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Thresher
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WWDC

Mon Jun 08, 2009 12:42 pm

Looks like Apple has updated the MacBook lineup, from stem to stern.

And get this, they lowered the prices across the line.

More detail coming...
 
derFunkenstein
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Re: WWDC

Mon Jun 08, 2009 12:48 pm

edit: wrote something stupid.

Snow Leopard upgrade for $29, ships in September. That's good.
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Re: WWDC

Mon Jun 08, 2009 12:50 pm

derFunkenstein wrote:
edit: wrote something stupid.

Snow Leopard upgrade for $29, ships in September. That's good.


I wonder if MS had early word of the cost. According to rumors, Windows 7 Home will run $49.
 
derFunkenstein
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Re: WWDC

Mon Jun 08, 2009 12:58 pm

Yeah, I did see that. At the same time, though, I'd think that if someone outside of Apple knew the upgrade price on Snow Leopard that it might have leaked prior to today. Not sure what to think.

So is the new 13" unibody just renamed Macbook Pro? I saw the bit about faster CPUs, backlit keyboard, new display and an SD reader, but to me a Pro machine has discrete graphics, even if it's just something like a 9600M GT. Macrumors' liveblog doesn't say anything about discrete graphics that I can find.

Guess I'll be able to answer that for myself here shortly.
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Thresher
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Re: WWDC

Mon Jun 08, 2009 1:06 pm

According to Engadget and MacRumors, the 13" is now part of the MacPro lineup. Kind of where it should have been all the time.

Though that now leaves us with just the one white model, which is similarly equipped. Seems like there really isn't much of a reason to keep the differentiation going.
 
derFunkenstein
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Re: WWDC

Mon Jun 08, 2009 1:10 pm

My guess is the 13" plastic will have the crappy screen still, as well as no integrated SD card slot, no backlit keyboard, and heavier/thicker. Also, it'll probably stick with DDR2 for a while and as a result have substantially slower graphics - even if the unibody retains the integrated GPU, having more overall bandwidht as provided by DDR3 1066 dual channel vs. DDR2 667 dual channel, coupled with whatever bandwidth the CPU needs at a given time, makes for a worse gaming experience, if nothing else. I can see the differentiation, but the price on the plastic one needs to come down another $100 or so. Especially if the unibody gets anything like more storage or more base RAM.
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GokuSS2
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Re: WWDC

Mon Jun 08, 2009 1:14 pm

AT&T = Major Fail. Only phone carrier not to support Tethering and MMS right of the bat.
 
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Re: WWDC

Mon Jun 08, 2009 1:26 pm

derFunkenstein wrote:
My guess is the 13" plastic will have the crappy screen still...


I beg to differ. I've looked at both screens as I had both machines for a while and aside from being LED-backlit, I think Aluminum's screen is much worse than Plastic's. In fact, there are quite a few people who complained about headaches and eye strain with new screen but not the old one. Another thing I don't like about Aluminum is the keyboard. It's worse than whites in several respects and both of them are way worse than Thinkpad keyboards.

Otoh, while my main system is still a PC, I got myself an Alum. Macbook for laptop duties so I have come to the Dark Side at least partially. :)
 
Skrying
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Re: WWDC

Mon Jun 08, 2009 1:38 pm

Pros:
- Lowered prices.
- $29 Snow Leopard upgrade.
- Battery life increase on 15", but...

Cons:
- A SD reader is nice... but why in the hell did they remove the ExpressCard slot on the 13"? Did they not know every other laptop on the market has these coexisting?
- Must they bash Microsoft in some form every time?
- ... you can't remove it. Which is more of an issue for a long days work than when it dies to me.

I just don't understand the SD/ExpressCard move. They could have easily maintained the nice exterior design and the added complexity of a SD card reader is laughable. NO reason at all for this besides cost savings in the name of limited functionality.

GokuSS2 wrote:
AT&T = Major Fail. Only phone carrier not to support Tethering and MMS right of the bat.


I can do both on my AT&T phone.
 
derFunkenstein
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Re: WWDC

Mon Jun 08, 2009 2:11 pm

Syncromesh, the 13" today got a new screen that's supposed to be nicer. I mean that the 13" plastic Macbook's screen was crappy on its own, not in comparison to the old Unibody 13" screen.

Hey, someone got integrated graphics in my 15" laptop! The $1699 Macbook Pro drops the 9600M GT altogether. It got some improvements, too, but integrated graphics kidn of instantly kill the interest.

The 13" Unibody Macbook Pros got a big speed bump - 2.26GHz on the low end, 2.4Ghz on the higher end. All but the "cheapy" $1199 model have 4GB of memory.

The white Macbook is overpriced in the light of these new $1200 models. It needs to come down to $899, and really should be $849 or $799 (which still gives them roughly a $150 price increase over comparable Windows notebooks, so it's not like I'm complaining "OMG MAC IS OVRPRICD!" here).
Last edited by derFunkenstein on Mon Jun 08, 2009 2:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Thresher
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Re: WWDC

Mon Jun 08, 2009 2:12 pm

Quite honestly, there is little or no need for ExpressCard anymore. Most people used it for Wireless WAN, but with the advent of USB adaptors, it's not really needed. Only thing I can think of now where it might be usefull is if you wanted to add an eSATA controller or something. Everything else can be done as well by USB.
 
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Re: WWDC

Mon Jun 08, 2009 2:14 pm

SNOW LEOPARD FOR $29!!!!

In your FACE all you windows trolls!! IN YOUR FACE!! :P :D :D :D
 
tanker27
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Re: WWDC

Mon Jun 08, 2009 2:32 pm

I am loving the $29 upgrade.....Sad I have to wait till Sept......I want it now. :P
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Skrying
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Re: WWDC

Mon Jun 08, 2009 2:47 pm

Thresher wrote:
Quite honestly, there is little or no need for ExpressCard anymore. Most people used it for Wireless WAN, but with the advent of USB adaptors, it's not really needed. Only thing I can think of now where it might be usefull is if you wanted to add an eSATA controller or something. Everything else can be done as well by USB.


The USB WAN adapters are a pain, I do not want something like that sticking far off of the body of my notebook. Additionally, eSATA and Firewire are both nice to at least have the possibility of. This logic, that removing functionality for no reason, being A-OK is nuts. I can't believe people support this... It's not like you even gained something in return!
 
derFunkenstein
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Re: WWDC

Mon Jun 08, 2009 3:22 pm

sure you did, you got an SD-reader. :p

I agree, I can't support losing slots in a "pro" machine.
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Re: WWDC

Mon Jun 08, 2009 5:03 pm

I think releasing Snow Leopard for $29 is a fantastic move. I like the lower prices across the board. Good job Apple!
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Scrotos
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Re: WWDC

Mon Jun 08, 2009 5:09 pm

Ars has some really good coverage/summaries. I'd check them out:

http://arstechnica.com/apple/wwdc/
 
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Re: WWDC

Mon Jun 08, 2009 5:19 pm

derFunkenstein wrote:
Hey, someone got integrated graphics in my 15" laptop! The $1699 Macbook Pro drops the 9600M GT altogether. It got some improvements, too, but integrated graphics kidn of instantly kill the interest.


So they dropped the low-end price by $300 and now you have to pay $1999 for discrete graphics. It seems more like they kept the middle the same, added a new cheaper model, and lowered the price of the top end. I guess the low end lost discrete graphics, but it lost $300 too so you had to figure something was gonna go.

derFunkenstein wrote:
The white Macbook is overpriced in the light of these new $1200 models. It needs to come down to $899, and really should be $849 or $799 (which still gives them roughly a $150 price increase over comparable Windows notebooks, so it's not like I'm complaining "OMG MAC IS OVRPRICD!" here).


When I saw the new lineup, it almost seemed like the remaining Macbook could be dropped in price even lower to be positioned as an expensive Mac Netbook. I guess I got that same kind of vibe that you did with that.

Though honestly I'm planning on getting a refurb Dell Mini9 and throwing Leopard on it (horray family pack!) as that'll be a fun toy and still cheaper than anything Apple will be able to offer as a "netbook".
 
derFunkenstein
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Re: WWDC

Mon Jun 08, 2009 7:04 pm

Yeah, I guess so, but I'd think you could have kept something like a GT120M which more like a GeForce 8600M GT. Maybe that's too close to a 9600M GT as the 9600M family does not have the 64 stream processors of the desktop version. I dunno, kind of disappointing. For $1600, the previous config was dangerously close to a good value among all 15" laptops so I guess Apple had to find a way to criple it somehow.

I dunno, pro laptops should not have their RAM stolen. It's not so much onboard graphic performance, which this mGPU is surprisingly good with, it's the fact that 4GB of RAM isn't really 4GB of RAM - it's 3.75GB.
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GokuSS2
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Re: WWDC

Mon Jun 08, 2009 8:26 pm

I am really happy they chose to release Snow Leopared for $29. I might just buy iLife now... Still using 06 :oops:


Skrying wrote:
GokuSS2 wrote:
AT&T = Major Fail. Only phone carrier not to support Tethering and MMS right of the bat.


I can do both on my AT&T phone.


Your non-jailbroken iPhone can do it right now??? otherwise :roll:
 
Skrying
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Re: WWDC

Mon Jun 08, 2009 8:33 pm

GokuSS2 wrote:
Your non-jailbroken iPhone can do it right now??? otherwise :roll:


I didn't say iPhone. My phone can though and I am a customer of AT&T. So quick to blame AT&T but something tells me it is not that simple.
 
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Re: WWDC

Mon Jun 08, 2009 8:36 pm

Skrying wrote:
GokuSS2 wrote:
Your non-jailbroken iPhone can do it right now??? otherwise :roll:


I didn't say iPhone. My phone can though and I am a customer of AT&T. So quick to blame AT&T but something tells me it is not that simple.


I think you are missing the point.. This Thread has to do with what was announced at the WWDC.. YOUR att phone is NOT on that list. AT&T is NOT supporting MMS and Tethering (FOR THE IPHONE) at release like everyother phone service provider who has iPhone around the world is.
 
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Re: WWDC

Mon Jun 08, 2009 10:44 pm

GokuSS2 wrote:
Skrying wrote:
GokuSS2 wrote:
Your non-jailbroken iPhone can do it right now??? otherwise :roll:


I didn't say iPhone. My phone can though and I am a customer of AT&T. So quick to blame AT&T but something tells me it is not that simple.


I think you are missing the point.. This Thread has to do with what was announced at the WWDC.. YOUR att phone is NOT on that list. AT&T is NOT supporting MMS and Tethering (FOR THE IPHONE) at release like everyother phone service provider who has iPhone around the world is.


AT&T are being idiots about this. Watch Apple dump their sorry asses (and exclusivity) as soon as all cell providers move to LTE technology late next year.
 
Skrying
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Re: WWDC

Mon Jun 08, 2009 11:09 pm

MacUser wrote:
AT&T are being idiots about this. Watch Apple dump their sorry asses (and exclusivity) as soon as all cell providers move to LTE technology late next year.


What does LTE have to do with anything? It doesn't, the speed of the networks wasn't keeping Apple from the other providers (except maybe T-Mobile, which more likely size of network). My point, as before, was that AT&T likely isn't the only reason for this. Apple has more than enough push to make AT&T include at least MMS. Honestly they're probably in the phase of working out details by now. Also, LTE might start showing up next year but considering most of the country is still EDGE... well yeah, you get the point.
 
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Re: WWDC

Tue Jun 09, 2009 1:04 am

Skrying wrote:
MacUser wrote:
AT&T are being idiots about this. Watch Apple dump their sorry asses (and exclusivity) as soon as all cell providers move to LTE technology late next year.

What does LTE have to do with anything? It doesn't, the speed of the networks wasn't keeping Apple from the other providers (except maybe T-Mobile, which more likely size of network).

Single signal type across all carriers, instead of the GSM/EVDO split. So it's actually possible to use the iPhone on other American carriers.
My point, as before, was that AT&T likely isn't the only reason for this. Apple has more than enough push to make AT&T include at least MMS.

Well, let's look at the evidence: Both are working on more than 20 other carriers right now. Rumors report that AT&T just wants more time to CHANGE THE BACKEND CODES ON CURRENT SUBSCRIBERS and AT&T just hasn't got their **** together for tethering. There's a lot of evidence that AT&T is exclusively the one to blame and absolutely none pointing at Apple.
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Skrying
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Re: WWDC

Tue Jun 09, 2009 1:35 am

Eeer... So no MMS is to blame on something that should literally take a week at most to fix? Also your link had no reasoning for the lack of tethering other than maybe deciding price.
 
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Re: WWDC

Tue Jun 09, 2009 4:00 am

Loving:

  • SL = $29
  • 13 inch 'Pros' getting FireWire again
  • Safari 4 full release [EDIT: ahh, yeh... it's crashalicious at the moment - probably rushed that one out a wee bit quick]
  • The fact that I have a White MacBook that I'm perfectly happy with
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Thresher
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Re: WWDC

Tue Jun 09, 2009 11:42 am

Cons:

Having to wait until the end of July before I can get an iPhone because of the stupid contract on my POS BlackJack II.

Some of the gadget sites (and MaximumPC) are bitching that people that bought a 3G last year have to pay full price (or with a small discount) for a new one this year. That's assinine. That's how subsidized phones work. It works that way if you buy a $100 phone or a $500 phone if it's subsidized. Every two years (or 1 year depending on contract), you get a new phone at a subsidized price with a new contract.
 
tanker27
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Re: WWDC

Tue Jun 09, 2009 12:29 pm

Thresher wrote:
Some of the gadget sites (and MaximumPC) are bitching that people that bought a 3G last year have to pay full price (or with a small discount) for a new one this year. That's assinine. That's how subsidized phones work. It works that way if you buy a $100 phone or a $500 phone if it's subsidized. Every two years (or 1 year depending on contract), you get a new phone at a subsidized price with a new contract.


I just checked to see when I am available for upgrade and it says 7/19/2009. And I bought a 3G last year. So I called and quoted what it said on the website when I checked. They said that correct on July 19 I can get the 3Gs for 199 or 299 price. So when people say they have to pay the 399 and 499 price it makes me wonder......if you got it in the past 6 months well duuuuuhhhhh. >.>
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