The MacBook compromise

What the?? Every new Macbook/Macbook Pro that comes out seems to be less and less stellar than they were 2-3 years ago.

I mean come on, who still puts an Intel GMA into notebook these days anyway? At least they could have slotted in an ATI X300.

Ok, eli,
Gamers are not just college students. College students are more often than not, mac notebook owners. I myself am a diehard gamer, have a kick ass win-xp desktop i made myself for that reason, and love my PowerBook 12 inch dearly. yet guess what? I'm not in college!!! I even know a number of people over 35+ yrs old that play MMO's and FPS's! So watch it there eli, you stepping into somehting you shouldnt....

Besides that though,
WHAT THE HELL APPLE!!!!
How can you add a GLOSSY Screen???? No matter how well it can be or the tint, it will be forever shiny and sometimes be a mirror!!!! I do web/graphic/video design for a living and this single handedly KILLED all intrest in the new macbook! Not to mention a $250 price tag for BLACK! I could understand if the black version had a dedicated graphics card, as i would buy one really fast, but hello $250 is more than enough to get my powerbook COMPLETLY etched in black goodness from the place featured here at TUAW and not to mention they are a local company!

"15. You got to be kidding!
I shell out $1500 for the top model and I get only 13" of screen real estate and no dedicated graphics card? If it had a 64MB dedicated card I would still be annoyed but a bit more understanding. No dedicated card will force me to consider nothing less than the MacBook Pro
which I can get at a discount due to my alumni status at a certain UNI near me. "

and that's exactly what they want you to do. Apple would much rather sell you the more expensive machine.

"15. You got to be kidding!
I shell out $1500 for the top model and I get only 13" of screen real estate and no dedicated graphics card? If it had a 64MB dedicated card I would still be annoyed but a bit more understanding. No dedicated card will force me to consider nothing less than the MacBook Pro
which I can get at a discount due to my alumni status at a certain UNI near me. "

and that's exactly what they want you to do. Apple would much rather sell you the more expensive machine.

I agree with Victor. A large proportion of those tempted by the new intel macs are gamers because of the marriage between games (windows) and usability (os X). Apple are completely ignoring them at the moment - the two most affordable macs on either side of the lines (mini and MB) have integrated graphics. The MBP's is alright, as is the iMac's, and the now-neglected G5s are not in the equation. Apple need to cater to this crowd and avoid alienating them, as they are basically saying "You want gaming? Buy the pro model." and this may well be outside their price boundary. Sites such as insidemacgames.com were hopeful for the state of mac gaming when the iMac and MacBook Pro came out with X1600s but now they have just turned round and slapped the mac gaming industry in the face.

Depending on the type of graphics work you do the GPU can have a major or a minor effect actually. Nearly all vector based art is processed by the CPU not the GPU so if you work in Illustrator, Freehand, Flash (at least on Mac I am not sure about the Windows build), or other vector apps then you aren't going to see much of a difference in performance between the MacBook and MacBook Pro at similar clock speeds and with similar amounts of RAM (the MacBook Pro will have a slight advantages due to bus speeds and the fact that the GPU and CPU aren't both trying to access the same RAM bus). Photoshop people don't really have it any better. Some third party filters take advantage of the GPU but most first party ones and the core application still rely on mostly the CPU. Now then for video and 3D you do need a decent GPU since most video apps and all 3D apps these days make use of them.

And the people saying the MacBook's are just for casual users need to get a clue. They are also for high-end users who can't afford the good stuff (like me). When I bought my current iBook the choice was 1) Powerbook and live off of ramen for the next three months or 2) iBook and upgrade to Adobe CS and live off of ramen for the next three months ;) I know a number of pros in the photography and graphic design industry still using old G3's and G4's as their primary systems (I know one lady who uses one of the rare Dual 1.42 GHz G4's over a dual 2.3 GHz G5 because she swears it runs Illustrator faster). No matter what system you are running you can get the job done, it just might take a bit longer.

I agree with Frank. One of these is a great replacement for my aging 12" PowerBook. I mostly do coding and design and I have no real use for a powerful graphics chip. I'm not crazy about the glossy screen though, but I won't knock it until I've tried it.

I just had to post since I hate hearing this debate about "pro" vs.
"consumer". I am a grad student and have both a iMac Core Duo and
just ordered the Macbook. I need lots of computational power for
running time-consuming algorithms (neural networks, genetic
algorithms). By all means the Macbook (not pro) is a powerhouse (with
2 cores), and labeling consumers as "people who need to run iTunes and
use Word once in awhile" is just bogus. Theres more to a computer than
a graphics card, and these new Macbooks are more powerful in most
regards than many of the past PowerMac G5's (except the graphics).

most people don't need much graphics. And gamers college students aren't gonna buy a mac anytime soon.

BobbyW:

Good find on the News Clip there.

Damn though, it pretty much confirms my fear that to get a portable machine that will run Motion and Games, I'm going to have to shell out at least $2000.

and I also agree with everyone else's fears about the glossy screen, I'll have to see it in person. In a dimly lit room, they are nice, really do look more 'saturated' but since I work primarily in Really Well Sun-Lit Sky-Scraping Offices in Manhattan, I have a feeling the reflective screen would be a nightmare in any office with a window... Plus I always thought the glossy looked kinda cheap...