Considering a new laptop

luckat

I'll probably get a 13" MacBook. Can't see the point of the Pro, as I'm not going to be using it for any kind of major multimedia stuff, and have been hearing iffy stuff about it anyway.

A couple of questions:

Is the hard drive easy to replace? On my current PowerBook G4 I decided to change the HDD. I failed. First, I had to take out 16 screws in the correct order. When I finally got to the hard drive, buried deep in the guts of the computer, one of the screws holding it in (which were non-standard anyway) was already half-stripped; I stripped it completely trying to remove it.

The 200GB hard drive, which I'd like, as I'm already more or less filled up on the 80GB one I've had for five or six years now, is only 4200RPM. This is the same speed as my current hard drive, but the new ones are SAT. Does this make any difference to the actual speed of access?

(4200 is fine for my current purposes; I'm just wondering if it'll be too slow for the new Intel apps I'll have to use.)

What are Boardsies' experiences with the new MacBooks generally?

Thanks in advance for the generous help I know you'll all give me.

Chardee MacDennis

my macbook is great - just upgraded from 60gb hard drive to 160 and 512mb to 2gb and it was piss easy and cost me about 200 euro. not a bad thing to say except for how dirty the white one gets - if i was buying one again i would stump up the extra cash for the black.

luckat

€200 extra? </gape>

Urban Weigl

On the MacBook, you basically just slide in a new hard drive when it is time to upgrade. It is very easy and takes under a minute. Same for memory.

Right now is a good time to buy: both the MacBook and MacBook Pro have just been updated. Myself I would go for a MacBook Pro, but if you don't need the extra screen real estate and features and speed, I suppose it isn't worth spending €1899. I don't know what "bad" things you've heard about the Pro, but I am very happy with mine.

luckat

I've heard of a couple of motherboard glitches - it can go zombie on you, sleeping and not waking up. And it can overheat.

I'm not pushed about a big screen for my current purposes.

decob

If your looking for a fast(er) drive (than 4200rpm) with a bigger capacity, why not get this... http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=336007

I did and it was the best move ever..

pa

luckat wrote:

What are Boardsies' experiences with the new MacBooks generally?

I've got a 2nd-generation black Macbook, the one with the 2.0GHz Core 2 Duo and 120GB hard drive, upgraded to 2GB of RAM. I've had it a little over 6 months now, and overall I'm pleased enough with it.

Good points:

- very quick, even for my work-related stuff. Prior to the Intel switch Java development on Macs was a horrendous experience.
- Light, compact, thin
- Very nice screen, bright and vivid without much glare
- The magnetic power adaptor is a neat touch
- The black version is quite resistant to fingerprints and dirt. Mine still looks like new. The white version seems to get tatty much more quickly.
- The keyboard is very solid, and has a nice tactile response. The entire laptop feels well-made and substantial.
- Even though it has an Intel GMA950 for graphics processing, GPU-accelerated functions in OS X, such as Expose and Core Image, work fine. World of Warcraft also runs very smoothly.

And the bad:

- The fan coming on is noisy and frequent
- The Intel versions of Safari and MacSOUP have a nasty habit of pegging the CPU from time to time, resulting in the fans roaring.
- There is a hard edge at the front where your palms rest. It can get a little uncomfortable.
- No backlit keyboard. I had a 15" PowerBook G4 before, and I miss that feature.

Hugh_C

pa wrote:

I've got a 2nd-generation black Macbook,

I've got the recent 3rd-gen BlackBook (2.16 GHz) and am enjoying using it a lot. I'm agreeing about the fans coming on - if I'm doing heavy stuff, they kick in a bit, but the noise isn't too bad. Loving the 160GB drive, and the screen is great, if a little cooler than the iMac I have. Slightly bluer in tone, and I haven't been ar3ed to re-calibrate yet.

Absolutely brilliant for any web-related stuff, wp, spreadsheets and I'm even running FCP on it!

Great battery life so far - about 3.5 to 4 hours depending on the type of activity I'm doing.

Good buy, great price if you can get the edu discount and VAT back.

Sad Professor

pa wrote:

- The Intel versions of Safari and MacSOUP have a nasty habit of pegging the CPU from time to time, resulting in the fans roaring.

Try Camino instead of Safari. It's a bit kinder on the CPU and is far more stable imo.

heggie

also dont forget the new beta of safari3 thats just out a week or so

pa

heggie wrote:

also dont forget the new beta of safari3 thats just out a week or so

Yes, I'm using that. It's a significant improvement over version 2.

I find Camino to be a pretty terrible browser, to be honest.

Creamy Goodness

just a quick question sorry for hijacking the thread but i don't see the need to clutter up the forum with another thread and since boards.ie doesn't support stacks i thought i'd ask it here.

just wondering what are the contents of a box when you buy a macbook.

obviously i know you get the laptop spec'd to your specifications but what else do you get? do you get a full cd version of OS X?

i'm thinking too of getting a black macbook

big_moe

macbook, power cable, couple of little books and 2 os x dvds

dubmick

hughchal wrote:

Good buy, great price if you can get the edu discount and VAT back.

How can you get both? I was considering buying one through my company but surely you can only get the VAT back?

big_moe

dubmick wrote:

How can you get both? I was considering buying one through my company but surely you can only get the VAT back?

that should be the way. i dunno how you'd get both off

Simon201

big_moe wrote:

macbook, power cable, couple of little books and 2 os x dvds

and remote control and polystyrene!

big_moe

ah yeah the remote... §hit.. i think i've lost mine!

Creamy Goodness

sweet thanks guys, now to just earn the money

Cabaal

I got 3rd Gen black Macbook 2.16Ghz, 160GB drive and upgraded to 2GB ram while in the states in May, have to say I'm very impressed

Fans do come on but only when I'm converting large video files to DVD and burning but other then that they don't tend to come on alot for me, other then that I really can't fault it.

luckat

What does the remote control control?

luckat

I see the glossy screen option is no longer offered. Is that because all screens are now glossy, or because they weren't popular?

Hugh_C

luckat wrote:

I see the glossy screen option is no longer offered. Is that because all screens are now glossy, or because they weren't popular?

I thought that was an option only on the MacBook Pros - anyway the glossy screen is great, don't have much of a problem with reflections, but I haven't used it outside yet.

The remote controls iTunes, iPhoto, and DVD player. I haven't investigated but there may be some 3rd party stuff out there as well.

hc

colm_c

To be honest if the OP is looking for a larger hard drive - an external one would be a much better option, plus these days you can get a cheap as chips 500GB drive or two.

As disk size increases so does read/write time, you're better off with a faster hard drive (RPM) if any.

As for screws - they're not non-standard - apple screws are pretty much all standard torx sizes.

I've got a 15" MacBook Pro - have to say I love it - a nice improvement over my aging 15" G4 PowerBook.

The remote control does controls front row (DVDs, iTunes, iPhoto etc) mostly but you can get third party apps to let it control powerpoint/keynote/word etc.

luckat

I have a couple of external drives, but it's a bit fiddly using them - I only really use them for backups. Too slow otherwise.

dubmick

I have to say I was going to buy a white macbook but worried about it getting dirty and everyone seems to say it does. €200 extra for the black model is scandalous when all you get is an extra 80gb.

So I think I'll hold off for a while.

colm_c

luckat wrote:

I have a couple of external drives, but it's a bit fiddly using them - I only really use them for backups. Too slow otherwise.

Too slow?

USB 2.0 / firewire should be lighting fast.

colm_c

dubmick wrote:

I have to say I was going to buy a white macbook but worried about it getting dirty and everyone seems to say it does. €200 extra for the black model is scandalous when all you get is an extra 80gb.

It it completely scandalous.

However the reason that they're more expensive is down to the iPod - when the black iPod (same price as the white one) came out it sold about 5x as many as the white one, so Apple figured they could charge more for the Black MacBook because people would pay for it.

As for the white one getting dirty - if you bring it to an Apple Store (o2 experience or g3 here) they will replace the casing for free. I'm not sure if they need to send it away though.

Urban Weigl

The white MacBook stands up very well to dirt.

I think what you are reading about is that the first batch of MacBook's sold a year ago had an issue with the plastic where sweat could make it yellow. Apple fixed all affected MacBook's for free. There is certainly no issue with dirt and the white MacBook at all.

colm_c

I was also referring to the area around the trackpad and keyboard which I've seen a few of them wear and turn a brownish colour.

Hugh_C

colm_c wrote:

It it completely scandalous.

They are terminally cool though ...

(not that I have one or anything ... uh, actually I do)

K.O.Kiki

The problem with the Blackbook is this: I want one. Right now. It's that sexy.
The "black tax" be damned, I have a new goal!