Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

unibody 2.0 or 2.4?

SteveMobs said:
I got the 2.4 Uni MB and I love it. But that probably goes for either, they're brilliant. A lot of people are going to say that the upgraded 2.4 is not worth $300 more, I thought it was. Even though I don't need the backlit keyboard, it's cool. The extra HD space will help me out someday, but by then HD's will probably be cheaper. If you look at benchmark tests between the 2.0 and 2.4 MB, with like rendering and stuff, you'll notice that the 2.4 is about 5-10 seconds faster over about a minute and a half. Is that worth it? That's up to you.

I bought mine on Amazon and there it was only $150 more than the 2.0 MB, so that was definitely worth it.

Hope this helps
Click to expand...

IMO the larger HD of the 2.4 is irrelevant because the HD's are so easy to change, and large capacity, high rpm drives are so damn cheap these days. I paid $85 for my Seagate 7.2K 320GB drive.

I say the money is better spent maxing out RAM and getting a bigger HD from macsales.com.
 
paltry $300?
you must be one of these kids who asks daddy (or mommy, ofcourse) to buy you the best of everything, regardless.
No matter what any one says, $300 is alot of money, if you dont realise that, you obviously have never spent hard earned money.
 
children said:
paltry $300?
you must be one of these kids who asks daddy (or mommy, ofcourse) to buy you the best of everything, regardless.
No matter what any one says, $300 is alot of money, if you dont realise that, you obviously have never spent hard earned money.
Click to expand...

Kid ?

I was 48 last Friday dimwit........and believe me, i have spent LOTS of MY hard earned money........
 
As far as the $300 being a paltry amount, I agree when it comes to spending a large amount on something like a computer, anyway. Not that I regularly have an extra $300 lying around, but if you're able to make an investment on an expensive machine, that $300 probably won't make or break you if you want the extra features.

I don't have the resources to regularly upgrade a computer, so when I do make such an investment, I go ahead and spend the extra to buy the best for my needs. The need to buy my new MacBook was spurred by the death of my old iBook G4. I knew that I was going to be paying it off over a span of a few months (via BillMeLater. Not ideal, but very useful when you need a computer for your work and school and don't have the funds to pay for it in one lump sum). So, that extra $300 wasn't a big deal for me and was worth it to have somewhat faster computer and a backlit keyboard, and a larger HD.

So, I maintain that the 2.4 is NOT a waste of money if the extra bit of speed will be useful to you (if you regularly run very processor-intensive programs, etc), if you need extra HD space and don't want to install a new one yourself (I didn't - I am not comfortable doing that myself yet), and if the backlit keyboard would be useful for you (I regularly work in a fairly dark room. While it's certainly not NECESSARY, for me it is a very helpful benefit.)
 
yousoldtheworld said:
This was a big selling point for me, because my iBook G4 keys were nearly all worn off by the time I replaced it. I know it's a quick thing to get replaced, but the nearest Apple store to me is about 3 hours away, and I had a hard time justifying sending it away just to get the keyboard replaced, and at the time, I didn't feel comfortable replacing it myself. I would do so without qualms now, but I do like not having to worry about such a small annoyance.

That said, I have used both the 2.0 and the 2.4 and both are great. For my wants and needs, I went with the 2.4, but many thing the advantages of the 2.4 aren't worth the price difference. Either way you go, you're getting a great machine.
Click to expand...

Hmm.. In over 10 years I've owned various Macs I've never experienced letters wearing off from the keyboard. I had original iMac G3's keyboard, eMac's keyboard, iMac G5's keyboard, and white MacBook's keyboard.

Maybe your particular iBook model was defective?
 
cogsinister said:
Kid ?

I was 48 last Friday dimwit........and believe me, i have spent LOTS of MY hard earned money........
Click to expand...

Happy Birthday, BTW! Mine was the day after! :cool:

I originally had the 2.0, and just upgraded to the 2.4 after I sweet-talked some Apple employees out of the restocking fee. And for me, it came down to the fact that I won't be buying a new computer anytime soon and I needed as much of a desktop replacement as I could get without jumping up to the MBP. The $300 bridge from 2.0 to 2.4 was a toll I could justify, the $400 up to the MBP is the proverbial straw for me. I figured that I might as well maximize my investment and in light of the total purchase, $300 more wasn't too bad.
 
Well you could alternatively consider 2.0 + SSD, the price should be similar but the performance will be more noticeable than 2.4 vs. 2.0. Only thing ur missing is a back-lit KB. The SSD can be taken out and use it for ur future laptop but the 2.4 CPU cant. Hope that helps!

Cheers,

iAppleONE
 
I just got my 2.4 from Amazon on Friday. I was having a hard time deciding but in the end I paid the extra money (yes it is Just $300 dollars). I really wanted the backlit keyboard and I plan to keep the thing for a few years. If I did not get the 2.4, I knew I would be kicking myself.
 
cogsinister said:
Kid ?

I was 48 last Friday dimwit........and believe me, i have spent LOTS of MY hard earned money........
Click to expand...

ok, but i still stand by my opinion. $300 is a fair bit.

to me, $300 is way to much for a measly .4ghz and backlit keypad, but on the contrary, imo, $700 for a macbook pro upgrade is totally worth it, because the specs justify the price.
 
children said:
paltry $300?
you must be one of these kids who asks daddy (or mommy, ofcourse) to buy you the best of everything, regardless.
No matter what any one says, $300 is alot of money, if you dont realise that, you obviously have never spent hard earned money.
Click to expand...

you might want to think before you type next time. Some of us are grown adults that make $300 in a couple hours (1, if you're a lawyer ;))
 
polaris20 said:
you might want to think before you type next time. Some of us are grown adults that make $300 in a couple hours (1, if you're a lawyer ;))
Click to expand...

Expressing figures like $300 as "paltry" without knowing the circumstances of the person who is asking the question is stupid though. People with enough money to describe $300 as "paltry" are very much in the minority, and it is somewhat insulting to hear others referring to such a large amount of money in that way.

Consider what $300 would actually buy you though. You could get an HDTV, a monitor, a new keyboard and mouse, a camera, a printer, a scanner or a new chair. All of these things would be vastly, vastly more useful than the things you get for spending $300 extra on a MacBook.

As for the question, there is no way that anyone could possibly justify the $300 extra that the 2.4GHz model costs. I don't care how much money you have, the point is that the three features which the $300 gains are in no way worth that sum. The hard drive can be upgraded beyond the 2.4GHz spec for a much smaller amount of money, and in everyday use the 400MHz speed difference won't be noticeable at all.

It's like all those stupid arguments about the screens. If you don't have the two machines side by side, you will never know that the other one is a tiny, tiny, tiny bit quicker.

The point really is that if you are going to spend that "paltry" $300 to get the higher model, why not spend the extra $300 on top of that to get the vastly superior Pro?
 
polaris20 said:
you might want to think before you type next time. Some of us are grown adults that make $300 in a couple hours (1, if you're a lawyer ;))
Click to expand...

I'm also pretty well off too (architect), but the comment "paltry" $300 seemed a bit immature, especially considering todays economic hassle...

My friends are some of the most respected in their field, and even they dont consider $300 paltry. I have a friend who is a dentist and she carries around hungry jacks coupons, fuel coupons to save a "paltry" 2 bucks. Just because youre wealthy, it doesnt mean $300 is little money..
 
One thing that people don't consider is resale/upgrading I think.

I imagine that in 9 months when there's some sort of refresh on the macbook, you could probably sell the 2.0 ghz macbook for ~800? but I can't really imagine getting ~1100 for the 2.4 ghz version. Which is fine if you plan on keeping it forever and ever... But what if you did sell your 2.0 for ~800... and tacked on 300-500 dollars.... you might be able to get a refreshed macbook that would be faster and have snow leopard on it (129$) and have it be faster etc etc.

I think if you like having some of apple's latest, then the 2.0 is better in terms of resale value. Processor wise, honestly, not much difference. (Having had both a 2.0 and 2.4 aluminum) and I pulled out the HD even before I booted it the first time to put in a 320gb 7200rpm.

So you could spend 300 more for the neater toy now, or spend it in the future for tomorrow's neater toy.

Just another thought.
 
My 2 cents:

While everyone talks about the $300 (paltry or not), why don't you consider saving an additional $300 and buy the white polycarbonate with practically the same specs as the 2.0 AlumiBook.

Good place for the $300 savings: AppleCare
 
children said:
I'm also pretty well off too (architect), but the comment "paltry" $300 seemed a bit immature, especially considering todays economic hassle...

My friends are some of the most respected in their field, and even they dont consider $300 paltry. I have a friend who is a dentist and she carries around hungry jacks coupons, fuel coupons to save a "paltry" 2 bucks. Just because youre wealthy, it doesnt mean $300 is little money..
Click to expand...

His comment was no more immature than your response about mommy and daddy buying his stuff for him. That was presumptuous and insulting to anyone that works hard for their money.
 
polaris20 said:
His comment was no more immature than your response about mommy and daddy buying his stuff for him. That was presumptuous and insulting to anyone that works hard for their money.
Click to expand...

my comment was immature, but it was not insulting, it was rather opposite of insulting really..
 
children said:
my comment was immature, but it was not insulting, it was rather opposite of insulting really..
Click to expand...

Really? Let's read it again:

children said:
you must be one of these kids who asks daddy (or mommy, ofcourse) to buy you the best of everything, regardless.
No matter what any one says, $300 is alot of money, if you dont realise that, you obviously have never spent hard earned money.
Click to expand...

I guess you and I have a different set of social skills then. ;)
 
Unibody 2.0, 2.4 and the white 2.0 (now in play)

GfulDedFan said:
My 2 cents:

While everyone talks about the $300 (paltry or not), why don't you consider saving an additional $300 and buy the white polycarbonate with practically the same specs as the 2.0 AlumiBook.

Good place for the $300 savings: AppleCare
Click to expand...

This is an outstanding idea. I thought I would post my thought process on why I picked what I did comparing all 3 models. I know the post asks about unibody, but with the recent price drop I think I am still within the thread scope.

I just received my 2.0 alumMB and here are the reasons I chose it over the 2.4 alum and the white 2.0

alum 2.0 versus white 2.0

1. Durability - Too many posts about cases cracking.
2. Visibility - Glossy backlit LED is bad, apparently white macbook is worse. Both aren't as good as MBP matte finish (IMO).
3. DDR3 v. DDR2 - some sites say no difference, others do. I liked the idea of having new.


Alum 2.4 versus White 2.0
1. alum 2.4 wins in all categories except...

FIREWIRE (please don't say anything, there are 100s of threads about this already)
PRICE 2.4 is 1499 the white 2.0 is 999

Alum 2.0 v Alum 2.4
1. CPU speed - too close to call for the regular user
2. RAM - same
3. HDD - bigger on DEFAULT 2.4, but newegg can match that size without it costing 300 USD.
4. Backlit keyboard - For me, I use Front Row if I am going to be watching stuff in the dark. If I am computing in the dark, that means I haven't paid my bills :eek:

I am waiting for my RAM before I boot my machine up for the first time. For now 160GB is good, but apple has made it so easy to upgrade that I'm not intimidated (I'm not a risk taker when it comes to hardware).

--matt
 
Again thanks for all the responses. I went with the 2.0 and am very happy. I LOVE the unibody. Its very solid, and that was one of my main reasons for wanting the upgrade. The keyboard feels better to me also, just like the feel of it more. I think I notice a slight downgrade in the speed of the machine but not enough to concern myself with. I am going to upgrade my ram shortly.

I decided to go with a TimeCapsule instead of the 2.4.

Thanks again.
 
Bengt77 said:
Another thread for this? Really? Sheesh...
Click to expand...

You'll find that the thread titles are indeed links of which you're not obligated to click, should you decide you don't want to read yet another thread about this subject. ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back