Macbook Pro Purchase

Submitted by boredatwork on Mon, 07/30/2007 - 15:06

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Just some notes from my recent Macbook Pro purchase. I recently decided to make the move and purchase a new Macbook Pro after having multiple versions of Powerbooks for the last 14 years. Previous to my current purchase I had a 4.5 year old Powerbook G4 1.25. I figured why not make the move when I could still get $500+ for my wife's iBook (iBook g4 1.33, 256mb ram, 30gb hard drive). I was surprised myself when I got $525 for it. I only paid around $750 for it 3.5 years ago after rebates and a coupon from Amazon. I do like the built in camera and then fact that it does not get nearly as hot though after 2 weeks of use, I really do not notice much of a difference in speed compared to the work I performed on my Powerbook. I also have had an issue where once a day to every other day during use, a line moves down the screen like a widow shade fading darker and then said hold down the start button to restart. Pretty damn annoying when it happens, though at least it restarts fairly quick. I have called for support, though at this point I will have to bring it in. I have read about this happening to other folks on the first version of the Macbook Pro, though all the reasons vary. To sum it up, if you have an older Powerbook, I would give it more time before you make the investment. I probably could have been ok for another year or so.

Comments

MacBook. I haven't had any

Submitted by atrox (not verified) on Tue, 07/31/2007 - 09:22.

MacBook. I haven't had any issues with my MacBooks so far, bought 2 about 6-8 months or so ago. They arent't the fastest things around (core duos) and are memory hogs (have to 1.5GB MIN with OS X to do basically anything, really, they should not ship with th 512MB they came with), but I have had zero problems with hardware or software. No sleep issues, no panics, none of the stuff some people report (I have never seen a kernel panic in OS X - hopefully this won't jinx me). While I have not been all that impressed with the speed, I do love the BSD underpinnings and being able to use the shell and all it's associated glorious utilities - which I do frequently. As for PowerBook versus MacBook pro, I think you want an Intel Mac definitely. You will notice that some downloads and such are only for Intel Macs (and not power). Not everybody is doing the universal thing. Also, don't overlook memory, if you don't have > 1.5 on them they seem to really thrash. Go for 2+ if you can. The issue with your screen is really bad news. Even if once a day that would drive me batty. I would bring it in as they advise, even though that in itself is pretty annoying too.

MacBook

Submitted by boredatwork on Tue, 07/31/2007 - 12:19.

Have a 7:20pm appt. this evening. I don't mind, though I expect they will have to take it in for a few days to determine the issue. Maybe they will just give me a new one.

So I went into Apple last

Submitted by boredatwork on Wed, 08/01/2007 - 06:14.

So I went into Apple last night for my appointment and found out I just needed to check the Software Update. Appears an Update that came out yesterday morning should resolve my issue. The "Genius" said it has to do with certain 3rd party wireless routers. Found out there is a panic log that keeps track of stuff like this: Backtrace, Format - Frame : Return Address (4 potential args on stack) 0x2579b9f8 : 0x128d08 (0x3cc224 0x2579ba1c 0x131de5 0x0) 0x2579ba38 : 0x1a4a55 (0x3d2638 0x0 0xe 0x3d1e5c) 0x2579bb48 : 0x19aeb4 (0x2579bb60 0x32eb4d3 0x2579bba8 0x1a2e7e) 0x2579bbf8 : 0xdcde1e (0x8482040b 0x2401f107 0x6 0x531ee1c0) 0x2579bdd8 : 0xdd0059 (0x23d2a2c8 0x358ea000 0x2579be48 0x6) 0x2579bf08 : 0x39b543 (0x23d2a000 0x4331680 0x1 0x40082c0) 0x2579bf58 : 0x39a715 (0x4331680 0x135eb4 0x0 0x40082c0) 0x2579bf88 : 0x39a44b (0x432d440 0x0 0x450 0x1203) 0x2579bfc8 : 0x19ad2c (0x432d440 0x0 0x10 0x0) Backtrace terminated-invalid frame pointer 0x0 Kernel loadable modules in backtrace (with dependencies): com.apple.driver.AirPort.Atheros(230.8.5)@0xd9c000 dependency: com.apple.iokit.IONetworkingFamily(1.5.1)@0x68f000 dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily(2.2)@0x5f2000 dependency: com.apple.iokit.IO80211Family(160.2)@0xa5a000 Kernel version: Darwin Kernel Version 8.9.4: Thu May 17 18:04:27 PDT 2007; root:xnu-792.20.12~1/RELEASE_I386 The Update:http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/airportextremeupdate2007004.html