During a special press event at Apple’s campus in Cupertino, the company refreshed its entire notebook line – the MacBook Pro, the Air, and the ordinary MacBook. In addition, the company also launched a new Cinema Display. The rumours on the ‘net were more or less spot on, so there will be little news for those that keep up with that kind of stuff. Read on for a breakdown.
Starting at the top, the MacBook Pro offers a new design, with an all-glass screen with black lipstick – similar to the current iMac. It also features a button-less glass trackpad, which is 39% larger than the previous one. The entire trackpad is in fact the button. The new MacBook Pro offers two GPUs (Nvidia GeForce 9400M and 9600M with 512MB of GDDR3 RAM) which you can run in Hybrid SLI mode. The displays are LED backlit, and the entire machine is constructed using a new manufacturing process that involves cutting the casing out of a solid block of aluminium, offering better rigidity. The USD 1999 model comes with a 2.4Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo (3MB L2), 2GB of DDR3 memory, SuperDrive, and a 250GB hard drive. There’s also a USD 2499 model, which offers 4GB of RAM, and a 2.53Ghz processor. SSDs are an option. They’re all 15.4″ – the 17″ model is also being updated, but doesn’t receive the new design. On a final note, there is no option for non-glossy screens.
The ordinary MacBook receives many of the same features, including the new case design, the fancy manufacturing process, and the new Nvidia 9400M GPU (no second GPU, of course, that’s a pro feature). There’s a USD 999 model, which comes with the old Intel X3100 graphics chip and a 2.1Ghz processor, a USD 1299 model with the new Nvidia chip and a 2.0Ghz processor, and a top-of-the-line USD 1599 model with a 2.4Ghz processor, Nvidia chip, and a backlit keyboard. Unfortunately, the Macbook loses the Firewire port, leaving a lot of video and audio users disgruntled online.
The MacBook Air also received a minor update – it got the Nvidia chip, but throttled, a 120GB hard drive, while a more expensive model got a larger SSD (128GB) and a faster processor. All the new laptops sport the fancy new (Mini) Display Port connector.
Speaking of displays, Apple also introduced a new Cinema Display. It’s 24″, USD 899, and also sports the black lipstick and all-glass design. It has built-in iSight, it’s LED backlit, 1920×1200 resolution, built-in speakers, and a built-in MAgSafe adapter to power your MacBook.
Get them while they’re hot.
The new Macbooks are pure awesome sauce. A decent graphics chip and backlit keyboard for $1599. What’s not to like?
Can anyone suggest how I’d float the idea of buying one past my wife?
like this:
“honey I got you a present, go ahead open it. Its a new Mac laptop. What do you mean you don’t know how to use OSX? oh i’m so sorry, i forgot you have a windows machine. Well I don’t think i can return it, why dont we keep it and i can teach you how to use it every now and then. ok good, let me know when you want me to show you how it works… *darts off quickly with the laptop before wife has a chance to answer*
(this trick borrowed from a simposons episode where Homer buys himself a bowling ball with his name on it and tries to pass it off as a gift to Marge and keep it).
now as we all know a successfull relationship is built on honesty and trust (haha) but a more manipulative and slightly deciptive relationship gets you the mac laptop faster. personaly i think the trade off is worth it, these are awsome
Edited 2008-10-14 19:40 UTC
poundsmack suggested…
Noooo! Don’t you remember the way that episode went? If you do that your wife will just end up taking the MacBook to a Apple store and run off Justin Long! THERE IS NO WAY THIS COULD BE A GOOD THING!
…might be epic though. Be sure to post pics if and when it happens, ‘k?
–bornagainpenguin
didnt see the end, got 10 minutes into the episode before i got distracted buying my girlfriend a *gift* (hello old gaming machine)
poundsmack joked…
Oh man, how could you have missed it?!?
That’s a very famous episode…still you wouldn’t be the only one to get bit on the rear for not having seen the entire episode:
http://www.snopes.com/humor/mediagoofs/dearabby.asp
–bornagainpenguin
+1.
I’ll try that.
Well, to start with, the price…
I know, troll, sorry.
I’d have to agree. I just compared an identically specced MBP to a Dell XPS and the dell was $900 (CAD) cheaper. I still want a new MacBook to replace my trusty old iBook but I might save up and wait for the next revision.
What material is your XPS made from? How does that compare to the Macbook?
just to answer your question: magnesium alloy. it’s lighter and more robust than aluminium.
What’s not to like? The lack of firewire for one. No target mode, no support for firewire camcorders, no support for audio interfaces. Also no express card slot to make up for the lost functionality.
Price is yet another point. They could’ve captured a lot of marketshare by pricing it lower, yet they insist on lowering the profit margins. That’s no good news. They seem to no longer target the semi-pro crowd with that, but the general public would care less and instead opt for an alternative that is much cheaper.
Someone please tell me that Apple wasn’t actually dumb enough to remove Firewire support from the plain ‘ol Macbook. I hope it’s the MB Air you’re referring to – I know several people who purchased MacBooks, solely because they’re a convenient way to import/edit video.
No, it is indeed the plain ‘ole MacBook he’s referring to.
I can finally stop ranting about the poor graphic performance… only to have another thing to knock it down. I think the number of people not able to use cameras or dabble in music, video, or podcast production really kills the point of getting the Apple machines. These new frames are probably absurdly expensive to manufacture… 2.5 lb. blocks of aircraft grade aluminum are not cheap, it’s probably killing their margin. The nvidia chipset would not have included firewire and that would have been extra cost to add it back in on top of the extra cost of having a GPU now. Apple could have made up the price difference using slower processors and let performance be the key. That said Apple computers without firewire or expansion to add it is a big problem. They just kicked out a large group of customers from buying the cool Apple toys at the store. I suppose that’s why they left the $999 vanilla macbook, to clear out inventory and to provide the firewire for those that need it.
I’d agree the lack of firewire is a face-smack to those building up a collection of mac-happy devices. The cheapest Macbook Pro is simply way too much money to justify unless you need the machine for work.
what exactly gave you the impression that Apple cares about capturing a bigger market share? Plus the increase in price and the feature reduction is due to the increase of manufacturing cost. A solid piece of aluminum and new manufacturing technology = high production costs. Ever wonder why no other company does that? But not to worry in about a year the price will be back to normal and I am guessing most of the features will be back with their latest revisions. Anyway Steve definitely lost my money this time around. Oh and the MBP DOES NOT have sli by default. Not to mention that it’s a pain switching between cards…
I have to agree. I’ve been a long-time Thinkpad fan (primarily the x* series) – and while I still prefer them for my own use, the Macbook is the laptop I generally recommend to customers, co-workers, friends, etc.
As laptops go, the Macbook is the “just right” (to quote Goldilocks) for most people.
Actually, I didn’t like’em so much. I prefer the looks of the actual MacBook line. So I guess I’ll be running to a store soon so I can get a current generation MacBook before it goes away.
EDIT: And I just found out that the new MBs lack FireWire.
Edited 2008-10-14 20:21 UTC
Introducing the Apple iProduct…
http://cache.gizmodo.com/gadgets/images/iProduct.gif
On a serious note now, I wish Apple offered a black MacBookPro. When I see these white/silver keys and actually most of the case is silver, I can imagine how quickly it gets dirty. A 2-year old yellow Mac doesn’t cut the mustard…
And a glossy black MacBookPro would be gorgeous.
You fear that the silver one gets dirty quickly, but you’d wish for a glossy black one? I don’t think there would be a big difference…
I think there is a difference. I have a black and glossy “Western Digital Passport” external hard drive, and it still looks brand new after a year (granted it’s not like a keyboard, but still).
I used to have a white keyboard and after a few years, it got yellow, and cleaning it with a cloth and alcohol didn’t remove the yellowish dirt.
I see that the new macbook pro does have black key, so it’s not too bad, but there are still parts that aren’t, such as the parts that you put your fists on.
Say… do you type on that external hard drive, or carry it with your hands, or open and close it, or do anything that requires you handling that black glossy device?
Because I can guarantee you that glossy black surfaces are a magnet for finger prints….
I bribed her to let me get an iMac about two months ago.
Here’s how I did it:
“I’ll sell every PC in the house (save the two servers in the closet) except the iBook. I’ll sell all the parts I won’t need any more. I’ll clean out everything and throw old stuff that I can’t use and can’t sell out. And I’ll get the nursery painted by the end of October.”
That -almost- worked. But she wanted more. If I can go out and drop a thousand bucks on something that I arguably need, she wanted the right to do the same — on a dresser (that can double as a changing table) for the nursery (baby due in December). I know she’ll want the well-built dresser that costs $600+.
Since I’ve done a bit of woodworking the last few years, and I feel comfortable making a dresser, I pledged to build a dresser by the end of Nov. If I fail to, she gets to go buy whatever the hell she wants. Which means we’ll have a $1200 dresser for a baby’s room. Oh God.
But that was what it took. So I agreed.
Well, it’s half-way through October, and I don’t have the nursery painted. I’m still in the process of cleaning out all the ‘stuff’ from that room that once was my office. The next two weeks are going to be ‘fire-sale on craigslist’ time.
The next hardware refresh in our house will bring in a new laptop. Down the line, I’d like to replace the two 2U rackmount dual P3 servers with some smaller nano-based boxes and a disk array.
I’d like to cut the electricity bill.
*SIGH* I guess I’ll just have to wait get mine from Aldis then…
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=vW5fAzADzeQ
–bornagainpenguin
Now that is cool. Give me one of those with a 16gb drive and sell it for NZ$799 and I’ll purchase one straight away
I am getting one next month. My PowerPC Mac Mini is showing its age.
No more Combodrives!
OK, OK I just looked at these new Macs and they look awesome. Really.
Just one thing.
There’s no FireWire on the new normal MacBook!!!!!!!!! WTF?
How are people supposed to edit their videos???? Seriously now.
If they require firewire, they’ll be buying a Pro…
http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/specs.html
Gotcha!
Yeah right. Most people don’t need the Pro and won’t want to pay the price. And considering how Apple is going on and on in their MacBook video about how much they’re thinking about the consumer, this is ridiculous.
And yes, many camcorders coming out these days save to flash memory or hard disks. But a lot still don’t, and the notion of having to buy a new camcorder just to be compatible with a new MacBook is even more ridiculous than the idea of having to buy a MacBook Pro.
That’s the “gotcha.” Though I hardly doubt anyone is doing professional video editing on a Macbook…
Do you think the Professional Video Editing market is driving the YouTube generation? Not hardly. It’s the Macbook crowd who upload low quality videos very often.
Most of the junk on YouTube is of low quality. Most of the junk comes from College students.
They aren’t going to be pulling an additional several hundreds bones out their asses to go to the Pro.
Most of the junk on YouTube is of low quality. Most of the junk comes from College students.
They aren’t going to be pulling an additional several hundreds bones out their asses to go to the Pro.
You’re saying Apple did a good thing then? To keep cheap DV cameras off the YouTubies…
You will be surprised to see how many people use these macbooks — because they are small — as viewing devices during shoots. Macbook Pros don’t always required for HDV editing, a Macbook is PLENTY enough in speed for editing HDV or DV. So there is no reason to buy a Pro just because you think that DV/HDV video editing is heavy. But now, we are forced to pay $700 more for a firewire port!!!
Additionally, you forget that it’s not only about professionals. 85% of home users have DV or HDV cameras, *not* the USB-based AVCHD just yet. So if these people can’t use iMovie anymore, they won’t buy this Macbook.
It’s the same for home audio recording people, who use Garageband. It’s a real blow to them too.
Trust me, this is a real problem for the Macbook. This is not an effort to belittle Apple, it’s a real problem for potential customers, ranging from home users to pros. It makes more sense to buy the older Macbook model than the current one if you are into A/V.
No, Eugenia, they deserve to be belittled for such a monumental **** up. I don’t believe in giving out lauds for badly designed items.
Dave
the lack of firewire is screwing me and my company
everyone loves the macbooks, apple won’t make another small high end laptop like the old 12″ powerbook, so the macbook is the next best thing
our photographers, our video guys, our designers, all MUST have firewire
if you have ever done an A and B side by side test between usb2 throughput and firewire throughput (not to mentione firewire’s scsi like daisy chaining ability), then you know what i am talking about
usb2 has a theoretically faster throughput, but in the real world it is a joke when compared to firewire, especially when multiple devices need to be connected
i am directly in charge of technology buying for a very popular apparel company, this decision by apple is screwing my people and my self
will this force me to pay an exorbitant amount more for the larger in size mbp? NO! this will force me to seek out the previous generation black/white macbooks
not to mention…no more firewire target mode? great, so now i get to pretend i’m fixing a pc and use live boot media or yank the drive out
this decision is completely retarded for what i do and what the people i support do, keep your nvidia gaming/hd movie watching chipset and give me back firewire you sucka’s! =p
i’m sorry, but i was going to place an order for one today, until i saw that the no firewire port thing was not rumor, but fact, so wack…steve jobs needs to go back to eating lsd and put the crack pipe down =p
it’s ok, you can still purchase the previous macbook with firewire if you need it so badly. Sure the macbook is white and plastic but they are sturdy devices.
I know you probably didn’t mean anything by calling the decision completely retarded, but for those of us with special needs kids, it’s really very hurtful to read.
You do remember why the iMac DV (PowerPC G3 400 MHz, October 1999) was called DV, right?
Or they’ll be not.
My Toshiba A200 is as powerful as the older MacBook units (and with a 15″ LCD) and went for around AU $1300, some $500 cheaper. And that’s with a copy of Vista, which is far more expensive than OS X.
Way overpriced. I’m glad I don’t fall for the JBWA (JobsBrainWashingRoutine) that so many Apple Lovers TM do. I don’t care if I get modded down, Apple is a mongrel of a company with overpriced products, and overrated products. Period.
Dave
It all depends on whether you’re happy being stuck with Windows – that is the differentiator when it comes to Mac versus PC; do you want to run Windows or Mac OS X? The great irony of the whole thing, there are alot of great pieces of hardware out there (I personally love the Thinkpad/Thinkcentre range). Its funny the number of Mac users who would buy a Thinkpad or some other brand if they could run Mac OS X legally on it.
kaiwai mused…
Which is precisely why Jobs will never allow any clones as long as he is the CEO of Apple. At least not licensed ones any way, and we’ve all seen with the iPhones how willing Apple is to break software via updates…
–bornagainpenguin
I some times wonder whether it would be better for Apple to purchase Adobe and turn into a software company who is picky about whom they licence the operating system too. On an OEM to OEM basis to ensure there is a consistent quality standard.
Yes, and this is why Apple is a bastard company, far far far far worse than microsoft ever has, or ever will be.
Dave
Oh, OS X is nice, yes, but it’s not a deal breaker to me. Vista is damn nice imho, runs extremely well, looks good, and is very functional. let’s remove parallels or bootcamp and OS X is piss weak software wise. Vista is godo out of the box, without any virtualisation. ’nuff said.
I’d be nice to see Microsoft cripple Apple by refusing to release Office for OS X. It really would be a nice pay back. Apple is really one of those bastard companies.
Dave
For me, I want the UNIX core, I want to be able to drop down to bash, and deal with a proper UNIX system. Sure, I could use Microsoft’s half-assed, half-baked implementation called ‘UNIX Subsystem’, but it would require me purchasing Windows Vista Ultimate. Even after purchasing Windows Vista Ultimate and installing the UNIX Subsystem, it is still going to have the ugliness of Windows trying to appear to be a UNIX machine – only to find it still feels like one is using Windows.
Why are they a bastard company? the fact that Microsoft hasn’t done a single damn thing with their operating system in the last 30 years? the fact we’re subjected to the same crap from Windows NT since its inception – the continuous half baked compromises. The fact that Windows Vista to this day, is bloated inconsistent and a giant let down from the day it was released.
Sorry, if there was ever a ‘bastard of a company’, it would be Microsoft selling products which they hyped up, only to find that after spending several hundred on a new copy of Windows Vista, find that it is no better than the previous operating system; and in some cases, a step backwards.
If there was ever a bastard company, it is Microsoft – and now they are pissing and moaning because Apple is taking marketshare. Well, I say tough shit. They screwed the end user year after year, release after release – and now they are getting just deserts. I say, let them eat cake!
Well, Microsoft certainly hasn’t been an angel, but I can guarantee that it’s done a lot more for the computer industry than Apple ever has. The main driving force for computer hardware has been games. And Microsoft has been THE platform for games. The sheer commonness of Microsoft deployment has lead to cheaper hardware, and more powerful hardware as it tries to keep up with the software demands. Apple has always been a niche market of brainwashed users, a nutcase fanatical briefcase of blinded idiots.
Sure, Microsoft isn’t perfect, but Vista (and Windows in general( works *just* fine for the VAST majority of people. It hasn’t been users whipping up anti Vista sentiments, it’s been the goddamn press media industry. And in most cases, it’s been undeserved. UAC is not an issue, I’ve left it on and it rarely comes up. It’s certainly no worsh than dropping to a shell and using sudo or su.
Not everyone uses or needs a shell, in fact, most people don’t even know what DOS is, let alone how to get into it. And I’m not even touching the actually using it bit.
Apple continuously denies hardware issues, and only as a very last resort will it do anything (iPod mini issues, powerbook g4 battery issues both spring to mind). Apple will sue the ass of anyone it wants to. It’s a legal bastard. As a company, it’s a ****ing **** of a company to work for. I’ll never work for a US company again, EVER. Have a look at the Apple kbase, it ****ing sucks now, a few years ago it was FAR superior. Why have they done this? So people can’t find the answers and are forced to ring Apple for paid support. iTunes and encrypted MP3s? iPods with non removeable batteries and HUGE prices to get the ****ers fixed should something go wrong (highly likely). OS X with a multitude of bugs from each generation, most of which have NOT been fixed? Leopard has been a half baked disaster by all accounts, certainly no better than Vista, if not worse. I could go on, and on, and on…I’d rather Microsoft any day than Apple. Apple is a sly, bitch of a ****ed up company that I wouldn’t piss on if it was on fire. Their products are good (mostly) but not the super hyped up crap that their idiotic fanbase incessantly blabbers on about.
Dave
So yet another person perpetuating the lie that Microsoft created the ‘computer revolution’. If Bill Gates died at child birth – there still would have been a computer revolution – but it would have been some other vendor. Microsoft contributed nothing to the ‘gaming industry’. Stop trying to grovel before Microsoft – with their contribution of nothing to the IT industry.
Based on what evidence? or do you need to resort to name calling?
Bullcrap. Windows Vista is a half baked piece of crap. If I sat down and pointed every piece of inconsistency – by the end of the day you would want to blow your brains out.
I want a damn shell, and a damn shell should be a common sense feature of any operating system. Why does Microsoft insist on doing things so different to the point of doing things an inferior way just to be different for the sake of being different?
And how is that any different to the denial Microsoft is putting up about Windows Vista?
Great, more broad sweeping generalisations – you’re really on a roll tonight.
Edited 2008-10-15 22:28 UTC
Wow, Dave!
Did someone from Apple come and piss on your cornflakes?
My turn to make a generalisation now…
You’re not a Musician or Recording person are you?
No, not with an anti-Apple attitude like that. Tell me why, in your opinion, a majority of the recording studios on the planet use Macs? Are they ALL deluded too? (It’s not rhetorical… I really want to know)
Jim
Jim – I don’t eat corn flakes. People are lemmings, let’s just look at all the iPod users. They buy an iPod cos it’s deemed “cool” even though much better alternatives exist. It’s called the “jones effect”.
No, I’m not a musician, but I am a photographer on the side, and I use Windows quite happily. You don’t have to use a Mac to have an enjoyable Photoshop experience, that’s just more pro Apple propaganda and BS. Maybe most of the recording/musician software only runs on a Mac, and in that instance, that doesn’t mean alternative platforms are bad, it just means the developer is too lazy to port their (probably bad written) software.
Dave
Actually, you’ll find that most Microsoft users don’t go on and on and on and on and on and on and on (get the drift?) about how “great” their operating system is. They use it, do the job, and move on. Apple users tend to try and shove Apple down the throats of anyone and everyone. I know of a great deal of people who resent Apple users for that problem alone.
Microsoft has never had “bash” shells etc, that’s always been a UNIX/Linux/BSD thing. They probably never will really integrate/implement it either. It’s their operating system, if you don’t like the lack of bash, then don’t use Microsoft’s products. Stick to products that do offer it. Whilst it’d be nice to have the software support of Windows applications on a Linux box etc, it’ll never happen for reasons that I’ve outlined many times before. Apple’s OS X is a bit better these days, but only because of virtualisation. Take that away and there is a sharp drop in applications that run on OS X.
Are you trying to deny that the gaming industry took on the Microsoft platform, well and truly before things like the Xbox, Playstation etc. To this very day, many people still buy games designed for the Windows platform. That’s the truth of it. Sure, another vendor might have done the same in the absence of Microsoft, but I doubt it. IBM had that ability, and completely cocked it up. Microsoft did a better job of it, and grew as a result and become the industry de fact standard (whether many people like that or not is irrelevant, it’s what happened). They did a better job of it than others, and now we have the tall poppy syndrome knocking Microsoft down.
Don’t get me wrong, there are many things that I dislike about Microsoft, but in the real world, they are where it’s at. They have helped develop the software and hardware industries to where they are today, whether people like you like to admit it or not. Amiga had their chance and blew it. IBM had their chance and blew it. Apple had their chance and blew it. What did they do wrong, that Microsoft did right?
I stand by my comments on Apple fanatics – and many people that I know would agree with me. And many of those same people dislike Apple for it. And rightly so. Apple products are good, in some instances OK, but the rabid “oh why Apple is sooo superior” BS is damn right annoying. It isn’t. Apple lovers TM: deal with it.
Vista works just fine for me. I love it, best operating system from Microsoft yet.
Dave
Wow. Are you really serious? You actually believe all the bullshit you just spewed about MS and the gaming industry? As far as I know gaming was doing just fine before MS came along and created vendor lock-in. Sure they make it extremely easy for developers to get into their tools, but that is because MS wants you to use their tools and all they really offer is software. Gaming was great on the Apple platform despite Job’s indifference.
Gaming also isn’t the end-all-be-all of computing and while popular and fun, PC gaming has been in decline due to several factors, which include bad DRM schemes and the crazy upgrade treadmill required to play certain games.
I also like how you seem to forget that MS didn’t do it better until relatively recently, it took 8 versions of DX before it became usable. Also SGI(by extension opengl) was far more a key influence on today’s hardware than MS. Games are sure a motivating factor but a lot of the foundation had already been laid years ago.
For you to spit that ignorance as fact on a tech forum where you will most likely be proven wrong is just plain stupidity on your part. Great, you love MS but you have to acknowledge that without Apple, MS would not be where they are today. Even without a crystal ball or special parallel universe seeing powers I can almost guarantee this.
Sure Apple users can be a pain and little overzealous, but they have a lot to be proud of. As a platform their OS and hardware are showing growth while MS has been stagnating, even with Vista. The company while admitedly has shown little growth in years, right now as a company they are basically standing still and that will eventually kill any tech company. Vista’s failure has actually helped Apple and ay other OS maker as newer, younger users look for alternatives. Right now the most popular alternative is OSX.
Vista has done badly solely because of misinformation and hate from the computer trade media, the vast amount of it completely unfounded. It’s become fashionable to Vista bash (let’s call it vbash) just for the fun of it.
Sure, DX hasn’t been perfect, and in fact, opengl was a far better solution in most cases (and probably still is in all honesty). However, Microsoft provided an API for games developers. Many people got into computers because of games, and since Windows ran games, people bought PCs. And they bought them with Windows on it. Doom? Quake? All ran on PCs. Doom may have had a Apple varient (I honestly can’t remember), but I doubt it.
And don’t even talk to me about vendor lock-in, Apple has one of the worst histories of vendor lock in EVER. AAC and iTunes? OS X only running on Apple hardware? If Apple was that confident, let them run OS X on a normal PC. You’d see sales of OS X go up and up, but sales of Apple hardware go down dramatically, and we all know that Apple’s hardware prices are severely over-inflated. Apple would never ever do that.
Atari, Commodore etc all died. Why? Because they did crappy jobs. Microsoft simply did a better job of it all, and to knock or bash them because of that is sheer idiocy. Again, I mention tall poppy syndrome.
My personal preference is for GNU/Linux, but sadly, it’s a bitch to maintain, and it’s a bitch to get software running on. I’ve used Linux probably more than most of the “newbs” on osnews.com who are trying to be l33t, so I feel that I’m well positioned to make valid criticisms of it. I’ve used Apple machines before (I have a PowerMac G4 1ghz machine at home) and even worked for Apple as tech support, so again, I think I have a reasonable knowledge of being able to comment about them.
Dave
Again you are misconstruing facts. MS did not do a better job at it. In-fact they have consistently released mediocre products on the general public and eventually get it right after years of not giving a damn. Commodore, Atari and Amiga, all had superior products to MS, even in some cases to Apple, what these companies weren’t were business savvy and lacked the business ethics(in other words none) that MS has. They have basically driven out competition with unsavory business practices and lock-in deals with OEM companies. These are not things I made up, they are proven and well documented.
Another thing you fail to understand is that Doom, and Quake were DOS games if I’m not mistaken and didn’t need Windows at all and had very little to do with MS other than if the user used MS-DOS. Quake was ported to MacOS, so was Doom. There was a later version of Quake called WinQuake that did use DX to run but the original game was a DOS game. In-fact a lot of interesting rendering techniques that we used to see in gaming were abandoned due to limited functionality of DX, such as Voxel rendering, which was able to do far more advanced things back in the day than you see even now.
Your personal preference is a “bitch to maintain”? You like to make things harder for yourself?
[quote]Why does Microsoft insist on doing things so different to the point of doing things an inferior way just to be different for the sake of being different?[/quote]
Think Different.
quick guess, apple is slowly making people used to thinking of macbooks and imacs as entertainment consuming devices (think itms terminal), while the stuff marked pro is just that, aimed at the people with multiple DSLR’s and HD video cams.
then when they have that split solidified, they can start showing of some kind of new os on their macbook and imac lines, simplified for entertainment consumption, mobileme and iwork.
hello “netbook”, apple style.
or maybe we should call it a overgrown iphone?
hobgoblin posted…
I believe that’s already been released as the HP Touch Smart:
http://www.hp.com/united-states/campaigns/touchsmart/alt/tsalt.html
–bornagainpenguin
wont stop people from cheering apple on as a innovator if they release a product of that kind.
btw, front row makes it kinda there already…
hobgoblin pointed out…
Heh and just imagine the Smart Touch running OSX86, with a hacked copy of the @ppleTV…yeah this is very nearly already there!
–bornagainpenguin
Upgrade to a new camcorder that uses USB. This seems to be the trend I’m seeing. The majority of the camcorders on Best Buy’s website are using USB. A few of them are still using FireWire but they are on their way out.
A word of warning: Be careful what you buy. A camera that includes USB support does not necessarily support USB *on a Mac*. I speak from experience with two different camcorders (both Sony I believe, standard-definition DV models from a few years ago). They claimed USB support but it turned out special Windows drivers were a requirement for said support, and no Mac drivers were available.
If a camcorder you’re looking at records to internal memory or flash media, you’re probably safe, as you can usually copy the files directly over by connecting it as a mass-storage device.
If however it records to some kind of tape, don’t buy it unless you are **absolutely, 100%** sure that it has *Mac USB* support, as recording from tape over USB always requires some kind of special driver.
The lack of firewire on the new MacBooks is ridiculous as is the lack of a 15″ MacBook. I shouldn’t have to pay $2000 for features I don’t need just to get a 15″ screen that I can get on a $600 laptop. I don’t mind paying a premium but this is just not right.
I guess I will be buying a Windows laptop this Christmas instead.
Amen. You won’t hear complaints from the pro Apple crowd here, they don’t seem to give a **** about any negative (and constructive) criticism of Apple products. For an AU $2000+ laptop, I’d EXPECT FireWire capability.
What retard designed these new MacBooks? I find it especially odd, since Apple pioneered ieee1394 (as iLink) many years ago, way before it became a feature on PCs.
Might be time to hunt for nice bargains on the older MacBook units imho. I don’t play much in the way of games, so fancy Nvidia graphics adaptors aren’t needed for me. Which reminds me, why has Apple been charging a price premium for notebooks that have a crappy Intel onboard video graphics chip? Equivalent “PC” laptops offer far more features for far better value. It’s a real pity that Apple won’t let OS X onto generic computers, but then, it makes a nice buck from it’s MHT (monopolistic hardware tax).
I definitely think it’s far nicer to hack OS X and put it on a PC laptop
Dave
Wasn’t Sony the one using the name iLink, since they couldn’t/didn’t want to license the FireWire trademark from Apple?
yeah, true, although interestingly, at internal Apple tech training, we were taught that it was originally called iLink. It wasn’t until after I’d finished up with Apple that I realised that we were taught the wrong thing, old habits die hard though, and I still refer to it as iLink.
Dave
Probably no “retard” designed this is my guess. As the mom of a special needs child I took great offensive at your comment. My kid is doing the best she can. Wish I could say the same thing about you.
Slurs can really hurt so if that was your intention, you have succeeded.
…the LED screen looks pretty sweet. I won’t be buying my wife a new MacBook until next summer … but it looks like when I do pull the trigger it will be worth it (that and maybe 10.6 will be out).
My troll: still waiting on some sort of Mac mini update. Meanwhile my iMac rolls on…
Why didn’t they update the 17 inch without the “button”? I can’t figure out why they just updated the internal specs (more memory offering, etc.) and not the physical case.
because their manufacturing technology does not scale all the way up to the 17″ case. The larger the detail gets the more waste you create and the more expensive the manufacturing is. Not so with the older manufacturing.
Difficult to get excited about this
Dell and HP and Acer routinely make this order of change to their lineup every few months, and no-one pays much attention. These changes seem to be reasonable incremental improvements, but nothing very dramatic. As for the change in the way the case is fabricated, well, maybe it has some advantages, but its not obviously any sort of breakthrough. Presumably originates with the OEM fabricator anyway.
Bit of a yawn really. As the stock market’s reaction confirms. Meanwhile the Mini remains the entry level desktop. Ah well, why change a winner?
New Macbooks look great, but the glossy screen is a killer for me. I had the white Macbook and, although getting used to the OS took awhile (I use Linux otherwise) the glossy screen ultimately drove me to sell the device on eBay.
The glossy screens are an unfortunate design decision. If the build quality of Thinkpads was not going downhill under Lenovo management, then the decision would be an easy one.
They finally got rid of that stupid button on the MBP that’s hard to push. Very nice. I also like the internal specs.
One thing I’m going to miss is the real DVI-I port, and I’m going to miss it being on the right side (for some reason, I always want to have my second monitor on the right), although the cable’s long enough; it’s just kindof annoying.
Oh, and I’m going to miss the matte screen too.
I love how my slightly better specced hp dv7 was 1100$ less expensive the a mbp.
Is it just me or does the specs say that these new laptops come with DDR3 memory?
That is correct.
I’m confused, their low end budget model:
http://www.apple.com/nz/macbook/white/
Includes Firewire, and yet their bell’s and whistles model lacks it. That doesn’t seem to make any sense. I would have thought that if one were going to ‘cut costs’, the most logical thing to do would be to get rid of the Firewire port out of the sub $1000 laptop.
Another thing that confuses me is the battery life of the new MacBook. The whole reason I went for the MacBook over the MacBook Pro was the better battery life. I remember having a Quadro Mobile Nvidia graphics card; the battery life was horrible – even though the vendor exaggerated 5 hours of battery life.
Oh well, I guess Apple knows what they’re doing – they don’t need ‘arm chair experts’ like me chiming my 5cents worth in.
exactly! the cheaper old one has the premium port on it now =p but i can NOT do work on the new one and play wow all night long…foolios i swear =p
I could possibly understand the rationale if there were USB 3.0 instead of USB 2.0, and there were tonnes of USB 3.0 devices. Then one could make a legitimate argument that Firewire on consumer versions makes little sense given the movement to USB 3.0 which is comparable to Firewire.
I’m still scratching my head to work out the rationale behind it, because it doesn’t make sense. I’m also wondering what is going to happen to the white MacBook – are we finally going to see it get a x4500? I like the new MacBooks but given the GPU’s are battery hogs, and there is no upgrade to the existing MacBook white range; I’m going to be in a confused state in 2 years time when I go about updating my hardware.
Modern GPUs are not battery hogs. It’s always nice to have the processing power available should you ever do anything processor intensive.
Sorry, but I disagree. Having had a Lenovo Thinkpad T61p with a Nvidia Quadro 570M, Toshiba and HP, both with consumer level Nvidia GeForce mobile versions – I would be lucky to get 2 1/2 -3 hours out of a single charged battery when compared to my MacBook where I routinely get 4 1/2 hours.
At the end of the day, for me, a laptop is all about mobility. I want maximum performance, minimum power consumption/long battery life and it to be light weight. The current MacBook does that job quite nicely. With the introduction of this new MacBook, they’ve turned it from a mobile device into a portable desktop. If I want a desktop – I’ll buy an iMac (which I have). Let the portable remain portable, and let the desktop be a desktop – and never shall the twain meet.
do note that its “only” a 400, while the pro’s get a 800 port.
Even so, I have my Firewire hard disk hooked up to my iMac (and use it on my MacBook too) and find I get a much more sustained throughput than I would using USB 2.0 (the external drive has Firewire 400, USB 2.0 and eSATA).
from my afternoon nap. Did I miss anything? No.
From: http://www.apple.com/macbook/overlays/thumbscoop.html
“Thumbscoop
The challenge of the thumbscoop was to create a crisply machined scoop that was still comfortable to use. The designers at Apple worked on hundreds of versions of the thumbscoop – even examining them under an electron microscope – to get it right.”
They got to be shittin me…
Edited 2008-10-15 08:47 UTC
That’s why there’s no firewire – all the money went on thumbscoop research
when it comes to apple products, user experience is king.
Hmm… I guess flipping the lid open from that thumb scoop must be a pretty exhilarating experience.
Worth every penny!
on all the macbooks and pro’s, except for the 17″ pro, it has the option of anti-glare coating…
The new macbooks do not appear to have an anti-glare option. Where do you see this option?
hmm, seems i got the apple webshop a bit confused, as the 17″ macbook pro was not refreshed alongside the others. so it still have a antiglare option, unlike the rest of them.
funny enough, given its lack of refresh, it seems the only good thing about that model right now is the screen option. all the other stuff is outperformed by the new 15″ pro, on paper at least.
Well, Apple is removing the only good choice for an external HDD on their Macbook. I’m sorry, but Firewire 400 is faster than USB 2.0 480. Firewire run smoothly but USB sucks some CPU cycle.
I would have waited for USB 3.0 before removing the Firewire port.
My Mini-DV camera can’t connect with USB. It’s Firewire only.