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Macbook Released

How good is the sound card in the MB? I would like to use it quite a bit for my amatuer music recording and editing. At the moment on my PC I do this with a soundblaster Audigy card and Adobe Audition, recording straight from a microphone plugged into the sound card.

Will I be able to do all this ok with the MB? I imagine handling many tracks at once will be fine with a 2.0 core duo and 1gb+ RAM, but what about sound recording quality?
 
MacBook Sound Is Great

phatz said:
How good is the sound card in the MB? I would like to use it quite a bit for my amatuer music recording and editing. At the moment on my PC I do this with a soundblaster Audigy card and Adobe Audition, recording straight from a microphone plugged into the sound card.

Will I be able to do all this ok with the MB? I imagine handling many tracks at once will be fine with a 2.0 core duo and 1gb+ RAM, but what about sound recording quality?
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Make that 2GB of ram. Sound will be great. Apple donsn't use "cards". It has always had great sound and the Tiger MIDI manager is awesome. Contact sound software publishers to find out details. :)
 
How dose one justify $400 for black thought?

20 More Gigs, A super drive (external is about $130), and 1.2mhz increase?

Also Intel is cutting the price of these chips in half May 28th.

In the PC world these effect the laptops and desktops instantaneously, will Apple reflect these price cuts? These chips (in these laptops) will be almost halved in price...from ~400+ to ~200 per chip.

Thanks
 
The link for the price cuts:
http://www.digitimes.com/mobos/a20060518PR209.html

Does Jobs know that these new MAC users (ex PC) are pretty tech savvy? Overclocking? Aware of price cuts? Know that dedicated vs shared a no-no for gamers (only it appears - which poses the question, $1000 more for silver MBP, backlit keyboard, larger screen real estate and a underclocked x1600) and that most PC users will expect price reductions on the MB as soon as the price cuts take hold?

Thanks
 
$200 White to Black Not $400 - External SuperDrive $80 Not $130

composer11 said:
How dose one justify $400 for black thought?

20 More Gigs, A super drive (external is about $130), and 1.2mhz increase?

Also Intel is cutting the price of these chips in half May 28th.

In the PC world these effect the laptops and desktops instantaneously, will Apple reflect these price cuts? These chips (in these laptops) will be almost halved in price...from ~400+ to ~200 per chip.
Click to expand...
It's $150 for Black Plus $50 for the extra 20GB total $200 extra not $400. Speed difference above base is 170 MHz x 2 cores = 340 MHz - an insignificant 8% slower not 1.2 MHz. You can build an external Superdrive for about $80 not $130.
composer11 said:
The link for the price cuts:
http://www.digitimes.com/mobos/a20060518PR209.html

Does Jobs know that these new MAC users (ex PC) are pretty tech savvy? Overclocking? Aware of price cuts? Know that dedicated vs shared a no-no for gamers (only it appears - which poses the question, $1000 more for silver MBP, backlit keyboard, larger screen real estate and a underclocked x1600) and that most PC users will expect price reductions on the MB as soon as the price cuts take hold?
Click to expand...
Since this is uncharted terratory, we don't know how quickly Apple will pass savings on to customers who, traditionally, don't pay attention to component price changes.
 
Macbook issues if any

Does anyone know of a thread dedicated to any issues/problems that are arising as people get Macbooks into their hands? I'm just wondering because I was in a store yesterday looking at the new macbook and when I opened iDVD I got a kernel panic and had to restart. Just curious if there are any other users experiencing any similar surprises. Thanks.
 
Try MacBook Upgrade Thread

dqk said:
Does anyone know of a thread dedicated to any issues/problems that are arising as people get Macbooks into their hands? I'm just wondering because I was in a store yesterday looking at the new macbook and when I opened iDVD I got a kernel panic and had to restart. Just curious if there are any other users experiencing any similar surprises. Thanks.
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You could try the MacBook Upgrade Thread for that. Bummer. :( Did you try it again after the reboot?
 
Hopefully once the price of chips go down apple can introduce a black macbook with the 2.16 at the same price as the current one the current black macbook at the same price as the current white model. Besides if apple doen't lower the price there goes their price advantage, which could hamper their strategy.
 
composer11 said:
The link for the price cuts:
http://www.digitimes.com/mobos/a20060518PR209.html

Does Jobs know that these new MAC users (ex PC) are pretty tech savvy? Overclocking? Aware of price cuts? Know that dedicated vs shared a no-no for gamers (only it appears - which poses the question, $1000 more for silver MBP, backlit keyboard, larger screen real estate and a underclocked x1600) and that most PC users will expect price reductions on the MB as soon as the price cuts take hold?

Thanks
Click to expand...

And do you know that wholesale price cuts don't have anything to do with the prices Apple pays for the chips? PC users don't expect price cuts when the retail wholesale price drops--that's ridiculous. The only prices that drop in that case are the boxed CPUs for system builders and small mom-and-pop OEMS. If you think Dell, HP, or Apple give a crap what happens to the wholesale price, you're out of your mind. Also, it's Mac, not MAC.
 
As a long time pc user when the price of a chip falls or a newer faster chip comes to the market many comapnies feel they need to drop the price of the computer down like $100 which imho it seems like the average norm.
 
bloodycape said:
As a long time pc user when the price of a chip falls or a newer faster chip comes to the market many comapnies feel they need to drop the price of the computer down like $100 which imho it seems like the average norm.
Click to expand...
When a new one becomes available, manufacturers update the lines to use it, and the older ones are downshifted. On the other hand, when the wholesale price drops, none of the large manufacturers pay any attention to it, because they negotiate their own price contracts directly with Intel and get discounted prices that are below the current wholesale price to begin with.

They don't drop their prices in response to the wholesale price drop; they drop their prices in response to changes in their pricing agreements, which occur whenever the manufacturers renegotiate them. The Yonah prices dropped a little while ago; Dell's prices didn't move. Neither did Apple's or HP's.
 
Goodbye PC

phatz said:
How good is the sound card in the MB? I would like to use it quite a bit for my amatuer music recording and editing. At the moment on my PC I do this with a soundblaster Audigy card and Adobe Audition, recording straight from a microphone plugged into the sound card.

Will I be able to do all this ok with the MB? I imagine handling many tracks at once will be fine with a 2.0 core duo and 1gb+ RAM, but what about sound recording quality?
Click to expand...

There is no better place to be for amateur recording than in front of a mac! You've got Garageband, Core audio, and to allay your fears a perfectly suitable inbuilt sound card - you wont miss your Audigy part from the inputs at the front. I have made some great sounding recordings using the inbuilt sound card and a nice mic.

The other great thing Apple's have is a Firewire port standard which means you can hook it up with the best external input/sound card boxes around (from experience I can say the usb equivalents suck in comparison). Head towards Edirol's website and look at their firewire devices. This is what I use because they give me 10 x 24bit inputs that I can record simultaneously whilst being bus powered, providing phantom power AND some pre amping! - they also have a much better analog to digital converter than you'd find in a computer. With one of these boxes and a good condenser microphone and a midi keyboard you can make recordings sound very professional. (I should note: Garageband is not 24bit, but will accept the Edirol device as input channels - up to 8 at once I think. Logic Express is 24bit and thats what I use nowadays)

One thing that did surprise me when I bought my imac G5 was that the inbuilt sound card was 24bit! Can someone with a Macbook check out their Audio/Midi setup (find it in Utilities folder) and see if it says 24bit or not?
 
MarkAlanEis said:
Unless you ran Apple you don't know how they make their decisions.
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Because Apple operates in magic land where business practices are invented willy-nilly just for them, all to make people on Internet forums who have never worked in a top corporate environment have something to say?

They don't reinvent the wheel every time they have do something. Apple has to buy parts like any other company, and they do it just like other large companies do. The wholesale price lists on the Internet are not what large computer manufacturers pay--they're what parts retailers and small shops pay, not to mention the sizeable rebates that Dell gets for plopping Intel stickers everywhere and doing the Intel jingle on their commercials. Feel free not to believe that if you want to, though.
 
I see it as a $400 paint job!

Why would someone by white when they can have the black for a bit more, that turns into $400 for a paint job.

Black is also cheaper to produce!

Only a matter of time before they are 999, with black at 1200 with dedicated GPU....probably when Memron come out and dual dual core, the desktops will have the quad dual and quad quad core.

The MBP users got the short end of the stick!
$1000 for a GPU.
Backlit bulb .40 cents.
Larger LCD $50 bucks.
Metal Case $30, less to manufacture, less breakage/molding.

and the benchmark the same! :eek:
 
Steve Jobs On NBC Nightly News Tonight - NBC News On iTunes Ad

Watch Steve Jobs on NBC Nightly news, "Brian Williams and the man responsible for the next big thing." "iPod Nation Core Values."

They just ran an ad for NBC News on iTunes. Features a Black Video iPod. Wow! Holy Moly.

It's a homage to Steve for his ability to innovate continuously and his humility without self-congratulation.
 

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retroz311 said:
I see it as a $400 paint job!

Why would someone by white when they can have the black for a bit more, that turns into $400 for a paint job.
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Where are you getting this ludicrous $400 number?

The MacBook (and Pro), furthermore, is/are extremely competitively priced against other products in the same performance range, and your numbers for component pricing are pulled straight out of your ass. Four-tenths of a cent for a "bulb"? You do know that the backlight keyboard doesn't even have bulbs, right? And if you think a metal case is $30 less than a plastic one, you've gone 'round the bend.
 
I'm not sure where the $400 came from, but in Australia it is $300 more - maybe it's his/her currency.

Backlit keyboard uses Fibre optics to power it (from memory), and remember it is not just on and off it varies depending on the light etc. So you are paying for Apple's engineering there too to integrate it so well. It's not just a bolt in part like the monitor.

I agree however and don't think it is not worth the price difference at the moment (Macbook vs Macbook Pro), but it's not that far off. And maybe that is more an indication of how cheap and competitive the entry level macbook is.
 
It Is What It Is And Probably Worth It

rugonnaeatthat said:
I'm not sure where the $400 came from, but in Australia it is $300 more - maybe it's his/her currency.

Backlit keyboard uses Fibre optics to power it (from memory), and remember it is not just on and off it varies depending on the light etc. So you are paying for Apple's engineering there too to integrate it so well. It's not just a bolt in part like the monitor.

I agree however and don't think it is not worth the price difference at the moment, but it's not that far off. And maybe that is more an indication of how cheap and competitive the entry level macbook is.
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From all the feedback I've read here, the black one is apparently worth it. I think when/if I get one it will be black in spite of the extra cost. :)
 
Multimedia said:
From all the feedback I've read here, the black one is apparently worth it. I think when/if I get one it will be black in spite of the extra cost. :)
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I think the only good reason for getting the black sighted on this forum is it can look more professional, thereby building client trust, thereby generating more income.

Otherwise there is no good reason for it being more expensive. Still, I guess it is worth as much as people are willing to pay :)
 
rugonnaeatthat said:
I think the only good reason for getting the black sighted on this forum is it can look more professional, thereby building client trust, thereby generating more income.

Otherwise there is no good reason for it being more expensive. Still, I guess it is worth as much as people are willing to pay :)
Click to expand...

The black also makes the screen appear bigger. Personally I find the white border to be somewhat annoying after awhile. It's a bit too large for the 13" screen where as the black border is not noticeable. This is my experience after playing around with the two models for about half an hour. As much as I'd like to save the money on the white model, I keep going back to black.
 
Evan_11 said:
The black also makes the screen appear bigger. Personally I find the white border to be somewhat annoying after awhile. It's a bit too large for the 13" screen where as the black border is not noticeable. This is my experience after playing around with the two models for about half an hour. As much as I'd like to save the money on the white model, I keep going back to black. Thing is that I don't really need one though as I do most of my work on my dual G5. I would like to retire my ageing Powerbook Ti 400 though.
Click to expand...

Oh, come on. Just say you want the black one because you think its cool looking. It's OK.
 
White Letters On Black Keys Are Fake Backlit

Evan_11 said:
The black also makes the screen appear bigger. Personally I find the white border to be somewhat annoying after awhile. It's a bit too large for the 13" screen where as the black border is not noticeable. This is my experience after playing around with the two models for about half an hour. As much as I'd like to save the money on the white model, I keep going back to black.
Click to expand...
I also have the experience of the white letters on the black keys showing up in dim lit or screen lit situations as much easier to see.
 
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