Technology New Macbook design

[JeetKuneDo]

Anyone get the new generation of macbooks and macbook pro's? If you have, give us the details man!

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[southerndoc]

Yes, got a new MacBook 2.4 GHz. Absolutely love it. Solid build, light, fast.

 

[JeetKuneDo]

Yes, got a new MacBook 2.4 GHz. Absolutely love it. Solid build, light, fast.

Great to know. I'm currently a pc user, but my dell overheats way too much and crashes every so often. I might have to check into those new macs.

 

[southerndoc]

The hard drive is audible, but tolerable. It's a quiet machine, but you can hear the hard disk.

Doesn't matter to me anyhow since I'm going to buy a 160GB SSD drive when Intel releases them in a few months.

I cannot hear the fans at all -- even under high CPU loads. The machine doesn't even feel the slightest bit warm under heavy loads.

Battery life is about 3-3.5 hours with WiFi enabled, surfing the web, Mail running in the background, etc. If you crank down the display and turn off the keyboard's backlight, you can get about 5 hours out of it. I'm waiting on some third market battery upgrades. I bet that a 60-watt battery will be offered, which will boost battery life by about 25%.

The multi-touch glass gesture pad is unbelievable. Use two fingers and you can scroll down web pages. Use three fingers and you can go back and forward with web pages. Open up iPhoto and you can pinch, rotate, etc. to zoom and rotate your photos, just like the iPhone. The funny thing is the glass trackpad doesn't feel like glass at all. If you slide your fingers over glass, it has a lot of friction. This is very easy - like sliding over plastic.

 

[187502]

Great to know. I'm currently a pc user, but my dell overheats way too much and crashes every so often. I might have to check into those new macs.

This means you're either using it wrong (blocking the fan intake or exhaust, I see this all the time), you haven't ever had it cleaned as per the yearly maintenance mentioned in your user manual, or one of your fans has simply died, which is a very easy fix and not an uncommon problem.

 

[TMP-SMX]

The hard drive is audible, but tolerable. It's a quiet machine, but you can hear the hard disk.

Doesn't matter to me anyhow since I'm going to buy a 160GB SSD drive when Intel releases them in a few months.

I cannot hear the fans at all -- even under high CPU loads. The machine doesn't even feel the slightest bit warm under heavy loads.

Battery life is about 3-3.5 hours with WiFi enabled, surfing the web, Mail running in the background, etc. If you crank down the display and turn off the keyboard's backlight, you can get about 5 hours out of it. I'm waiting on some third market battery upgrades. I bet that a 60-watt battery will be offered, which will boost battery life by about 25%.

The multi-touch glass gesture pad is unbelievable. Use two fingers and you can scroll down web pages. Use three fingers and you can go back and forward with web pages. Open up iPhoto and you can pinch, rotate, etc. to zoom and rotate your photos, just like the iPhone. The funny thing is the glass trackpad doesn't feel like glass at all. If you slide your fingers over glass, it has a lot of friction. This is very easy - like sliding over plastic.

I agree. I love the touchpad. (I got the 2GHz version.) I upgraded the RAM with OWC but I just RMAed it back to them for replacement as it was causing crashes.

It's a beautiful machine with great battery life. I'd say I get close to 4 hours though I haven't fully tested it. I did turn off IR and bluetooth to save battery but my wireless is always in use. However, I do have the dreaded slanted function keys plus a few other keys. When I feel like it I'll just pop them off and fix them. I would have likes the backlight keyboard but I wanted to save the money and get the 1249 version. The problem of course is that the ed discount is only 50 rather than 100 on the lower end alum MB.

The machine also matches my Mid 2007 iMac and I love the aluminum. The screen is very bright and after calibration the colors are good. Not really comparable to a MBP but still good. My fans haven't turned on yet past the idle 2000RPM (haven't had a chance to test the graphics card). I can hear the hard drive only when it is very quiet in the room. It is a very cool machine and doesn't get hot. I also use the iLap 13" stand which doubles as a desk stand and a lap stand. That helps keep the already cool machine cool and fans to a minimum.

The lack of firewire isn't too bad. I have a triple interface external backup drive and the USB isn't bad at all compared to F400.

 

[southerndoc]

Yea, you can only hear the hard drive in a very quiet (silent) room.

You can fix the slanted keys yourself with a piece of cardboard/thick magazine cover. There are some descriptions on the MacRumors forum site.

I didn't realize you can turn IR off. I'll turn that off to extend the battery life.

 

[TMP-SMX]

Yea, you can only hear the hard drive in a very quiet (silent) room.

You can fix the slanted keys yourself with a piece of cardboard/thick magazine cover. There are some descriptions on the MacRumors forum site.

I didn't realize you can turn IR off. I'll turn that off to extend the battery life.

Yeah I've seen reports of fixing the keys but I'll do it next week.

And yeah, who would think to turn off IR you go to the security system pref.

 

[deleted59964]

Yes, got a new MacBook 2.4 GHz. Absolutely love it. Solid build, light, fast.

sounds like you finally got your 12" powerbook replacement

i'm jealous - but my 2 year old macbook pro is every bit as good as the day i bought it and i have no reason to replace it.

 

[ScaredECat]

Yeah I've seen reports of fixing the keys but I'll do it next week.

And yeah, who would think to turn off IR you go to the security system pref.

Thanks for the tip! *turns off IR*

I didn't realize that was taking any battery life away.

 

[nykka3]

What is IR?

 

[TMP-SMX]

What is IR?

Infrared. It is mainly for the Apple Remote they no longer give for free, but there are a lot of wireless headphones, keyboards, and mice you can use with IR. Bluetooth is better if you have it but IR is still out there.

 

[187502]

Yea, you can only hear the hard drive in a very quiet (silent) room.

You can fix the slanted keys yourself with a piece of cardboard/thick magazine cover. There are some descriptions on the MacRumors forum site.

I didn't realize you can turn IR off. I'll turn that off to extend the battery life.

Legendary Mac quality control, eh?

 

[southerndoc]

Legendary Mac quality control, eh?

It has gone downhill.

 

[TMP-SMX]

I think a majority of MBs have the slanted keyboard problem. It's a little odd that they never noticed it. Also, when using headphones you can hear background noise and a pop when you have a sound. It is seemingly based on the computer putting the sound card to sleep when not in use then waking up and making the sound.

 

[Slevin]

sounds like you finally got your 12" powerbook replacement

i'm jealous - but my 2 year old macbook pro is every bit as good as the day i bought it and i have no reason to replace it.

I didn't either (mine was 6 months old, Apple had to replace my 2 year old one because of a faulty logic board, so essentially I had a brand new MBP for free) but I did anyway. Now I just got to sell my old MBP to pay for this MB.

 

[lapelirroja]

Apple loves me.

My iBook c. 2005 is still working beautifully--even after short circuiting due to a french vanilla coffee accident in December 2007. Took it in to the store, they said it was dead, my undergrad graduation present was then decided to be a new aluminum iMac. Good, fine. So I get my computers home and decide to try and turn my iBook on---works like a charm!, like nothing ever happened. It smells a little bit like french vanilla coffeemate but I didn't even pay a cent for any repair, especially not the $600ish price tag I was quoted (no AppleCare either)!

A few months ago I came home and noticed that my iMac had a grey note on the screen saying it needed a restart. I restarted it but then it kept failing, and eventually would not boot past the blue/grey screens. Brought it in to the Apple store, they said they didn't know what was wrong with it. They gave me a BRAND NEW (newer version) iMac and transferred all the data for free! When I was checking out at the front the guy asked me how I got away with that deal--no idea!!!!

But really, on the whole, owning a Mac is 1,000,000x better than owning a PC. A simple computer line, a few options, great aesthetics, high quality, and amazing customer service! The Genius Bar is amazing! You don't have to worry about sending any parts anywhere, shipping things, etc. Just head down to the mall and show the employees first hand what's going on with your computer/ipod/whatever and if they can't fix it then, they'll send it to you in a few days

FWIW, Macbook > Macbook Pro. For everyday use (of a med student, etc.) you really don't need all the power/size of the MBP. If iPhoto is enough for your photographic needs and you've never tried to do any insane video editing, video gaming, etc. then the Macbook will be amazing...and it looks great!

 

[TMP-SMX]

Apple is great. By the way an update to my RAM issues. I have been posting in the Apple Discussion board about my problems with OWC RAM in the new MB and I got a phone call from Apple tech support. So I called him back and he told me they wanted to research my MB and give me a free upgrade to 4GB of Apple RAM straight from the Apple Store. So I went to the Apple Store that day and they exchanged my computer without any questions. Not only that, but I got to keep my original Apple RAM because they just wanted my OWC RAM for research. So now I can send in my original RAM to OWC for the $30 rebate. It was great! So this new MB has very little F-Key tiltedness, the RAM causes no crashes, and it's working well. (Though the optical drive makes slightly more sound on wakeup).

 

[mustangsally65]

sounds like you finally got your 12" powerbook replacement

I'm a bit late to this thread, but I finally replaced my 12" PowerBook as well. After 4.5 years it was time for something new. I got the 15" MBP, and I can't believe how bright the screen is! The glass trackpad is truly amazing, and I can finally run more than one Adobe CS4 application at the same time!