[CALUG] Macbook -- Off Linux Topic

[John Clemens]

I'll just share my experience: it may help you, it may not.

For my old job that I just left, I just purchased a compaq v3000z 
dual-core turion X2 laptop.. it's pretty good with linux and workes very 
well.  It does get warm, sometimes very warm when playing a game of civ4 
or so, but generally it's pretty pleasant. I think the thing that generates 
the most heat in it is the chipset, it has an nforce 6100 in it. I used to 
complain about the temperature, as my last notebook was an ibook g3 900 
which never gets hot.

I just started a new job, and they gave a macbook pro.  Seeing as how the 
MBP has a core duo, I had assumed it would be much cooler than my compaq. 
Boy was I wrong.  This thing gets obnoxiously hot if you use it on 
anything other than a perfectly flat surface, and even then the case gets 
uncomfortably warm.  I can -not- use it on my lap for any mroe than 5 
minutes or so.  I think the MBP case makes a big difference here.  Note 
that as the developer of powernowd, I do know for a fact that the cpu is 
downclocked when idle.  I've even used linux-phc to undervolt the core-duo 
by .2v at all speed stages, and the thing is STILL hot.  (I also use 
aticonfig to downclock the video card and video ram, again only a small 
affect)...

Putting Linux on it is also a lot harder than it should be, because of the 
EFI mac firmware. Both laptops suffer from proprietary video drivers (the 
regular macbook will not have this problem).  the sound on the MBP 15" 
doesn't work unless you use headphones (again, not a problem on regular 
MB), the touchpads on both laptops are a little oversensative for my 
tastes, but they're ok.  Remember, these are all Linux issues on the MBP, 
obviously OSX runs fine (although the temp is still high).

Overall though, even though you can tell the MBP is a higher quality 
construction, I'm having a much better experience with the compaq.  If 
you're going to be running linux, I'd recommend saving some money and 
getting something like the compaq (or vendor of choice).  Mine was <$1000, 
and i got 64-bits to boot.  I don't mind jumping through a few hoops, but 
man, the heat on the MBP is just a dealbreaker for me, I'm glad I didn't 
spend my money on this thing.

This all goes out the window if you want OSX, then you have no choice..

HTH,
john.c

On Sun, 10 Sep 2006, John Szakmeister wrote:

>
> On Sep 9, 2006, at 9:39 PM, Rajiv Gunja wrote:
>
>> Anyone has experience with the latest Macbooks? I am planning to
>> buy it and
>> there has been a mixed bag of reviews on the Internet.
>> Some say they get too hot, other say, not much. Is it worth the
>> money and
>> will it last at least 3 years?
>>
>> My last laptop (Compaq) last me 1.5 years and it had a problem with
>> the
>> motherboard and I had not taken the extended warranty.
>>
>> That too is an other question: Has anyone taken the extended
>> warranty and
>> has it come in handy?
>
> I can't say anything about the MacBook Pro in particular (other than
> I've seen some rather poor reviews because of heat issues).  I can
> say that my extended warranty for my current laptop has come in
> handy, and it has for at least 4 other people I know (multiple times
> at that).  My advice: get the extended warranty.
>
>> Thoughts and advise are most welcome.
>
> HTH!
>
> -John
>
> _______________________________________________
> Columbia, Maryland Linux User's Group (CALUG) mailing list
> CALUG Website: http://www.calug.com
> Email postings to: lug at calug.com
> Change your list subscription options: http://calug.com/mailman/listinfo/lug
>

-- 
John Clemens                      http://www.deater.net/john
john at deater.net      "I Hate Quotes" -- Samuel L. Clemens