My First/New MacBook, My Experiences

markyb

markyb

markyb

Soldato
Joined
28 Oct 2002
Posts
3,162
Location
Essex
Hey Guys,

Just brought a MacBook last week. Its my first Mac, Ive used a friends G5 before and played around with the G3s years back.

MacBook

2.0Ghz Core 2 Duo
1.0Ghz 677 DDR2 Ram (Upgraded to 2.5Gb for £45, Geil 667mhz)
X3100 Intel Graphics Card
80Gb

I also brought a Mini DVi to DVi Adapter to hook up to my 22" HP w2207.

54318539jk5.jpg


Sorry for the bad photo, G/F's digi Camera :o

I have to say I'm very impressed with the OS. It seems very quick and snappy. Very impressed with iWeb iMovie. Just spent the week finding my way around the OS which did not take long at all.

I upgraded the Ram at the weekend to 2.5Gb. I can't say I've noticed a big difference so far, although there is a difference. I just can't put my finger on it.

Games & Windows XP

I've installed Boot Camp and installed Windows XP which runs very well. I've got quite a decent Windows base rig (see sig) and quite a gamer, although not what I brought the laptop for I installed Tomb Raider Anniversary just to see how the X3100 performed.
I was quite surprised at 1024x768 on all standard settings it ran around 30fps and looked quite decent.

Battery Life & Build Quality

Very impressed with battery life. Ranging from 4 hours + when surfing the net and 2 and a half hours on full load.
Build Quality is solid, nice and small. Upgrading the ram was a little fiddly with the small screws covering the Ram.
On full load the MacBook does get quite hot although not really a problem. Silent when surfing the net.

Other little nice additions include the safe charger plug which is magnetic and will pop off if stepped on not damaging the plug or the laptop.

I've been going through the top 5 programs thread and there are some great software on there.

I want to be able capture VHS and edit it and convert to DVD or AVi. Any hardware which anyone can recommend?

Cheers, thanks for reading :)
 
Last edited:
You do realise you're supposed to upgrade the memory with pairs of modules in the Macbook, right? :p

Apparently graphics performance takes a massive dive if it isn't running in dual channel mode.
 
OllyM said:
You do realise you're supposed to upgrade the memory with pairs of modules in the Macbook, right? :p

Apparently graphics performance takes a massive dive if it isn't running in dual channel mode.
Click to expand...

Is that not only for Dual Channel mode? I noticed no difference in performance with the graphics card since the ram. Any Articles for this mate?
 
Oh and another question, I've plug my Logitech G5 Mouse into the MacBook and notice that its not a constant speed. Its like acceleration is on. Anyway to turn it off at all?
 
With 2.5Gb's of RAM, you should consider using Parallels instead of Bootcamp :) I found that XP booted even faster through it too. Great review though, although could do with some more pictures :p

BeatMaster :D
 
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