For a long time, it was comparing (ahem) Apples and oranges when you’d do a price comparison between Apple hardware and PC hardware. The Apple enthusiasts would invariably bring up the Apple chip du jour as a reason why the Apple computer was oh-so-much better and worth the additional cash, or argue that whatever the comparison, it wasn’t fair because you couldn’t consider the machines side-by-side.
By moving to Intel chips, Apple has made it that much easier to compare side-by-side, fairly. CNet’s Michael Kanellos does just that, and finds that when you price machines from Gateway and Apple with a similar configuration, you end up with a price difference around $455.
Now, if I had to choose between OS X and Windows, that would be worth a few bucks extra, but not $450 extra. It’s also noted that You can trim the Gateway notebook configuration to bring the price down, whereas the entry point for the Apple MacBook (lousy name) is $1,999, end of story.
Oh, and you can forget about running Windows (and probably Linux) on the Mac for a while, even the Intel-based chips. Apparently, Apple is not using a BIOS in the machine, which means that installing Windows is pretty much out of the question — at least in the short term. Instead, Apple is using Intel’s Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI), which is used with the Itanium and will be supported later in Windows Vista. Overall, this is probably good for Apple’s customers, since EFI is likely to be a standard in new PCs at some point, but being ahead of the curve isn’t so good right now. Since Linux does run on Itanium machines, I expect that Linux distros that want to support Apple hardware will be able to do so, though maybe not right away.
There are some other reasons why users might want to avoid the new MacBooks, according to the Unsanity blog:
- Power: The new portable ICBMs (Intel-chip based Macs, also iCBM) require more power than their previous iterations. they have a 60-watt-hour battery compared to the old PowerBook’s 50-watt-hour battery. They also have 85 watt AC adapters compared to the old 65 watt AC adapters. Imaginary Watt per Performance Arbitrary Unit my butt.
- Parts Missing: The S-Video output, the Modem, and the FW800 have been removed. The modem was extremely useful for those that traveled a lot and needed dialup access to get internet access. Not every hotel/rest area has an ethernet jack/wireless and not everyone can use dialup networking on their cell phone via Bluetooth. The S-Video was very, very useful for presentations on projection screens. Especially when so many of today’s presentations are being done via PowerPoint slides. Argh. The FW800 (FireWire 800) was very useful for those that had FW800 devices and needed speed. Even more so for those that needed multiple FW400 ports because their devices weren’t daisy chain-able (like the iPod). However, I imagine this could have been removed if having two bus powered devices on two different ports was too much of a power drain for the ICBM. Remove a feature to add longer battery life. Some people suggest these can be added back using the ExpressCard port. However, that’s spending a more money for one feature as there is but one slot.
- Visually Unimpressive: Here’s an odd one. The old PowerBook has a 15.1 inch screen with a 1440x960 resolution. The new MacBook Pro has a resolution of 1440x900. Notice the smaller number? Yes, the new MacBook Pro has 86,400 fewer pixels than the old one. And because these pixels are in a greater area, it means the DPI is lower on the MacBook Pro as well.
- Burning Issues: I didn’t notice this until at least 3 people pointed it out to me, but the new MacBook Pro lacks Dual Layer DVD burning. I’m not even sure how that happens. Previously, Macs would come with DVD±RW burning or DVD+R DL burning without Apple even advertising it; machines would just have it included before it was a standard feature. Now they’ve actually removed Dual Layer burning. OMGWTF?
- Arbitrary Additions: New to the MacBook Pro is a built in iSight and an IR port for the Front Row remote. I can barely understand the iSight for professional users. It might be useful for meetings on the road (or in a plane) and imagining Phil Schiller in a thong. But otherwise, it seems somewhat unnecessary. The Front Row remote I don’t get at all. The MacBook Pro is a portable machine, having a remote with a portable machine just seems redundant in some way. And easily lost.
- Performance: Apple says the new MacBook Pro is 4x-5x faster than the old PowerBook. I have to question this a lot. They didn’t seem to mention the SPEC test was designed specifically for dual cores/processors and that the Intel compiler has been accused of cheating when it comes to compiling synthetic benchmarks in the past. But that’s from memory and I can’t find any concrete links on it at this time. Granted, Motorola dropped the ball and never really increased the bus speed for the G4, so even if it could process data fast, it was starved. The faster bus speed allows everything to proceed faster. However, the loss of AltiVec is a HUGE problem which Apple didn’t show in their test. I watched a display MacBook Pro here at MWSF play a H.264 trailer for Fun With Dick & Jane and it was very, very noticeably skipping frames. My current 1.5Ghz PowerBook (with AltiVec, of course) plays the same trailer with no skipping.
Doesn’t sound all that attractive at all, does it?
The Front Row remote would be useful when you’re doing presentations from the PowerBook hooked up to a projector. You wouldn’t need to be right next to it to click through the pages.
It could also be useful for controlling iTunes etc from across the room – just because my PowerBook is portable, doesn’t mean it’s always on my lap. Sometimes it’s just sitting on the sideboard playing music to the Airport.
My remote is useless… I lost is was pretty sweet when I first got it, but now I might as well throw it out since it is collecting so much dust. In fact, I will throw it out right now!