BobyTT
Gawd
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And which games exaclty you are going to play on this mac? I am just a little bit curious ....
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Old base Macbook - new - $850 @ Best Buy
- Thread starter UncleDavid218
- Start date
Boot into Windows and play any fucking game you want.
Apple is not the only company that makes high quality products. Who's purporting thus? The point is that you can't compare a Macbook to a $400 piece of shit. Take a Macbook, and say...a Thinkpad, and now you can starting comparing oranges to oranges. I'm still a firm believer that Apple makes some of the best laptop hardware around, but at least it's arguable at that point. 1" 5lbs 5hr battery, etc...their form factors are second to none, IMO, which is why I bought a TiBook a hundred years ago instead of a Sony that was just as thick, had no built in cd drive, shorter battery life and cost a few hundred more. Are Apple computers cheap? No. Are BMWs? No. Is an Apple a BMW? No. But Apple is closer to being BMW than say...Ed Hardy. With BMW (and Apple) you're paying for the quality of the product (which may not be worth it to you). With something like Ed Hardy you're paying a decent premium just for the logo on the front. There is a difference.
I am just as much of a PC guy as a Mac guy. I work in IT, and I deal with (and purchase) tons of different laptops. Most of them do not stand up to the quality in a Macbook/MBP. The ones that do are in a similar price range to a Mac.
You don't need a crap load of RAM to run 10.5, unlike the 4GB you are recommended to get for Vista. Who are you going to duel with a DVD burner? j/k Have you ever actually burned a dual layer DVD? I've had 4 dual layer burners for like 3-5 years, I've burned two dual layer disc, ever. I don't even burn DVDs on a regular basis now, I just use flash drives.
Further, the first TiBooks were released in 2001, these laptops still can be sold for a decent amount. Whereas say the Toshiba I had in 2001 is now just trash.
Some people don't like Apples, because they are Apples with ABSOLUTELY zero input on why they don't like them. If you don't like Apple or Microsoft or whatever, at least have a reason or some facts or some relevance as to why you have that opinion; if you don't, you're a troll, please go back to 4chan.
Per the "you can't play games" trolls... It is an $850 laptop, wtf do you want? Gaming laptops start at $1300 for the low-end Alienware.
I'm not an Apple fanboy, I don't like several things about them.
1. My goddamn Macbook gets hot as hell.
2. The iPhone pricing, application scheme, poor reception, narfed bluetooth, etc.
3. Add-ons, when specing out a machine are ridiculously overpriced, like 32GB (8x4GB) [Add $9,100.00]
4. Apple Air it cuts you up, but honestly, I think it is a bit ridiculous that there is little to no user serviceability.
5. AppleCare no longer covers my Newton.
I still use their products, because they are very good for web development, especially because I do a lot of Unix/BSD/Linux work and sometimes VIM is too much of a hassle to use as an IDE. I have cygwin for my Windows box, but most stuff needs a lot of tweaking to compile properly... if you can even compile at all.
DarkStar02
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I went and priced a Dell Inspiron 13 with similar specs, and it came out to $924; the only differences are that the Dell has a DVD burner and a 160GB HD instead of a 120GB HD. If you think about it, it's not that big of a difference for the "Apple tax," especially in this case. Of note, the upgrade from the base "Pentium Dual-Core" to the C2D T8100 cost $175; I seriously doubt that most $400-500 laptops have a similar-spec'd chip, or a 13-inch screen either.
SYSTEM COLOR Pacific Blue edit
PROCESSOR Intel® Core 2 Duo T8100 (2.1GHz/800Mhz FSB/3MB cache) edit
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition SP1 edit
OFFICE SOFTWARE Microsoft Works edit
WARRANTY AND SERVICE 1Yr Ltd Hardware Warranty and Mail In Service edit
DISPLAY AND CAMERA Glossy, widescreen 13.3" LCD (1280x800) w/ 2.0M pixel Camera edit
VIDEO CARD Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100 edit
MEMORY 1GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 at 667MHz edit
HARD DRIVE Size: 160GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM) edit
INTERNAL OPTICAL DRIVE 8X Slot Load CD / DVD Burner (Dual Layer DVD+/-RW Drive) edit
WIRELESS NETWORK CARDS Dell Wireless 1505 Wireless-N Mini-card edit
BLUETOOTH OPTIONS Built-in Bluetooth capability (2.0 EDR) edit
BATTERY OPTIONS 56Whr Lithium Ion Battery (6 cell) edit
Irony: Halo came out for Mac several years ago and should probably run on any iMac with a G4 or newer.
SYSTEM COLOR Pacific Blue edit
PROCESSOR Intel® Core 2 Duo T8100 (2.1GHz/800Mhz FSB/3MB cache) edit
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition SP1 edit
OFFICE SOFTWARE Microsoft Works edit
WARRANTY AND SERVICE 1Yr Ltd Hardware Warranty and Mail In Service edit
DISPLAY AND CAMERA Glossy, widescreen 13.3" LCD (1280x800) w/ 2.0M pixel Camera edit
VIDEO CARD Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100 edit
MEMORY 1GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 at 667MHz edit
HARD DRIVE Size: 160GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM) edit
INTERNAL OPTICAL DRIVE 8X Slot Load CD / DVD Burner (Dual Layer DVD+/-RW Drive) edit
WIRELESS NETWORK CARDS Dell Wireless 1505 Wireless-N Mini-card edit
BLUETOOTH OPTIONS Built-in Bluetooth capability (2.0 EDR) edit
BATTERY OPTIONS 56Whr Lithium Ion Battery (6 cell) edit
Irony: Halo came out for Mac several years ago and should probably run on any iMac with a G4 or newer.
chaikovski2002
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this deal = FAIL
Most uneducated post on this whole thread. Please remove threadcrap. You don't even give a reason. You just type crap without even backing it up. When I bash Apple, or anyone else, you can be damned sure I'm going to bring legitimate reasons to the table. Go crap on some other forum.
You need at least 2GB to run it well. I've ran Leopard on several Macs. With 1GB it runs about like Vista runs with 1GB. You can feel the sluggishness. Apple just does a better job disguising it and making it look more purposeful and "fluid." With 4GB, it runs just like Vista with 4GB: smooth sailin'.
"Some people don't like Apples, because they are Apples with ABSOLUTELY zero input on why they don't like them."
You are correct, but some @$$ still had the nerve to put: "this deal = FAIL"
He obviously didn't read your post and just came in to threadcrap.
Agreed. I invite anyone curious about this to read my post on the previous page comparing a Macbook Pro to a "gaming" Alienware. Both systems were configured at the same time, with each company's current up-to-date tech. I've held more than one Alienware in my hand. I've used them, played games on them, etc. I've done the same with a Macbook. When I say the Macbook feels more solid and runs Vista or XP even better than the same freaking priced Alienware, it's because I've FREAKING USED BOTH!
I'll flat out say what Apple sucks at, and like I said before, I'm not an apple fanboy. I'm a fan of quality stuff, and THIS DEAL DOES NOT = FAIL. It's a good find, OP. Don't listen to stupid threadcrappers that don't even back up their comments.
UncleDavid218
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I just disregard the thread crappers. My new 2.4GHz MacBook (this is my first Mac BTW) was very expensive but I got an extremely solid machine with a good deal of HD space and a graphics card that can play most LAN games maxed out (CS:S at high settings anyone?). Oh, and it's mobile and looks great. It runs cool and is extremely quiet. What do I have to complain about?
The base MacBook, at that price, is an outstanding value. You get a solid piece of hardware that with a little more RAM can be a very solid machine for somebody not doing anything too advanced.
The base MacBook, at that price, is an outstanding value. You get a solid piece of hardware that with a little more RAM can be a very solid machine for somebody not doing anything too advanced.
Einhanderkiller
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Yeah, but Alienwares are as overpriced as Macs.
Where can I get a copy? (no sarcasm) The PC version is garbage on Vista/Server 08.
The last time I tried to buy it, it was $75.
0ptional
Don't Trust Your Friends with Your Decanter
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Halo for Mac? I just let my copy go on CraigsList for 15$, the Universal Binary version too... played fine on my GMA950/Core Duo MacBook and my warranty replacement of that machine, X3100/C2D Penryn MacBook
What are you talking about ....???
When I play it (e6600/8600gt) I get artifacts everywhere. Water will look weird, walls often become white, and random white flashing appears on the screen. Other games work fine. I have tried 6800, 8600GT, 7500le, x800 all cards have the issue in Vista or Server 08.
In XP it plays fine, but I hate dual booting. Only reason I still play is because a few friends do as well. One of my friends with his laptop experienced the same issues. Vista artifacted and XP played fine.
ikellensbro
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I've had one of the original (CD, not even C2D) Macbooks for over 2 very well used years. As a fair warning, yes this is tl;dr, and for a six word summary of my experiences: I call my Macbook a Crapbook.
I'm up to 309 cycles on the battery, which now just barely lasts 2 hours, 2.5 if I have the brightness on absolute minimum and have just a few FF tabs open with absolutely no Youtube watching. At best I used to get 3.5 for just surfing, about 2.5 watching a DVD. The AC adapter is small, but gets unnervingly hot. The MagSafe plug has saved my lazy ass a few times, but it's been dropped accidently a few times as well onto carpet with no long term damage anyway. However, it's pretty annoying when you're stretching the cord as long as it goes, because even a cat can unplug it from the middle of the cord. FWIW, the fixed output of my adapter is tearing and has to be held together by a good amount of electrical tape.
Performance wise, keep in mind that I got the absolute base model, which came with 2x256mb. How Apple was able to sleep at night doing this with any machine with 10.4 installed, only they and Satan can know. I immediately went for a single 1gb stick for 1.25gb, then a second. Just like Vista, anything less than 2gb isn't worth your time. Considering this one comes with 2x512mb, add at least $40 for 2-1 or 2gb sticks, depending on the deals (to be fair, upgrading the memory is pretty painless, but most don't require keyboard removal for that upgrade these days).
The biggest Apple tax that rarely got spoken back then (after purchase) was hard drive space. Like printer drivers and iLife? Say goodbye to ~10gb of space. Going by very foggy memory, I had 40-45gb free space after updating my Macbook fresh out of the box. With a 120gb on this one, that's not such a big deal, but back when the stock was 60gb and Apple (of course) charged $50 for the 80gb, that was pretty annoying. Don't forget the space you'll have to devote toward XP/Vista and their applications for today's world. From experience, once you get down to >6gb free HD space things start to get real sluggish, so keep that in mind as well.
An x3100 still doesn't make Macbooks capable of playing much more than WC3 at the native resolution. With a 1.83 CD and GMA 950, Starcraft noticeably drops o 25ish FPS during large battles, so don't kid yourself about playing anything recent at 1280x800.
Physically, this is where I've always been most dissapointed with old Macbooks. Even though it has a 13.3" WS, the overall footprint is about the same as a 14.1" WS. Sure, it's 1/2" thinner than most of PCs (which has never made any lick of difference in actual use), but it still weighs well over 5 pounds, just barely lighter than a 15" MBP. The case isn't too strong either, and I'd much rather have a 1.5" thick laptop that doesn't flex a good 1/4" when you pick it up by the corner with the screen open. Apple's claim that the lightly recessed keyboard doesn't touch the LCD is totally nullified by any flex, and you can easily see individual keys if you look from the side.
The cooling absolutely sucks as well, with a tiny intake and exhaust on the screen hinge, with a fan that loves to scream as soon as you watch something on Youtube. In the meantime, the bottom gets hot enough to prevent calling this a laptop for anoyone with testicles who possibly wants to have children in the future. The plastic around the screen opening slot on mine is starting to slowly chip off, and of course, that distinct (racist?) white has clearly tinted darker with a little yellowish thrown in. The lock port is effectively useless, since you could easily flex the plastic casing then crack the plastic around the lock. And really, how the hell can Apple still justify only 2 USB ports that aren't even spaced out with all the extra room along the side) and another mini-______ display port you get to buy $20 adapters for if you want to use it? Finally, for such a college-marketed laptop, the speakers are weaker than some netbooks I've heard. G4 iBooks had better and louder speakers.
OS X is based on the user, and what sets this apart from all PC laptops, of course. I'd pocket the savings and paint a Fry's $500 special white and sell it to someone who was planning on getting a Macbook just to run XP all day long. OS X's UI is more polished than Vista for sure, but in real life, I don't notice it that much. Expose is easily my favorite part of OS X, and Aero doesn't completely match the window adjusting abilites as well. Most of time, considering you're using a Macbook and not a Powermac, you're not going to have a shitload of windows open to make it save you a ton of time. Spaces is easily duplicated on XP/Vista, so that's even in my book. Speed wise, it's a toss up in my experiences. I've never had too many BSODs on desktops that weren't caused by tweaking, but I've had plenty of lock ups for 10 seconds to a few minutes on both (Spinning Wheel of Death anyone?).
If you're still reading this and thinking of getting an $850 Macbook, you're probably doing it because you want to try OS X. I hope you can realize Macbooks aren't worth their cost in hardware at all. If you absolutely, positively, must have OS X, buy an MSI Wind for $450-$500 and stick Leopard on it. I might try and sell or trade for a Wind or other netbook, because I don't use my Macbook enough to justify it over something much smaller and lighter than can let me check something online and take notes in class when I need to. Even as a college student in the San Francisco area with countless Macbooks around me, it just isn't worth it to me.
I'm up to 309 cycles on the battery, which now just barely lasts 2 hours, 2.5 if I have the brightness on absolute minimum and have just a few FF tabs open with absolutely no Youtube watching. At best I used to get 3.5 for just surfing, about 2.5 watching a DVD. The AC adapter is small, but gets unnervingly hot. The MagSafe plug has saved my lazy ass a few times, but it's been dropped accidently a few times as well onto carpet with no long term damage anyway. However, it's pretty annoying when you're stretching the cord as long as it goes, because even a cat can unplug it from the middle of the cord. FWIW, the fixed output of my adapter is tearing and has to be held together by a good amount of electrical tape.
Performance wise, keep in mind that I got the absolute base model, which came with 2x256mb. How Apple was able to sleep at night doing this with any machine with 10.4 installed, only they and Satan can know. I immediately went for a single 1gb stick for 1.25gb, then a second. Just like Vista, anything less than 2gb isn't worth your time. Considering this one comes with 2x512mb, add at least $40 for 2-1 or 2gb sticks, depending on the deals (to be fair, upgrading the memory is pretty painless, but most don't require keyboard removal for that upgrade these days).
The biggest Apple tax that rarely got spoken back then (after purchase) was hard drive space. Like printer drivers and iLife? Say goodbye to ~10gb of space. Going by very foggy memory, I had 40-45gb free space after updating my Macbook fresh out of the box. With a 120gb on this one, that's not such a big deal, but back when the stock was 60gb and Apple (of course) charged $50 for the 80gb, that was pretty annoying. Don't forget the space you'll have to devote toward XP/Vista and their applications for today's world. From experience, once you get down to >6gb free HD space things start to get real sluggish, so keep that in mind as well.
An x3100 still doesn't make Macbooks capable of playing much more than WC3 at the native resolution. With a 1.83 CD and GMA 950, Starcraft noticeably drops o 25ish FPS during large battles, so don't kid yourself about playing anything recent at 1280x800.
Physically, this is where I've always been most dissapointed with old Macbooks. Even though it has a 13.3" WS, the overall footprint is about the same as a 14.1" WS. Sure, it's 1/2" thinner than most of PCs (which has never made any lick of difference in actual use), but it still weighs well over 5 pounds, just barely lighter than a 15" MBP. The case isn't too strong either, and I'd much rather have a 1.5" thick laptop that doesn't flex a good 1/4" when you pick it up by the corner with the screen open. Apple's claim that the lightly recessed keyboard doesn't touch the LCD is totally nullified by any flex, and you can easily see individual keys if you look from the side.
The cooling absolutely sucks as well, with a tiny intake and exhaust on the screen hinge, with a fan that loves to scream as soon as you watch something on Youtube. In the meantime, the bottom gets hot enough to prevent calling this a laptop for anoyone with testicles who possibly wants to have children in the future. The plastic around the screen opening slot on mine is starting to slowly chip off, and of course, that distinct (racist?
) white has clearly tinted darker with a little yellowish thrown in. The lock port is effectively useless, since you could easily flex the plastic casing then crack the plastic around the lock. And really, how the hell can Apple still justify only 2 USB ports that aren't even spaced out with all the extra room along the side) and another mini-______ display port you get to buy $20 adapters for if you want to use it? Finally, for such a college-marketed laptop, the speakers are weaker than some netbooks I've heard. G4 iBooks had better and louder speakers.OS X is based on the user, and what sets this apart from all PC laptops, of course. I'd pocket the savings and paint a Fry's $500 special white and sell it to someone who was planning on getting a Macbook just to run XP all day long. OS X's UI is more polished than Vista for sure, but in real life, I don't notice it that much. Expose is easily my favorite part of OS X, and Aero doesn't completely match the window adjusting abilites as well. Most of time, considering you're using a Macbook and not a Powermac, you're not going to have a shitload of windows open to make it save you a ton of time. Spaces is easily duplicated on XP/Vista, so that's even in my book. Speed wise, it's a toss up in my experiences. I've never had too many BSODs on desktops that weren't caused by tweaking, but I've had plenty of lock ups for 10 seconds to a few minutes on both (Spinning Wheel of Death anyone?).
If you're still reading this and thinking of getting an $850 Macbook, you're probably doing it because you want to try OS X. I hope you can realize Macbooks aren't worth their cost in hardware at all. If you absolutely, positively, must have OS X, buy an MSI Wind for $450-$500 and stick Leopard on it. I might try and sell or trade for a Wind or other netbook, because I don't use my Macbook enough to justify it over something much smaller and lighter than can let me check something online and take notes in class when I need to. Even as a college student in the San Francisco area with countless Macbooks around me, it just isn't worth it to me.
Joe Average
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ikellensbro: Been there, done that. My Wife would love that MacBook however, so if you decide to just chuck it at some point... <hint, hint> keep me in mind will ya.
dasaint
[H]ard|Gawd
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Mac: "HI I'm A Mac"
PC: "And im a PC"
Mac: "What you doing there PC???"
PC: "Oh im just selling our products to millions why you spend all of your money on worthless advertising that still makes Macs way too expensive to the normal consumer."
Mac: "Well we need these commercials to keep our smug owners happy tho.."
PC: "Well you can have those people since i have the rest of the market"
Mac: "Oh...."
*APPLE MUSIC HERE*
if they would actually use that money to make a cheaper product then they might actually have a chance to compete realisitically against the PC market.
nice find.. just a really expensive product
PC: "And im a PC"
Mac: "What you doing there PC???"
PC: "Oh im just selling our products to millions why you spend all of your money on worthless advertising that still makes Macs way too expensive to the normal consumer."
Mac: "Well we need these commercials to keep our smug owners happy tho.."
PC: "Well you can have those people since i have the rest of the market"
Mac: "Oh...."
*APPLE MUSIC HERE*
if they would actually use that money to make a cheaper product then they might actually have a chance to compete realisitically against the PC market.
nice find.. just a really expensive product
UncleDavid218
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My thoughts exactly.
ikellensbro
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Of course first gen Macbooks weren't going to be as fast as later versions, but those have been out for more than 2 years, while later ones haven't. Physically, they haven't had much (any?) change until now, and hardware wise, a 2GHz C2D isn't that much faster - 25% absolute maximum for programs that have been updated or released after the original Macbooks came out. As one of the early adopters, yes I took a bit of a risk, but part of the selling point for Apple is that things just work from the very beginning.
My biggest gripe about Macbooks, as a first time user, was that the machine itselt wasn't at all superior in quality to an ordinary PC. Macbook Pros, now there's a machine where I see actual quality that might be worth some extra cash. Basic Macbooks just scream wasted space and overpriced hardware to me.
Sorry for off topic ... but Halo runs fine in Vista 64 bit for me. Played the game straight through without a single glitch or lockup, all graphics maxxed (which doesn't really tax anything in Halo one.) Maybe there was a patch you missed out on?
chinesepiratefood
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chinesepiratefood
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The funny thing is, Apply just released a commercial making fun of Microsoft spending all that money on the new Windows ads
dasaint
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and the really sad part is apple has probably spent 100x what Microsoft did on all of those worthless comercials...
again i stand by my point spend less on attacking microsofts products which apple uses and even claims works on their hardware which actually is CISC archetecture so its not really a mac now is it??? and i would really like to know about the problems VISTA has because i use it and the problems are about as minimal as using a Macintosh.... which i swear every patch they do to their os they have to add a 0.0.1 to it so to me thats a service pack for every major upgrade they have had... and they are at what 10.5.5??? if it didnt have any issues why not just be at 10.5.0
i really hate how mac claims they dont have issues like PC's where in fact they are PC's (PERSONAL COMPUTER)
again i stand by my point spend less on attacking microsofts products which apple uses and even claims works on their hardware which actually is CISC archetecture so its not really a mac now is it??? and i would really like to know about the problems VISTA has because i use it and the problems are about as minimal as using a Macintosh.... which i swear every patch they do to their os they have to add a 0.0.1 to it so to me thats a service pack for every major upgrade they have had... and they are at what 10.5.5??? if it didnt have any issues why not just be at 10.5.0
i really hate how mac claims they dont have issues like PC's where in fact they are PC's (PERSONAL COMPUTER)
Yes, you're right, I'm sure Apple spent $3,000,000,000 on their very lavish ads. John Hodgman just bought Haiti.
0ptional
Don't Trust Your Friends with Your Decanter
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What makes a Mac a Mac is the software, and let's just go by wikipedia here who said it really well:
"Macintosh, commonly nicknamed Mac, is a brand name which covers several lines of personal computers designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc."
Mac isn't an architecture, nobody said it was, but that seems to bother you somehow? Would you rather they have called windows-based machines something else? PC is short, easily understood (and conceived as different from Mac, which is the whole point) for consumers.