phanatic.hu
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Apple MacBook vs. IBM X60s
In: Blog
19 Aug 2006I’m about to buy a new laptop now, as the end of Google Summer of Code is approaching (2 days left). The main criteria is to be portable, since I travel on a weekly basis (portable means small and light) and I often take my machine to the university with me. After reading a lot about the different 12,1″ and 13,3″ models, I ended up with two competitors: the new MacBook from Apple, and the X60s from IBM (Lenovo).
Some specs about the machines
Apple MacBook
- Intel Core Duo 2 GHz
- 512 MB RAM (677 MHz)
- 60 GB HDD
- DVD+-RW SuperDrive
- 13,3″ glossy screen (1280×800)
- Size: 32.5×22.7×2.75 cm
- Weight: 2.36 kg
- MacOS X Tiger
- Others: Intel 3945abg, Bluetooth, Front Row, iSight
- Battery life: 3:30-4:00 hours
- Warranty: 1 year
- Price: $1750 (in Hungary)
- More…
IBM X60s
- Intel Core Duo 1,66 GHz (Low-Voltage)
- 512 MB RAM (677 MHz)
- 80 GB HDD
- DVD SuperMulti (through X6 Ultrabase docker)
- 12,1″ screen (1024×768)
- Size: 26.8×21.1×2.0-2.8 cm
- Weight: 1.52 kg
- Windows XP Professional
- Others: Intel 3945abg, Bluetooth, Infrared, Fingerprint Reader, Keyboard Light
- Battery life: 4:00 with standard battery, 8:00 with the extended one
- Warranty: 3 years
- Price: $2280
- More…
Apple MacBook
I fell in love with this machine when it was released. However it felt pretty heavy after an X60s, and I didn’t like the magnetic latch either. MacOS X is an admirable operating system: it’s a really great feeling to use it. The single-button touchpad annoys me a bit since I’d like to use Linux on the machine (next to OS X). The other problem comes here: OS X takes up 18 GB(!) of space. That’s far too much for me (and for the 60 GB hard drive).
Pros:
- Great quality design
- Screen
- Cheaper
Cons:
- Less warranty
- Feels heavy/big compared to an X60s
- Touchpad
- Need to upgrade RAM to use OS X properly
- Need to upgrade HDD to be able to run another OS
- Problems with cooling mentioned often in forums (cannot be used in laps)
- Hungarian layout keyboard has too few signs on it (I like to see those AltGr-symbols)
IBM X60s
This was love at second sight (just because my first sight was the price). After reading several reviews about the machine, I could understand why is it so expensive: very small dimensions, unbelievably light, outstanding battery life, 3 year warranty, and so on… And I wasn’t disappointed when I got in touch with the machine: it’s really awesome!
Pros:
- Very small and light
- Outstanding battery life (see specs)
- Bigger HDD
- 3 years warranty
- Better keyboard + no touchpad
Cons:
- Pretty expensive
- Windows
Conclusion
I think I’ll go for the IBM, because it seems to have less problems and the 3 year warranty is a really great thing to have. It is also much smaller and lighter than the MacBook (I can feel the difference after a 3 kg laptop with the IBM, but not with the Apple one). I hope there won’t be any dead pixels or such, since this will be the first notebook I buy from my own money (the current one was bought by my “employer”).
P.S. I’m going to sell my Fujitsu-Siemens PocketLOOX 720 PDA. Anybody willing to buy it? ;)
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22 Responses to Apple MacBook vs. IBM X60s
maat
August 20th, 2006 at 14:27
1 (IBM)
maat
August 20th, 2006 at 14:28
your input filter may be buggy… i wrote (plus)1
phanatic
August 20th, 2006 at 14:29
maybe this K2 stuff sucks. it has some unicode problems, too :(
vbali
August 21st, 2006 at 12:32
I have bad experiences with both brand. Tell the truth I have never loved Mac computers. Ok, it’s nice that Apple offers “standard Intel PCs” instead of old whatever computers, but the one-button mouse and the whole Mac OS system is really pesky.
IBM brand a bit expensive by price per quality IMHO. I think you could buy a better subnotebook with the same price from other manufacturer. Ok, it’s just my opinion :-)
If you let me know a bit earlier that you sell your PocketLOOX I would buy it, but “unfortunately” I already bought an Acer n311 :-(
phanatic
August 21st, 2006 at 12:50
Actually I have looked at the other options. Let me tell you my concerns about them. Acer 3012 WTMi: it has an external ODD which makes the machine pretty light, but it seemed too thick for me, and it’s made of plastic. Fujitsu-Siemes Si 1520: currently I have an FSC notebook, but the quality is not so good (the display is pushed to the keyboard when I carry it in a backpack), and it has some battery problems, too (more power, but less lifetime). A Sony and an HP costs even more than the IBM, so I just dropped them…
vbali
August 21st, 2006 at 13:54
I have an Acer 3020 and I have discovered the same that you with Fujitsu-Siemes (the display is pushed) and the painting of plastic after an year down at the heel. So, Acer wouldn’t be a good choice.
My personal favorite brand – by price per quality – is Asus. But it’s your choice :-)))
phanatic
August 21st, 2006 at 15:19
I’ve just checked: the Asus is more expensive than the IBM. No joke! (Asus W5F-G006 is $2500 at notebook.hu)
kobak
August 22nd, 2006 at 11:28
because of macbook’s _known_ problems I wouldn’t buy it. Altough I love the brand. I had an ibm t42. It was one of my best notebooks. I had good experience with it. The only sad thing is, that you have to buy windows with it.
phanatic
August 22nd, 2006 at 16:46
kobak: I have the same concerns regarding the MacBook. I asked the IBM retailers about the Windows issue: they said it would be possible to get it without Windows, but I have to order at least 50 pcs (or wait someone who orders that much). OTOH I also read in different forums that it’s impossible to get an IBM laptop without Windows. Of course this doesn’t apply to the recently announced ThinkPad which comes with SLED 10 by Novell (but that costs hell of a lot of money).
tamas
August 23rd, 2006 at 15:57
go for teh macbook ;] or buy a pro.
Tamás
August 23rd, 2006 at 18:22
I just switched to a MacBook from a Fujitsu-Siemens Amilo Pro a couple of weeks ago. Generally I’m satisfied with it, but I wouldn’t recommend installing Linux on it. Especially not in parallel with OS X – there will simply not be enough space if you order it with a 60GB hard drive. (But you can safely use it in your lap, especially since the last fan firmware upgrade – it didn’t do any harm for me so far :))
I tried to install Ubuntu on my MacBook, but I had several problems. The SMP kernels just didn’t work, I had to either boot a non-SMP kernel (which utilized only one of the processor cores) or disable the synchronization between the cores – which resulted in occasional slowdowns or near-freezes. I hope it gets corrected soon, but I’m totally satisfied with OS X so far (despite that I have been a die-hard Linux fan for ages) and I have absolutely no urge to install Linux on it.
By the way, you can also get three year worldwide warranty with the MacBook, you just have to pay some extra price for it.
If you are interested in my MacBook experiences, see: http://blog.haszprus.hu/bejegyzes/2638/macbook-tapasztalatok/ (in Hungarian)
Ivan
October 5th, 2006 at 13:32
By an amazing conincidence I am just weighing up MacBook vs Thinkpad X60. I was tipping towards the X60 and this blog has really confirmed my decision.
I generally dual-boot linux (debian) with the other OS so I was alarmed to hear of how much of the hard disk is taken up by MacOS X.
Anyway, thanks for posting this blog!
All the best
Ivan
phanatic
October 6th, 2006 at 13:07
I’m happy that you found this entry useful. I must tell, that I’m very happy with my X60s running Ubuntu day and night :)
Caffe
October 9th, 2006 at 18:31
IBM X60s is clearly a superior note book when light weight and long battery life are the main concerns.
It is not even sensible to compare a mac with this ‘ultra portable’ class laptop. They are just built and designed differently.
Read the following review and one would soon understand why it has been given such high rating.
By the way some linux OS cannot really make use of the ultra low voltage features in the chip, so the battery will never run for 8 hours on the laptop.
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=2828
http://reviews.cnet.com/4323-6527_7-6509056.html?tag=txt
(select ibm x60s)
phanatic
October 9th, 2006 at 18:37
Caffe: you’re right about your concerns about the comparison, but I loved these two models, and wanted to buy only one of them. From the search results it seems that many people asked the same question ;)
In my later blog entry about Ubuntu 6.06.1 and X60s I wrote that the Linux kernel currently doesn’t support low-voltage processors (with the 4-cell battery my X60s runs for 2 hours).
brian c
February 5th, 2007 at 06:11
I hope my input helps
Im the proud owner of a ibm x41 its much lighter and has the nice magnesium? case
I recently bought a macbook 13 intel core 2 duo
the x41 centrino is still zippy but core 2 duo is a nice jump in processor speed and battery life even from the core duo
the macbook is heavy close to 15 inch heavy. but its slim and the materials are nice.
With Apple moving to Intel processors and programs like parallel. Apple
has new light to take over a huge market share from ibm pcs
My macbook runs windows and mac x, Apple has the same market appeal as say the motorola razr.
arjun
March 30th, 2007 at 03:17
I am looking english keyboard laptop. could anyone advice me where I can buy good laptop here in budapest. pls email me as asap.
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[...] Resale value isn’t an isssue, as I tend to use computers until they die or get antiquated. This blog post makes a kind of cryptic reference to this: Hungarian layout keyboard has too few signs on [...]
JayC3
June 13th, 2007 at 08:39
Hi Phanatic
Can you point me in the right direction (or websites) on how to dual boot the x60s with Ubuntu and XP? A step by step instruction is much welcomed ^_^ Cheers !
phanatic
June 15th, 2007 at 15:53
Hi JayC3,
you can use the Desktop CD Installer of Ubuntu, it’s pretty easy and straightforward (you’ll get a menu at boot time to choose between Windows XP and Ubuntu).
Hope this helps…
trandojedi
July 9th, 2007 at 01:49
i just picked up a new x60s for 1550 australian $ (lenovo sells for 3000 on their site)
very practical. can imagine whipping it out on bus on way to uni. have to buy external dvd to install different OS :P
nishiyama
June 19th, 2008 at 17:15
Amazing coincidence: yesterday I bought an x61 for 128.000 yen (that is ~180 kHUF) for my wife – she will see it in four weeks. After that I realized that the basic Macbook is approx the same price. Actually I am not fond of Macs, but was afraid that maybe she would like it… :( I am not sure. I will introduce her a Mac later just to bear the responsibility for the uninformed choice :)
However, this machine is better, imho. Lighter, smaller and the Kiwi Linux almost look like a Mac :D
And not to mention the trackpoint – I anticipated that it would be a disaster but having used it for 1 day I already miss it from my own Acer TM6291… what a great thing is the travelling the without moving!