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Full Laptop Refresh By Holidays?
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hi first post here, ive been following the forums for 3 weeks since my friends introed me to mac, now im thinking of getting a new macbook and this would be my first mac (ive no ipods etc), im also like many here, eagerly waiting for merom to be in the new laptops, so heres my question, many ppl are discussing the date of merom in the mbp, however i would like to know whether the mb will also be updated soon, and would also like to know whether mb, and merom is suitable for me. The things i do is simple programming, light video and photo editing, creating 3-d images and other images, gaming (often but its very light gaming, esp fifa07, can anyone tell me whether the mb can support it please....). So is the mb enough for me??? i do not have enough to buy a mbp...
also, how much RAM do you recommend? i think i would be getting a 1gb stick from a third party first then get another when i have enough money...im a student, you see, so budget's quite tight now. Lastly, do you think i should upgrade the hard drive of the mb to 7200rpm, does it make much difference??? (i do not need increase in space cuz 60gb is more than enough for me, i currently only use 12.8gb in my hp com now....)
thnx very much for your help
also, how much RAM do you recommend? i think i would be getting a 1gb stick from a third party first then get another when i have enough money...im a student, you see, so budget's quite tight now. Lastly, do you think i should upgrade the hard drive of the mb to 7200rpm, does it make much difference??? (i do not need increase in space cuz 60gb is more than enough for me, i currently only use 12.8gb in my hp com now....)
thnx very much for your help
charpi said:
No-one knows when the MacBook will be updated. Apple's notoriously secretive, to the point they frequently announce and start selling a product the same day.
The MacBook's not great for games. Intel's integrated graphics are pretty weak when it comes to games -- quite a bit worse than even entry-level ATI/nVidia GPUs. Whether it's "good enough" is down to what you consider adequate. I've no idea how well FIFA'07 will work, I'm afraid -- but I'm fairly sure you'd be playing on pretty much lowest detail settings. If the gaming's important, the MacBook may not be for you, tho' I'll probably get lynched for saying it around here... I think you'd best see FIFA running on either a MacBook or a similar spec. PC first, if possible...
RAM, as always, as much as is affordable. 1GB should be decent.
I personally don't consider the 7200RPM drive worth it unless you think your work will be hitting VM frequently -- and even then, the money might be better spent on RAM first if you feel you don't need the extra storage.
However, one nice feature of the MacBook is the HD is very easy for a user to upgrade. Take a look at this video in you're interested in that.
The MacBooks are nice little machines, but I'm not sure it'll hold up to your gaming requirements in its current form. I don't see a problem with it for the rest of your uses.
ergle2 said:
thanks alot....now i duno should i hold on to merom or not...most prob wait till the next predicted date (mac expo isnt it) then if it doesnt come out id buy the mac....but is merom much better for me if i do all the things i listed in my previous post?
charpi said:
Merom's a better processor, period. It's basically a fairly similar arch. to Yonah (the current processor, branded "Core Duo"), but with a variety of enhancements, not least the L2 cache is doubled in size in Meroms that are 2.0GHz or faster. Beyond that, there's a bunch of other nice enhancements, including EM64T/Intel64 (64 bit mode), single-cycle SSE, more aggressive pre-fetchers, an extra integer unit, etc.
Some of what you mention should benefit fairly significantly.
Speaking personally, I don't see the Mac Expo as being likely, but plenty of others do. Then again, I'm not really predicting much beyond "Before Thanksgiving" in the US, (Nov 23, IIRC), and that's purely because that's pretty much the latest they can wait and still catch the US Christmas market.
ergle2 said:
About 3.2GB usable on a 24" iMac as tested by a buddy of mine. Hopefully Apple has something up their sleeve for the MBP update. I know that 2GB modules are just about $400 each, but I've been banging my head against this ~2GB wall on my current HP notebook for the past 2+ years. And I put 2GB in the MBP I picked up last week. It's great, but I've got some 3D scenes and models that are just a bit too big to fit in memory. 4GB would be just dandy -- my G5 quad handles all my workload with 4GB just fine. I've got 8GB in the one at the office, but outside of the couple times I tried to use it all, I find that what I do fits nicely with a little room to spare if I had the 4GB.
ergle2 said:
And Apple has essentially said (or at least sources close to Apple) that C2D will appear in the MBP line in time for holiday shoppers. So, it could be this coming tuesday, or the tuesday just before Thanksgiving at the latest. If Apple misses that date, then they will have really f'd up. I'm betting on a 10/31 announcment personally... Halloween passing with the end of October is when most major retailers really start promoting all the holiday shopping stuff. Of course, Apple has nothing to lose and everything to gain by announcing earlier (and my refurb'd MBP is still within its return window), so please let there be an announcement this tuesday!
AppliedVisual said:And Apple has essentially said (or at least sources close to Apple) that C2D will appear in the MBP line in time for holiday shoppers. So, it could be this coming tuesday, or the tuesday just before Thanksgiving at the latest. If Apple misses that date, then they will have really f'd up. I'm betting on a 10/31 announcment personally... Halloween passing with the end of October is when most major retailers really start promoting all the holiday shopping stuff. Of course, Apple has nothing to lose and everything to gain by announcing earlier (and my refurb'd MBP is still within its return window), so please let there be an announcement this tuesday!
Indeed. I figure any given Tuesday from now til Thanksgiving is fair game, hence my lack of predictions -- I'm not convinced it'll take the form of co-inciding with anything. Having said that, I've felt from the beginning that it'll take the form of a minor refresh - Merom plus perhaps a better GPU - rather than the major overhaul some are hoping for. I'd love to be wrong on that, mind you.
I think both MacBook and MBP will be updated but I'm still not convinced they'll be updated on the same day... tho' the longer we go with no news, the more likely it seems it might go down that way.
Good luck on this Tuesday
apple tuesdays
I'm fairly new at this mac game... i've actually been waiting for a 2nd rev macbook (learned my lesson of never buying a 1st gen anything by buying the first gen ipod nano that had 3 cracked screens) ... and i've been wating for a long time... but is tuesday the magical day for apple's new product launches? i haven't kept up with past updates, and when special events like "its showtime" come around... i never realize its a tuesday
i will sit on the edge of my seat every monday night from now til thnxgiving =)
ergle2 said:Indeed. I figure any given Tuesday from now til Thanksgiving is fair game, hence my lack of predictions -- I'm not convinced it'll take the form of co-inciding with anything. Having said that, I've felt from the beginning that it'll take the form of a minor refresh - Merom plus perhaps a better GPU - rather than the major overhaul some are hoping for. I'd love to be wrong on that, mind you.
I think both MacBook and MBP will be updated but I'm still not convinced they'll be updated on the same day... tho' the longer we go with no news, the more likely it seems it might go down that way.
Good luck on this Tuesday
I'm fairly new at this mac game... i've actually been waiting for a 2nd rev macbook (learned my lesson of never buying a 1st gen anything by buying the first gen ipod nano that had 3 cracked screens) ... and i've been wating for a long time... but is tuesday the magical day for apple's new product launches? i haven't kept up with past updates, and when special events like "its showtime" come around... i never realize its a tuesday
i will sit on the edge of my seat every monday night from now til thnxgiving =)
mautal said:I'm fairly new at this mac game... i've actually been waiting for a 2nd rev macbook (learned my lesson of never buying a 1st gen anything by buying the first gen ipod nano that had 3 cracked screens) ... and i've been wating for a long time... but is tuesday the magical day for apple's new product launches? i haven't kept up with past updates, and when special events like "its showtime" come around... i never realize its a tuesday
i will sit on the edge of my seat every monday night from now til thnxgiving =)
Usually, but not always. The recent iMac refresh, for example was a Wednesday (tho' some like to point it was after a Monday that was a public holiday, and was thus still the second working day of the week...)
There's been other launches on different days. Usually, unless there appears to be a good reason, Tueday's the day.
mautal said:I'm fairly new at this mac game... i've actually been waiting for a 2nd rev macbook (learned my lesson of never buying a 1st gen anything by buying the first gen ipod nano that had 3 cracked screens) ... and i've been wating for a long time... but is tuesday the magical day for apple's new product launches? i haven't kept up with past updates, and when special events like "its showtime" come around... i never realize its a tuesday
i will sit on the edge of my seat every monday night from now til thnxgiving =)
Is the current built to order MacBooks still rev. 1 ?
Want to pull the trigger on a current MBP just incase Apple pulls another blank week but i want to be able to return it. Few questions, is the Glossy option considered BTO?
Secondly has anyone successfully returned a fully functional BTO system to Apple?. pls say yes
Secondly has anyone successfully returned a fully functional BTO system to Apple?. pls say yes
It's quite clear what's going on:
Apple will get Core 3 Duo so soon, it doesn't seem worth putting Core 2 Duo into production
Apple will get Core 3 Duo so soon, it doesn't seem worth putting Core 2 Duo into production
Hmm, usually one of the rumor sites hears something about upcoming updates a few days before those are released, but there are no concrete rumors yet. I do not see new MB(P)s next week...
mquaack said:
From the Macbook I received on monday....
Hardware Overview:
Machine Name: MacBook
Machine Model: MacBook1,1
Processor Name: Intel Core Duo
Processor Speed: 2 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache (per processor): 2 MB
Memory: 512 MB
Bus Speed: 667 MHz
daneoni said:
Yes.
daneoni said:
Not unless it's broke, although it happens once in a blue moon.
Major Kong said:Hmm, usually one of the rumor sites hears something about upcoming updates a few days before those are released, but there are no concrete rumors yet. I do not see new MB(P)s next week...
To be fair, most of them have claimed new MBPs on a number of dates now... Photokina being the most recent example.
Major Kong said:Hmm, usually one of the rumor sites hears something about upcoming updates a few days before those are released, but there are no concrete rumors yet. I do not see new MB(P)s next week...
Some people have speculated that new MBPs were originally intended to be released at Photokina, and that makes sense to me. I'd give this Tuesday a 40% chance. As each week passes the probability goes up and up. While many are asking "why would Apple release?", I've been thinking "why not?" and the reasons "why not" dwindle with time. Engineering is done, existing stock on older models is decreasing, Core 2 Duo supplies are probably pretty stable by now. I think it's just marketing waiting to pull the trigger, and earlier is better in my opinion. Unless Apple is planning on releasing something big with them, I don't see this announcement as making a big splash, so they should get em out as soon as they're ready.
Mb And Mbp?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hey, first time poster long time reader.
A friend of mine working for a certain establishment 'Apple **cough**' mentioned to me that the due date for release of the new Core 2 Duo processors in the notebooks was last Monday the 25th, but it was delayed.
He also mentioned why it was delayed. It was delayed as they are updating the two portables at the same time. Both the Macbook and MBP's will be upgraded to core 2 duo at the same time and he also said that we can expect them in the next two weeks and at the very latest by the third week in October.
He doesn't know when exactly as he said he has to drag information from his supplier (his apple supplier). Apparently Apple are as careful about who they tell when the upgrades are inside the company as out.
Could be totally wrong but i believe him. Lets just hope he's right anyway.
I'm sick of waiting. Been five months now.
Prediction: Tuesday 3rd or 10th MB and MBP Core 2 Duo's.
Hey, first time poster long time reader.
A friend of mine working for a certain establishment 'Apple **cough**' mentioned to me that the due date for release of the new Core 2 Duo processors in the notebooks was last Monday the 25th, but it was delayed.
He also mentioned why it was delayed. It was delayed as they are updating the two portables at the same time. Both the Macbook and MBP's will be upgraded to core 2 duo at the same time and he also said that we can expect them in the next two weeks and at the very latest by the third week in October.
He doesn't know when exactly as he said he has to drag information from his supplier (his apple supplier). Apparently Apple are as careful about who they tell when the upgrades are inside the company as out.
Could be totally wrong but i believe him. Lets just hope he's right anyway.
I'm sick of waiting. Been five months now.
Prediction: Tuesday 3rd or 10th MB and MBP Core 2 Duo's.
