The time finally has come

[bunnspecial]

Close but no cigar. 😉

Non unibody is 1680x1050 standard. Optional 1920x1200 offered with the C2D in mid-2007.

Unibody machines are all 1920x1200, with optional AG.

The 15" with the HR-AG option was my perfect machine. Shame the GPU was borked!

That's what I get for posting and not looking it up...I don't know Intel machines as well as I do PPC.

Even so, I though I remembered the 15" HR having the same resolution as the 17"...I suppose I was wrong on that, although I did remember that the matte 17" was the same resolution as the standard.

I'm particularly looking for a mid-2012 because I've not heard of any GPU problems with them.

 

[MagicBoy]

That's fine. I've got the Intels covered but can't recall the Al G4s off the top of my head. 😉

The 2012s are solid and get a thumbs up from me. They switched to the nVidia 650GT which appears to be reliable at this time.

The 2011s are flawed, and I don't believe the post-recall logic boards are fixed in any way. They'll end up replacing the lemons with rMPBs on the quiet I expect, just as they did with mine a year ago. The 2010 had problem nVidia GPUs due to a logic fault, for which the extended repair has now expired.

 

[bunnspecial]

The 2011s are flawed, and I don't believe the post-recall logic boards are fixed in any way. They'll end up replacing the lemons with rMPBs on the quiet I expect, just as they did with mine a year ago. The 2010 had problem nVidia GPUs due to a logic fault, for which the extended repair has now expired.

A co-worker bought a refurb late 2011 right around the time the rMBPs were announced. He talked to me about it pretty extensively, and I advised him to buy a 13"-both because he walks a mile to work every day, and because of the known GPU issues. I spent probably 6 hours over the course of two weeks discussing this with him 🙄 but he bought a 15" anyway.

I was actually right on both accounts. The GPU died within a day of it arriving and I ended up taking him to the Apple store twice(once to drop it off, once to pick it up) since he didn't have a car. He rarely brings the computer in, because it's too heavy 🙄, although as far as I know he hasn't had any more GPU issues.

 

[iModFrenzy]

Love the 1st gen Macbook Pros🙂

 

[jbarley]

That's fine. I've got the Intels covered but can't recall the Al G4s off the top of my head. 😉

The 2012s are solid and get a thumbs up from me. They switched to the nVidia 650GT which appears to be reliable at this time.

The 2011s are flawed, and I don't believe the post-recall logic boards are fixed in any way. They'll end up replacing the lemons with rMPBs on the quiet I expect, just as they did with mine a year ago. The 2010 had problem nVidia GPUs due to a logic fault, for which the extended repair has now expired.

I actually had one repaired under that extended recall, got in just days before it expired.
Only drawback is the replacement logic board is new and won't let the original supplied OS X 10.4 Disk install, but I've long since got passed that issue.

 

[bunnspecial]

I actually had one repaired under that extended recall, got in just days before it expired.
Only drawback is the replacement logic board is new and won't let the original supplied OS X 10.4 Disk install, but I've long since got passed that issue.

Did you at least get an upgraded CPU? That would be a small consolation for loosing the ability to run Tiger.

 

[jbarley]

Did you at least get an upgraded CPU? That would be a small consolation for loosing the ability to run Tiger.

Not that I recall, oddly enough when the AASP who did the repair contacted Apple I still heard nothing, I expected at least an installable Disk from apple, maybe the retail version.

 

[SkyBell]

The Blackbooks are special...something about the plastic/texture used on them make them unlike any other laptop I've ever used. I always get compliments on mine whenever I use it.

There's a girl in the class I'm teaching this semester who has one also, and we trade compliments on them all the time 🙂 . It's too bad she's not single 🙂

I'd like to find an early 2008 model, but am quite happy with my late 2007(which isn't that different from the early '08).

I actually just sold my late '07 BlackBook in January for $100 (cracks and chips galore, of course.) I did always like the way it looked, being the main reason I ever bought it in the first place. It worked well the two years that I had it, but I eventually sold because it just didn't feel to me as nearly as solid as any other PPC Mac out there: the build quality from day one felt flinmsy and cheap, almost brittle. I remember expecting something like the firm plastic of the iBooks, but that certainly wasn't the case.

Sold it to a co-worker, and tried to use my PowerBook G4 as my sole portable machine. Unfortunately, it just doesn't quite cut the mustard as I had hoped it would; I still use it once or twice a week usually, but I ultimately decided that Intel Macs weren't for me, and PowerPC is beginning to need supplementing. Got a nice 12" HP EliteBook 2450p on eBay for $180, and it blows every other machine I've ever owned out of the water by a huge margin.

 

[128keaton]

The Blackbooks are special...something about the plastic/texture used on them make them unlike any other laptop I've ever used. I always get compliments on mine whenever I use it.

There's a girl in the class I'm teaching this semester who has one also, and we trade compliments on them all the time 🙂 . It's too bad she's not single 🙂

I'd like to find an early 2008 model, but am quite happy with my late 2007(which isn't that different from the early '08).

I had a neighbor that had one, a nice machine. I reinstalled Tiger on it at one point. You are right, its a different texture. Also, I plan to upgrade both of my whitebooks to mavericks or something as a project.

Re: Battery.

Yes, the price on the battery was quite good. Considering that the last time I bought a battery it cost me $80 I was quite happy. However, I am not expecting much. It's a generic Made In China battery and if it lasts six months I will be happy.

Mobile power is not why I bought it though. The MBP I just bought comes without a battery. The seller was nice enough to include a charger in the auction so that could have been the end of it. But I have an issue with toting around a laptop that has a giant hole in the bottom. Not to mention that moving it would require shutting it down first or the Mac would just shut off when I pulled the cable out.

I tend to take chargers with me in the places I take my laptops because I am usually there for awhile and those places tend to have plugs. I want however to be able to close the lid, disconnect the Mac, transport it and not have to reboot it. I don't turn my Macs off.

I can't do that without a battery. Since even dead batteries (by experience) hold enough of a charge to allow sleep for the limited amount of time my Macs tend to sleep it doesn't really matter to me if the battery is superb or not, just that it can hold a charge long enough to support sleep between extended periods.

Now if this battery turns out to be really good, so much the better, but I just need a solution that fixes my particular 'problem' - and that's why I was ok with a generic no-name battery for $20.

Not that I needed to explain this, but if no one around here has figured out yet that I tend to make long posts over miniscule things - well, now you know. 😀

Side-note, if you shut the lid without a battery, it saves the state after you unplug it. I had one of my battery-less whitebooks sit for about a month and it resumed after plugging it back in.

 

[eyoungren]

Side-note, if you shut the lid without a battery, it saves the state after you unplug it. I had one of my battery-less whitebooks sit for about a month and it resumed after plugging it back in.

Really? Thanks!

Intel is new to me so I'm just going by past PowerBook history.

 

[bunnspecial]

Definitely make an offer...

I'll try, although as I said if the department bought it he can't sell it.

 

[robertdsc]

My first Intel Mac was a tower, not a laptop. It is a 2006 2.66 Quad.

My Suzan is running Snow Leopard and is, by far, the best Mac I've ever owned. It runs quiet, does everything I throw at it without a hitch, is expandable, and sold me on the Intel world. One of my main hobbies, transcoding of my DVD collection into digital files, received a gigantic boost when I began to load DVDs onto the Mac Pro. Encoding time was cut to 15 minutes at higher quality than anything my G5s could do, and those G5s took upwards of 2 hours to make a movie.

If I end up getting a spare laptop, it will either be a black Macbook or an Aluminum. I can still hop on my G5 Dual 2.0, but after months of Snow Leopard, it feels off a bit.

Messing around with Snow Leopard did finally convince me to go with PPC Leopard. My G5 DC 2.0 runs it now. The DP G5 and Dual 1.25 G4 still run Tiger.

 

[Intell]

Intell is awesome. Intell is amazing. Intell should start talking about Intell in the third person. Intell does indeed think this is a good idea. Intell is getting tripped up by all the various CPU maker spellings in this thread. Intell's head hurts. Intell out.

 

[SuperKerem]

intell is awesome. Intell is amazing. Intell should start talking about intell in the third person. Intell does indeed think this is a good idea. Intell is getting tripped up by all the various cpu maker spellings in this thread. Intell's head hurts. Intell out.

GR8 B8 M8 I R8 8/8 no H8

Also I wonder, Intell, why is your avatar a picture of Yoyo from the Muppets?

 

[eyoungren]

Intell is awesome. Intell is amazing. Intell should start talking about Intell in the third person. Intell does indeed think this is a good idea. Intell is getting tripped up by all the various CPU maker spellings in this thread. Intell's head hurts. Intell out.

*Puts cheese hat on Intell's head*

 

[A.Goldberg]

I just upgraded my inherited Mac Pro Quad 2.8… yes it's more oomph than I'll ever need. There's nothing like my house lights flickering when it powers up or wakes up from sleep. I upgraded from 4 to 12GB of RAM. I also threw in a 240GB SSD drive to run the OS and apps off of. It runs so fast now it's crazy (not that it wasn't bad before either).

I dare say this 2008 beast is now faster than my 2014 i5 MacBook.

PPC is great, but the Intel experience runs so much smoother/efficiently when it comes to the internet, flash, and java.

 

[Intell]

Also I wonder, Intell, why is your avatar a picture of Yoyo from the Muppets?

Intell made a replica of him for Intell's high school art class. Intell's sister subsequently named it Intell. Currently it's in a box in Intell's closet in need of some attention.

 

[A.Goldberg]

A co-worker bought a refurb late 2011 right around the time the rMBPs were announced. He talked to me about it pretty extensively, and I advised him to buy a 13"-both because he walks a mile to work every day, and because of the known GPU issues. I spent probably 6 hours over the course of two weeks discussing this with him 🙄 but he bought a 15" anyway.

I was actually right on both accounts. The GPU died within a day of it arriving and I ended up taking him to the Apple store twice(once to drop it off, once to pick it up) since he didn't have a car. He rarely brings the computer in, because it's too heavy 🙄, although as far as I know he hasn't had any more GPU issues.

I haven't actually felt the weight of a rMBP but at one point I owned a 2009 15" MBP. The thing was a complete brick to carry around. Plus it dosnt fit well on your lap when traveling economy by train or plain (or by greyhound). Then I switched to a 13" MBA but ultimately the 13" rMBP has become the best compromise.

I can only imagine lugging around a 17"... Especially a 17" PC laptop.

Anyone remember Dell's 20" "laptop" innovation...:rolleyyes:

 

[ptdebate]

Anyone remember Dell's 20" "laptop" innovation...:rolleyyes:
Image

That looks positively horrendous! Did it ever make it to market?

 

[A.Goldberg]

That looks positively horrendous! Did it ever make it to market?

Oh yes, it's (it was) a real thing.

From Wikipedia

XPS M2010 - The XPS M2010 was announced on May 31, 2006 as a top of the line briefcase-styled mobile desktop with a 20.1-inch widescreen with a WSXGA+ resolution and TrueLife. The outside of the case had a leather-like appearance.[34] The XPS M2010 used an ATI Mobility Radeon X1800 graphics with 256 MB of graphics memory and had support for dual hard drives. The laptop could be customized with an Intel Core 2 Duo T2500, T5600, T7400 or T7600 and 1 GB, 2 GB or 4 GB of DDR2 SDRAM @ 667 MHz (Although machine can take 2x2 GB @ 677 MHz Ram, it will only operate at 3.25 GB @ 500 MHz due to chipset limitation as well as FSB limitation). The laptop expanded to a full desktop set, including a detachable bluetooth keyboard, bluetooth mouse, and radio-frequency Media Center remote. It was praised for the high quality sound system which included 8 separate ¾" speakers below the screen and a 1¾" subwoofer on the bottom of the machine, ported to the right hand side. While the computer could be folded and carried as a briefcase with its built-in carrying handle, at 18.3 lbs[35] it was generally considered too heavy to be a true desktop replacement.

It supposedly gets about 2 hours of battery life with normal use.

 

[weckart]

Anyone remember Dell's 20" "laptop" innovation...:rolleyyes:

I remember seeing one in a shop on the Tottenham Court Rd when they came out. It really was a return to the luggable computer but ultimately as pointless as this

 

[MagicBoy]

It turned up in a couple of American TV series as product placement, just as everyone else was using MacBooks...

LOL.

 

[bunnspecial]

I haven't actually felt the weight of a rMBP but at one point I owned a 2009 15" MBP. The thing was a complete brick to carry around. Plus it dosnt fit well on your lap when traveling economy by train or plain (or by greyhound). Then I switched to a 13" MBA but ultimately the 13" rMBP has become the best compromise.

I can only imagine lugging around a 17"... Especially a 17" PC laptop.

Anyone remember Dell's 20" "laptop" innovation...:rolleyyes:
Image

I haven't had much experience with the 15" Retina, but I did have the chance to play with one the other day.

A professor at school has had one sitting in a box for about 6 months. She uses a polycarbonate iMac daily, but I think she realizes it's aging and needed to consider replacing it. She's been trying to get IT to "set it up" for her for that time, but they kept dragging their feet and kept saying things like using a thumb drive to transfer important stuff.

In any case, she asked me the other day, and I showed her how to use Migration Assistant and then actually did it for her. I had to borrow a Thunderbolt-Firewire dongle from the department chair(I helped him back in the fall when he took the job and got his new iMac, so knew he had one). I then had to go digging for a 6-pin to 9-pin FW cable-I needed one anyway so ran out to the Apple store to get one.

In any case, she was amazed at how simple and fast the whole process was. She said she was sorry that she had put it off for so long.

I played with her new MBP for a few minutes after migrating just to make sure everything was okay(and dump a few dock icons that wouldn't work anymore since she no longer has Rosetta). I was impressed. In all honesty, though, I found it a bit awkward as a "laptop." It almost seemed too thin to me-typing with it on my(not insubstantial) lap would move the computer.

I don't have that problem with any 15" Powerbook(both Ti and Als). I also had a couple of 15" PC laptops that I used heavily(I just had one out the other day, as I have a program I need to learn how to use that can only run on Windows). Although they were chunky, I always did alright with them.

My 17" Powerbook is definitely a desktop-only computer. It is awkward on my lap. That's the only 17" laptop I've owned or used extensively. I love the computer, it's just that it's a desktop replacement and not a laptop.

 

[bunnspecial]

I remember seeing one in a shop on the Tottenham Court Rd when they came out. It really was a return to the luggable computer but ultimately as pointless as this

The Gillette ad is hilarious. I know it's obviously fake, but Gillette is and always has been the standard for marketing gimmicks. That thing looks painful 🙂. I often say that inkjet printers are sold on the Gillette model(sell the printer for cheap, or virtual give it away in some cases, then count on the recurring cost of ink).


In any case, about a year back I switched over to using double-edge razors. I've picked up several older ones-mostly Gillettes-for cheap or free. I use two of them with some regularity-I keep a Gillette Tech(bottom of the barrel "three piece" design) at my Parent's house that my grandfather used for years. I keep a Gillette Slim(high end model, twist to open, with an adjustable blade guard) at my apartment. I have a total investment of $12 on these two razors. I tried several different blades in a sampler pack with normal retail prices ranging from $.075 to $.30 each. I really liked the expensive ones(Japanese Feather brand), but that I actually like the cheap Turkish "Derby" brand blades the best. Sadly, I tried three different types of Gillette brand-one was so awful that I ended up tossing three blades of the 5 blade pack, and the others two were mediocre at best. I paid $15 for 200 Derbys on Amazon. Changing them every three days(which is actually probably overkill, as I have at times stretched them even to 5 days as an experiment), 200 blades is roughly a 1 1/2 year supply. I'd call that not bad...especially since Gillete and the like will hit you for $5-6 for a cartridge(and most people use them far longer than they should due to the cost).

 

[eyoungren]

My 17" Powerbook is definitely a desktop-only computer. It is awkward on my lap. That's the only 17" laptop I've owned or used extensively. I love the computer, it's just that it's a desktop replacement and not a laptop.

Respectfully, I must disagree with you. 🙄