...continued:
1) No FW 800. OK, FW is NOT Dead. FW 800 is NOT dead. But as of right now, Intel's chipsets don't support it. At least not ON the MB. Don't blame Apple. Find me a PC laptop that has FW 800 on the MB!
BUT!!! Apple did have the forethought to use Intels new ExpressCard standard. Expresscard has a throughput of 2.05Gbs EACH WAY! That's right, in EACH DIRECTION! FW800 supports speeds of up to 800Mbs, but that is total speed. IOW, you can get 800Mbs in only one direction, either to or from the PC. OR you can get 400 each way simultaneously. ExpressCard gives you 2.05Gbs EACH WAY. Theoreticaly you could simultaneously DL data from a server at Fibre Channel speeds, and *SIMULTANEOUSLY* upload data to a server at FibreChannel speeds. Oh, and ExpressCard is cheaper to make than std PCMCIA & CardBus. Sure, cards will be more expensive when they first come out. That is due to preceived value pricing. Eventually they will drop because it is cheaper to make ExpressCard than PCMCIA.
THink about it this way... even if you ONLY DL, the expresscard gives you 2 FW800 & 1 FW400 ports. And it STILL has bandwidth for uploading the same.
I don't know about you guys, but I will gladly get rid of the FW800 knowing that its NOT an Apple descision, and knowing that they are at least making up for it by giving me something that will within months be an order of magnitude BETTER. Think about it. FibreChannel to your FREAKIN LAPTOP!
2) Less resolution - well this one I can't argue with. I too think it should have been 1440x960. At a 14.4:9 aspect ratio, it should be called "wider screen" not "Wide screen"
I guess they did it for the iSight. If they can have the consumer use an external mode, they can have the user have an external iSight and don't compromise the reolution. However, you DO get a nice video card. Remember a lot of those cheaper PC brands use the Intel Extreme Graphics cards with shared RAM. If the ram isn't bad enough, these are aenemic cards to begin with. Now add the fact that it has to share it's ram with the computer system through the PCI bus....
3) No Super Drive - Hmmm. This one still burns DVD right? But just at 4x. I would imagine that the reason(s) for this descision (or at least contributing factors) might be: a) DL burning requires more battery power, thus shortening life b) 4x burning is more reliable (seems a bit weak) c) Maybe they were planning on doing the super drive, but there were problems getting it to fit size-wise (or some other manufacturing problems that were out of Apple's control), and the fix for those problems was not fixed before ship date. I would not be surprised to see DL SuperDrive replacements down the road..
4) No new design - Oh, please... "The Acer has Carbon Fiber" - there are several brands that actually have carbon fiber coverings. Should Apple now becom a trend follower? Perhaps they came up with several designs and they just didn't like them as much as the PowerBook. The PowerBook is simple, understated, and elegant really. It is also instantly recognizable. Why change it now? Especially to something that is not as instantly recognizable? Think of it this way... you PowerBook users are used to it. However, to Apple "newcomers" it will be almost as nice & new as it was to you when you first got/saw them. THis is really just a sillly nitpicky complaint that doesn't hold very much weight at all. I bet the same people that are complaining that it is the "same old" design were ohhhing and ahhing when it came out. Apple is hoping to get new oooohers and ahhhhers now...
There's a reason that the VW Bug and the Porsche 911 changed very little over the years.
5) You hate the name - this is just the dumbest arguement of all! So don't call it "my MacBook"! When referring to it call it whatever the hell you want! Be generic ("My Mac Latop"), be nostalgic ("My Intel PowerBook"). DO whatever you want. Call it whatever you want. If you want NEVER EVER referr to it as a MacBook EVER again, unless you are talking to Apple Customer Care, or ordering another one, etc. It's up to YOU! So screw the name, don't get your panties in a wad, and just drop the issue. It's so ridiculous.
6) Drives are average size (you're just gonna hafta replace 'em) - Drives are the same as pretty much all of the laptop drives being used these days. They are, however, SATA drives which are much faster than std IDE drives. Remember this when comparing MacBooks to PC laptops as well. 100GB != 100GB when it comes to laptops. For a proper comparison, the other laptop must have the same sized *SATA* drive, running at the same RPMs as well. A LOT of the new laptops out there do not offer SATA drives std. (or at all).
7) Processor is too slow. You want to 2.x GHz CPU! - MAYBE those run hotter, so Apple decided against them until they could find a better way to cool them. MAYBE Intel said that they could guarantee a steady supply of the 1.67 & 1.8 GHz CPUs but were, at least at the time, unsure whether they could produce enough of the 2.xGHz, esp considering that Intel had bigger customers that might be eating up the available supply. MAYBE the 2.xGHz cpus were not a good financial deal considering price vs performance. IOW, perhaps Apple decided that the extra speed difference between the 1.8 & 2.x was not worth either the extra cost (I think almost double the price for only a slight performance gain), the extra heat, or the lower battery life. If they based their descisions upon those criteria, then kudos to them for having the balls to make the *right* descision rather than the *popular* descision.
Don't know if you guys have looked at benchmarks for the Pentium M processor line (Intels current single core mobile chips based on the "Sonoma" architechture), but the perfomance curve is not very steep at the top end. IOW, you see a noticable speed difference between the 1.67 & 1.86GHz CPUs, but the performance differencee between the 1.86 & the 2.xGHz CPUs is really not that much of a difference at all. It *certainly* does not justify the huge jump in price! Too many people want the fastest CPU simply because it is the fastest. By how much, they don't care. In the end it really is for ego, personal gratification, & bragging rights. Big deal! And for crying out loud, the "they are too expensive" complaints would double when you see the price difference between a 1.86GHz and a 2.xGHz on an Apple! Apple, I'm sure, will bow to the pressure and intro 2.xGHz Yonahs in April or whenever...
You complain that there is no G5 laptops (hello! Heat!) You say that the new laptops had BETTER be faster. Now you get one that is faster than a Dual G5 desktop, and you are complaining cause it's not fast ENOUGH!?! STOP THE INSANITY!
8) Battery power - battery power is reported at 6 hours from what I've read. I imagine that being the best case scenario. I think 4-6 hours is probably a goot estimate when all is said and done. They are probably not hiding it, there is no great "it really has only 45 minutes of battery life, so lets just keep our mouths shut and ignore the issue" type of conspiracy going on at Apple. Since the MacBooks are not shipping till Feb. I would bet that have not yet done enough tests to make certain claims yet (you gotta test more than just one to get an accurate estimate). Calm down everyone. All is well.
9) No Modem - God, *who cares!?!* I know that some of you use dialup when travelling, etc. So get an external dongle-style modem and use that. I mean for those that DO use modems, how often do you REALLY use it? Besides that, if you are somewhere where you are using a modem, odds are that location isn't the escalator in a mall, right? Odds are that you are sitting or something like that, so having a dongle on the laptop is not that big of a deal.
10) iSight & security - This is just silly. If you are in a sensitive area, esp. where an iSight could constitute a breach of that security, the simple fact that the laptop has Wifi is a FAR greater risk. Furthermore most places that have that kind of security (DoD, DoE, CIA, etc., etc.) won't let you bring the device in, period. I have been to the DoE visting. Neither myself nor any employees there are allowed to bring in laptops, cell phones, USB thumb drives, etc. And I can't get much further than the lobby!
11) No video out - as has been said, there is an adapter solution. Links to buy them I believe are elsewhere. in this thread.
Let's look at the bottom line here...
- You have a laptop that is faster than a dual G5 desktop! (stop complaining about processors)
- You have a laptop that you can support *Fibre Channel*(!) speeds! (stop complaining about FW800)
- you have a laptop that STILL looks great (stop complaining that its not a new design)
- you have a laptop that has a BRIGHTER SCREEN (so at least temper your screen complaints)
- you have a laptop that is of superior or "premium" or "boutique" build quality and is STILL only w/i $200+ of the cheap-build bargain brands, and costs the SAME as it's predecessors, despite it being 2-4 times FASTER (stop complaining about price)
I tell you, there are gonna be a LOT of desktop G5 users that are just DIEING to get one of these. Probably why you don't really see too many of them complaining in this thread, unless they also have a MAC laptop of sorts.
I wonder what the percentage of complainers here are really (either knowingly or subconsciously) just pissed that they (relatively) recently bought a PowerBook and now something a lot better comes out...
Well now most of your reasons for complaint are hopefully allayed, disproven, killed, etc.
Brain21
