The Future of the MacBook

[Jnkm32]

thanks for your help so far.

i'm a student and my main use would be regular sorta functions that i could do on my acer. My only concern is i doubt my acer could run vista for several reasons (ram, graphics, HD...). I just don't want to end up being left out of the future. I don't really care if i can keep up with it, i just want it to last my a long time.

that said i'm gunna eb a amth major but i cant see me ever doing rocket science calculations that would be better on a 64 bit

i think im just going to go ahead and buy the 2.0ghz (black or white, ill figure that out later) and upgrade the HD and maybe venture and do the ram myself, but if i get the white one the money i have intened for the black one will go to aple supper exspenive ram upgrade to 2gigs because i haven't had very much luck with DIY tech upgrades.

 

[gnasher729]

well funny you should mention that, i will be a math major but i plan to do a BA instead of BS so i can focus on other things as well. would this effect me, i personly doubt it but maybe some math or science guru will know. also i assume if i ever need to do something that pwerfull and complex, id be able to work at a school computer.

Macbooks will get a 64 bit Merom chip, at same clockspeed and at the same price as today's 32 bit chips. Nobody knows when, it could be tomorrow, it could be in two months time. There will be no pre-announcement, it will be just there one day. I think I wouldn't wait for Merom if I needed a new laptop, but on the other hand I wouldn't buy a MacBook today if I didn't plan to use it in the next weeks.

The Merom chip runs 32 bit applications about 10 percent faster than Yonah. That's not much, but on the other hand you pay quite a bit more today for ten percent more speed, and these ten percent will be free. At some point you will be able to get 64 bit applications, they will gain another say ten percent of speed. So a 2 GHz Merom would run 64 bit applications about as fast as a 2.4 GHz Yonah would run a corresponding 32 bit application. However, I expect that 32 bit applications will be easily available for the next four years.

If you write software yourself, as a maths student, you will be able to write 64 bit code just as easily as 32 bit code. Also, mathematical code that needs to handle huge integer numbers can be made much faster on a 64 bit processor, and the Merom is generally much better at floating-point code which you would need in numerical mathematics. In other words, as a maths student (or any other hard sciences) writing your own code, Merom might be a much bigger advantage.

Black vs. White: I liked black more. I didn't like it $150 more. That money is better spent on more RAM. And some people like white better anyway.

Prices: You might consider checking the Apple Store for refurbished Macbooks. Not brand new, but with full warranty. Some people buy a refurbished Mac, which might be a Mac that was broken and supposed to be fixed, and it is still broken - in that case you just swap it for another one. That's what the warranty is for. Obviously there won't be any refurbished Meroms for quite a while. On the other hand, when Merom comes out, refurbished Yonahs should go down in price. Usually, anything from the refurbished store is twenty percent below the _value_ of a brand new item.

Hope you are completely confused by now!

 

[debrey]

If you want to do applied math I have no idea...

If you want to do pure math, you won't be needing any computer programs at all (or, if some are helpful, they will be extremely simple).

 

[gnasher729]

64 bit just isn't as important an upgrade as it is hyped to be. Its only real benefit will be in scientific fields, mathematics programs and the like. In fact, in some cases 64 bit is actually slower than 32 bit (however 64/32 really isn't a speed issue, so don't think of it like that...)

Intel/AMD processors have a huge advantage in 64 bit mode compared to 32 bit mode: They have 16 of each kind of register instead of 8 (PowerPC has 32 of each kind, whether in 32 bit or 64 bit mode). So they will usually run ten percent faster in 64 bit mode, but it has nothing to do with the 64 bit-ness.

 

[makismagoo99]

im think im jsut gunna go ahead and buy tomrrow and hope it gets here before next friday (thats when i leave). but i still cant decided: balck or white. i dont think i can justify $150 for style..i dunno but yeah thanks for your replies so far.

I have a suggestion. You may have already done this, but check with your school before you buy. Many universities offer GREAT deals for their students when buying computers. I am a student myself, and after a month of research I have finally decided on the Macbook . And check out Apple's student options... you get something like $100 off the Macbook and 10% off every upgrade you make.

 

[gadgetgirl85]

thanks for your help so far.

i'm a student and my main use would be regular sorta functions that i could do on my acer. My only concern is i doubt my acer could run vista for several reasons (ram, graphics, HD...). I just don't want to end up being left out of the future. I don't really care if i can keep up with it, i just want it to last my a long time.

that said i'm gunna eb a amth major but i cant see me ever doing rocket science calculations that would be better on a 64 bit

i think im just going to go ahead and buy the 2.0ghz (black or white, ill figure that out later) and upgrade the HD and maybe venture and do the ram myself, but if i get the white one the money i have intened for the black one will go to aple supper exspenive ram upgrade to 2gigs because i haven't had very much luck with DIY tech upgrades.

Good choice just buy now! You will love it