'Book Value

New Unibody MacBook or Discontinued 15" MacBook Pro?

Charles Moore - 2008.10.28 - Tip Jar

Popularity:

Responding to some of my previously published musings and observations about the recently-launched MacBooks and MacBook Pros, a reader suggested "wait a little more, let's say about half a year, 'til the next updates and then get the future 'old' unibody MacBook Pro as a refurb."

aluminum MacBook

Procrastination in these these matters has its appeal, especially with my present G4 PowerBook still providing reasonably satisfactory service - but then logically follows the argument that the revision B unibody MacBook Pros will likely be better than the revision As, so maybe it would be better to wait until they hit the refurb channels and so on, ad infinitum.

I'm definitely an advocate of not updating for the sake of updating or to have the "latest and greatest" (however briefly), but objective factors do eventually impact the upgrade dynamic. My PowerBook G4 is wonderful, but nearly three years into the Macintel era, I'm beginning to bump up against its limitations, including the inability to run a growing roster of Intel-only software that I should be reviewing. More prosaically, the 80 GB hard drive is pretty nigh full as well, and while one could install a larger-capacity drive, that's no simple operation with the aluminum PowerBooks and would still amount to a stopgap.

It's probably time to take the plunge.

older MacBook Pro The contenders that make sense within my budget limit are the holdover 2.1 GHz MacBook White, the new 2.0 GHz base model Unibody MacBook, or a refurbished last-generation 2.4 GHz 15" MacBook Pro, and I'm not really smitten with yesterday's MacBook, other than that it still has FireWire support.

Between the other two, the old school MacBook Pro seems to me the better value. It's faster, has a larger, higher-resolution display (I'm fairly ambivalent about the matte vs. glossy debate but do provisionally lean toward matte), and a real discrete graphics processor with dedicated video RAM to drive it - the latter reportedly still about 2x as fast as even the MacBook's swish new Nvidia GeForce 9400M integrated 3D graphics. Both displays are LED backlit, so that's a wash. The MacBook Pro comes with a DVI port and an adapter for other formats - but you need a $30 optional Mini DisplayPort dongle for any external display with the MacBook.

Both machines come with 2 GB of RAM, but the MacBook Pro has a 200 GB hard drive vs. 160 GB for the MacBook. The MacBook Pro has both FireWire 400 and FireWire 800 ports, and it provides a lot more peripheral connectivity than the Unibody MacBook with its paltry two USB 2.0 ports, only one of them full-powered. I find the ports on my current PowerBook oversubscribed much of the time, so that's definitely an issue for me, especially since none of the Intel machines has an internal modem. I'll need a modem for Internet access for a year or so yet until broadband finally makes it to this neck of the woods (hopefully), so there goes one USB port unless someone comes out with an ExpressCard 34 dialup modem. The MacBook has no ExpressCard slot; the MacBook Pro does.

There's the backlit keyboard, which I like on my 17" PowerBook, but which is not available on the entry-level MacBook, although that would be far from a deal-breaker for me. I also like old-school type keyboards better than the avant garde "chiclet" ones.

In the MacBook's favor are its undeniable coolness (also reportedly literal coolness of operation) and its more rugged and solid unibody construction, the glass trackpad, extreme ease of access to the hard drive, and it's $50 cheaper. Not enough, IMHO considering what you don't get.

Charles Moore has been a freelance journalist since 1987 and began writing for Mac websites in May 1998. His The Road Warrior column was a regular feature on MacOpinion, and he is a news editor and columnist at Applelinks.com. If you find his articles helpful, please consider making a donation to his tip jar.

Links for the Day

Mac of the Day: PowerBook 165c, introduced 1993.02.10. The first color PowerBook had an attractive screen, slow graphics.
February 10 in LEM history: 93: LC III - Color Classic - PowerBook 165c - Centris 610 and 650 - Quadra 800 - 99: iMac flaws - 00: Plain old email - 03: Xserve, 1.33 GHz - 1993: Apple rolls out 6 new models at once - Cheerleading, misinformation, and moving ahead - Wacom Graphire2 - 05: Ultimate spam email - 06: TopXNotes Classic - PPC emulator adds Classic to Macintel
Support Low End Mac

Recent Content on Low End Mac

White MacBook Goes End-of-Life, Logitech Touch Mouse Supports Gestures, Firmware Updates, and More, The 'Book Review, 2012.02.10. Also MacBook Air better than any Ultrabook, docks for MacBook Pro models, Intel offers improved SSDs, and more.
Apple's Support Lead Shipping, Smartphones Outsell PCs, OS X Ported to ARM by Intern, and More, Mac News Review, 2012.02.10. Also the power of Tex-Edit Plus, Google and Twitter are already censoring the Web, Snow Leopard Security Update, and more.
Mac and iOS Browsers: Options Galore, Freeware Forum, 2012.02.10. Safari is adequate on Mac and great on iOS, but the range of good alternatives is stunning. LEM writers share their favorites.
LogMeIn: Remote Screen Sharing for the Rest of Us, Alan Zisman, Zis Mac, 2012.02.09. Configuring the Mac's built-in screen sharing to work over the Internet can be difficult or impossible. LogMeIn makes it easy.
15 Years Ago Motorola Unveiled the PowerPC G3, Low End Mac Round Table, 2012.02.06. The G3 processor was optimized for real world Mac software and made a big leap forward in efficiency.
More links in our archive.

Recent Deals

About LEM Support Usage Privacy Contact

Low End Mac is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. Entire Low End Mac website copyright ©1997-2012 by Cobweb Publishing, Inc. unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, iPad iPhone, iMac, iPod, MacBook, MagSafe, Mac Pro, Apple TV, and AirPort are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are hereby acknowledged.
Advice is presented in good faith, but what works for one may not work for all. Please report errors to .
LINKS: We allow and encourage links to any public page as long as the linked page does not appear within a frame that prevents bookmarking it.
Email may be published at our discretion unless marked "not for publication"; email addresses will not be published without permission, and we will encrypt them in hopes of avoiding spammers. Letters may be edited for length, context, and to match house style.
PRIVACY: We don't collect personal information unless you explicitly provide it. For more details, see our Terms of Use.

Custom Search

Follow Low End Mac on Twitter
Join Low End Mac on Facebook

Low End Mac Reader Specials

TypeStyler 11 is now in the Mac App Store!! -- Special Introductory Price of $59.95!! -- To Buy From The Mac App Store Click Here Now!! Or buy direct from Strider Software.

Don't install Parallels to play poker online! Poker Mac will show you how to download and install a native Mac poker and Mac Casino applications in minutes.

Affiliates

Amazon.com
The Apple Store
The iTunes Store
PC Connection Express
GainSaver
Parallels Desktop for Mac
eBay

'Book Value

New Unibody MacBook or Discontinued 15" MacBook Pro?

Further Reading

Other articles by Charles W. Moore