Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Is the new Macbook the 13" MBP killer?
- Thread starter dooyou
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I could see Apple filling the MB's case w. an Atom and a few lesser than parts & selling it for $699.
Haha, I can't even believe this is a debate.
For students (which arguably is the targeted audience for the MB), the price for both is $950/$1100.
For $150 more you get...
Aluminum
Lighter
Thinner
Durability
Heat dissipation
Illuminated keyboard
Edge-to-edge screen
SD Slot
FW
Almost everyone who went from the poly to the unibody would agree that the difference in chassis alone is worth the upgrade.
For students (which arguably is the targeted audience for the MB), the price for both is $950/$1100.
For $150 more you get...
Aluminum
Lighter
Thinner
Durability
Heat dissipation
Illuminated keyboard
Edge-to-edge screen
SD Slot
FW
Almost everyone who went from the poly to the unibody would agree that the difference in chassis alone is worth the upgrade.
I wish polycarb was an option for MBPs. Better wifi reception, and tougher. Ive seen dozens of macbooks smack the(tile,concrete, wood, vinyl) floor from 3+ feet, no damage. Drop a MBP on similar, catastrophic damage is common, bent body which is more costly than polycarb, and cracked screens. Get a palm guard for the yellowing. Plus it looks very clean and ascetically pleasing. That being said, no FW and a crappy screen is a deal breaker.
While I am probably one of the few who do actually need and want firewire (I edit video so usb does not really cut it for a scratch disk), I agree that the macbook specs are now so close (same stock processor, ram, integrated graphics, bigger stock HDD) that it makes the 13 MBP a little difficult to justify.
However, instead of getting into flame wars about who is stupid for purchasing what, I think it is much more exciting to discuss the potential upgrades coming in the next few months. The macbook is now forcing the MBP line to add more value. I think arrandale will probably make a big splash and we may even see improved graphics to further differentiate the lines and justify the price hike.
I do not think fancy aluminum, sd card, and light up keys are enough for apple to justify the "pro" moniker over an identically/inferiorly specced "consumer" machine. Thoughts?
However, instead of getting into flame wars about who is stupid for purchasing what, I think it is much more exciting to discuss the potential upgrades coming in the next few months. The macbook is now forcing the MBP line to add more value. I think arrandale will probably make a big splash and we may even see improved graphics to further differentiate the lines and justify the price hike.
I do not think fancy aluminum, sd card, and light up keys are enough for apple to justify the "pro" moniker over an identically/inferiorly specced "consumer" machine. Thoughts?
I am not gonna lie. This unibody really does give me butterflies every time I open it.
I would still take my unibody instead. Also since it's a 15" couldn't go wrong with the extra inches.
Oh and also, I believe we all use our Macbooks, MBP's for different reasons. Point blank, we all have an apple product. We are all going to have our own opinions in which is better for us.
In the end there is really, no "better".
Yes I believe it does have a glass screen.
That would be terrible if they didn't. Unless it was a Matte.
Sadly, I'm not sure many people will get that....
Vant speaks the truth...
this new update to the macbook makes it very competitive to the 13" mbp and makes it hard for new mac users to justify the price difference between the macbook and the macbook pro.
but the macbook did get its update after the 13" mbp did. I'm sure apple will release an update that bumps the 13" mbp further up the scale, i'm sure 2.53, 320gb, 2gb ram is in the near future.
i'm surprised they even tossed in the 7 hr battery life, since that's what stood out to me when i got the 13 mbp instead of a macbook. The battery life.
And its true, once you use a lighted keyboard, you can't use a regular one. Its that nice!!!
as it currently stands the new macbook, does beat the 13"mbp in value. You can add 4gb ram on apple site and still be cheaper than the 13" mbp, but give apple some time to update the 13"mbp i'm sure we'll all be surprised
but the macbook did get its update after the 13" mbp did. I'm sure apple will release an update that bumps the 13" mbp further up the scale, i'm sure 2.53, 320gb, 2gb ram is in the near future.
i'm surprised they even tossed in the 7 hr battery life, since that's what stood out to me when i got the 13 mbp instead of a macbook. The battery life.
And its true, once you use a lighted keyboard, you can't use a regular one. Its that nice!!!
as it currently stands the new macbook, does beat the 13"mbp in value. You can add 4gb ram on apple site and still be cheaper than the 13" mbp, but give apple some time to update the 13"mbp i'm sure we'll all be surprised
WHAT! i can think of plenty of reasons for 8GB's of ram in the pro 13!
I'm a system admin and quite often run 3 virtual machines on my 13"MBP at the same time! I need to be able to use these for my job.
I decided on the 13" because of the portability. I needed a small laptop with a lot of power! ok, i'm not a photographer and do not use any really video intensive apps but running 3 VM's for 6+ hours a day does need a lot of muscle behind it!
Lol. You do realise that running 3 VMs is a pretty unusual thing to be doing?
ok, maybe running 3 is but i know plenty of people that run 2 together. Web developers for one.
FireWire is actually a huge deal for me. I use an audio interface with my 13" MBP every day. The better heat dissipation is a good bonus because it means the fans most likely run quieter overall.
If I had the choice between this MB and the MBP back when I bought mine, the lower price might've made me get the MB though. I chose the MBP because it had a better display and better trackpad mostly.
If I had the choice between this MB and the MBP back when I bought mine, the lower price might've made me get the MB though. I chose the MBP because it had a better display and better trackpad mostly.
Personally I am surprised the 2.26 MBP 13" is still for sale. I wholly expected the 2.53 to become the base model. I'm gonna sit tight, if I sit tight much longer I'll get an Arrandale, so if there are many people like me Apple need to tweak the 13" MBP line to increase christmas sales and not cannibalise their own product line, IMO.
Haha, if it makes you feel any better, I'm a systems administrator and I run 17 virtual servers... but that's on dedicated hardware... my 13" MBP only has to run Ubuntu in a virtual environment (and Windows 7 in Bootcamp).
As for this whole MB vs MBP situation - I purchased my MBP about 6 weeks ago. If the new Macbook were available then, it would have been a very difficult choice for me to decide which one to purchase - especially considering its price. I paid NZ$3000 for my 13" MBP. The new MB is NZ$1700.
I don't use Firewire anymore - if I want fast data transfer, I won't use my Mac - I'll use my PC with e-SATA interface.
A lot of my colleagues have the old gen plastic white Macbooks, and they all have cracked palm rests. I'd need to see proof that this doesn't happen with the new model before purchasing. Obviously this isn't an issue with the MBP...
Surely you have some evidence to back up such an intelligently articulated conclusion.
An old school mac friend of mine calls this the first mac commandment: "Thou shalt NOT buy a version A!".
So in summary, Firewire is a huge deal for you, but you could live without it?
If I had to and the price difference was big enough to justify it. I decided against the previous gen 13" MBP because it had no FireWire plus the crappy display. The previous gen Macbook did have FireWire so I was comparing the 13" MBP to it and the MBP won because of its better display and trackpad.
Umm... which macbook pro do you have? I haven't seen any with an edge to edge screen. I have a BIG black border on mine instead of a white one. Plus, unless someone has owned one already and tested it , we can't say much about heat or durability yet. Only conjecture.
Hmm I think 'edge-to-edge' is a reference to the fact that the whole inside of the lid is glass. There is a border in terms of the actual LCD panel, but in terms of design aesthetics it is edge-to-edge glass rather than a tacky 1 inch white plastic border.
Fair comment on the heat dissipation, although it's a reasonable assumption at this early stage that Alu will dissipate heat better than plastic, a natural insulator!
Oh no doubt that aluminum is better at conducting heat. The one large problem I always had was apple not using it to their advantage. None of the heat sinks or hot components have a direct connection to the aluminum case itself. If it did, the CPU could never really heat up much more than the case temp. All the heat we feel is from components -> air (an even better insulator than plastic) -> Aluminum. If you ever want to see what does that to heat conduction, try lifting your heat sink off your cpu and leaving a mm of space while running (actually don't the chip will fry). Given that the macbook is plastic, (and more insulative in that fact) Heat could be an issue, unless apple made some design improvments to move hot air out more efficiently, or improved the heat tolerances of the parts, or they said screw it, they're gonna buy new ones anyways. It will be interesting to see which they picked.
As for Edge-to-edge, you can say edge-to-edge glass... not screen. And that's a personal preference. I honestly would love a matte option like the 15 inch pro, which has a silver bezel on it. It would actually be nice to have a part I can accidentally touch while opening and closing the screen without leaving fingerprints for my OCDness to clean up later lol.
As a umbp owner I find that this thread was a bait... and too many people jumped on it, I feel like people are fearful of their descision to buy a 13 inch MBP is less justified with the new MB. Maybe it is. Maybe it isn't. I'm glad that apple made a bunch of improvments on the new MB, and I see no reason to crap on it. We each bought our notebooks for our own reasons and uses.
