Various questions: heat, design, unibody white vs. aluminum, battery life vs. video card, Windows

1.
I really didn't find much info on the (now not so) new white unibody Macbooks, expect some items for sale. And please, don't tell me that just buy the aluminum model for the extra $200, my question is strictly from an engineering point of view: heat. We all know aluminum Macbooks are quite hot, right? But how does the white unibody compares to the aluminum regarding heat issues?

2.
What might be the reason that the whole bottom of the white unibody contcts the table beneath it, compared to the aluminum model, which has four rubber contact points on the four corners?

3.
On the other thread I read a dedicated graphics card does not really add to battery consumption. Can you confirm that?

My main usage profile is office, web and seeing (HD, if available) Youtube videos. This one is rather a 15" vs. 13" Pro question, and half hypothetic. Let's say, all things are being equal on two models, the processor none the least, the only differences are one model has the integrated Nvidia, the other the integrated Intel plus discreet Nvidia combo, which one would serve me better, regarding performance and battery life? The discreet graphics would at least turn on when playing the HD videos?

4.
Running native Windows (7 or XP) still suck on Macbooks, because of the drivers?

 

1: about the same temps, same cooling ssytem different shell.

2: no idea, prob to keep the Al from scratching to complete uglyness.

3: discreet video does use more power, especially when you move into the mid-high and high end cards.

4: more or less, touchpad driver still isnt there power management sucks and battery life is halved.

youtube vids that are streamed via flash will eat your battery as well since OSX is not the most flash friendly and has to ramp up the CPU.

as for which to choose .... factors like budget and other software you may use comes more into play, for that basic of use I say go snag a netbook.

 

I'm not sure about the current white MacBook, but I had a 13" 2006 white MacBook, and my unibody aluminum 2009 MacBook Pro 13" is nowhere near as hot as the white one would get.

That white one would actually be too warm to use on my lap... uncomfortably hot. The fan also went on consistently. I have neither of these issues with the aluminum unibody.

Again, that's the older non-unibody model, however. Not sure if they improved the cooling or not on the unibody whites.

 

My answers are above.

 

Dedicated graphics cards add SIGNIFICANTLY to graphics consumption (as well as heat production), especially in the high end.

To put it into perspective, place my system under full graphical load, and each one of my graphics cards will suck up as much power as a full MacBook Pro (the larger models) on full load. That's 55W a card. It can go up to 75W.

Of course, mainstream dedicated graphics don't use that much power, but they still add on a significant amount. It'd be like sticking a second processor in there.

Just as a note, there's not much reason for most people to get the higher performance graphics unless you'll use them with graphical computing (or games). The integrated chip in the 13" is more than capable of outputting HD video.

 

Thanks for the clarifications!