Apple Announces New MacBooks
Apple has finally announced the MacBook today. Wait a minute... didn't they already do that a while ago you ask? No no, that was the MacBook Pro, today's announcement is all about the MacBook which is Apple's semi-replacement for the iBook. I say semi-replacement because the iBook is still available for sale at the Apple Online store. Before i get into a brief listing of specs on the new MacBook, I noticed that Apple got rid of the 12" Powerbook as well as the 17" Powerbook. The only PowerPC Macs left are the G5 tower and the iBook. Apple also quietly upped the specs of the MacBook Pro 15" from 1.8 GHZ to 2 GHZ and 2 GHZ model to 2.16 GHZ for the same price.
Let's cut to the chase: what are the main differences between a MacBook and a MacBook Pro 15"?
- Size: 13.3-inch (diagonal) glossy widescreen TFT vs. 15.4-inch (diagonal) widescreen TFT; glossy display option
- Resolution: 1280 x 800 pixels vs. 1440 x 900 pixels
- Graphics Card: Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950 vs. ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 (PCI Express)
- Video Memory: 64MB of DDR2 SDRAM shared with main memory (2) vs. 128MB GDDR3 SDRAM or 256MB GDDR3 SDRAM
- DVI: While the new MacBook 13" supports DVI, Mini-DVI to DVI adapter required - sold separately vs. Dual-link DVI built-into the 15" MacBook Pro
- External display usage: MacBook max display - 1920 x 1200 pixels vs. MacBook Pro 15" max display - 2560 x 1600 pixels. MacBook 13" cannot support 30in. Cinema Display!
- Video Mirroring Mode: MacBook 13" - Supported (built-in display plus an external display up to 1280 x 800 pixels) vs. MacBook Pro 15" Supported (built-in display plus an external display up to 1440 x 960 pixels)
- Extended Desktop Mode: MacBook 13" - Supported (built-in display plus an external display up to 1920 x 1200 pixels) vs. MacBook Pro 15" - Supported (built-in display plus an external display up to 2560 x 1600 pixels)
- No Express Card/34 slot on the MacBook 13"
- 5.2 lbs vs. 5.6 lbs
- No illuminated keyboard
- 6 hours of battery life compared to the MacBook Pro's 4.5 hours battery life
- Lower wattage 60W MagSafe Power Adapter
- Most importantly: IT COMES IN BLACK (the high end model anyway)
Overall the MacBook 13" looks like a MacMini with a portable screen. All the "Pro" features of the MacBook Pro are of course stripped from the MacBook. This is exactly what I expected from Apple new lineup as it closely resembles what they had when the Powerbooks and iBooks were side by side: a really tough time deciding which to get. Try not to get too upset that the MacBook and the MacBook Pro are similar in specs since Apple does this for a reason as I explain in this post.
UPDATE: It seems that the hard drive is easily upgradable in the MacBook! See some my post on naked MacBook pics here.
Buying recommendations
So which to buy? If you are a graphics professional that uses Photoshop, you're still out of luck as there is no Universal Binary version of Photoshop yet but you can still run it under Rosetta (Apple's PowerPC emulation mode) with a slight performance hit. Since both MacBook and MacBook Pro share similar processor speeds (I don't thing .16 GHZ makes THAT much difference... seriously!) you could choose either one and they would both be pretty quick. You could also use BootCamp to load Photoshop into Windows for full native Intel speed, but you'd have to own a copy of Windows and Photoshop for Windows to do so.
BUT I really feel that graphics pro's will really want to opt for the MacBook Pro because of the seperate video card and RAM. Not to mention the higher resolution screen and screen real estate brought by that separate video card. The new MacBook 13" gets it's video RAM from the same bank of RAM used for everything else. Whether this affects performance or not remains to be seen but overall anyone in graphics will want as much RAM as possible in their machine and not have it taken up by video rendering.
The MacBook 13" is perfect for the casual graphics dabbler, and the casual iMovie, iPhoto user and just about everyone else. The price point is good and I can see tons of students picking this up as you can run Windows on it as well as OSX, it has the snazzy iSight cam, bluetooth 2.0, AirPort Extreme and it just LOOKS COOL!
If you're a web designer, think about how much screen real estate you really need then make your choice as both the MacBook and the MacBook Pro would work for the you. Same for number crunchers and writers, if portability is what you need, the MacBook 13" might be the way to go as it's smaller and it's battery lasts longer than the MacBook Pro 15".
So my advice: buy the MacBook Pro if you need to do pro graphics where using a large display and external display is important as well as fast video rendering and when you want to dedicate as much RAM to applications as possible. Buy a MacBook 13" if its for just about anything else. Not that you couldn't do pro graphics on a MacBook 13", you can, but it will be a better experience on a larger screen. After working exclusively on a 12" PowerBook for almost 2 years the screen real estate of the MacBook Pro 15" is really a relief. I think Apple has a winner with this new laptop and I won't be surprised to see the competition drop prices in order to compete this summer and fall. A lot of students will be buying it to get the best of both worlds... OSX and Windows!
Useful? Then Digg It.
Comments
I think you make a really solid argument. I have been holding back from buying a MacBook Pro for a few weeks. Not because of all the issue's but because of the cost and the machine was possibly way above what I need.
Let me explain, I have an iMac G5 which is great and really suits my needs. I am by my own admittance a 'casual graphics dabbler'. I upload photo's, use iweb and blog. I started to think about a portable that I could take away and do the same. I also think I need a back up to this in case it fails, and I think a MBP deserve's to be almost in place of a desktop.
Yes I know the MBP would give me all that, but to be used on odd occasions, the money really would be wasted in my opinion.
I would spec up the MacBook just to give it a bit more 'oomph'.
Thanks for helping to cystallise my thoughts and reach a decision.
Posted by: mikeyboy | May 16, 2006 10:50 AM
Tags:
Thanks for the comments and I'm glad this helped you out. If I only did web graphics then my first choice would be the MacBook as well. But since I do work on 600 dpi PSD files on a regular basis I really needed the MacBook Pro for that.
I do wish for a 13"
MacBook Pro sooner or later as I don't use my MacBook as a laptop as much as I use it as a desktop machine to tote between home and work. It's so much easier to do it this way than to bother with syncing drives between two machines. The smaller 13" footprint would be welcomed for the most part...
Posted by: kimonostereo | May 16, 2006 11:01 AM
Tags:
what would you recommend? glossy widescreen display or just widescreen display on a macbook pro? tnx
juanbaezz
Posted by: juanbaezz | June 13, 2006 6:08 PM
Tags: