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Replacing the MacBook RAM, Hard Drive (Video) and Benchmarks

bwanac said:
Replacing hard drive was never difficult... but this is a cakewalk!
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You must have never owned an iBook. Calling that not difficult is an understatement. Good move on Apple's part in this laptop, though.

j-a-x said:
It's weird that they didn't compare it with a 12" powerbook, since that's the machine it's replacing.
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Actually, the MacBook replaced both iBook models and the 12" Powerbook. Given its price point and plastic enclosure, it is much more a replacement for the iBook than the Powerbook 12". So I imagine that is why they compared it to the iBook.
 
ulyssespdx said:
you know, every time see see a new Apple product, i wonder about the benchmarks.

i have a 12" Aluminum Powerbook G4/1.33GHz, w/1Gb RAM. i opened MS Word 2004.

it took about 12 seconds.

i went to the Apple store yesterday, found a MacBook Pro Core Duo 2 GHz, and opened MS Word 2004.

it took about 9 seconds.

i repeated this for Excel, Photoshop, and GarageBand. all were within a few seconds of each other.

operating the programs on both machines, i noticed very little difference in operating speed and snappiness.

up to five times faster than my G4? bull.

that said, i want the new black MacBook. 🙂
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Look at the benchmarks. As Mainyehc mentioned, MS Office is not universal and has to be translated on the fly by Rosetta. Plus, how much of a difference do you expect in plain productivity apps (especially Microsoft's)? If you compare a universal app running on the MacBook that isn't held back by the optical drive (iTunes CD encoding) or GPU (UT2k4), then you'll see a significant difference.
 
abut the black Macbook

I was trying out the keyboard of a black Macbook in a retai store today when I found a sticky thing on my finger. Kinda like these screen protection foils but black with a white A on it. I looked at the A-key and it was (yes) silver! Showed it to the employee and he couldn't believe it. He totally freaked out when he scratched and rubbed the next key and the black sticker went off. Turns out the whole black Macbook has this vinyl style stuff on it. Peel it off and you get Aluminum goodness! It seemed like hours to me when we removed this black stuff and there were lots of people around freaking out.

So the 150$ more ARE making a difference: an aluminum enclosure beneath a protective black layer. 😱 Totally worth 150 bucks if you ask me. It just looks like a redesigned powerbook actually. OMG, I'm so getting a black/aluminum one! How strange no one noted this yet. I mean, them peeling off the black stuff from the NY Store cube was definetely a sign. 🙄
Just kidding. After all, it's MacRmumors 🙂
 
This is truly amazing, replacing hard drives? The ram looks so easy to change/add. This company can't get much better.
 
MrCrowbar said:
I was trying out the keyboard of a black Macbook in a retai store today when I found a sticky thing on my finger. Kinda like these screen protection foils but black with a white A on it. I looked at the A-key and it was (yes) silver! Showed it to the employee and he couldn't believe it. He totally freaked out when he scratched and rubbed the next key and the black sticker went off. Turns out the whole black Macbook has this vinyl style stuff on it. Peel it off and you get Aluminum goodness! It seemed like hours to me when we removed this black stuff and there were lots of people around freaking out.

So the 150$ more ARE making a difference: an aluminum enclosure beneath a protective black layer. 😱 Totally worth 150 bucks if you ask me. It just looks like a redesigned powerbook actually. OMG, I'm so getting a black/aluminum one! How strange no one noted this yet. I mean, them peeling off the black stuff from the NY Store cube was definetely a sign. 🙄
Just kidding. After all, it's MacRmumors 🙂
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Paint peeling off? Aaaargh. Its the titanium powerbook fiasco all over again. I want to know more about this. Did you snatch any pics?

edit: I just saw your secret text. Har har harr.
 
Benchmarks were better than I thought, except for the graphics. 🙁 ...But that can be expected.
 
Regarding the video benchmarks, I think that the $200 extra for the BlackBook should also get you a model with a dedicated GPU. There needs to be a laptop under 15" that has a GPU.
Remember the graphite special edition iBooks, better than all the colour ones? This could be done in the same way.
 
How does MBP compare

Does the MacBook Pro allow you to easily upgrade it's hard drive too? (Does it have a similar setup?)

This is a major plus for the MacBooks, I've always hated that I cannot get at my HD (iBook G4 14") -- in fact, when it went out on me I had to send the whole iBook into AppleCare. Now they should be able to send a replacement drive out and allow those of us who are comfortable with such stuff to do the swap.

I'm really wanting to upgrade my current iBook HD to a faster & larger drive but I'd void what's left of my AppleCare warranty and it requires a near complete disasemly of the thing. Meanwhile my work laptops from Toshiba and Dell have always had single screw access to theirs. EDIT: See above IBM video - that's exactly how the Toshiba and Dell laptops worked.
 
Yeah as my wife works on her thinkpad at the kitchen table with me and my new macbook we had a good laugh at how her thinkpad is STILL easier to remove the hardrive and ram. Apple finally comes up to speed but not quit. Remember the good ole pismo days? Now THAT was a computer.
 
the.snitch said:
Regarding the video benchmarks, I think that the $200 extra for the BlackBook should also get you a model with a dedicated GPU. There needs to be a laptop under 15" that has a GPU.
Remember the graphite special edition iBooks, better than all the colour ones? This could be done in the same way.
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I agree, that $200 should get you at least a ATI Radeon 9000 Mobility (featured in the PowerBooks).
This would keep a large enough gap between the MacBooks and the MacBook Pros, but at the same time offering a nice in-between option.
 
speaking of macbooks

did anyone notice that the new Mac commercials featuring the PC and the hip kid not show the white macbook instead of the imac and the end of the commercial. just saw it now during CSI.
 
EricNau said:
I agree, that $200 should get you at least a ATI Radeon 9000 Mobility (featured in the PowerBooks).
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Huh? Ati Radeon 9000 is ANCIENT. If they offered the bacl one with dedicated GPU, it would cost a lot more extra than $200. It would be quite expensive for apple to make two such different MacBooks.
 
It's a simple feature (easily removable hard drive) - but it means a lot. My ibook is maxed out on space - and I am putting off doing anything about it. This is the kind of marketing ploy that makes kids like me say "gee, I wish I had THAT computer....". Very clever. Damn you marketeers!
 
even if you can replace all these things i think im going to stick with getting a Macbook Pro. i was wanting to get the smallest Pro laptop but they don't seem to be exactly what i need... though they do look quite nice.
 
kingjr3 said:
Are all those apps Universal? Why even bother comparing PS in Rosetta on an Intel vs. native on a G4?
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It was helpful to me. I have a G4 Mac Mini. I run Photoshop on it. I was wondering if an 2.0Ghz Intel 20" iMac would run Photoshop faster or slower then my Mini. It turns out PS would run slower on the iMac. That's good information
 
I dont think apple really cares about the easy that people can upgrade their hardware, look at the imac G5 and then the isight G5... totally different. The macbook is just a nice way to show off, if apple doesnt like it in the long run they will dump the design.
 
My 12" PBook 867 MHz/640Mb only takes 6 seconds to open MS Word 2004 !!! 😀 Any explanation for that?

ulyssespdx said:
you know, every time see see a new Apple product, i wonder about the benchmarks.

i have a 12" Aluminum Powerbook G4/1.33GHz, w/1Gb RAM. i opened MS Word 2004.

it took about 12 seconds.

i went to the Apple store yesterday, found a MacBook Pro Core Duo 2 GHz, and opened MS Word 2004.

it took about 9 seconds.

i repeated this for Excel, Photoshop, and GarageBand. all were within a few seconds of each other.

operating the programs on both machines, i noticed very little difference in operating speed and snappiness.

up to five times faster than my G4? bull.

that said, i want the new black MacBook. 🙂
Click to expand...
 
When you compare the 1.67 GHz PB G4 to the 1.83 GHz MacBook, remember that the PB has Ati 9700 128 MB DDR! The MacBook has a GMA/950 64 MB DDR! In raw processor speed, the MacBook is 4-5x faster than PB. There is no difference between 1.42 GHz and 1.67 Ghz G4, so it is around the same.😀
 
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