Apple ups the ante
My Apple Powerbook G4 is feeling a little slow lately. I’ve been looking at something new and shiny to replace it for about a half a year now and just when I thought I had decided to go with PC hardware and Linux (probably Ubuntu), Apple has upped the ante. One of the things I like about my old powerbook is the aluminum chassis, plastic just doesn’t do it for me - and now the new Macbook is available in aluminum! At $1,300 with a bigger screen than my trusty old 12″ and higher screen res (though I’m not thrilled about the widescreen), a fast processor and a couple GB or Ram, it’s going to be hard to look elsewhere. Then, as if we could make the decision any harder: Open Office 3.0 now offers native OS X support!
[update 10/17] Just found out the MacBook models don’t have firewire! This is a deal killer for me. I have no desire to shell out $2,000 for a MacBook Pro just for a 1394 connector. Back to looking at linux laptops.
[update 10/21] I got to play with a MacBook Pro today (helping someone convert .VOB files to mp4 for use in iMovie using ffmpegX) and I have to say it’s just about the nicest laptop I’ve ever seen. The solid (unibody) aluminum body feels strong as hell and looks fantastic. The one I messed with was a 15″. I didn’t really like the keyboard as much as the keyboard on my old G4 powerbook but it lights up which is kinda nice. The trackpad and button (there’s only one button, just like the old ones to right click you need to hold down CNTL or get a USB mouse) is one big device, there isn’t a separate button - it seemed to work well enough but it initially confused me a bit.
[update 01/03] I eventually got the low end MacBook (13.3″), and although the lack of firewire is still an issue since I haven’t as yet procured a replacement for my firewire drive, it’s a hell of a lot faster which was the point, and I didn’t have to completely reinvent how I use a computer (software, setups, etc.). The keyboard is really a piece of crap though compared to my old Powerbook, it’s my only regret really.
Comment posted on 10-27-2008
I see I’m not the only one complaining about the lack of firewire on the new MacBooks. There is still time to grab a plastic Macbook. There is a lot of consternation in the Apple Forums about it as well.
Comment posted on 11-1-2008
Firewire 800 is faster than USB 2.0, but do you actually have anything that uses it? Wasn’t the heyday of firewire over long ago? As far as I can tell there isn’t anything on the market that is still pushing firewire. Can’t you just get an adapter cable in the short term and let the standard slip into obscurity?
And yes, those new MacBooks look mighty fine. I personally like the small screen, and I love the wide aspect ratio.
Comment posted on 11-2-2008
To be honest I don’t really have anything too important - except all the firewire 400 peripherals I bought that don’t have USB. I suppose you would suggest I just run out and buy new stuff? Take a look at audio interface hardware - most of them were firewire. I think the reason for why that (was?) because even though USB 2.0 is faster on paper (480Mbits or 60 Megabytes per second) than firewire 400 (400Mbits or 50 megabytes per secord) in actual practice, USB 2.0 on the Mac (was?) pitiful, and firewire 400 turned out to be twice as fast in real life. I did a quick search and found a site that confirmed this at least way back in 2004 (when my machine was made)
Comment posted on 11-3-2008
No, I was suggesting that you can probably buy a FW to USB dongle for anything that you might have. Apple was very committed to FW for a long time. Perhaps now they’re less so.
In any case, the thing I like best about the higher end apple laptops these days are the dual graphics cards. That is one cool idea.
Comment posted on 11-3-2008
I think there is one firewire to USB 2.0 now available, for a long time they didn’t exist. It costs $120 though! My bad for not hedging my bets and paying a little more up front for the models with USB also I guess. I also liked being able to daisy chain all my firewire devices and connect them all with one connection at the laptop.
I hadn’t heard of the dual graphics in the Mac before, but a bit of reading shows it (just as Apple’s sub-par USB 2.0 performance described above) turned out to be not as great as everybody hoped it would be. Too bad.