New MacBook lineup vs. old MacBook lineup
The big news with Tuesday's MacBook announcement is obviously the new design. Replacing the white or black plastic chassis is an aluminum body built from a single piece of metal. Gone is the mouse button, consumed by a large glass trackpad with multitouch gesture support. The screen stays at 13.3 inches but gets LED backlighting and a piece of glass that runs from edge to edge of the laptop. And a mini DisplayPort makes an appearance, but it kicks the mini FireWire port to the curb in the process.
Not pictured: the old, white MacBook selling for $999.
Less has changed on the inside. The biggest change is the move from the Intel GM965 chipset and integrated GMA X3100 graphics to an Nvidia chipset and integrated GeForce 9400M graphics, which Apple CEO Steve Jobs says is up to five times as fast as the old Intel graphics. The default memory allotment stays at 2GB, but you trade 667MHz DDR2 memory for faster 1066MHz DDR3 memory. You can also upgrade to 4GB of RAM for only $150; previously adding 2GB of RAM cost $200.
The old MacBook lineup featured better CPUs.
Moving in the opposite direction, however, is the CPU offering on the low-end model. The $1,299 MacBook features a 2.0GHz Core 2 Duo, down from the 2.4GHz chip in the previous model. The new $1,599 MacBook features a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo chip like the older $1,499 model. Both new models feature a faster 1066MHz frontside bus, up from 800MHz on the old MacBooks.
The hard drive offerings stay the same: 160GB on the lower-end model and 250GB on the higher-end model. But new upgrades will net you a 320GB drive for $100 or a 128GB solid-state drive for $600.
Meanwhile, the black MacBook has gone the way of the Newton, while the old entry-level white MacBook is still kicking around, with a $100 discount that brings its price under $1,000.
My take? I don't like losing the FireWire port, since I own a tape-based miniDV camcorder that won't do video transfers over USB--only FireWire. And the step back with the CPU on the $1,299 model strikes me as odd, even if the DDR3 memory and Nvidia graphics might make up for it. I really like the idea of the multitouch trackpad, however, since the MacBook I bought less than a year ago has a mouse button that catches and sticks, making an increasingly annoying clicking noise when pressed.
What are your thoughts on the new MacBooks? Also, if you have a fix for my misaligned mouse button that doesn't involve a trip to an Apple store, I'm all ears.
Note: I have corrected this post because I had erroneously reported the old MacBook models featured a CPU with 4MB of L2 cache. They featured 3MB, like the new models. And in my haste today, I confused Apple's 90 days of free phone support with the one-year parts-and-labor coverage. I have about six weeks to get down to an Apple Store and have my mouse button fixed free of charge.
For complete coverage of the Apple notebook news, see "Apple polishes up its MacBook line."
That sounds familiar, where have I heard that before? Oh yea, now I remember. Every product that Apple has ever released has been called over priced. Thanks for sharing though.
http://www.amazon.com/Sonnet-FireWire-400-Adapter-FAD-824/dp/B0000CDJPQ/ref=tag_stp_st_edpp_ttl
Unless you want to replace it?
I think the new MacBooks are great, but no Firewire just forces me to choose what I wanted to anyway - a new MacBook Pro. Once I buy my Nikon D700 and 24-70 2.8, that's next in line! :-D
Model Identifier: MacBook3,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.2 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 4 MB
Memory: 1 GB
Bus Speed: 800 MHz
Boot ROM Version: MB31.008E.B02
SMC Version: 1.24f2
Cache is important, but it isn't everything. As far as the CPU difference (old 2.4, new 2.0) on the middle Macbook offering, isn't the new 2.0 a more efficient CPU build (Centrino Pro?) than the older 2.4? Just curious.. According to BareFeats, this was the case w/ the last gen Macbooks..
http://www.barefeats.com/mbpp01.html << Notice the older 2007 Macbook 2.4 (4MB Cache) vs. 2008 Macbook 2.4 (3MB Cache).
Well...Macbook w/out Firewire--there's part of me that agrees we should have Firewire, and there's part of me that says the devil is in the details. My guess is that far "fewer" people use Firewire on the Macbook than the Macbook Pro, and Apple has done the research to back that up. Plus, if you were Apple...why spend the extra $$$ on putting something like FireWire into a notebook that research suggests fewer than 20% of the people who buy them use, and put it towards something the other 80% will (like faster GPU, larger HDD, etc.)? This is probably where the GPU, and new DDR3 RAM comes in to play. Apple may do things we don't at first agree with, but historically they have been right (iPhone) more than they have been wrong (iPhone 2G price-drop?)
All around, an excellent upgrade and I'm sure it will only get better and better in revisions to come. I bought my BlackBook last April w/ AppleCare so I will probably not be buying a new portable for another 3-4 years. I guess that as I've gotten older, I am less likely to upgrade because of hypothetical uses (gaming, extra speed, etc.) as long as my current needs are met, and in turn keep my equipment a bit longer.
I totally expected the prices of the Macbooks to go up a little bit w/ the aluminum enclosures--still within the same price-point for the mid-range model, but definitely going to be higher on the top-end Macbook (12" Powerbook territory). I believe that the top-end 13" MB is going to be the hot-seller of all of them.
Well, now the PC/Mac equation is tilting a little back to the Windows side.
In other news, don't waste your money. Wait for a real reason to upgrade.
It appears Apple still has not addressed the problem of severe pitting on the case where you normally rest your hands. I'm on my 3rd aluminum PowerBook/MacBook and have had to replace the top of the case twice ($200+) because it has pitted and eroded to the point where it becomes dangerously thin, not to mention ugly. Potential converts see this defect and ask, "what the hell?" AppleCare actually had the audacity to tell me my sweat must be more acidic than normal. I will not be buying another MacBook until this problem is fixed. And no, slapping a plastic shield on my case is not a solution.
1) Airplanes are made of aluminum and are very strong. Considering the insanely small thickness of aluminum cans it's quite remarkable they can stand up to all that they do. Before you ask, the Al in the MB is much thicker than a soda can
2) I'm not really a fan of the chicklet keyboard either but I haven't used it (and I'm betting neither have you). All the people I've heard from that have used it absolutely love it
3) the HD isn't UNDER the battery, it's beside it - same as in many other laptops. This also makes it very, very easy to replace the HD should it die or you choose to upgrade it.
"soda-can sturday aluminum case" - everything I've read so far has described the case as being incredibly strong, with no apparent flexing. You're just making a really bad analogy.
"lousy chicklet keyboard" - sounds like a personal problem to me ;) Seriously though, I don't even own a Macbook and I type on that thing just fine.
"they've put the hard drive under the battery" - afraid you're just dead wrong on that one, sport. The hard drive and the battery are both accessible via the same removable panel, and are situation next to each other, with a dividing wall in the middle. I'm not seeing a problem. Besides, 5400 rpm drives really don't get very hot anyway.
You're just bitter bc you can't afford one... as for me, I'm ordering one in the next couple days.
- by ceebee23 October 14, 2008 1:52 PM PDT
- the loss of firewire is deal killer for me... sorry Steve ... looks like i will stick with my trusty black macbook for a while yet!
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