Intel iBook (MacBook) Arriving in May? and 17'' MacBook Pro?

[Shaker]

Show me the evidence that that GMA950 can't play Star Wars Battlefront at 640x480. From what I've read the Mini does a decent job at World of Warcraft. E.g.:

http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/games/mac_wow_performance.html

One guy there reports 12FPS, but at a whopping 1920x1080, so I imagine at 640x480 it runs like a charm.

I still think you're overestimating the number of people who play games on their iBooks. Personally I know a bunch of students with iBooks (including my wife) and the Sudoku widget is about as far as it goes.

But now win XP on the mac, you will be able to play just about anything that the hardware can handle.

 

[BenRoethig]

Great on the specs, a tad late on the timeframe.

 

[boncellis]

The one thing we have going for us, in getting a $999 Apple laptop, is that PC Core Duo laptops can be had for $799. Yes, they don't come with any of the extra hardware and software as you've noted, but Apple will feel some pressure to compete in this price range, especially in the education market.

G4s are, for sure, EOLed. The new MacBooks will require a new mobo to accomodate the new features (IR, iSight, etc.); Apple is not gonna cook up a separate motherboard with the new features AND G4. New MacBooks WILL be 100% Intel, you can bet on it. Apple might sell a few iBooks to blow through the existing stock, but that's about it.

You said it, I agree 100%. Another thing to consider is that the G4 iBook is already at $999 and $1299, so it would be very hard (but not impossible) for me to see Apple lowering the pricepoint for the Intel counterparts. That said, I sure hope they do. Their status has to be worth something, wouldn't you agree?

 

[weldon]

I think we can bank on integrated graphics considering that Dell's laptop offerings in the $900-1000 price range have integrated graphics. Personally, I think this is just fine because it will be more important for Apple to hit the right price points on the MacBook than it will be to have the best graphics performance.

 

[gnasher729]

Dell sells a Core Duo laptop for $899. An Apple laptop with a Core Duo for $999 next month is just within reason.

Dell Latitude D620 ($899 Dell Business catalog price, claimed regular price $1179): Core Duo T2300 (1.66GHz, 2MB cache, 667MHz FSB), 512MB shared DDR2 SDRAM, 40GB HDD, 14.1" widescreen XGA, Intel 950 integrated graphics, CD-ROM, 802.11b/g built in).

Typical Dell. I checked the home user department. A Core Duo laptop is slightly under $1000; but once you add Windows XP Pro (nowhere near MacOS X), the entertainment package (nowhere near iLife), Bluetooth, and a two year antivirus subscription (don't need that on the Mac), you are more at $1300. All that after 25% rebate; more than $1600 regular price. Anyone here with experience how difficult it is to actually get that rebate?

 

[alfismoney]

two distant MacBook 13" prayers; support for at least 2 gigs of ram and a good dvi driver for external displays. i don't need a killer processor and don't want a 15" screen but i do like to have enough ram to bust through a photoshop doc or a FCP project when I need to. 1280x720 makes for a great little portable (much better than my tibook), i just want to be able to whip out a bluetooth keyboard/mouse and plug into the 1920x1200 display on my desk when i get back home. my laptop is deader than dead and i really want to replace my G5 with a decent external hard disk and something mid-sized i can carry around.

on a side note, i'm sorry but the constant talk about video games is getting absurd. i pray for the day the macbook hits the market so i don't have to scan through 15 pages about Open GL, on board graphics, ati versus nvidia, and graphics acceleration in order to figure out whether the MacBook might suppoort a feature a non-gamer might want. i appreciate how exciting it is to be able to run a video game on your intel mac but i can't believe how much buzz this is generating. maybe you folks should've gotten together back in the day and put in a competitive bid to stop microsoft from buying bungie.

 

[Tupring]

1280x720 (16:9) is an odd resolution for Apple who prefers to use 16:10. I thought they'd go for 1280x800.

Yeah, you'd think so. But then again, Apple makes Intel PCs now.

 

[alfismoney]

Typical Dell. I checked the home user department. A Core Duo laptop is slightly under $1000; but once you add Windows XP Pro (nowhere near MacOS X), the entertainment package (nowhere near iLife), Bluetooth, and a two year antivirus subscription (don't need that on the Mac), you are more at $1300. All that after 25% rebate; more than $1600 regular price. Anyone here with experience how difficult it is to actually get that rebate?

Dell's rebates work pretty well, six to eight weeks later you have a check with your name on it. Their tech support, on the other hand, is happy to transfer you to five different departments in three different countries to troubleshoot the fact that they shipped you an un-refurbished refurbished printer out of the warehouse by accident. Thanks, Dell, for making my home office that much harder to set up.

 

[Moshiiii]

Alot of people are upset about Integrated Graphics but yet no one can explain what means.

 

[Demon Hunter]

Fair enough. How about this page:

http://forums.macnn.com/showthread.php?t=287515

In a PC at least, the GMA950 can run Half Life 2 at between 20-25 FPS. This directly goes against the assertion that the GMA950 "won't run" these games as GFLPraxis states.

Oh I'm sure they'll run, definitely. GMA 950 uses PCIe and the latest shaders.

But the sad truth is that GMA 950's performance (based on graphics chipset alone) brings us back to October 22, 2003 with the 12" iBook G4/800 and Mobility Radeon 9200. Adding insult to injury, the 9200 actually performs better.

Yes, friends... 2003.

 

[JAT]

Alot of people are upset about Integrated Graphics but yet no one can explain what means.

It is integrated with the rest of the base system, and the RAM is shared with system RAM. Unlike a graphics card, which is a separate piece of hardware with its own dedicated RAM, even in a laptop.

 

[milo]

Alot of people are upset about Integrated Graphics but yet no one can explain what means.

It means the machine has graphics processing on a chip on the motherboard instead of a graphics card in a slot. In most cases, the integrated isn't quite as good, but with the latest ones you'll only see a difference in 3D apps (games).

 

[MacRumorsReader]

Alot of people are upset about Integrated Graphics but yet no one can explain what means.

It means that the graphics are integrated. Or in other words that it doesn't have unintegrated graphics.

Better?

What it really means is that if you have 2 GBs of RAM some of that RAM doubles as Video RAM. This number is usually not user selectable and is also, usually very small.

Someone will correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[Moshiiii]

Oic thanks! Im glad i bought my MBP then.

 

[gekko513]

Core Duo only? Sounds like it will be quite expensive. I'm guessing a price increase to $1099, maybe even $1199.

 

[SaddY]

Let me predict the following:

The redesign will sweep you off your feet so whatever they put in it you will want it anyway.

They will not keep the 999 price point.. every intel product they released went up in price. So why wouldn't the macbook ?

People screeming for a core duo and hating on integrated graphics and want a x1300 or x1600 in and want to keep the price point should stop dreaming..
The only duo's as far as I know are 1,66 1,83 2.0 and 2.16 ghz.
We know the macbook's come in 1,83 an 2.0 with option for 2.16.. so there could only be a 1,66 used in the macbooks to not exceed the macbook pro's...

A 1.66 Core Duo with X1600 would just be way to close to the MBP.. so either expect the price to be close to 1999 or don't expect those specs

I as a MacBook Pro owner (just upgraded from a latest gen iBook G4) feel that at a 999 price point you should not expect more then a intel integrated graphics chip. If you however go for the more expensive model you should be able to count on a dedicated graphics chip. Maybe they have alot of spare 9700 stock 😛

I don't know..
but I forcast not to big of a deal.. The Macbook pro's can't be upgraded anymore (only make the 2.16 a standard instead of BTO) untill the Memrom comes out which will be at the end of the year early next year. So neither can the Macbooks. So they WILL start at a core solo low end and core duo 1.66 high end.

So to sum it up

MBP : 1,83 and 2.0 ---> upgrade 2.16
MB : 1.5 1.66 --> upgrade 1.83 when MBP's upgrade

That only seems logical to me :S
And yes I do think they will have integrated graphics..

Don't really get the 17 inch MBP hype. The specs will be the same as the MBP obviously except for some slight changes. (the CPU, Ram and HD will be the same atleast). Why do you want such a huge thing ? just get the 15 inch and hook it up to external if you want bigger imho..

thats just my 2 cents..

 

[dr_lha]

Oh I'm sure they'll run, definitely. GMA 950 uses PCIe and the latest shaders.

But the sad truth is that GMA 950's performance (based on graphics chipset alone) brings us back to October 22, 2003 with the 12" iBook G4/800 and Mobility Radeon 9200. Adding insult to injury, the 9200 actually performs better.

Yes, friends... 2003.

For 3D maybe, but the GMA 950 pushes pixels around better than the 9200 does, so for user interface and stuff like Movies its great.

 

[theBB]

Anyone here with experience how difficult it is to actually get that rebate?

My last rebate never arrived. It was only for $15 and I was too busy to call them and stay on hold at the time. Now it is too late. I know a lot of people who had no problems, but still it is not perfect. Why don't they just offer a limited time discount? It is their own website, it is not like we are buying it through some middlemen such as Best Buy or Circuit City. They could easily do it. They are just hoping you'd miss the deadline or they would make a mistake (!) and you'd be too busy to look into it.

What gets me is Dell's tricks with prices. Every now and then, there is a really good deal and I think I'll just add a DVD writer for $50, the rest I could live with, but then the rebate dissapears, because is either the rebate or customization. All of a sudden that DVD writer is costing me $250. Besides, they have free shipping, but charge $60 for handling. Give me a break...

I prefer HP/Compaq. On their site, I can also find out the number of Firewire and USB ports or screen resolution without going through a lot of web pages. If Dell prefers to hide details, it is a good bet they'd rather you don't know.

 

[milo]

They will not keep the 999 price point.. every intel product they released went up in price. So why wouldn't the macbook ?

No they didn't. Only the minis went up in price. iMacs were $1299. 15 inch laptops were $1999. Both same as before. I'd say the odds are 50/50 on the MacBook being the same or going up a bit.

 

[Demon Hunter]

Don't really get the 17 inch MBP hype. The specs will be the same as the MBP obviously except for some slight changes. (the CPU, Ram and HD will be the same atleast). Why do you want such a huge thing ? just get the 15 inch and hook it up to external if you want bigger imho..

thats just my 2 cents..

We want our FireWire 800 back. 😡

 

[ready2switch]

What is so bad about wanting dedicated graphics on a “consumer” laptop? Or a Core Duo? Or any of the other *hopes* listed? IMO there is a reachable and reasonable solution:

MacBook – Low option (think mini with a screen)
1.5 (or 1.66) Core Solo
512MB memory
60GB hard drive
Combo Drive
Airport Extreme/Bluetooth/Remote/iSight
Intel GMA950 graphics

BTO Options:
1.66 Core Duo
up to 2GB memory
up to 120GB hard drive
Super Drive
dedicated graphics (64MB or 128MB)

Standard “Low option” priced @ $999
Options bump price as desired.

I don’t think it’s out of reach, and would be in line with some other available counterparts in the PC world. I, for one, would be more than willing to pay for the options I want. Those wanting dedicated graphics aren't wanting them for free, just as an OPTION.

 

[dr_lha]

What is so bad about wanting dedicated graphics on a “consumer” laptop? Or a Core Duo? Or any of the other *hopes* listed? IMO there is a reachable and reasonable solution:

MacBook – Low option (think mini with a screen)
1.5 (or 1.66) Core Solo
512MB memory
60GB hard drive
Combo Drive
Airport Extreme/Bluetooth/Remote/iSight
Intel GMA950 graphics

BTO Options:
1.66 Core Duo
up to 2GB memory
up to 120GB hard drive
Super Drive
dedicated graphics (64MB or 128MB)

Standard “Low option” priced @ $999
Options bump price as desired.

I don’t think it’s out of reach, and would be in line with some other available counterparts in the PC world. I, for one, would be more than willing to pay for the options I want. Those wanting dedicated graphics aren't wanting them for free, just as an OPTION.

Dedicated graphics will not be a BTO option. They'd have to redesign the motherboard to put a GFX chip on the board. Expect dedicated GFX chip to be a rev. B thing when the prices of Core chips go down maybe.

 

[dwsolberg]

Hoping

Appleinsider seems to think Apple can create a dual-core, brilliant 13.3 widescreen, and separate graphics card system for iBook prices. This doesn't make sense: The cheapest MacBook Pro is $1999, about twice as much with pretty similar specs. You can't find a notebook PC with those specs and a $999 price point, and Apples are rarely cheaper than PCs.

Realistically, though, Apple will need to fill in the pricing between the $999 and $1999 price points. It'll be interesting to see what happens.

 

[milo]

For 3D maybe, but the GMA 950 pushes pixels around better than the 9200 does, so for user interface and stuff like Movies its great.

Good point. I assume the 2003 iBooks can't play back hi def, can they?

We want our FireWire 800 back. 😡

Give it up. Never going to happen. I wouldn't be surprised if even the towers don't have it.

What is so bad about wanting dedicated graphics on a “consumer” laptop?

Nothing, except it raises the price. Even if they make in an option, they have to include the slot on the motherboard and leave the space for it on the models that don't include it. Considering they have the duo in one of the minis, I don't think there's any doubt we'll see duos on the higher configs.

 

[Some_Big_Spoon]

Me too.. I've said a number of times here that I need a smaller power(mac)book, not a larger one. No attached optical drive please, thanks.

I really do prefer for it to be smaller and even more portable. 😱