Apple catch-all thread
Tuesday, February 26th, 2008 - 3:18pm
This thread is for Mac & Apple news and info and questions/comments/etc. (My only request is to keep the over-priced comments to yourself. Half the time you're not making an apples to apples comparison and the other half of the time everyone already knows.)
Anyway today is a great time to get a Mac laptop. They refreshed their model lines and the refurb prices on the old models dropped like a Rock.
Old MBP refurbs are $1449.
Old entry level MBs are $849. The old black mbs are only $1049. Both refurbs.
The new laptops all got faster cpus (new intel line) with bigger hard drives and on the MBP you get extra video ram and the multi-touch trackpad. The 2 higher-end Macbooks now come with 2gigs of memory.
I'm happy with my Rev1 macbook as my daily driver. I do wish for more out of it, and I'm waiting on the updated LED backlights, but it's a very capable machine.
Mystic Violet wrote:
I didn't think I'd be all that bothered when the new MBP updates came out, but it still kinda stings. The low end is my Pro now with a bigger hard drive, for $500 less. There were a couple of emo tears over that.
I have yet to get very excited about multi-touch trackpads. Someday I'll hop on that train.
My brother has been debating making the switch with a Macbook, at my continual strong urging. The last time I talked to him, he was thinking more of getting a Dell because it's far cheaper. I haven't found the magic combination of words to convey how the Macbook as a whole is worth $400 extra. Any ideas would be appreciated.
"Even though that place should only be fifteen or twenty minutes away geographically, in actual practice - between the hours of four and seven - Redmond might as well orbit the Earth." - Tycho, Penny Arcade
Well does he play console or pc games? If he plays console games then some of the reasons folks like playing console games are the same reasons for switching to a Mac.
Anyway I ordered a refurb black Macbook.
The size/weight to power ratio of the MBP is very good. 5.3 pounds and 1" thick with a 2.4ghz C2D, 2 gb ram, and an 8600 GT are great specs for the size/weight.
My MBP is the 2.6 GHZ with 4MB Cache, 256 GB Geforce 8600GT and 4 gigs of ram. I kind of felt a litle mad that I could have got this, for about $500 less with twice the video ram and more cache, I just don't know how much of a performance boost I would have recieved.
I really enjoy my mac though. I don't think I'll ever buy a PC...just suits me for everything I need to do.
For instance, there are 108 beads in a Catholic rosary and there are 108 stitches in a baseball. When I learned that, I gave Jesus a chance. ~Ron Shelton, Bull Durham, 1988
I am thinking about making the move to a mac, im still undecided however. I would be picking up a mac book pro if i did (i like to do some gaming), but have a question for the people in the know.
Are you able to upgrade the video card ?
I'm not sure you can never upgrade a video card in a notebook. Just RAM and HD.
For instance, there are 108 beads in a Catholic rosary and there are 108 stitches in a baseball. When I learned that, I gave Jesus a chance. ~Ron Shelton, Bull Durham, 1988
There are some that can be upgraded. I believe GameGuru just said he replaced an 8600GT with an 8700GT, but those are few and far between.
In the case of the MBP, no. The video "card" is a soldered chipset. It just has dedicated RAM. I'm sure someone will correct me if that has changed, but I doubt it.
Apple has never been big about upgrading video cards. They'd much rather you upgrade your Mac. Notebooks (especially thin ones) are a special blend of "Hell No!"
Ya, thats what I thought. It really annoys me because the last laptop I bought, aged very quickly (Same with all technology i guess).
If you're in the market for a MBP check out Amazon. Great deals (right now) on the old MBP product line and you can get the new models for a nice discount too. (no tax, free shipping and rebates.) MacMall is a good place to shop for Macs as well as the Apple refurb store.
Yeah the way to upgrade your Mac is to buy a new one and sell your old one. The old ones tend to have high resale values as far as computers go.
Geesh, pusher man!
Probably need to step back and think about how much I'd really game on a notebook.
I'm floating right now. Dell 1730, waiting for the x17 Alienware, MBP, and plenty of other (many cheap) options. . . Of course, those refurbs aren't going to last forever.
Hanta: While the MBP isn't upgradable, that 8600GT isn't a slouch. With refurb pricing, you can actually get them cheaper than the "better equipped" PC equivalents. The PC equivalents aren't going to be any more upgradable than the MacBook. If you're interested in a MBP, model refresh time really provides great deals.
Yep model refresh time is a good time to buy either new or old models.
How's the wireless on the MBPs for you MBP owners? I heard some complaints about weak wireless signal. Is that just anecdotal or ?
Man I was going to get the old MBP for $1500ish, but eh I really only wanted the vid card and paying $450 for it seemed like alot. Yeah I get the bigger screen and nicer body I suppose, but it's also larger which isn't always desirable for a laptop. Then the hard drive was smaller and it's a pain (and risky) to upgrade on the MBPs. ON top of it I can build a 8600gt pc for under $450 easy to satisfy some gaming needs.
We'll see though. I have to test out WoW on my Macbook when it comes to see if that at least runs smooth enough for me. If not I may just get a MBP if they are still available on the cheap.
I tried WOW on my wife's macbook (2.0ghz, 2gb ram), really had to bottom out the resolution and settings to get reasonable (but still kinda jerky) framerates. Doable for solo/small groups, but i'd be hesitant to do it for serious sessions. Plus it's just painful to look at like that. The newest macbooks have upgraded integrated graphics, so you might eek out a bit better performance out of it.
I'll know Apple is serious about gaming when they put in something more dedicated than integrated graphics on their mainstream notebook line. The graphics in these machines just don't cut it for serious gaming, and its what a good chunk of the mac-using population has.
I have an older iMac with the ATI x1600. I run windows in bootcamp and get reasonable performance out of 3d games, but certainly no powerhouse. WOW and Source engine (HL2, TF2) run really well. Bioshock makes it whimper ever so slightly. Crysis would probably cause it to implode, but I haven't tried it. I'm content with this level of performance, but I assiduously avoid looking at any really competent PC gaming performance because it'll totally spoil it for me.
Steam Community ID: LastExile[gwj]
Ironclad Online: lastexile
Why would someone 'serious about gaming' consider an entry-level laptop? Seems a bit of an oxy-moron to me. Apple isn't serious about gaming on the Macbook line any more than Dell is serious about gaming on their entry level XPS line - it isn't the target audience.
I ran the Crysis demo on my 2.0 GHz iMac with 2 gig of RAM. It ran on the very worst of every setting. Any move up caused it to become a slide show.
But I ran World in Conflict and TF2 just fine.
I have the black Macbook, but I wouldn't consider gaming on it, other than Poker Academy. I haven't even gotten Boot Camp going on it yet. I still think if PC gaming is important to you, Mac's are just not a good option. They are however, great at everything else. I doubt I will ever venture back into the world of PCs.
Personally, I find the lack of upgrades and such liberating. I spend more time enjoying my time computing, and less worrying about if I'm getting all that I should out of my machine.
Xbox Live: JayhawkerGWJ
last.fm: JayhawkerGWJ
Because they want a smaller portable laptop in that price range for purposes other than gaming?
At least that's why I got mine. I do hope that I can at least play some WoW on it, but if I can't then so be it. It's not my only gaming rig.
That makes sense, trip1eX. I guess the question should really have read, "why would anyone serious about gaming expect an entry-level laptop to be a serious-gaming-machine?"
I can definitely see wanting to use it for games, but expecting Apple to turn a Macbook into a serious gaming machine is unrealistic, etc.
If you are wanting an apple laptop to do any gaming on, dont go for the MB, go for MBP. I myself have demi's old powerbook G4 and it rocks, I am trying to find a newer MBP or MB to play WoW on and other games, nothing too powerful but just to play it semi-decently. I have my windows desktop and PS3 for serious gaming. I also want something for photo/video/audio editing but dont have the desk space for another desktop
Also, I am refurbishing an iBook G3 for my brother and force him to learn it.
I have the Tech Support Turrets and I am an apple user and PROUD of it.
You may want to check retail for the old MBP, as well as MBs. I was in Best Buy today, and they had the old versions on sale to make room for the updates. Some good deals to be had there.
Xbox Live: JayhawkerGWJ
last.fm: JayhawkerGWJ
Macbooks (and Mac Minis) have Intel "integrated graphics controllers" which is not a seperate graphics chipset and uses the system memory for its functions. It's not a great solution for gaming, even WoW.
We shall grapple with the ineffable, and see if we may not eff it after all.
Black MB arrived. I can't say I really like the screen. Poor viewing angle is the main culprit. It has grown on me a bit and it might be good for a laptop, but I'm used to my nice iMac screen. I'm considering getting something else either a MBP, 24" iMac or MB Air.
Oh and yeah WoW does 25 fps at best on lowest settings. Doable if you're desperate I suppose.
This is my first post from my brand new Macbook Pro--my first Mac, and my first new computer in eight years. It has so far been a joy. I already hate the fact that I'll need to install Windows on it in order to game. But I must do so, since I have years of gaming with which to catch up.
The market has much to answer for as to why gaming is NOT an art. -- illum
Some of the very best games have been ported to the Mac, and I'm pretty sure the Orange Box runs successfully on Crossover. So you can probably delay on an actual Windows install for awhile yet.
I'm still using my first gen aluminum 12" powerbook. I'm way over due to upgrade to a macbook. Here's hoping this years tax return is good!
Xbox Live: Trachalio
Twitter wrote:
For basic stuff that I would be doing here at work, my second gen is great, it is nice not being able to play too many games on it, and probably a good thing as well.
I have the Tech Support Turrets and I am an apple user and PROUD of it.
I plan on keeping the powerbook around as a Delicious Library server, but it's just too painful to use iPhoto, iMovie, and photoshop now
Xbox Live: Trachalio
Twitter wrote:
Just ordered the bottom of the line MacBook for ~1000 after rebates et al., along with 4GBs of memory and a 320 GB from Newegg. Primary use will be software development, photo management, and movie editing. I don't mind the lack of gaming (in fact, it'll be a plus for getting stuff done), as the money I'd spend to make it game worthy I could just buy a PC with. Of course, I'll probably just stick to the 360 once that's back in action.
Xbox Live: Stilgar Black
Ok I edited my posts down to just the highlights.
"During the iPhone SDK event today, Apple announced that they would be including support for frequently requested iPhone enterprise features.
The new features include:
- Push email
- Push calendar
- Push contacts
- Global address list
- Cisco IPsec VPN
- Certificates and Identities
- WPA2 / 802.1x
- Enforced security policies
- Device configuration
- Remote wipe
- Active Sync and Microsoft Exchange support"
Features will come in iPhone 2.0 update in June.
Iphone SDK announced. developers demoed some 2-wk programs like AIM, Spore, SuperMonkeyBall, drug program for pharmacists and salesforce.com program.
AppStore in iTunes for mobile app deployment to iPHone/Touch.