Apple released its new MacBook line this morning. As an upgrade for the iBook it’s pretty awesome. As an upgrade for the 12″ powerbook, it makes me sad. I honestly think that they have just killed the 12″ powerbook entirely, I thought that they would try to keep part of that market through the high end MacBook line.

There are three things that bother me about this upgrade.

Integrated (Crappy) Video
In all honesty, the integrated video does make sense if you assume that the machine is targeted at iBook users, not powerbook users. In fact, even if it’s targeted at powerbook users, it’s targeted at users that do primarily 2d graphic design work, NOT video production or 3d gaming. So in this sense it seems OK as well. I’m just whining that I won’t be able to play video games on this machine.

If you wanna go black, you’ve gotta pay
You have to pay more for the black one. For two machines with the identical configuration you pay about $150 more to get your machine in black. That’s lame.

MacBook vs. MacBook Pro pricing
The differences between the upper end MacBook and the lower end MacBook pro are even sMacBookmaller than the differences between the iBook and the Powerbook; however, the difference in price has gone way up. I don’t really understand this.

If you compare machines with nearly identical spec (have to adjust the ram and HD on the MacBook and the RAM on the pro edition) there is a $690 difference in price. The only real differences are the size of the screen and the Video card. The video card difference is *huge* mind you, an onboard crappy card with no ram vs. an ATI pretty good card with 256 megs of ram.

If you compare the following systems:

MacBook
CPU   Intel Core Duo 2.0 gHz
RAM   2×512
HD   80 gigs @ 5400 rpm
Optical   Superdrive
Firewire   1xFirewire 400
USB   2xUSB2.0
Network   Gigabit Ethernet, 54 mbps wireless, Bluetooth 2.0+
Audio   Combined Optical/minijack line in; combined optical/minijack line out
VGA Output   Optional ($25)
DVI Output   Optional ($25)
Mirroring   Yes
Dual-Display   No
Video   Intel GMA 950 w/ 64 mb (shared with main system)
Screen Resolution   1280×800
Size   1″ x 12.75″ x 9″
Weight   5.2 lbs
Software   Comes with Big Bang Board Games, iLife, Omnioutliner and ComicLife

MacBook
CPU   Intel Core Duo 2.0 gHz
RAM   2×512
HD   80 gigs @ 5400 rpm
Optical   Superdrive
Firewire   1xFirewire 400
USB   2xUSB2.0
Network   Gigabit Ethernet, 54 mbps wireless, Bluetooth 2.0+
Audio   Combined Optical/minijack line in; combined optical/minijack line out
VGA Output   Optional ($25)
DVI Output   Native
Mirroring   Yes
Dual-Display   Yes
Video   ATI x1600 w/ 256 MB Ram
Screen Resolution   1440×900
Size   1″ x 14.1″ x 9.6″
Weight   6.8 lbs
Software   Comes with Photobooth, iLife, Omnioutliner and ComicLife

The differences are actually pretty low. Ignoring the software and the size differences, you are left with the native DVI adapter and the improved graphics card as the only two real differences. This is definitely a big upgrade — but it’s not worth $690.