Anyone gone from a Macbook Pro to a plain Macbook?

bigredshark

bigredshark

bigredshark

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My first gen Macbook pro (2.16 Core Duo) is starting to show it's age a little so I think it's time for a new laptop. However I'm struggling to justify the £1600+ I'd be spending an a new macbook pro and considering a Macbook instead (I'd be likely doing 2.4 White model, upgrading to a 320GB 7200 drive and 4GB RAM). I'd kind of like the extra portability too...

So, has anybody gone from a macbook pro to a macbook as their main machine? Any thoughts/problems/observations?
 
bigredshark said:
My first gen Macbook pro (2.16 Core Duo) is starting to show it's age a little so I think it's time for a new laptop. However I'm struggling to justify the £1600+ I'd be spending an a new macbook pro and considering a Macbook instead (I'd be likely doing 2.4 White model, upgrading to a 320GB 7200 drive and 4GB RAM). I'd kind of like the extra portability too...

So, has anybody gone from a macbook pro to a macbook as their main machine? Any thoughts/problems/observations?
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I'm using a macbook, first and only apple machine. First thoughts I had was getting used to the smaller screen from my old laptops, but I got used to it straight away! Absolutely love it! It's ideal for portability.

Main reason i'm posting is to point out the rumours of new macbooks being realised september some time, if you hold out a few more weeks you might find a good reason to switch from macbook pro to macbook!

edit: closer inspection, the rumours are mainly focused on new case designs, but still. September 9th apparently!
 
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i love my macbook but one thing that annoys me if you open up photoshop and do the tiniest of edits or designs macbook goes in to airplane mode and easy reaches 8000-9000RPM and hit 75c
 
smokedog said:
Would there much of a performance increase going from 2.16 to 2.4GHz?
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It's an original core duo, so 32bit only, leopard is natively 64bit so there should be plenty there alone and I could really use the 4GB of RAM...

I've played with Macbook's in the apple store and they seem noticeably more responsive than my machine...
 
bigredshark said:
It's an original core duo, so 32bit only, leopard is natively 64bit so there should be plenty there alone and I could really use the 4GB of RAM...

I've played with Macbook's in the apple store and they seem noticeably more responsive than my machine...
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Natively 64bit? Not really. Only unix, cocoa and some applications. The kernel, drivers and some applications are 32bit. Snowleopard will make things truely 64bit. Also 64bit does not nessicarily mean faster.
 
I think with the current line of cpu's on offer you won't find it sluggish at all compared to your MBP.

Just give it till next week (09.09.08) for anouncments on new laptops, because I'm pretty sure we'll see a new macbook and macbook air with possible mbp cpu increases!

(I'm holding off for the new MBA).
 
I went the other way from a 2.0 macbook to a 2.4mbp and I'm glad I did...
The higher screen res, seperate gpu etc.

I do agree with the others... wait...
 
The keyboard on the Macbook is the main reason I went for the Pro, and the higher screen resolution and Firewire 800 was important to me.

If you can live with the smaller screen and lower res (can always use an external monitor on a desk I suppose) and don't mind they keyboard then they are good little machines.

Would certainly agree that it may be worth waiting until the end of September just to see if there are any updates but I would be surprised if they were more than a spec bump. I'm personally holding off for a 13" MacbookPro.
 
RoleyBirkin said:
I'd like to regress to a macbook. Just need a buyer for the MBP!
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Can I ask why? The only benefits in my mind are price and portability, if you already have a MBP then the first doesn't apply.

Size is a marginal one, my only problem with the macbook pro is it's just a shade too large to use comfortably on the train...
 
wij said:
The keyboard on the Macbook is the main reason I went for the Pro, and the higher screen resolution and Firewire 800 was important to me.

If you can live with the smaller screen and lower res (can always use an external monitor on a desk I suppose) and don't mind they keyboard then they are good little machines.

Would certainly agree that it may be worth waiting until the end of September just to see if there are any updates but I would be surprised if they were more than a spec bump. I'm personally holding off for a 13" MacbookPro.
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The resolution is a difficult one, I think the extra isn't enough, it needs to be higher to be a big advantage over the macbook (ie. it's not big enough to put two web pages side by side, or watch a video and work on a document).

Firewire 800 I'd dearly like to have but I don't have it at present so I could live without. Integrated graphics will still run Aperture so that doesn't seem too big an issue. So I can't justify twice the price for a ncie keyboard and firewire 800 at the moment...
 
Think you've answered your own question there then :)

Agree with you that 1440x900 is still a little bit low compared to what many of the PC laptops are running at these days.
 
bigredshark said:
Can I ask why? The only benefits in my mind are price and portability, if you already have a MBP then the first doesn't apply.
Size is a marginal one, my only problem with the macbook pro is it's just a shade too large to use comfortably on the train...
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Despite what I've said on here before, I'd quite like the portability in combo with ext monitor.
By my reckoning, I could sell my 2.2,120gb Mbp and afford a 2.4,250gb macbook.
Call it downsizing!

I also prefer the MB keyboard.
 
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I have had a macbook for 2 years, and was wanting 4Gb of RAM to run Parallels and VM Fusion.

But I too could not justify the extra cost of a MBP, so went for another macbook - cheapest model, then added 4Gb of RAM and a 320Gb hard drive (7200 rpm). I had quite a few offers for my old macbook (still had 1 year of Applecare left) and had no problems selling it.
 
JonB said:
How much did you get for it? I'm considering selling mine and getting a new one.
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£450 - including insured delivery and with 2Gb of RAM and an almost new 320Gb hard drive (5400 rpm) + Tiger and Leopard disks, and ~ 14 months of Applecare remaining.

And the new macbook at £499.00 + VAT seemed a pretty good deal.
 
CocoPops said:
I went the other way from a 2.0 macbook to a 2.4mbp and I'm glad I did...
The higher screen res, seperate gpu etc.

I do agree with the others... wait...
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I did the same, very glad to have my MBP but I do miss the significantly better MB keyboard and portability! Horses for courses.
 
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