Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Apple Updates 13" Aluminum MacBook, Rebranded as "MacBook Pro"

I'm gutted

I'm gutted. I bought a 2.4Ghz MacBook two weeks ago :(

Now there is a higher spec with all the features I wanted for (AUS)$200 cheaper. Argh! That will teach me for not checking the Buyer's Guide before ordering!

I think I'll wait til the next graphics spec bump and BD support before upgrading.

(Having said that, I absolutely love it. Moving from a horrible Toshiba Vista Business laptop to this is amazing.)
 
Anyone remember that comparison chart between the base-model Macbook and an HP (i think) laptop and how all the mac zealots were screaming because the white macbook doesnt count for specs comparisons because its outdated and isnt the "real" macbook? I wonder what they would say now that the whitebook is the only non-pro laptop offers. Seems a bit silly to call the comparison skewed when the whitebook is indeed the base laptop from apple.
 
NoSmokingBandit said:
Anyone remember that comparison chart between the base-model Macbook and an HP (i think) laptop and how all the mac zealots were screaming because the white macbook doesnt count for specs comparisons because its outdated and isnt the "real" macbook? I wonder what they would say now that the whitebook is the only non-pro laptop offers. Seems a bit silly to call the comparison skewed when the whitebook is indeed the base laptop from apple.
Click to expand...

But this makes me wonder if the 13" really has the specs to be considered a professional machine, or if Apple is unfortunately blurring the definition of "Pro."
 
Anybody knows which is the mean price of an internal 128 Gb SSD? I wonder whether buy the low end 13" Mbp with the 160 Gb HD, and later upgrade the HD with a SSD...
 
Cheaper 8 gb ram upgrade

I just bought a Blackbook last year, and updated the ram to 4gb for incredibly cheap.

The new 13 MBP is incredibly appealing (especially with 8gb of ram and snow leopard coming), but I'm wondering if it will be possibly to cheaply upgrade the ram. $1000 from Apple makes it an unrealistic option for me, and I can't seem to find it anywhere for must cheaper....

And is it even possible to upgrade yourself with the non-user-replaceable battery??

This computer is soooo tempting, but I can't justify the upgrade from my Blackbook w/o the 8gb....
 
capoeirista said:
+1. Exactly the same situation for me. In the next few months my Core Duo Macbook is being retired. I was going to go 15" MBP but these new ones tick all the right boxes for me: firewire, GPU and an affordable price (with student discount).

Hopefully by the time I'm ready to buy all the kinks will have been ironed out.
Click to expand...

You do realize the GPU is integrated, right?
 
Low-end 15"

polaris20 said:
Again, just as in the other thread: the 9600GT always was in the $1999 model. There's never been a 9600GT (or 8600GT) for less than $1999. You act like something was taken away from you. There never was a 15" model for $1699. Period.
Click to expand...

I guess Apple is listening - a 15" with integrated graphics for those who wanted a cheap(er) 15" offering.
 
FoxyKaye said:
Was thinking the exact same thing - although running OS X from SD strikes me as slow, there are some variants of Linux that could do this nicely. I'm also wondering if a small market of SD devices will emerge, nothing as fancy as additional USB or Firewire, but aren't there SD WiMAX cards out there that might work with the right drivers?

If the SD card goes in completely flush, it would also be a great way to add gigabytes of on-the-fly storage quickly -- what are SDs up to these days? 32GB? 64GB?
Click to expand...

I would prefer an ExpressCard/34 slot over an SD card slot. You can always add a card reader, especially on the 15", but perhaps this was not feasible with the case size of the 13".

Edit: I think SD cards are up to 16GB now, but there were some issues with data loss/corruption with the 16GB cards (at least this was the case back in Nov., 08). I would go for a name brand like Kingston if I was going over 8GB, which is the next highest size. Just remember to watch out for which class of card it is - 2, 4, or 6.
 
Non-user replacable RAM & HD

kajitox said:
Also wondering this...
Click to expand...

I was just at Apple store, Sydney, Australia, where it will be the first store in the world to sell the new Lappies in a few hours, based on some discussion and checking out the 17" MBP, you won't be able to upgrade RAM or HD without getting Apple to do it or void warrentee - there's NO latch of anykind at the bottom of these MBP - a bit disappoint as you can't buy a cheap and fast HD or RAM and install it myself
 
Val-kyrie said:
Edit: I think SD cards are up to 16GB now, but there were some issues with data loss/corruption with the 16GB cards (at least this was the case back in Nov., 08). I would go for a name brand like Kingston if I was going over 8GB, which is the next highest size. Just remember to watch out for which class of card it is - 2, 4, or 6.
Click to expand...

...

20-171-359-02.jpg
 
hokka said:
I was just at Apple store, Sydney, Australia, where it will be the first store in the world to sell the new Lappies in a few hours, based on some discussion and checking out the 17" MBP, you won't be able to upgrade RAM or HD without getting Apple to do it or void warrentee - there's NO latch of anykind at the bottom of these MBP - a bit disappoint as you can't buy a cheap and fast HD or RAM and install it myself
Click to expand...

Uh, haven't we been over this on these forums before? It was my understanding that the HD and RAM for the 17" are classified by Apple as "user replaceable".

Its just some screws, they won't bite :p
 
Val-kyrie said:
I would go for a name brand like Kingston if I was going over 8GB, which is the next highest size. Just remember to watch out for which class of card it is - 2, 4, or 6.
Click to expand...

What does "class of card" mean? How can I tell what class a card is?
 
Firewire

Now that Apple put the Firewire port back, people will stop bitching that there is no Firewire. The only thing I see wrong with the new MacBook is that it's missing a line in. But some of the other people have already said there might be switch on that. Where it's a input/output.

Hugh
 
Dekimasu said:
What does "class of card" mean? How can I tell what class a card is?
Click to expand...

Speed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_Digital_card#SD_Speed_Class_Ratings

SD Speed Class Ratings

SD Cards and SDHC Cards have Speed Class Ratings defined by the SD Association. The SD Speed Class Ratings specify the following minimum write speeds based on "the best fragmented state where no memory unit is occupied":[6]

* Class 2: 2 MB/s - 13x
* Class 4: 4 MB/s - 26x
* Class 6: 6 MB/s - 40x

SD and SDHC cards will often also advertise a maximum speed (such as 133x or 150x) in addition to this minimum Speed Class Rating. One critical difference between the Speed Class and the maximum speed ratings is the ability of the host device to query the SD card for the speed class and determine the best location to store data that meets the performance required. "Maximum speed" ratings are quoted by the manufacturers but unverified by any independent evaluation process.
Click to expand...
 
So adding the 128SSD to the 2.26 13" comes out to $1599.
Or get it standard on the 2.13 Air for $1799. Hmm.
 
NT1440 said:
Uh, haven't we been over this on these forums before? It was my understanding that the HD and RAM for the 17" are classified by Apple as "user replaceable".

Its just some screws, they won't bite :p
Click to expand...

This is correct. Just look up the 17" MacBook Pro instructions for changing out RAM. This should also apply to the new 15" and 13" MacBook Pros.

I ordered mine tonight, with the student discount and free iPod Touch (and printer).

I plan on selling the iPod Touch and Printer for hopefully $200 total, bringing the cost of the MacBook "pro" 13" down from 1099 to 899! Definitely cannot beat that!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back