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

Heads up, New MacBook let down with a 480p camera.

C

clank72

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 7, 2009
172
0
While sitting on the edge of my seat until April 10th, just read the specs that Apple used a 480p camera in the 2015 MacBook.

Wow, bummer.

Apparently the 720p camera draws to much heat hindering on the battery.

But it's a far cry from the MacBook Air's beautiful 720p sensor.

Little wallet went back in pocket. See you next year.
 
clank72 said:
While sitting on the edge of my seat until April 10th, just read the specs that Apple used a 480p camera in the 2015 MacBook.

Wow, bummer.

Apparently the 720p camera draws to much heat hindering on the battery.

But it's a far cry from the MacBook Air's beautiful 720p sensor.

Little wallet went back in pocket. See you next year.
Click to expand...

This is my one and only hesitation about this machine. I'll probably get it anyway though, as I rarely use the webcam on my current MBA.
 
"Apparently the 720p camera draws to much heat hindering on the battery."

What? Where did you come up with this idea?

Give us some numbers instead of broad brushing the thing.
 
Yeah, this is the only drawback for me with the new MacBook. But I won't let that one feature stop me from buying it.
 
Not that I'm a big webcam user but this sounds like more of a matter of thickness than battery performance, given the fact that camera lenses can't really get any thinner than this due to the angle that light reflects and stuff inside the lens. Kinda bottlenecked by physics
 
luke lau said:
Not that I'm a big webcam user but this sounds like more of a matter of thickness than battery performance, given the fact that camera lenses can't really get any thinner than this due to the angle that light reflects and stuff inside the lens. Kinda bottlenecked by physics
Click to expand...

physics? that won't stop people from whining about it :( :D
 
If you video conference regularly you could get an inexpensive external camera or get a MBA.

For some, like myself, video conferencing isn't a big deal, but I can appreciate that for some it is.
 
... or just use your phone to video conference. Honestly, it's like we don't have a million devices with a camera these days. Do you really want to see the nosehairs on the people you're video conferencing with anyways? and if it's your family you want to talk to/see, your iphone should do the trick, even if you have a 4s.
 
sure, a 720 would have been nice.

but I dunno. this particular spec just not a big deal for me.

I mean, I don't know if I have ever used my mba camera except for the a couple skype chats to greece every year.
 
HellasLEAF said:
sure, a 720 would have been nice.

but I dunno. this particular spec just not a big deal for me.

I mean, I don't know if I have ever used my mba camera except for the a couple skype chats to greece every year.
Click to expand...

I always just use my iPhone. I've used both generations of the MBA and never used the camera.
 
I don't use webcam much but I would've hoped it would have even 1080p webcam. I guess I've been spoiled by better specs every year and seeing how it's 2015, 1080p seemed like the most logical step.

In any case, my biggest gripe with this laptop is that it's 12" and not 13", will have to wait until it's released to make up my mind about it.
 
Traverse said:
If you video conference regularly you could get an inexpensive external camera or get a MBA.

For some, like myself, video conferencing isn't a big deal, but I can appreciate that for some it is.
Click to expand...

But that kind of offsets the beauty of buying such a thin, light machine. Needing dongles, cameras and what not all of sudden makes a mess of things.

Tbh, I do some video conferencing, I'm not sure how bad the 480p camera will be, i.e., I'll not see the results but others will.
 
Traverse said:
If you video conference regularly you could get an inexpensive external camera or get a MBA.

For some, like myself, video conferencing isn't a big deal, but I can appreciate that for some it is.
Click to expand...

Having a bulky external webcam with a cord is not exactly the most sexiest solution. And my wife would never go for it. This would also require the bulky USB-C dongle. Totally unacceptable.

Thinness may have a stronger sell point then a 720p camera. Yes I get that. But Apple couldn't do anything at all to get the 720p cam in there??? Nothing?

...nothing at all??? Let's just hide the 480p camera and "hope people don't notice it too much". That's it? End of story?
.
.
.
.
.
.

I mean how much extra space are we talking about for a 720p? 1/4 inch? couple cementers?
 
I bet if you don't say anything, nobody will notice. I've owned a macbook air, iMac, and macbook pro, as well as an iPhone and iPad for years... and the only forward camera I've used is on my iPhone... and that's been for about 2 minutes a couple years ago when they talked about FaceTime HD... and I said big whoop, and turned it off. I see so many people in airports, coffee shops, and in meetings at various companies with little pieces of tape over the camera... I don't think people even care.... it's like an extra port, it's just there.
 
shenan1982 said:
I bet if you don't say anything, nobody will notice. I've owned a macbook air, iMac, and macbook pro, as well as an iPhone and iPad for years... and the only forward camera I've used is on my iPhone... and that's been for about 2 minutes a couple years ago when they talked about FaceTime HD... and I said big whoop, and turned it off. I see so many people in airports, coffee shops, and in meetings at various companies with little pieces of tape over the camera... I don't think people even care.... it's like an extra port, it's just there.
Click to expand...

Ok so how about this. I never use the Ethernet port and Thunderbolt port. So then it should not be there. Know one else uses it either. And there for, it shouldn't bother anyone and know-one will notice if they remove it.

No

The 480p was a step back. Period. It is what it is. I wouldn't say it was a necessary "F-U" to it's users. But it was definitely a sacrifice they needed to make. And the thinness and battery life was way more sexy. End of story.
 
clank72 said:
Ok so how about this. I never use the Ethernet port and Thunderbolt port. So then it should not be there. Know one else uses it either. And there for, it shouldn't bother anyone and know-one will notice if they remove it.

No

The 480p was a step back. Period. It is what it is. I wouldn't say it was a necessary "F-U" to it's users. But it was definitely a sacrifice they needed to make. And the thinness and battery life was way more sexy. End of story.
Click to expand...

Well yeah. If you want to make a laptop that in itself is thinner than an Ethernet port, one would logically figure you need to remove the port. It baffles me that this is even a discussion. Do people not read the dimensions of the computer? The computer is thinner than a USB port. The computer is thinner than an ethernet port. There's no trickery going on here.
 
maflynn said:
Tbh, I do some video conferencing, I'm not sure how bad the 480p camera will be, i.e., I'll not see the results but others will.
Click to expand...

I wonder how noticeable the 480p vs 720p will be too.

I only video chatted with one person. We used FaceTime before switching to Skype. She said she could barely tell a difference between my iPad's VGA, Mac's 720p, and iPhone 6's front camera quality.

She only used one device so I can't comment on quality differences, but that's what she said.

There's a reason they went with 480p. It may not be a great one, but I doubt it was cost on a $1300 system.
 
Wow..

I didn't realize the new Macbook was such a Macbook Air Rev. A type product. It sounds like they didn't just cut corners, but chop off whole sides.

I was looking at once to replace my 11.9" Macbook Air, but not anymore. There just doesn't seem to be an end to the list of compromises this machine makes for virtually no reason at all.
 
Unless you sell cam-shows for a living I don't really see the problem with this. :)

Or do you think people will hang up on you while Face-timing just because you lack a bit of definition in fullscreen? :)

Most people won´t even se the difference, even if the webcam was 4K the compression still kills the quality anyway.
 
I'm so sick and tired of these pathetic posts. It says 480p on the spec sheet, so this isn't new information. Just another troll post.

If you don't like product, buy something else.
 
The real reason is that the processor in this netbook isn't powerful enough to drive an HD video call and other processes simultaneously.
 
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