Glory's Sun

Ok so I know there's tons of Apple fans on here. What do you all think of the new macbook?? I am seriously debating ordering one.




Should I just wait until the 2nd gen comes out or just go ahead and get this bad boy??

Willravel

I'm getting it, you should too.

Glory's Sun

heh I just realized I put this in electronics instead of computers..

willravel: so what's making you get one now? The speed? The Intel chip? The hype?

maleficent

Moved...

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Willravel

Speed. I've been waiting for this for over 6 months. I've been considering getting a laptop for a while, and this synches it.

Glory's Sun

Thanks Mal


I'm surprised they got them out this quickly. I was expecting to have to wait a few more months. Every second I get closer to hitting the buy now button

bendsley

I would rather have a fw400 port than the fw800 port (reason: since the 100mbit mode of a FW800 port is not handled entirely by the hardware.. it generates interupts 8 times as fast and the cpu has to process them all). Two fw400 ports would be nicer. Also, they cut the speed of the superdrive to 4x instead of 8x. I guess though that they will update them here in a few months.

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brandon11983

I'm getting one as soon as CDW gets them. Then I'll order it through the PC purchase program at work.

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tokaok

meh, overpriced tho i am a fan of the technology(hardware/software) i dont believe Apple has ever put out something so great the i would i agree their over inflated prices are worth it

Glory's Sun

as far as pricing goes.. I always tell people to get over it. You pay a bit more but you don't have the problems you do with the rest of the laptops out there *coughDELLcough*. The hardware is first class and it supa supa supa sexay

bendsley

Not really overpriced, you can pay that much for a single core pentium m 733 currently.

It's funny that you only mention Dell, considering that there are really only 4 major laptop makers in Taiwan, that serve Compaq, Dell, Gateway, HP, etc.

You do realize that Apple also buys from OEM right? They don't make their own hardware, just like the rest of the computer retailers, so it's really kind of unfair to say they have better hardware. It's all the same.

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"You hear the one about the fella who died, went to the pearly gates? St. Peter let him in. Sees a guy in a suit making a closing argument. Says, "Who's that?" St. Peter says, "Oh, that's God. Thinks he's Denny Crane."

sailor

Might want to wait--a lot of people have been having some pretty serious concerns about the downgrading of a lot of features of this generation:

http://www.unsanity.org/archives/000445.php

Several other similar articles floating around Digg...

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Glory's Sun

I only mentioned Dell because that's the only one I've had problems with. :shrug: I guess it was unfair. Am I wrong in saying that Apple Laptops have much fewer problems/issues than the rest??

Pragma

I've got a few friends with Apple laptops who've had insane hardware problems. One friend with a late-model iBook has sent it back to Apple five times. The logic board and motherboard kept dying on her, or the harddrive would crash, etc. Another friend has had similar issues with a PowerBook.

To be fair though, aside from those few friends who've had problems, I haven't heard much in the way of complains about failing hardware. On the other hand, I haven't heard any complains from people I know about x86 laptops, either - and I've never had problems with mine.

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Willravel

It's not who builds it but who designs it. Apple designs most of it's own hardware and all of it's OS. They are designed to work with each other. The same is not true of Dell, Compaq, Gateway, HP, Sony, eMachines, etc.

ubertuber

Not to mention, the reliability of apple computers has more to do with software than hardware.

I think the macbook looks good - and I also think the outrage over the loss of FW800, svideo, and a modem is more than a little silly. There are dongles for modem and svideo, and pcexpress34 has higher throughput that FW800, so I fully expect an adapter if not a better technology.

A trivial question though... What color is the macbook - I think I've seen about 5 different pictures that are lit completely differently. It has looked identical to a charcoal color. Anyone have any knowledge of this? I'm just curious.

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Willravel

Probably bushed metal. I'm so pissed I have to work through Macworld!

viper11885

I really need a laptop for next semester.

Been thinking about the MacBook Pro a lot and definately leaning towards it. However, I hope that there is a smaller version (12"-13") as I want pure portability. Only thing that kind of puts me off is that it will probably still be in the Rev A stage when I make my purchase.

bigpappasmurf

I'm planning on waiting for the 2nd gen to come out. I want to see what kinds of issues these books have. But I think the office is switching everyone to the new iMacs. I'm stoked about that one, but I'm waiting until i spend 2 grand.

duck0987

Apple has always been ahead of the curve when it comes to removing legacy hardware before it is stale (i.e. No floppy drives since 98, all usb no legacy serial interface). They are often criticized for doing this before its time but that’s apple. This is the reason apple has dumped PCMCIA for pcexpress34, the modem for ethernet and wireless, and Svideo for DVI and HD native video.

As for the FW800 this was dropped on account of the Intel chipset not currently supporting FW800, sad to see it go but it will likely be adopted on later machines. My only real beef is the use of a single layer DVD Burner when existing macs have DL Burners. But from what I have read this was a space issue, the DL burners are a few mm higher, this still doesn't sit well w/ me.

This machine may be a little ahead of its time, best of luck to early adoptors, but if 12 years of mac use have taught me nothing else, it is don't buy first gen hardware and wait for .1 release numbers.

I will be waiting for the iBook to come out to make my purchase.

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bendsley

The Macbook has FW800, a single port. My contention with this is that I would rather have two FW400 ports on the laptop. Read my above posts to see why.

This is Intel you're talking about. Intel has the ability to support anything they want.

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"You hear the one about the fella who died, went to the pearly gates? St. Peter let him in. Sees a guy in a suit making a closing argument. Says, "Who's that?" St. Peter says, "Oh, that's God. Thinks he's Denny Crane."

ubertuber

Definitely FW400. The mac discussion sites are full of self-proclaimed "pro" users that are upset. I only mentioned this at first because I don't think the loss of the various ports are that big of a deal, as there will be adaptors, dongles, and replacements that are even better.

I don't know anything about Intel chipsets and FW, so I'm not trying to weigh in on that one.

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cyrnel

"Want" is the word. They've had a fairly religious thing about Firewire for years. I remember Intel execs ranting at tradeshows as if 1394 was an evil communist technology. It's always been treated as the neighbor's child.

Anyway, agreed on the FW400 ports. ExpressCard/34, eSATA, whatever is better for the high-speed stuff. Small portable devices and legacy things can use fw400 or USB, or possibly transplant into a faster enclosure. Oh, for a native eSATA laptop port.

I keep thinking it's time to get back into Macs.

Oh, and I know you know but to be fair about the reliability and ODM thing, there are different levels of quality within each ODM lineup. None are perfect but I like to think Apple is a little more careful about spec'ing their low-end machines than some vendors.

Now will someone please justify my buying a MacBook?

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There are a vast number of people who are uninformed and heavily propagandized, but fundamentally decent. The propaganda that inundates them is effective when unchallenged, but much of it goes only skin deep. If they can be brought to raise questions and apply their decent instincts and basic intelligence, many people quickly escape the confines of the doctrinal system and are willing to do something to help others who are really suffering and oppressed." -Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media, p. 195

Glory's Sun

crynel: if you buy a MacBook I'll be your bestest friend!!

cyrnel

Now to figure out how to pay the bills with that.

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There are a vast number of people who are uninformed and heavily propagandized, but fundamentally decent. The propaganda that inundates them is effective when unchallenged, but much of it goes only skin deep. If they can be brought to raise questions and apply their decent instincts and basic intelligence, many people quickly escape the confines of the doctrinal system and are willing to do something to help others who are really suffering and oppressed." -Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media, p. 195