White Macbook updated with Nvidia 9400, still $999

If your referring to the new white macbook's specs it still uses a DDR2 RAM.



But I'm not sure if you are able to install DDR3 RAM (I would think so though).

 

DDR3 and DDR2 are not supposed to be pin compatible and they use different voltages and signaling.

 

Correct. DDR2 uses 200 pins, DDR3 is 204 pins. It's obvious they use DDR2 for the white macbook, to create a performance gap between it and the next (alum $1299), still it's a nice machine.

 

It has DDR2 667MHz RAM

EDIT: Very late on my part.

 

Your entire argument fails because of two things.

First of all, this entire discussion has been about Firewire 400 versus USB 2.0. That makes everything regarding Firewire 800 you posted irrelevant because it has absolutely nothing to do with what has been discussed. Another reason Firewire 800 is irrelevant is because of the fact that it has only ever shipped on a small number of Macs. The MacBooks and iBooks, Apple's most popular and by far best selling computers, have never had Firewire 800. On top of that, very few external drives actually support Firewire 800. Those that do tend to be Mac oriented and, as a result, have very poor USB support.

And if you want to bring Firewire 800 into the mix, well then let's discuss Firewire 800 speed versus eSATA speed. You'd be hard pressed to find a PC within the last year or so that has NOT had eSATA. Seems only worthless netbooks and Macs ship without it these days. And only Macs don't have the ability to have eSATA added in some form or another. And any desktop PC can have eSATA added via PCI card, and any notebook PC (even some netbooks!) can have it added via ExpressCard. Even though the MBP has a half-width ExpressCard slot, theres no OS X support. So if you want to talk Firewire 800, lets talk eSATA too, shall we?

Second reason your argument fails is that you're still using OS X for your USB transfers. It's a widely acknowledged fact, outside of the Apple diehard community, that OS X's USB support is extremely subpar. I notice the difference even when copying files/syncing my 80GB 5.5G iPod or any of my iPods. It takes anywhere from 2/3 as long to twice as long to copy data on to my iPod in OS X compared to my Vista notebook PC. For your USB transfer speed argument to work you need to both disclose the external drive being used and not just the drive, but the casing as well, and you need to install XP 32-bit or any version of Vista and show your transfer speeds there.

 

Look Sauron, he just posted a screenshot of the transfer of his FireWire 800, and there's no reason to s... a chicken over what may have been a simple mistake. I don't know who or what crapped in your Cheerio's this morning...

 

Aaaaaand CUT! Great scene guys. I know that was all just an act, because all us nice & friendly folks here at NBR.com are polite and civil to one another, accept friendly constructive criticism, and forgive one another when we mistakenly post something. God forbid this were a real conversation and an admin were to lock the thread and/or restrict someone's access.

Anyhow, back to your regularly scheduled, civil and friendly thread...

 

good retort. A++++

you should become a lawyer.

 

He posted multiple screenshots of Firewire 800 and mentioned Firewire 800 multiple times after discussing the benefits of Firewire 400 over USB.

You can't simply say that one thing is better than another, then use an entirely different thing to back up your argument. Thats sort of like bringing a gun to a sword fight after telling the person you're a better swordsman than they are.

 

i completely agree sauron. but youre arguing with fanboys here so they'll never admit they're wrong.

 

I know what you are saying about the mistake between FW 400 and 800. It was just a simple mistake. No worries. It was just your reaction to the whole subject that got me riled up about jumping on somebody for such a small infraction.

 

Whoa, who asked for your input.

 

A mistake? No, it wasn't a mistake. It was deliberate. You can tell by his reaction to my post. If it was a mistake why couldn't he have said "oh my bad let me do it again with Firewire 400"? It's pretty common for him to do these kinds of things. Look at his history here and at macrumors.

 

haha yeah. You're completely right.

 

So when Mac users try to defend their point, they're automatically labeled as "fanboys"? What do you call someone who attempts to defend Windows, or IBM?

 

hey look i'm going to put a big grin in my post.

 

How about you answer my question?

 

Uhh, I have an esata expresscard, and it work perfectly fine with osx, windows, and all the esata drives ive used it with. Also you can add esata to a mac pro with pretty much no problem either.

That pretty much kills that whole argument.

Also, I have two points on the fw400 argument to make.

In all extensive purposes, this thread is about macs, and pretty much osx. If firewire is faster in osx then usb, then that should end right there. Majority of the time users would be using osx, and if they want the speed, why not just stick with firewire. if its faster in windows, for whatever reasons, fine, but for osx users, i guess firewire is faster.

Also, I think on a whole practicality point for the end user, firewire is kinda the better format. Although usb pretty much won, if most people had firewire drives, there would pretty much be no need most of the time for power bricks for external harddrives, or using two usb connections just to use an external drive. (I know its already been mentioned, but yea). Less cables, is usually a better thing for the general public. But firewire lost against usb for various reasons, so meh.

 

Oh yeah? Which? Because all the cards I've seen so far do NOT support OS X. Oh I do see one from "Rosewill" now. I remember buying some of their stuff back in the day because it was priced low. I got what it paid for and none of it worked a year later

I also like how the reviews point out how much faster eSATA is compared to Firewire 800.

Oh but that doesn't kill my argument either. Why? Wheres the ExpressCard slot in the MacBook? Oh thats right its nowhere to be found.

Funny how a $400 notebook from Walmart will have an ExpressCard slot, and probably eSATA built-in now. But a $1599 MacBook? Nope.

And good luck finding a good eSATA card for the Mac Pro, considering it runs OS X and only has PCIe slots, no PCI. Oh and please tell me why I would buy a Mac Pro over a significantly more powerful PC for half the cost?

USB is only slower in OS X thanks to Apple's poor support.

The other MAJOR factor to consider is that EVERYTHING is USB now. HD and SD video cameras, digital cameras, iPods (once the main champion of Firewire), iPhones, anything you can think of is USB based. Apple even markets the UniBody MacBook as a digital camera and iPod/iPhone ready machine on their website.

So not only does your argument make sense because of the fact that almost nothing is Firewire exclusive any more, but it also doesn't make sense because Apple is parading USB connectivity!

Most USB 2.0 based drives are bus powered. DVD burners are not. 3.5" desktop drives in external enclosures are not. But all smaller external HDDs, the ones that people are likely to own and use, are bus powered with one USB cable.

 

Even under windows firewire is faster than usb 2.0. My brother has a dell and he prefers firewire 400 than usb 2.0 and he was surprised to see his files transfers faster when I recommended fw400.

 

so what, you're implying that im lying about it? Do some research and youll find out that theres a few actual makers of the chipset for esata expresscards, and the drivers are there. Mine were on the cd that came with the card, and pretty much apply to a lot of the others.

ive been in labs full of mac pros, all with esata cards in them. obviously not hard to get. What do you mean they run osx only, im pretty sure you can install bootcamp too on them.

If you try to get a 2.5 external enclosure with esata, and a seperate hdd, a lot of them need a separate usb to power them. If you check out reviews, youll find out other people run into similar problems, though you can find ones that do power up just from the usb. Its basically lazy manufacturers, but its still a problem if you make one yoursef.

Sure most external hdds that consumers buy are bus powered, but for a long time if you wanted esata you were stuck building them yourself.

I guess this thread is getting a bit out of hand too. From what people are saying, i guess im just the latest one to get annoyed at sauron, but whatever. Only thing that's annoying to me, is atleast do some research, or have some evidence for the stuff you say. There are a lot of people who will just read what you say, and take it for fact.

Can we get back to this thread being about the upgraded macbooks? If you want to have a seperate thread about firewire vs usb, or whatever make it and people can discuss it in there. That is, until it probably gets into a flamewar and gets closed, but atleast we can try to be civil.

 

May I please remind everyone here that I am keeping a close eye on this thread and will ban any member that continues to violate any of the forum rules.

And, regarding the integrity of sulkorp's claim on OS X compatible eSATA Expresscards, a simple google search will yield plenty of results proving that eSATA Expresscards compatible with Mac OS X do indeed exist.

PS: I will have to close this thread unless the discussion continues about the recently silently updated white Macbooks.

 

i actually could put in that extra cash, but at times like this, i am thinking twice about using the extra cash. but the last few words, the choice should be obvious totally nailed it. although it should be clear, thanks for re instilling it in me.

 

The updated white macbooks don't have esata either! (obligatory reference to original posts topic for admin)

Since Sauron has made several references throughout this thread concerning Macs vs PC's in terms of current connectivity, I respond thusly.

All of us are aware that macs have some connectivity limitations (among others, such as cost vs function disparity). But Apple has specific priorities that differ from your average computer company. For one, to accommodate the manufacturing process and form-factor of the Macbook (and other products), sacrifices have to be made. Engineers and marketing have to decide which features will be most beneficial and demanded by their customers, while keeping in mind end-cost to the consumer. Obviously Apple's margin is higher than typical, but their products are in high demand and even in a battered economy, they continue to sell their products like hotcakes, so who of us, if we were stockholders or Apple executives would complain about keeping margins high? None I suspect. It makes good business sense.

Anyhow. I think most people who buy Macs know exactly what they are getting versus what they could get. I feel confident saying that the average Mac user is more informed, technically, than the average Window's based computer consumer. So, it bugs me when someone feels the need to preach in a thread, however justified by embedding the disparaging remarks in an argument on a different topic (such as firewire vs usb), the failings of Macs versus PCs.

You'll see this trend in most forums and blogs. It's very common with iPhone too.

Anyhow, I know this thread continues to barely cling to any relativity to the original topic, so I'll shut up now.

 

Intents and purposes?

I tease.

I debated getting the whitebook before my Aluminum Macbook because of firewire. In the end, I decided to just go with the aluminum. Most things are USB, and the speed difference in 400 and 2.0 is not enough to get my panties in a bunch.

Sure, I have to look for a different camcorder now... but I needed a new one anyway. Wow... this feels like Vista all over again "If your printer doesnt work in Vista, buy a new one!"