HD For Indies

UPDATE - went to the Apple Store in Austin with a heroin like itch..see below for what happened

Apple - MacBook

Apple today released the long awaited MacBook. Basic specs - white or black, Core Duo up to 2.0 GHz, starts at $1099 (wow!), 1280x800 res screen (perfect for 720p playback), GigE/Airport Extreme/Bluetooth 2.0, built in iSight.

Longer version of specs:

Three basic, customizable versions (differences in bold):

White 1.83 GHz Core Duo, $1099

13.3-inch widescreen display
1280 x 800 resolution
1.83GHz Intel Core Duo
512MB memory (2x256MB SODIMMs)
60GB 5400-rpm Serial ATA hard drive
Combo drive (DVD-ROM, CD-RW)

White 2.0 GHz Core Duo, $1299

13.3-inch widescreen display
1280 x 800 resolution
2.0GHz Intel Core Duo
512MB memory (2x256MB SODIMMs)
60GB 5400-rpm Serial ATA hard drive
SuperDrive (DVD±RW, CD-RW)

Black 2.0 GHz Intel Core Duo, $1499

13.3-inch widescreen display
1280 x 800 resolution
2.0GHz Intel Core Duo
512MB memory (2x256MB SODIMMs)
80GB 5400-rpm Serial ATA hard drive
SuperDrive (DVD±RW, CD-RW)

(all are 1.08x12.78x8.92 inches)

....so basically, you start at $1099, and $200 buys you 2.0 not 1.83 GHz processor and a SuperDrive (burns DVDs as well as CDs). An extra $200 more buys you black and a 20GB drive size bump to 80 GB.

(...so of course I gotta have black)

You can, however, get up to a 120 GB drive as a BTO option on any of these, but the optical drive and processor speed are immutable.

There's a very nice comparison chart that shows the differences between MacBooks and MacBook Pros here.

More good stuff, in detail:

-comes with iLife 06, Front Row, and a remote (the laptop has a small IR port on the front)
-built in iSight in the top edge of the screen like the MacBook Pro
-Bluetooth 2.0+EDR and Airport Extreme (yeah, the fast one)
-glossy screen (like most laptops have these days) - no further details given
-has MagSafe power adaptor (the magnetic latch release, somebody trips on the cord won't yank it off the desk)
-2MB L2 cache
-667 frontside bus (compares to what on the Pros?)
-Combo drive reads DVDs 8x, writes CDs 24x, SuperDrive burns DVDs at 4x, otherwise similar
-two USB 2.0 ports, one FireWire 400 port, NO FireWire 800, NO Express/34 port
-Intel GMA 950 graphics processor w/64 MB DDR SDRAM shared with main memory - this is the one drag of this machine as far as I'm concerned, and means it won't officially be supported with Final Cut Studio, as Motion will not run with the onboard graphics at this time. Memory NOT upgradeable for graphics. UPDATE - not necessarily true - not OFFICIALLY supported, but DOES run (even Motion) from what I'm hearing so far, haven't confirmed myself
-supports up to a 1920x1200 (all but the 30") on a second display
-can get optional adaptors for DVI, VGA, or composite/s-video, but NOT HDMI and not component
-combined analog/optical audio ins and outs (uses plugs for optical vs headphone minijack)
-the display handles 720x480 in both 16:10 and 3:2 modes specifically - useful for video! Should be interesting to see the Matrox MXO run off of this thing
-and oh yeah - 1.08 inches thick
-all ports down one side like my 12" Powerbook
-keyboard fits FLUSH against the bed, hopefully will end screen scratches
Mike's Comments - so this is my next laptop (sorry, MiniMike that I'm writing this on, your days are numbered). I'm going to wait for the 1.0 kinks to get worked out, and get myself a black one, with lots of RAM and a huge honkin' hard drive, and I'll look into whether I get Apple to do those upgrades at their usual rapacious prices, or I just get my own and get'em installed (I learned my painful lesson trying to get under the keyboard to install the bigger hard drive in this unit last year, this laptop is now running on it's third hard drive after a size increase and a drive failure).
-80% brighter screen than previous iBook/12" Powerbooks, 250 cd/m2 or whateve the unit of measure is, besides the obviously greater 30% more pixels (1024x768 vs 1280x800)

OK, so what about for other folks? Should this be YOUR next laptop?

As always, it depends -

Good Stuff - fast 2.0 Intel Core Duo performance - roughly akin to a dual 1.8 or dual 2.0 G5 in terms of CPU performance - MORE than enough for DV editing. Has FireWire 400, can get up to 2 GB of RAM and a 120 GB drive (even has that sudden motion sensor stuff too to park heads when dropped).

Drawbacks:
- built in graphics means no Motion, hence no official Final Cut Studio support at this time. Major bummer
-NO FireWire 800 or Express/34 expansion means you'll never be able to plug a SATA or FireWire 800 drive directly into this, ever, under any circumstances (in terms of getting that kind of speed)
-Limited RAM and hard drive expansion, and pricey at that (same problem with all laptops)
-Looking at the MacBook Pros (which also got a speed bump today to 2.0 and 2.16 GHz), you have the same RAM and hard drive capacity options, similar chip options, but the 17" has an 8x not 4x DVD burner, and it is dual layer at that (only one in lineup).
-the bigger ones obviously have bigger screens. Duh. But NONE of them can do 1080 resolution at 1:1, and they all are at least 1280x800 so CAN do 720p 1:1. But the MacBook Pros can have a 720p image at full size (1:1) and ALSO have other stuff around it, like tool pallettes, timelines, and menus potentially. The Macbook can run 720p at 1:1 only in full screen mode, without even a border around it (it is exactly the same width as a 720p signal).
-external displays require an extra adaptor on the MacBooks whereas the Pros don't. The Pros can drive up to the 30" display, the MacBook only 1920x1200 (23 or 24" displays)
-All Intel based mac laptops can do 2 displays or mirroring, so no difference there
-all have the same Bluetooth and wireless capabilities
-the MacBooks are polycarbonate not aluminum exteriors - like iPods, so they'll scratch easily...eew.
-they're claiming up to 6 hours of battery life for Macbooks, 15's get 4.5 and 17's get 5.5 - so MacBook should have longest living battery

So am I going to get one today?

I'm sure thinking about it. Actually, I'm thinking I may go get in the car right now and get a black one if they have it in stock at the Apple Store. But I must resist the urge, and so should you - here's why -

1.) Version 1.0 bugs - they are just now releasing them. As with ANY new product from ANY company, the first ones off the line are most likely to have problems. Give them a month or two to make a bunch, find out where the bugs are after field reports come in, and then fix them and ship the modded ones here.

2.) This built in graphics thing is the only thing that gives me serious pause - I'm curious to see what Apple has to say about Final Cut Studio on these things. If it is only Motion that doesn't work full tilt boogie, I'm fine with that.

3.) Along those lines, will there be a 13.3" MacBook Pro announced later? The things that would/could be different:
-aluminum not polycarbonate outer casing
-improved graphics I would hope, but I don't know that this motherboard allows that, or if there is room in the case if so
-likely more RAM & hard drive than the MacBook siblings
-better keyboard
-thinner surround on monitor
....and that's about all they could do. I'm shallow enough to say I'd spend a few hundred extra bucks for that - gotta look Pro. But the Black model does go a long way to fix that....

Update: right before I hit "post" on this, my lifelong geek friend Charlie Wood emailed back after I sent an email titled "MacBooks out! Should I buy today?" and lined out the same reservations as above. His response, in full:

BUY!! BUY!! BUY!! PRECIOUS...

Geek friends are fun.


-mike

UPDATE LATER THAT DAY (TUESDAY)

...so I called the Austin Apple Store (in Barton Creek Mall) and was told they had received a shipment of MacBooks, but had no idea what the product mix was, but to come by after noon and they'd know better (this at 11:30am).

So I pulled on some pants (highly recommended) was there by 12:05.

Got there and...they now knew that they had a bunch of white ones of indeterminate mix, but definitely no black ones.

So poo on that.

They said they'd have the white ones set out for doodling with in a couple of hours, so poo on that too - got me a Chick-Fil-A (favorite guilty mall pleasure, perfect for sneaking into movies in cargo pockets).

While walking to the food court (oh, the SHAME of having to admit that in public...) I realized I had a better solution anyway - so I called up Torrey Loomis of Silverado Systems (who is a great resource if you need any serious kit, tell him I sent you his way) and had him place an order for a maxed out black MacBook. I was going to get my own RAM (Apple charges a fortune), but he pointed out it was definitely worth having Apple do the hard drive swap out - it takes hours since you have to clone the boot drive, and that takes additional hardware and software anyway. Wanted an extra battery, he pointed out those are 6-8 weeks or delivery, so he made that a separate purchase order to be absolutely sure there was no crossover on those two orders so nothing would get delayed.

So I've got one on the way, will report as soon as it comes in.

Looped back by to blog this update on the Apple Store laptops and I was outta the mall.

-mike

2:30PM UPDATE - definitely no black ones locally, but they are elsewhere. Pics and details here.

I might go in and play with the keyboard, it looks funny, I hope the typiing action is good since I type 95% of the blog on my laptop.

ALSO - does anybody remember what the release order was with the 12" laptops? Was it iBooks first, THEN 12" PowerBooks? And if so, what was the release spread? I'm wondering if there will be that Pro version.

TUESDAY EVENING UPDATE: AppleInsider has some scoopage on the keyboard, RAM and hard drive installation (both user installable), and points out that black costs you $200 - only difference between that and the white one is 20 GB of hard drive capacity. You can buy goodly sized laptop drives for $200. They also have more pictures and details here.

-mike