Macbook Released

[AidenShaw]

priced for Merom

Well it's true - -I can't remember the site, but there is a PC spec site (ASUS, etc) that tells all the costs of parts in 1000 quantities....

I think Apple (and they will ) will bring the Macbook down in price.....

Or they can drop a 64-bit Merom in as soon as they arrive and keep the price the same.

Apple already has Intel's schedule for price drops and new models - they could easily have factored a switchover to Merom into the price point for the MB.

 

[Evangelion]

No, the GMA950 'borrows' 64MB+ (it varies depending on need, at least under Windows) of your high-latency system memory. The 9550 and FX5200 have dedicated, fast, low-latency video memory. Add to that a more more mature GPU design, hardware texture and lighting and more programmable pixel and vertex shaders and pipelines and the performance of either of the old GPUs under modern benchmarks on Windows should be at least 3-4x that of an Intel GMA.

Actually, the GMA950 is faster than the FX5200. And IIRC GMA950 does have T&L as well. And vid-cards traditionally have very fast, but high-latency RAM.

 

[NC MacGuy]

Battery & Keyboard -1st impressions

Having owned a 867 12" PB, 15" PB Ti, 15" 1.67 Al plus a Wallstreet and an old 250 Mhz G3 PB, this is the first Ibook (macBook) I've purchased for myself. I've gotten employees the ibooks but could never see myself having one. Got the black one yesterday and waiting for ram delivery so using standard 512 config. This thing is fast. Not as fast as my imac but really quick none-the-less. The battery lasted 5:18 minutes yesterday on initial charge all-the-way / drain-it-down training cycle. I used airport 100% of time with Safari, Mail and Word app.'s on and set at "better battery life." Best of any Apple-book I've ever had. Working on second cycle now with 3 hours down and battery still showing 57% & 2:42 left.... We'll see. The airport blows away every metal PB I've owned - period. I never knew there were so many wireless networks around my house! The keyboard, I think, is pretty good. My PB's seem to develop "touchy" keys over time and every one of them will double-stroke common letters due to my heavy handed two finger typing. The MB's are spread out a bit more and seem more in tune to my style. One nice thing no one has seemed to mention is the keyboard is designed inset and a wee-bit below to not cause the ever present display lines that were etched on each and every one of my previous books displays. The display has much less glare than I anticipated and very bright. Pleased so far.

 

[spikeovsky]

(the 1400 had the BEST keyboard ever.... IBM made that puppy... a tank...)

I may be wrong, but didn't IBM help with the 2400, not the 1400? As for keyboards, I still miss the one I had with my Mac Plus. That thing really made you feel like you were *typing*. Clunk-clunk-clunk-clunk-clunk....

Pismos rock!

 

[Evangelion]

I agree with you, it is a bit odd. I think it makes a fantastic iBook replacement. The problem is that they seem to think it also replaces the 12" PowerBook, and there it falls short, mostly because of the integrated graphics. I wish there was a +$ option for a dedicated 128MB graphics chip, that would solve the dilemma.

Like I said before: The FX5200 found on the 12" PowerBook is NOT some kind of speed-demon! Yes, it's dedicated, yes it sucks by modern standards.

 

[Cedd]

Flaking Black Macbook

It is being reported here :http://marklem.com/mlem/?p=8http://marklem.com/mlem/?p=8 that the Black Macbooks are easily marked / are flaking "paint".

Anyone with a Black Macbook care to comment on this? I have one on order so I would be very interested to hear...

 

[thejadedmonkey]

The way I see it, we were expecting a cheep laptop (ie 1.66 ghz w/IIG) but we got something in the middle (2ghz w/IIG). Had we gotten a slower, cheeper machine with IIG, no one would have cared. We would have said it was aimed towards the buget minded students, and moved on.

Once they gave us the 2ghz CPU (the same one found in the pro models) we saw the good life and wanted all of it.Unfortunatley, Apple only gave us 1/2 of it, and left us with the crappy graphics.

Right now this computer doesn't really feel like it fits anywhere....

It's not a buget computer (over $1000 minimum)
It's not a good gaming machine, even for the casual gamer (it has a very low end GPU)
It's not a road worrior (too big)
It's not revolutionary (no touch screen or something amazing)

Just about the only thing it does get right is the battery life. 6 hours is amazing! Unfortunatley, 6 hours battery life is not compelling enough to buy it. Instead, apple should have given us a cheep end computer for a cheep price, a better GPU at this price, made it smaller for the road worrior, or done something extraordinary to make it stand out. Right now, it's just a poorly targeted consumer laptop that's more power than needed in one area, and not enough power in another.

Having said this, I'll probably be picking one of these up one once they put Leapord on these bad boys, and hook us up with some i965's in them.

 

[MIDI_EVIL]

Having owned a 867 12" PB, 15" PB Ti, 15" 1.67 Al plus a Wallstreet and an old 250 Mhz G3 PB, this is the first Ibook (macBook) I've purchased for myself. I've gotten employees the ibooks but could never see myself having one. Got the black one yesterday and waiting for ram delivery so using standard 512 config. This thing is fast. Not as fast as my imac but really quick none-the-less. The battery lasted 5:18 minutes yesterday on initial charge all-the-way / drain-it-down training cycle. I used airport 100% of time with Safari, Mail and Word app.'s on and set at "better battery life." Best of any Apple-book I've ever had. Working on second cycle now with 3 hours down and battery still showing 57% & 2:42 left.... We'll see. The airport blows away every metal PB I've owned - period. I never knew there were so many wireless networks around my house! The keyboard, I think, is pretty good. My PB's seem to develop "touchy" keys over time and every one of them will double-stroke common letters due to my heavy handed two finger typing. The MB's are spread out a bit more and seem more in tune to my style. One nice thing no one has seemed to mention is the keyboard is designed inset and a wee-bit below to not cause the ever present display lines that were etched on each and every one of my previous books displays. The display has much less glare than I anticipated and very bright. Pleased so far.

I'm really glad you are happy, i think there will be many many more posts like this to come.

Rich.

 

[Roy Hobbs]

I'm thinking about selling my Intel imac to get the new Macbook (for portability issues) but I am a little concerned because I do A LOT of downloading..movies,t.v shows etc.. I've been told that laptops arn't the best choice if you download a lot...can anybody confirm this or tell me otherwise?
thanks for your help

Why would it matter??? I download a TON on my powerbook. I dont see any reason why it would be a concern?

 

[deadturtle]

Sadly it looks like the BlackBook doesnt come with a Black MagSafe, at least not the models in the Apple Store... oh well

 

[Cybergypsy]

Having owned a 867 12" PB, 15" PB Ti, 15" 1.67 Al plus a Wallstreet and an old 250 Mhz G3 PB, this is the first Ibook (macBook) I've purchased for myself. I've gotten employees the ibooks but could never see myself having one. Got the black one yesterday and waiting for ram delivery so using standard 512 config. This thing is fast. Not as fast as my imac but really quick none-the-less. The battery lasted 5:18 minutes yesterday on initial charge all-the-way / drain-it-down training cycle. I used airport 100% of time with Safari, Mail and Word app.'s on and set at "better battery life." Best of any Apple-book I've ever had. Working on second cycle now with 3 hours down and battery still showing 57% & 2:42 left.... We'll see. The airport blows away every metal PB I've owned - period. I never knew there were so many wireless networks around my house! The keyboard, I think, is pretty good. My PB's seem to develop "touchy" keys over time and every one of them will double-stroke common letters due to my heavy handed two finger typing. The MB's are spread out a bit more and seem more in tune to my style. One nice thing no one has seemed to mention is the keyboard is designed inset and a wee-bit below to not cause the ever present display lines that were etched on each and every one of my previous books displays. The display has much less glare than I anticipated and very bright. Pleased so far.

Thanks for the review....mine shipped today.....i hope it pick up lots of networks, moving and would love to have choices

 

[Evangelion]

Once they gave us the 2ghz CPU (the same one found in the pro models) we saw the good life and wanted all of it.Unfortunatley, Apple only gave us 1/2 of it, and left us with the crappy graphics.

Dude, the graphics are not THAT bad. Sure, you can't use some extreme settings in games, but you can game with the MacBook.

It's not a buget computer (over $1000 minimum)

you get what you pay for. That's all I have to say.

It's not a good gaming machine, even for the casual gamer (it has a very low end GPU)

It's perfect for casual gamer. Some l33t-gamer would be disappointed, but this laptop (really: do ubergamers use laptops for gaming? Desktops are always going to be better at gaming) is not meant for them. If they want a laptop for gaming, they can always buy Alienware.

It's not a road worrior (too big)

My HP-laptop is even bigger, and I can carry it around just fine

It's not revolutionary (no touch screen or something amazing)

Well, the keyboard is something new. But I think your expectations are a bit too high, if you expect Apple to release something "revolutionary" all the time.

 

[Gatezone]

Apple based the MacBook on what the market wanted, they wouldn't release a very successful consumer product if it wasn't what the market required.

They are a big, successful, and very market aware company. Nothing they do is a mistake.

This MacBook is superb value.

Rich.

Pass the true-believer the Kool-Aid... A remarkable case of cognitive dissonance. Apple has 'cool' stuff and great ad agency but never forget that behind the curtain the mistakes are legion. Oh... in front of the curtain also.

Love the Mac's but the gospel choir just hasn't made me into a cult member yet.

 

[ImAlex]

MacBook both consumer and low-end pro computer?

It is quite interessting, as iBook is a consument computer where you couldn't expect to much for i.e the graphics the MacBook is supposed to take over the iBook (consumer computer) and PowerBook 12 " (Pro computer), but they did forget the graphics. A videocard would be much better for a Pro computer, but what is this? A combined consumer and pro computer?

I'm not sure about that, but it's a great consumer computer, but for people that need a Pro computer or for hardcore gamers needs to get a iMac, MacBook Pro or a other computer than Mac.

 

[MIDI_EVIL]

Pass the true-believer the Kool-Aid... A remarkable case of cognitive dissonance. Apple has 'cool' stuff and great ad agency but never forget that behind the curtain the mistakes are legion. Oh... in front of the curtain also.

Love the Mac's but the gospel choir just hasn't made me into a cult member yet.

I knew i should have worded it differently.

What i meant was, and this should have been understood by anyone with a half decent grasp of english and choice of wording, that Apple are so aware of the market, that their decisions to add features, or leave features out, are not mistakes.

Everything is carefully designed to cater for their target audience.

I didn't say that everything Apple has ever done is perfect, and i am most certainly no fan boy. I don't buy into the whole Macs>PC argument, so please, give me a little bit more credit.

Thanks.

Rich.

 

[ripfrankwhite]

Will it be able to run Google Earth? Surely, it must.

 

[Evangelion]

It is quite interessting, as iBook is a consument computer where you couldn't expect to much for i.e the graphics the MacBook is supposed to take over the iBook (consumer computer) and PowerBook 12 " (Pro computer), but they did forget the graphics. A videocard would be much better for a Pro computer, but what is this? A combined consumer and pro computer?

The MacBook mops the floor with 12" PowerBook in just about all areas, graphics included. Hell, 12" PowerBook wasn't REALLY a PowerBook, it was just an iBook trying to pass as a PowerBook IMO.

So if you have a 12" PB, and you are looking for an upgrade to a small Apple-laptop, the MacBook would fit just nicely.

 

[daneoni]

My 15 minutes comparing the MacBook & 17" MBP

I was gonna buy either one of these but decided to take them for a first drive first. Sooo i get to the store there is only ONE macbook on display and the que was very long. So i decided to test the 17" instead.

17"

Great machine, solid build, marvelous display (very bright,crisp and flawless). It was heavy but not that heavy...i could see people lugging it around but not me. If i bought the 17" it'll be a desktop replacement only meaning it would hardly leave my desk.

Onwards, it was warm and not frying like the MBP i owned...overall very bearable and it was **** fast. The display hinge however was quit loose and moved easily. Also the latch mechanism was terrible, the one i tested practically had no right latch (it was too loose) leaving only the left latch to hold the display down. Major deal breaker because i'll be scared of breaking the latch mechanism entirely. I couldnt test the whine cos the store was crowded.

Overall the 17" scores a respectable 7+/10 due to the faulty latch, weight and cost of ownership (buying new cases/sleeves, babying it etc)

Soo by this time the que for the MacBooks had subsided and i finally got my hands on one:

2.0GHz MacBook (White)

Again a great machine, solid build 8+/10 (i could throw this thing around and not care..very durable).

The display, now this is a love-hate relationship. It is bright crisp and gorgeous, the gloss didn't bother me and i barely noticed any reflection...but then again i was indooors. However, for me the screen is miniscule and tiny and the large gap between top bezel and display makes it even more apparent. This may be the fact that i'm coming from a 15" PB with 1440 res but it was just too small. Don't get me wrong though the display is very much usable and i know i'll adapt to it if need be. I also noticed that the colour profile was off and had a pink hue to it like the Hi-Res PowerBooks did. I'm sure this can easily be calibrated The display gets a 7+/10 from me.

The machine is also a screamer and launched apps in one bounce, even though it had only 512MB and people had been using it all morning and had launched various apps, i observed no lags whatsoever.

Its as thin at the MBPs but its not that light and not that heavy and could see myself lugging it around easily

The magnetic latch was pure genius for me as it worked flawlessly. Easy to open when need be and held the display firmly in place. 9+/10 (i dont believe anything is perfect)

Keyboard was......different/weird but still very good. I typed a paragraph wth no issues and had no problems locating individual keys without looking. Feedback was respectable but still different to the pro notebook keys. Its something i can see myself getting used to within hours. Overall 8-/10...for now.

Airport reception and all others things seemed fine. Battery life was respectable..infact it had been running on battery since the store opened with few power connections in between. I didnt really do an estimate but i'd guess about 3.8Hrs with heavy use. I couldnt test the whine because the store was crowded.

Anyways at this point i had made up my mind. Its the MacBook for me as a winner. It had less issues and its amazingly fast and amazing good value compared to other offerings plus i just felt comfortable using it. However i would say its an add-on computer than a main computer, which is why i'm keeping my PB as well as a main computer.

If i refuse to get this it would be because the display is tiny but at the price i was offered for it (Black version with 1GB RAM and 100GB HDD for less than £1000), i couldn't say no because you will find it extremely difficult to get similarly configured laptops at this price. Also the prices are bound to increase when meroms start shipping in them as meroms are more expensive. Hence its a keeper.


Okayyy enough rant. Hope this helps anyone.

 

[50548]

I may be wrong, but didn't IBM help with the 2400, not the 1400? As for keyboards, I still miss the one I had with my Mac Plus. That thing really made you feel like you were *typing*. Clunk-clunk-clunk-clunk-clunk....

Pismos rock!

The best Apple keyboard ever was the Extended Keyboard II...simply amazing.

 

[Gatezone]

Stupid product line tricks

I knew i should have worded it differently.

What i meant was, and this should have been understood by anyone with a half decent grasp of english and choice of wording, that Apple are so aware of the market, that their decisions to add features, or leave features out, are not mistakes.

Everything is carefully designed to cater for their target audience.

I appreciate your passing on the Kool-aid and coming down to earth. I agree that Apple is an incredibly strategic, shrewd, and calculating company but I don't agree that this alsways leads to their target audience getting what they need.

I'm thrilled that so many people are glowing (at least on day two) with their new macbooks. That's peachy. Really it is.

What some of us are pointing out is that Apple keeps coming out with these variations that are somewhat meaningless and which force consumers and professionals to make idiotic decisions that shouldn't be necessary.

I would be very happy with a 1) 12-13 laptop, 2) a 15 laptop, and a 3) 17 inch laptop with each one of these three size levels being configurable with anything anyone wants (yes, within reason of course). Having several 'hard-coded" models within each of these groups puts the buyer into a semi-dead end street.

Bottom line question is who wouldn't buy a macbook one-size-fits-all that you could configure with processor, drive, graphics, memory options of your own fracking choice? Instead of having to look at, what are there six? different models? Simplicity is Apple's trademark but the way they parse out their product lines is calculated for some new math that insults an intelligent buyer.

Their strategic consumer cutting bottom line intelligence is of course aimed at the bell curve of people who will gladly pay extra for black kool-aid.

 

[tny]

First, it was my mistake to say CAD (and not 3D modeling) in a blanket fashion when I was thinking primarily about 2D work. But beyond that, you've hit the nail on the head. It's memory that constrains rendering capabilities, and you'd likely see better performance gains by increasing system memory by $200 rather than dropping in that card on a modern integrated graphics-equipped machine. The GMA900 family and 950 in particular are far more robust than the "integrated graphics" of 2003 and earlier, and are capable of handling OpenGL rendering adequately for light use.

Exactly! People expecting a MacBook to run Solidworks are pushing the limits of reasonable expectation. The GMA950 is not the only obstacle to overcome, and of course it's not going to work as well as with a high-end card. But the bulk of Solidworks is GPU-independent, and the bulk of time spent drafting in it is GPU-independent. The issue is that Solidworks works best on a high-end system, and the MacBook is not that computer.

Glad to see we are just talking past each other. A colleague reports that an Inspiron 6400 with a Core Duo 1.66, an ATI X1300 and a gig of RAM, works fine for SolidWorks, at least for some modeling (don't know what he's doing). Maybe a MacBook with 2 Gigs could handle it, but I wouldn't buy one to use SolidWorks unless I could try it out first. Besides, isn't 13.3 in. a little small as a workspace for modeling?

 

[giganten]

Should i buy a Macbook?
I dont play games, okay i do but on my xbox360.

Can i run photoshop on it, will it perform well or just fine.
I have just bought a DSLR so i want to do some photo editing, i am not a professional i am a student.
I also like to play with Dreamweaver.

Or should i go for a iMac 17".
It will be my first mac and I think I want a portable, but what is best for the money.
Thanks for the help.

 

[Bsresponsive1]

These reports from people that the keys stick has me worried. According to AppleInsider, the "keyboard is built-in as part of the MacBook's enclosure. Users who damage a key or two could find themselves having to replace the notebook's entire bottom casing and trackpad."

Although the new keyboard looks nice, the problems with them already makes me think this new keyboard was a stupid idea. Apple should have just stuck to the old style, or at least made it not a part of the whole freakin MacBook enclosure. Stupid stupid stupid.

Guess I'll wait until Rev. B or C before getting one.

I am really upset about this and of course I called all the apple stores near me and none of them have any.

This will be my first mac, and it is leaving a very bad taste in my mouth. I have had countless laptops and never had a problem.

 

[Gatezone]

Primary interface: Keyboard

I'm heading out to check out the keyboard. The rest is what it is and if the price is right for anyone's budget and you don't mind the compromises in weight, graphics, and premium color pricing you got yourself a new laptop.

But... the keyboard. Along with the display the keyboard touch, feel, and action along with durability is the only tactile interaction with the system other than the touchpad. One of the Sony Vaio featherweight duo's have a similar type of keyboard and for me I don't like the way it feels.

Could end up being the best thing about these systems or it could just be another shrewd and meaningless differentiation point for "consumers" vs. "professionals." I know many people that I purchase laptops for that will not purchase a laptop if the don't like the keyboard. Can be a super system but if it doesn't feel right they don't bother with the rest of it.

 

[milo]

It would have been better had Apple included an ExpressCard/34 slot so that the user could install an internal modem instead of carrying a dongle. A dongle is okay conceptually until you actually have to practice carrying it around with you.

So you're saying you don't bring your power adapter with you when you travel???

Isn't there some kind of consumer protection law that protects us from stuff like charging $200 more for a black plastic case?

So I guess we just put up with Apple doing that to us right?

Protection from what, yourself? Here's all the protection you need: DON'T BUY THE BLACK ONE. SAVE $150. Nobody is being forced to buy the black one, anyone who does is doing it to themself.

Apple is free to charge whatever they want, and consumers are free to not buy it. Since this is only a cosmetic "upgrade" I don't think there's any real grounds for complaining about it.

intel integrated graphics suck plain and simple. however, i think the GMA950 is perfect for the macbook b/c no one buys them to do complicated graphics tasks anyways. im pretty sure the 9700m in the powerbooks is much better than what the macbook has

They don't suck, by any stretch of the imagination. They're not great for 3d games, but for any 2d work (including "complicated graphics tasks"), they work just fine. It's ridiculous to say that a chipset that can play HD video "sucks".

I don't see the point of a 13 inch system that weighs, really 6 pounds!

Actually 5.2. This is a machine at the entry price point. Any machine that's 3-4 pounds is going to cost more than this one. Is there a 3 pound laptop cheaper than this?