Time to buy a MacBook?

[tongodeon]

Back in the old days Apple guarded their hardware specs and nobody knew what was coming. Apple is still guarding their future product line since moving to the Intel platform but Intel still publishes a road map of future products. Since Apple's hardware is so closely tied to Intel's it's possible to make some guesses about future products. doohickey

Comments

[catbear]

Every time I've looked at an apple notebook in the shops, the flimsiness of them turns me right off. They look like they would just get totally horked if you leaned against it or picked one up by a corner, or if it slid off your lap or off a bed.

My standard here are the moulded magnesium cases both Sony notebooks I've purchased have, and you could probably pound nails in with them (hard drive off) and they would be fine. These are not ruggedized machines, they're just sturdy as hell, and my most recent one has run solidly for four years despite lots of casual abuse. I refuse to treat things delicately when they ought to be robust, and anything that isn't expected to live its life under a desk ought to be robust.

What's your take on this wrt the current apple offerings?

[tongodeon]

As someone who has totally horked his computer by sliding it off my lap or bed I can tell you that you're right on there. On the other hand you *can't* hork it by holding corner and letting gravity bend it. The MacBooks are more durable for dropping than the Pros since plastic bounces back and aluminum crumples. Then again plastic fatigues faster. I have a MacBook because the plastic case doesn't block the 802.11 antenna.

Size probably has a lot to do with the Sony's durability. The magnesium vaio that I found is 50% thicker than the MacBook or the Pro. Apple could make a more durable laptop but they'd have to make it thicker.

Know what would rock? Carbon fiber. It's not going to interfere with wifi reception and it'll be a *lot* lighter and sturdier than aluminum. You won't have the old 'flaking finish' problem either if you put pigment into the epoxy. Seriously, they should make that.

[catbear]

That Sony offering you linked to is quite similar to the one I use today:

[sploof]

I can't speak precisely to the current notebooks, but I was carrying my 15" g4 powerbook in a shoulder bag a year ago when I slipped on some black ice on a staircase and came slamming down flat on my back. I didn't land flat on the pb - I managed to get it a bit out of the way as I fell, but it definitely took part of the hit. There's a small warp in the case, but no actual damage.

I've also seen--with my very own eyes--a 15" g4 pb shot with a .22 caliber pistol and start right up.

[catbear]

I wonder if the power pc models were more reliable. Your and leighton's stories both centre around older G4 books.

[sploof]

That's entirely possible - I don't have much direct personal experience with the intel boxen.

From talking to friends, my rough second-hand sense is that the macbook pros are similar to the g4 pbs in terms of reliability, while the macbooks are considerably less so. I've heard from more than one source that Apple's actually lost money on macbook applecare, which is very unusual.

Of course...

[sploof]

...that's not to say that either of those things won't hork your laptop. YMMV.

Totally anecdotal

[leighton]

I've had an iBook G4 (plastic) in a shakey semi tractor cab with me for the last 2 years. Fell off the tall dash about 10 times, had diesel in the keyboard, and has been exposed to -10F and 110F.
Still works fine, but I finally chaffed the backlight wiring to the screen at the hinge. (Was the excuse to buy a bigger version.)

Re: Totally anecdotal

[catbear]

Is that one of the toilet-lid models?
I heard those were very, very tough.
Sadly underpowered these days, though.

Re: Totally anecdotal

[leighton]

It's not the old, rounded clamshell iBook, but that would be fun to still have. My wife still has an operational version of the very first Apple laptop.

If I could fix the screen on the road, I would have kept the old G4 for sure (I'm not crunching stats or doing video renderings, so it would have filled my needs for a couple more years).

But new one's hinge is much more robust and the breakaway power connection / magnet is probably the best industrial design innovation (for abusive laptop owners) in years. Hopefully the rest of the design is as robust.