Comments on: rant: Apples new MacBook family just SUCKS

By: Jimmy

Jimmy — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 14:59:22 +0000

I can’t comment on the express card issue but I wholeheartedly agree regarding the author’s anger on the built in battery. I purchased a mini earlier this year as a way to break the ice with Apple and see if I liked it. I like the mini but with all the issues I’ve heard about with imac (running very hot, screen issues, etc) and now the built-in battery, I can guarantee that the mini will be my last mac. Leopard is great but it’s not worth the uber-premium they charge for it. If Windows 7 is even a mediocre improvement over Vista, I’ll put this thing on Ebay and call it good. Fun while it lasted. I guess I prefer oranges over Apples.

By: Tink

Tink — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 16:15:44 +0000

“I think for the majority of users a 7h battery life is more useful than a switchable ”

Surely the trade off on battery life isn’t that the thing is switchable, the switchable issue will be based on the dimensions of the machine, nothing to do with the life of the battery.

Personally I would prefer to have a slightly bigger machine, than a none replaceable battery.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 14:28:04 +0000

It might start out at 6-7 hours, but will degrade over time. My laptop battery for my MBP was touted at 5 hours and after about 2 years of constant use is down to about 1.5 hours before it needs to be charged. Luckily though, I can keep using that battery as well as the new battery I bought…

As for the ports, it is all about computability with devices you already have. Why do you think they added the Firewire back on if the USB2 is becoming a standard. Expresscard gives you more options than the USB2 port does and my expresscard device doesn’t stick out near as far as the USB2 equivalent, which is good for me on the go.

It is more about giving the user more control and not dictating to them the way that a company thinks it should be.

By: JulesLt

JulesLt — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 12:45:36 +0000

I guess there’s always going to be a compromise somewhere in terms of the number of ports you can fit into something of MacBook proportions – I’m personally glad to see Firewire back on there. I guess they just see ExpressCard as something on the way out, just as they did with floppy disks, VGA, etc – and to be honest USB2 is becoming more of a standard than ExpressCard these days.

As for the battery – personally, I think 40% extra capacity is worth it. My first-gen Alu MacBook gives over 5h of use (with screen brightness reduced) – slightly more than my previous black one. Practically speaking, that means I can typically use it for a working day, seeing as there are periods where it is sleeping. With an extra 40% that would take it easily over 7h, which combined with sleep management, puts it almost into the all-day camp.

I think for the majority of users a 7h battery life is more useful than a switchable battery (especially as to switch batteries without rebooting requires you to plug into mains while you do so) – and the obvious answer to those who do need even more life is the same as has happened with the iPod – external power pack / batteries. (Again, think how many people made a fuss, and how we don’t think about it at all, ever since iPod battery life went > 24 hours).