White vs. Aluminum Macbook? + WinVista question

Two questions:

(1) I am trying to decide between the white and the aluminum Macbook. My question is, what are the real differences? I see the aluminum Macbook has a bigger hard drive, the memory is DDR3 rather than DDR2, and... the case is aluminum. Why is that $300? Is the memory difference worth the money? Is the hard disk? Is the aluminum so much better, sturdier -- or is it just aesthetic? $300 seems like an awful lot of money for what appears like very minor changes to me. Am I missing something?

(2) I would like to use Windows Vista with my Mac.

• (a) Do I need to buy anything separate (other than Windows Vista software itself) to use it, or is everything I need included and pre-installed?

• (b) Is it possible to get viruses on my Mac with Windows installed? Do I need to invest in antivirus software? If so, which is recommended?

Thank you in advance! I hope these questions aren't too amateurish for the forum.

1) I'm not too up on the alu MBs so I'll leave that for someone else. But...

2) If you want to have it as a dual boot system, with effectively a completely separate windows computer then no. I've got XP via bootcamp and its fantastic. If you want it in a VM then you can purchase VMWare Fusion, or Parallels. Or you can use Virtual box, which is free. Bear in mind that when using a VM it will eat up RAM. So make sure you've got plenty! It's not possible to get a windows virus on a mac, but make sure you get an antivirus set up on your windows side. I run AVG's free offering and its absolutely fine. Easy to set up and I'm safe and happy. OSX appears to be safe without anti virus, although there do appear to be things popping up, though nothing to be that worried about. But... I do have ClamXav anti virus on my macbook (white) and run it every so often.

You would only be able to get a virus while running vista and this would only effect vista not OSX. A free anti virus will work fine if your only every now and again using vista.. otherwise id invest in norton 360 3.0, make sure it is 3.0 other versions are very poor.

The aluminum one is defiantly worth $300. The DDR3 makes the word of difference.. you have to remember all macbook only have shared graphics, its only the pros that have dedicated, and the thing that makes dedicated graphics better is that it uses faster memory than standard system memory. Having fast DDR3 memory in the system makes its graphics performance 100x's better than the white macbook.

The screen and track pad are also loads loads better!! If your getting a macbook get the better one. I'm currently using a 2.4GHz aluminum macbook. Love It!!

dborchardt said:

Two questions:

(1) I am trying to decide between the white and the aluminum Macbook. My question is, what are the real differences? I see the aluminum Macbook has a bigger hard drive, the memory is DDR3 rather than DDR2, and... the case is aluminum. Why is that $300? Is the memory difference worth the money? Is the hard disk? Is the aluminum so much better, sturdier -- or is it just aesthetic? $300 seems like an awful lot of money for what appears like very minor changes to me. Am I missing something?

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The real difference is the screen it's a lot brighter, glass track pad, and a much better GPU.

I can't comment on wether the aluminum one is that much better as I only have the macbook white. Having said that I think that the macbook white is great. All the software runs at incredible speeds on it and so far I have not found a situation where i wished i has a more powerful macbook.

Granted I use it for home use, ie photos, music, surfing, office, etc. But it certainly fulfills all those tasks brilliantly.

As far as value for money goes, I rate the macbook white very highly and am not personally sure that the premium the aluminum book commands is worth it.

Yeah the white macbook is amazing, but its main downfall is graphic power. All other differences aside, the graphic improvement is well worth $300. I use a mac mini (same graphics as the white macbook) and the Unibody Macbook and I by far prefer to use the macbook, purely on the fact that the graphics are that much better.

But you do have to ask your self what you are going to be using on the laptop.

I thought the white macbook was updated so that it used the NVIDIA GeForce 9400M (same as the alu macbook)

Chris_Mav said:

I thought the white macbook was updated so that it used the NVIDIA GeForce 9400M (same as the alu macbook)

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Yeah they did update the GPU for the newer white MBs.

So, if I understand correctly, the only changes between a current white and aluminum Macbook are...

• Aluminum rather than white (obviously!)
• Glass trackpad
• DDR3 rather than DDR2
• Somewhat bigger HD

Seems to be very little for $300... so, unless I'm missing anything, I'll be going for a white one.

You might also want to consider the MUCH better LED backlit display which is much brighter and has a better wider viewing angle also.

What about the glossy screens? You seem to be forgetting something, dtravis7. They can be quite annoying.

Of course, you can always purchase an anti-glare screen.

dudeking said:

The aluminum one is defiantly worth $300. The DDR3 makes the word of difference.. you have to remember all macbook only have shared graphics, its only the pros that have dedicated, and the thing that makes dedicated graphics better is that it uses faster memory than standard system memory. Having fast DDR3 memory in the system makes its graphics performance 100x's better than the white macbook.

The screen and track pad are also loads loads better!! If your getting a macbook get the better one. I'm currently using a 2.4GHz aluminum macbook. Love It!!

Click to expand...

I will second this. I only have the 2.0, but totally worth the extra cash. And if you get it refurbished, it's only 100 more. Mine's a refurb and works great.

Also, the RAM is a big upgrade for graphics power, because it is an integrated graphics card (ie shares the system RAM) and the bus on the gpu is 1066mhz, the same as the bus on the RAM and northbridge for the aluminum macbook. Consistency is nice, no bottle necks!

iPod Nano said:

What about the glossy screens? You seem to be forgetting something, dtravis7. They can be quite annoying.

Of course, you can always purchase an anti-glare screen.

Click to expand...

Have you ever compared them side by site? You should check out Anandtech's review with pics of the old white Macbook Vs new one.

dtravis7 said:

You might also want to consider the MUCH better LED backlit display which is much brighter and has a better wider viewing angle also.

Click to expand...

Agreed. The screen differences (looking at them side-by-side) are well worth the $300 difference. I can't stand looking at the crappy screens on the plastic MacBooks. It's unreal they're able to command such a premium over a comparable PC notebook with a screen that terrible.

All MacBooks have a glossy screen, so that is somewhat of a moot point (although I've heard that the glass overlay is a lot glossier than the plastic screens).

In my opinion, when you buy a computer, you should decide on a budget before you go shopping. Buy the best computer that you can for the money and don't bother sweating the small stuff.

As it relates to Windows Vista, I'm somewhat perplexed as to why you'd choose it over XP. IMO, I'd either wait for Windows 7 or just go with XP. And yes, when you run Windows, even on Apple hardware, you're just as susceptible to malware. It's the operating system that dictates what sort of software the machine can run, including malicious software.