Engadget review of late 2009 macbook: FAIL

[GeekGirl*]

Owned mine for a couple of days now, and I still love it - and no, despite Engadget's review, it is not scratched and the USB ports, despite me constantly switching what was in them, are not at all damaged.

...Unfortunately I think I'm going to have to send it back anyway, as I seem to be one of those people who can't handle LED backlighting. Pretty much constant headaches

WoW sorry to hear that, what are you going to replace it with?

 

[CrackedButter]

When I saw one in person, I thought they looked great.

I had the opposite reaction when I saw them. It is like they are deliberately trying to make a crappy laptop for $999 to test people's patience.

 

[uberamd]

I had the opposite reaction when I saw them. It is like they are deliberately trying to make a crappy laptop for $999 to test people's patience.

I'm sure thats exactly what they are doing....

$1000 is not a ton of money to spend on a laptop, and I still stand by the fact that you get more bang for your buck by buying a MacBook (Pro) laptop. Maybe thats why so many of my PC owning friends are getting MacBooks now?

 

[copykris]

...Unfortunately I think I'm going to have to send it back anyway, as I seem to be one of those people who can't handle LED backlighting. Pretty much constant headaches

press f1 about 10 times :/

 

[copykris]

I had the opposite reaction when I saw them. It is like they are deliberately trying to make a crappy laptop for $999 to test people's patience.

look at how cool you are

 

[clyde2801]

I'm sure thats exactly what they are doing....

$1000 is not a ton of money to spend on a laptop, and I still stand by the fact that you get more bang for your buck by buying a MacBook (Pro) laptop. Maybe thats why so many of my PC owning friends are getting MacBooks now?

Are you trying to say that the macbook is a good deal for the price, or that you should get the 13" macbook pro instead?

 

[Eidorian]

I'm sure thats exactly what they are doing....

$1000 is not a ton of money to spend on a laptop, and I still stand by the fact that you get more bang for your buck by buying a MacBook (Pro) laptop. Maybe thats why so many of my PC owning friends are getting MacBooks now?

$999 Clarksfield Dell Studio 15 for the same price.

 

[iMacmatician]

One thing I did find interesting was an opinion at the very end of the gizmodo unibody macbook review:

"But keep in mind, this development basically implies that the MacBook Pros will be getting the Core i5 and i7 processors some time in the next year."

The most obvious recent example I could think of was when they upped the cpu and gpu specs of the macbook in early 09 and matched what was in the base model macbook pro for $300 more.

My question is will apple put some features back into the macbook after the macbook pros have corequads? Or could you see the top end mbp's getting the new chips, 13" mbp's getting higher speced core 2 duos's and the macbook staying pretty much the way it is now?

It might be that the MacBook Pros go the iMac route and have another Core 2 upgrade for the lower-end lines while the higher-end ones go Core ix.

 

[uberamd]

$999 Clarksfield Dell Studio 15 for the same price.

Well thats lovely and all, but I can't even count how many people I know ditching their Dells for Macs.

 

[Eidorian]

Well thats lovely and all, but I can't even count how many people I know ditching their Dells for Macs.

It's not that necessarily. It's just that a $999 quad core notebook that isn't come Sager 2" thick monster with a Q6600 at twice the price really does change how you look at notebooks.

Apple is playing some stupid give and take games today unlike in the late PowerPC era. They're strong in the Core 2 + 9400M G thin and light but the value just starts the plummet when you go up. Battery life is going to be the only strong feature to show and OS X does that well.

 

[instaxgirl]

Apple is playing some stupid give and take games today unlike in the late PowerPC era.

Apple have been going down the tubes a bit in the last year or two. There was the fiasco with not updating the mac mini for yonks, and the laptop line's just been a mess since last year's 2 Macbook models idiocy.

Back in 2006/7 the Macbook was a pretty good deal.

 

[mrcrapperson]

Warning: Rabbit Trail

I actually applaud the success of MS - it only makes Apple work harder. And I doubt Steve Jobs brags about the fact that when he sits in a Starbucks with 9 other people, he's the only one using a mac.

Just out of curiousity -- Have you been in a coffee shop in the last three years? Honestly, as much as I try not to be, I am one of those Mac users who sort of misses the camaraderie of the community in the late nineties when it really was rare to see another Mac. While my workplace is still a sea of PCs, whenever I go into a coffee shop these days I would say 9 out 10 of the laptops are Macs. The image-conscious coffee shop crowd is exactly the market that has turned to Apple in droves over the past few years.

 

[nickXedge]

Is the original post a review, of a review?

 

[Primejimbo]

Just out of curiousity -- Have you been in a coffee shop in the last three years? Honestly, as much as I try not to be, I am one of those Mac users who sort of misses the camaraderie of the community in the late nineties when it really was rare to see another Mac. While my workplace is still a sea of PCs, whenever I go into a coffee shop these days I would say 9 out 10 of the laptops are Macs. The image-conscious coffee shop crowd is exactly the market that has turned to Apple in droves over the past few years.

It depends where you go. I been to a few where I see 1 or 2 Macs and others I see more.
Is it so bad that people are buying Macs? It's like the people who complain that they see so many iPhones now and when they bought an iPhone years ago on a few people had iPhones.
It's also like the people who think underground music is cool, but one the bad gets popular those people put the band down.

 

[CrackedButter]

Apple have been going down the tubes a bit in the last year or two. There was the fiasco with not updating the mac mini for yonks, and the laptop line's just been a mess since last year's 2 Macbook models idiocy.

Back in 2006/7 the Macbook was a pretty good deal.

Glad I got one.

 

[iMacmatician]

Apple have been going down the tubes a bit in the last year or two. There was the fiasco with not updating the mac mini for yonks, and the laptop line's just been a mess since last year's 2 Macbook models idiocy.

Back in 2006/7 the Macbook was a pretty good deal.

The CPUs in the MacBook/MBP line have gone lower-end over the years.

 

[Eidorian]

The CPUs in the MacBook/MBP line have gone lower-end over the years.

Clock speeds have gone up on the low end as well.

This sucker is a Celeron.

 

[Richard1028]

Just out of curiousity -- Have you been in a coffee shop in the last three years?

No. I was struggling to find an analogy for the 90% market share that MS has.

And if you're telling me that most mac folks like their $4 girly Lattes and and sissy frappes then I can easily picture this.

 

[XboxMySocks]

press f1 about 10 times :/

He might want to go for the full 16 :/

 

[KielderWolf]

I've had a look at the new MacBooks and aside from looking fatter due to the angles of the edges, they're not too bad. The screen seemed okay brightness for me, everything worked but I do admit the inside monitor bezel is fugg-lee!

As for FireWire... Apple, c'mon. Stick a FW800 in it and be done with this whole AGATA thingy!

 

[clyde2801]

Just picked up a 2.13 ghz last gen macbook off of CL for $500 today. Aside from a crack on the front of the case (just to the right of the latch/indentation, I suspect it is underneath a magnet), it is pristine. Going to upgrade 10.5 to 10.6 and the preinstalled vista to win 7.

 

[primape08]

Hopefully this addresses the cracking problem on the topcase that earlier models had.

 

[NT1440]

Apple have been going down the tubes a bit in the last year or two.

Anyone get deja vu?

This is the same statement I've seen since I've been visiting this site, and somehow apple just keeps getting more and more popular. They must be doing something that people like....

 

[copykris]

Apple have been going down the tubes a bit in the last year or two.

i'm gonna go out on a limb here and guess you bought your first apple product exactly two years ago?

these people man...

 

[jb1280]

It might be that the MacBook Pros go the iMac route and have another Core 2 upgrade for the lower-end lines while the higher-end ones go Core ix.

This definitely seems to be the most realistic path forward considering the integrated graphics issue and the iMac release.