More MacBook LED and Santa Rosa Rumors

[EagerDragon]

Consider:

1) SR uses an 800 MHz FSB instead of 667MHz, but no manufacturer currently offering an SR-based laptop is using DDR2 800 MHz RAM. Does it even exist yet? Since only 667MHz DDR2 RAM is currently available, what IMMEDIATE reason is there to upgrade to a chipset offering an 800MHz FSB? Only those of us looking far forward to upgrading memory would want the option of an 800MHz FSB. For all others, there is no benefit.

Memory companies have zero reason to advertice memory before there is a machine that can use it. Samples been out a while and the specifications for the memory have been know a while.

The memory will be for sale soon after the systems that accepts them are for sale.

The memory bandwidth is significant and the extra address space (4 Gig) welcome by some of us looking for a superb MBP.

 

[pnyc]

The ability to add up to 4GB seams real nice to me.

 

[chambers7]

What should I do?

So... if the rumor about the Macbook not getting Santa Rosa and LED is true ... Should i go Macbook pro? I have up to $3000 to spend, but i don't need the pro and I would like a very portable one.

Here are the variables:

I'm wondering what labtop system I should buy for my needs.

I almost always run iTunes and run web browsing and word processing. I am a college student and I want to be able to easily carry the labtop around with me.
I would do some video editing (not professional) on iMovie.

I've been waiting for the LED screens and Santa Rosa, and I really want both, but if macbook doesn't have either (and I need a labtop this summer) should i just go pro???

Thanks for your help.

 

[EagerDragon]

So... if the rumor about the Macbook not getting Santa Rosa and LED is true ... Should i go Macbook pro? I have up to $3000 to spend, but i don't need the pro and I would like a very portable one.

Here are the variables:

I'm wondering what labtop system I should buy for my needs.

I almost always run iTunes and run web browsing and word processing. I am a college student and I want to be able to easily carry the labtop around with me.
I would do some video editing (not professional) on iMovie.

I've been waiting for the LED screens and Santa Rosa, and I really want both, but if macbook doesn't have either (and I need a labtop this summer) should i just go pro???

Thanks for your help.

First of all remember that these are rumors. The ultra may or may not see the light of day. It is very likely the ultra will have very little hard disk space so pictures and movies will have to live in an external drive and you will need an external monitor to do some light video work, I would not recommend an ultra for you.

Sounds like for the most part, a non-pro MacBook is all you need at this time, however the fact that you do movies can put you in the PRO area as video can use the better video card of the pro.

Buy a MacBook now or in 30 - 45 days if you can not wait. Set the rest of the money aside and grow the bank account again, you never know what other products will come along.

If you can wait until October, the LED and SR features maybe part of MB but it is a gamble. Most likely the LED will be there.

The key issue is how long can you wait, do you need a new laptop now? Once you settle these, the rest is gravy. Eitherway the current MacBook or a revised MacBook are what you need, not the ultra. You can always go pro if the LED is such an issue for you, but you realy don't need it, the only negative of the pro is the budget.

Do a little soul searching, do you really need those new features or do you just want them? There is a difference.

 

[chambers7]

Sounds like for the most part, a non-pro MacBook is all you need at this time, however the fact that you do movies can put you in the PRO area as video can use the better video card of the pro.

Buy a MacBook now or in 30 - 45 days if you can not wait. Set the rest of the money aside and grow the bank account again, you never know what other products will come along.

If you can wait until October, the LED and SR features maybe part of MB but it is a gamble. Most likely the LED will be there.

The key issue is how long can you wait, do you need a new laptop now? Once you settle these, the rest is gravy. Eitherway the current MacBook or a revised MacBook are what you need, not the ultra. You can always go pro if the LED is such an issue for you, but you realy don't need it, the only negative of the pro is the budget.

Do a little soul searching, do you really need those new features or do you just want them? There is a difference.

Thanks for your reply. I will be doing a lot of video (as much as I can fit into my college schedule.) I am wondering what kind of difference a dedicated graphics card will make (i.e. macbook vs. mb pro) and is it worth the cost difference?

3 years ago (in highschool) i made movies on an eMac and that was sweet. Those were the good days.

 

[EagerDragon]

Thanks for your reply. I will be doing a lot of video (as much as I can fit into my college schedule.) I am wondering what kind of difference a dedicated graphics card will make (i.e. macbook vs. mb pro) and is it worth the cost difference?

3 years ago (in highschool) i made movies on an eMac and that was sweet. Those were the good days.

Depends on what you are using, iMovie will run in MB and MBP, but Final Cut does not run on the MB, seems performance is poor or something.

With FC the video card is used to render the movie and special effect/filters, so it makes a big difference in the time to render. Some of the filters do occur in real time with the use of the GPU, some you have to wait to render. With FC you can also have more video streams/clips playing concurrently like a window with in a window, fades etc. Take a look at FC and also the beginner version (cheaper and good learning).

I am not sure if iMovie takes advantage of the GPU or not. FC comes with a lot of other software for sound editing, titling and other stuff that you will probably need as your videos become more advanced. The FC pro version is expensive but a good value, however I would suggest you go baby steps and get the beginner version first, it has a lot more features and power than iMovie and gets you closer to the pro version.

 

[EagerDragon]

One last item.
Final cut express HD is well due for an update given the number of changes to the pro version of fcm so that is something to think about.

 

[Igantius]

Depends on what you are using, iMovie will run in MB and MBP, but Final Cut does not run on the MB, seems performance is poor or something.

Nope - FC runs on MBs just fine - something that's been discussed previously on this forum quite a bit.

Here're some benchmarks about a year ago - http://creativemac.digitalmedianet.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=43717 - these have been discussed previously.