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Apple MacBook Quietly Upgraded with Intel Santa Rosa Chipset

by , 8:45 AM EDT, November 1st, 2007

Apple snuck a quiet MacBook upgrade out on Wednesday. The updated model sports either a 2.0GHz or 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and the Intel GMA X3100 graphics processor -- both part of Intel's Santa Rosa chip set.


Apple's MacBook, still available in white or black.

The new MacBooks also include an 800MHz frontside bus; 1GB of 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM (PC2-5300) with support for up to 4GB; and an 80GB, 120GB, or 160GB 5400RPM SATA hard drive. An optional 250GB drive is also available.

The updated laptop also includes built-in AirPort Extreme, Gigabit Ethernet, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, a built-in iSight camera, one FireWire 400 port, two USB 2.0 ports, an Apple Remote with Front Row, and either a 24x Combo drive, or an 8x SuperDrive.

The white 13-inch 2.0GHz model includes an 80GB hard drive and Combo drive for US$1,099. The white 2.2GHz model ships with a 120GB hard drive and SuperDrive for $1,299, and the black 2.2GHz model includes a 160GB hard drive and SuperDrive for $1,499.

Observer Comments

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View Name:Guest
Thu Nov 01, 2007 10:26 am Subject: pwned
Close Name:geoduck Posts: 1788 Joined: 30 Dec 2003
Thu Nov 01, 2007 1:30 pm Subject: Intel GMA X3100 graphics processor

Does anyone know how the new Intel GMA X3100 graphics processor compares to the old one?


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Close Name:Steve Ballmer Guest
Thu Nov 01, 2007 9:01 pm Subject: None of this matters!

It's running OSX!
We at Microsoft will never ever gloat over other OS's having problems with hackers and their diabolical malicious code attacking the very fabric of their systems. I feel Apple's pain, the frustration, confusion, the sense of utter helplessness in the face of a rumored worldwide assault on their product. However, I emplore all Mac users to come try Vista and it's rock solid security! You will find the interface quite familiar. Best of all you will get to deal with our tech support and WGA program. We patch every Tuesday, constantly monitor you, restart your system, make sure everything is licensed, .... security assured!
Don't take the risk of running a system with rumored virri, worms, hacks and bugs. We identify ours and patch on Tuesday.

http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com


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Close Name:KitsuneStudios Posts: 2474 Joined: 25 Oct 2001
Thu Nov 01, 2007 9:45 pm Subject: X3100 performance

After a lot of searching, this seems to be the clearest performance listing:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Comparison-of-Grafic-Cards.130.0.html

It's still counted as a class 5 video card (old games only), but is scored at "~10%" as opposed to the 950's "~7%". The NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT in the MacBook Pro scores a "~48%"

Big change is the addition of hardware T&L, which didn't exist in the 950.

So it's a definite improvement, but it's not going to blow your socks off or compete with a dedicated graphic card in performance.


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Close Name:Intruder -   TMO Mac Specialist Posts: 2981 Joined: 07 Jul 2004
Thu Nov 01, 2007 10:46 pm Subject: Re: None of this matters!

Quote
Steve Ballmer wrote:
It's running OSX!
We at Microsoft will never ever gloat over other OS's having problems with hackers and their diabolical malicious code attacking the very fabric of their systems. I feel Apple's pain, the frustration, confusion, the sense of utter helplessness in the face of a rumored worldwide assault on their product. However, I emplore all Mac users to come try Vista and it's rock solid security! You will find the interface quite familiar. Best of all you will get to deal with our tech support and WGA program. We patch every Tuesday, constantly monitor you, restart your system, make sure everything is licensed, .... security assured!
Don't take the risk of running a system with rumored virri, worms, hacks and bugs. We identify ours and patch on Tuesday.

http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com


See, now this is a much better attempt at an ironic post. Especially the last few sentences. Not quite as good as Mike Cox on C|Net, but getting there. You need to throw in a few references to sales reps and lunches.

By the way, the plural of virus is viruses. Not sure what virri are.


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Close Name:iJack Posts: 281 Joined: 13 Jun 2001
Thu Nov 01, 2007 11:26 pm Subject:

Please, your posts have become tiresome.


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Close Name:geoduck Posts: 1788 Joined: 30 Dec 2003
Sun Nov 04, 2007 1:22 am Subject: Rats!!

My G4 PB has an ATI Mobility Radion 9600. On the Notebookcheck site listed above this card scores a -18, as compared to the -10 for the GMA X3100. I know the Macbook system is hugely faster than my old G4 but I can't take a step down in video performance. I guess I have to save the extra $1k for the Pro.

Rats!!


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View Name:Guest
Mon Nov 05, 2007 5:34 am Subject:
Close Name:gslusher Posts: 2061 Joined: 13 Nov 2002
Mon Nov 05, 2007 6:48 am Subject: Re: Rats!!

Quote
geoduck wrote:
My G4 PB has an ATI Mobility Radion 9600. On the Notebookcheck site listed above this card scores a -18, as compared to the -10 for the GMA X3100. I know the Macbook system is hugely faster than my old G4 but I can't take a step down in video performance. I guess I have to save the extra $1k for the Pro.

Rats!!


Compare the MacBook to the iBook, not the PowerBook. You must have the 15" or 17" PowerBook G4 with FireWire 800, late 2003-early 2004. Those were the only models with ATI Mobility Radeon 9600 graphics cards. (The next versions had Radeon 9700.) With a SuperDrive, the 15" PowerBook was $2599 or so, vs. $1100-1500 for the MacBook--hardly a fair comparison. You can get the 15" MacBook Pro for $2000 to $2500 (base price), which is comparable to what you paid for the PowerBook.


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