First look: Apple's redesigned 13-inch unibody MacBook

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Comments

  • Reply 21 of 95
    elrothelroth Posts: 1,201member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by PatsFan83 View Post


    There is a huge ad at the beginning of the review: "MacMall Official Sponsor of AI's Mac Review Series".



    Maybe it just showed up.



    How can you have someone who sells the product sponsor a "review" of the product? If the "reviewer" hates the product he's going to say so?
  • Reply 22 of 95
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by doyourownthing View Post


    i love it



    Me too! I don't pretend to be a power user and have always liked the Apple 'White' as opposed to Dell's 'funeral' black and 'pallbearer' gray used in the corporate world.



    The white was a looking a little dated when compared to the new aluminum offerings (iMac's/MBP's), which, admittedly, look quite handsome. Especially the new 27" iMac!



    But, I'm glad Apple kept the white accent pieces, keyboard and Magic mouse and I think the back of the new iMac is white. (not sure though).



    I just upgraded my original iPhone to a white 3Gs and will get the new iMac and MacBook soon!
  • Reply 23 of 95
    1. Is the screen quality better than the first Unibody Macbook screen? I have one of those and the vertical viewing angles is horrible.

    2. Since the MagSafe Adaptor plug looks different, will it still work with Apple new 24 in Cinema Display?

    3. Battery comparison with 13in Macbook Pro. Battery Size and life

    4. WiFi reception vs 13in Macbook Pro. Is the antennae in the same place or is in in the screen?





    Please mention in your review that for 200$ less than a 13in Macbook Pro you loose all those:

    - Backlit Keyboard

    - Display with 60% more color gamut

    - SD Card Slot

    - Firewire Port

    - IR receiver

    - Battery indicator

    - Aluminium Body

    - 8GB Max on memory (I suspect the Macbook has a max of 4GB RAM)

    - 4 Finger Gestures on the Trackpad
  • Reply 24 of 95
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by christopher126 View Post


    Me too! I don't pretend to be a power user and have always liked the Apple 'White' as opposed to Dell's 'funeral' black and 'pallbearer' gray used in the corporate world.



    The was white was a looking a little dated when compared to the new aluminum offerings (iMac's/MBP's), which, admittedly, look quite handsome. Especially the new 27" iMac!



    But, I'm glad Apple kept the white accent pieces, keyboard and Magic mouse and I think the back of the new iMac is white. (not sure though).



    I just upgraded my original iPhone to a white 3Gs and will get the new iMac and MacBook soon!



    sounds awesome



    i already have an aluminum mbp...and getting a macbook would just be redundant..although honestly, had i known it would be this awesome, i would have waited and gotten it instead...



    love the white though...the bottom reminds me of the airport extreme a little, maybe they used the same material?
  • Reply 25 of 95
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by MsNly View Post


    I don't know about that. I've seen lots of people that use and I use mine some. It's a nice feature.



    Agreed. My daughter is away at school overseas and video Skype's to all her friends and family here in the US. It's a real comfort to be able to talk to her Mom and her 'Two Dad's.'



    On the other hand, my daughter-in-law, who lives in Denver, has a Dell desktop. A month ago she got a camera too and setup the skype account. Spent hours trying to get sound. Found out from a friend she also needs to buy a microphone. What a nightmare PC's are! She's a pretty bright girl but the computer should should just work...out of the box! I couldn't imagine my mom messing around with a PC at all!



    Keep the iSight....it's the wave of the future and Apple knows it. That's why it is even on their stand alone monitor!
  • Reply 26 of 95
    It seems as though Apple is really trying to differentiate between the standard and pro line by giving the Macbook bare-bone options in terms of I/O.



    As an earlier poster touched on, my 3 year-old Macbook doesn't have quite the horsepower of this new one, but I still have essentially the same display, an audio in, firewire, and remote sensor. I just recently invested about $100 and got myself some more ram and a new battery, and I'm in good shape. I might just make my next investment one of those pretty 27" bad boys. (aka new imac)



    lastly, why is EVERYTHING shiny now?? I really am starting to hate shiny. Shiny screens have bad reflections, shiny hardware gets fingerprints. I see all of this shiny mac stuff in the store and it's covered in prints and just looks kind of... well.. not new and pretty. boo to shiny.
  • Reply 27 of 95
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by MsNly View Post


    I don't know about that. I've seen lots of people that use and I use mine some. It's a nice feature.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by cassnate6259 View Post


    It seems as though Apple is really trying to differentiate between the standard and pro line by giving the Macbook bare-bone options in terms of I/O.



    As an earlier poster touched on, my 3 year-old Macbook doesn't have quite the horsepower of this new one, but I still have essentially the same display, an audio in, firewire, and remote sensor. I just recently invested about $100 and got myself some more ram and a new battery, and I'm in good shape. I might just make my next investment one of those pretty 27" bad boys. (aka new imac)



    lastly, why is EVERYTHING shiny now?? I really am starting to hate shiny. Shiny screens have bad reflections, shiny hardware gets fingerprints. I see all of this shiny mac stuff in the store and it's covered in prints and just looks kind of... well.. not new and pretty. boo to shiny.



    That's exactly what I did to my 3 year old macbook, too. The difference is, my daughter 'absconded' with it and went off to school!



    I really miss getting all my news and shooting off 20-30 emails on it in the morning while in bed and drinking my coffee. Probably will get the new Macbook, but damn those 27" bad boys. (aka new imacs) sure are beautiful machines. It would be like having a Ferrari in your garage. Not only can you drive it, but you have the added pleasure of 'peaking your head' into the garage and just looking at it! I know, I have a Ducati (poor man's Ferrari) and do it all the time!
  • Reply 28 of 95
    I don't understand the comparisons between the MBP and the MB.



    We should be comparing the new MB to the old, and the new wins in every aspect. Also, I think it looks nicer too.
  • Reply 29 of 95
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by applebook View Post


    I don't understand the comparisons between the MBP and the MB.



    We should be comparing the new MB to the old, and the new wins in every aspect. Also, I think it looks nicer too.



    Well said! To me it looks like a winner!
  • Reply 30 of 95
    quadra 610quadra 610 Posts: 6,757member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by applebook View Post


    I don't understand the comparisons between the MBP and the MB.



    We should be comparing the new MB to the old, and the new wins in every aspect. Also, I think it looks nicer too.



    This. The new MB looks nice and sturdy, and recalls some of the stlye of the iBook, but not all.
  • Reply 31 of 95
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Hattig View Post


    I think paying extra for the 13" Mac Book Pro is a no brainer.



    If you can't stretch to the extra money, then you shouldn't be spending your last pennies on the MacBook either.



    I kinda agree I was expecting a price cut which would make the macbook somewhere within the 600-800 range probably around 700 to make more of a distance in price between the macbook and the macbook pro. Was kinda upset when they didn't lower the price because I thought they would. Pricing it $699 or so would have been an incredibly smart move.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by applebook


    I don't understand the comparisons between the MBP and the MB.



    We should be comparing the new MB to the old, and the new wins in every aspect. Also, I think it looks nicer too.



    its because the 13 inch MBP used to be the unibody macbook, and for an extra 200 dollars the new macbook is not really worth getting other than a fashion statement which is cool if you like it but functionality-wise I think most people think it should not be so close in cost to the 13 inch macbook pro. Not to mention it was kind of expected the price would be lowered on it taking it out of the $1000 price range
  • Reply 32 of 95
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Dreadkid08 View Post


    Pricing it $699 or so would have been an incredibly smart move.



    Can you explain that to me?
  • Reply 33 of 95
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    Can you explain that to me?



    more sales for it of course, it'd put it more competitively priced with PC laptops I don't know how much it costs to make the laptop which is why i said somewhere in the range of 600-800 but I do think its current price is too close to the 13 inch Macbook Pro for it to even be worth it unless you're making a fashion statement. I do like the laptop very much, but I think if Apple could have cut some cash off the MBP price they could do the same for the MB
  • Reply 34 of 95
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by lantinian View Post


    Please mention in your review that for 200$ less than a 13in Macbook Pro you loose all those:



    - 4 Finger Gestures on the Trackpad



    The MacBook has 4 finger gestures.



    It's the first gesture shown on the MacBook Multitouch video!



    http://www.apple.com/macbook/features.html



    Click on the video under "Multi-Touch comes to MacBook"



    At the end, they go on and on about 4 finger gestures too.
  • Reply 35 of 95
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Dreadkid08 View Post


    more sales for it of course, it'd put it more competitively priced with PC laptops I don't know how much it costs to make the laptop which is why i said somewhere in the range of 600-800 but I do think its current price is too close to the 13 inch Macbook Pro for it to even be worth it unless you're making a fashion statement. I do like the laptop very much, but I think if Apple could have cut some cash off the MBP price they could do the same for the MB



    ever heard of profit?
  • Reply 36 of 95
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Dreadkid08 View Post


    more sales for it of course, it'd put it more competitively priced with PC laptops I don't know how much it costs to make the laptop which is why i said somewhere in the range of 600-800 but I do think its current price is too close to the 13 inch Macbook Pro for it to even be worth it unless you're making a fashion statement. I do like the laptop, but I think if Apple could have cut some cash off the MBP price they could do the same for the MB



    They did cut the price of the MBPs, too, perhaps even too much unless there goal is to get people to upgrade to the 13? MBP for an extra $200. Seems worth it to me.



    As for a $600-800 MB with everything that is comes with, I?m not sure it would turn a profit. Apple?s gross margin this last quarter was 36.6%, but that is for everything, not Macs which suggests it would be lower than that. Plus, that isn?t net profit.



    However, we do know that Apple took in a record $7.9 billion is sales and netted a quarterly profit of $1.14 billion. That is a 14.4% average net profit across the board. Dropping the price 20-40% would mean that each MB would lose profit if the iPhone?s profit is higher than the Mac?s profit and/or if Apple is having to use lower margins in their cheaper model to compete more effectively or even to bring new switchers into the ?Mac? bubble. We also don?t know what these changes to the MB are costing Apple with the LED-backlight, new unibody construction with polycarb and other changes.



    I can?t say for certain, but going lower than another $100 may put the MB past the profit level of other vendor notebooks which likely don?t have the the ?fullest? version of Windows on it and likely have crapware installed to supplement the low profit from the HW.
  • Reply 37 of 95
    I don't mind the loss of the firewire port (would never use it), but they could have and should have replaced it with a third USB port.
  • Reply 38 of 95
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    For the extra $200 I?d go for the aluminium MBP which is lighter, thinner, has the IR sensor, FW800, SD card slot, battery indicator, backlit keyboard and much better display.



    or go to the refurbished store and pay the say amount for one minus the hard drive size
  • Reply 39 of 95
    teckstudteckstud Posts: 6,476member
    Separated at Birth or an Apple copy job?





    http://www.msimobile.com/level2_productlist.aspx?id=3



    How can that be??? And contrary to what slopsism says, the original MacBook never had this marshmallow, unibody look.
  • Reply 40 of 95
    teckstudteckstud Posts: 6,476member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ghstmars View Post


    or go to the refurbished store and pay the say amount for one minus the hard drive size



    The prior version is "onSAle" for a mere $899.
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