Changes to new Macbook (Santa Rosa)

I took a look at a new Macbook 2.2 GHz (Santa Rosa) and I found a couple interesting changes.

1. For all those people out there that felt the MB's speaker volume was weak well Apple heard you. Yep it only took a couple of years but the volume is now noticeably louder. No difference in sound quality (still no bass) but at least you can hear it better.

2. The SR MB runs cooler. I'm sure some of this is due to the move to the different chipset, but I found a couple interesting tidbits inside. The fan size has increased. To me the fan looks very close to the style used in MBP's. Fan RPM remains the same, but the larger fan does move more air. Noise level is still low. As some may have seen elsewhere the vents have been redesigned. They look similar to what the MBP's adopted a few months ago. There are far fewer slats so the airflow is improved. The heatsink assembly is also different. I couldn't tell if the heatsink fins have changed ( I would assume there are more since the fan outlet is wider), but the assembly that makes contact with the Northbridge and CPU is made from a different material. The older models used stainless steel, but the new machine uses what looks like magnesium. I'm not sure if this impacts heat dissipation, but I bet it does save some weight. The MB did drop about .2 lbs. FYI, I've had this SR MB running about a half an hour at it's sitting at 39C. Picture of the heatsink and fan below.

3. I'm having to get used to the new placement of the shortcut keys. Apple re-arranged the keys to match those of the new desktop keyboards. The jury is still out on their effectiveness. I do like the inclusion of the shortcut keys for iTunes (Play/Pause,FF, RR). Yes, they work even if iTunes isn't the active program.

4. Apple includes a cleaning cloth for cleaning the display.

5. The case edges aren't as sharp. Apple seems to have smoothed over the edges slightly. It isn't perfect but it's improved.

Overall I like this new MB. It probably doesn't have enough changes for existing owners to upgrade , but new owners should find the MB is a great machine.


New Heatsink/Fan




Old Heatsink/Fan

 

The most revolutionary addition to the new MacBook is number 4 .

Just joking. Good to hear that the new Santa Rosa MacBook does have more improvements than at first glance!

 

Thanks for posting!

 

+rep for you!

Great post. These are the types of things that really matter and don't get enough attention. Everybody can see from the apple store website that there's a new processor and whatnot, but they can't really put up a spec sheet on volume levels(most people don't know what a decibel is or how it relates to perceptive volume).

 

Oooooh, that's what the black clothe is for LOL, I was like WTF is this? That's helpful

 

Great info here. I should be getting my Macbook in a week or so... nice to know what Apple changed under the hood (besides SR).