So, this is a MacBook?
Connie and I traveled up to the local Apple Store to get some “hands on” time with the new MacBooks. While I’ll give you a more specific breakdown in a moment, let’s just say that our overall impression was that we were not thrilled. Does that mean we won’t upgrade? No, but it may or may not mean we’re going to wait for a while. Here’s the details.
Color- We both liked the black notebook. Frankly, I used to own a white G3 800Hz iBook and liked it but can’t stand the sandpaper beige finish of the newer models. I mean, can’t stand it to the point where I almost get sick looking at them. So, if I’m going to get a MacBook, I’m “forced” into paying the $150 black premium, which also is enough to make me sick. Unfortunately, I’m more than likely going to do that since I don’t currently consider the $500 price increase to get to a MacBook Pro worth what you get for it. Really, it’s ridiculous that Apple is charging that much for black; but if they can get it and they seem to be able to, it’s just as ridiculous to hope they’ll offer it as a “same price option”.
Screen – I have mixed feelings about the glossy screen. Viewed straight on, it is very bright and colorful. But even in the Apple Store, glare was very apparent, and it will be a constant problem with this machine. My wife was unhappy to hear that the display will be all but useless outdoors because of it. I’m also not sure whether the gloss coat will actually prove to be a detriment over time because of scratches on its surface. I do like the 13.3 widescreen format a bit better than that of my 12 inch PowerBook.
Keyboard – I didn’t feel the keyboard was significantly different than that of my PowerBook’s. I had no problems with it.
Trackpad – I only played with it a little bit, but its action seemed comparable to that of my PowerBook. Two-finger scrolling worked great. I did not use the button.
Overall Design – Not as elegant as my 12 inch PowerBook. Good bang for the buck if you can live with the design changes, some of which seemed to be change for the sake of change. Bad idea.
Connie and I are still discussing what we’re going to do. Frankly, after seeing the MacBooks in person, we discussed not moving our portables to Intel power right now but rather waiting to see if Apple might off a matte screen options and reduce the price on the black model. I’m also not willing to commit to the MacBook Pro unless Apple increases the base size of the hard disks in those models to 100GB.
We had hoped that the decision to buy a MacBook would be a “slam dunk”. But it’s just not. We’ve never felt as conflicted about purchasing an Apple notebook as we do now.
Frankly, I tend to use a notebook as a portable desktop. So, I’m thinking that maybe instead of buying a MacBook, I need to buy my wife a 17 inch Intel Core Duo iMac and then use her G5 iMac in an iLugger case as my portable desktop. Or buy myself another 20 inch Core Duo iMac. If I bought another refurbished model, it would cost me $100 less than the black MacBook.
Color- We both liked the black notebook. Frankly, I used to own a white G3 800Hz iBook and liked it but can’t stand the sandpaper beige finish of the newer models. I mean, can’t stand it to the point where I almost get sick looking at them. So, if I’m going to get a MacBook, I’m “forced” into paying the $150 black premium, which also is enough to make me sick. Unfortunately, I’m more than likely going to do that since I don’t currently consider the $500 price increase to get to a MacBook Pro worth what you get for it. Really, it’s ridiculous that Apple is charging that much for black; but if they can get it and they seem to be able to, it’s just as ridiculous to hope they’ll offer it as a “same price option”.
Screen – I have mixed feelings about the glossy screen. Viewed straight on, it is very bright and colorful. But even in the Apple Store, glare was very apparent, and it will be a constant problem with this machine. My wife was unhappy to hear that the display will be all but useless outdoors because of it. I’m also not sure whether the gloss coat will actually prove to be a detriment over time because of scratches on its surface. I do like the 13.3 widescreen format a bit better than that of my 12 inch PowerBook.
Keyboard – I didn’t feel the keyboard was significantly different than that of my PowerBook’s. I had no problems with it.
Trackpad – I only played with it a little bit, but its action seemed comparable to that of my PowerBook. Two-finger scrolling worked great. I did not use the button.
Overall Design – Not as elegant as my 12 inch PowerBook. Good bang for the buck if you can live with the design changes, some of which seemed to be change for the sake of change. Bad idea.
Connie and I are still discussing what we’re going to do. Frankly, after seeing the MacBooks in person, we discussed not moving our portables to Intel power right now but rather waiting to see if Apple might off a matte screen options and reduce the price on the black model. I’m also not willing to commit to the MacBook Pro unless Apple increases the base size of the hard disks in those models to 100GB.
We had hoped that the decision to buy a MacBook would be a “slam dunk”. But it’s just not. We’ve never felt as conflicted about purchasing an Apple notebook as we do now.
Frankly, I tend to use a notebook as a portable desktop. So, I’m thinking that maybe instead of buying a MacBook, I need to buy my wife a 17 inch Intel Core Duo iMac and then use her G5 iMac in an iLugger case as my portable desktop. Or buy myself another 20 inch Core Duo iMac. If I bought another refurbished model, it would cost me $100 less than the black MacBook.
posted by Andy Foster at
9:13 AM
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