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The spotlight turns to notebooks


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The new MacBooks, MacBook Airs and MacBook Pros are here!

 

They were first brought to light for InsanelyMac to see from sharp-eyed Engadget reader TheHAWKS:

http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=131100

 

Someone has already claimed to have gotten a 9600GT (G94 core) working using the new kexts in this thread:

http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?sho...131914&st=0

 

Also, netkas has posted that these kexts could be used for getting the Radeon 4XXX series cards to work.

http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=131374

 

This is the link to the full system profile of the new MacBooks, from which we can find out several things:

http://apcprojects.com/system-profiler.pdf

 

The build number for the MacBook installs is 9F2114 which is using a (shock) NFORCE chipset, MCP79 AHCI Chipset using AppleAHCIPort.kext version 1.5.2, whereas our 9F33 10.5.5 version is using 1.5.1. It also has an IOAHCIFamily.kext and no IOATAFamily.kext

 

They’ve both received internal and external revamps which some hate and some love. They have a body made from one solid piece of aluminum which is promised to be thinner, lighter, and greener, with an LED backlit display. The more expensive MacBook option comes with a backlit keyboard, as do both of the new MacBook Pro offerings. The trackpads are made of glass on all the new notebooks.

 

Graphics: They’ve all got brand new nVidia GeForce graphics cards, the MacBook and MacBook Air both have a nVidia GeForce 9400M with 256MB of shared DDR3 SDRAM, while the MacBook Pro has both a nVidia GeForce 9400M and a 9600M GT with options for either 256MB or 512MB of GDDR3 VRAM.

 

The “old” MacBook is still available (at a lower cost) with the integrated Intel GMA X3100 with 144MB of shared DDR2 SDRAM. The “old” MacBook Pro with the nVidia GeForce 8600M GT still has 512MB of GDDR3 VRAM.

 

Processors: The MacBook has options for 2.0GHz and 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo. The “old” MacBook has a 2.1GHz Intel Core 2 Duo. The MacBook Air has 1.6GHz and 1.86GHz options. The MacBook Pro can come with either 2.4GHz or 2.53GHz, with the “old” MacBook Pro remaining at 2.5GHz.

 

RAM: 2GB is the standard RAM on the new MacBooks, with the “old” MacBook remaining at 1GB standard. MacBook Air comes 2GB standard. 2GB is standard on the least expensive of the MacBook Pros, but 4GB is standard on the higher-end MBP, as well as the “old” MBP.

 

Display: All of the MacBook/MacBook Air offerings are 13.3-inch glossy. The new MacBook Pro is offered only at 15.5-inch glossy as well, no 17-inch or matte option there, the only matte (“anti-glare” or non-glossy) option, or 17-inch option for that matter, comes with the “old” MacBook Pro.

 

Hard drive: The new MacBooks come with options for 160GB, 250GB, 320GB (all 5400 rpm SATA) or a 128GB Solid State Drive (à la previous gen. MacBook Air). The “old” MacBooks come with options for 120GB, 160GB, or 250GB (all 5400 rpm SATA).

 

The MacBook Air offers only two choices, a 120GB 4200 rpm SATA, or a 128GB Solid State Drive (which ups the price by $500 USD).

 

MacBook Pros have many more options, 250GB at either 5400 or 7200 rpm, 320GB at either 5400 or 7200 rpm, or 128GB Solid State Drive. The “old” MacBook Pro comes with 320GB at 5400 or 7200 rpm, or a 128GB Solid State Drive.

 

Battery life: The “old” MacBook and the MacBook Air both come with a promised 4.5 hours of wireless productivity, while every other option (new MacBook, MacBook Pro, and the “old” MacBook Pro) all offer 5 hours of wireless productivity. This can most likely vary greatly, especially with the option for reducing the power consumption of the graphics card with a new power saving feature which must be restarted to work, offered by a new kernel extension “AppleGraphicsControl.kext” .

 

Gigabit ethernet (except on Air), airport extreme N, and iSight are all standard, for usb/firewire options the MacBooks only offer two usb 2.0 ports, the “old” MacBook has two usb 2.0 and one firewire 400. The Air comes with one usb 2.0 port, the MacBook Pro comes with two usb 2.0 ports, one firewire 800, and one expresscard/34 slot, while the “old” MacBook Pro comes with three usb 2.0 ports, one firewire 400, one firewire 800 and one expresscard/34 slot.

 

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Gigabit ethernet (except on Air), airport extreme N, and iSight are all standard, for usb/firewire options the MacBooks only offer two usb 2.0 ports, the “old” MacBook has two usb 2.0 and one firewire 400. The Air comes with one usb 2.0 port, the MacBook Pro comes with two usb 2.0 ports, one firewire 800, and one expresscard/34 slot, while the “old” MacBook Pro comes with three usb 2.0 ports, one firewire 400, one firewire 800 and one expresscard/34 slot.

It seems to me that the new MacBook is a little bit lower class than the "old" MacBook in terms of port availability. No offense to the new ones, i love the new look and how sleek and gorgeous they are. If you look at the port comparisons there are not very many on the new ones. The old MacBook had a firewire port but the new one does not. This is not good for those that use external hard drives a lot like me. I guess the new MacBook Pro is still good since it still has firewire 800 on it but the price difference is $700! Overall both the new MacBook and MacBook Pro great, especially the new all touch trackpad and the killer graphics cards, but for me it just seems like a little bit of a step down from the previous generation in some ways.

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I'm not thrilled with these new notebooks. Only glossy screens (I hate glossy screens), firewire 800 on high end models (I have a lot of firewire 400 equip), and a stupid proprietary video port (not AGAIN!). The 9400m video is a big step up for the Macbook but 9600m for the MBP is not much of an upgrade from the 8600m on the old one.

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It seems to me that the new MacBook is a little bit lower class than the "old" MacBook in terms of port availability. No offense to the new ones, i love the new look and how sleek and gorgeous they are. If you look at the port comparisons there are not very many on the new ones. The old MacBook had a firewire port but the new one does not. This is not good for those that use external hard drives a lot like me. I guess the new MacBook Pro is still good since it still has firewire 800 on it but the price difference is $700! Overall both the new MacBook and MacBook Pro great, especially the new all touch trackpad and the killer graphics cards, but for me it just seems like a little bit of a step down from the previous generation in some ways.

 

I think, this is typical Apple, "1 step forward, 3 steps back". New graphics and chipset, real improvement, but than it goes only downside, no FW, glossy display only, CPU clock less than the old MB ..., so one couldn't be surprised, that the bench comparison of MB early 2008 and late 2008 ends, exactly how it ends - not very good for the late 2008 models :(

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Hm. I am confused now. They're more beautiful, better performance and cheaper so i don't know is it worth to install OSx86 into PC for money. I think one day i will buy it!

Not me. I would like to know the geniuses name that thought it would be a good idea to remove the FIREWIRE :)

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Does the new nvidia chipset in these macbooks mean that it would be easier for the owners of pcs with nforce chipset to skip the "still waiting for root device" related to the NforceATA?

 

Since these new MacBooks use the nVidia MCP79 chipset, it's unknown yet whether or not the AHCI kexts (SATA only, the new MacBooks do not have an IOATAFamily.kext) will work on anything other than MCP79, which is only coming out in PCs just recently.

 

If it can be somehow backported to work on older nForce chipsets then yes, this would benefit everyone with nForce, but if not, then it would only benefit people with new versions of nForce.

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if they had given the option for a matte display and included adapters (or just kept firewire 400 and dvi), i would have gone out and bought one first day. but instead they just lost a customer... and i know im not the only one who feels like this.

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they just lost a customer... and i know im not the only one who feels like this.

That's for sure. I'll just get a Gigabyte 912M instead for the time being when they become available. Sorry Apple, you did this to yourself when you didn't use common sense with the Firewire.

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For one, check the L2, homie.  Among other things, the clock may be lower, but the performance is still an increase.

 

Wrong... Have you seen the benchmarks? The old and new models are very similars in performance. And actually in some benchies the older is better!

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For one, check the L2, homie. Among other things, the clock may be lower, but the performance is still an increase.

 

no offense against you dude, but you mis the point, which was, that the potential of the new chipset wasn't exploit, because Apple "like do a thing by halves", just check the bench.

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