Guest Editorial: Apple "MehBooks" and the Future of Macs

if the new macbook was 800 I would consider checking-it-out, but it's 1300 starting... so think I will stick with windows vista which works just fine.

 

Personally I favor light weight over thinness by far. Who cares if your laptop is .x inches thick, as long as it's light enough to carry around comfortably? In fact, thinness can be a disadvantage because it gives your hand less to grip when carrying it.

Anyway that's just my opinion. To be fair, I do think thin laptops look nice, but other than that I don't use it as a deciding factor when buying one.

This is starting to go off topic though, so we should probably continue any thin vs. light discussions through PMs instead of this thread.

Well unless Apple's sales start dropping significantly, he's wrong (I guess we'll have to wait and see on this one). Just because he can't see the appeal to the new MacBook doesn't mean the appeal doesn't exist. Like I said countless times before in this thread, there are things the article omits like weight, durability, the innovative touchpad, the glass screen, etc. in the comparison. These may mean nothing to him, but to many other people they can be very appealing features.

 

Lower weight and better durability are definitely advantages, but glass screen and all-in-one touchpad are just new. New is not an advantage, it's just new. As I just said a few pages back, all these "advantages" also have disadvantages.

 

wow 40 pages of 400 replies in a day.

this laptop sure is sensational

 

Not sure if you have even one valid point in your posting.

While there should be a hit when running an OS in a VM, I find the opposite to be true. I ran Vista on a T61 and it was an absolute dog. It had 2 gig of memory and a 7200 rpm hard drive. No reason why it should have been so slow, but it was. Compared to a Santa Rosa MBP, I had much better luck with Vista and it was darn right snappy.

As for Parallels being much, much slower than VMware's Fusion, check the reviews and it really depends on what your doing. Parallels is faster at some things and Fusion is faster at others. In the end, the review I read showed that speed was almost the same.

If you haven't tried Parallels, then I wouldn't being saying Fusion runs circles around it. I've tried both and went back to Parallels because I knew it better. I saw no real difference in speed. FWIW, I develop mostly business applications that are databased backed.

I think there was a period there where Parallels and Fusion were leap frogging each other, but I think they have both settled down and the differences are not that significant. I use Parallels version 3 (lastest build) and at the time I used Fusion version 1 something. Since then, Fusion has released version 2, but I think it was mostly new features.

 

Yeah, its insane. This has to be THE hottest thread on NBR ever.

Too bad many posts get lost in translation due to the volume of posts that are flying in. Maybe it's time to close this thread to prevent the NBR site from caving in?

 

Never! In the new NBR server we trust!

 

^lol,I got it-they are just testing new servers

 

what is there to convert? it feels more like the opposite...
and so you do like to make pc users butts of your jokes...ic ic...and i thought you mentioned 'pc-bots' are the ones whom do it and you are only 'defending' yourself.

 

An idiot can see that the macbook and macbook pro's build design is superior to alot of the pc notebooks out there. You get no argument from me in that regard. Also we all know the mac OS tends to have very few problems as well. Again I completely agree with macheads when they state the build quality is better and the os is top notch. However when you ask a machead to justify their purchase beyond those two factors they are left scratching their head. The notebook is built to last but the internals barely keep you up to date for more then a year and half. That is criminal.

AGAIN

The notebook is built to last you forever but the internals barely keep you up today with today's latest games and programs.

Someone tell me why the HP HDX16 is almost $800 dollars less then the similiar configured MBP. Is the body and OS $800 dollars? Really?

 

On that topic, the new MacBook seems pretty powerful for a 13" laptop for me. GeForce 9400, Intel Penryn 2.4 GHz, 4 GB RAM, etc. It's not exactly a gaming laptop, but it's a lot better than most other 13" laptops today.

When you consider that the HP HDX16 weighs about 7 pounds, lasts 2 hours on battery at most, and is almost 2 inches thick, yeah.

 

Just to clarify of course Mac laptops are better built that a lot of PC's out there that is a given but there an awful amount of PC's out there and some maybe just as well built or even better built than the MB.

You cannot just say that Mac's are better built than PC's. You can get a $1,700 Sony Vaio/Lenovo or you can get a $700 Dell and you would not expect the build quality on them to be the same.
Also some PC laptops now are also using a unibody construction.

 

I agree here. Thin does not equal small. Thin does not equal portable. Weight and size equals portability. Two tenths of an inch thinner is that big of a factor? I can understand if you maybe want to fit 10 more pieces of paper in your laptop bag. I'd rather still have functional shoulders at the end of the day. Weight will trump thin form factor every time.

It is also interesting that Mac users compare their $2000 MBP with a $1000 PC. The rest of the world compares apples to apples. Pick a $2000 PC to compare against and get ready to get smoked.

 

ok pc-bot I ve configured XPS 1530 from dells website and it comes up to $1900 and its santa rosa with 8600GT. It looks butt ugly, it weight more, its more thicker, it uses awful plastics but it does have blu ray. So I dont really see what u re banging on about. But perhaps thats the role of pc-bots to act stupidly and jealously.

nope, sorry it does not have bluray.

 

just to reiterate, the thread was chosen on the MP because it was a very good, well-thought review from a person who genuinely likes apple.

I agree with him 100%. apple doesn't use the latest hardware and such, and is really a fashion statement.

 

wow good to know. That fashion statement brought me more money that I could have ever earned with a PC. maybe I ll start dressing up in gucci and I ll get a promotion. gotta love those pc-bots

 

Uh... Sorry but no one buys from dell unless it's on sale and most of the time they are.
It's funny how a lot of macbooks/pro's crapped out after a year because of their faulty logic board.

 

what do you mean by this?last time I checked they used nvidia brand new chipset,with ddr3 memory,LED screen,etc.

 

well If re talking about sales u get can cheaper prices on apple products at amazon.com or by work/student discount. Its funny that dell's rating on customer satisfaction are lower then apple's.

 

Man, this thread is moving fast without me. I missed the fun already

I'll come back later tonight, wait for all you Apple fanboys

 

I've seen you posting it a lot now Marek but what the f is a PC-bot? I don't see how giving PC users a silly name helps you prove your point. All it proves is that you're childish. I know people around here are calling people Mac fan boys and Apple whores but why do you feel the need to stoop down to their level?

I'm just saying that it weakens any point you try to make when you act like a child. Otherwise you're just flamebaiting people (which could be the case but who am I to judge your intentions...)

BTW. Dell also does a lot more business than Apple so the larger the sample size, the more the mean ratings drift toward the center of the distribution.

 

u re the one who tells me that thinpads are better because of their thinklight or other crap like that!? well hopefully u re be back with some more sense

 

If that was true, we wouldn't be having this (long) debate / discussion.

It's far from "very good" if by "good" you mean an unbiased and balanced comparison. Like I said before, it emphasizes the facts that agree with his opinion, and omits the facts that disagree with his opinion. This is called bias, whether or not it was intentional.

Very true. Unfortunately, when most Mac users compare to PCs, they usually compare to a Dell or the cheapest PC brand they can find.

Don't compare Mac to PC. Mac is a brand, PC is a group of brands. For example, if you compared Mac to Sony, Sony's (PC) laptops are vastly superior in almost every way, but you pay even more for Sony's laptops than Apple's.

I've found the best way to avoid flamewars, etc. is to simply ignore the flamers / trolls. If you respond to namecalling, childish behavior, etc. even politely, it just turns a thread into a heated flamewar.

 

yeah but I do enjoy it. and its my privilege to do so since I m not the one who makes stupid editorial about crappy dells or goes to dell forums and tell their users how cheap they are. I m just not Mother Teresa. I m defending some honor against ... "pc users" who are very respectful of other people opinions

 

At the end of the day, the new macbooks and mbps are just like all laptops that is currently on the market. It doesn't excel in every aspect. It is plain wrong to say macs are built better than PCs, nor is it right to say PCs are always cheaper than macs.

If you want the most rugged laptop, then the Panasonic toughbook and Rugged Notebooks RNB series is your best bet.
For gaming, Sager NP9262
Battery life, Lenovo x200
Multimedia, Asus M series
Best price/performance, Acer
Worst price/performance, Tulip E-Go
etc, etc

Most laptop models will settle for something in between these extremes, and it's only a matter of how much more/less the manufacture wants to sacrifice these features. It's obvious there will never be a laptop that will be suitable for everyone, but that's the beauty of having an free market where consumers can choose what they want to buy.

 

a little off topic, while majority of rural China are nowhere near the more affluent cities of Shanghai and Beijing...or even the smaller states,counties of America...you can hardly call China a third world country now when the Presidential candidates have acknowleged half a thrillion in debt is owed to them...not to mention Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore whose GDP and development is eons ahead.

 

Since when $1900 Dell is cheap!? Why cant I compare it with apple? are u suggesting some how that dells are not good enough for that comparison!?

 

I think the man is on your side Marek . Down boy! haha.

I think its about time we all settled down for a group hug.

 

As someone may have already mentioned Dell's prices vary as their special offers go by, but I didn't say a $1900 Dell is cheap, I said a lot of Dell laptops, particularly the one this article compares the MacBook against, is cheaply built and inferior to most other PC laptops, so it's not a fair assessment of "Mac vs. PC".

You can compare anything you want, but Dell laptops are generally inferior in quality to Sony, for example.

I was just saying you can't say there's a winner in Mac vs. PC, because Mac is a brand, and PC is a group of hundreds of brands. If you really want to compare, you could compare Mac vs. Dell or Mac vs. Sony, and in my opinion Sony > Mac > Dell, but this is really getting off topic again.

This thread isn't about Mac vs. PC. It's about the article biased against the new MacBook's by omitting the MacBook's advantages and focusing solely on what few disadvantages it has.

I don't care whether the article favors Mac or PC, it's just biased. If it was being similarly unfair about PCs I would feel just as disappointed in NBR.com for featuring this.

 

What's wrong with Dell Customer service? My experience has been great thus far. Even if you buy a Mac on amazon, it's still expensive and not everyone qualify for student discount. Those who converted to Mac because they are pc ignorant and they think they are special/different. For example, people always get spywares and viruses on their pcs. If you are knowledgeable, you wouldn't get all that crap on your pc in the first place. I've been using PC for years and never had problem with it.

 

Thank you. I wish everyone was as reasonable as this.

I chalk up all this other nonsense to the fact that no one likes admitting that the computer they spent their own money on is rubbish and will usually defend it to the death even if they know they're wrong about certain aspects of design, pricing, or features.

 

Whats wrong with apple motherboards? There are plenty of apple sales everywhere so thats not an argument that dell has their sales as well sometimes. OS X will always be more secure as it runs on BSD core so its very similar to linux actually. Some people just dont want to be bothered with all the extra security, cant blame them for that.

 

Design, features??? haha hello pc-bot. its so nice that u make smart posts. ... rubbish?? haha ... yeah that was my last Dell I had so I ll give u that

 

Its not biased.

Biased would be if I posted an unsubstantiated opinion.

Mine is supported by facts (cost comparisons) and 25 years of on again/off again Apple buying habits (with a file cabinet of recepits to prove it).

In recent days even better deals have popped up then the ones I listed in the chart. So a better machine IMO can be had for $800 less than a MacBook.

I have zero brand loyalty - the way every free thinking person should be.

If you think the new line is so compelling, buy one. That's the real test isn't it?

I have the same issue with Asus Lamborghini I recently reviewed. Its nice, but how the heck do you rationalize the price? You can't. It's only worth buying if you have more money than sense.

 

It's pointless to discuss this any further, you obvious have no knowledge of what's going on.

 

Hello the owner of this amazing article. I really do appreciate your input to the "mehbooks" world. I also really like how u can only concentrate on the price of a product. If u do really use mac os X for that long u ll know that apple has come a long way here in being price competitive and creating such a great working environment. Its very nice that u omit every other feature expect price and hard drive space for this article. And I also dont get the whole point of it? I mean its not like apple is new to to the industry and even well before PowerPC's used, everyone knows that not everyone will be able to afford a mac. its like writing an editorial about Ferrari's and comparing them to toyota prius's. both have 4 weels but look at the price.

 

so do u

 

What's wrong with using the words design and features? Is that somehow PC-specific lingo now? I'll take you seriously about your devotion when you sell every PC you currently own. Clearly, to you PC and PC users are garbage so you might as well dump that Sager and Gateway into the trashcan.

I'm saying that it's dumb to try and say you're "right" about the looks of something. Or that you're "right" that the new features on the Macbook are worth the extra money for everyone. Or that you're somehow "right" in believing that Apples are superior to everything out there. Since when was your opinion the deciding factor in everyone's mind?

You are just falling into stereotypical Mac user mentality. You give Apple users a bad rep. Your rebuttal to any point someone makes consists calling the other person a fanatic, making fun of their post, and repeating the same old stuff over and over again. I bet that if I ever told you that my roommate's MBP was roasting my 'nads every time I used it, you would just reply with, "HOW DARE YOU COMPLAIN about your roasted 'nads? Don't you know sterility is a FEATURE??!!?"

 

after reading all 44 pages of this thread, i am amazed at how well MastaMarek can twist words and at some points contradict himself and denying it.

 

U re the one who said I ve spent money on something that is rubbish and has no design and features so please do start reading what u post. I dont have anything against pc users - I do hate pc-bots though. I m not an apple fanboy but I do hate when pc fanboys come and without any sense talk trash about apple users.

 

I never said that the extra features are worth more to everyone. Do PLEASE read correctly or ask moderator JonnyT if u dont believe me cause he seems to be very neutral in this and respects my opinion. Also u re the one who mention AGAIN that the macbook looks are rubbish and then u post something else.

 

thats not the point though right!? I can tell u all the crap about my friends dell so u know, u re not alone here.

 

Wow. Please learn to read. I didn't say anything about you. I didn't say anything about the Macbook. If you read, you will see that I was referring to computers in general, both Macs and PCs. Some people like the Mac design. Some people don't. You would be wrong to insist that the glass LCD covering, for example, is the best thing ever since it's something that has both advantages and disadvantages.

I don't see nearly as many posts here where people trash Apple users as you alone trash PC users. Saying the word PC-bot is trashing PC users in the same way that saying Apple-bot is trashing Apple users. I know you said earlier that English isn't your primary language but at least make some attempt to revise your posts before writing them. Taking some time to think about what other people are saying or what you are saying would serve you well in ALL languages.

 

"I chalk up all this other nonsense to the fact that no one likes admitting that the computer they spent their own money on is rubbish and will usually defend it to the death even if they know they're wrong about certain aspects of design, pricing, or features."

those are your words Zoogle, and I dont have to be einstein to figure out that u re referring them to me

 

No offense, but you're wrong; the definition of "biased" is this:

Being biased doesn't mean you provide incorrect, forged, or unsubstantiated information. That would be fraud. Being biased just means you're emphasizing information that agrees with your personal viewpoint, and omitting information that disagrees with it.

There's nothing illegal or technically wrong about being biased, since it's just expressing your own views, but for a neutral review site like notebookreview.com (or any other supposedly neutral "journalistic" source), it's not a good thing.

This is a perfect example of just why your article was biased. I respect your view of specs / value, and what in your opinion is a "better machine", but unfortunately many other people do not share your opinion that the new MacBook's unique aluminum body, glass touchpad, etc. don't set it apart from the rest, and therefore saying with authority that the MacBook is a poor choice for the money is ignorant at best.

For example in my opinion any laptop over 13" or 14" is a waste of money because it's not portable enough and therefore is useless as a "laptop" or portable computer. I could compare a 13" laptop to a 17" and show how much lighter and more portable the 13" is, and at the same cost, and I could come to the conclusion that the 13" model is undeniably a "better machine" than the 17". The problem is I would be omitting the fact that some people actually prefer large 17" laptops and even though it's not an advantage to me, it can be an advantage to others.

It's human nature to be biased, because it's not natural to think outside your own personal preference, but it's not impossible.

 

People do realize that they are wasting their time discussing whether buying a Mac is worth it or not right? Wow, I thought people had lives.

Look at the world around you. I personally own both platforms, and will continue to do so. I am sitting here scanning through a thread (sorry too long to read every post) where people with relatively high IQ's waste their time trying to change someone else's mind about their computer purchase.

I am dumber for this entire thread, and watching so many talented, and intelligent people waste their time on this makes me weep for humanity...

 

dude i cant wait for this macbook nice graphic card!

 

good to see this thread is still going i hope everyone has been playing nice.

 

I m sick so its my day off Its not like I can go jogging so instead I fight the justice with some ... u know who

 

Ok Marek, however you want to construe what I say is up to you. Perhaps if you really read between the lines you'll realize that I've cast a terrible voodoo curse on you over these past few posts I've made.