OSNews

and now all the models have 1GB RAM. Why would anyone buy the Black one now?

Because some people would rather a black laptop than a white one.

I still don't think 40 more gigs of space and a different color justify a $200 price difference.

Frankly, I don't understand the rabid appeal of the black MacBook; other companies have made black laptops for years--hell, even Apple itself has--but when the black MacBook was released, the Apple fanboys went wild like it was something amazingly fresh and innovative.

It does look a lot more sleek and professional than the white MacBook, but still, I don't think the fanaticism is warranted, especially given the absurd markup.

charging xtra for the black one IS absurd..... i totally agree!!!! BUT.... when it comes down to it.... if you want the black one.... you'll payfor it! OR... you'll buy the white one! its really that simple! AND, you'll walk out of the apple store with a HUGH smile and never again think about it!

Its sad that the only reason Apple can price their hardware this way is because if you want OSX you have no choice but Apple. Its unlikely and other PC manufacturer could get away pricing like that.

Choosing OS X seriously limits your hardware options.

You don't understand... You get way more coffee house groupies with a BLACK MacBook.

;)

By the way, I love my MacBook Pro!

I do agree with you that 40GB of hd space and color doesn't really justify $200 preminum at least for me. One thing about that though is this. The black Macbook isn't just black plastic. It's actually aluminum case painted black so the case is made from entirely different material than the white Macbook. I'm not sure if the $200 price gap is easier to justify for having a aluminum outer shell though. I think hard plastic may be lighter and maybe even tougher than aluminum.

No the black one is still plastic. It's just that the finish is matte.

Because I HATE white laptops?

Because it's like space without the stars...
If you were to ask how much blacker could it be, the answer would be none... none more black!

agreed, it should now be a standard feature.

Apple always does that with networking standards, but from an Apple perspective, who cares, as long as it interoperates with Airport Extreme with 802.11n and other Apple products that are 802.11n compliant?

For the general consumer who uses different brands, it's of course a different matter.

The new centrino platform supports draft n specs as well. Every manufacturer has draft n gear so why not include it and save customers the hassle of having to buy another card? It isn't going to interfere with the a or g standard anyway so I don't see how the added option will hurt anyone.

test

AFAIK modifications to the standard can be handled via firmware updates.

That's great, so if I'm having trouble with my network connection I just have to download the newest firmware and it's fixed.

But how do we know they are not going to charge for that upgrade... AGAIN? Apple has charged for wireless firmware upgrades as it "adds features" to the wireless card and they are apparently the only company "required by law to do so for accounting reasons"

For those who don't know what I'm talking about: http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/wa/...

Edited 2007-05-15 17:43

Most manufacturers don't move you from G to N with a free upgrade, do they? No, you just have to go out and buy a brand new card.

I was hoping to see new MacBook Pro's with a redesign.

What's wrong with the old?

Didn't Henry Ford say the same thing about the Model T?

I know what you mean -- my last 13" screen was amber monochrome!

The iBook never went above 14", so I don't see what the big deal is.

The 13.3" form factor is just about ideal for the MacBook's target market. It's wide enough to allow you to have to windows side-by-side, but keeps the laptop in the ~5 lb, ~1 in size category. The next real (widescreen) size up from 13.3" is 15.4" (well, there is 14.1" but that's not a substantial difference in size), and I haven't seen any 15.4" laptops that aren't closer to 6 pounds than 5 pounds (though maybe one of Sony's $2500 carbon-fiber composite laptops fits that bill).

In the size/weight range of the MacBook, there are really no good competitors. The IBM Z41 is lighter, but has atrocious battery life on the standard battery. The Sony C series is about the same weight, but almost 50% thicker.

Most people would pick 13.3" over 15.4" any day on a portable because it makes the computer MORE PORTABLE.

But if you don't want that why don't you just buy say a hp or sony vaio or whatever with better specs for less money? And 15.4".

No santa rosa == gay

I had a first generation MacBook Pro that whined. I took it to an Apple Store and the fixed it free of charge. I believe they replaced the motherboard, but it was a while back and I don't remember the exact repair.

I do know that it no longer whines.

Unfortunately for me:
>Unlike the Macbook Pro, Apple has yet to recognize this issue.

BTW I dual boot with Windows XP HE and there is no whining in Windows. So i guess it is software issue...

Apple, how about a patch?

its intel product with an apple face, I am sticking to the powerpc chip for a while, does what I need...

but yeah, you should take it to the apple store...
they know whats up...

Yeah, if it's so boring why post at all? I'm not sure what everyone was expecting.

I wonder where that troll that complains about the lack of an upgradeable headless single cpu mac is.

Personally, I would have preferred to see another gig of ram added to the black macbook instead of the extra 40gb of drive space.

But dahling, vee ahr vaiting for something more exziting. I vant to use my Macbuhks as a Roomba. My cahpet gets so-o-o dusty!

People are so easily bored. I agree that more processor power, Ram, and HD for the same price is cool. Now where is that $1500 hundreds I left laying around the other day...

A Mac Mini Roomba's a frightening mental image.

Yeah, comes with special control software - iSuck.

ROFL

ok, true, it's not a bad thing. But the problem I (and probably others too) have is that it's a smaller upgrade compared to what the competition has been doing. If they would've gone with the new Intel platform, the MacBook would've been much more competetive, like it's first incarnation. Now it's too much behind in the horsepower/price area to be a good choice, at least from my perspective.

Actually, I think they dropped the price by £50 in the UK too, which is a bonus!

I don't know... It seems like their customers are plenty happy with having the current choices... Apple's MarketShare is growing afterall...

Don't get me wrong, but Apple isn't losing money with their current strategy. I'd love cheaper prices and a ton more configuration choices, but this is Apple we're talking about.

My suggestions:

1. Redesign the laptops to be easier on repair and upgrade.
2. Include the option of really professional GPU (Quadro or fireGL)
3. Create a Mac desktop without a screen and plenty of upgradability options, so new comers wont be shocked with initial price tag.
4. Give us an option of a professional Warranty, I mean 5 years
5. Load more diagnostic tools of the OSX to allow us to test RAM, HDD and other components when It fails
6. Remove the huge white frame under every iMac because it distract the eye, or better yet, sell iMacs with black color frame.
7. Give us FBDIMMs on MacBook Pro and Mac Pro lines; because at >2000$ it wont harm Apple.
8. others ....

1) On laptops, the only thing you can really upgrade is the memory and hard drive. On the MacBook, both are very easy to access.
5) Every Mac shipped in this decade has the Apple Hardware Test utility bundled on the System Restore CD. Hold down the option key with the CD in the drive to get a boot menu allowing you to choose to run the utility.
7) You can't put FB-DIMMs on a laptop, the AMBs draw far too much power for that. The Mac Pro already uses FB-DIMMs.

nah geforce 7950 gtx all the way baby. Bought a brand new laptop with it......whohoho boy is it fast!

I hear ya. But if Apple ever put a 7950 in a MacBook, it'd be the MacBook Pro and they'd sell it for more than 3 grand.

And what kind of battery life does this laptop get?

I'm curious: what do you expect to do with an X1400... on a Mac? Nobody does real 3D work on a laptop, and it's not like there are any Mac gamers...

Personally, I'd consider an X1400 a downgrade. I'd much rather have the extra battery life that comes with integrated graphics.

and it's not like there are any Mac gamers...

What a lame comment... Of course there are Mac gamers and their numbers are growing just as are the number of games being released for the Mac.

Sure, some of the TOP tier games are still missing, but there is boot camp for that... (the OS may not be Apple's but the HARDWARE is!)

I have an HP dv9000, and while it isnt as nice as a macbook, it is far from ugly.