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Contemplating MacBook purchase

DarkCarnival
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DarkCarnival
DarkCarnival
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Ok.. If anyone happen to remember me bashing OSX then yes.. I've done that and maybe it was out of jealousy since it gets a lot more attention than Linux (from a vendor-standpoint, which I think is unfair :censored2: )

 

Aaaanyway.. Recently I've contemplated purchasing a macbook (non-pro) since they seem relatively small and I remember hearing that Apple cases are quite sturdy, that is, apart from the Pro-series (thats what I heard).

 

So my questions are as follows:

 

1) What is the expected batterytime with the standard Macbooks ?

 

2) Are the case actually sturdy ? Presuming I pick white, are the colour-changing issues resolved ?

(I have a hard time justyfying the added price for a colour)

 

3) Is the case reasonably scratch-proof ? I have a laptop with a metal-like surface and small scratches reveal a plain silvery surface which looks BAD.

Are the mac's really white or just "coated"?

 

4) If I end up hating OSX, and it MAY be.. Will the laptop then be linux-supported ? Any quirks to expect ?

The reason why I ask this last thing is because I get the impression that MOST insanelymac.com people are into technology and not just " mac-consumer-zombies-who-love-the-apple-but-haven't-really-looked-at-the-alternatives" :P

 

Specifically I'd like to know if all of this EFI-stuff will affect the ability to report battery-status, throttle the CPU and other things which I believe ACPI is for..

 

 

Any answers will be much appreciated :D The laptop is not for anything than CPU/ram intensive applications, long trips (approx 4 hrs) and writing notes on. I do not expect to be doing any gaming :]

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hecker
hecker
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1) What is the expected batterytime with the standard Macbooks ?
Apple says it's 6 hours. It will depend on what you do though. Based on my personal experience I would say it's more like 4 hours.

 

2) Are the case actually sturdy ? Presuming I pick white, are the colour-changing issues resolved ?

(I have a hard time justyfying the added price for a colour)

The cases are not delicate per-se but there seems to be some serious problems with a few units:

- some cases seem to have been screwed too tightly leading to the top of the lower case (the surface area of the base, so to speak) to pop out at the back.

- opening and closing the lid from a corner instead of from the center creates a relatively strong torsion force leading to broken LCDs (this is true for any notebook actually). The worse thing is that BROKEN LCDs ARE NOT COVERED BY THE APPLE WARRANTY!! They will call you a liar and refuse at all costs to even examine the broken screen unless it is really new and in good contidions. Get apple care if you can.

 

So no. I would not say MacBooks are sturdy at all.

 

Some people have reported some sort of color change on their white MacBooks but the issue seems to have been resolved with the newer models. I recently bought a MacBook myself so its a bit too early for me to know.

 

3) Is the case reasonably scratch-proof ? I have a laptop with a metal-like surface and small scratches reveal a plain silvery surface which looks BAD.

Are the mac's really white or just "coated"?

No, it is not at all scratch proof but there are some pretty decent protection covers sets you can buy. MacBooks are made of white or black plastic and not just "coated". The plastic seems to be very sturdy and looks and feels great.

 

4) If I end up hating OSX, and it MAY be.. Will the laptop then be linux-supported ? Any quirks to expect ?

The reason why I ask this last thing is because I get the impression that MOST insanelymac.com people are into technology and not just "mac-consumer-zombies-who-love-the-apple-but-haven't-really-looked-at-the-alternatives"

If you are not sure about the OS X system then maybe you should consider buying a non-apple notebook and run OSX86 on it.

 

I love my MacBook and I am very happy with the overall specs. I use it mainly for work (programming, emailing, transferring data, wording and some photoshopping) so the graphics card problem does not affect me at all. The notebook is really fast and if you buy a lot of RAM you may never encounter any type of lagging.

 

Cheers,

 

hecker

 

PS: Check out this site to read about more current MacBook problems (take into consideration that most of the problems have already been resolved or may not affect the newest MacBook models): http://www.appledefects.com/wiki/index.php?title=MacBook

DarkCarnival
DarkCarnival
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Thanks so far for your input (a GREAT reply :thumbsup_anim: )

 

Based on that information. It would seem that my conclusion should be that Mac's aren't of the same quality as I thought.. However in regards to OSX... I've tried OSX86 a few times but the hardware support is Horrible (because Apple's support is horrible) and frankly I don't have any wish to run it like that.

 

 

Either you run Windows or Linux on a normal laptop. Or get an Apple and run OSX (and whatever stuff it may run)

hecker
hecker
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Posted

Remember that the issues do not affect all of the MacBooks but only a small portion. And many of the problems have been recognized by apple and they offer to fix them with no cost to you. Other than that the machine is beautiful. fast and reliable thanks to OSX. It's the coolest notebook I have seen and I'm sure that the newer models have outgrown the teething period of this model. Maybe you should go to the Apple store and let one of the clerks show you the MacBook and answer all of your questions. I'm sure you'll be glad if you give yourself that chance :thumbsup_anim:

 

Remember that you can also install windows on the MacBook and it works really well. I don't know about Linux because I haven't tried it out yet but I'm sure the must be a thread in this forum somewhere.

 

Cheers,

 

hecker

Neo0019
Neo0019
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Posted
Thanks so far for your input (a GREAT reply :) )

 

Based on that information. It would seem that my conclusion should be that Mac's aren't of the same quality as I thought.. However in regards to OSX... I've tried OSX86 a few times but the hardware support is Horrible (because Apple's support is horrible) and frankly I don't have any wish to run it like that.

Either you run Windows or Linux on a normal laptop. Or get an Apple and run OSX (and whatever stuff it may run)

 

 

why, don't you just go to an apple store and try one out there? I don't think you should be able to offer an opinion on a product you havent try, I have been using the "REAL" Macs a long time, I have had 4 Powerbooks G4s, two iMacs G4s, and currently an iMac G5 iSight, and a powerbook G4 17", and I haven't had any problems what so ever with any of my macs. If you take care of your macbook it will last you for ever, just like everything else just depends how you take care of your things.

asap18
asap18
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Posted

I just sold my macbook after i got sick of OS X and wanted an old BIOS machine for linux. I used gentoo on it and everything worked except suspend (for me, some have got it working). I just think for compatibility issues, BIOSes will be better until EFI goes mainstream.

DarkCarnival
DarkCarnival
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To those whom urged me to swing by an Apple store:

I live in what can best be described as a gutter of a country technology-wise.

Yup, Denmark is included in the western civilisation, we're quite well off (economy-wise) but you'll hardly find many countries who are more Microsoft-friendly and Denmark (maybe that's why they have a sizeable development house here ?).

 

Everything in Denmark is Microsoft-based. While Laptops are shipping with Linux preloaded in the USA, UK and Germany you almost certainly won't find any Linux-resellers in Denmark. What does this have to do with Apple you ask? Well.. This place is so pro-microsoft that not even Apple products (apart from Ipods!) are on display more than a select few places. And so I can't really go to a store :/

 

So that's why I don't swing by a retailer myself..

 

My LAST 2 questions:

 

1)

Is the macbook hampered by the GMA950 chip in any respect APART from gaming ? (which I wouldn't want to do on a Mac, anyway).

Specifically, are the 3D animations running smoothly and such.

 

2)

Any fair reviews that I can chuck on ? Mostly I see fragments of reviews which just list the specs and that's it. I miss the in-depth reviews that I can find on regular PC notebooks :whistle:

 

These last questions will finalize my descision (Looking over my cash-reserves, I'll be able to order a beefed up version of the White offering in just 2 days :D )

hecker
hecker
Posted
Posted

My LAST 2 questions:

1)

Is the macbook hampered by the GMA950 chip in any respect APART from gaming ? (which I wouldn't want to do on a Mac, anyway).

Specifically, are the 3D animations running smoothly and such.

No, the chip is not slow. The chip may be slow compared to a MBP but other than that it works really great. I added my XBench scores to this post. I have a geforce FX 6200 in my hacintosh that makes about 110 OpenGL points with Xbench. My MacBook reaches 242. That is pretty fast IMO. The animations and 3D effects are smooth and the OSX UI is very fast. Also keep in mind that the new MacBook series include a 4MB L2 Cache as opposed to 2MB in the older models. This makes quite a difference.

 

2)

Any fair reviews that I can chuck on ? Mostly I see fragments of reviews which just list the specs and that's it. I miss the in-depth reviews that I can find on regular PC notebooks

Take a look at this review. It is a review of the older series but it's very extensive and detailed:

http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?...e+Color+Version

EDIT: this is actually a review of the new MacBooks series! (I think the guy updated it)

 

These last questions will finalize my descision (Looking over my cash-reserves, I'll be able to order a beefed up version of the White offering in just 2 days
If you want my advice get the 2.0GHz white MacBook with 2GB RAM. You wont regret it my friend.

 

Cheers,

 

hecker

xBench.txt

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