Macbook worth buying?

[pickster]

Laptop Around 60 - 70 K

My mom needs a laptop. Basic requirements are that it should be sleek and lightweight (good looks are a bonus ). And it would be really nice if i can play some games on it.
I was thinking about the Macbook. She really likes them.

We can spend around 60 - 70 K.
What's the difference between the Aluminium 2.0 GHz and the White 2.0 GHz Macbook other than the unibody construction?
Does the LED back lighting in the unibody Macbook produce a lot of difference?
And is the nearly 16K price difference justifiable?

I am always open to alternate notebooks. But netbooks are a strict no-no.

Another question. My HP and IBM laptop's drive has gone kaput. How is the Macbook's drive? long lasting?

bump.
anyone?

its kinda important.

 

[pickster]

Re: Laptop Around 60 - 70 K

bump.
i would really like some suggestions

 

[Pat]

There is hardly any difference between Unibody macbooks and white-plastic apart from its looks. JUnibody ones have DDR3 ram while white-plastic ones have DDR2. And also unibody macbooks sport a new trackpad (glass and multi-touch). New white-plastic macbooks are available with 9400m graphics as well. I would have gone for white-plastic one considering the price diff!

 

[gforce23]

The new unibody MB has a dedicated GPU (GeForce 9400M) for better graphics capabilities. Don't expect to play Crysis on it though. The multi-touch trackpad is another new addition. Try it before you buy one though. I didn't like it all. The new MBs have a glossy screen with no option for a matte display.

I have very little knowledge about the specific display panel in the new MB but the LG-sourced LED backlit display on my T400 looks nice and is easier on the eyes. At its highest level, the LED panel is much brighter than a normal panel. Color rendering seems more accurate. Here's an example:
(Regular panel on the T60, LED display on the T400)
*www.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/e3fd1bd4df.jpg

HP, IBM and Apple do not make their own hard drives but rather source them from manufacturers like Hitachi, Fujitsu, Samsung etc. My 4 year old Thinkpad T42's Hitachi HDD (also used in the MacBooks) has had no problems at all while a desktop WD 250GB (used in some Dell Inspirons) went kaput after just one year.

 

[Pathik]

How about a Dell Studio XPS 13?

 

[k4ce]

how long the drive lasts depends on how u take care of it and handle it ... ur drive failure must be a one-off ... as far as i know , most of the manufacturers use hitachi and it lasts long ... don't think u shud worry about that ...

now about the point about gaming , although the macbook comes wid the 9400 , its difficult to find good games (legal or otherwise) that run on OS X ... so u mite have to dual boot wid xp or vista ...

i'm sure there are a lot of good Dell XPS laptops that look good and are better equipped than the macbook at that price point ... but the macbook has a lot more software in the bundle that'll help u organize ur pictures , videos music etc etc ...

so if u want u want the mac experience , go for it .. a lot of ppl claim mac os is a whole lot better than windows and BS like that .,.. i've used it and i'll say its good and in some respects better than windows (but not great)... else u can get urself an xps and in the process , save urself some cash

 

[pickster]

so both the white and the unibody and white macbooks have dedicated gfx cards or is it shared?
i know it wont be able to play crysis, but what about games like GTA IV, Gears of War, COD4, etc? I'll install windows, no prob about that.

and whitebooks dont have the new glass/multitouch track pad?

Mac experience is another factor pulling me towards Macbooks. No worries about the cash, cuz the last time I chose a 100K Vaio over the Macbook. And boy did it become obsolete so fast.

By drive, i meant DVD Drive, and not HDD. Sorry for the confusion.

Another thing, any shop in delhi where i can go to check out different lappys?
i'll be going to that imagine store in ansal plaza, but any other places where i can check out the Dell and other laptops?

Thanks a lot guys

 

[gforce23]

Answers are inline:

so both the white and the unibody and white macbooks have dedicated gfx cards or is it shared?
Integrated graphics card with shared memory up to 256MB
i know it wont be able to play crysis, but what about games like GTA IV, Gears of War, COD4, etc? I'll install windows, no prob about that.
GTA4 and GoW should be playable at low settings. COD4 is a pretty old game and the 9400M should put out decent frame rates at high settings. Besides, COD4 is available on the Mac platform as well IIRC.

and whitebooks dont have the new glass/multitouch track pad?
Nope. The extra 15 grand isn't just for some fancy-schmancy aluminum.

Mac experience is another factor pulling me towards Macbooks. No worries about the cash, cuz the last time I chose a 100K Vaio over the Macbook. And boy did it become obsolete so fast.
Lesson #1: Vaios are all show and no go, including the new Vaio P.
Lesson #2: Always buy a Thinkpad or MB.

By drive, i meant DVD Drive, and not HDD. Sorry for the confusion.
Just make sure your laptop doesn't have a Matshita drive and you should be fine (or get long-term warranty). I've had to replace the CD-RW drives in my T42 and T60 twice already, thanks to some shoddy quality lens in those drives.

Another thing, any shop in delhi where i can go to check out different lappys?
i'll be going to that imagine store in ansal plaza, but any other places where i can check out the Dell and other laptops?

Thanks a lot guys

 

[pickster]

Goddamn it. Why can't I get best of both worlds?
That is, Mac + Performance.
I guess the world is never fair.

 

[pickster]

okay.. suppose if i get xps studio 13, how will be the gaming performance then?
for example, how will games like gta IV, GoW, etc play?

 

[Pat]

Goddamn it. Why can't I get best of both worlds?
That is, Mac + Performance.
I guess the world is never fair.

You can. If you are ready to spend on a Macbook Pro

 

[pickster]

i'm really confused now between Apple MacBook and Dell Studio XPS 13.
specs are :

MacBook: Rs. 88,280
1] CPU : Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz / 1066MHz FSB / 3MB shared L2 cache
2] Memory : 2GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM
3] HDD : 250GB Serial ATA, 5400 rpm
4] GPU : NVIDIA GeForce 9400M with 256MB of shared DDR3 SDRAM
5] Without any case (no big deal)

XPS 13: Rs. 89,368.34
1] CPU : Intel Core 2 Duo P9500 2.53GHz / 1066MHz FSB / 6MB Cache
2] Memory : 4GB 1067MHz DDR3 SDRAM
3] HDD : 320GB (7200 RPM) SATA Hard Driv
4] GPU : 256MB NVIDIA GeForce 9500M-GE with Hybrid SLI Technology
5] With a case (again, no big deal)

The minor cost difference is none of my concerns. What matters is the performance difference that comes with the dedicated GPU in the XPS. How much is it?
And what about the games the XPS will be able to play, like, GTA IV, GoW, etc?

What do you guys suggest which one I should go for?

 

[damngoodman999]

i'm really confused now between Apple MacBook and Dell Studio XPS 13.
specs are :

MacBook: Rs. 88,280
1] CPU : Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz / 1066MHz FSB / 3MB shared L2 cache
2] Memory : 2GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM
3] HDD : 250GB Serial ATA, 5400 rpm
4] GPU : NVIDIA GeForce 9400M with 256MB of shared DDR3 SDRAM
5] Without any case (no big deal)

XPS 13: Rs. 89,368.34
1] CPU : Intel Core 2 Duo P9500 2.53GHz / 1066MHz FSB / 6MB Cache
2] Memory : 4GB 1067MHz DDR3 SDRAM
3] HDD : 320GB (7200 RPM) SATA Hard Driv
4] GPU : 256MB NVIDIA GeForce 9500M-GE with Hybrid SLI Technology
5] With a case (again, no big deal)

The minor cost difference is none of my concerns. What matters is the performance difference that comes with the dedicated GPU in the XPS. How much is it?
And what about the games the XPS will be able to play, like, GTA IV, GoW, etc?

What do you guys suggest which one I should go for?

Dell is gr8 now , go for its my opinion

 

[gforce23]

i'm really confused now between Apple MacBook and Dell Studio XPS 13.
specs are :

MacBook: Rs. 88,280
1] CPU : Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz / 1066MHz FSB / 3MB shared L2 cache
2] Memory : 2GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM
3] HDD : 250GB Serial ATA, 5400 rpm
4] GPU : NVIDIA GeForce 9400M with 256MB of shared DDR3 SDRAM
5] Without any case (no big deal)

XPS 13: Rs. 89,368.34
1] CPU : Intel Core 2 Duo P9500 2.53GHz / 1066MHz FSB / 6MB Cache
2] Memory : 4GB 1067MHz DDR3 SDRAM
3] HDD : 320GB (7200 RPM) SATA Hard Driv
4] GPU : 256MB NVIDIA GeForce 9500M-GE with Hybrid SLI Technology
5] With a case (again, no big deal)

The minor cost difference is none of my concerns. What matters is the performance difference that comes with the dedicated GPU in the XPS. How much is it?
And what about the games the XPS will be able to play, like, GTA IV, GoW, etc?

What do you guys suggest which one I should go for?

Sorry to rain on your parade but the 9500M in the Studio 13 isn't as powerful as some might think. The 9500M is not a single graphics card, but two: an integrated GeForce 9400M G (same as in the MB) plus a GeForce 9200M GS (a card that's actually slower than a 9400M G) with 256 MB of dedicated memory, working in a hybrid SLI configuration. Although the performance should be better than a single 9400M, it's lower than a "true" 9500 series card as the integrated gfx is a performance bottleneck.
From notebookcheck.net: "The performance of the 9500M GE graphic solution depends on the SLI support of the game". Poor SLI profile support will mean poor framerates.
If you need a consistent 60+ fps, I suggest you continue looking around. The best video card in a 13.3" notebook is the 9600M-GT available in the LG P310.

 

[pickster]

so how much better is the Dell over the Macbook performance?
if not much then i'll go for the Macbook.

BTW, I read somewhere that 32 bit Vista doesnt support more than 3 GB of RAM.
and Dell dont have the option of choosing a 64 bit version on their site. Weird.

 

[gforce23]

Any 32bit OS won't support more than 4 gigs of addressable memory (RAM+swap).

I'm guessing the Ultimate edition listed on the configuration web site is actually 64 bit since Dell's US configurator has two options only (32bit Home Premium and 64 bit Ultimate) and there's no 32 bit Ultimate.

 

[pickster]

BUMP.

so how much better is the Dell over the Macbook performance?
if not much then i'll go for the Macbook.

anyone?

 

[Pat]

*www.miricommunity.net/viewtopic.php?f=7&p=221996
From what I have read, it feels that DELL is only marginally better than Mac performance-wise. I would go for a Mac over it anyday

 

[tarey_g]

How about this , you can opt for better config than this guy has from HP online store.
*www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=4555