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Thinking of returning Macbook - advice please

J

jpow112

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 12, 2007
88
9
I've had a 1.67 15" G4 Powerbook for 3 yrs or so, and been very happy with it. I had thought that now was the correct time to upgrade- to a SR blackbook, with a 250GB disk.

I mainly use my powerbook for

Music - recording with garageband, and making videos with garageband sound, playing and studying music via iTunes
Video - Watching EyeTV, and downloaded video, DVDs, using handbrake and VisualHub to convert.

I had thought that the new Blackbook would be ideal - it's more than twice as fast rendering, has more than twice the hard disk capacity, and has a useful integral camera, and is light, portable, with a good battery life.

However, I am finding a few problems.

1. Wireless internet connection unreliable.
2. Runs V hot - up to 92C (198F)
3. Garageband has latency problems - should really be at least as good as my G4.
4. Quicktime is unreliable and crashes when recording video simultaneously with recording guitar on garageband.
5. screen has very narrow viewing angle. I'm beginning also to think I prefer the matt finished screens.

I guess all but 2. and 5. may well be fixed as Leopard matures, but I'd be grateful for anyone elses viewpoint.

I've always been very happy with my G4, and if I returned it I guess I'd wait until January to see how MBP's evolve. I'd definitely still want an optical drive, but prob would want the better screen of the MBP.

John
 
Tough call

If I were in your shoes, I would probably hold onto it. I'd imagine you have sufficient RAM--which would be my only suggestion. That being said, I have been very impressed with how much faster my MacBook Pro is compared to my 1.67 GHz Powerbook. I have not been terribly impressed with the performance of MacBooks on processor-intensive tasks. On paper, they certainly looks as if they should be able to do well what you're wanting yours to do. I don't understand why they're so much hotter or why their benchmarks are so good. I think they're great for most things, though, and I don't know what tweaks I might do to get one running well. I wouldn't be satisfied with the performance I've seen, though.

The only other thing I would consider if I were in your shoes would be returning it in anticipation of what might be released in January at the keynote (expecting the rumored sub-notebook).

FWIW...

Chris
 
I would bring it back considering my iMac G5(G5's were HOT) gets to 72 degrees celcius max, while your macbook is 92.
 
I would say Hold on to it mainly because these issues will be fixed (most of them at least) I know what you mean on the wireless issues it can quite annoying but i still wait for updates, now mine doesn't run that hot. What were you doing on it when it was that hot.

I would also calibrate your screen I did it's very east and it looks better I recommend Super Cal For that.

Good Luck!
 
Have you tried installing Tiger? Buggy Leopard may be the cause of these issues. It's worth a try before returning it.
 
Techguy172 said:
I would say Hold on to it mainly because these issues will be fixed (most of them at least) I know what you mean on the wireless issues it can quite annoying but i still wait for updates, now mine doesn't run that hot. What were you doing on it when it was that hot.

I would also calibrate your screen I did it's very east and it looks better I recommend Super Cal For that.

Good Luck!
Click to expand...
My wife's MB seems to forget the connection every once in a while as well (Safari refuses to connect) while my PB chugs along. The screen issue is also a pain if I don't sit right next to her while she's watching a video (it's worst with dark shadows) so calibration will do exactly nothing to fix it.

I'm not sure if you should return it or not but 198F is absolutely a fire hazard. I'd do at least one return before deciding to try the MBP. As a comparision, my wife's MB gets no where near as hot.
 
yeah... it shouldn't be getting that hot i don't think. I know my SR MBP runs crazy crazy cool. (yes I know the aluminum dissipates heat and such.. but still) and everyone who has a macbook I know doesn't get near that hot. I'd say that may be a problem and I would take it to the store and ask them about it. Maybe get a replacement.
 
ktbubster said:
yeah... it shouldn't be getting that hot i don't think. I know my SR MBP runs crazy crazy cool. (yes I know the aluminum dissipates heat and such.. but still) and everyone who has a macbook I know doesn't get near that hot. I'd say that may be a problem and I would take it to the store and ask them about it. Maybe get a replacement.
Click to expand...

Yeah, definately get it fixed, 92degree's isn't right, and I'd say that the slow downs are as a result of the high temperature, along with the crashes and so forth. Sure, my laptop gets warm, but no warmer than say what one would have when getting a hand shake.
 
It gets that hot when doing processor intensive tasks, for instance rendering video from EyeTV for iTunes, or Handbrake etc. Idles at 60C. Does seem a bit excessively hot really.

The screen I can live with. I prefer my 15" G4 Powerbook screen, it has a much better viewing angle, but It's OK, and I like the pixel density.

The internet problem, looking at the forums is widespread, although not affecting everyone. Bizarrely, for a few years, my G4 would need the airport toggling on wake-up to reconnect to the home network. When I got the macbook, I added a few new accounts to the G4 for the kids, and now the powerbook connects instantly on wakeup, everytime. Weird. However, I expect apple will fix this. Pity they don't acknowledge the problem though.

The latency problem in garageband is strange. I assume either the G4 has better sound hardware in, or that the Leopard SR machine has non-optimised drivers, or that Garageband '08 has problems. Either way, I'm getting a firewire interface for hte extra inputs, so I expect this will cease to be relevant.

All in all, I think I'll return the macbook, bank the money and await Macworld. Perhaps the MBPs will be improved - although I'd still want the HDD and optical drive.
 
as regards the overheating, I guess since its under warranty, the worst that can happen is that it fails, then will need to be replaced.

The only annoying thing is that I got it customised up to 250gb/2Gb, and so as I understand it if it needs to be swapped I have to send it back to apple and await another by post.
 
I'd return it and go back to using your ibook until the macbook replacement comes out. The macbooks on the whole haven't been a great product in my opinion, but hopefully in the next generation some of their weaknesses will be addressed.
 
Billy Bob said:
I'd return it and go back to using your ibook until the macbook replacement comes out. The macbooks on the whole haven't been a great product in my opinion, but hopefully in the next generation some of their weaknesses will be addressed.
Click to expand...

Apple doesn't address weaknesses; they simply make newer products. At best, they offer extended warranties or replacements to head off mega-suits, but if you're waiting for Apple to say "hey, the macbook/pro is buggy, maybe we should fix it instead of continually churning out new stuff", you're going to be waiting for a very long time, because that isn't their business model. It wasn't in the Powerbook/iBook days, and it isn't in the Macbook/Pro days.
 
heatmiser said:
Apple doesn't address weaknesses; they simply make newer products. At best, they offer extended warranties or replacements to head off mega-suits, but if you're waiting for Apple to say "hey, the macbook/pro is buggy, maybe we should fix it instead of continually churning out new stuff", you're going to be waiting for a very long time, because that isn't their business model. It wasn't in the Powerbook/iBook days, and it isn't in the Macbook/Pro days.
Click to expand...

When I said wait for the weaknesses to be address I was refering to replacement product that will eventually come out to replace the macbook (whether it's known as a macbook or not) I trust that apple does may enough attention to it's customer base to make sure that their next product doesn't suffer from the same short comings. If they don't, I can't see that there is any hope for them, perhaps they have recently hired some former GM staff in their management department:D
 
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