Ars Technica Reviews the MacBook

phaedo00 writes "Ars Technica has performed another of their in-depth and thorough hardware reviews. The subject in this review is the newly released MacBook. From the article: 'The Apple portable web site proudly announces that the "family is finally complete." What began with an announcement from Steve Jobs at the MacWorld conference in January has come full circle with the release of the MacBook this week. Every Apple laptop is Intel powered and moving in what I would consider is the right direction. The laptop line is finally better delineated by pro and consumer features, and the prices have been fixed at points that better reflect the minute differences in the models.'"

The consumers were clamoring for new laptops

[artifex2004 (766107)]

and Jobs said, "let them eat paste! [macnn.com]"

Complete... but I still wish there was a 13.3" Pro

[DaedalusLogic (449896)]

I went and checked out the 13.3" Macbook in black with the matte finish today. I think that it will hold up as well as the aluminum. (All the iBooks I have seen scratch like crazy) The keyboard is nice, and I would say it's neither better nor worse than that of my 12" PowerBook. I think it's a little crazy to charge an extra $150 for a black versus white finish... However, market demands it... I even bought a black iPod.

After getting my hands on it, I think I will eventually buy a black one. But still...

I wish that they had a 13.3 Pro coming out with a matte screen, backlit keyboard, and the extra little perks that the 15 and 17 Pro's have... But that would probably end up costing as much as the 15...

Re:Complete... but I still wish there was a 13.3"

[Ohreally_factor (593551)]

I was really glad to read about how easy it is to replace the HD.

Some of you might also find this interesting: step-by-step take apart [kodawarisan.com]. Text is in Japanese, but fortunately the pictures are in English. =) Click on the left hand picture. Looks like the whole unit is much easier to disassemble than were previous 'books.

Benchmarks

[astrosmash (3561)]

What's most interesting are the benchmark results. While some screamed bloody murder over Apple's apparent downgrade to Intel's integrated graphics chipset, the new MacBook completely outclasses the old iBook on all fronts, and even out-performs the MacBook Pro in some cases (due to its slightly faster processor).

So what's worse? Integrated graphics or an underclocked Radeon X1600?

Nonetheless, the MacBook looks great, and I can't help but feel sorry for the people who rushed out and got a MacBook Pro. It seems that Apple rushed the Pro out of the door, whereas they took their time with the MacBook and got it right.

Re:Benchmarks

[znu (31198)]

Don't take the Xbench OpenGL scores Ars reports too seriously. In MacWorld's benchmarks [macworld.com] with real-world OpenGL (UT2004), the MacBook Pro, with real video, delivered three times the framerate of the MacBook.

Re:Benchmarks

[WinterSolstice (223271)]

Heh - it's classic. See Weird Al's "It's all about the Pentiums" for an example :D

"My new computer's got the clocks, it rocks
But it was obsolete before I opened the box
You say you've had your desktop for over a week?
Throw that junk away, man, it's an antique! "

It's just a fact of life.

-WS

Re:Macbook Pro owners didn't get ripped off

[gozar (39392)]

Test number two: try playing the high-definition (1080i) trailers on Apple's website. I'd be absolutely shocked if it manages to do it without dropping frames like crazy. My Macbook Pro barely breaks a sweat.

I went to the Apple Store today, and this was the second thing I tried! It was able to play the 1080i version trailer of Art School Confidential without any problem (except for some bandwidth issues downloading the 150MB file). I didn't look at how much processor was being used at the time though.

The Cars trailer (it was 8xx X 3xx something resolution) also played without a hitch.

Re:Heard of external monitors?

[admdrew (782761)]

Ever heard of external monitors?

Yeah, I picked up a few after I ran out of internal monitor bays in my case. They're more convenient, yeah, but usually more expensive than their internal counterparts.

Conclusion

[Espectr0 (577637)]

Pros:

• widescreen display
• Nice screen resolution
• Improved graphics over iBook G4
• Glossy screen is nice in some situations
• MagSafe
• Integrated iSight
• Affordable
• Enhanced track pad operation
• Dramatic performance increase
• No latch!
• Super easy to service (hard drive too!)
• Front Row and remote control

Cons:

• High operating temperatures (Almost 85 degrees!)
• Glossy screen can be annoying under certain circumstances (i.e., with any direct lighting)
• Integrated graphics siphon off system RAM, slower than dedicated graphics card

I wonder what hard drives they use. My powerbook's hard drive died in just a little over 2 years. Between whine noises, power adapters that fall away too easily, notebook latches that don't close properly, logic board issues, overheating, display glitches, dead hard drives and more, i think that apple
hardware is just as error-prone as regular pc hardware.

New keyboard

[tji (74570)]

I spent a couple minutes checking out the MacBook at my local Apple store.. It looks good. I think it will do well at that price point.

But, I did not like the keyboard. Compared to the keyboard on my PowerBook, or the MacBook Pro's, it didn't feel nearly as good. Maybe it's something you could get used to. But, I really like the old PowerBook keyboard..

my thoughts on the heat

[cbc1920 (730236)]

I have a new Macbook pro, and yes, it does get hot. As for the thermal paste, I think it's an issue of it being easier to tell the assemblers to gob it on rather than risk someone not getting enough. As soon as my warrenty expires, you can guarantee I will be in there redoing it myself.
On the other hand, I notice that my laptop's fan NEVER comes on, as long as I'm not in the hot sun. It seems that with the aluminum case, they have the luxury of using the back half of the laptop as a giant heat exchanger. Heat radiation is proportional to the difference in temperature between the air and the heatsink, so the high temperatures just mean that Apple has decided that having a quiet laptop was more important than a cool one.
My friends all have Dells and Sonys. Yes, they run cooler, but their fans are almost ALWAYS on, and if they run any more than the basics, they start to sound like a leaf blower.
Bottom line- with all my past laptops, I have had underclock them in order to keep the fans off, since that seems to be the first component to fail. I can put up with a hot computer, as long as it is quiet and lasts longer.
A final note- my processor has a full blown whine, but it is easily quited with the well-known quietMBP program. I hope someone comes up with a more elegant solution.

Not one person has mentioned the hard drive

[falcon5768 (629591)]

The one neat feature on the Macbook that the pro doesnt have and not one person has mentioned it. You can remove the Macbooks hard drive through the battery bay and replace it with whatever size you want by just simply removing 3 screws. No more cracking open the case to replace the hard drive on them.

K maybe I like those types of neat little nuances.

Not one person ... except TFA

[by Anonymous Coward]

I find it funny when people spend time reading through all the /. comments of each story ... but never read the story itself. It boggles the mind, it does.

Re:GMA950 graphics, bah!

[Doctor Memory (6336)]

Yeah, right. Not even the Dells in this price range have separate graphics cards. Good luck finding a 2Ghz dual-core laptop for a grand or so without integrated graphics. Hell, good luck finding a 2GHz dual-core laptop in this price range, period. To get the equivalent from Dell, you have to get a high-end Inspiron, and that'll set you back more than $1500. Of course, with that you'll get a 17" screen, which is cool, but if you want to stick close to the $1200 price point, you'll have to settle for a 1.66GHz Core Duo.

Re:GMA950 graphics, bah!

[MBCook (132727)]

Where did you get THAT number?

I go to Dell and check out the same model...

2 GHz Core Duo, 1 Gig of RAM, XP Pro, 100 Gig 7200 RPM drive, glossy screen, you're looking at $1746 shipped.

The price YOU quoted was for 1.66 GHz, XP Media Center, 5400 RPM drive, non-glossy screen.

By the way, both prices are after a 22% SALE that Dell is holding. I know they're always holding some sale or another, but even with the sale your price is flat out wrong for the specs you quoted.

This doesn't include all the great software that OS X comes with like iLife, iWork, and more. Also, the Dell is 50% thicker than the Mac. The video out is VGA only (not DVI). On the plus side, you do get the 5-in-1 media card reader (I'm still surprised Apple hasn't done this yet with all the media stuff they push).

If I make a white Macbook match the Dell (by upping the RAM, the hard drive, and adding Apple Care)... it costs $1798.

Ladies and gentlemen, the Macintosh premium: $52

That's 3%.

I'd GLADLY pay $52 to get OS X, iLife, and a laptop that isn't 50% thicker.

Re:GMA950 graphics, bah!

[MBCook (132727)]

That's interesting. I went to Dell and configured a laptop to match the Macbook. It was an Inspiron 6400. Same processor, same memory, same graphics, same wireless, same size hard drive, none of the great Apple software. The display is 15".

$1487.

An equivalent Macbook (the lowest one) is $1099. Add in $200 for Applecare and the Macbook is still cheaper. Plus the Dell is 50% thicker. It also weighs 16% more.

An Inspiron 640m 14" notebook configured to be the same as the Macbook is $1457. Still $200 more and you don't get all that great software (OS X and iLife). It weighs the same, but is still 50% thicker.

What a 12" screen? You'll need a Inspiron 710m. But that means a 1.7 GHz Pentium M. Matching things the best I can otherwise (CD-RW only, no DVD reader or burner) it costs... $1658. That's $400 more than the Macbook. It weighs one pound less than the 13" MacBook but... it's STILL 50% THICKER.

The Macbook is a great deal. You say you configured a cheaper Dell... can you provide the model? I'd like to see for myself.

Re:Integrated graphics are for entry level machine

[reldruH (956292)]

Apple loves price holes. Just look at the iPod. They used to have a 20GB regular iPod and a 6GB iPod mini. At that point, a lot of people are already going to be thinking that 6GB's just isn't enough, but if they want more they have to jump up to 20. I'm sure a lot of people who weren't really looking for something that big made the jump because there was nothing in between, and who wants to go down a level? Characteristically, Apple then introduced the nanos (which had even smaller hard drives) to replace the minis and then upped the capacity of the video iPods. Now, you can get either a 30GB model or a 4GB model. That's a huge hole and forces a lot of people who only need 10GB's or so to jump up to 30. It's amazing marketing, although I'm sure it makes some (myself among them) resentful at being herded like that.

Re:Integrated graphics are for entry level machine

[LearnToSpell (694184)]

You could always, you know, buy a not-iPod.

Just a thought.

Re:Integrated graphics are for entry level machine

[Greyfox (87712)]

I'm not sure I follow you...

Re:Integrated graphics are for entry level machine

[NetFu (155538)]

What, like a Walkman?

It's funny how the original post is reflective of how ubiquitous the iPod has become. I'll throw in my own anecdote:

I fly about 15 times a year for business. In the last 6 months, out of about 8 flights, only 1 has told the passengers they can now turn on/off their "portable electronic devices". The rest of them told us we could now turn on/off our "iPods and other portable electronic devices". It didn't even occur to me until maybe a half hour after the first time I heard it. They just assumed most of us who had small electronic devices had iPods.

The fact is, most people won't even consider iPod alternatives. The reasons are varied, but for me it's because I've owned 4 MP3 players, including one Creative, before the two iPods I've bought (one is 3rd generation, and the latest is 5th generation), and every one of them sucked for a handful of reasons. Each one sucked for a different set of reasons, but they all sucked for more than one or two reasons.

I just got tired of wasting my money on "iPod alternatives", so I don't even consider them any more. I'm sure I'm not the only one.

On the integrated graphics, I think the MacBook has the same integrated video the Mac Mini has, which I've been using for about a month. I've tested dozens of apps in Mac OS X and Windows on my Mac Mini, and the integrated graphics performed WAY better than I expected. The only recent game I had any problem running because of the graphics was Doom 3. Half Life 2, World of Warcraft (Win and Mac) both ran comparable to my Powerbook with ATI Radeon 9700 and my AMD desktop with NVidia 6800GT.

We use Solidworks for engineering our products at work, and I showed one of our engineers how it ran on the Mac Mini in Windows XP with a very complex 400mb model, and we were both quite impressed. Especially considering it's an $800 computer, and he needs a $2500 computer to get noticeably better 3D video performance ($750 of that is a high-end workstation card).

Anyway, the point is, don't just write it off because it's integrated video. Not all integrated video is created equal...

Re:Notebooks are complete. Product line is not.

[abscissa (136568)]

If the PowerBook became the MacBook Pro, what's the Power Mac going to become?

Double Big Mac.

Re:WOW a Laptop!!

[xeon4life (668430)]

I love Apple and all the innovation they have brought to the arena, but it really is just a laptop.

Au contraire, mon frère! It seems the MacBook isn't really a "laptop" anymore [engadget.com]!

“Apple's solution to this is to recommend that customers put the computer on a desk or other flat surface. And, not surprisingly, the word "laptop" does not appear once in the MacBook's manual.”

Re:WOW a Laptop!!

[hackstraw (262471)]

"laptop" does not appear once in the MacBook's manual."

The term "laptop" went away after the first guy burnt his dick on one.

Then they called them "notebooks".

Re:$150.00

[TomHandy (578620)]

The general explanation I've heard is that Apple is pricing the black model higher to try and control demand for it, since they apparently realize that if they made the black version the same price, they would have trouble meeting demand. I guess the question would be "why not just make more black macbooks?", but presumably there is some reason or some difficulty with making the black version (which apparently is not the same kind of glossy surface as the white ones).

Re:airport wpa pre-shared key macbook

[anagama (611277)]

I have the last g4 powerbook and ibook as well as the last g3 color ibook. Both the g4s have the airport card which does b/g, and the color ibook only does b. All of them connect flawlessly using WPA to a basic consumer Netgear wireless router and also to a wrt54g (version 2 I think). A while back before my Siemens Speedstream died, I had some issue with WEP which was solved by prepending "$" to the WEP key when entering it into the mac.