Sorry I have been out of the loop. But we can use 4gb of ram in the uni's? I was under the impression there were issues with anything over 2gb or something? Not too sure, i really wanna jump on this for 53 bucks! thanks guys
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~ MacBook [Aluminum] Owner's Thread
- Thread starter ubercool
- Start date
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Well, my new MacBook was delivered yesterday TO THE WRONG ADDRESS!
Was not happy at all, I had been tracking the delivery on the courier company website and at 9.30am when I looked it said it had been delivered at 9.12am.
Phoned the retailer and explained that the goods had not been delivered to me but they were adamant after speaking with the delvery company that the goods had been delivered succesfully (although originally signed for by a neighbour).
I contacted the courier company myself and after a total of 2 hours on the phone (between the 2 companies) convinced them to send the delivery driver back to where he had delivered and to collect my Macbook and redeliver to the correct address (he had not even managed to get the right road the first time)
So I finally got my hands on it just before mid-day yesterday and it is fantastic! It feels more solid than my old white MacBook and seems to run a little quicker and cooler too, so I am more than happy.
Was not happy at all, I had been tracking the delivery on the courier company website and at 9.30am when I looked it said it had been delivered at 9.12am.
Phoned the retailer and explained that the goods had not been delivered to me but they were adamant after speaking with the delvery company that the goods had been delivered succesfully (although originally signed for by a neighbour).
I contacted the courier company myself and after a total of 2 hours on the phone (between the 2 companies) convinced them to send the delivery driver back to where he had delivered and to collect my Macbook and redeliver to the correct address (he had not even managed to get the right road the first time)
So I finally got my hands on it just before mid-day yesterday and it is fantastic! It feels more solid than my old white MacBook and seems to run a little quicker and cooler too, so I am more than happy.
It's here!
It was sitting on my secretary's desk this afternoon and I kept staring at the cardboard box until I got home earlier this evening. Un-boxing Apple products is always a treat.I'm letting it completely charge before powering it up and the wait is killing me. I have to go back into the office in a few hours, so I will have to wait until tomorrow night.
I have to say, the MacBook is absolutely stunning. It feels like a piece of art and the build quality is light-years ahead of any other laptop. Hats off to you Apple -- you've done it again.
Bryan
It's here!
I'm letting it completely charge before powering it up and the wait is killing me. I have to go back into the office in a few hours, so I will have to wait until tomorrow night.
I have to say, the MacBook is absolutely stunning. It feels like a piece of art and the build quality is light-years ahead of any other laptop. Hats off to you Apple -- you've done it again.
Bryan
waiting for it to completely charge before powering it up?
its not a electric shaver
waiting for it to completely charge before powering it up?
Yep. Extracted from another thread:
That poster is wrong. That's not how you calibrate the new Unibody batteries.
You can use the MB right away, just make sure it's plugged in.
And you don't have to calibrate your battery right away.
when you do it, this is how it should be done:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1490
Sorry you wasted a good few hours when you could've been using your brand new toy.
waiting for it to completely charge before powering it up?
its not a electric shaver
I didn't even charge it the first time I used mine!
WOOO!!!! GOT IT!!!!
I caved. Got the 2.4Ghz, and I must say, this keyboard is awesome as well as sexy. The back light is amazing. I haven't got to use it a lot yet, as when I got home last night, I spent 4 hours transferring files from my old one, and had work today, so I will post a review, in comparison to my older Macbook, later on at some point.
Here's my preliminary review:
Keyboard: I love the new keyboard. It seems quieter and I like the feel of it. Don’t even get me started on the backlight. It’s just amazing. Granted, I can type without one, it just makes it easier, and it adds some nice ambient light, when sitting in a dark room.
Screen: The best part of the new screen for me is the tempered glass. On the old Macbook, part of the actual screen wasn’t connected to the frame, which the Genius told me was fine, but I didn’t like it. I felt like it would get worse taking it to class everyday. The new screen doesn’t have that problem. Also, having an LED backlit screen makes it thinner, probably half as thick as the old Macbook. It also makes the screen brighter, and a lesser setting, which helps save battery power. And yes, the colors are more ‘pronounced’, the blacks are black, and the reds are red, that sort of thing.
Track pad: I love the track pad, the feel of it, makes it perfect for finger scrolling. I also like that there is no separate button, but I don’t like how Apple lied stating that it’s one big button, when the top third doesn’t click. I’m still getting used to just clicking the pad, but most of the time, I use tap click, so that helps. Also, the button is designed to actually have to be clicked, so you’ll never accidentally click while scrolling, or just moving the mouse.
Fan/Heat Distribution: One thing I disliked about the old Macbooks, was how the fan would spin rapidly, at like 5000 – 6000rpms, but the temperature would stay high, or the fan would start speeding up for no reason, mostly when I started to watch any sort of video. Also, when I was transferring files, using Migration Assistant, I had both Macbooks sitting on the same table. The previous one heated up a lot more, and the fan was constantly spinning. The newer model kept pretty cool, just getting warm by the MagSafe connector.
Build: Overall, this is one solid ‘brick’ of a computer. It seems and is smaller than the previous model. It may only be half a pound, or half in inch here and there, but having it be built out of a lighter aluminum just makes it feel solid. I like how they fixed the magnetic latch. On the old Macbooks, if you started to lower the screen, at a certain point the power of the magnets would just snap the screen shut, or sometimes you had to use some force to open the screen. Not on the new ones, you close it all the way, and it opens easily, not that it will just open by itself, but no real force needed. This is certainly one of the lightest 13 inch laptops out there.
Lack of Firewire: Never used it on the old Macbook, don’t think I’ll ever use it on this one. I can’t think of anything that has only a Firewire connection, and plus, come the iMac refresh, I’ll be picking up one of those, which has a Firewire port, so I’ll have it then. PLUS I still have my old Macbook, so I have a port on that one.
Speakers: MUCH MUCH MUCH better than the previous Macbook. The new placement is under the keyboard, FYI, and you hear more sound, since the waves are directed up towards you, instead of out the back of the Macbook. I also feel they added a new subwoofer, because I feel the base a lot more than before. Other than that, their just internal speakers, they won’t be top of the line, but their pretty damn good for laptop speakers.
Graphics: Integrated Intel graphics vs. Integrated nVidia graphics. Hmm, which one is better? The new graphic card is such an improvement over the old one. I haven’t yet been able to try out any games, nor run a Windows Experience Index, but I know this laptop receives around a 5.2, from previous reports. I have fooled around a little in Photoshop and Flash, and it is much clearer than the Intel graphics. I know I’ll be saying this a lot more, once I get some games, but man, what an improvement.
Battery: Opened up the box with a full charge, got about three quarters the way through transferring files before I remembered to plug it in. I gave it a full charge overnight, and today, I ran it for about 4 hours, of listening to music, surfing the web, watching some videos, all with brightness at about half settings, on both the screen and the keyboard, so the battery is far improved over the previous generation. Only downside is it takes about 3x to charge, but it really doesn’t affect me, as I’ll almost always have it plugged in.
I caved. Got the 2.4Ghz, and I must say, this keyboard is awesome as well as sexy. The back light is amazing. I haven't got to use it a lot yet, as when I got home last night, I spent 4 hours transferring files from my old one, and had work today, so I will post a review, in comparison to my older Macbook, later on at some point.
Here's my preliminary review:
Keyboard: I love the new keyboard. It seems quieter and I like the feel of it. Don’t even get me started on the backlight. It’s just amazing. Granted, I can type without one, it just makes it easier, and it adds some nice ambient light, when sitting in a dark room.
Screen: The best part of the new screen for me is the tempered glass. On the old Macbook, part of the actual screen wasn’t connected to the frame, which the Genius told me was fine, but I didn’t like it. I felt like it would get worse taking it to class everyday. The new screen doesn’t have that problem. Also, having an LED backlit screen makes it thinner, probably half as thick as the old Macbook. It also makes the screen brighter, and a lesser setting, which helps save battery power. And yes, the colors are more ‘pronounced’, the blacks are black, and the reds are red, that sort of thing.
Track pad: I love the track pad, the feel of it, makes it perfect for finger scrolling. I also like that there is no separate button, but I don’t like how Apple lied stating that it’s one big button, when the top third doesn’t click. I’m still getting used to just clicking the pad, but most of the time, I use tap click, so that helps. Also, the button is designed to actually have to be clicked, so you’ll never accidentally click while scrolling, or just moving the mouse.
Fan/Heat Distribution: One thing I disliked about the old Macbooks, was how the fan would spin rapidly, at like 5000 – 6000rpms, but the temperature would stay high, or the fan would start speeding up for no reason, mostly when I started to watch any sort of video. Also, when I was transferring files, using Migration Assistant, I had both Macbooks sitting on the same table. The previous one heated up a lot more, and the fan was constantly spinning. The newer model kept pretty cool, just getting warm by the MagSafe connector.
Build: Overall, this is one solid ‘brick’ of a computer. It seems and is smaller than the previous model. It may only be half a pound, or half in inch here and there, but having it be built out of a lighter aluminum just makes it feel solid. I like how they fixed the magnetic latch. On the old Macbooks, if you started to lower the screen, at a certain point the power of the magnets would just snap the screen shut, or sometimes you had to use some force to open the screen. Not on the new ones, you close it all the way, and it opens easily, not that it will just open by itself, but no real force needed. This is certainly one of the lightest 13 inch laptops out there.
Lack of Firewire: Never used it on the old Macbook, don’t think I’ll ever use it on this one. I can’t think of anything that has only a Firewire connection, and plus, come the iMac refresh, I’ll be picking up one of those, which has a Firewire port, so I’ll have it then. PLUS I still have my old Macbook, so I have a port on that one.
Speakers: MUCH MUCH MUCH better than the previous Macbook. The new placement is under the keyboard, FYI, and you hear more sound, since the waves are directed up towards you, instead of out the back of the Macbook. I also feel they added a new subwoofer, because I feel the base a lot more than before. Other than that, their just internal speakers, they won’t be top of the line, but their pretty damn good for laptop speakers.
Graphics: Integrated Intel graphics vs. Integrated nVidia graphics. Hmm, which one is better? The new graphic card is such an improvement over the old one. I haven’t yet been able to try out any games, nor run a Windows Experience Index, but I know this laptop receives around a 5.2, from previous reports. I have fooled around a little in Photoshop and Flash, and it is much clearer than the Intel graphics. I know I’ll be saying this a lot more, once I get some games, but man, what an improvement.
Battery: Opened up the box with a full charge, got about three quarters the way through transferring files before I remembered to plug it in. I gave it a full charge overnight, and today, I ran it for about 4 hours, of listening to music, surfing the web, watching some videos, all with brightness at about half settings, on both the screen and the keyboard, so the battery is far improved over the previous generation. Only downside is it takes about 3x to charge, but it really doesn’t affect me, as I’ll almost always have it plugged in.
It certainly is a thing of beauty! You just have to own one to understand and appreciate the passion behind your post. I get it. We get it.
Hello there everyone!
I just picked up my lovely 2.4 MacBook and I am IN LOVE!
However, I have noticed that my trackpad sits kind of funny. I already did a search and couldn't find anything, so here I am;
Any one else's trackpad sitting hirer on one side than the other? My trackpad looks like it was pushed down really hard on the left side.
I just picked up my lovely 2.4 MacBook and I am IN LOVE!
However, I have noticed that my trackpad sits kind of funny. I already did a search and couldn't find anything, so here I am;
Any one else's trackpad sitting hirer on one side than the other? My trackpad looks like it was pushed down really hard on the left side.
Nope, not here. Mine is perfectly silky smooth
. If it seems bad, take it up to the Apple store.I got it!
FINALLY...after soo long i've gotten my hands on an Alu MB all of my own....screen is great, keys are perfect no issues at all will be happily dumping my windoze POS 2moro!
FINALLY...after soo long i've gotten my hands on an Alu MB all of my own....screen is great, keys are perfect no issues at all
will be happily dumping my windoze POS 2moro!Mine was shipped this morning-ordered two days ago. ETA- WEDNESDAY.
but...
hopefully it'll come earlier.
Those of you who had it shipped, did yours come before the ETA?
but...
hopefully it'll come earlier.
Those of you who had it shipped, did yours come before the ETA?
macbook air vs macbook aluminum
Brilliant work, Apple.
Have used the 2.4 whitebook for a little under a year. It was great for me as a secondary travel computer for seminars, lectures and the such. Previously had the macbook pro and first intro of the 1.8 macbook air. I have to say, this new aluminum macbook is simply incredible.
The applestore in Houston let me bring my whitebook and load some of my movies and test editing features on the new imovie/idvd which is what I like to use for short documentary work with a few classes and the nvidia card proved stellar in the new MBA and macbook.
I ended with the macbook itself mostly because it had 4gb capacity and could pop in my hitachi 320gb 7200 drive right in and be happy. The macbook air revision is also stellar, but there was just something about the macbook that felt perfect in my hand (lighter and thinner than whitebooks) and having the superdrive built in is just hands down exactly what all portable laptops need to have.
My external is from OWC and with esata and fw800/400 connections, but luckily I found it had a usb slot on the back also so I expect the backing up portion of this laptop to be significantly slower than with the macbook pro or whitebook's firewire 400, but it seems silly to harp at apple for not including firewire on their entry level machine when they have done so much else to improve the capability of the machine.
My main computer now is a custom built vista machine, but it has become nothing more than a gaming computer, and with grad school coming up this fall I will be selling it as it seems this little macbook has everything under control for me. If anything I could see myself getting an imac/macpro entry level. I have a 22" LG lcd screen, but even the stock screens on the imacs impressed me and I may end up selling the large screen with the vista desktop to make room for the imac.
Again to those tossing around the question/concern over which laptop is capable of what with money concerns:
Macbook aluminum, even if you just get the 2.0ghz, it is a quick boot, solid-built, stable laptop able to run everything it seems with the graphics card.
The new macbook air is nice, but lack of ports and built in optical drive, I feel, would bug people. Nevertheless, as a former owner of the original air, I can say it too is quick, and the new revisions are incredible on it also, but the macbook regular is also pretty thin -- I think perfect. The air has a very distinct buyer/audience genre, and I just don't fit into that even with the money to purchase one of the new ones right now. I feel as thought a built in optical drive and larger HD availability is a necessity and that was MY determining factor.
The macbook pro takes the macbook's solid abilities and multiplies it infinitely. The better graphics card and screen quality is stunning, but again portability (not whining) for my genre of buyers as an upcoming grad student with a main desktop at home with larger screen...is not attractive to the macbook pro at this time. Now, if this is a main computer purchase one is looking at, and you have the funds for it, the macbook pro is of course a clear optimal choice from apple right now, larger screen if it is your main computer is always great. But let's not forget the 9400m card in the macbook, too, is very powerful at running external monitors.
I hope somebody finds some of this useful, I know in the past comments like these put my mind at ease in buying a machine from apple. As a final thought, yes even the cheap, low-end macbook is phenomenal at everything. I really cannot say enough good about this machine and I am so proud to have an apple again as a viable main-computer for a reasonable price after a few years of the technology scramble to penryn.
Brilliant work, Apple.
Have used the 2.4 whitebook for a little under a year. It was great for me as a secondary travel computer for seminars, lectures and the such. Previously had the macbook pro and first intro of the 1.8 macbook air. I have to say, this new aluminum macbook is simply incredible.
The applestore in Houston let me bring my whitebook and load some of my movies and test editing features on the new imovie/idvd which is what I like to use for short documentary work with a few classes and the nvidia card proved stellar in the new MBA and macbook.
I ended with the macbook itself mostly because it had 4gb capacity and could pop in my hitachi 320gb 7200 drive right in and be happy. The macbook air revision is also stellar, but there was just something about the macbook that felt perfect in my hand (lighter and thinner than whitebooks) and having the superdrive built in is just hands down exactly what all portable laptops need to have.
My external is from OWC and with esata and fw800/400 connections, but luckily I found it had a usb slot on the back also so I expect the backing up portion of this laptop to be significantly slower than with the macbook pro or whitebook's firewire 400, but it seems silly to harp at apple for not including firewire on their entry level machine when they have done so much else to improve the capability of the machine.
My main computer now is a custom built vista machine, but it has become nothing more than a gaming computer, and with grad school coming up this fall I will be selling it as it seems this little macbook has everything under control for me. If anything I could see myself getting an imac/macpro entry level. I have a 22" LG lcd screen, but even the stock screens on the imacs impressed me and I may end up selling the large screen with the vista desktop to make room for the imac.
Again to those tossing around the question/concern over which laptop is capable of what with money concerns:
Macbook aluminum, even if you just get the 2.0ghz, it is a quick boot, solid-built, stable laptop able to run everything it seems with the graphics card.
The new macbook air is nice, but lack of ports and built in optical drive, I feel, would bug people. Nevertheless, as a former owner of the original air, I can say it too is quick, and the new revisions are incredible on it also, but the macbook regular is also pretty thin -- I think perfect. The air has a very distinct buyer/audience genre, and I just don't fit into that even with the money to purchase one of the new ones right now. I feel as thought a built in optical drive and larger HD availability is a necessity and that was MY determining factor.
The macbook pro takes the macbook's solid abilities and multiplies it infinitely. The better graphics card and screen quality is stunning, but again portability (not whining) for my genre of buyers as an upcoming grad student with a main desktop at home with larger screen...is not attractive to the macbook pro at this time. Now, if this is a main computer purchase one is looking at, and you have the funds for it, the macbook pro is of course a clear optimal choice from apple right now, larger screen if it is your main computer is always great. But let's not forget the 9400m card in the macbook, too, is very powerful at running external monitors.
I hope somebody finds some of this useful, I know in the past comments like these put my mind at ease in buying a machine from apple. As a final thought, yes even the cheap, low-end macbook is phenomenal at everything. I really cannot say enough good about this machine and I am so proud to have an apple again as a viable main-computer for a reasonable price after a few years of the technology scramble to penryn.
I received an Aluminum Macbook a couple days ago. While I was tracking the shipment, I was also browsing forums for reviews etc. The reports of the "crappy screen" were worrying me.
After using the laptop for 2 days, I have no hesitation in letting you know that the screen is gorgeous. I'm not a screen expert but I like the brightness and even the color a lot more than my black macbook. I used a calibration file posted on another forum which increased the contrast slightly. But the key point here is..
If you're waiting for a macbook or planning on buying one, you'll love the screen!
P.S. I have the dreaded 9c89 screen.
After using the laptop for 2 days, I have no hesitation in letting you know that the screen is gorgeous. I'm not a screen expert but I like the brightness and even the color a lot more than my black macbook. I used a calibration file posted on another forum which increased the contrast slightly. But the key point here is..
If you're waiting for a macbook or planning on buying one, you'll love the screen!
P.S. I have the dreaded 9c89 screen.
True.
Although, I can understand from the POV of someone who previously owned a MBP and then purchased a MB - he/she will be able to notice the difference straight away pretty much because they are a custom of using MBP's.
In my situation, coming from Dell - I didn't see a difference or cause a fuss because I never paid too much attention to the screen aspect. Although, staying on these forums (lol) makes you look at every tiny detail.
