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The Core 2 Duo Factor - Updating My System Upgrade Road Map

by Charles W. Moore

With the release of the Core 2 Duo MacBook Pros and MacBooks this fall it appears, at least in the early going, that there are now stable, debugged “revision B” MacIntel portables available, which, to me at least, makes the upgrade path ahead a whole lot clearer.

The unfolding of the MacIntel era for Apple notebooks has been surprisingly rapid. This time last year, there were no MacIntels, and the venerable PowerBook and iBook G4’s were still the state of the art. Personally, I was still using a nearly three-year-old G3 iBook as my main production machine and pondering whether to go with one more Power PC ‘Book for my next system upgrade or go against my policy of never buying version one of any computer and rolling the dice with a new MacIntel when they arrived.

When the 15-inch Core Duo MacBook Pro did arrive in January, earlier than expected, it was a nice package, although obviously a transitional model, very similar in form factor to the 15-inch aluminum PowerBook it replaced, but with some engineering compromises like a single-layer 4x SuperDrive and instead of the dual-layer 8x drive of its predecessor, and no FireWire 800 support. The anticipated teething problems soon manifested as well, with the now well-documented excessive heat issue, strange “mooing” sounds, and a few other glitches. Nothing that condemned the MacBook Pro as a machine that should be avoided like the plague, but definitely not the user experience I look for in a workhorse system.

Just as the introduction of the original Titanium G4 PowerBook five years earlier had put me in the hunt for a previous model G3 Pismo (a choice I’ve never regretted), the first generation MacBook Pro introduction helped gel my resolve to take one more kick at old school and buy that last (probably) Power PC machine.

I settled for was an Apple Certified Refurbished 1.33 GHz 17-inch PowerBook that I purchased from TechRestore in February. As had been the case with my Pismo back in 2001, the earlier model PowerBook hasn’t given me a moment’s cause for second-guessing, at least so far, nine months on.

In short, the 17-incher has provided precisely the user experience I was hoping for: reasonable speed, a nice slate of up-to-date features like Bluetooth, USB 2, a SuperDrive, FireWire 800, and Airport, none of which I had in the old 700 MHz iBook (my Pismo has been retrofitted with any 8x SuperDrive and FireWire 800, and is still going strong as my backup laptop). It also runs Mac OS Classic Mode nicely, which the MacIntel ‘Books don’t support and it has an internal modem - something also gone missing from the MacIntel experience. Just as or even more importantly, the Big Al hasn’t given me even a hiccup of trouble reliability-wise. It “just works” solidly and dependably with no drama or hassle. The big, higher resolution display is nice to have, and my only complaint is that the cooling fans run more often than I prefer (which is to say that they run at all) during normal use, although this ‘Book operates at temperatures 15°-20° C lower than what’s been reported by Core Duo MacBook Pro and MacBook users.

To say that I’m satisfied with this system is an understatement, and consequently, I’m in no hurry at all to start seriously plotting my next system upgrade yet, although I’m giving it some speculative thought.

A Core Duo 17-inch MacBook Pro came along in April, with FireWire 800, an 8x SuperDrive, and thus a more comprehensive and less compromised first generation spec., but it still reportedly runs very hot. Then in May, the MacBook debuted with its completely fresh design owing absolutely nothing to the dual USB iBook and 12” PowerBook it replaced, featuring Core Duo power, a glossy 13.3 inch widescreen, and a very attractive price point.

I completely understand why the MacBook has been a sales hit for Apple, but unfortunately, it has had its share of revision A problems as well - excessive heat buildup, “mooing”, case discoloration and even cracking on some of the very early white models, and a “sudden shutdown” issue that would be have had me tearing my hair had I overridden my instincts and bought a first generation machine. My conviction that I’ve made the right decision in opting for the G4 PowerBook was further reinforced.

But now the entire Apple notebook family has been upgraded to Core 2 Duo Intel “Merom” processors with a lot of “revision B” refinements thrown in, so reassessment is in order.

Personally, I think that the extra speed (roughly 10-40 percent depending on the task) of the Core 2 Duo processor is, while welcome, not the biggest news. The Core Duo books weren’t exactly hurting in the speed department. More importantly, IMHO, is that PowerPage’s Jason O’Grady is reporting that his new 15-inch Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro is running about 40 percent cooler than his previous Core Duo model did. The 15-inch MacBook Pro now has FireWire 800 a dual-layer SuperDrive, and hopefully those other first-gen. bugs have been squashed. At this writing, the 17-inch Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro is not yet shipping, but I expect we will see them in the channels before Christmas.

The revision B MacBooks have seen an even more significant value enhancement - that is the two top models have. The base, $1,099 machine gets a 1.83 GHz Core 2 Duo with 2 MB of L2 cache, but the rest of its (still impressive for the price) specification pretty much remains the same as before - 512 megabytes of RAM, 60 gigabyte hard drive, Combo optical drive, and so forth.

The middle, $1,299 MacBook, on the other hand, has a 2.0 GHz Core 2 Duo processor with twice the amount (4 MB) of level 2 cache as the base MacBook, a gigabyte of RAM, an 80 gigabyte hard drive, and a 6x dual-layer SuperDrive, thus putting more distance between itself and the entry-level model. Well worth the extra $200 I think. If you’re smitten with the black livery of the top-end MacBook, it will still cost you another extra 200 dollars for the Darth Vader look, but you do get a 120 gigabyte hard drive as well. In my books, so to speak, the middle MacBook is definitely the value-leader, and I’m partial to white computers anyway.

So will I buy one? The odds are very good, but the operative question is: when? I’m so happy with the 17-inch PowerBook that I really have very little motivation to make a move that this point. Positive experience with the Apple Certified Refurbished unit has inclined me to go refurb. again next time, and it will be a while before a supply of refurbished revision B MacBooks is in the pipeline.

A refurbished 17-inch MacBook Pro Core 2 Duo is also very alluring, but the new ones are not shipping yet. I’m getting a bit spoiled by the 17-inch PowerBook, although I think the 13.3 inch widescreen display in the MacBook would be fine. It is worth noting however, that of the three Apple laptops I currently have in active service, two were top-of-the-line models when they were new, and there’s more to that than just prestige. All those little extra bells and whistles, like, say, the 17-inch PowerBook’s backlit keyboard, are no hardship to have, and because of its richer array of features, I think the useful life of a high-end machine will always tend to be longer, making them arguably a better value in a long run, especially if you avoid the initial depreciation hit by buying a refurb. unit. I don’t have any particular need for ExpressCard 34 support at present, but it’s always good to have more expansion options.

That said, I suspect that my first MacIntel will probably end up being a refurbished middle - model revision B (or C?) MacBook, but it may be this time next year before I make my move.