Unibody Macbook Questions

- If you own a Unibody Macbook what is the most graphic/cpu intensive thing you have done with it?

- Do you regret buying your Macbook, do you wish you bought the Pro?

- Do you think this laptop will be compatiable wiith Snow Leopard, or will the 9400m intergraded graphics hold it back?

* What is the Vista score for the MB 2.4ghz, thanks!

Is the screen on the Macbook unusable for watching movies / dvd's?

Which laptop would be overall better:

Unibody Macbook 2.4ghz or a Dell Studio XPS 1640?

Thanks for your time!

 

I can answer the 2nd question.
For $200 more, you get a bigger and better screen, better GPU. so why not???

 

1. I have no regrets here! It's a great machine, and I am very content with my MB. Of course the MBP is going to be better, but I was on a budget and I got a great machine for it. I personally wouldn't go with the MBP yet, as I probably wouldn't take advantage of all of it's features.

2. The 9400M will be just fine for Snow Leopard, and I don't think there will be any hold backs on the GPU at all. The 9600M GT will be better, but they'll both run just great with SL.

3. I don't have Vista, nor do I have the score for it, but I did run 3DMark06 and HD Tune in XP. I did make a thread about it, and here it is!

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=360543

4. I think the screen isn't anything to rave about, but it's better than most people make it out to be. It looks a bit washed out, as compared to the MBP or MBA. It's a decent screen, but as I said, nothing great. I watch many movies on it in the car and on the bus, and I don't find a problem with it.

5. It depends on what OS you like, and what your needs. The dell has better specs, but it depends on how the OS takes advantage of them. If you need a powerhouse, need a great screen with the high end model, and don't really have a need of OS X, then go Dell. If you want a good machine that doesn't need as much maintenance as Vista, want a great experience with OS X, and want a sweet looking machine, then go Mac!

 

actually...
my case is a bit different. I bought a 15" MBP, were I almost bought a unibody MB. For a few things I do (mainly games) the MBP is better because of the video card... but what I do 95% of the time I don't need it. Many times I wish I had bought the Macbook over the Macbook Pro. Its smaller (which I love) and the processor is more than powerful enough... the Geforce 9400M is powerful enough for everything I do video wise... even games. I don't really care if i have to run things at low graphics settings to play... games are fun to me for their content, not their looks (maybe cuz I started gaming when going form monochrome to 16 color was majorly cool)... I use the 9400M in my MBP more than I use the 9600...

Overall, its probably better that I bought the MBP, but there are many times I kind of wish i had gotten the MB...

 

I had a early 2008 MBP I sold to get the alu MB as soon as it came out. For me the portability of the MB was the deciding factor. I don't play games so the better GPU is not important to me. Good build quality, portability, comfortable keyboard and the unibody construction were good enough for me. The screen aside from the narrow viewing angle is nowhere near as bad as some are making it to be. As far as comparing it to a Windows PC, you need to decide which OS you would rather use.

 

1. Perhaps when I run VMWare to run XP to run VS 2008 (wow, that's a mouthful) . I takes a lot of the Cpu / Memory. I don't know about graphics though.
2. Nope. I love it. The size and weight is perfect for me. But every body has different taste.
3. Don't really know about Snow Leopard until it comes out. I hope my MB will be able to run it.
4. Sorry, I only have XP installed.
5. Not really, I watched movies on my MB and the quality is good enough for me. If you really need a better screen, you could hook the MB to an external monitor (a bigger one of course )
6. Oh, hardware wise, I think the XPS 1640 is obviously a better machine. However, there are factors such as weight, the OS (btw, OS X is great ).

If you're considering to get a MB, come down to any apple store and try it out yourself. If you like it, then by all means get it (read: buy it ).

 

Macbook is already heavy enough for me. If you don't need to consider portability, then go for the pro

 

I also have a question about the unibody Mac. Does "unibody" mean you cannot upgrade RAM, HDD, etc. or replace the keyboard?

 

It simply means that the whole "shell/body" of the notebook is made of one piece of aluminum. It makes it feel sturdier, and more solid to me. You can most definitely upgrade the RAM and HDD, but you can't upgrade the GPU or CPU etc. Replacing the keyboard can be a challenge, but nothing the Apple technicians can handle. I wouldn't recommend trying to replace the keyboard by yourself, because it requires a whole new case.

 

I'm likely one of the few here with both, which apparently rules me out for a comment in this subforum according to some mods, but what the heck.

The biggest question between the two if you're buying a notebook to be a notebook is probably:
Do you want to walk around with 3 Kilos or 2? It is a sizeable difference.

 

Thank you for quick answers, Colton. I guess I took the word "unibody" little too extremely

 

I've had both a MB and MBP. Both are fine machines and while the pro offers a more powerful GPU, the real choice is in screen size and quality. If portability is not a factor I would get the pro because the screen is much better. Portability is more of an issue for me so I prefer the pain MB.

Show Leopard will work just fone on either the current MB or MBP and will likely increase the speed and efficiency of both.

The MB screen is dissapointing on a machine in its price range but its perfectly useable for all non multi media purposes and for multimedia purposes its a matter of your tolerance level of its pathetic contrast ratio. I'm an avid photographer but I can live with the MB screen for photo editing.

There are many equals to Mac hardware quality in the Premium PC lines. Dell XPS stuff is pretty good hardware. You have to decide which design you like better. There are a lot more choices on the PC side. For me its a Software choice and I much prefer OS X and most OS X software over PC stuff but thats a personal choice.