I grew up a windows junkie, and i do enjoy windows a lot. I’m one of those lucky few who don’t get blue screens, or big data problems or ever those small little glitches.
Now that it was time for me to buy a new computer, I decided 2 things, one i wanted a laptop instead of a desk top. Second is i wanted an Apple.
So i got the money and purchased a Macbook. God, that thing was like another relationship, and I loved the MacBook. But, when I realized that none of my video’s were compatible with the Macbook, and read that I would have to install this and download that.. err I just don’t understand a lick of it. So I freaked out, decided I wanted a Laptop with Windows on it, and exchanged my Macbook, which was a very sad process. I purchased a pink sony viao @ best buy.
Ahhh…comfort zone.
However the more I used it, the more I realized how much of a comfort zone I was in with the Macbook. And that the windows system is like a stiff bitch compared to the mac.
So my question is should I run back to the store and get my macbook back, or should I stick with the Sony Viao?
I don’t know what I should do, I do like them both, but I have issue’s with both.
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Exchanged MacBook for Sony Viao-smart move for my situation?
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Exchanged MacBook for Sony Viao-smart move for my situation?
The Truth
I grew up a windows junkie, and i do enjoy windows a lot. I’m one of those lucky few who don’t get blue screens, or big data problems or ever those small little glitches.
Now that it was time for me to buy a new computer, I decided 2 things, one i wanted a laptop instead of a desk top. Second is i wanted an Apple.
So i got the money and purchased a Macbook. God, that thing was like another relationship, and I loved the MacBook. But, when I realized that none of my video’s were compatible with the Macbook, and read that I would have to install this and download that.. err I just don’t understand a lick of it. So I freaked out, decided I wanted a Laptop with Windows on it, and exchanged my Macbook, which was a very sad process. I purchased a pink sony viao @ best buy.
Ahhh…comfort zone.
However the more I used it, the more I realized how much of a comfort zone I was in with the Macbook. And that the windows system is like a stiff bitch compared to the mac.
So my question is should I run back to the store and get my macbook back, or should I stick with the Sony Viao?
I don’t know what I should do, I do like them both, but I have issue’s with both. -
Oct 14 - Apple Notebook Event 2008 - New MacBook - 5/6
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Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduces the new notebook lineup of Apple. Steve Jobs introduces the new macbook and the 24″ display. -
Macbook Air Review & Thoughts August 2009
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A video blog about the macbook air. 2.13GHZ core 2 duo, 2gb ram, 128 ssd drive. -
At Last, I get My Macbook Home
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Here we go -
Apple Macbook 2008 Release
The Truth
Overview
It’s big news whenever Apple announces new products and now Appleâs bestselling consumer notebook receives the long rumored major redesign that is no doubt, another stunner. Just when you thought Apple couldnât make the previous generation MacBook any better, they come around and offer this aluminum and glass beauty that is even thinner, lighter, and more powerful than before. Now that Apple has brought its renewed MacBooks ($1299 starting) and MacBook Pros ($1999 starting) even closer together by offering the same design, engineering, and -for the first time on the MacBook - aluminum body to both notebook lines, the once straightforward consumer and pro-line product differentiation is slowly fading away. Is this the best MacBook to date? Is it safe to call the MacBook, the MacBook Pro “mini”? Read on.Design
The new MacBook and MacBook Pro make some significant strides in the design department.  First, the MacBook for the first time, joins the MacBook Pro in offering an all-aluminum body, ditching the white polycarbonate plastic that once defined the consumer line.  In fact, both machines look pretty much identical to each other - offering a black glass bezel screen and black “chiclet-style” keyboards to reflect the new Apple design direction first introduced with the current iMac and iPhone.  It’s a stunner for sure.  The exterior borrows cues from the MacBook Air using tapered edges that trick you into thinking it’s even thinner than it already is.  The magnetic latch opens and closes the display with buttery smoothness and without mechanical parts.  Aa satisfyingly solid “thunk” can be heard when closed.   Available in the more expensive $1599 model are LED backlit keys - a first for the MacBook. ÂAside from the switch to a fully aluminum casing that replaces the now-defunct white plastic and/or black matte finish of the previous generation, Apple is touting its new manufacturing process as a technological and engineering breakthrough.  Using a full slab of aluminum to construct the MacBook and MacBook Pro, not only does this revolutionary process create a body and chassis that is much stiffer with no flexing, these new notebooks use less mechanical screws, parts and pieces to construct together, and thus allow Apple is able to achieve a lighter and thinner product.  The result is a notebook that is so clean and so sleek looking in design, it’s devoid of any evidence of screws to piece it together and without any vents, confirms that this new design doubles as an effective heatsink.
While it’s nice to see the MacBook now offer the same look and materials as the MacBook Pro, Apple may now run the risk of cannibalizing sales of its own pricier MacBook Pros, as they both look almost identical to each other and features-wise, the line between the two is blurring.  Call it the MacBook Pro mini if you will in appearance, Apple has revolutionized a new way to build quality notebooks that are also environmental friendly.
Size and Weight
Impressively, the new MacBook vgp-bps8b is even thinner and lighter than before, achieving a thickness of only .95 ” - the same as the new MacBook Pro. Â At 4.5 pounds, the new MacBook is 1.5 pounds lighter than the outgoing model with weight evenly distributed across thanks to its unibody construction (read: less parts). Â At 12.78″ x 8.94″, the new machines are pretty much identical in dimensions to the last generation models.
Keyboard
Love it or hate it, Apple has now transitioned its entire Mac lineup to the retro-looking “chiclet-style” keyboard with the new MacBooks. Â Rather than color match the keys with the aluminum body, Apple’s new design direction employs the use of black keys to give the notebook an interesting design contrast. Â The downside of having black keys is noticeable fingerprint smudging from oily fingers; At least it won’t look and get dirty like the older white MacBooks. Aesthetics aside, the full-size keyboard is a real pleasure to type on with very solid and satisfying clicks. Â The keys may be flat and spaced out, but it’s oh-so-comfortable to type on with just the right amount of key travel sony vgp-bps8 and spring action. Â The higher end model also offers LED backlit keys for the first time on a MacBook - once again, blurring the lines between the MacBook and MacBook Pro in features.Display
With a gorgeous 13.3″ LED-backlit LCD screen fully encased beneath a black bezeled glass, the MacBook’s display is stunning to look at even when powered off. Â The glossy finish makes colors really pop and adds to its enhanced vibrance, but at the cost of massive glare, making outdoor viewing difficult. Â Indoor viewing is not as bad, but reflections abound so be mindful of viewing angles and tilt adjustments. Â At first glance, the display seems identical to the previous MacBook screen with the same 1280×800 native resolution, but thanks to the new LED-backlighting, the display is evenly lit across the screen and noticeably brighter than the previous generation models. Â Watching movies was a real treat even though you’ll find yourself seeing your own reflection in lighted areas. Â But when compared to the MacBook Pro’s larger screen, the MacBook’s picture quality is still inferior and you’ll notice the contrast and blacks drop out when viewed from an angle - The MacBook Pro’s, on the otherhand, looks great at any angle. Â This is a big reason why Apple would like for you to pay the extra money to go Pro for the better screen. Â A built-in iSight camera is included as well like before on the top of the display.Buttonless Glass Trackpad
Apple once again leads the competition by offering zero buttons…no really! Â Apple has created the first “buttonless” trackpad built entirely of glass that also includes multi-touch technology. Â The entire trackpad is essential a button in itself where pushing down creates a solid click to confirm depresses. Â While it takes getting used to at first, the trackpad actually turns out to be very intuitive with a smooth glossy feel. Â The MacBook Air introduced 3-finger scrolling and the MacBook and MacBook Pro now offer 4-finger multi-touch scrolling for calling upon Expose and Spaces functionality. Â While quirky, you’ll soon appreciate the wonders the new glassy trackpad’s buttonless design provides.Connectivity
Apple has shrewdly and neatly moved all ports to the left side of the notebook (the right side now occupies the lone optical drive), giving it a very clean and organized look so there’s no cluttered wires coming out of either side. With the MacBook, you get 2 USB 2.0 ports, gigabit ethernet port, audio in/out jacks, MagSafe charge port, and the new mini DisplayPort that replaces the old mini-DVI out in an effort to save precious component space.  Also of convenience is the battery meter on the same side.  In a surprising move, Apple has curiously decided to omit FireWire in the new MacBook that was previous made standard across the entire Mac lineup. Now, the only way for media heads to take advantage of FireWire connectivity is to shell up the $700 for the MacBook Pro or buy a pricey adapter. While most people can argue that FireWire’s adoption is dwindling in favor of USB, one of the unique things that made FireWire so special for Macs is the target disk feature, allowing the computer to boot OS X off any FireWire external drive. Call it cost-cutting or the death of FireWire adoption, we call it a disappointment.The DisplayPort is another interesting move on Apple’s part to capitalize on a new standard that not only saves component space from the larger DVI and mini-DVI ports, but transitions across all future Macs. Unfortunately, Apple is skimping on the accessories as you’ll have to shell the hefty $99 for the mini DisplayPort adapter kit to connect an external monitor. Harsh.
For the common consumer, the MacBook provides just enough of what you need and nothing you don’t in terms of available ports. Trimming the fat, Apple still doesn’t offer any built-in digital card reader into the unit when compared to the competition and ExpressCard is a feature you’ll only find on the MacBook Pro. Limited but more than sufficient.
Upgrading
One of the pains of owning an Apple notebook before was the difficulty in upgrading the basic hardware components. It took a few dozen tiny screws just to get to the harddrive! Not so with these new notebooks. Apple clearly did it’s homework when redesigning the MacBook and MacBook Pro, making it very easy to open and upgrade. Only 2 aluminum plates pieces hold the base together, providing easy access into the harddrive compartment and RAM slots through a simple flip of a latche.  The big news is the removable battery, now tucked neatly beneath one panel next to the hard drive.  Upgrading is limited to your standard harddrive upgrade (SATA or SSD) and adding more RAM (up to 4GB max).Features:
The MacBook laptop battery is a real engineering marvel. It’s stunning good looks compliment the bevy of new advanced technology and engineering features. The Intel Core2Duo 2.0Ghz model ($1299) we received proved plenty capable of handling most common computing tasks and comes with a 160gb harddrive and 2gb of RAM (with the 1066Mhz FSB). A 2.4Ghz model is available as well for an additional $300 sticker price and includes a 250Gb SATA drive. Both models offer the option of the pricey but fast SSD drive.
Ditching the weak integrated graphics chipset from Intel, the MacBook finally offers a dedicated true graphics engine in the form of the nVidia GeForce 9400M making for better handling of 3D graphics and video. The results, are quite noticeable in speed and video performance throughout the system. Another great feature with this card is that it results in lower heat generation as the CPU no longer has to work so hard in processing these tasks. However, don’t expect the GPU to bowl you over in graphics-heavy applications though (read gaming). But, the 9400M certainly does pack a good amount of 3D punch to your videos, media, and gaming sessions, especially with the likes of the new Adobe Photoshop utilizing thus features.
Wireless-N, Bluetooth, SuperDrive and iSight are all standard features as usual.
Heat and noise wasn’t much of an issue with the new MacBooks thanks to the entire aluminum unibody acting as a giant heatsink. Â The notebook runs warm but not quite as hot as older models and a soft hum can be heard only when the fan kicks in intermittently. Â No issues here. Â In our battery tests, watching a DVD yielded about 2:40 of juice, and in basic tasks such as web browsing and word processing, a respectable 4:30 of life.
Conclusion
Overall, we found the new MacBook a real pleasure to use as with all Mac products we’ve tested.  It’s a gorgeous, sexy piece of machinery and certainly the best MacBook yet.  But we do question Apple’s decision to make the MacBook so closely identical in looks and features to the MacBook Pro… Anyway, at $1299 starting, it’s a tad more expensive than we had hoped it would be, but you do get a lot for your money namely the aluminum casing, glassy multi-touch buttonless trackpad and of course, the revolutionary unibody “brick” construction and for a whole $700 cheaper than the cheapest MacBook Pro model.  Nonetheless it’s a excellent buy for one of the best notebooks around on the market.  Some may not like Apple’s new design direction (myself included) utilizing black keys to contrast the aluminum, but there’s no denying this is one of the best looking laptops available. ÂBottom Line:
With a dedicated GPU and aluminum body, it might be “safe” to call the MacBook the “true” successor to the highly heralded Powerbook 12″.  Well…almost - the lack of FireWire is a serious hit and it’s still a tad too big.  What about calling it a MacBook Pro mini?  Not quite but its darn close. A better display and graphics card, Firewire, ExpressCard slot, and LED keys are all that gets in the way of the $700 difference, features wise.  Yet, the lines between the consumer and pro models are fading away ever so slightly…Suddenly $1299 feels like a great bargain. -
MacBook vs MacBook Pro
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Mid 2009 macbook Pro 13 Intel Core 2 Duo P8700 2.53ghz L2 3MB 4GB DDR3 1066mhz RAM 250GB 5400RPM HDD nvidia 9400M 256MB GDDR3 Late 2008 macbook 13 Intel Core 2 Duo 2.00ghz L2 3MB 2GB DDR3 1066mhz RAM 160GB 5400RPM HDD nvidia 9400M 256MB GDDR3 Taylor’s youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com My TWITTER: http//www.Twitter.com/jamesrschultz Taylor’s TWITTER: http://www.Twitter.com Our Website: http://www.techcores.com Watch our LIVE Web Show from 7-9PM EST Tuesday and Friday at http://www.ustream.TV -
15.4 MacBook Pro Unboxing
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Finally the day has come. I sold my black macbook recently and used the money to purchase the Late 2008 Unibody 15.4 inch macbook Pro. A great machine, and definitely an upgrade from the macbook. Specs: 2.4 ghz Intel Core 2 Duo 2 gb of DDR3 Ram 250 gb Harddrive NVIDIA 9400M and NVIDIA 9600M GT with 256 mb of GDDR3 memory No SD card slot, but has an Expresscard slot Removable battery Twitter: twitter.com -
Apple Macbook Pro
The Truth
Apple Laptops are sleek and stylish with great inbuilt features. Apple Laptops give the users a great viewing experience and are equipped with the latest technology. The Apple Macbook Pro Laptop supports an Intel Core 2 Duo 2.53GHz processor with 3MB on-chip shared L2 cache running 1:1 with processor speed, two SO-DIMM slots support up to 8GB. The Apple Macbook Pro Laptop supports a 320 GB Hard disk drive and DVD Super drive.
The Apple Macbook Pro supports sleek dimensions of 35.7 x 2.59 x 24.3 and weighs 2.45 Kg. The Apple Macbook Pro Laptop is equipped with a 15.4-inch LED-backlit glossy widescreen display with support for millions of colors, supported resolutions of 1440 by 900 pixels, at 16:10 aspect ratio. The Apple Macbook Pro Laptop will give a great viewing experience for all your video, movie, etc.
This Apple Laptop has amazing graphics and video support. The Apple Macbook Pro Laptop supports NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics processor with 256MB of DDR3 SDRAM shared with main memory. The Apple Macbook Pro Laptop is equipped with high quality graphics that give life like clarity. Through this apple laptop you can play your favorite games and enjoy videos. The Apple Macbook Pro supports a large touchpad mouse that makes navigating a breeze. The Apple Macbook Pro makes your job comfortable with a wide range of features like Multi-Touch track pad through which you can swipe, or rotate to enlarge text or an image with the use of your fingers.
Other features included in the Apple Macbook Pro Laptops are a built-in iSight camera for easy chatting with your friends and family. The Apple Macbook Pro Laptop offers great connectivity options like built-in AirPort Extreme Wi-Fi wireless networking, built-in Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR (Enhanced Data Rate) wireless technology and built-in 10/100/1000BASE-T Gigabit Ethernet (RJ-45 connector). Apple-Macbook Pro includes an in-built camera so you can have video conference with your friends or family, 2 USB ports, 2 Firewire ports and Bluetooth and Lithium Polymer battery for extra power.
Apple Macbook Pro Laptop has built-in stereo speakers, built-in Omni directional microphone, and combined optical digital audio input/audio line in, combined optical digital and audio output/audio line out. The integrated sound card provides rich and crisp sound quality every time you listen to your favorite music. For the latest Laptops Price check consumermate.com.
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An Overview of the New Macbooks and Macbook Pros
The Truth
The new Macbooks and Macbook Pros represent a sizable change in Apple’s portable computing lineup. The biggest change is in the manufacturing process. Instead of polycarbonate, the Macbook is now crafted out of a CNC machined block of aluminum. The same goes for the Macbook Pro.
On the Macbook, this means you’ll have a lighter machine that’s also structurally more rigid. The Macbook Pro also uses this same manufacturing method. So instead of that flimsy, thin aluminum that dents rather easily, you get something much more substantial.
On both the regular Macbook and Macbook Pro, you get a glass trackpad. Gone is the click button. Instead, the whole trackpad becomes the click button. Because of this, you also get over 30% more trackpad real estate. Like the Macbook Air, various gestures can also be used with this trackpad.
The display has not been ignored. You get LED backlighting. Compared to the traditional backlighting (called compact fluorescents) LED backlighting is much brighter, gets to optimal brightness almost instantly, and is more consistent. This will make photographers and other people who depend on their displays very happy.
The display is surrounded in black and encased in a sheet of glass. Those who prefer a matte screen might find this annoying. But I didn’t find the glare to be all that distracting and in the end, the deeper/richer colors more than made up for it.
Nvidia powers the display for both Macbook models. Instead of Intel integrated graphics, the Macbook gets the Nvidia GeForce 9400M. The Macbook Pro gets a GeForce 9400M and a 9600M GT. Depending on the situation, the user can switch between either graphics chips.
Macbook users will notice the biggest difference since the Intel graphics chips from the past generation offered so-so performance at best. Macbook Pro users should also see a performance boost in the 9600M GT but it’s still a far cry from the budget desktop SLI configurations that you can put together yourself.
One area where a lot of Macbook fans will complain loudly is the lack of firewire. People like firewire because it offers target disk mode, it uses less resources than USB 2.0, and some find it to be slightly faster than USB 2.0. Users will have to step up to a Macbook Pro if they want their firewire.
Instead of DVI, users will have to use DisplayPort. It’s much more compact and supports DVI and VGA connections. As of right now, there’s not a whole lot of industry support for DisplayPort.
Overall, the Macbook and Macbook Pro line has received a nice update. They both feel really solid and represent some of the finest notebooks available today. If you’re looking for a notebook that offers a lot of bang for the buck, look elsewhere. You can buy a similarly configured Dell notebook for hundreds less. They won’t have the really nice exterior casing, but the overall performance will be similar. But for those who prefer to use a Mac, this new line-up is hard to resist due to it’s improvements and overall refinement.
Todd Matsumoto operates Macs To Go. This site specializes in Apple Macbooks.