So I bought my MacBook...

[RiCEADDiCTBOY]

I decided to head down to Vogelweh because it was the only AAFES that sold Apple computers nearby. I picked up the 2.4 model. I was really shocked when I went there and compared models...
I took the 2.4 and MBP and tried my damn hardest to make the 2.4 screen look "washed out" at viewing angles...and it never occurred - only when viewing from above...but, who in their right mind is going to view something looking directly down at the top of the screen? The MBP was like that as well. The black was identical to the MBP screen and the viewing angles were the same as well. *shrugs* I tried for 15 minutes to make the MB screen look bad in comparison to the MBP and I just couldn't.

I haven't opened it yet because I am nervous to do so if a price drop occurs at WWDC (I really only purchased it now because when something is sold out - it is sold out for a long time over here in Germany where I am deployed to) or worse:

Depends if you have a capable computer in the mean time and don't particularly need the MB right now, why not ? Mind you, it might be announced on June 8th and then ship later (especially at BestBuy, at least here in Canada, they took a while to get the unibody).

I personally waited a couple of month for the unibody upgrade. I was fairly sure it was coming. First year university, I didn't really need a laptop, my desktop osx86 was still capable to do all I needed. In perspective that was a wise move.

So, can you live 2 weeks without it to get a 75% chance of getting a minor upgrade ? Who knows what will be in store, 4gb ram standard? 2.4ghz standard? If 4gb becomes standard then there might be some further changes to the internals to accept 8. I wouldn't be surprised to see something worth it, most first gen apple laptop are usually quite a step down from the first updates :

Ibook G3 rev A, the update got you the old faster model for the price of the slower one (IE getting the 2.4ghz and paying the price of the 2.0 right now).

Rev B didn't get much

G4 rev A got the same thing as the G3

Macbook rev A, didn't get much, changes on the internals, possibility for more ram, airport can use wireless N (after unlock), new dvd drive.

I guess if you follow the pattern rev B won't get much hahaha

Mind you, I'm not sure there's much to offer right now from nVidia or from Intel, so all you can really expect are price/spec changes and they are starting to lag behind 'competition' with 2gb ram.

So, I'm basically back where I am started at. I could wait forever and understand that something bigger and badder will always come out, however I am stuck in a dilemma - if I didn't buy now I run the risk of them not having any in and god knows when they will have any back in...maybe even a month. The other is - since today is the 25th I have 15 days I can return the product open or not to AAFES however, since we are 7 hours ahead the Keynote wouldn't occur until evening our time - which most likely would mean that AAFES would be closed by then...

Egh, this really sucks ass (sorry...no other words to describe my frustration).

 

[alphaod]

WWDC is all about software updates. Also since Apple quit all the other expos, they can now do their own product cycles for computers.

 

[polaris20]

WWDC is all about software updates. Also since Apple quit all the other expos, they can now do their own product cycles for computers.

I agree. It'll probably be mostly about iPhone OS, SL, and perhaps a surprise tablet announcement. But MB/MBP updates will be a little more random.

 

[J&JPolangin]

...congrats on the purchase...

 

[RiCEADDiCTBOY]

I am only nervous if they increase the ram allowed...

 

[arjen92]

is 8 GB ram not enough?

 

[RiCEADDiCTBOY]

is 8 GB ram not enough?

??? It currently supports 4gigs...

 

[JRob65a6]

is 8 GB ram not enough?

The MBP he bought is the 15 inch I'm assuming. He said the 2.4 ghz processor. It only supports 4 gb of ram.
The 17 in. MBPs start at 2.66 now. They support 8gb.

But still 4 gb is a lot of ram still, depending on what you are going to use it for.

Oh and great purchase ...... I love mine. I hope you will also.

 

[RiCEADDiCTBOY]

I bought the mb not mbp... I think we are having some miscommunication confusions.

 

[RumorHasIt....]

MB not MBP

I believe he purchased the macbook as opposed to the macbook pro. According to him, the mb's screen was comparable to the mbp.

No way!

Oh, I posted mine at around the same time.

 

[Skydiver32]

You are a strong man!

I would never be able to look at that unoppened box for 2 weeks.
I usually can't even wait to get home before tearing apart ANY new toy.

You have my admiration.... If you can wait

 

[-Ryan-]

Wirelessly posted (iPhone: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 2_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/525.18.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.1 Mobile/5H11 Safari/525.20)

It supports 6gb on the current 2.4 MacBook. Anyway, unless you've got second thoughts of getting a MBP then I think you should just keep it. Extremely unlikely we'll see a refresh in my opinion. Maybe sometime before the holiday season.

 

[JRob65a6]

Oh sorry... I saw all the talk of the MBP and got confused. But still a good buy.
Will 6 gb not be enough?

You are more of a man than I am. When I bought mine, I didn't even drive out of my parking space until it was opened. You get me in Apple and I'm like a three year old in a candy store.

 

[skorpien]

I believe he purchased the macbook as opposed to the macbook pro. According to him, the mb's screen was comparable to the mbp.

No way!

Oh, I posted mine at around the same time.

I haven't made the comparison myself, but I've been reading that the new panels that Apple is using for their MBs are considerably better than the ones they used for the initial run. Kind of a bummer since I couldn't wait and bought mine the week the Unibodies came out, but that's the price of being an early adopter.

OP, just be happy using it. It's a great machine. Be glad you got the better panel and don't worry about the RAM. As others have said, 4GB is plenty of RAM. Consider what you'll be using it for and if you believe 4GB won't suit your needs, then return it and wait (though I doubt the MB would be the most suitable machine for you if you need more than 4GB RAM). Honestly, I don't see any major updates to the MB coming in the near future. Good luck either way, and congrats on the purchase.

Edit: Completely forgot that it supports 6GB, so replace every 4GB in the paragraph above with 6GB...

 

[RumorHasIt....]

Can anyone else confirm this?

I haven't made the comparison myself, but I've been reading that the new panels that Apple is using for their MBs are considerably better than the ones they used for the initial run. Kind of a bummer since I couldn't wait and bought mine the week the Unibodies came out, but that's the price of being an early adopter.

I would love that to be true. However, I have not seen any evidence of this. Mainly, I believe, Apple wants to keep them different to differentiate between Pro and not pro.

 

[RiCEADDiCTBOY]

Wait wait wait!!! WAIT! the macbook supports 6 gig of ram??? Proof???!!!

I haven't made the comparison myself, but I've been reading that the new panels that Apple is using for their MBs are considerably better than the ones they used for the initial run. Kind of a bummer since I couldn't wait and bought mine the week the Unibodies came out, but that's the price of being an early adopter.



I would love that to be true. However, I have not seen any evidence of this. Mainly, I believe, Apple wants to keep them different to differentiate between Pro and not pro.

So I am a liar? I have 20/20... And I believe my friend who tagged alone wasn't lying either... There was no discrepancies between the two...

 

[JamesGorman]

It does support 6 gigs of ram, the only thing that happens is that you lose dual channel support. The effect in speed of losing this is very minimal especially since having the extra ram will keep programs from having to write to the Hard Drive, which is a lot slower than the ram(obviously). Also I have read on macrumors, I don't have the link to the forum, but ill try to find it for you, that you actually only lose dual channel support when going into the last 2gb's of ram. That is to say that if your only using up to 4gb's that the dual channel will still work, since there is technically at least 2gb of ram in each slot, with the exception of one slot having an extra 2 on top of that. Hope that makes sense lol. If you have any question just ask and ill clarify.

So I am a liar? I have 20/20... And I believe my friend who tagged alone wasn't lying either... There was no discrepancies between the two...

No your not a liar, I have seen the new panels and they look pretty much identical to the pro's. I saw no difference what so ever. I wish I would have waited to purchase, but since I don't really watch movies on my MB, its not a huge deal.

 

[pellets007]

Wait wait wait!!! WAIT! the macbook supports 6 gig of ram??? Proof???!!!

It does, but not in dual channel. After you use the computer and determine that you go over 4GB, that's when I would go for 6GB. If you never actually go past 4GB you'll see a performance decrease. It costs a lot as well, $367 USD.

 

[RumorHasIt....]

[QUOTE;7664490]

So I am a liar? I have 20/20... And I believe my friend who tagged alone wasn't lying either... There was no discrepancies between the two...

I never said anyone was lying. However, I will go to the Apple store and see for myself. Like I said, I hope that it's true!

If true, I'd be pissed if I bought one with the inferior panel.

 

[RiCEADDiCTBOY]

I never said anyone was lying. However, I will go to the Apple store and see for myself. Like I said, I hope that it's true!

If true, I'd be pissed if I bought one with the inferior panel.

trust me - if i was able to i would have taken photos. as soon as i get ahold of a camera - i'd take screenshots on my panel if i ever do open the box.

also, why would apple allow 6 gig in the macbook but not dual channel. that sounds idiotic...can someone care to explain the thought process behind that one please?

 

[aristobrat]

also, why would apple allow 6 gig in the macbook but not dual channel. that sounds idiotic...can someone care to explain the thought process behind that one please?

That the hardware is capable of 6GB but not dual-channel is probably the reason why they advertise the max at 4GB (which would be the max you can go with dual-channel support).

 

[xeddyx]

...

trust me - if i was able to i would have taken photos. as soon as i get ahold of a camera - i'd take screenshots on my panel if i ever do open the box.

also, why would apple allow 6 gig in the macbook but not dual channel. that sounds idiotic...can someone care to explain the thought process behind that one please?

I think it's only a technical reason.

 

[pellets007]

They don't make 3GB sticks and Apple doesn't want single channel RAM. They also want to reserve higher levels of RAM for the MacBook Pro 17".

 

[RiCEADDiCTBOY]

I think it's only a technical reason.

but, if the hardware already ALLOWS it to utilize 6gig...can't a firmware allow it to work with dual channel support?

sorry, i'm just all kinds of confused at this point.

 

[aristobrat]

If dual-channel supports requires two matching sticks of memory, and they don't make 3GB sticks, how can you do that?