I still wish (with increased futility) for a 13" MacBook Pro
The choice between a 13" MacBook and a 15" MacBook Pro is driving me nuts. Featurewise, these new MacBooks are a bit better than I expected in many ways -- but I find that both good news and bad news.
The good news is the if I buy a MacBook non-Pro, I won't feel like I'm "just settling" quite as much as I thought I might have to.
The bad news is that I really still wish there was a 13" MacBook Pro, but it's looking more and more unlikely that such a beast will ever exist.
Pro or non-Pro, I'd intend to upgrade to 120GB hard drive and 1GB RAM. I'm pricing the 2.16GHz Pro vs. the 2.0GHz non-Pro, and that makes the price difference an far-from-insubstantial $950 (slightly less if you throw in $19 for the DVI adapter missing from the non-Pro model).
I like the look of the black MacBook, but I think $150 premium for nothing other than a different color of plastic is ridiculous and I won't pay it.
Either way I go, both the MacBook and MacBook Pro will be an improvement over my current 12" PowerBook in nearly all ways -- faster, nicer display, built-in iSight, IR remote, MagSafe, better optical drive, etc. The few non-improvements: my current PowerBook is a smaller and lighter than either new model would be, the PowerBook has a better keyboard that the MacBook, the PowerBook is aluminum vs. the MacBook being plastic.
Debating the pros and cons, here's what I've come up with:
Where the MacBook non-Pro wins:
[Edit: had to add "user replaceable hard drive" to the MB advantages.]
The good news is the if I buy a MacBook non-Pro, I won't feel like I'm "just settling" quite as much as I thought I might have to.
The bad news is that I really still wish there was a 13" MacBook Pro, but it's looking more and more unlikely that such a beast will ever exist.
Pro or non-Pro, I'd intend to upgrade to 120GB hard drive and 1GB RAM. I'm pricing the 2.16GHz Pro vs. the 2.0GHz non-Pro, and that makes the price difference an far-from-insubstantial $950 (slightly less if you throw in $19 for the DVI adapter missing from the non-Pro model).
I like the look of the black MacBook, but I think $150 premium for nothing other than a different color of plastic is ridiculous and I won't pay it.
Either way I go, both the MacBook and MacBook Pro will be an improvement over my current 12" PowerBook in nearly all ways -- faster, nicer display, built-in iSight, IR remote, MagSafe, better optical drive, etc. The few non-improvements: my current PowerBook is a smaller and lighter than either new model would be, the PowerBook has a better keyboard that the MacBook, the PowerBook is aluminum vs. the MacBook being plastic.
Debating the pros and cons, here's what I've come up with:
Where the MacBook non-Pro wins:
- Price, by a long shot -- nearly $1000 difference.
- Smaller and...
- Lighter. I've gotten used to my 12" PowerBook, having owned a couple of 15" Titanium PowerBooks before that, and it's amazing how much difference an inch or two, or even fraction thereof, and a few ounces of weight can make in the feeling of portability.
- Battery life -- estimated 6 hours vs. 4.5 hours for the Pro.
- The plastic enclosure is probably more durable than aluminum.
- User replaceable hard drive.
- Aluminum, not plastic!
- More screen real estate. As much as I love my 12" PowerBook, I do sometimes crave a bit more room to spread out, and 1440x900 would be very welcome.
- Non-glossy display option available.
- Slightly less squinty: 110.3 dpi vs. 113.5 dpi.
- Dual DVI video output.
- Much better graphics support: a real GPU vs. cheesy integrated video.
- Nicer keyboard -- both for ergonomics and illumination. I did get a chance to type very briefly on a new MB tonight -- it's not as bad as I might have thought, but it's not like I spent that much time with it, and I can't shake the feeling that a chiclet style keyboard is a cheesy thing.
- Ambient light sensor.
- I haven't done any listening comparisions, but based on size and location alone, the speakers built into the MBP are probably better than in the MB -- not that either are going to sound all that great.
- ExpressCard/34 slot.
- A short-term advantage -- if I'm buying now, the MBPs have had longer to shake out manufacturing bugs than the new MBs.
- 0.16 more GHz! w00t!
[Edit: had to add "user replaceable hard drive" to the MB advantages.]
Comments
It seems a lot of people are turning out to be willing to pay a $150 premium for black plastic over white plastic. If people will pay that much for just a color change, why not as much as $250 for aluminum, which offers a small size and weight advantage as well as being (to many of us) more aesthetically pleasing? An aluminum-clad 13" MacBook should, for instance, be able to shrink down from 1.08" thick down to the magic 1" thick or a little less.
Bump the price a little more for a better keyboard (maybe even with backlighting -- although the 12" PowerBook never got this feature) and a real GPU instead of integrated video, and I'd happily pay a $400-$500 premium over the price of a white 13" MacBook for this hypothetical 13" MacBook Pro.
And of course, offer the choice of a glossy or non-glossy display, like the rest of the MacBook Pro line.
I'm guessing that the smaller 13" display is a significant factor in the 6 hour battery life of a MacBook non-Pro, vs. 4.5 hours for the 15" MacBook Pro. A real GPU is going to use more power than integrated video, and if we presume a slightly faster CPU (2.16 vs. 2GHz) that could consume a bit more power too. Perhaps this hypothetical 13" MacBook Pro could split the difference on battery life and get between 5 and 5.5 hours?
I'm still not completely happy about having to go bigger to get the features I want, but I'll see how it goes living with a 15" laptop again, and if I'm not thrilled, there's always eBay. Maybe in 6-12 months there will be something new that I'll be happier with (not that a 15" MacBook is anything to bitch about ).