Nintendork Posted May 16, 2006 Posted May 16, 2006 Bias you say? Look at the spec sheet. Design? Superb as always.. no problems there So what about the specs? MacBook At a Glance 1.83GHz or 2.0GHz Intel Core Duo. 13.3-inch (diagonal) TFT glossy widescreen display Apple Remote with Front Row Up to 2GB memory(3) Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950 Slot-loading optical drive Up to 120GB hard drive(3) Built-in 54-Mbps 802.11g AirPort Extreme wireless Analog and digital audio in and out FireWire 400 and USB 2.0 ports iLife ’06, Mac OS X Tiger Everything about it is great. Except the graphics card.. it's a huge step down for Apple and they've compromised on what they stand for- the media power house. I would have bought this laptop without skipping a beat if it weren't for that freaking graphics integrated piece of shit. http://www.apple.com/macbook/ Check it out.. I'm going to have to do a bit of thinking about it, I'm currently rocking one of the 12" iBook G4s and the battery is dead, it's got little to no ram and no wireless. I am torn between what is a strong laptop- has served me well and has a solid graphics card and this new shiny toy. That's what it is- a toy. The price? £749 shipped, with Mac OS X Tiger and iLife 2006 it's a great deal.. but that graphics card is weak. I doubt it can even handle video conferencing through iChat.
gorrit Posted May 16, 2006 Posted May 16, 2006 Sure it sucks, but mainly for gaming. The Mac Mini also has a Intel GMA950 in it, and it can playback HD movies without problems (atleast for me, I just tried a H.264 movie trailer at 1440x1080 and it played smoothly).
Guest Jordan Posted May 16, 2006 Posted May 16, 2006 Its not just that, but the old ones got very very hot. I'm looking into buying a laptop for Uni next year, so i might think about getting a MacBook, as long as i can run boot camp on it
CVD Posted May 16, 2006 Posted May 16, 2006 Its not just that, but the old ones got very very hot.I'm looking into buying a laptop for Uni next year, so i might think about getting a MacBook, as long as i can run boot camp on it WAT DA FUK? ARE YOU FEELIN OK M8?
Nintendork Posted May 16, 2006 Author Posted May 16, 2006 Photoshop, iPhoto, iMovie will be hindered.. I never use iMovie anyway.. but
Charlie Posted May 16, 2006 Posted May 16, 2006 Its not just that, but the old ones got very very hot.I'm looking into buying a laptop for Uni next year, so i might think about getting a MacBook, as long as i can run boot camp on it I can't think of any reason at all you'd want to run Windows on it unless you were planning on playing games...
gaggle64 Posted May 16, 2006 Posted May 16, 2006 I'm joining Uni next year also, and I may get a Applemac Book for my coursework. My PC is going to be upgraded for all that gaming-shizzle.
Colin Posted May 16, 2006 Posted May 16, 2006 Photoshop, iPhoto, iMovie will be hindered..I never use iMovie anyway.. but Absolutely none of them will be hindered at all with running an Intel Graphics chip over a dedicated ATI x1600. You sound confused as to how graphics interfaces run. Unless you're chucking polygons around it won't matter. The only thing it may have trouble with is editing HD video with FCP.
Pyxis Posted May 26, 2006 Posted May 26, 2006 Im buying a white: 2Ghz Intel Core Duo 1GB RAM 100GB Hard Drive They look ace and are great value for money! Will look ace with my white DS lite. The company I work for will pay £500 towards it, so i'll get those specs for £569
Sanchez Posted May 26, 2006 Posted May 26, 2006 On the other hand you lose your reproduction abilities from all the heat it will spew into your lap.
Blackfox Posted May 26, 2006 Posted May 26, 2006 On the other hand you lose your reproduction abilities from all the heat it will spew into your lap. Its not only an iBook that does it. My Turion based lappy throws out a fuck load of heat at times.
Charlie Posted May 27, 2006 Posted May 27, 2006 They're not called laptops anymore, they're officially "Notebooks" and it every single one has a warning in the manual telling you not to do that without something under it. That's every notebook, not just Apple ones...
Sanchez Posted May 27, 2006 Posted May 27, 2006 You took what I said to literally, the point is right now, they run way too hot.
DCK Posted May 27, 2006 Posted May 27, 2006 If I'd buy a Mac I'd install Windows (for the games only, don't flame me) on it and I would want to be able to play games. On the old books, with the X1600, it was possible, but with an integrated graphics 'adapter' it isnt. So shit. I won't buy a Mac though.
Ginger_Chris Posted May 27, 2006 Posted May 27, 2006 I bought a laptop when i went to uni a 2 years ago, and i regrt buying one over a desktop. I never use my laptop as a laptop, i dont need to take it into the library becasue i do physics and theres no ned to use the library. I use my laptop as a desktop pretty much, and due to the lack of upgradability, its sat on my desk with laods of external devices stuck into it. It also needs a 12 inch fan pointed at in during summer so it doesnt overheat. (its a P4 3.2, 1Gb ram,128mb radeon 9600) Definaterly think about wether your going to use a laptop as a laptop, and wether you'd be better off buying a desktop. Because you know nothing about how your life at uni will be (i thought i'd take my laptop to lectures before i started, but i never have etc), its probably better to wait a month after you start and then buy a laptop/desktop based on what your lifestyles like.
Charlie Posted May 27, 2006 Posted May 27, 2006 I bought a laptop when i went to uni a 2 years ago, and i regrt buying one over a desktop. I never use my laptop as a laptop, i dont need to take it into the library becasue i do physics and theres no ned to use the library. I use my laptop as a desktop pretty much, and due to the lack of upgradability, its sat on my desk with laods of external devices stuck into it. It also needs a 12 inch fan pointed at in during summer so it doesnt overheat. (its a P4 3.2, 1Gb ram,128mb radeon 9600) Definaterly think about wether your going to use a laptop as a laptop, and wether you'd be better off buying a desktop. Because you know nothing about how your life at uni will be (i thought i'd take my laptop to lectures before i started, but i never have etc), its probably better to wait a month after you start and then buy a laptop/desktop based on what your lifestyles like. How often do you go home? Think how much harder it would be to go home for a couple of days (if you needed your computer to work) if you had a desktop. They save a lot of space as well.
Ginger_Chris Posted May 28, 2006 Posted May 28, 2006 I only go back every term break (easter, christmas etc), lugging a desktop home wouldn't be much harder than taing my laptop. As it is we have to clear our rooms between each term, so the amount of stuff i'd take wouldnt increase that much. (as im already taking pretty much everything else home on the train anyway). It does depend on alot on how your life-style will be at uni, for me home is about 170 miles away so i dont 'pop home'. As for space, a desktop is similar to, a laptop + external hard drive + external sound card + printer + speakers + all the other crap plugged into it. The point is he's buying a high nd laptop and wanting good graphics. He may as well get a desktop. The only time laptops are rerallyuseful is when you only want to check emails and write essays, and are moving it around. So id probably recommend buying a cheapish, ultra light/thin laptop for your work. All it needs to do is run word/open office, firefox/IE and windows/linux. but if he wants to play games, I'd definaterly recomend a desktop.
jakeee Posted May 28, 2006 Posted May 28, 2006 I was really looking forward to this computer. This was supposed to be my first laptop. Everything seems awesome. The design, the price, the processor but the damn graphics card! Even iBook has a better one!
Fields Posted May 28, 2006 Posted May 28, 2006 If you refuse to buy one because of the integrated graphics, you're a fool. It's a great machine at a great price, and lets be honest, a £750 laptop is never going to be a gaming powerhouse, is it? If you want to play games, get a MacBook Pro or something or, as has already been suggested, a desktop.
jakeee Posted May 29, 2006 Posted May 29, 2006 I think it would be wise to wait for the next graphics chip of Intel. GMA 965. It should be much better than the current 950.
gorrit Posted May 29, 2006 Posted May 29, 2006 I've ordered one, ETA the 31st. I already have a gaming PC, so this should fit me well
Jon Posted June 1, 2006 Posted June 1, 2006 Ive just ordered one also, the graphics isnt the best, but its specifically designed for hd playback which suits me.
reaper673 Posted June 2, 2006 Posted June 2, 2006 I am writing this on my macbook right now and all I can say is that anyone proclaiming it to be shit just because of the graphics card hasn't got a clue. This thing is fast, light, portable and cheap. The only complaint I have is that base RAM isn't enough, but thats only about £60 to fix. I have installed windows and that runs unbelievably well- games like Guild Wars run smoothly and HD trailers are amazing. For a student like me, its the best thing I have ever purchased (writing essays on the new keyboard is so easy ) But for anyone getting this, I have one warning- while it is a great purchase, don't expect to have it on your lap for too long. The area near the magsafe port gets HOT. In reply to something earlier, iphoto and imovie are fine (but upgrade the RAM) but photoshop is USELESS. It isnt universal yet and is being emulated in Rosetta, so it runs at an awful rate. If you want to use it, then wait for them to make it universal (2007) or just use it in windows.
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