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The spotlight turns to notebooks

realityiswhere

By realityiswhere

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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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crossbones

crossbones 0

Posted

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.

http://www.photodon.com/lcdprotect-sheet.htm#charttop

 

They have pre-cut glare reduction that completely gets rid of the glare.

 

2nd, they have a DVI cable attachment for the Macbook Pro or a VGA for that matter

3rd they have 400-800 converters. Jobs said this.

Maxintosh

Maxintosh 0

Posted

they have 400-800 converters.

As I understand it these don't work so good...

Paranoid Marvin

Paranoid Marvin 1

Posted

Ergh, the new Macbooks are hideously expensive here!

Must be the exchange rate :)

mifki

mifki 0

Posted

whoever buys a new laptop will look like and idiot when apple refreshes the line in early 2009 :wacko:

badeavasile

badeavasile 0

Posted

whoever buys a new laptop will look like and idiot when apple refreshes the line in early 2009 :P

 

:D I'm pretty sure of that. Cause no matter how good and nice these brand new laptops are, something's VERY wrong about them. "Buy the most beautiful and simple laptop on the planet and some hundred extra cables next week!" Is this Job's new concept about wireless? :) I've never understood why Apple sales cables and expensive accessories instead of just great hardware... I mean I know why... My life is full of accessories already and I got 61 different kinds of cables at home! (count them one day) Is somehow the new line of laptops too cheep or too easy to carry? How many companies selling computer cables at $99.00 do you know? What about the older cables? What about the environment poem? And how about the 17" users? Santa is gonna miss them all this year :D I love and I hate in the same time my Gillette razor. Buying a new blade reserve is like buying a new razor. And that's why I think I'll wear a beard in the future :| saving my money and the planet... I hate this "better and more affordable" abracadabra and the "environmental commitment" stuff.

 

Mr. Jobs, that was a smart move! But far from perfect! People want to use the laptops, not to expose them!

Maxintosh

Maxintosh 0

Posted

The old MacBook had a firewire port but the new one does not.

Yes this definitely sucks, but I think Apple is marketing the new Macbooks as a gateway to get you to buy the Macbook Pro instead.

 

The top Macbook is already 1600.00, and once you're willing to pay that, then the Macbook Pro (for 400.00 more) and offers a bigger screen, a FireWire 800 port, sightly better graphics and a ExpressCard/34 slot, doesn't look so bad (at two grand). This strategy could easily backfire on Apple, as 1600.00 may be the limit that someone can afford, and so instead of paying more to get a Pro, they just might forget about buying a Macbook altogether. I've heard many people on the net say they've walked away from a buying a new Macbook altogether for these exact reasons.

CLiDE FTW!!1

CLiDE FTW!!1 0

Posted

Yes this definitely sucks, but I think Apple is marketing the new Macbooks as a gateway to get you to buy the Macbook Pro instead.

 

The top Macbook is already 1600.00, and once you're willing to pay that, then the Macbook Pro (for 400.00 more) and offers a bigger screen, a FireWire 800 port, sightly better graphics and a ExpressCard/34 slot, doesn't look so bad (at two grand). This strategy could easily backfire on Apple, as 1600.00 may be the limit that someone can afford, and so instead of paying more to get a Pro, they just might forget about buying a Macbook altogether. I've heard many people on the net say they've walked away from a buying a new Macbook altogether for these exact reasons.

 

 

Agreed. 13" MBP anyone?

(MoC)

(MoC) 1

Posted

whoever buys a new laptop will look like and idiot when apple refreshes the line in early 2009 :D

 

Yeah; they're trying to sell all the {censored} out now, and a redesign basically means nothing. They just upped the speed by a bit and whoop-de-do, new Mac's. :D

izzy22

izzy22 0

Posted

Ok guys i personally think that the new MB AND MBP ARE HIDEOUS!!!!!!!! WHOEVER THOUGH THAT THE COLOR SCHEME AND THE LOOK OF THE MACHINE AT THE TIME OF DESIGN WAS BEAUTIFUL NEEDS TO BE SHOT OR FIRED!!!!!, the feeling of the new laptops is weird, yes i have to admit that the chipset they choose is better, the graphics are such a huge improvement (i hate intel GMA) and also the processors are quite good, the new touch pad is also nice, but what's with the black detail around the screen?!! that's what i hate, and also they change the more classy and elegant looking keyboard of the MBP for some cheap ass plasticky feeling one, yes it does still has the backlight and everything but yuck what an ugly keyboard they put on those things, i know the other keyboard was plastic as well but it looked a HELL OF A LOT BETTER then the one that the new MBP has, and as right now there is no difference whatsoever between the MBP and the MB in terms of looks and features with exception of the graphics and processor speed, so really if u are gonna get a MB u might as well consider the option of getting a MBP to get better ENHANCEMENTS to the unit u are getting, also the ports got reduced in both units, they whent for a proprietary video port so if u need to use u mac in let's say a conference presentation u have to get an adapter that apple sells u for 100 bucks so u can use ur unit, idk what u guys think but isn't the whole purpose of having a laptop to use it whenever u like without the need of carrying with u a whole bunch of extra cables but the power adapter?

 

Apple as always have done the same thing, try to give the costumer 2 options from which more than likely the costumer is going to go by the most expensive one because they want to get as much profit as possible, and no only they sell u a mac for a lot of money but they also u have to go get extra cables so u can use ur laptop for what it was meant to be a portable unit that u can use on the go, magic term PORTABLE which means no extra things to carry around with u all the time. The new units are lighter yes but the whole feeling of the thing is just idk weird, now the "old" MB was also an overpriced plastic unit, there was nothing special to it but the bluetooth and the Apple logo in the unit out of that nothing, plastic everywhere including the shell, that's why the MBP was so beautiful in contrast with the MB, but now u cant differ between them, if u are going to sell and expensive top of the line machine u might as well make it distinctive for the rest of the other laptops that u are selling.

Maxintosh

Maxintosh 0

Posted

i personally think that the new MB AND MBP ARE HIDEOUS!!!!!!!!

Hideous? They look great! Make an appointment with your optometrist and you'll see. In fact they're probably one of the best laptops around - except for the whole Firewire snafu. Apple has made a LOT of bad decisions lately and this Firewire issue starting to scare me - Firewire is after all an Apple creation.

 

It would be as if Lamborghini designed and built the most incredible sports car - and then put cement tires on it ;)

KennyW

KennyW 0

Posted

Though many express their opposition to the black strip (and glossiness) around the LCD screen, I am sure it is implemented in design not without its own reason.

 

If you are in the AV field playing with projectors, you will note that a thick black border is a common feature for projector screens and in cinemas. Not that it will make any measurable difference to the scientific specification of the picture in display but various studies have showed that our eyes and mind will be cheated easily to feel a better visual quality in terms of the screen color and contrast. It is cheap and takes up little screen space but will have discernible perceptive effects.

 

Hence, in all Apple's display, you will see this design, from notebook, iMac to the new Cinema display.

snuff-stuff

snuff-stuff 0

Posted

the update is just an epic fail.

CLiDE FTW!!1

CLiDE FTW!!1 0

Posted

wtf, the new MB and MBP are far from hideous... best looking laptops on the market, easily.

Maxintosh

Maxintosh 0

Posted

wtf, the new MB and MBP are far from hideous... best looking laptops on the market, easily.

Yep, and they are getting great reviews too!

gizmoarena

gizmoarena 0

Posted

I don't know why, I still like the previous macbooks (white ones).

SticMAC™

SticMAC™ 0

Posted

I'm now completely SticMAC!!

I just unboxed my new MacBook, WOW!!!

It's actually kinda boring, you start it up, register it with your REAL name, and thats it!

 

Luckily I have 250GB of space to load all the software I want, need, might need, might want, think I might need, want and some just incase I need it and didn't know I needed it!!

 

SticMAC

StiCMAN

Ariel3d

Ariel3d 0

Posted

sticMAC you're so crazy!

 

Why would you want to JUST use a computer, you need to learn about kext, darwin, terminal, kernels, device id's and all that stuff, otherwise, what would you do with your computer?use it?that's just plain boring jajaja.

 

Note: congratulations for your macbook :(

SticMAC™

SticMAC™ 0

Posted

Dude, look at my SIG, and my post count I have and done it ALL!!

The "missus" decided I needed to declutter the desk, so I got this and my Cinema display is being delivered in 2 days!

 

SticMAC

sticMAC you're so crazy!

 

Why would you want to JUST use a computer, you need to learn about kext, darwin, terminal, kernels, device id's and all that stuff, otherwise, what would you do with your computer?use it?that's just plain boring jajaja.

 

Note: congratulations for your macbook :(

heyster

heyster 0

Posted

Why we see already this topic for more then a month on the start page?

Are all the moderators having a flue? :(

caenis

caenis 0

Posted

hehe...i noticed that too, this website seems to not have many updates lately, maybe they are busy or something i suppose :D

SticMAC™

SticMAC™ 0

Posted

Just upgraded the Memory to 4GB!!

There is definitely a noticeable difference in working on the machine, best €100.00 I've spent so far!

 

Pm me if anybody wants to buy: 2GB (two x 1GB SO-DIMMs) of 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM (PC3-8500)

 

SticMAC

upinthecloude

upinthecloude 1

Posted

I know how that feels. OS X 86 was a bit more fun for me.

 

I just bought a macbook pro too. the old revision though.

 

I just had to get OSX working on my desktop, so here I am again trying to iron things out.

 

But still, I'm so envious of you.

 

I wish I had a new macbook with DDR3 compatibility. and that dual graphix power saving system thingy, AND THE UNIBODY Contruction. Damn, there is a noticeable difference when comparing the build quality of the new and old macbooks.

 

I'm now completely SticMAC!!

I just unboxed my new MacBook, WOW!!!

It's actually kinda boring, you start it up, register it with your REAL name, and thats it!

 

Luckily I have 250GB of space to load all the software I want, need, might need, might want, think I might need, want and some just incase I need it and didn't know I needed it!!

 

SticMAC

StiCMAN


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