Or Apple introducing a whole new segment of a portable/desktop Mac. Macbook Touch or a more powerful Mac Mini? Both would have my purchase consideration.

The beauty of aluminium unibody, besides being carved from a single block, is also it helps dispersing heat from conduction through its body to the surrounding air via convection. Your unibody shell acts like a giant heatsink, and wrapping it with any kind of plastic or layers of thin plastic negates this capability or severely degrades it. Sure, everyone wants to protect their beloved purchases, but do so at a common-sensical approach. The white plastic Macbook, you can wrap it with whatever casing, or Invisibleshield, it does not affect its heat dispersal method, since plastic does not conduct heat away, and its main approach towards conducting heat away is via the vents.

All I'm saying it I know we all want our beloved portable to be protected from scratches, but sometimes dont realise that by doing so, has detrimental consequences on its intended properties, in this case, its heat dispersal properties.

It may not kill it, but it degrades its heat dispersal efficiency. Your fans will work harder to disperse the heat via convection from the vents due to the trapped heat unable to excape from your wrapped Macbook.

People complain that their MBPs are hot when put on the lap while they work on them, but that heat, IMO, is good, because it is a good sign that your unibody shell is WORKING in conducting the heat using the unibody shell to the surroundings. Just make sure the "surrounding" here is not your delicate thighs/skin. The heat conduction from the metal shell will convect to the volume of air around the shell, and with moving air (either house fan or air conditioning) moving this convected hot air away, the continuous cycle of cooling air helps bring the temperature down.

You see, heat is not a problem to those in temperate countries in the US or Europe, so InvisibleShield works for them without detrimental effects. Here in the tropics, it is already hot and stuffy, and you want to wrap your already hot and stuffy MBP with more stuffier material? Imagine wearing leather jackets in Malaysia, that is how your MBP is feeling right now.

What do you use your MBP for then, rx330?

Not just for gaming, any graphic or processor intensive application will result in the need for proper heat dispersal. Your wrapped Mac will feel it when that happens.

512MB 8800M GTX.

Wouldn't a Macbook Pro be an overkill if all that you do are those things? I assume "work-related stuff" means spreadsheets and word processing, so those wont kill or stress the processor, or the graphic card for that matter. A Macbook would already suffice.

Yes I have. 1920x1200, all options turned maximum/high. Framerates stays at 30fps no matter what, the game forces it.

Screen size? You'd save a lot if you picked a Macbook + external LCD combo.

As for your wife's designing courses, I assume that would stress the processor and graphic card much. Wouldn't you worry that your wrapped MBP be stifling hot when doing this?

Nope, I still remember my science and physics class lessons in high school.

Although I do deal with heat dispersal and heat induction during my days at work.

That changes things, rx330. If the MBP is in London, then wrap her in leather jacket, it will still be cold there.

Just remember the climate change once it changes its geographical location to here.

Errr, got....or was it A-levels? I think it's during A-levels, but IIANM, the basic principles of heat transfer were taught in high school.

Aku tak habis U bro. Ada advanced diploma jer.

This post has been edited by stringfellow: Dec 31 2008, 05:15 PM

There you go.

I'm a lazy ******* when it comes to studying, but thankfully I pay attention during classes.

My gist of enquiring his plan to use his MBP stems from the concern about rx330 wrapping his MBP with that InvisibleShield. Heat would not be an issue should he picked a normal Macbook, plus it fits his scale of operation with the things he needs to do. Then his location sort of throws all caution to wind, since the MBP will largely stay in a location which heat would not be much of a problem, compared to our tropical climate.

I agree with the screen asset argument, but watching movies would not require anything more than even the old GMA930 on the old Pre-Santa Rosa Macbook. Backlit keyboards are available on the high-end Macbook, so that is an option if the choice of graphic card is not an issue.

All in all, my concern was the "overkill" factor from the things he would want to do on his MBP. But hey, who am I to say anything? It is after all, our own money. Others may find my decision to get my gaming laptop, an "overkill" as well, but it serves its purpose to me. The same matter may apply to rx330 as well, so with this, I say, use it and use it well!

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Added on January 1, 2009, 1:11 amMy view on things, buy things based on what it can do NOW, not on what it promises in the future, because by the time that promise is fulfilled, there are already better spec-ed laptops available in the market, and at better pricepoint too.

But it on what it can do NOW, and based on what you need it for, at the present.

This post has been edited by stringfellow: Jan 1 2009, 01:11 AM

What I meant by "buy it based on what it can do now, not what it promises in the future" is that futureproofing does not work based on placing high-specs on a laptop and hoping it would last you longer than buying a laptop with a specs that you need and upgrade as necessary later in the future.

Based on your usage, a Macbook works fine. I myself have a Merom White Macbook 2.16Ghz that has been relegated into a desktop of sort, running 24/7 for almost a year now, this is my workhorse, and it has not failed me one bit. I've stressed her much by ripping DVDs , while tagging the ones that I'm done with using MetaX, at the same time opening a couple of windows of Safari, and listening to iTunes, as well as streaming that to my Apple TV at the same time. IT just works, which shows you don't need the Macbook Pro, unless you need the specs that Pro offers to do professional-grade work. Hell, I've even stretched his old Macbook to the limit by doing Final Cut Express video-edits!

Picture quality, yes, the MBP wins hands down, although if you do look at the comparison shots, Macbook Pro and Macbook Air is neck and neck. If you are leaning towards MBA, get Revision B, a.k.a the second gen. First-gen although fixed with SMC updates from Apple, do still tend to overheat and shuts one core down, unless I ran Coolbook .
It does not make any difference watching movies while running on discrete or integrated graphic card, they all look the same. The GMA950 itself have proven to be able to run HD movies on Quicktime, so it is capable. SO now the question remains, what are you getting the MBP for? If it is portable screen size, then Apple basically have your hands tied, you have no choice but to get the MBP. But if you are getting it under the notion that the MBP plays better movies, it does not. As for better screen quality, that depends on what you can live with. I chose not to burden myself with a heavy laptop, at a size that is not convenient for me to carry around. All that power under the hood would be wasted for the activities that I would do, so MBA is perfect for my daily usage.

The question here is not whether you would use Blu-ray or buy original Blu-rays, but a question of choice. Even if Apple decline to support Blu-ray (or its playback), at least provide the option as a BTO. Otherwise, you'll see people who uses Apple/Mac OS X resorting to playing .mkv files, most probably pirated/ripped from original Blu-ray contents. Is Apple encouragng piracy?

The Apple I know supports and embraces emerging technologies. Blu-ray fits into that description. What happened?

Unibody construction on Macbook Air helps it survive a plane crash.

This is for all those doubters who think that the Air is fragile and/or easily snap in two just because of its thin looks. Suck it!

For the love of God, the link to read about that snippet of an info is on that link I marked -----> <-----. There is a reason why some sentences are red in color, they want you to click them to find out further. Nothing breaking here, not the news, not anything, ....but perhaps that guy's neck.

This post has been edited by stringfellow: Apr 18 2009, 11:03 AM

you'll have to be careful on which Leopard installation DVD you would need. If this is meant for Macbook Unibody (MB Alu, MB Pro Alu, new Macbook Air Rev.B), their Leopard installation DVDs are unique to them. I had an older Leopard DVD that comes with a White Macbook circa 2007, that will not work with my new MBA, nor will the Leopard installation DVD on my MBA work on the White Macbook.

You will have to specify on which model of Mac(model and year) you intend to install this on.

Unless there is a database of these songs that apps like these can tap into, it would have to be manual entry I think.

Been looking at your posts since you won my Macbook, I see that you're getting active in the Mac section and really getting behind your new Mac purchase, good on you bro! I trust my Macbook is satisfactory for your daily usage?