MacBook: Arrgh!

[SGladwell]

Apple released their new entry level notebook, the MacBook last Tuesday. I think it's amazing, both in terms of price and features. I like the black, too, though I like the price of the base white one better.

I'm liking my MacBook Pro a lot less right now, especially when I think that had I held out a few more months I could have bought an iMac for home use (with its amazing screen, giant hard disk, and the dual-layer SuperDrive) AND a MacBook for mobile and office (with a second monitor) use and spent about the same amount of money.

 

[Brian SD]

The black one looks nice.

But I'd rather have the MBP instead of an iBook + MB. I'd rather be in your boat. I have the PowerBook G4 right now.

Do you know the best way to clean LCD screens?

In the past I took fairly bad care of my laptop and now there are some marks on my screen, and i'm not sure if they're dead pixels or if Ic an clean them off.

 

[Tokyo Slim]

They just updated the firmware on a few of these to try and control the extreme overheating problems and fan whine/ticking many consumers have been reporting. The results have been mixed so far. It may or may not work. Just so you know. If you HAVE bought one of these things, and you are experiencing a burning sensation and a strange noise coming out of your lap, its not Herpes, its your Apple. You should download "SMC Firmware Update 1.0".

 

[Babar]

Originally Posted by Tokyo Slim

They just updated the firmware on a few of these to try and control the extreme overheating problems and fan whine/ticking many consumers have been reporting. The results have been mixed so far. It may or may not work. Just so you know. If you HAVE bought one of these things, and you are experiencing a burning sensation and a strange noise coming out of your lap, its not Herpes, its your Apple. You should download "SMC Firmware Update 1.0".

The whine seems to be an Intel problem, i.e. it only happens when the processor operates at reduced speed. It's pretty annoying, but there are several workarounds. The firmware update does cool off the heating though

 

[Tokyo Slim]

Originally Posted by Babar

The whine seems to be an Intel problem, i.e. it only happens when the processor operates at reduced speed. It's pretty annoying, but there are several workarounds. The firmware update does cool off the heating though

So its not herpes?

 

[Tck13]

I've found the fix for the heating/cooling problems. One can also work out the issues of how one wants to make the computer look.

 

[A Y]

Weren't the overheating problems caused by improper assembly of the CPU heatsink? They used too much heatsink compound, and it lowered the thermal transfer efficiency to the heatsink. I think Apple just sued a website that published pictures from an Apple service manual in order to explain how to fix it:

http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/lapto...ful-171394.php

--Andre

 

[faustian bargain]

ha-ha.

 

[briancl]

I know it's not their market, but I'd like to see a more travel friendly, but powerful laptop. Having lugged around many different laptops of various sizes and configurations, I think an overpowered 14" makes for the perfect travel system. Unfortunately. only the 17" Macbook is overpowered, and the rest are sort of.. normal. And a 13" is just too small to do actual work on.

Apple made a lot of changes with their new product lines, but one change that I'd still like to see is more configuration options. The current set of options are too "packaged".

Anyway, I think their recent additions are great, and I'm sure that they will sell well.. much better than that Pro's.

 

[SGladwell]

I'm not sure what makes the 17" MBP "overpowered" to you and the 13.3" MB "sort of...normal." The only differences of note I see - that aren't easily user-upgraded, such as memory and HD size; both use the same types of each, with common maxima - are the screen size, ExpressCard 34 slot, graphics card, and FW800 port on the 17" MBP (but not my 15" MBP).

I agree that current Apple laptops, including my MBP and the 17" version thereof, pack the pixels too tightly. But seen another way, in terms of maximum elements that can be displayed on the screen the 13.3" MacBook (1200x800) is actually superior in both dimensions to my old ur-TiBook (1152x768) with its 15" widescreen LCD. The graphics differences may matter to gamers, or hardcore video editors, but everyone else? The mini in my home theater certainly has very snappy graphics that I can't really distinguish from my MBP's outboard card, and the MacBook allows one to extend the desktop onto a second monitor just like its big brother. (Actually, the assumption that the MacBook would only mirror, like the iBook did, was one of my rationales for not waiting to see what it would look like.) I don't personally know anyone with 4-megapixel external monitor like a 30" Apple Cinema Display; for that matter, I'm the only one I know who even uses a 1900x1200 second monitor. Most people who use 2nd monitors around here seem to use 17" or 19" 1280x1024 monitors, which now every Mac laptop can drive. For that matter, they can all drive my 24" widescreen CRT, too. The ExpressCard port may end up being a big deal, but I doubt it. How often do you use PCMICA cards now? Ditto FW800.

In all, I think Apple completely nailed this one. Just as the iMac is the most sensible desktop in the world for most people right now, outshining everyone else's other products including Apple's own, the MacBook seems to be the laptop to beat. Especially when costs less than a pair of RTW Lobbs. Maybe about the same if you factor in the extra memory that the MacBook definitely needs.

 

[SGladwell]

Originally Posted by Brian SD

Do you know the best way to clean LCD screens?

Best, no, but what I use are wipes that I bought at the local AppleStore. KlearScreen are what I think they're called. I also use a little leather keyboard cover from Other World Computing to keep grime from the tops of the keys off of the screen when it's folded.