a dozen different models for sale at once, with no easy means of comparison. Saying that a laptop is built for business or whatever is meaningless.

 

[kinai-ahi]

MacBook Update

I have been waiting for months for the update. Now my question is.....should I go ahead an get this MacBook or wait for the LED and Santa Rosa?? Any pro/cons to this thought?? Also, would it be wise to update to 2 GB of RAM or would 1 GB be enough.

Thanks for any thoughts

 

[Wolfpup]

I have been waiting for months for the update. Now my question is.....should I go ahead an get this MacBook or wait for the LED and Santa Rosa?? Any pro/cons to this thought?? Also, would it be wise to update to 2 GB of RAM or would 1 GB be enough.

Thanks for any thoughts

Depends on what you need it for, how much you can spend, and how long you can wait. If the current Macbook fits your needs, and a (hopefully) massively upgraded Macbook Pro looks too pricey, than this model should be fine. (Though if it didn't fit your needs prior to the "upgrade", it certainly won't fit them now any better).

1GB should suffice, but personally I'd bump up any current computer to 2GB, as that's kind of a sweet spot for people who run a ton of stuff at once, or play games, etc.

It might be cheaper to buy the RAM from www.crucial.com than through Apple though. Basically you'll be tossing the two included DIMMs (well, really giving them away or selling them, or keeping them as a backup or whatever )

 

[Manic Mouse]

In the real world, only a very small number of people have any idea what Santa Rosa is, and even fewer care.

Yet regardless of whether they know about it or not they could have benefited from it.

So? Very VERY few people care about the insignificant differences in "chipsets". Shipping graphics have been plenty for 99% of users for years - the same for CPU.

Exactly, the CPU is more than enough for the MB. Why not address it's glaring weakness a little bit?

And you're forgetting that SR would bring better battery life and better I/O speeds along with the better GPU and CPU bump.

Apple sells two lines of notebooks, a casual/entry model at a certain pricepoint for the hipster coffee-swilling / student set, and a "pro" model at a higher pricepoint. They aren't price-competing with the likes of Dell.

Funny, being a student and knowing students I can tell you they ALL play games of some sort or another. Even the girls play The Sims or Second Life.

But regardless, if your neither a "hipster" nor a "pro" do Apple not want your money? The MB's CPU was already more than it needed, and HDD and memory can easily and more cheaply be upgraded outside Apple. What needed updating was the chipset to keep parity with everything else for the next six months. A sub 10% increase to the MB's strongest feature is meaningless and will make little or no difference to consumers. The RAM boost on the base is nice, but the combo-drive is a little cheap.

If it was too soon for SR then Apple should have waited to update the MBs until later (after WWDC and after updating the Pros?) IMO. This is nothing more than a bump and a minor one at that. Is it good enough to carry the MB for the next 6 months? SR would have brought benefits across the board and been much more future-proof than the quick 'n dirty upgrade Apple plumped for.

If an MB doesn't fit your ego, then buy an MBP.

I just don't like paying money for out-of-date tech, maybe there's something wrong with me? And I don't want/need a MBP. Apple have lumped the MB with integrated graphics (after slagging them off), fine, but at least keep up with the current integrated graphics. All I ask. The X3100 looks like it has the potential to play WoW at decent settings (when it's T&L are enabled) which is all I need it for.

Then again, the next update will be shortly after Leopard is released, so maybe Apple are doing us all a favour and helping us wait until we can get "the full package": A MB with a recent chipset, GPU, CPU as opposed to having old, outdated ones and a fantastic new OS to take advantage of it. I think that's worth waiting for rather than what they're offering now.

 

[Wolfpup]

Funny, being a student and knowing students I can tell you they ALL play games of some sort or another. Even the girls play The Sims or Second Life.

Noooooo kidding. Every single girl who works around here plays at least casual games, many some real games. Once claims not to be a gamer, but camped out all night for the World of Warcraft expansion

I totally agree with everything else you said too.

I just don't like paying money for out-of-date tech, maybe there's something wrong with me?

Don't you just hate that implication some people keep making?

 

[Manic Mouse]

Noooooo kidding. Every single girl who works around here plays at least casual games, many some real games. Once claims not to be a gamer, but camped out all night for the World of Warcraft expansion

And these are the people who have no idea what the X3100 or SR are. What they do know is that when they try to run a two/three year old game (say, the Sims 2 which is popular among girls) on their brand new, "do everything" MB it brings it to it's knees.

Just because a consumer doesn't know about something doesn't mean they don't care. With all the new HD content floating about GPUs aren't just being used for games any more either.

This update would have been brilliant had it come 2 months ago, but bringing it out a week after SR is released and in the mid of a SR frenzy? They should have waited until after WWDC and given the MB a real update.

 

[Eidorian]

And these are the people who have no idea what the X3100 or SR are. What they do know is that when they try to run a two/three year old game (say, the Sims 2 which is popular among girls) on their brand new, "do everything" MB it brings it to it's knees

Which what I've been saying and posters keep telling my the MacBook isn't a gaming machine...

 

[Manic Mouse]

I have been waiting for months for the update. Now my question is.....should I go ahead an get this MacBook or wait for the LED and Santa Rosa?? Any pro/cons to this thought?? Also, would it be wise to update to 2 GB of RAM or would 1 GB be enough.

Thanks for any thoughts

Well next update will be Santa Rosa meaning benefits across the board (CPU, GPU, I/O, Battery life, maybe even faster RAM). And by that time Leopard will be out and the latest version of iLife (and maybe iWork thrown in too if some rumours are true). And there's the LED screens to look forward too as well.

That's a lot of "ands", so basically everything from the ground up in the next update will be better. If you can wait you probably should although prices may go up slightly.

My 2 cents.

 

[frankiec]

[Deleted]

 

[frankiec]

[Deleted]

 

[Zadillo]

Hear, hear!

It's like going to the car dealership and paying full price for last year's model. No thanks. They already have us bent over, the least they could do is give us a reacharound.

But the GMAX3100 is only a modest improvement over the GMA950, and that itself is only even noticeable for Windows games, which are completely irrelevant on the Mac side (and for gaming it's still too underpowered anyway, so if that was a concern, any laptop, GMA950 or GMAX3100, is going to be inadequate).

But aside from that, there are plenty of laptop makers who don't currently have updated models and are still shipping GMA950 graphics....... hell, even a big company like Dell has only updated two of their laptops to Santa Rosa so far (and those are both business laptops, the D630 and D830).

It's not like Apple is alone here. All the current MacBook update is is a spec increase, nothing more.

-Zadillo

 

[iW00t]

What price drop?

For us european and australian users they have price adjusted the local prices to more acceptable rates, in-line with the "strong" American dollar.

 

[Eidorian]

But the GMAX3100 is only a modest improvement over the GMA950, and that itself is only even noticeable for Windows games, which are completely irrelevant on the Mac side (and for gaming it's still too underpowered anyway, so if that was a concern, any laptop, GMA950 or GMAX3100, is going to be inadequate).

But aside from that, there are plenty of laptop makers who don't currently have updated models and are still shipping GMA950 graphics....... hell, even a big company like Dell has only updated two of their laptops to Santa Rosa so far (and those are both business laptops, the D630 and D830).

It's not like Apple is alone here. All the current MacBook update is is a spec increase, nothing more.

-Zadillo

The Inspiron E1505 has the X1400 stock now though. You have the option for the 7900GS on the E1705 too.

For us european and australian users they have price adjusted the local prices to more acceptable rates, in-line with the "strong" American dollar.

USA USA USA

 

[notlocust]

For us european and australian users they have price adjusted the local prices to more acceptable rates, in-line with the "strong" American dollar.

er, the US dollar is weak - that's what's behind the recent reductions. If the dollar was strong relative to the UK pound we (in the UK) would be paying more for US goods. But we're not - we're paying less.......

 

[JFreak]

er, the US dollar is weak - that's what's behind the recent reductions. If the dollar was strong relative to the UK pound we (in the UK) would be paying more for US goods. But we're not - we're paying less.......

Yep, that's what's behind price reductions, you got that part right – but outside US, we're still paying *more* than we should.

Take 20" cinema display for example. Costs 599USD in the states, without tax. That equals to 450EUR or 300GBP. Guess what? Finland store sells them for 510EUR without tax and the UK store sells for 340GBP.

So, euro prices are roughly 13% higher than they should; and it's a fair comparison, because none of the prices include any kind of tax.

US customers are *always* paying less...

 

[Manic Mouse]

But the GMAX3100 is only a modest improvement over the GMA950, and that itself is only even noticeable for Windows games, which are completely irrelevant on the Mac side (and for gaming it's still too underpowered anyway, so if that was a concern, any laptop, GMA950 or GMAX3100, is going to be inadequate).

But aside from that, there are plenty of laptop makers who don't currently have updated models and are still shipping GMA950 graphics....... hell, even a big company like Dell has only updated two of their laptops to Santa Rosa so far (and those are both business laptops, the D630 and D830).

It's not like Apple is alone here. All the current MacBook update is is a spec increase, nothing more.

-Zadillo

It's MORE than twice as good. I'd say that's a pretty substantial improvement. It's nearly as good as the GPU in the Apple TV!

 

[frankiec]

[Deleted]

 

[Manic Mouse]

And just looking at the MB website on Apple.com...

"Race you to the future".

 

[frankiec]

[Deleted]

 

[PCMacUser]

US customers are *always* paying less...

Well the fact is that Apple is a US company and their main concern is the happiness of their American customers. I don't think they really care that much about the rest of us! Ahh well, I'm not that bothered anymore. I'm thinking about switching back to PC anyway. This is not because of the Macbook update, but because of the lack of a Mac Mini update. Why should I pay $1500 for a gutless Mac Mini, when I can spend $1500 on a PC with 2.4ghz Core 2 Duo desktop CPU, 2gb RAM, and a nVidia 8800GTS!?! I mean, come on, those specs alone beat anything out there that Apple makes (except a Mac Pro with upgraded graphics card for 4 times the price)... and I can have it NOW.

This is a free market, and I will let my cash do the talking.

I'll wait until June first though to see what happens.

 

[Manic Mouse]

Well the fact is that Apple is a US company and their main concern is the happiness of their American customers. I don't think they really care that much about the rest of us! Ahh well, I'm not that bothered anymore. I'm thinking about switching back to PC anyway. This is not because of the Macbook update, but because of the lack of a Mac Mini update. Why should I pay $1500 for a gutless Mac Mini, when I can spend $1500 on a PC with 2.4ghz Core 2 Duo desktop CPU, 2gb RAM, and a nVidia 8800GTS!?! I mean, come on, those specs alone beat anything out there that Apple makes (except a Mac Pro with upgraded graphics card for 4 times the price)... and I can have it NOW.

This is a free market, and I will let my cash do the talking.

I'll wait until June first though to see what happens.

Well there is the argument that the EU is more more logistically challenging than the US which at least partially explains the higher costs (due to localisation, distribution etc).

 

[Manic Mouse]

LOL.

Race you to 2006.

Obviously Apple are going crazy with Time Machine.

 

[PCMacUser]

Well there is the argument that the EU is more more logistically challenging than the US which at least partially explains the higher costs (due to localisation, distribution etc).

Yeah that's possibly true, but I don't live in the EU.