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IS there much of a difference between the new MBs?

M

Mushrooshi

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 26, 2007
205
0
Um, I got a macbook back on the summer, and i'd like to know if the update was a really huge "OMG totally OBSOLETETATION" of my macbook. I have a 3rd-gen macbook with these stats:

Is there a huge difference in performance if say, i maxed out at 3gb ram rather than 4? I multitask and usually have like 8 firefox tabs and flash and photoshop open. It rarely lags.

ALso, is there really a big difference between 2.16 and 2.20ghz? 40 mhz dif doesnt look big.

I don't play many games on my macbook, so graphics isn't a big issue, also for the fact I have an old winXP vaio from 2002 int he gameroom with only 384mb ram and 1.4ghz that will probably be replaced by 2009 (hopefully an iMac!).

Thanks.

EDIT: Also, does the default 1gb ram macbook config come with two 512 sticks or 1 gb stick? my bday is coming up and i think i just want to get upgraded to 2gb or 2.5gb ram and get portal (im gonna be 14 yay!) and that it, maybe a swapdisc to run burned DDR games.
 
A) You didn't post the stats :p
B) The amount of ram you need depends on your usage. If you say that your computer rarely lags, then I assume you don't need more ram. Could you post your page in/page out ratio? (check activity monitor)
C) I would ASSUME (key word) that the 40mhz wouldn't do much of a difference. I'm not sure wether the 800mhz FSB would make that significant of a difference either. Lets wait for benchmarks to come out first.
D) It's 2x512mb
 
All the difference is the new Integrated Intel Graphics with more shared memory 144NB, faster FSB, and increased Max RAM.

Max memory is either 4GB or 8GB with this SR chipset, future testing with 4GB SO-DIMMs will tell the story.
 
There is a larger difference in performance than just 40mhz (although not huge or even very significant). Santa Rosa runs at 800mhz FSB and Napa at 667mhz. Because of the higher FSB and lower multiplier, Santa Rosa will have a small lead over Napa chips that are clocked at the same frequency, but it's nothing to consider your Macbook becoming "obsolete". The biggest difference is the new X3100 GPU which is a huge step up from GMA 950. Also, Napa will cripple your upgrade route if you decide you need 4gb+ RAM in the future.

Check here:
http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=2985&p=1
 
Page in/out
91k/98k

speed thingy:

2.16ghz

its the 3rd gen, the upgrade from around june-ish

the old GMA 950 i think.

120gb hard drive

1gb ram.
 
These new models have a new keyboard with media controls on them. I find that quite nice. It would save me having to configure Quicksilver/Sizzling Keys to do the job for me.

Apart from that, the update doesn't really bother me at all. My macbook does everything I need it to and more.
 
Osarkon said:
These new models have a new keyboard with media controls on them. I find that quite nice. It would save me having to configure Quicksilver/Sizzling Keys to do the job for me.

Apart from that, the update doesn't really bother me at all. My macbook does everything I need it to and more.
Click to expand...

Is there a pîcture of this new keyboard I'm missing?

If so, can someone please post a link? Thanks!

Scene
 
There is no way you would ever notice a 2.16 > 2.2 GHz speed increase.

I'd be surprised if anyone ever really noticed a 667MHz > 800MHz bus speed increase either, in practice.

These are definitely not reasons to upgrade, or feel that your machine is obsolete.

If you have 1GB of RAM, and run quite a few apps at once, my guess is you may find a noticeable improvement by upgrading it to 2GB. Especially if you're using Photoshop, alongside a bunch of other stuff.

In my experience if you also want to run Parallels, alongside a bunch of other hungry apps, then that is when you really want to go for more than 2GB or you will feel it. In this case 3GB or 4GB is a good idea.
 
asdfTT123 said:
There is a larger difference in performance than just 40mhz (although not huge or even very significant). Santa Rosa runs at 800mhz FSB and Napa at 667mhz. Because of the higher FSB and lower multiplier, Santa Rosa will have a small lead over Napa chips that are clocked at the same frequency, but it's nothing to consider your Macbook becoming "obsolete". The biggest difference is the new X3100 GPU which is a huge step up from GMA 950. Also, Napa will cripple your upgrade route if you decide you need 4gb+ RAM in the future.

Check here:
http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=2985&p=1
Click to expand...

Is the motherboard different?
 
Sceneshifter said:
Is there a pîcture of this new keyboard I'm missing?

If so, can someone please post a link? Thanks!

Scene
Click to expand...


1828783029_00b1b92d41.jpg


1829633458_911d974a40.jpg
 
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