Hands-On With the New MacBooks 128
Paige Philuer writes "Macworld has a hands-on article examining the new MacBook and MacBook Pro — not a quickie look from Tuesday's event, but a lengthy, in-depth look with laptops they actually have in their offices. Some interesting observations: No FireWire on the MacBook; the TrackPad doesn't feel like you're running your finger across a pane of glass, though that's what it is; and switching between graphics cards in the MacBook Pro requires you to log out."
Reader Bourbon contributes three links at CNET related to the new models, too: a positive written review (giving a score of 8/10 to the new MacBook), a video review, and a behind-the-scenes look at how the new models are machined.
Re:Graphics switching disappointing beside Lenovo (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Who cares about the hard drive (Score:1, Informative)
Hiding the memory? What? It seems like its also a user serviceable part. It's not quite as easy to get to as the hard drive, but its still on the under side of the computer. You just unscrew it and bam, there it is.
Here's a picture:
http://images.macworld.com/images/news/graphics/136063-inside-top-door_original.jpg
Re:They cost more (Score:3, Informative)
CAD:USD exchange rate isn't as favorable as it used to be. They priced aggressively before, and with the rate change they have to re-price. Won't be good for ROW sales in a recession...
Re:Brightness (Score:5, Informative)
The LED backlights seem to dim better than the old fluorescent ones did. My not-quite-latest-generation-now MBP with LED backlight works just fine in a dark room and goes nice and bright for a non-dark room.
Re:They cost more (Score:3, Informative)
Our dollar slipped 20% (rather, the US dollar recovered 20%). That makes the difference.
CIV 4? Should work great on the integrated graphics. I'm pretty sure I've run it on my mini.
The integrated graphics is only slow compared to a cutting edge dedicated board. CIV 4 is a few years old.
Low end price (Score:3, Informative)
I've been checking out the MacBooks to console my sister who I advised to buy a white MacBook two weeks ago (d'oh!). I can't speak for the Canadian dollar, but in USD there's been a branching among MacBook models.
Before there were two: a $1049 model with 1 GB memory, etc and a $1299 model with 2 GB memory, etc. Both were white plastic. If you go to the store now there are two aluminum versions: a $1299 model with 2 GB memory, etc and a $1599 model also with 2 GB memory plus a 90 GB larger drive and a 2.4 GHz CPU versus 2.0 GHz for the cheaper model. If you look closely, there is also a $999 white plastic version with 1 GB memory, etc like before.
So the low end model did get cheaper. But it's still plastic, not the unibody aluminum. (So much for that being a cheaper process.) The old high-end model is the same price but with faster graphics. Then there is a new top-end model that is bigger, faster, and more expensive.
Re:Who cares about the hard drive (Score:3, Informative)
Do you realize what the most likely component on any given laptop to fail is? Setting aside occasional bad crops of GPUs, logic boards, the most likely component in a laptop to fail is the hard drive. Making replacing that simpler and easier is a great idea. In addition, apple charges ridiculous prices on their upgrades, so making yet another component in the machine readily user replaceable is both technically useful and empowers the consumers to make more relevant choices for themselves.
Re:Low end price (Score:3, Informative)
I fracked the price up, but I was right about the increase - at least for the mid and high end ones!
Before, the Canadian prices were $1149, $1349 and $1549. Now, the prices are $1149, $1399 and $1749. The current lowest-end one is the same as the old lowest-end one, except the former combodrive been upgraded to a superdrive. The mid- and high- end ones are the new models. So, it's not as bad as I said, but the trend is definitely upwards.
MacBook Hardware (Score:5, Informative)
MacBook: http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/First-Look/Mac/MacBook-Unibody [ifixit.com]
Pro: http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/First-Look/Mac/MacBook-Pro-Unibody [ifixit.com]
Re:Brightness (Score:5, Informative)
It's not a real solution but holding control option command and 8 inverts the color making the screen a negative. Works well at night when you want to keep the light level down.
Re:Two separate NVIDIA GPUs? (Score:4, Informative)
I assume it'll come sooner or later.
Just bought the 15" MacBook (Score:3, Informative)
My quick comments while I'm erasing the hard disk and reinstalling it: (I always erase the HDD on all new machines to check for any SMART errors, and to know that the install is clean)
First, the package it comes in is 20% smaller than the black MacBook's tote box. Styrofoam is a thing of the past, replacing it is plastic. Its easy to pull out the MacBook and peel off the plastic on it, easy to yank out the power adapter, but you have to use a thin piece of cardboard to pull the OS media box out as it is set flush, with no fingertip grips to make it easier. This is a very minor thing, though.
Second, the MacOS CDs are not 10.5.0 as with the black MacBook. You get 10.5.5, and a DVD with the applications.
Third, like every article says, if you need FireWire for mLAN or other music tasks, go for a Pro, or hit Apple Refurb for a previous model. FireWire is a thing of the past with this model. For what I'm using it for, the two USB ports are good.
Fourth, its noticably thinner than the MacBook it replaced. Its not thin enough to slide into an envelope, but its definitely able to be slipped in a briefcase. Its definitely a nice student notebook for sling through classes.
Fifth, I personally have not noticed any significant changes to the screen between the previous generation, but I'm glad Apple went this route, because LEDs supposedly have a much longer life than the CCFL backlights.
Those are my first impressions for now, while I blank the disk on it. Overall, for what I need it for (slinging it around campus) it should do the job well.
Re:Environmentally Friendly? (Score:3, Informative)
Yes, I am aware that the metal from one laptop will not directly go into that next chassis, but hey, if they they're all recycled and made from recycled, it works out the same in the end.
Re:Mini DisplayPort is not a standard (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Pre-loaded with iMovie, but no DV camera interf (Score:3, Informative)
Nope. Steve figures if you can afford a camera with a firewire port you will spring for the MBP. You might piss and moan but in the end you will pull out the credit card. It's all about the money.
I think it's a general sign of Firewire disappearing from general consumer products. The first major sign that I noticed was the lack of easy backwards compatibility between Firewire 800 and Firewire 400. Now the port is disappearing from Apple computers too.
I wonder if Target Disk mode and such will be implemented for USB in Mac OS X? External hard drives were nice with Firewire because of how it in didn't burden the cpu like USB. But as with SCSI/ATA, chips are invented that offload the work from the CPU (sometimes diverging from the technology's spec to do so).
Meh.
Re:Who cares about the hard drive (Score:4, Informative)
The latch is locked when the kensington cable is in. I don't remember where I read this, but I'm 100% positive.
Just to make other readers 100% HIV positive, here's one place I read this: "Hands on with the Macbook/Pro's removable hard drive" [arstechnica.com].
From TA:
I'm surprised anyone would complain about an easy-to-replace hard drive on a Mac. Some current and previous model Macs make it a pain in the arse to replace the hard drive.
Re:Graphics switching disappointing beside Lenovo (Score:1, Informative)
Complete nonsense, GDI graphics are hardware accelerated on Windows XP and lower.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms794599.aspx
On Windows Vista GDI is CPU drawn, but composition etc. is done via the 3D engine, hardware accelerated. I believe Windows Presentation/Graphics Foundation is also hardware accelerated on Windows Vista.
A lot of stuff on OS X used to be CPU drawn, but this was improved in OS X 10.3 and 10.4.
Re:Brightness (Score:2, Informative)
There's a great tool called Nocturne [blacktree.com], you should check it out.
Re:Mini DisplayPort is not a standard (Score:2, Informative)
HDMI only supports resolutions up to 1920x1200. Apple's 30" displays use greater than this.