Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Macbook Update in progress (2.4Ghz)

HLdan said:
Scottsdale, from the look of your post I can tell that you know zilch about the 12" Powerbook, or should I say, "Glorified iBook". The 12" Powerbook had so little in common with the 15" and 17" Powerbooks. There was nothing "Power" about the 12" Powerbook. You guys are trashing the 13" MBP, but in fact it's much more inline with the 15" and 17" MBP then the 12" Powerbook ever was with the rest of the Power line.
The 13" MBP is FAR from a glorified Macbook.
Click to expand...

To play devils advocate, upon the PowerBook 12" release it had a G4 processor, whilst the iBook still had the G3, granted some stuff was gimped in comparison to the 15" and 17" models, and once the iBook went G4 there was little difference, much like the current MB 13" and MBP 13" now.

On a side note I've always taken the view that the extra bits in the 13" MBP are just things Apple have dropped from the MB to upsell to people, it's something they've mastered over the years, as they have a long record of nixing features from certain models to get you to buy that more expensive one. But judging by their profits it seems to work :p
 
:)
madmaxmedia said:
I think the price is okay given that you are buying the form factor, not top end performance.

They should've bumped the RAM to 4GB with the last revision though, 2GB is weak since it cannot be upgraded.
Click to expand...

Dude, the 2GB can be upgraded, just like on all real recent models you can prob squeeze 8gb of RAM in....I have 4gb of RAM on my Late 09 MacBook
 
Sarngate said:
I do like how everybody is bashing the C2D for no good reason other than the fact that it has been around a while.

A 2.4Ghz C2D is perfectly good at doing everything the average user would need, an i3 would drain battery life, and if you look at benchmarks it doesn't actually give any massive gains over the C2D.

Stop bashing without reason !
Click to expand...

AMEN! Finally, someone that listens to reason rather than hype & marketing. People, look at benchmarks if you think an i3 is all that great. Not really. And please don't even say "What about an i5?!" i5 in the 13" MBP not going to happen anytime soon. Remember why they didn't even put the i3 in?!
 
drewyboy said:
AMEN! Finally, someone that listens to reason rather than hype & marketing. People, look at benchmarks if you think an i3 is all that great. Not really. And please don't even say "What about an i5?!" i5 in the 13" MBP not going to happen anytime soon. Remember why they didn't even put the i3 in?!
Click to expand...

I think that some people on this forum, myself included, are hard to please. After all we're still waiting deep down in our hearts for the PowerBook G5s to be released. :cool:
 
I know we've always paid a premium for the Apple products, and I can handle that as they last a long time. This upgrade however doesn't sit right with me as far as price; I have a Dell laptop I bought about 3 months ago that would run circles around the Macbook, and it's got a 17" screen, and it was $200 cheaper.

I will concur the pricing is not up to today's market, but I will say that battery life is amazing.

If I can have similar specs, battery, RAM and USB on an Air I'm in; because I need the lightweight small form factor to be my mobile machine.

I hope Apple can take a better look at the economy and make better decisions, or they will be back to being a niche Company that only sells phones and music players + the iPad... My two cents (CDN)
 
Very good analysis. OSX - everytime no brainer!



Sarngate said:
I disagree. It is very difficult, if not impossible to find any laptops which match the Macbook's overall performance and quality for a similar price.

Are there laptops with better performance for cheaper ? Of course.
Are there laptops with equal battery life for cheaper ? Of course.
Are there laptops with a combination of both for cheaper ? Possibly.

The closest match i have found to this is Acer's new Timeline X series. The 3820t contains an i3 and Intel HD on a 13.3'' screen, 4GB of RAM and 8 hour advertised battery life.

It is the same thickness, and slightly lighter than the Macbook, has a weaker GPU and a slightly more powerful CPU, for around £660. The build quality will most likely be inferior, as will the island style keyboard. The trackpad has 2 finger multi-touch.

So for around £200 less you get:

- Windows
+ More RAM
- Much weaker GPU
+ Slightly stronger CPU
- Shorter Battery life
- Mediocre screen
- No optical drive (That's another £25)
- Limited multi-touch and average keyboard.
- No bluetooth.

Is it worth paying £200 for OS X and all the other extras ? That is certainly debatable, and i would say without a doubt that the extra £100 and Free 3 year warranty is certainly worth it with the Education Discount.
Click to expand...
 
Sarngate said:
I disagree. It is very difficult, if not impossible to find any laptops which match the Macbook's overall performance and quality for a similar price.

Are there laptops with better performance for cheaper ? Of course.
Are there laptops with equal battery life for cheaper ? Of course.
Are there laptops with a combination of both for cheaper ? Possibly.

The closest match i have found to this is Acer's new Timeline X series. The 3820t contains an i3 and Intel HD on a 13.3'' screen, 4GB of RAM and 8 hour advertised battery life.

It is the same thickness, and slightly lighter than the Macbook, has a weaker GPU and a slightly more powerful CPU, for around £660. The build quality will most likely be inferior, as will the island style keyboard. The trackpad has 2 finger multi-touch.

So for around £200 less you get:

- Windows
+ More RAM
- Much weaker GPU
+ Slightly stronger CPU
- Shorter Battery life
- Mediocre screen
- No optical drive (That's another £25)
- Limited multi-touch and average keyboard.
- No bluetooth.

Is it worth paying £200 for OS X and all the other extras ? That is certainly debatable, and i would say without a doubt that the extra £100 and Free 3 year warranty is certainly worth it with the Education Discount.
Click to expand...

Try a Dell Vostro 3300

http://www1.euro.dell.com/uk/en/bus...fs.aspx?refid=4x_vostro_3300&s=bsd&cs=ukbsdt1

£679+VAT with Core i5, 4GB 1333Mhz DDR3 RAM, Nvidia 310M with 512MB discrete, Aluminium body, 1366x768 Anti Glare screen, 500GB 7200rpm drive, eSATA port, Next Day On-Site service.

And that's the high end model. If you wanted just a 2.13Ghz i3 they start at £439+VAT and they're still pretty decent without stooping to Celeron levels.

Arguably they give the 13" MacBook PRO models a run for the money.

Again, I guess it's what you value. They probably don't have the battery life of the MacBook or the Apple logo but if you're not bothered about the battery life because it's plugged in most of the time or showing off your hipster cred (Apples are becoming a bit passé), there's some much better hardware in the PC world. Just a pity they don't come with OSX.
 
amazing

10 Hours of Battery life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PEOPLE dont even complain about it not having an interchangeable battery
 
You know, I'm glad Apple chooses Core 2 Duo with nvidia graphics over Core i3 with Intel graphics. But this is getting ridiculous. It's 2010 Apple.

Apple is the only company that would call a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo and 2GB of RAM a "new" and "updated" system in 2010.

Other systems in the $1,000 price range have Core i5, Core i7, dedicated graphics faster than any shipping GPU in a Mac, as well as blu-ray drives, and some even have RGBLED screens to go with all of that. You can't find 2GB of RAM in the PC market unless you go all the way down to the sub $400 netbook market.

Apple's prices have literally gotten to the point now where they are insulting to anyone with even the slightest knowledge of computer hardware. I need a new system myself. I've been pricing pre-built systems and individual parts to build it myself. I can literally piece together a system with the same specs as the Mac Pro, but with a faster GPU and without slower, latency inducing ECC memory, for $829. Why should I spend nearly $1700 more for the Mac Pro? For the literally one in 100 billion chance that the RAM might cause an error in data? For the Apple logo? For OS X? OS X doesn't command a $1700 premium. For $29 more than the Mac mini, I can get a system equal to the $2,499 Mac Pro. How is that not insulting to your intelligence?

Apple truly has gotten to the point where they are no longer competing based on their computers being the best. No. They're now just using their brand name thats propped up by products that do actually compete, like iPhone, iPod, iPad, and seeing just how much they can screw people over with insane prices before they finally realize that they shouldn't be paying any more than $400 for a Core 2 Duo in a laptop, or that they definitely should not be paying $2,200 for a dual core Core i7 notebook.

And why is the MacBook Air still shipping with only 2GB of RAM?

Also, why are people still buying this whole "Pro" and "Consumer" nonsense? Apple only labels the MacBook "Pro" and Mac "Pro" as "Pro" systems to get more money out of you. They have nothing in common with true business quality laptops from other manufacturers.

I've seen people mentioning RAM prices too. Yeah, RAM prices have gone up a little bit. Desktop DDR3 hasn't changed too much in the last year. But, you see, RAM prices aren't an issue in the PC world. If you go buy a PC laptop then you're buying it with all of the useful memory it will ever use. By the time that system "needs" that RAM upgrade, it will be time for new hardware anyway. If you get into the 15" MacBook Pro price range, PCs in that price range ship with 8GB of RAM. If you spend as much money on a PC as a Mac Pro with 3GB of RAM, you're going to be buying a system with 8, 12, or even some with 16GB of RAM.

RAM prices just aren't an issue when you look outside of the Apple world. Because if you buy a pre-built notebook or desktop PC, you're getting all of the useful memory that system can take advantage of. Not so with Apple's products. Nearly every Apple computer needs an upgrade out of the box or, if you do get a properly spec'ed system, you're paying 3 or 4 times as much as you would have for a PC.
 
kevinkt said:
10 Hours of Battery life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PEOPLE dont even complain about it not having an interchangeable battery
Click to expand...

I've had 10 hours of battery life in a PC for a couple of years now thanks to interchangeable batteries. So yes, I will complain.
 
duelingdragons said:
My gf just got a (now outdated) white Macbook for her birthday on April 26th... any chance Apple will let us swap it out for the new model?
Click to expand...

Apple has a 14 day return policy, and you are out of that time period. I suppose you could call up and beg, but i wouldn't get your hopes up.
 
whoa jacked up the education price

it seems like a better bargain to get the pro. Lighter,slimmer, sd slot, 4gb of memory, no crack issues and it's better looking.
 
aegisdesign said:
Try a Dell Vostro 3300

http://www1.euro.dell.com/uk/en/bus...fs.aspx?refid=4x_vostro_3300&s=bsd&cs=ukbsdt1

£679+VAT with Core i5, 4GB 1333Mhz DDR3 RAM, Nvidia 310M with 512MB discrete, Aluminium body, 1366x768 Anti Glare screen, 500GB 7200rpm drive, eSATA port, Next Day On-Site service.

And that's the high end model. If you wanted just a 2.13Ghz i3 they start at £439+VAT and they're still pretty decent without stooping to Celeron levels.

Arguably they give the 13" MacBook PRO models a run for the money.

Again, I guess it's what you value. They probably don't have the battery life of the MacBook or the Apple logo but if you're not bothered about the battery life because it's plugged in most of the time or showing off your hipster cred (Apples are becoming a bit passé), there's some much better hardware in the PC world. Just a pity they don't come with OSX.
Click to expand...

Funnily enough i actually looked at Vostro's, but:

-3 hour battery life
-No Slot loading drive
-Looks like a business laptop, despite the alluminium top.
-310m is considerably worse than the 320m

And for College buyers, only a 1 year standard warranty.
 
Zulu1 said:
I know we've always paid a premium for the Apple products, and I can handle that as they last a long time. This upgrade however doesn't sit right with me as far as price; I have a Dell laptop I bought about 3 months ago that would run circles around the Macbook, and it's got a 17" screen, and it was $200 cheaper.
Click to expand...

The MacBook isn't a Dell. It isn't built like a Dell. It isn't designed like a Dell. It doesn't run the same software like a Dell.

You are literally comparing Apples and Onions.

Do you want to buy a Mac? Buy one. You can't compare it to anything else out there because there isn't anything else out there. Apple makes Macs. Dell doesn't. The end.
 
Fraaaa said:
I don't understand why everyone is obssessed with USB 3.0.
Click to expand...

Because it's new, and faster, and betterer :cool:

And has little out there that uses it, and will probably need one whole core to itself to use if USB 2 is anything to go by. Still that's a good argument as to why everyone should upgrade to intels latest CPUs. Although if Apple had tried to push the new firewire standards USB 3 would likely be seen as what it is, a drive by intel to get us all to upgrade, with little benefits from what I've seen so far.
 
KnightWRX said:
You're narrow minded. I'm a profesional Unix administrator. My job consists of opening terminal windows and typing commands.

I couldn't give a crap about performance. I can do my job on a Pentium 2. I care about an Illuminated keyboard though, because at 3 a.m., when I get woken up because the SAN suddenly decided not to present disks anymore, I like being able to see which key is which on my keyboard without having to turn on all the lights in the house.

Your definition is pro is narrow. There are a lot of different types of professionals. Some need FW. Some need that keyboard. Some need that SD slot.
Click to expand...

Professional dancing bears used to use consumer bicycles.

Yet I couldn't help but wonder - if you can do your job on a Pentium 2, why buy a computer for a grand? Buy a used Pentium 2 with a bedside lamp for hundred bucks and you can still do your professional work.
 
myca said:
/OK I'm just p*ssed because I wouldn't mind a 13" apple notebook with a matte screen, core i5 and dedicated GPU, but I guess that's not going to happen any time soon.
Click to expand...

Core i* CPU and discrete GPU in the 13"? As nice as that would be, not a likelyl given the size of the current 13" logic board. The 15" and 17" still require a 3 chip solution to get the graphics switching to work. You'd be looking at a complete redesign. So not likely in the near future with Intel CPUs.

Plus it'd likely drive the cost up significantly. We all know how much Apple loves its profit margins.
 
Wehrwolf said:
Core i* CPU and discrete GPU in the 13"? As nice as that would be, not a likelyl given the size of the current 13" logic board. The 15" and 17" still require a 3 chip solution to get the graphics switching to work. You'd be looking at a complete redesign. So not likely in the near future with Intel CPUs.

Plus it'd likely drive the cost up significantly. We all know how much Apple loves its profit margins.
Click to expand...

I can still dream :(

Even though sinking reality tells me that my next notebook upgrade will have to be a 15" model, and with a matte screen it's gonna be about £600 more than I was hoping to spend on one.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back