Macbook white, questions.

I own an old white MB(late 2005). The battery crashed too times, and now i only use it as dekstop, cos it only works from ac adapter.

Looking for new MB Apple - MacBook - The $999 notebook., several questions:

1) How long really the battery last with wi-fi on, and brightness less than average. ? the Apple says that with wi-fi it lasts 7hours and even more, is it true?

2) I am not a gamer(using ps3 for it) but sometimes liked to play COD4 multiplayer on pc(lowest settings). COD4 starts only with dedicated graphic card.
I dont know a lot about new NVIDIA GeForce 320M, is it dedicated or not? and most important - would COD4 start on Macbook ?.

3) Overall, is it worth(1000$) to buy? and i don't want to buy it before Apple maybe will update it this year, but as i suppose apple is not going to do it? (as i get to know only renewed macbook air was rumoured).

 

Probably. on my 13" MBP (nearly the same machine) the battery is rated as "up to" 10 hours. With wifi on web surfing I've pulled over 9 before.

COD4 doesn't require a dedicated graphics card... nothing does really. WHen you see info about not using integrated graphics, they are usualyl refering to Intel Integrated graphics, which totally sucks, not just integrated anything. Nvidia and AMD's integrated GPUs in their chipsets actually are very good performers... for being integrated, and usually at least 5 to 10X better than Intel. The 320m is integrated (and the current fastest integrated available), its part of the chipset, and an upgrade from the 9400m series that was used for awhile. Its about twice as fast as the 9400 is, and runs games at lower to midranged settings very well. (depending on the game)

no one knows for sure when they will update anything, but it hasn't been that long since they did update everything except the Air. Is it worth it? that depends on you and your needs and desires. It is definitely worth it to some people, while others its not.

 

1) Yes the battery will last roughly 7-8hours with WiFi and browsing.
2) You'll be able to play COD4, since I was able to run the game on a 9400m. But don't expect high frame rates or settings on native res. You might be able to get decent FPS on a lower res/setting but I can't confirm that on the 320m chip since I don't own the latest gen MB and MBP.
3) The update was quite recent so you probably won't see any updates until next year. If you need the laptop now, then buy it. If not you can always wait until the "next" update, but it'll be an never ending cycle.

 

Here's an excellent review by Laptopmag: Apple MacBook (2010) Review - A Review of the Apple MacBook (2010)

 

Thanks for replies.
What's about new Mafia 2, would it run on the lowest settings?

 

The requirements are pretty low, it should run on medium.

 

I would find it extremely hard justifying spending $1000 on a laptop that is running not running an i7 quad or i5 - let alone an ancient core 2 duo!

This laptop is in serious need for a refresh and I assume one is coming very soon for the entire MBP lineup as they're all getting very out of date.

If you are looking for a computer right now I'd recommend looking for a more recent PC. If you can wait, I assume most of the Apple line will be refreshed by the end of the year.

 

But you aren't the one spending the money, or justifying the purchase.

There's no guarantee of this. If the OP needs/wants a new laptop now, then he should buy one.

 

why not play it on your ps3?

 

The Apple refresh will happen after Sandy Bridge is introduced, from what I know that will be released early next year. Their are notable improvements in the sandy bridge architecture that Apple would want to use on their next MBP, including Logic board reductions of up to 22%.

Intel Sandy Bridge chips packing PCI Express 3.0, super-frugal battery life possible? - SlashGear

Intel stated that they will cease production of Intel Core 2 Duo chips at the end of the year.

 

Akari,
Yeah i understand this, but we should frankly say that C2D are(were) also good processors , and regarding nowadays computer updates the Video, graphic side is more important(exactly nvidia 300 series chipset gave a chance for 5> hours lifetime), for e.t.c recently Nvidia declared that they going start to ship Nvidia 400 chipset this year, therefore we could also say that buying a Mb pro with nvidia 300 series is not suitable .

Sahin
Tnx for info.

PopRoxMimo3,
I am also going to buy it for ps3, but it will be the first action game for me on ps3, cos using a joystick for aiming is not very comfortable imho. Gaming on a mac or pc is not very important, just interested if macbook could run it for rare playing.


I will describe the situation - nowadays i have macbook(but as i said with crashed battery and i use it only as desktop) and sony notebook, you know, i bought sony(sz6 vrn/x) for business tasks, as i supposed that windows is more suitable for such a branch, but frankly to say - it is more pleasant for me to work in os10, and of course software is more candy-eye and overally more beautiful. The one thing that bothers me is font anti-alaising or font smoothing in os10 http://forum.notebookreview.com/apple-mac-os-x/514449-fonts-anti-aliasing-mac.html
So thats why i wanna buy macbook.