MacBook Pro is incredible

[G4scott]

I do think this MacBook is an improvement over the current PowerBook, even without FireWire 800 and all... The current PowerBooks use a 167mhz system bus. The only reason they have DDR2 memory is to help with power consumption. To put a dual-core processor in a notebook only 1" thin is a great achievement. Sure it's lacking in some areas, but the main guts of the system have been updated about 3 years ahead of where they were before.

I'll do all I can to return my new PowerBook, or heck, I'll sell it for what I can, because this new MacBook, however new or buggy it may be, is probably better than the current 15" PowerBook in every way.

To all who don't like the idea of the MacBook, go buy a PowerBook, Apple's still selling them. Heck, if you want one from me, I might be willing to sell mine.

 

[ortuno2k]

You will always find negative people with negative thoughts.
They will NEVER be happy or satisfied with anything.

Welcome, MacBook

 

[PDE]

I feel very mixed about this notebook. I mean, sure, the faster CPU and GPU are definitely welcome. Isight is nice, but not essential. To be honest, the only real innovation in this 'book is the great power connection! Can't believe nobody thought of putting this in a laptop earlier. Simply great .

But, it's absolutely crazy to exclude a modem on a portable at this point! The wonderful thing with powerbooks is that they are incredibly versatile without any extras. Modems are still useful when travelling, visiting friends without broadband. stupid move.

While obviously I'd prefer the display (if it doesn't have lines) over my previous generation low-res powerbook and the hopefully much improved battery life, I would never want this product given the track record of the previous powerbook and of first generation powerbooks in general. This is obviously a major revision internally and one that was RUSHED. Because of that, it will suffer from multiple glitches. We'll know soon enough the reality about this laptop - for now all Steve's claims are hype to me.

 

[FireArse]

Intel Inside

At least there isn't an Intel Inside sticker anywhere near the thing. Very very good to see they kept the same case. It was a bloody brilliant case - when I first saw the pics online I thought it was a bit Darker - thought it looked sweeet!

I'll get one. But I'm still soo happy with my dual 2GHz PM - plenty of life kicking about in the PPC chips people! Cannot wait for Mac Mini to go Intel - what happened to that anyways? the rumors were all wrong!

F

 

[GroundLoop]

All that in 1 inch? Ever think the lack of these features is why it's 1 inch?

It most definitely could be done in a package that is 1" thick. It may be 25" wide and 30" deep, but it would be 1" thick

Hickman

 

[WinterMute]

I have some thoughts on the MacBook, and reading this thread has crystalised them to a degree.

This is an interim offering from Apple, it's a way of live beta testing a new product without having to force an entirely new design into production.

It will allow Apple to run it's transition to x86 in the public domain on a small user base.

It gives Steve something "wow" to show off and stops the bleating about the lack of new PowerBooks, plus it's 6 months earlier than the company were forecasting.

It is, as someone has already pointed out, a placeholder and I'm sure that a new line of laptops with a redesigned form factor will be forthcoming this year.

I won't invest in 1st gen hardware after a particularly crappy experience with the 17" PowerBook, but I will replace my existing 'Book when a 17" Intel machine is available and the software I need to run is in UB format.

This is a good move on Apple's part, but I think the iMac is the more impressive machine.

 

[steelfist]

the graphics card improvement is one of the best things that happened in this upgrade. x1600 mobility and still less than 1 inch thin! that is very very difficult! imagine dell trying to make their xps gaming notebooks as thin as the powerbook CD.

at the same time, there were major tradeoffs, like the lack of modems and no firewire. these don't bug me for now but it will really do when i need them.

 

[generik]

It is tempting, but I will wait till the end of the year for a Merom book. Now some of you will go "Boo! You won't have a Mac for such and such a period of time!"

Well I guess it is fine, having a PC that just works is fine for me. Perhaps in the time to come when Darwine works better x86 Mac might be worth a more serious look.

 

[Diatribe]

The thing is that the only thing that is better (aside from the sweet new AC adapter), the CPU won't be of much use until mid year, end of year when all the apps are there. A lot of things that were useful to people (like 8x burner, DL burner, FW800, PCMCIA slot) have been removed and it seems like the battery life is crappy too.
So where exactly is the benefit of buying one? Raw speed for less features? I'm not sure that is a good trade...

 

[Diatribe]

I have some thoughts on the MacBook, and reading this thread has crystalised them to a degree.

This is an interim offering from Apple, it's a way of live beta testing a new product without having to force an entirely new design into production.

It will allow Apple to run it's transition to x86 in the public domain on a small user base.

It gives Steve something "wow" to show off and stops the bleating about the lack of new PowerBooks, plus it's 6 months earlier than the company were forecasting.

It is, as someone has already pointed out, a placeholder and I'm sure that a new line of laptops with a redesigned form factor will be forthcoming this year.

I won't invest in 1st gen hardware after a particularly crappy experience with the 17" PowerBook, but I will replace my existing 'Book when a 17" Intel machine is available and the software I need to run is in UB format.

This is a good move on Apple's part, but I think the iMac is the more impressive machine.

I couldn't agree with you more. The MacBook Pro is to the next gen what Aperature 1.0 is to 2.0 - a beta test.
That's the reason we only see a 15" and not a complete line. Buying one now is participating in a beta test.

 

[HiRez]

my guess is this is an interim book with a major refresh, total redesign due sometime this summer. it's a place holder the current macbook pro. the chassis design has been around for a long time.

That's my thinking as well. Remember the original G3 (Kanga?) PowerBook? The one with a G3 shoved into an existing PPC case? Or the "beige" G3 PowerMac? Well this reminds me of that.

There's a lot to like about the MacBook Pro (faster, brighter screens, better GPU), but yeah, it's not quite the whole package. Loss of FW 800 and s/composite video outs is not a good thing, and there appear to have been no advances in battery technology (in fact, we may have taken a step backwards there with the faster CPU and GPU, we'll have to see). Meanwhile, my nearly 5-year-old 800 MHz G4 PowerBook is doing pretty well, so I can wait.

 

[HiRez]

can you please find me an example of when apple released a computer that is quadruple the speed of its predecessor and available for the same price?

hell, even twice the speed?

Well I'd cite the dual G5 PowerMac but that case is similar to this one in that while the newer machines are much faster, that's partially only by comparison, because the old ones were soooo slow by the time they got to the new ones because they had languished for years with very little advancement in speed. If the PowerBook G4 line had kept advancing at industry rates all along, the new models would not look nearly so amazing by comparison. I'm not knocking these machines, more speed is good and they seem pretty zippy, just trying to point out a little context...

 

[Boelman]

This is unbelievable. All of the new things that just came out are great.

 

[MacTruck]

I woke up this morning with excitement over yesterdays announcements. The thought of having a dual core notebook that can run xp also excites me. I will wait to see if it can actually run xp though. If it can I am buying one.

 

[WinterMute]

This is unbelievable. All of the new things that just came out are great.

Some of us obviously don't agree...

I think the vibe is that these will be great at some point in the not-too-distant future, but right now...?

The MacBook has too many compromises but the iMac is a little beaut still.

 

[dmw007]

I agree, the MacBook Pro is incredible.

Up to 4x faster....SWEET!

 

[zudo]

I think it looks great. I'm still a little surprised we've got intel macs so soon.

When I first saw it I was a bit gutted for my PowerBook. But the more I think about it the fact that they're still selling the old ones at the same price makes the bad feelings go away. It seems a bit weird that the old powerbooks haven't been reduced really, but because they haven't my book hasn't dropped it's value overnight as dramatically as it would have.

I'm going to keep my book, I still love it and can't really afford to upgrade, but the sting of the macbook being so much quicker is taken out by the fact that my little baby is still worth plenty.

Hope that makes sense...

 

[MacTruck]

I think it looks great. I'm still a little surprised we've got intel macs so soon.

When I first saw it I was a bit gutted for my PowerBook. But the more I think about it the fact that they're still selling the old ones at the same price makes the bad feelings go away. It seems a bit weird that the old powerbooks haven't been reduced really, but because they haven't my book hasn't dropped it's value overnight as dramatically as it would have.

I'm going to keep my book, I still love it and can't really afford to upgrade, but the sting of the macbook being so much quicker is taken out by the fact that my little baby is still worth plenty.

Hope that makes sense...

I agree. I find that my Powerbook (in sig) is plenty fast despite its specs and I know what speed is. I have a maxed out G5 and a puny mac mini and even though the mac mini is close in specs my powerbooks spanks the living hell out of the mini. I don't know why but it is WAY faster. Now my G5 is really really fast but the powerbook has just enough speed to not feel like its slow at all. Coupled with the great screen (I don't have the rev E) which is very bright and clear and its a great notebook. I just crave dual boot capability as I need a PC to do many things. One of which is manage all my PST folders in outlook. Something that the mac can't do. I know about PST import tool, thats not the same.

It is quit sad apple yanked so many needed features out of the MacBook though. PCMCIA, S-Video out, FW800, Modem, DL Burning support. Wish it had these as that would make an upgrade seem more logical but for now I think I will wait for rev b. I already have an aluminum powerbook. If they had redesigned it to be even nicer then that might have been a selling point as I love new stuff but getting a macbook that looks the same and has less features, or more depending how you look at it, the camera is cool, might not make sense. One thing that sucks is the camera though and I will tell you why. Working in a highly sensative area at work cameras are not allowed. You can't have a phone with a camera at work so now the powerbook is off limits. If I brought that to work I could get in big trouble and a piece of tape won't satisfy security. Apple just banned their own product from many companies believe me.

 

[FireArse]

Honestly the only thing that slightly irritates me about the Macbook is that the physical design is more or less the same as the current line

There'll be a lot of people out there who'd say that was a very good thing.

F

 

[ortuno2k]

Two things I'm dissapointed about:

No DL SD drive?
No information on battery life

I don't care for the dial-up modem, haven't used one in 6 years.
Don't care much for the FW 800; never used it.

I just returned my 3 week old PB to Amazon, and will probably let the hype pass and might wait until they release a Rev B.

 

[florencevassy]

I definitely will be curious to read opinions from people in the coming weeks after they receive the Macbook.

I am wondering why would a person buy a PowerBook at this point unless they think it is too expensive, want the 17’’ and/or hate intel??

I am not going to buy anything right now since my PowerBook is 1 year and 3 months old (and I am very happy with it) and I am a late adaptor. I finally bought an iPod shuffle last month LOL

 

[DeepIn2U]

I'm just happy that Intel Inside or some OTHER INtel branding is NOT on the MacBook Pro!

That is something to thank for!

 

[Diatribe]

So where is the HD protection of the Powerbooks? The one where it automatically parks the HD heads? Is that gone too?

 

[MacTruck]

So where is the HD protection of the Powerbooks? The one where it automatically parks the HD heads? Is that gone too?

Yep. Chalk up another feature.

 

[cal6n]

So where is the HD protection of the Powerbooks? The one where it automatically parks the HD heads? Is that gone too?

Here