Apple MacBook MC516LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop

The white MacBook was updated on 18 May 2010. There are minor differences between 2010 and 2009 Macbook model, described below.

The upgrades

1) NVIDIA GeForce 320M integrated graphics processor with 48 cores. This is better than the GeForce 9400M in last year's model. Useful for creating content.

2) Mini Display Port now support video and audio with a compatible mini-DP to HDMI adapter. (Last year's model is only supported video)

That's it.

STANDARD EQUIPMENT - from last year's model (minor changes noted in parentheses)

Polycarbonate unibody
Core 2 Duo processor (2.4 GHz - up from 2.26 GHz)
1280 x 800 resolution glossy LED-backlit screen;
iSight camera

2 GB RAM - 1 GB RAM x 2
250GB hard drive
8x SuperDrive DVD Burner

Large Multi-Touch trackpad (Intertial scrolling is now activated)
2 USB 2.0 ports
Wi-Fi - 802.11n, 802.11a/b/g, Bluetooth 2.1 and Gigabit Ethernet -10/100/1000.

Built-in battery - (. As Apple promotes that can last between 9-10 hours) Not true. Actual battery life is between 3 to 6 hours depending on the tasks you use your computer.

Included software is OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard and iLife 09 suite of tools to create content. A 1-year warranty on parts and 90 days of telephone technical support is standard.

MacBook as it is - is good for basic computing tasks - such as surfing the Internet, write articles or watch movies. But if you plan to buy a Macbook for multimedia work, such as editing photos in HD or HD video and plan to use several programs simultaneously, make sure you upgrade the RAM from 2 GB to 4 GB.

Why?

Since using a MacBook with 2 GB of RAM (like this) to do several things is a great way to drive you crazy when your computer is struggling to keep up. Try to edit 10 megapixel RAW images while playing music in iTunes with Safari open. 2GB RAM is not enough for multitasking / extra CPU-intensive applications on a MacBook. I understand that Apple has to differentiate between the MacBook and MBPro to justify the price differences, but the lack of RAM and put 2GB in a $ 999 product, and thereby affect the user experience is not the way to do it.

Upgrading RAM from 2GB to 4GB is a good idea. Currently CT2KIT25664BC1067 Crucial 4GB 204-pin PC3-8500 DDR3 SODIMM Memory kit (2GBx2) costs $ 39.99. So that gives your total to $ 1010 ($ 969 RAM + $ 39.99) if you upgrade your MacBook RAM

So for just $ 160 more than the MacBook (if one takes into account the cost of the RAM upgrade) a viable alternative is the standard Apple MacBook Pro MC700LL / A 13.3-inch laptop that costs around $ 1160 on Amazon. The MBP 13 comes with the added advantage of a more durable aluminum unibody, a backlit keyboard, a SDXC slot, one FireWire 800 port, a port lightning and most importantly, 4 GB of RAM. That allows you to multitask with ease.

If you must use the MacBook for compute-intensive activities, such as content creation, editing large RAW images or HD video, you should upgrade RAM to 4GB or just buy the standard MBPro 13 inches. The significantly faster i5 processor and 4GB RAM MBPro 13 make a big difference in the daily use experience.

But if you just want to use the Macbook for general tasks such as writing articles, reading web pages or watch movies, it will handle these tasks. At the same time, also consider that if you just need a laptop for basic tasks, many other manufacturers offer cheaper laptops are equally (if not more) can.

Hope this helps!

P.S. Update - February 15, 2011 - present extremely Macbook outdated compared to other computer manufacturers current products. C2D processor, 250GB 5400 rpm hard drive, 2 GB RAM, 2 USB ports. In 2011, these are quite different from a $ 999 laptop specs, and more as a netbook's specifications (excluding C2D processor)

I would recommend waiting for a Macbook Pro update from Apple. Another good option would be to buy a laptop from HP, Sony and Toshiba (for $ 999 you get a much more powerful machine in terms of hardware) or buy the updated 2011 Macbook Pro 13 base model.

Apple MacBook Air MC504LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop

I am relatively new to Macs, but my own personal laptop Mac had aged. It was a Powerbook.

With the release of IPAD last spring, I told myself not to go back to owning a new laptop with a desktop and the iPhone at my disposal.

But I decided I just need a keyboard for some road work, and my computer was simply too old now.

In October 2010 MacBook Air redesign is the answer for me. In addition, my father chose 11.6-inch model for extreme portability increases. I do not travel for work, so preferred the higher performance offered by the 13.3-inch model.

I begin by taking the 11 to 13 inches, which I have studied both side by side:

* 11-inch is shocking to see. Not just thin, but a smaller footprint. Gorgeous computer. You may notice a slight performance hit compared to a recent MacBook Pro.

* 13-inch-popping from the side profile, footprints near a 13-inch MacBook Pro. Performance feels close or MacBook Pro level.

In short, offers 11-inch laptop, never before seen in a portable Mac. The 13-inch gives "good", portability, ease, and you sacrifice a lot less performance. It seems clear on paper, which describes the two models, and I must say, it is obvious in the real world use as well.

Physical footprint is not much different than a 13-inch MacBook or MacBook Pro that other members of my household itself. But it's thin and light weight of this design that gives the "wow" for those who see it. If you want to use it on your lap in a large chair or sofa, it's simply more fun.

The reason why one would choose this updated 13-inch MacBook Air is simple. This model gives you thin and light "wow" factors that defined the MacBook Air since it was introduced almost four years ago. But this model gives you something that is not offered in this price range before. An almost fully functional and performing notebook. The supplied 1.86 GHz Core 2 Duo processor is not a slouch. 2 GB of memory is not bad in an efficient OS X and 256GB solid-state memory is not only competitive capacity as a laptop, but it is incredibly fast. The small hit in the processor and memory compared to a MacBook Pro is at least partly by the speed of semiconductor memory. Just select the boot time on this unit. It starts up quickly. Plus, when it is asleep, open it up again, for instant on. There is a new way to experience a computer.

This 13-inch model has a higher resolution screen than the 13-inch MacBook Pro, so you can fit more of your windows, pictures, etc. on display. Yes, it is suitable to the solution of the stock 15-inch models. The display looks good too. There is a blank screen, but if you compare it to a Mac Book Pro, you will find it a bit less reflective as it has glass over the screen. I like it!

What you do not get this model and I miss it? Partly, again, is the SuperDrive is missing. I have not missed this. I have the SuperDrive on my desk, and you can always buy USB SuperDrive for less than a hundred dollars if you want to have this ability when they are on the desktop. This air will lose a backlit keyboard, a suspect because of the slimmer and lighter design. But I write in an effective manner, so I only lose the cool factor of the illuminated buttons do not work.

Indeed, with additional USB SuperDrive for pinch situations, this particular model a Mac that can actually be the primary computer. Decent processor speed, decent memory, and most of all lots of solid state storage and speed advantages of this storage. The GPU in this release is much better than the previous generation is also possible to watch high definition video. Two USB ports allow connection of your iPod, external USB hard drive, USB SuperDrive, printer or any other USB device you have. SD card slot is included on this 13-inch Air model for the first time.

Note - all new iLife '11 is on this machine also. It's fun to try out the new features in iLife on a brand new computer! iPhoto 11 improved full-screen mode is fun to use with this monitor with high resolution!

Why four stars? I simply think it is difficult to give a computer a perfect character. I think much of it, but the air was already in existence. It is a great improvement on it. I also think Air will see a lot of future developments in the line that Apple has hinted that it is the direction for all future MacBook.

A graphic designer, developer or engineer may need more horsepower or a larger screen. But a £ 2.9 Mac that is fully capable of being a great second Mac, or primary Mac for many users is an incredible achievement. Do not let the importance of this creation does not take us back a bit. It is an impressive achievement. Tell entity.

Apple MacBook Air MC503LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop

I have owned many Apple laptops and computers over the years, and no doubt believe that 2010 13 "MacBook Air is one of the strongest offer the company has ever had. I am a" super user "and use my laptop for heavy photo and video editing . I have often Photoshop run concurrently with many other memory demanding applications, including Windows 7 (via Parallels) and use my laptop for hours every day.

I bought the 13 "MacBook Air (which I call the" Master "for convenience) directly from Apple, and added 2GB of RAM to set the 4GB total. I do not know about the Amazon, you can customize it this way so if it does not consider buying it directly from Apple or any other store that does not allow this upgrade from what I understood, because of the MBA design -. RAM is soldered on the motherboard - you will not be able to add RAM yourself later. If you are a light users, you should probably be fine with just 2 GB of RAM, but if you plan to intensive multi-task, consider upgrading the RAM.

This laptop is expensive, but worth every penny if you can afford. Although it lacks an optical drive and some ports - which can sometimes be tricky - it makes you by offering great performance and a sleek design.

DESIGN
I thought my 2010 13 "MacBook Pro (which I call" MBP ") was sleek and stylish, but it's just amazing. MBP looks thinner in some ways as its keyboard is backlit, and its screen has a classy black trim it, but the overall design, the only MBA does not turn. You will not really appreciate the Macbook Air's portability and style until you physically play with it personally. MacBook Air is very thin, but since it uses a unique tapered design, it is not uniformly thin throughout unit.

The 13 "model is equipped with two USB ports and an SD card reader (the 11" model has SD card reader). USB ports are conveniently positioned on either side of the laptop, so you can get even more bulky peripheral devices connected simultaneously. The built-in SD card reader is very useful (more on that below). What is more important to read here is not what connections it has, but what is not. The most important thing missing from the MacBook Air, in my opinion is the optical drive and an Ethernet port. Although I do not necessarily use - and thus miss - some of them too much, there are times when Wi-Fi access is problematic, or when you need a slice of something. But MacBook Air has a stunning portable design that offers more than enough for most people's daily use.

PERFORMANCE
Even with my heavy usage, this has been very reliable in my daily multi-tasking. While some of this speed can be a result of my RAM (see above), comes mostly from the air using a Solid State Drive (SSD). Though SSD technology is relatively expensivewhen compared to traditional hard drives on a per-gigabyte basis, it is worth the money! You can find many comparison videos on YouTube that shows how much faster solid state drives are compared to traditional hard drives. SSD really shines when cutting down the time to launch a program or when you turn the system on or off.

DISPLAY
The high resolution screen on the MacBook Air is great. The 13 "Air has a 1440x900 resolution (as for 15" MacBook Pro) that is better than 1280 x 800 resolution on my 13 "2010 MacBook Pro. It's very sharp and clear!

Life without an optical drive
Some people have argued that the lack of an optical drive makes the MacBook Air impractical for everyday use. Honestly, I have in recent years used my optical drive is very rare, and knew that I would not miss it too much on the Air. That said, you usually do not appreciate something until you no longer have it, and I've noticed that there are times when you have a built-in optical drive is convenient.

Since drives and external hard drives are very affordable, digital distribution of software and games is rapidly growing, and many movies are now available via streaming services as opposed to hard copy DVD forms, quite a few of the drawbacks of lack of an optical device can be worked around. That said, there are times when an optical drive is essential, especially when it comes to installing software (ie Windows).

While the MBA has a built-in, you can "Share" the optical drive of another computer wirelessly. Understandably, less convenient than having an optical drive is physically connected to the same computer, you can also connect an external CD / DVD drive via USB port. The main disadvantage of this is that you need to buy an external hard drive. That said, you need not Apple-branded "SuperDrive", and can instead get a third party external optical drive for a much cheaper price.

With built-in SD card reader is very convenient
SD card reader is very convenient, and helps compensate for the relatively small hard drive available on the MacBook Air. While my biggest SD card is only 16 GB, I think the SD card to be even more convenient than using a USB stick. Without the built-in SD card reader, you can always connect an external SD card reader, but with the built-in system frees up a USB port.

Battery life
Have you ever felt that your cell phone, laptop or other battery-powered device does not hold nearly as long as a tax, as it should, it's not just you. Battery life is something many electronics manufacturers often distort the truth. Amazon often omit Linked assessments and replace it with a [...] so I can not insert the link, but Apple's Web site section on the MacBook Pro, for example, the state in the fine text: "The wireless productivity measures battery life by wireless browsing various websites and editing text in a word processing document with display brightness set to 50%. "In other words, their claims of battery life in situations, like many more intensive users not in. ..

For 2010, the MacBook Air, Apple changed according to their battery testing method from the said Pro-test, using better technology to extend battery life. MacBook Air battery is rated to last about 7 hours, but you can get smaller than that used intensively. I've been happy with the battery life so far, but I've had less than 7 hours of battery life when I was using the computer intensively. Although battery life is not the strongest of all Apple's offerings, it is 30-days standby very impressive. I think the impressive standby time is a result of the SSD consumes less power in sleep mode than a traditional hard drive.

Compared with previous broadcast
I was really intrigued by the MacBook Air when it was first announced in 2008 but could not justify the high price. Because this generation has fallen significantly, all models using Solid State Drives, and there are two USB ports (instead of just one), is now a much better time to buy a Macbook Air than ever before. The only thing that changed for the worse is that this model does not have backlit buttons - do not make much difference for fast types, but probably inconvenient for people who "hunt and Peck."

Compared to 2010 11-inch MacBook Air
Before deciding on the 13 "Macbook Air, I found the 11-inch model. While the 11-inch is lighter and smaller than 13-inch model, I decided against it because I felt that the screen was too small to be reasonably effective for my intended use is, moreover, 11-inch model has a built-in SD card reader. - not a big deal because the external USB-based SD card readers are cheap - and also employs a weaker 1.4-GHz processor (as opposed 13-inch model is 1.86 GHz processor). You lose a pound in weight range from 13 "and 11" models, but I decided I wanted a slightly heavier laptop computer was worth more space on the screen. You will need to play with the models in store to see what works best for you, but if you want to open multiple windows side by side, you will more likely than not also prefer the 13 "model.

Compared with 13-inch MacBook Pro
Because of similar price ranges between and 13 "MacBook Pro, the two computers naturally lend themselves to the head-to-head comparison, which I will focus on the rest of the review.

Comparison of a 2010 13 "1.86 GHz 128GB Intel Core 2 Duo MacBook Air with 4 GB of RAM (again, upgraded the default is 2 GB) with my 2010 13" 250 GB 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro with 4 GB of RAM I felt definitely MacBook Air was faster. This is not a formal comparison with benchmark tests - official benchmarks actually rated Pro is a faster machine - but for my use, I felt it was noticeably faster with the Air's SSD, despite weaker processor.

Advantages compared to the basic configuration 2010 13 "MacBook Pro
Lighter (2.9 pounds to 4.5 pounds)
Thinner (0.11 inches at its thinnest point and 0.68 inches at its thickest vs. 0.95 inches)
Significantly faster despite a weaker processor (see below) because of its use of a Solid State Drive (SSD)
Higher resolution screen (1440x900 vs 1280x800)

Apple MacBook Pro MC724LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop

I have been on a MacBook C2D ​​2.4 GHz (with 6 GB of RAM) for the past three years and wanted to upgrade and MB Air seemed to be the way to go. Selling iPhone and MacBook Air and get 13 "w / 4GB RAM and 256GB SSD, to be exact. Apple Store, I realized that the MacBook Air (at this point) is really old technology in a stunning form factor, but I did not feel forced to spend $ 1,800 on the same processor, which I had for three years already. then the new MB Pro showed up and after 72H with it, I'm super happy.

This MBPro with the new i7 2.7 GHz CPU is about twice as fast as the 2008 MacBook I had. It got 6800 points on Geekbench. Installation of Mac Office 2011 and Adobe CS3 was super fast and I look forward to have VMware Fusion running much better than the older MacBook. I saw all iPad2 Keynote (1h) through wireless on the battery, plus an hour's surfing, said battery 4h still, awesome! I have already changed the hard drive of a 320GB/7200 and after 6-12 months, I could go SSD, but now I will stay with regular disks. There are some big 750GB / 7200rpm drives now for around $ 100.

It's easy. I love the illuminated keyboard, finally, smaller pro machine. The touch pad is awesome. The new LED screen is super sharp and clear. The new HD 3000 graphics chip is really good, and enough light Photoshop work. I can only recommend it. If you think that the MBP 13 ", go for the fastest processor that this (2.7 i7) and get all the other upgrades later. Extra RAM is cheap these days and better hard drive and soon the prices of SSDs will come down as well. Replace the hard drive is easy and just like all Pro models of the past two years or so. I can not wait to put the 500GB SSD in this for 1-2 years and have it fly ... love this machine, the best Mac ever (for PowerBook and MacBook 2).

Apple MacBook Pro MC700LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop

I stopped at my local Apple Store this morning MacBook Pro was made available to the public, and bought one to replace my two year old unibody MacBook. These are premium computers and well executed. My old computer that looks very much like this one that still looked good after two years, with some scratches on the underside, and an unhappy denting in one corner. I do not regret a minute to pay more for a device that I spend several hours a day, and from which I derived my living room.

The strong point of this computer compared to the previous 13-inch MacBook unibody Processor. It is noticeably faster CPU tasks. I have such a large program written in C + + programming language that Xcode on my late 2008 MacBook vintage was collected in 16.5 minutes, this MacBook to do the same task in 8.5 minutes, a near doubling of speed. Similiarly, converting a 10-minute MP3 file to AAC in iTunes used to take 21 seconds, now it takes 14 seconds. Not surprisingly, computer processors become faster. The new processor tends to heat up quickly under full load, so be prepared for frequent fan noise.

The weak point is the stock hard drive, a 320GB 5400 RPM Hitachi portable devices. All service depending on the hard drive throughput will not be much faster on this machine than the previous year. If you do not have large capacity requirements, you may be better to special order a model with a smaller but much faster solid state drive (SSD), they are not cheap, but it will result in a much more balanced machine that leaves its high performance CPU idle waiting for data. I would do it, but a higher capacity SSD cost as much as the computer itself.

Should you upgrade to an SSD, be aware that while this model has a type III-SATA port, you may have trouble using one of the new type III SATA SSD drive in it. [Update: The company reports that Apple has begun shipping the laptops with the optical bay can also use a SATA III port.] I tried to enter the hard drive and operating system installer to install a 128 GB Crucial RealSSD C300 could not install. Online forums indicate people have problems with Type III unit, and the problem is with the use of the device, a bad cable or firmware is controversial. You may want to wait for a Type III upgrade until this settles out. In the meantime, I bought a console allows me to replace the optical drive and put SSD in type II port previously used by the SuperDrive.

This and the new MacBook Air is the only laptop Apple sells without a dedicated graphics card (GPU) instead rely on Intel's integrated GPU Soly 3000HD. Intel has not previously been known for its GPU performance, but lack of space, and Intel's design limitations and improvements in performance eventually drove Apple to go integrated only. I would have preferred a discrete GPU, especially in the premium laptop, but I'm not a player, and will settle for a much better CPU. I'm sure Apple would have preferred a discrete GPU, as their strategy to increase performance is to use the GPU for general computing with OpenCL frames.

New for this year's models are Intel Thunderbolt connector replaces the Mini Display Port connector. This flexible port will probably be more useful as hubs and peripherals will be available to use his amazing speed. Adapters and bridges will be available to use that one port as a USB, DVI, Firewire, Ethernet port at the same time, making a data cable for easy desktop docking. But I do not need it now. Media reports indicate Apple will have this port for itself this year, Intel also insist that other motherboard manufacturers could start playing it and I hope they do. If the port is a marketplace success is not given, but I look forward to syncing and charging a future IPAD over this fast gate, unfortunately iPhone 2 does not have this port, but one day.

I'm glad to have a standard FireWire 800 port and an SD card reader, none of which were on my previous non-Pro laptop. I will be able to recharge my iPhone at maximum speed with a 2 Amp USB ports, something I could not do before. The FaceTime app for OS X comes preinstalled, you do not buy it from the Mac App Store.

Little luxuries include a backlit keyboard, MagSafe power cable, the company responsive keyboard and large multi-touch capable trackpad. The display is bright and has a good but not great variety of perspectives, certainly worse than an IPAD, but better than most cheap laptop screens Yellow is a bit saturated, while using the default color profile. I'm sure many would prefer a higher resolution than 1280x800, but I prefer a jump to very high resolutions, combined with support for independence to resolve operating system and applications. Maybe one day. The high-resolution iSight camera surprised me with its clarity and size when you make a FaceTime IM.

Some things have gone downhill. It removes 12 screws to replace the hard drive, my old MacBook, but first it used to be a special microphone port next to the headset jack, but has gone the way of the Dodo, and I've never used it anyway.

I chose to buy my own 204-pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Named tag memory from a favorite online vendor and saved a lot of money over Apple charging for 8 GB of RAM (2x4GB). Installation was easy enough with the right size screwdriver, but it is strange that we are expected to change the RAM, when the battery is still connected. Still, the installation went smoothly, and it is easier than most other laptops. I was a little disappointed that the extra RAM is not noticeably better my Xcode compile time, cut up to 20 seconds to 8.5 minutes, but hopefully it will help when multitasking several programs.

This is a development of previous generations, and I bet will probably be the last for this series of machined anodized aluminum unibody enclosure, so elegant and perfect as they seem. If you wait a year or more, you can get such modifications as formidable liquid metal for the fantastic shapes, Retina displays, touch screens, standard solid-state drive 4G network and the loss of the optical drive. But I could not wait, I needed horsepower now, not next year.

As a Mac developer, I've been running OS X 10.7 Lion this box as my primary OS for several weeks before the official launch, and I recommend that you upgrade to Lion unless it came preinstalled. Fast and robust, but you should prepare to train with more intensive use of gestures taken from IOS and make a perfect fit with built-in touchpad.

Compared to other Macs.

Owners of newer vintage 13-inch MacBooks will have to make an informed decision to stay pat or move up. Many will get more value for their money to replace their spinning disk with a SSD, which I was tempted to do. Seriously, a Core 2 Duo with separate NVIDIA GPU and SSD drive well under OS X Lion for a few months, so remember to just do an upgrade disk instead of the entire computer. That said, this model has much better battery life than a few years ago, and a better set of ports, along with a backlit keyboard, faster processor and higher resolution. Another advantage of my late 2008 model is the maximum RAM, this model has a maximum capacity of 8GB, the same as last year's model, but higher than my old capacity.

Versus 2.7 GHz i7 version of the same screen size, which also comes with Intel integrated graphics. Online reports provide i7 version an overall speed improvement of perhaps 10-15%, which drives even more noticeable. I preferred to do what I did, use the money to put a moderate SSD boot size of the previous optical bay. The difference in random disk access is fantastic and very real. If money is no object, you can do both.

Between this and the new MacBook Air. The new Air is about as quickly to treatment, as this Pro, but has an extremely fast built-in SSD, in practice, will feel the turbo next to the base model MacBook Pro with the rotating disc. The air is also lighter and 13 "model has a higher resolution screen, basically, I would recommend to get air if you do not absolutely need one of the following:. More than 256 GB of hard drive space, a FireWire port on the box, more than 4 GB of RAM, or an Ethernet port. I plan to buy an Air for my wife, in combination with the new Cinema Display, which comes with USB, Ethernet and a FireWire port, it will be a flexible but extremely expensive combination. I need, however, the space on your hard drive so I will agree with this MacBook Pro for this round.