Buy a Macbook now?

In article <1148942000.239402.160970.RemoveThis@i39g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>,
<sean.boots.RemoveThis@gmail.com> wrote:

> I'm looking into buying a Macbook (not pro) for personal and school
> use. The issues with the "Pro" scared me, though. Would you recommend
> waiting to see if problems are discovered with the regular Macbook?

I've been holding off and holding off for a while now. I passed on the
Pro models, hoping something smaller and less expensive would come out,
and it did. I put my order in this past Thursday, and am anxiously
awaiting the arrival of a custom configured white 2.0 GHz model (with
1GB RAM, and 80 GB hard drive).

I look at this this way: First, the Macbook Pro was their first foray
into Intel laptops, and no-doubt contributed to improving the design of
the new Macbooks. Second, though it sometimes comes late, Apple has a
fairly good record of standing behind design defects, such as the
heat-related problems with the iBooks.

I bought it without the AppleCare extended warranty initially, but will
definitely purchase it before the one year warranty is up. (Since I'm
using credit for part of this purchase, it doesn't make sense to pay
interest for a year on something I won't use until the second year.)
But I definitely will get the coverage on a laptop, particularly a new
design like this.

So no, I don't feel too hesitant to purchase the new design. I bought
one of the very first iMac G4 models over four years ago, and it's been
a *fantastic* machine. One of the best computer purchases I've made,
and it was an all-new, first-generation model. While all manufacturers
have quirks occasionally, Apple's designs are generally very
well-engineered and well-made.

> Are there any announcements or new product releases
> (software notwithstanding) expected from Apple in the next few months?

Yes. There's *always* something cooler, faster, and less expensive,
just around the corner. You just have to hold out as long as you can,
until you're ready to make your move, and the right product comes down
the line. For me, the new MacBook is that product that screamed "this
is it!" to me.

> Or is it time to jump on the bandwagon?

Yes.

--
Garner R. Miller
Clifton Park, NY =USA=
http://www.garnermiller.com/

In article <1148942000.239402.160970.DeleteThis@i39g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>,
<sean.boots.DeleteThis@gmail.com> wrote:

> I'm looking into buying a Macbook (not pro) for personal and school
> use. The issues with the "Pro" scared me, though. Would you recommend
> waiting to see if problems are discovered with the regular Macbook? Do
> they (Apple) announce when said issues are fixed? (Hardware revisions
> and whatnot.) Are there any announcements or new product releases
> (software notwithstanding) expected from Apple in the next few months?
> Or is it time to jump on the bandwagon?
>
> This is crazy, though. The thought of actually owning a Mac is
> somewhat unbelieveable. Thanks for any comments!

It might be prudent to get the next version. But, what the hell, that's
what warranties are for.
So far all the Macbook reports are pretty positive. I'd watch
newsgroups like this one. If there is going to be something wrong with
them, you will hear about it pretty soon here.
Will there be new product soon? Of course there will. It is one of the
basic laws of physics. A new one will arrive straight after you buy
something. No matter how long you wait. It is quantum Murphy's
electrodynamics.

Seriously. Apple never pre-announces anything. But they did say the
whole Mac line will be Intel by the end of the year. Expect a beefy
desktop or two before Christmas.
>

> I'm looking into buying a Macbook (not pro) for personal and school
> use. The issues with the "Pro" scared me, though. Would you recommend
> waiting to see if problems are discovered with the regular Macbook?
> <snip>
> Or is it time to jump on the bandwagon?

I also waited few months before I put in my order for MBP and after
using is for a few weeks I decided to get also MB almost immediately
when they came out. Now I have both - one as pretty much desktop
replacement for ocasional moving around the house (MBP) and MB is for
pretty much for everything else - daily mails, lugging it around with me
on business trips to coffee shops, out by the pool, etc.

Both machines are very good and each has its own purpose (at lest for
me). If I were to decide again if I shell out the money I would. And did
I already say that I'm very happy with both . Both are great and for
what you seem to be looking for the MB is good machine and you will be
happy with it. I use the less powerful white MB and it works just fine
even Office runs faster via Rosetta than sometimes on my G4.

As far as running hot - well both run hotter than my 17'' PB G4 1.67GHz,
but hey this is Intel and they are always running much more hot than G4
ever were. What I love though is very quiet cooling compared with hust
about any PC laptop that I had my hands on (many).

As for announcements - well Apple is pretty clear about any recalls and
warranty replacements (as any other manufacturer). Otherwise they had
this habit of announcing new products during major shows, but they seem
to be gettung away from that practice. Best is usualy to screen the
rumour sites and see what is the buzz (they are surprisingly accurate).

> This is crazy, though. The thought of actually owning a Mac is
> somewhat unbelieveable. Thanks for any comments!

You will get used to it quite fast and most likely never come back to
Windows.

Jan

On 2006-05-30 00:20:27 -0400, musiljan DeleteThis @fastmail.us (Honza) said:

>> I'm looking into buying a Macbook (not pro) for personal and school
>> use. The issues with the "Pro" scared me, though. Would you recommend
>> waiting to see if problems are discovered with the regular Macbook? <snip>
>> Or is it time to jump on the bandwagon?
>
> I also waited few months before I put in my order for MBP and after
> using is for a few weeks I decided to get also MB almost immediately
> when they came out. Now I have both - one as pretty much desktop
> replacement for ocasional moving around the house (MBP) and MB is for
> pretty much for everything else - daily mails, lugging it around with me
> on business trips to coffee shops, out by the pool, etc.
> Both machines are very good and each has its own purpose (at lest for
> me). If I were to decide again if I shell out the money I would. And did
> I already say that I'm very happy with both . Both are great and for
> what you seem to be looking for the MB is good machine and you will be
> happy with it. I use the less powerful white MB and it works just fine
> even Office runs faster via Rosetta than sometimes on my G4.
>
> As far as running hot - well both run hotter than my 17'' PB G4 1.67GHz,
> but hey this is Intel and they are always running much more hot than G4
> ever were. What I love though is very quiet cooling compared with hust
> about any PC laptop that I had my hands on (many).
> As for announcements - well Apple is pretty clear about any recalls and
> warranty replacements (as any other manufacturer). Otherwise they had
> this habit of announcing new products during major shows, but they seem
> to be gettung away from that practice. Best is usualy to screen the
> rumour sites and see what is the buzz (they are surprisingly accurate).
>
>> This is crazy, though. The thought of actually owning a Mac is
>> somewhat unbelieveable. Thanks for any comments!
>
> You will get used to it quite fast and most likely never come back to
> Windows.
>
> Jan

I'm waiting because Intel is supposed to released their new chips in
July-August and the update to Tiger should not be far behind that,

On 2006-05-29 15:33:20 -0700, sean.boots.RemoveThis@gmail.com said:

> I'm looking into buying a Macbook (not pro) for personal and school
> use. The issues with the "Pro" scared me, though. Would you recommend
> waiting to see if problems are discovered with the regular Macbook? Do
> they (Apple) announce when said issues are fixed? (Hardware revisions
> and whatnot.) Are there any announcements or new product releases
> (software notwithstanding) expected from Apple in the next few months?
> Or is it time to jump on the bandwagon?
>
> This is crazy, though. The thought of actually owning a Mac is
> somewhat unbelieveable. Thanks for any comments!

What about MacBook Pro is scary???

I bought one the first day they became available and it's a great
machine - and I've seen NONE of the anecdotally reported "problems"
cause any real trouble. They exist but are greatly exaggerated.

I run both OSX & Windows XP on mine - it is stable, fast and reliable.....

Yes, it runs hot - so get a cooling pad if you must. Even without one
it works fine....

I've never heard any of the reported "noises" - didn't hear any
"noises" trying out multiple machines at the Apple store and other
outlets...!

Don't believe most of what you see posted in NGs - especially all that
"bad" news....

PC

In article <2006053009571616807-proconsul@coxnet>,
Proconsul <proconsul RemoveThis @cox.net> wrote:

> I bought one the first day they became available and it's a great
> machine - and I've seen NONE of the anecdotally reported "problems"
> cause any real trouble. They exist but are greatly exaggerated.

Just out of curiosity, what leads you to conclude that the reports were
"greatly exaggerated", given that you personally have never experienced
any of the reported problems? I don't think anyone's ever claimed that
all MacBook Pros were affected, so of course there are people who have
had no trouble at all.

--
Tom "Tom" Harrington
Macaroni, Automated System Maintenance for Mac OS X.
Version 2.0: Delocalize, Repair Permissions, lots more.
See http://www.atomicbird.com/

Smee <farkoff.RemoveThis@mac.com> wrote:

> I'm waiting because Intel is supposed to released their new chips in
> July-August and the update to Tiger should not be far behind that,

Those chips will be for desktops, not laptops. Don't expect much more
than speed bumps for the laptop line until next year.

As for Leopard (10.5), don't expect any real news (as oppsed to rumors)
regarding a ship date until WWDC in early August. Apple will probably
hold back Leopard until there's been some time to test it thoroughly on
the new 64-bit machines.

On 2006-05-30 15:38:55 -0400, massello.RemoveThis@newsguy.com (Neill Massello) said:

> Smee <farkoff.RemoveThis@mac.com> wrote:
>
>> I'm waiting because Intel is supposed to released their new chips in
>> July-August and the update to Tiger should not be far behind that,
>
> Those chips will be for desktops, not laptops. Don't expect much more
> than speed bumps for the laptop line until next year.
> As for Leopard (10.5), don't expect any real news (as oppsed to rumors)
> regarding a ship date until WWDC in early August. Apple will probably
> hold back Leopard until there's been some time to test it thoroughly on
> the new 64-bit machines.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060529-6936.html

New Intel roadmap reveals Conroe "solo", mobile plans

5/29/2006 12:21:33 PM, by Jon Hannibal Stokes

In Q207, budget box builders are going to have quite a few nice options
from Intel, if the latest roadmap from the company is any guide. The
roadmap, turned up by Daily Tech, shows a "Conroe-L," described as a
single-core version of Conroe aimed at the low end. Conroe-L will
probably be joined in the low end by the last remnants of the Pentium 4
and Celeron D lines, from which Intel will try to squeeze the very last
drops of revenue before finally putting Netburst out to pasture.

I hold out high hopes for all of the single-core versions of Core 2
that Intel will release, including Conroe-L. As I've pointed out in my
coverage of Core 2, the new architecture is a single-threaded monster,
and a single-core version of it should be quite capable for a variety
of mid-range to low-end tasks. I think Apple in particular, a company
with much experience exploiting low-end processors by putting them into
innovative enclosures, could do some nice things with Conroe-L...
[queue the Apple media center speculation].

Daily Tech also has the goods on Intel's upcoming mobile roadmap, which
shows two main waves of Merom rollouts. The initial wave is slated for
this August, when Intel will launch the first round of Merom parts for
use with the existing 667MHz FSB "Napa" Centrino platform. The next
Merom rollout will come in Q207, and will be accompanied by a new
chipset ("Santa Rosa"), a new socket (Socket P), and an 800MHz FSB.

>> Core 2 won't really come into its own as a mobile architecture until
>> the release of Socket P, when the higher FSB speed will be more able to
>> keep the new architecture's massive vector resources fed with data.
>> Nonetheless, the first Merom parts should provide a signficant boost
>> over the current Core (Yonah) chips. So if you can possibly hold off on
>> that laptop upgrade until August, the Core 2-based designs from Apple
>> and others should be well worth the wait.
>>
>> [ Discuss

On 2006-05-30, Proconsul <proconsul.DeleteThis@cox.net> wrote:
> I've never heard any of the reported "noises" - didn't hear any
> "noises" trying out multiple machines at the Apple store and other
> outlets...!


The noise is real but it's also fairly high pitched, fairly low
intensity, and only occurs under specific circumstances. You'd never
hear it in an Apple store or a *$ or a typical office setting. You
might if you use it at home and your ears still work well with high
frequencies.

I can hear it when I work at home in a very quiet room, but only when
the machine is on, running from the battery, and not doing much. Even
then, one of the three people I demonstrated it to heard nothing,
presumably because he's lost some hearing in that range -- not at all
unusual if you're over 40.

All in all it's not a big deal, and there are hacks to kill this noise
if it bothers you. QuietMPB is one.

On 2006-05-30 19:17:36 -0700, D P Schreber <schreberdp DeleteThis @rayban.net> said:

> On 2006-05-30, Proconsul <proconsul DeleteThis @cox.net> wrote:
>> I've never heard any of the reported "noises" - didn't hear any
>> "noises" trying out multiple machines at the Apple store and other
>> outlets...!
>
>
> The noise is real but it's also fairly high pitched, fairly low
> intensity, and only occurs under specific circumstances. You'd never
> hear it in an Apple store or a *$ or a typical office setting. You
> might if you use it at home and your ears still work well with high
> frequencies.
>
> I can hear it when I work at home in a very quiet room, but only when
> the machine is on, running from the battery, and not doing much. Even
> then, one of the three people I demonstrated it to heard nothing,
> presumably because he's lost some hearing in that range -- not at all
> unusual if you're over 40.
>
> All in all it's not a big deal, and there are hacks to kill this noise
> if it bothers you. QuietMPB is one.

I appreciate your input - and while I did say that "nolse" exists, I
also said it's "effect", etc., was greatly exaggerated by most of the
anecdotal reports posted in this and similar venues....

Those who might have a really "noisy" machine can no doubt get it
exchanged by the Apple folks without much of a fuss....

On balance, I maintain that it's not serious enough to prevent anyone
from buying one of these superior machines.....

PC

In article <2006053009571616807-proconsul@coxnet>,
Proconsul <proconsul DeleteThis @cox.net> wrote:

> On 2006-05-29 15:33:20 -0700, sean.boots DeleteThis @gmail.com said:
>
> > I'm looking into buying a Macbook (not pro) for personal and school
> > use. The issues with the "Pro" scared me, though. Would you recommend
> > waiting to see if problems are discovered with the regular Macbook? Do
> > they (Apple) announce when said issues are fixed? (Hardware revisions
> > and whatnot.) Are there any announcements or new product releases
> > (software notwithstanding) expected from Apple in the next few months?
> > Or is it time to jump on the bandwagon?
> >
> > This is crazy, though. The thought of actually owning a Mac is
> > somewhat unbelieveable. Thanks for any comments!
>
> What about MacBook Pro is scary???
>
> I bought one the first day they became available and it's a great
> machine - and I've seen NONE of the anecdotally reported "problems"
> cause any real trouble. They exist but are greatly exaggerated.
>
> I run both OSX & Windows XP on mine - it is stable, fast and reliable.....
>
> Yes, it runs hot - so get a cooling pad if you must. Even without one
> it works fine....
>
> I've never heard any of the reported "noises" - didn't hear any
> "noises" trying out multiple machines at the Apple store and other
> outlets...!
>
> Don't believe most of what you see posted in NGs - especially all that
> "bad" news....

I bought a MacBook Pro in early March. It serves me well.

I saw the MacBook at the new NYC Apple Store on 5th Avenue recently and
it does not look nearly as well built and sturdy as the MacBook Pro.

On 2006-05-31 05:51:45 -0700, Stan Horwitz <stan DeleteThis @temple.edu> said:

> In article <2006053009571616807-proconsul@coxnet>,
> Proconsul <proconsul DeleteThis @cox.net> wrote:
>
>> On 2006-05-29 15:33:20 -0700, sean.boots DeleteThis @gmail.com said:
>>
>>> I'm looking into buying a Macbook (not pro) for personal and school
>>> use. The issues with the "Pro" scared me, though. Would you recommend
>>> waiting to see if problems are discovered with the regular Macbook? Do
>>> they (Apple) announce when said issues are fixed? (Hardware revisions
>>> and whatnot.) Are there any announcements or new product releases
>>> (software notwithstanding) expected from Apple in the next few months?
>>> Or is it time to jump on the bandwagon?
>>>
>>> This is crazy, though. The thought of actually owning a Mac is
>>> somewhat unbelieveable. Thanks for any comments!
>>
>> What about MacBook Pro is scary???
>>
>> I bought one the first day they became available and it's a great
>> machine - and I've seen NONE of the anecdotally reported "problems"
>> cause any real trouble. They exist but are greatly exaggerated.
>>
>> I run both OSX & Windows XP on mine - it is stable, fast and reliable.....
>>
>> Yes, it runs hot - so get a cooling pad if you must. Even without one
>> it works fine....
>>
>> I've never heard any of the reported "noises" - didn't hear any
>> "noises" trying out multiple machines at the Apple store and other
>> outlets...!
>>
>> Don't believe most of what you see posted in NGs - especially all that
>> "bad" news....
>
> I bought a MacBook Pro in early March. It serves me well.
>
> I saw the MacBook at the new NYC Apple Store on 5th Avenue recently and
> it does not look nearly as well built and sturdy as the MacBook Pro.

Agreed - but then the iBook wasn't a PowerBook either......

The MacBook Pro blows the doors off the MacBooks...... Video
performance alone is superior, not to mention basic operations. OTOH, I
wish the Pro was as easy to disassemble should one wish to change the
HD as it is in the MacBooks.....

Each series of machines fits it own market......

PC

BreadWithSpam.DeleteThis@fractious.net wrote:
>... there's an interesting piece on http://www.macdevcenter.com
> right now from James Duncan Davidson about too much thermal
> paste between the main chips on the logic board and their heat
> sink. He takes is MacBookPro apart and shows pix.
>

Great internals coverage, but I don't agree with the author's
conclusion that a lower case temperature means he's improved
the cooling of the main chips. All else being equal, if he's
improved the heat transfer away from the main chips, the places
where the heat is going (heat pipes, heat sinks and nearby
hardware such as the case), must be hotter as they dump more
heat to the external environment.

--
Clem
"If you push something hard enough, it will fall over."
- Fudd's first law of opposition