Is the macbook worth it?  

either would be worth it, but the baseline def. is more bang for your buck.

it all depends what you wanna do with the laptop. the cpu is really not that big of a leap, so youd really be paying for, peace of mind, maybe a bit larger HD, and maybe some more ram.

i had a 1.83 CoreDuo macbook, with 512ram and 60gb hd. in the end before i sold it, i put 2gigs in it for 100$, and kept with the 60gb.

my macbook pro, the machine that replaced my MB, has 2gigs of ram, and a 120gig HD. i cant imagine needing much else! maybe better battery life is all.

the RAm in the MB is simple to replace, you take the battery out and remove three small screws, takes 5 minutes, and is worth to buy the ram at newegg, instead of apple. One its cheaper, and two its lifetime warranty!

you "could" change the optical drive, but there isnt really anything else to go into it slot-drive wise. so really, there's NO need. doing so would also void warranty.

the CPU is soldered to the mainboard, so no, u cannot, and probably shouldnt be messing with that.

one charge? mine lasted about 4.5hrs doing moderate internet surfing on mid-brightness level. in comparison, my mb PRO gets around 3.3hrs doing the same.

The mb is a great machine, and def worth the money. if all else fails, buy an external LCD (i bought a 22" hp w2207), and hook her up. the MB can do up to 1920x1200!

enjoy!

love both machines, the mb was my first, and the MBP wont be the last!

So my question is which one would be worth it? That depends on what you will be doing with it. Since you mentioned that you are in college, and already have the alienware, I am guessing that gaming on it is not a priority, but rather are looking for something to take to class, and to study sessions and the like. If you are using it for Photoshop or something like that I would recommend getting a MacBook Pro, but for most everything else (coding, word processing, web, email, music creation and enjoyment, light video creation, video encoding/converting/editing... you get the idea) it is great. Those are all the things and more that I used my macbook for this past year (see sig for specs). I was just fine with my 1.83 Core Duo, and really never saw the point in getting the 2.0. I wish I had because about 4 months ago I had to back up a bunch of stuff off of my external drive, and not having to go buy a DVD burner would have been nice. Can the ram be easily replaceable? Absolutely, I upgraded the RAM in my macbook about 3 weeks after I got it, and am about to again once I get paid . Pull the battery and remove 3 screws and a panel, you now have access to both the RAM and hard drive. Can you change out the optical drive? I'm sure you could, but it would be very difficult, and since it is not only a notebook, but a slot loading drive, the difficulty in finding a suitable replacement just went up. If you really think that you will be needing the DVD Burner, get it now. Can you change out the processors? No, but why would you want to in a notebook? Even the newest Core 2s with Santa Rosa chipsets aren't that much faster than mine. Their advantages lie in the chipset and other components that are absolutely not replaceable. How long will it last on one charge? When I first got mine, I would get about 4 hours on a single charge. This was with wireless on, and me actively using the machine. Now, about 10 months later I get roughly 2.5-3 hours with wireless... but I probably charged my battery more than I should have (first laptop). Plus the powerbrick is significantly more portable than what your Alienware came with (I know a couple guys with 17" AW DTRs, the power brick is HUGE). So should you get a macbook? Well, you know the answer you will get in this forum. But ulitmately you have to look at what you will be using the machine for, and how much you are willing to spend, how willing are you to learn a new OS (it isn't that hard). If you come through those questions and the macbook is still on the short list, then get it. I went through a similiar process last summer, and realized that it best suited all my needs, plus was the least expensive machine at the time (sounds weird huh? An apple computer cheaper than the competition) Get the macbook

I'll chime in here, since I'm a bit of an Alienware & and Apple fan. The MacBook is a totally different animal from your Alienware. If you are looking for something to use for internet, Office, photos, email, iTunes, and the like - it's hard to beat the MacBook. You will be delighted with

a) the size and weight - it's so easy to use on your lap or on an airplane. It's like carrying a book.

b) the display is very nice - my 1.83 GHz MacBook has a beautiful glossy display - but it somehow doesn't look quite as artificial as some of the other glossy displays I've used. Hard to explain.

c) Battery life is a whole new game - lovely to get 3-4 hours when you need it.

d) Mac OS X is very easy to get used to. Even though I've learned to navigate Windows XP just fine, OS X just seems more elegant to me. Again ... you can't explain/understand it if you haven't used it. I say it's well worth a try - not night and day difference, but a nice change.

To go with the base or the upgraded model? Well, I don't think the CPU makes a lot of diff (my 1.83 is plenty fast for what I use it for). I do agree you are better off with the DVD burner if you think you ever want to use it. It's good, even for back-ups.

It's not a gaming machine - you have to realize that up front. There are some fun little time-waster games available for download.

In my mind, the MacBook doesn't replace the Alienware monster - but it's a very nice complement to it.

Good luck with your decision.

WoW will run, not great, but it will run. It will also run at native res, but don't esxpect the best framerates. If you are into WoW in a big way, particularly in regards to clans and instances and runs and whatnot, you will be better off getting the MacBook Pro on student discount. $1799 for an awfully well equipped system.

Well good luck with your switch, and as always there are a few of here that can answer your questions that might come up.

mb's are definitely worth the money in my opinion. I have owned a few powerbooks, ibooks and older mac laptops and prefer every one of them over any pc simply for the fact that they are more stable in every way. Not to mention small and sexy.

The macbook is totally worth it if your doing minimal graphics stuff. I bought a black macbook, spec in sig. Originally, it came with 1 GB ram but I upgraded to 2 GB when I saw a 40 bucks for 2GB (2x1GB sticks) and I can't believe the increase in speed and FPS. (I play Enemy Territory and other older games, Civ4 too).

The system is also fast, I don't know why you would want to change the optical drive.. Change processors, impossible, these things are soldiered, besides, they're pretty much maxed out already.. so you wouldn't be able to upgrade too much until a new type of chip/processors come out.

Looking at your sig, Kakarot, is it true that they put the 4MB cache chips into their systems? If that is the case, that is a little advertised fact that gives them a slight edge over most of the competition since most of them are using 2MB chips. I have also noticed that a lot of the other manufacturers put 533 RAM into their system, when Apple only puts 667, its the little things that make the slightly overpriced system worth it.

You beat me to it!!!!

It is 4 MB L2 Cache, but it is shared between the 2 cores. So in turn, if you're only using one core to do something.. (Haven't found a way to single out programs per core) then it'll utilize 4 MB of cache.

The 667MHz is more or less of common sense too, since our processors use 667MHz FSB, its sorta common to use a 667MHz speed for RAM also.

I would guess that a new MacBook is due and will most likely come out around teh launch of Leopard. I have this one crazy guy on another forum trying to convince me that Leopard will require 128MB+ of VRAM to operate, and that is just crazy talk, but I still do think that they will update teh MacBooks to Santa Rosa, X3100 Graphics (still integrated) and LED backlighting. Everything else will probably stay the same. Though, given as how they seem to be killing off the color white, maybe tehy will do a design refresh as well.

However, I do not know this for fact, and pretty much no one else does either. Apple is secretive, Apple is mysterious, Apple lurks in the shadows

I have no idea what apple is planning, all i know is that i have notice that they are killing of the white color, so it would be sage to assume that they will consider eliminating the white MacBook. However, since Jobs and I are not close personal friends, I have no idea what is actually in the works.

My Dream Of Getting A Flower Power Macbook Might Come True?!


Woohoo!

i think that if the Mac market share continues to grow, Apple will have to do something to put a little more diversity into their products. the "cool" part of having a Mac can be worn down some if everybody and their dog has a white or black macbook. if the newly rumored aluminum Mac notebook is true i'd say that if it's pro oriented, it'll be silver or black. if it's a macbook replacement, then you increase the likelihood of various colors being available.