MacBook On Its Way?

Damn it. I just bought my iBook G4 12" a week ago

Black Flame -

It's probably not to late to return it (not sure, though). But also don't forget that you won't have to deal with any of the Intel compatibility issues. It's the silver lining to the PPC cloud right now.

I personally don't understand why they would need to rename it at all. I mean, the iMac is still an iMac, and the word iBook doesn't contain the word "Power" (one of the reasons for renaming that Steve gave). It seems like they just switched their conventions; instead of ranging from i-something to Power-something in terms of speed/features/price, now they have the "Macbook" group for laptops, and who knows what (if any) relationship for the desktops. Which really makes me wonder what they'll do for the new PowerMac replacement.

please god dont let it have a GMA950. *PLEASE*...

if it is indeed to have Core Duo as standard, then the GMA issue is the only dealbreaker for me. otherwise its a Pro for me.

Black Flame -

It's probably not to late to return it (not sure, though). But also don't forget that you won't have to deal with any of the Intel compatibility issues. It's the silver lining to the PPC cloud right now.

It's too late to return it. No matter, I've become acustom to the tiny-ness of it. I love my iBook....and my x86 system keeps me happy

The Macbook already? Happy Birthday Colonels1020! I can't wait to buy one of these.

I personally don't understand why they would need to rename it at all. I mean, the iMac is still an iMac, and the word iBook doesn't contain the word "Power" (one of the reasons for renaming that Steve gave). It seems like they just switched their conventions; instead of ranging from i-something to Power-something in terms of speed/features/price, now they have the "Macbook" group for laptops, and who knows what (if any) relationship for the desktops. Which really makes me wonder what they'll do for the new PowerMac replacement.

They want Mac in the name of all the computers now.

I think apple are keen to push the "Mac" branding throughout the line - so the powermacs will probably be called Mac Pro's and XServes MacServe or something - they didn't need to change iMac because it already has the name mac in it - but ibook didn't hence macbook.

No slight against the above post as he acknowledges that he will buy a MacBook Pro if that's what he needs to get the graphics he wants, but I hope that there isn't another mass {censored} session if the MacBook does have a GMA950 as I think we may expect.

They save so much money by using the onboard graphics chip (I think it costs $4 per unit?) that I can't imagine them not using it. Honestly, for 98%+ of the world, that chip will be just fine. Personally, given that most of what I do is word process, run Windows in a window to run my homeopathic repertorization program, browse, play music, get my email.

When the Mini came out with this chip, despite all the incredible improvements, a huge portion of the online Mac community just whined and complained.

Honestly folks, if you want higher end features, don't buy an entry-level piece of hardware. Apple is just trying to keep the prices down on this student model, and I, for one, will be greatful if they do their best to keep it on the cheap side while giving me a Core Duo, virtualization enabled, a nice crisp display, great battery life (my old iBook had FANTASTIC battery life), and an attractive and durable casing.

Like me, most of the world doesn't need a MacBook PRO, and for those of us who care, the MacBook (I hate that they dropped the name iBook) should give us exactly that. If it has a great graphics card, all the better, but if it doesn't, I don't mind one bit. After all, I can always buy a MacBook Pro if that's what I want.

I can't wait. I'll be buying a MacBook for college next year. I've been fooling around with OSx86 on a beige box, but nothing beats a real Mac.

Finally a replacement for my bust ibook, though i loved the size of the 12" and please please no GMA 950, makes me think i should go Pro

i dont see why you guys care that much about a GMA950 when macs arent for playing games

The GMA950 can run relatively fast except for the more demanding 3D part. It should, when implemented well, performs almost as good as X1600 on 2d. What is giving it a bad name, is that mfg tends to "slow down" the whole system on those lower priced models in order to distinguish their higher priced "performance" rip-off. The Apple iBook G4 and PowerBook G4 is the best example; the iBook and PowerBook use the same G4 with very similar close speed, but while iBook (not integrated video chip) is only good for nothing but web browsing, PowerBook performs quite well.

BTW, does anyone know if the 17" MBP still going to have 1 firewire400 and 2 USB ports? I can't believe that Apple is so stingy on expansion ports. How can I spend $2500 on a laptop that has fewer ports than the $600 Mac Mini!!! Does all MBP user doing nothing but browse the web all day?!

but would an MB do wonders for me as a school computer? the one with GMA

The macbook will be quite an amazing school computer, just dont expect to run any demanding 3d stuff such as gaming.

Well for one thing I hope its not too expensive, can't afford too much right now...

i dont see why you guys care that much about a GMA950 when macs arent for playing games

No but dual boot and xp are, thats why the gfx card is important.

I think apple are keen to push the "Mac" branding throughout the line - so the powermacs will probably be called Mac Pro's and XServes MacServe or something - they didn't need to change iMac because it already has the name mac in it - but ibook didn't hence macbook.

Yes, Apple quite obiviously wants the "Mac" name to catch wind more than ever.

Apple is further polarizing the high/low end by turning their computer lines into "Pros" and "Pro-nots."

i also need to pick up a new laptop for college... hopefully the macbook as the MBP is quite expensive... i just hope the macbook will be able to dual boot xp/vista or/and at least support whatever the next version of VPC is to enable running xp/vista along side OSX.....

i've been using my Asus M5N with OSX 10.4.3 since feb and haven't used XP at all if only to use wireless internet... this experience has really convinced me to switch to a mac.... so yea big thanks to everyone that helped this project. props

Read somewhere that someone was using a minimac for final cut 5, how can this be? It's a dual core with GMA?

Is final cut not that hard on GPU whereas gaming is? ? ?

i would suspect it'd be harder on the CPU than the GPU.

anyway, the reason people will complain about the GMA in the mini and the macbook is not so much because its a bad chip, but more because *its not as good a chip as the previous generation had*. if the MacBook has GMA950, then that means both the old mini and the old ibook have better graphics capabilities than their replacements. and thats gotta be bad.

I'm sitting here reading all this {censored} on bad name I hate it and such. Yes it not hte GREATEST name, but its would be worse, it could be called... Steve 1337 h4x0ring Mac laptop. Well maybe that would be a cool name but thats not my point. I think with the new intel chips it kind of bit more complain with the gfx chips because we can now run Windows Natively... So that means CS, BF2, DoD, Fear... blah blah etc etc game could be run. and if its a lameass chip than it crappy playing or not even at all which is so not cool. But one think could could do is... Dump the game and only game to one of the cores and tell the game (I know you can with Steam) to use for CPU than GPU.

Personally. I want a small-mid size lappy... with fair weight. In specs Mid-High Mid or Low High, with good battery life. But thats asking alot. I can only like have 2 of thoses, so meh still gonna get one as long as the battery life is good (and my "mommy" agrees to my plan ) Dont wanna go downtown with my lappy just to try to do some "warwalking" to find my battery dead... so I have to carries around this 1.3k brink... that is not cool.

it really cant come soon enough. I have a feeling it is going to be a great buy.

Well if there's gonna be a high and low end, the high end MUST have dedicated graphics. After all, the 12-inch Powerbook had them.

So i would expect the GFX card to be an option. I'm sure we'll be able to customize it from apple's site. Perhaps we will have the option of a dedicated gfx card with a core solo...

as long as blender and all the macromedia / adobe products run seamlessly im happy. Rendering generally takes part on my XP machine anyways..