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Does anyone else miss the non-unibody MBPs?

powerbook911

powerbook911

macrumors 601
Original poster
Mar 15, 2005
4,009
398
Firstly, I'm not a big complainer, but was curious how others felt.

I will soon be purchasing at least 1 MacBook Pro. However, it's so hard for me to get a grip on the current appearance.

1) I don't care for the beveled edges
2) I don't care for the black around the screen
3) I don't care for the black keyboard

When I dig up pictures of the non-unibody MBPs, it reminds me so much of the beautiful Powerbooks as well. It was such a beautiful, sleek, minimal design. The bezel edges and black of the unibody models just don't look as attractive to me.

Anyone else feel that way?

I wish there was a way to buy a still New In Box Mac Book Pro non-unibody like the want out last fall before the update in October/November 2008.

Even the refurbished store at Apple only ever has the unibodies.
 
The old MBP did loo pretty awesome. However, these days they look pretty dated. I think the bottom half of the new unibodies is much better, not sure if I really like the screen though.
 
I don't. The keyboard I can adjust to. The black bezel is whatever, but the unibody construction and battery life are nice. And yes, you can buy extended batteries, but that's a lot of weight and one more thing to throw in my bag.
 
powerbook911 said:
Anyone else feel that way?
Click to expand...

Well... I'm still using my 2006 MBP, I expect to get another 4-5 years of work out of it, still performs like a champ, and it's still my daily machine, so nope... don't miss it.

I appreciate the benefits of the unibody construction, the quality of the glass panel, the symmetry of having all the ports on the left and the SuperDrive on the right, the flat out common sense of a magnetic latch, all of that.

However, on a purely aesthetic standpoint, I just flat out don't like the design. I've said it before... I think the design is cold, sterile, and boring - it's too clean. Silver and Black has been done for years. And there's nothing about the new design that really gives it a lot of character.

The old design, for example, had that polished power button - how awesome was that? It was given the kind of treatment where you knew when you pressed it, something awesome was gonna happen. The alternating speaker grille pattern. The plastic surround. The exposed #00 screws... 4 on the left, 4 on the right, 2 in the back. Love it because I love all the small details and the quirks.
 
I don't miss it, because I still use my 15" daily. I bought it in Feb 2009, the day of the last rev before the unibodies. It's been an absolutely flawless machine for the last 20 months. It's nearly time to retire it though, and move on to a 13" Unibody in a few months. The new looks don't bother me, especially with all the new and upcoming tech inside.
 
RexTraverse -

I love all those bits too. I was holding my Powerbook up today, every vent, every screw, it all belongs. It all added to the attractiveness of the units.

I also think sterile is a good term for the new design.

Well, who knows what I'll do. I did see the refurb store has a non-unibody 17-inch.

It's a hard balance between the attractiveness of the non-unibodies and the performance/technology of the new machines.

I congratulate those of you that still have your non-unibodies. At least that way you can always have an original machine and even if you need to upgrade someday, you could hold onto the original, if you wanted.
 
powerbook911 said:
I love all those bits too. I was holding my Powerbook up today, every vent, every screw, it all belongs. It all added to the attractiveness of the units.
Click to expand...

Exactly. I've gotten into debates with people over the new unibody designs, and very often, what I'm countered with are the technical merits of the unibody, which I don't believe any fan of the old style would dispute. Technologically, the unibody is a superior design. But aesthetically, as with most subjective things... to each their own.

I think that there tends to be a "newer and shinier" attitude to unibody-ers when they call the older one "dated". I'd counter that the older style is classic and timeless whereas the unibody is modern and trendy. Let's see which one really does end up looking "dated" in 10 years. ;)
 
for some reason, I still think the 14" pismo earlier in the decade with the g3 was their best design yet
 
powerbook911 said:
RexTraverse -



It's a hard balance between the attractiveness of the non-unibodies and the performance/technology of the new machines.
Click to expand...


I think your confusing what a computer is...its a machine that performs tasks. The fact that macs look nice is a nice bonus, but there is no hard balance. I want a computer that has the performance/technology that will perform those tasks as quickly as possible.
 
weckart said:
Just get a Magic Mouse to match.

Seriously, with the possible exception of the Mini, :apple: is now producing some of the fugliest hardware around.
Click to expand...

Well, says you and the OP. I wholeheartedly disagree. After all, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Not only do I like the black keyboard, the black screen border, the edges and curves it has, but I especially like it more from a functional design standpoint. Try upgrading the hard disk on the classic MBPs - it's like performing surgery! Also, when the first unibodies got out and I bought one, I was impressed with how noticeably more solid it was over my classic. When I sold that first unibody off for a newer one without the separate battery/hd bottom cover then it felt even more solid and seamless and beautiful!

I have my unibody on a desk near my bed and in dim light as I'm falling asleep or waking up I can't help but admire the extremely beautiful computer that it is. :eek:

But I think I actually like the feel of the classic's keyboard more though. That and the abundance of ports.
 
I still use my MBP (a single Core Duo :D) when I travel, I love it but two things annoy me :
- It looses its screws
- It's such a pain to change the harddrive...
 
The only thing I prefer off the old non-unibodies is the MBP's keyboard. It was an absolute joy to type on compared to the newer unibodies.

EDIT: Forgot to add, apart from the above, I think the Unibodies are awesome looking machines that are far superior technologically than their predecessors!
 
Don't miss the pre-unibody MBPs one bit. I've been an apple laptop owner since the iBook and the alu. powerbook days. The design was getting a bit stale, and it had some design issues hat were corrected in the unibody design.

The latch was a sticking point for many people it didn't always work, in fact if you left the computer in sleep mode, put it in your bag, it could wake up because of the latch and then cook itself.

The body flexing was another issue.

I do have to say that I did like the ports on the other side, made my desk setup easier.
 
I'm still using a 15" 2007 MBP, and I envy the Unibody MBs everytime I see one. The "sterile" design is fantastic, much more modern and sleek than my own dated MBP.

If only I could get a matt-screen 13" Arrandale MBP, my life would be complete. Apart from the sharp edges of the MBP - euw.
 
powerbook911 said:
1) I don't care for the beveled edges
2) I don't care for the black around the screen
3) I don't care for the black keyboard
Click to expand...

Same here... I'm still on my Santa Rosa and no plans to change. Personally I don't like much the the black colors, but to be honest, I dont care .... what I do care about, is the progressive drop of pro features in the new models... they're getting closer to an Iphone or a teenager gadget rather than the top notch, powerhorse machines they used to be... Unstable, low powered, shared USB ports with design flaws that avoid you from plugging many USB peripherals, exotic video output ports vs. current standards, less firewire connectivity options, no expresscard, ... You can get pretty much the performance of the new models with a supercharged SantaRosa (6Gb+500Hd).

Hope my nVidia chip lasts until Apple decides to sell something serious again...
 
rodo said:
Same here... I'm still on my Santa Rosa and no plans to change. Personally I don't like much the the black colors, but to be honest, I dont care .... what I do care about, is the progressive drop of pro features in the new models... they're getting closer to an Iphone or a teenager gadget rather than the top notch, powerhorse machines they used to be... Unstable, low powered, shared USB ports with design flaws that avoid you from plugging many USB peripherals, exotic video output ports vs. current standards, less firewire connectivity options, no expresscard, ... You can get pretty much the performance of the new models with a supercharged SantaRosa (6Gb+500Hd).

Hope my nVidia chip lasts until Apple decides to sell something serious again...
Click to expand...

Unstable? Low powered?

Right ;)
 
I like the unibody but not the battery. I normally leave my laptop on for very long (more than 8hours a day) so i take the battery out when i use at home. But for the unimacbook pro i will continually lose my battery life:(
 
joina said:
I like the unibody but not the battery. I normally leave my laptop on for very long (more than 8hours a day) so i take the battery out when i use at home. But for the unimacbook pro i will continually lose my battery life:(
Click to expand...

You don't lose battery life when your computer is plugged in.
 
vant said:
You don't lose battery life when your computer is plugged in.
Click to expand...

:eek:really? i though it works like that but after one year my Sony SZ got only like 30mins battery life so then i decided to take the battery out.
BTW i dont have a mac yet. Definitely get an next year, i hope dont have to wait for too long
 
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