big mac (aka lots of macbook questions)

[nickjalder]

OK, hello....happy christmas/holidays,

i have some macbook questions.....yes i know 100% of these questions have been asked before!!!

OK questions are.....

1. Anyone (in the UK) know if apple run a sale in jan, on hardware?

2. Are there any iminent macbook updates? i.e. if i buy a macbook in jan are there any new ones on the horizon (i.e. the core duo/core 2 duo situation)?

3. (similar to above) Does anyone know if there will be a macbook update when Leopard is released, or are software and hardware updates usually seperate?

4. Is iTV something that is a seperate piece of hardware or will it be integrated into macs, whenever its released?

5. Is the best way to preserve my macbook battery keeping it plugged in at all times and only use battery power when absolutely necccessary?

6. Is the book iWoz any good?

i think thats it, basically i don't have a mac (pc man) however i am gagging for one and kind of want to wait for leopard, but i'm struggling to hold out.

thanks all

 

[DanielGilbert]

I just switched and got myself a Core Duo MB. I got it about a month before they announced C2D. While it would have been nice to have had C2D obviously, I don't really care now. I know that if I had persuaded myself to get a C2D MB, I would have then been tempted to wait for Leopard too, and then Santa Rosa. As previously said many times within these forums, you can spend forever waiting, but unless an update is imminent, you'll be perfectly happy with what you buy

Sale - not that I've ever seen before, although perhaps 3rd party retailers.

iTV is a separate box - google it.

 

[elppa]

OK, hello....happy christmas/holidays,

i have some macbook questions.....yes i know 100% of these questions have been asked before!!!

OK questions are.....

1. Anyone (in the UK) know if apple run a sale in jan, on hardware?

Not usually no.

2. Are there any iminent macbook updates? i.e. if i buy a macbook in jan are there any new ones on the horizon (i.e. the core duo/core 2 duo situation)?

I doubt it, as they have just been updated. You may wish to wait until after MacWorld keynote (8th Jan - it may be the 9th) as rumours of a super portable notebook are on the horizon, which may appeal.

3. (similar to above) Does anyone know if there will be a macbook update when Leopard is released, or are software and hardware updates usually seperate?

Software/hardware updates are strictly separate. Apple would probably choose not to release new hardware incase it deflected attention from the launch of the new operating system. I expect Leopard to run better on the MacBooks than 10.4 anyway (more time to optimise it for the intel architecture).

4. Is iTV something that is a seperate piece of hardware or will it be integrated into macs, whenever its released?

iTV is a separate bit of hardware. You will have front row, which does a very similar thing on your computer display. iTV basically plugs into a television and displays the content on your computer via a front row interface.

5. Is the best way to preserve my macbook battery keeping it plugged in at all times and only use battery power when absolutely necccessary?

No. For proper maintenance of a lithium-based battery, it’s important to keep the electrons in it moving occasionally. Apple does not recommend leaving your portable plugged in all the time. More Info…

6. Is the book iWoz any good?

No Idea — never read it. Someone else will have to help you with that.

 

[mkrishnan]

Happy holidays!

These are the ones I know:

(2) The MacBook has C2D in it now. That happened relatively recently, and so it's relatively less likely this will change imminently. The things expected at some point in the future for the MacBook include the Santa Rosa chipset with a new GPU and other things that are even more distant.

(3) Generally in my limited experience, they're not closely related. When Tiger came out, if I remember correctly, there were still Macs that did not support its CoreImage feature. They were ultimately upgraded with new video cards, but this was not simultaneous with the release of Tiger in April of 05. Tiger's release date was *announced* at MWSF in Jan 05, and at that time, there were some mac updates. The most likely things in terms of actual computer changes this year seem to be the transition of the Mac Mini to C2D and if we're really lucky, some sort of new form factor subcompact or tablet. This is only a couple of weeks away, though, so if you can wait for it, do, by all means.

(4) Separate piece of hardware. Again, most likely there will be far more details about it at MWSF in a couple of weeks. Right now there's mostly speculation. It appears to be primarily a video streaming device that allows Front Row content on a Mac to be viewed on a TV without a giant VGA or DVI cable, but there's a lot of speculation it will do more than this.

(5) There are lots of threads here and elsewhere on this, so you should probably Google. The short answer is that you should be on mains power when it's not in use or when you don't have any reason to use battery power. The battery does wear down with use, but it also wears down in the absence of use. You should use the battery at least once in a while (e.g. once a monthish), but in the end, just enjoy it.

Hope that info helps! Welcome to MR!

I switched to my iBook G4 at basically this time in 2003... it came right before Christmas and I spent the break digging into iLife. If/when you get your Macbook, I think you're going to LOVE it.

 

[nickjalder]

OK, so whats santa rosa?????

 

[mmccaskill]

Santa Rosa is the new Centrino Platform, although I doubt Apple will use all of it, such as not using Intel's wireless.

Features include (as of now):

* second generation Intel Core 2 processor (code named Merom) that uses Socket P
* 800 MT/s front side bus with Dynamic Front Side Bus Switching to save power during low utilization
* Intel Mobile 965 Express chipset (code named Crestline) with Intel's GMA X3000 graphics technology
* Intel PRO/Wireless 4965AGN IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n mini-PCIe Wi-Fi adapter (code named Kedron)
* NAND flash-memory caching (code-named Robson)
* WWAN Internet access via HSDPA codeveloped with Nokia (code-named Windigo) [1][2]
* EFI, a successor to BIOS
* Intel Dynamic Acceleration (IDA), better Windows Vista Aero support

I've bolded the GMA X3000 because it is much better than the GMA 950. X3000 has Hardware TNL and fully programmable pipelines. I'm tempted to wait to see if Apple will upgrade to this. The question that no one can know is when. If it isn't going to be until Nov then I'll just go ahead and get a MacBook. But if its going to be like May I will wait.