MacBook & MacBook Pro updated November 1st

[Kaido]

via Engadget

MacBook:
-GMA950 bumped to GMA X3100 (144MB of DDR2 SDRAM shared with main memory)
-CPU upgraded to Santa Rosa (2ghz white, 2.2ghz white or black)
-Up to 4gb ram
-Up to 250gb hard drive

MacBook Pro:
-Optional 2.6ghz Santa Rosa
-Optional 200gb 7200rpm or 250gb 5400rpm hard drives

 

[Boo Boo]

i am a week under my 30 days, trying to decide if i return it to frys if they will swap. would the 15% restocking fee be worth it? also i added complete care allready can i swap it to the new laptop?

 

[TheStu]

Man, they don't even have the "Now, slightly shinier" tags on the website! I was hoping that the new MacBooks would have LED backlighting.... guess that is the next refresh.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: TheStu
Man, they don't even have the "Now, slightly shinier" tags on the website! I was hoping that the new MacBooks would have LED backlighting.... guess that is the next refresh.

Well Stevie said that all displays would be LED by the end of 2008, so we have a little more than a year to wait for new Cinema displays, new MacBook displays, etc.

 

[TheStu]

I don't need a new laptop anyway... it was just hopeful speculation... sigh... mine is getting so olllllllllld

 

[secretanchitman]

hmm, luckily this doesnt affect me at all. sometimes i get second thoughts and just wished i had purchased the 15" 2.4Ghz w/ matte model so i can get that extra 128MB vram for the 8600GT. then i just think of crysis...and how that would barely help me to play (its already a demanding game as it is).

 

[ubercaffeinated]

Originally posted by: TheStu
I don't need a new laptop anyway... it was just hopeful speculation... sigh... mine is getting so olllllllllld

i feel you on that

how about we give it another year before we upgrade

 

[TheStu]

Oh at least.... unless I come into some money.... then it is MBP all the way!

 

[Kadarin]

My MBP is no longer top of the line...

 

[Coca Cola]

It would be nice if they would give you the option to configure the 2.2 with an 8600 with 256 ram instead of just the 128

 

[Parasitic]

Doesn't look like much of an upgrade. While some may argue that X3100 is much better than GMA 950, but still...

It'd be nice if they put the Quadro NV140, 8400M GS (or better yet, 8600M GT) into the Macbook. If they did that I'd upgrade in a heart beat.

 

[bearxor]

Originally posted by: Parasitic
Doesn't look like much of an upgrade. While some may argue that X3100 is much better than GMA 950, but still...

It'd be nice if they put the Quadro NV140, 8400M GS (or better yet, 8600M GT) into the Macbook. If they did that I'd upgrade in a heart beat.

You'll never see this. It's way to close to MBP territory.

Now a 12" or 13.3" MacBook Pro with a dedicated graphics card may be in the cards for the future but anything with a dedicated graphics card will most certainly carry the 'Pro' moniker.

 

[bearxor]

double post - sorry.

 

[Chadder007]

I wish they would bump the Macbook down a tad in price and add in an actual Midrange product or something more ultraportable. Like a Macbook Pro Nano or something....

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: Chadder007
I wish they would bump the Macbook down a tad in price and add in an actual Midrange product or something more ultraportable. Like a Macbook Pro Nano or something....

imo, Apple needs:

$699 MacBook (512mb ram, cd-rw/dvd-rom, etc.)
12" MBP
Mac Pro Lite

I bet you anything more college kids (well, their parents) would buy them a MacBook if it was under a grand. Other than OS X there's nothing really special about the 13" models - many of the new ones have built-in webcams, Santa Rosa chips, and some are even thinner. We also need a more ultraportable laptop - the 13" weighs nearly as much as the 15", and the 15" is thinner! Every Mac owner I know who had a 12" iBook or PowerBook absolutely loved it. We need these back! And finally a Mac Pro Lite: something with the strength of an iMac without the screen. I've heard rumors of an upgraded Mini and/or Cube 2 this month, so I'm crossing my fingers that the "Mac Pro Lite" will at least partially come true.

 

[warmodder]

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: Chadder007
I wish they would bump the Macbook down a tad in price and add in an actual Midrange product or something more ultraportable. Like a Macbook Pro Nano or something....

imo, Apple needs:

$699 MacBook (512mb ram, cd-rw/dvd-rom, etc.)
12" MBP
Mac Pro Lite

I bet you anything more college kids (well, their parents) would buy them a MacBook if it was under a grand. Other than OS X there's nothing really special about the 13" models - many of the new ones have built-in webcams, Santa Rosa chips, and some are even thinner. We also need a more ultraportable laptop - the 13" weighs nearly as much as the 15", and the 15" is thinner! Every Mac owner I know who had a 12" iBook or PowerBook absolutely loved it. We need these back! And finally a Mac Pro Lite: something with the strength of an iMac without the screen. I've heard rumors of an upgraded Mini and/or Cube 2 this month, so I'm crossing my fingers that the "Mac Pro Lite" will at least partially come true.

Well the vanilla macbook is already a bargain for what you get. And around the time college kids buy it, apple throws so much free stuff in that it comes out to around that price anyway. (Free printer + free ipod)

I do agree that it's deceptively heavy for how smaller it is though. I really wish they had a ultraportable macbook pro, because I definitely would have gotten that instead. As it is, the extra cost for just a dedicated vid card and larger screen (plus other things of dubious added value like the light up keyboard) doesn't really justify the price premium. I game on my pc, what do I need a mac for that?

 

[dugweb]

what is the big fuss with "Santa Rosa" CPU's? I don't know what that is.

I'm actually in the market for a laptop, and was waiting for the updated macbooks to come out so I could make my decision, but I'm sort of underwhelmed by this go-around's upgrade. I was mostly hoping for an ultra portible (new model) mac book to come out, that is aluminum cased

 

[TheStu]

Santa Rosa is the latest chipset from Intel. It yields a faster FSB, as well as other enhancements. It also brings the new iGPU to the table in the X3100. Still not exactly a powerhouse, but it is better than the GMA950.

It is the next step... asking what is the big fuss with Santa Rosa is like asking "What is the big fuss with Pentium 2?" if Pentium 1 was still king.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: dugweb
what is the big fuss with "Santa Rosa" CPU's? I don't know what that is.

I'm actually in the market for a laptop, and was waiting for the updated macbooks to come out so I could make my decision, but I'm sort of underwhelmed by this go-around's upgrade. I was mostly hoping for an ultra portible (new model) mac book to come out, that is aluminum cased

Santa Rosa is just a newer dual core processor...Core Duo, Core 2 Duo, now Santa Rosa. Meh.

 

[SoundTheSurrender]

The Macbook's price is fine. Find another laptop around 13 inches and it's the same price.

 

[dugweb]

thanks for clearing up santa rosa vs. core 2 duo... that makes sense.

 

[randomlinh]

Originally posted by: SoundTheSurrender
The Macbook's price is fine. Find another laptop around 13 inches and it's the same price.

eh, the biggest drawback of the macbook book is every other laptop seems to have a dvd burner at that price range.

and yes, i understand the dynamics of how apple works, doesn't mean I can't complain about it. especially since it's not like a $50 upgrade.. you have to spend the $1300 to get that freakin dvd burner.

 

[ryema22]

Originally posted by: Kaido
Santa Rosa is just a newer dual core processor...Core Duo, Core 2 Duo, now Santa Rosa. Meh.

This is incorrect. Santa Rosa is the name of an overall mobile platform, not a processor. The processor is still part of the Core 2 family. The Santa Rosa refresh includes an update to the Penryn-family 45nm processors and a switch to the X3100 graphics chipset. The smaller 45nm architecture of the new Penryn chips means faster speeds are possible while using less power and generating less heat. Better than just "meh" for a mobile application.

 

[Ichigo]

Originally posted by: ryema22

Originally posted by: Kaido
Santa Rosa is just a newer dual core processor...Core Duo, Core 2 Duo, now Santa Rosa. Meh.

This is incorrect. Santa Rosa is the name of an overall mobile platform, not a processor. The processor is still part of the Core 2 family. The Santa Rosa refresh includes an update to the Penryn-family 45nm processors and a switch to the X3100 graphics chipset. The smaller 45nm architecture of the new Penryn chips means faster speeds are possible while using less power and generating less heat. Better than just "meh" for a mobile application.

False.

 

[secretanchitman]

Originally posted by: Ichigo

Originally posted by: ryema22

Originally posted by: Kaido
Santa Rosa is just a newer dual core processor...Core Duo, Core 2 Duo, now Santa Rosa. Meh.

This is incorrect. Santa Rosa is the name of an overall mobile platform, not a processor. The processor is still part of the Core 2 family. The Santa Rosa refresh includes an update to the Penryn-family 45nm processors and a switch to the X3100 graphics chipset. The smaller 45nm architecture of the new Penryn chips means faster speeds are possible while using less power and generating less heat. Better than just "meh" for a mobile application.

False.

santa rose continues to use the 65nm c2ds...they just have ddr2-800 support. and even still, macbook pro can only use ddr2-667 memory for some reason, even though the bus supports ddr2-800.