New to the forum. Looking at buying a MB/MBP in the very near future.

[penguinNerd]

Hi everyone. I'm a complete n00b to Apple. Never owned one, but am very seriously considering getting one for my wife. Last time I sat in front of an Apple was many many many moons ago when the Apple IIc's were around.

So, I started reading reviews and now I wish I hadn't, because 80% of the reviews do not paint a pretty picture for the MB or the MBP.

I've read about the overheating issue, the keyboard keys being too small, the keyboard getting all sort of crap stuck between the keys due to the design, the discolouration issue.

Nothing but issues it seems.

Is it all true? Wondering what percentage of owners on this forum actually have these issues.

A friend of mine owns a MB (or MBP, can't remember) and he says that OSX crashes all the time for him. I've asked him to give me more details about this, but so far he hasn't replied.

So, naturally my other question is: are there issues running OSX on the new Intel hardware? Why would the OS crash so often?

Lastly, can someone please explain to me the differences between the MB and MBP... I mean, other than the differences in screen size and larger HD. I hear the graphics chip-set is different. Is it better or worse?

Is the MBP overall a better hardware platform than the MB?

I may just wait till Xmas to buy, to give the product some time to get its act together... or should I just bite the bullet and buy it now. Wife's bday's coming up at the end of this month.

Advice will be greatly appreciated.

TIA

 

[_Matt]

I have a PowerPC based machine and it hasn't crashed in about six months.

The MBP is a far better hardware platform than the MB. The MBP has higher end components such as the graphics and faster hard drives. Higher resolution screens. Better build quality.

As long as you properly maintain your machine, there is absolutely no reason for it to crash as long as both the hardware and software are up to date and in the right condition.

What does your wife use the computer for?

As for the issues, they appear often on this site and others because this is where people come for help before contacting Apple. After we know what kind of work your wife does on the computer, we can recommend the best machine for you and alert you to the possible issues with that model.

 

[Mac Rules]

Hi everyone. I'm a complete n00b to Apple. Never owned one, but am very seriously considering getting one for my wife. Last time I sat in front of an Apple was many many many moons ago when the Apple IIc's were around.

So, I started reading reviews and now I wish I hadn't, because 80% of the reviews do not paint a pretty picture for the MB or the MBP.

I've read about the overheating issue, the keyboard keys being too small, the keyboard getting all sort of crap stuck between the keys due to the design, the discolouration issue.

Nothing but issues it seems.

Is it all true? Wondering what percentage of owners on this forum actually have these issues.

A friend of mine owns a MB (or MBP, can't remember) and he says that OSX crashes all the time for him. I've asked him to give me more details about this, but so far he hasn't replied.

So, naturally my other question is: are there issues running OSX on the new Intel hardware? Why would the OS crash so often?

Lastly, can someone please explain to me the differences between the MB and MBP... I mean, other than the differences in screen size and larger HD. I hear the graphics chip-set is different. Is it better or worse?

Is the MBP overall a better hardware platform than the MB?

I may just wait till Xmas to buy, to give the product some time to get its act together... or should I just bite the bullet and buy it now. Wife's bday's coming up at the end of this month.

Advice will be greatly appreciated.

TIA

Well firstly, welcome to MacRumors.

To get started, remember its always easier to be think of the bad stuff, not the good. It seems alot of pepole on this forum have troubles, but it really is a minority in comparison to all of the MB/MBP's sold. Nearly all of the bugs have been sorted by Apple, and then some bugs are just from people not treating their Mac with care.

Now you don't need me to tell you that OS X is VERY stable, thats not to say you can't make it crash, but you'd have to try bloody hard to do it!
As for ou friend's OSX, theres definaltly something not right about that, maybe you should direct him to us to help make his life that much simpler and crash free!

The difference between the MBP and the MB is all in the design and the market they're aimed at. The Macbook is aimed at casual users, hence its small size and integrated graphics etc. The MBP is a machine designed with professionals in mind, hence the bigger screen/resolution and the inclusion of a full graphcs card, ATI X1600 Mobile. Also it has a larger capacity HD.

Realy, it depends entirely on what you plan to use the machine for, to decide which to buy. If you're just browsing the web, checking emails maybe watching DVD's then the Macbook is for you. But if you're going to use more advanced power-thirsty apps such as Photoshop, Logic Pro, etc then the MBP is the way forward...

Bear in mind, both of these machines can run Windows XP if you need it, and will run most modern games, if thats something you'd like to do...

Hope this helps!

Cheers

 

[risc]

I have a MacBook Pro here and it has no issues at all. It's the perfect notebook imo. Well perfect until I upgrade it to the Merom version. I can't comment on the issues people are having with MacBooks or MacBook Pros because I haven't seen any of them. OS X is perfectly stable on my MBP much more stable than the Power Mac G5 it replaced. Tiger has never crashed or locked up here at all.

As for the differences between the MacBook and the MacBook Pro well they both use the same CPUs so speed wise they are the same, until you hit 3D. The MacBook has an Intel integrated video solution, while the Pro has dedicated video. Obviously there is the screen difference too 13" versus 15" or 17". The MacBook Pro is also made out of metal not plastic, and has a nice backlit keyboard. Are these things worth the extra cash? Only you can answer that.

 

[killuminati]

Well my sister has a white MB and she hasn't had a single issue, but then again shes only had it for a week.

There aren't any problems with running OS X on the intel machines. One thing you should know about though is something called Rosetta. Apps that were made for the old PPC macs need to be run on Intel Macs through something called Rosetta. All this means though is that those programs run slightly slower than software made for intel processors. Also I should add that as a user you don't actually do anything with Rosetta, it's all done in the background.

You were wondering about the differences in the MB and the MBP. Another difference is the processors. MBs come with either a 1.83 or 2 Ghz core duo and the MBPs come with a 2 or a 2.16 Ghz core duo. Another issue is the graphics card, it can't be updated on the MBs.

For your wife, I'm assuming she would just be doing things like emailing, surfing and using office. A MB would be perfect for that. If you can, I would wait for the second revision though.

 

[penguinNerd]

What does your wife use the computer for?

_Matt... thanks for the reply. My wife isn't a power user by any means. Mainly websurfing and emails.

But with all the multimedia software that's out there for the Apple, we might just offload all pics/video and audio manipulating to the MacBook and leave the Windows box for umm... playing Solitaire.

 

[risc]

Also it has a larger capacity HD.

The MacBook and the MacBook Pro both use exactly the same hard drives, sure Apple offer you the option for 7200 RPM drives on the MacBook Pro when you buy, but there is no reason to think the same drive wont work in the MacBook. Infact it is actually easier to upgrade the hard drive on the MacBook.

 

[Mac Rules]

The MacBook and the MacBook Pro both use exactly the same hard drives, sure Apple offer you the option for 7200 RPM drives on the MacBook Pro when you buy, but there is no reason to think the same drive wont work in the MacBook. Infact it is actually easier to upgrade the hard drive on the MacBook.

Yeah it is, I hope they change this for the Rev B. MBP, they really did well with the Mb's design IMO!

Cheers

 

[_Matt]

_Matt... thanks for the reply. My wife isn't a power user by any means. Mainly websurfing and emails.

But with all the multimedia software that's out there for the Apple, we might just offload all pics/video and audio manipulating to the MacBook and leave the Windows box for umm... playing Solitaire.

Your quite welcome. By the way, I forgot to officially welcome you to the forums. So welcome!

Okay so it sounds like your wife would be more of a MacBook user. I'm glad you're considering moving your media to Mac. iLife '06 is a great way to organize all of your photos, videos, and music. Do you and your wife edit home movies on the computer? I guess what I'm getting at is...will you need a Superdrive to burn DVDs of your movies or to backup some of your documents and such?

 

[risc]

Yeah it is, I hope they change this for the Rev B. MBP, they really did well with the Mb's design IMO!

Cheers

I agree completely. My work will be buying my Yonah MacBook Pro back off me when the Merom is released I'd love to see the hard drive user upgradable like they are with the current MacBook.

 

[penguinNerd]

Thanks to everyone for all the excellent replies. Just what I was looking for.

If you can, I would wait for the second revision though.

When is the second revision expected to come out?

Also, can anyone here verify that the MB/MBP runs too hot? Or is that just people being overly critical?

 

[ChickenSwartz]

One other difference between the MB and MBP is the screen. The MB comes with the glossy screen. You have the option with the MBP. The glossy screen looks great but can lead to eye fatigue.

Personally I can't stand to use a glossy screen for more than an hour. Small thing, but if you are using as much as I do you'd better be sure you like what you are looking at.

 

[risc]

I can only comment on my MacBook Pro it runs much cooler than my old PowerBook G4 notebook. Sure it will get warm under 100% load on both cores, but that is expected. It is not a notebook that I would say runs hot.

My limited exposure to other MacBook Pros has always been the same, I've never noticed one running hot. A few people on this forum complained about heat issues with there MacBook Pros back when the model was released back at the start of the year, but like I said mines perfect.

 

[_Matt]

When is the second revision expected to come out?

Also, can anyone here verify that the MB/MBP runs too hot? Or is that just people being overly critical?

With Apple it's hard to tell when they'll release new products. I would say new MacBooks will be released somewhere between now and January, when MacWorld San Francisco comes along.

Regarding the heat issue, all mobile computers nowadays run fairly hot. I have a PowerBook and it can geat pretty hot when I'm doing CPU intensive tasks. However, I think that the MacBook won't get too hot when your wife uses it for stuff like web, email, and iLife. If you can, wait until the next revision but if you're okay with taking the leap now go ahead and get it for her whenever you want. I would recommend purchasing Applecare with it so that Apple can repair it if you experience some of the issues that are brought up on the forums.