Macbook impressions
This is the base model, $1099, White.
Glossy screen isn't bad at all. I really had to look to notice it. I don't like the monster bezel around the screen but the screen is bright bright bright!
Keyboard is a step up in quality from the previous PB and iBook. Nice job.
Magsafe connector is small and discrete with a satisfying click.
This thing runs hot like the fires of Hades. Goodness, DO NOT PUT ON LAP, you will roast your chestnuts, guaranteed. Seriously, this thing is HOT as in pain. This may make me return the thing even though it is pretty fantastic.
Big Trackpad with two fingers on pad and click for right click is fabulous.
Very quiet.
Boot camp runs nicely on this thing. Boot Camp burns to disk specific XP drivers depending on model, so the disc I burned for my iMac didn't work at all. WIndows looks and runs fabulous for whatever a 6 year old OS should look and run on new hardware.
iSight is micro tiny compared to the size of the one on the iMac.
Magnetic latch works. Will it start collecting little metal bits from the dust in the air?
Build quality seems better than iBook. Lots of little design details that make a big difference. It doesn't feel as cheap.
Other than the brutal heat, its a nice NOTEBOOK (not laptop).
Glossy screen isn't bad at all. I really had to look to notice it. I don't like the monster bezel around the screen but the screen is bright bright bright!
Keyboard is a step up in quality from the previous PB and iBook. Nice job.
Magsafe connector is small and discrete with a satisfying click.
This thing runs hot like the fires of Hades. Goodness, DO NOT PUT ON LAP, you will roast your chestnuts, guaranteed. Seriously, this thing is HOT as in pain. This may make me return the thing even though it is pretty fantastic.
Big Trackpad with two fingers on pad and click for right click is fabulous.
Very quiet.
Boot camp runs nicely on this thing. Boot Camp burns to disk specific XP drivers depending on model, so the disc I burned for my iMac didn't work at all. WIndows looks and runs fabulous for whatever a 6 year old OS should look and run on new hardware.
iSight is micro tiny compared to the size of the one on the iMac.
Magnetic latch works. Will it start collecting little metal bits from the dust in the air?
Build quality seems better than iBook. Lots of little design details that make a big difference. It doesn't feel as cheap.
Other than the brutal heat, its a nice NOTEBOOK (not laptop).
Comments
Originally posted by sandau
Magnetic latch works. Will it start collecting little metal bits from the dust in the air?
I'd be really scared if I were living in an area with 'little metal bits' floating in the air.
Dunno if you're joking about this or not but 'metal bits' don't normally float. And if you're serious, you might want to pack your bags and move because inhaling metal is hazardous to your health.
White 2.0
Great display.
No whine. VERY quiet.
Heat not bad - coolest running laptop I have had in some time.
Thoroughly impressed.
I came away slightly less than impressed. It's certainly thinner and lighter than my daughter's iBook. The screen is brighter but I did not go for the reflective one.....too.....uhm.....reflective. I wasn't a big fan of the flat keys. They seem too large, if that's possible. I had a difficult time not making typos. The biggest disappointment was that it seemed like it took forever to load apps like iPhoto, iMovie and MS Word. Once in iPhoto, the individual photos loaded much slower than I expected. For comparison purposes, I moved over to the iMac and found it to load the same material noticeably faster. I don't know which processor was in this particular one but, either way, it was too slow.
All-in-all, a nice laptop and one I will definitely buy for my daughter as she goes off to college this Fall. I just wasn't blown away. I was expecting some amazing new form factor and all I really got was something pretty damn close to the original. That said, get your butts out there and buy the Hell out of these things! The recent stock drop is killing me!
If the proc was a single core I think you would have some basis to complain but overall I think this laptop makes apple's future look bright.
Mike
I think I was expecting it to be revolutionary and was a little disappointed to find it merely evolutionary. So the kid gets one of these while I continue to wait for the Blu-ray reading/writing MacBook Pro.
Originally posted by Tomster1300
I'm coming from a 15" G4 aluminum and I honestly don't think the the new Macbook loaded any of the above-referenced apps any quicker than what I'm already used to.
I think I was expecting it to be revolutionary and was a little disappointed to find it merely evolutionary. So the kid gets one of these while I continue to wait for the Blu-ray reading/writing MacBook Pro.
how much ram on that machine? Even my iMac (intel) was molasses until I put 2gb ram in it, now its uber fast in OS X even while running windows xp in virtualization mode concurrently.
Originally posted by sandau
Big Trackpad with two fingers on pad and "click for right click is fabulous"
Do you mean when you click the left side of that single button it left clicks, and when you click the right side of the same button it right clicks??
Originally posted by Ireland
Do you mean when you click the left side of that single button it left clicks, and when you click the right side of the same button it right clicks??
no, when you put two fingers on the trackpad and click the button it right clicks. one finger on the trackpad is normal click.
Does this mean that the MacBook Pro does not have a user replaceable hard drive?
I always thought that was one of the main reasons for buying a Pro version, or it's previous iterations was its ability to be opened up to get access to wireless, hard drive, and memory?
Cheers
Gary
Originally posted by sandau
no, when you put two fingers on the trackpad and click the button it right clicks. one finger on the trackpad is normal click.
That's so cool8)
Originally posted by Ireland
That's so cool8)
It really is.
So is the two-finger scrolling functionality.
Originally posted by Ireland
That's so cool8)
I hope that a driver update comes out soon, or a third-party utility, to do this right-click trick on the 15" MacBook Pro I finally gave in and ordered. It should be nothing but a matter of driver software to make the same thing work on a MacBook Pro.
Originally posted by shetline
I hope that a driver update comes out soon, or a third-party utility, to do this right-click trick on the 15" MacBook Pro I finally gave in and ordered. It should be nothing but a matter of driver software to make the same thing work on a MacBook Pro.
Seen as you do not have this on your MacBook Pro, do you know if it's a new thing to apple notebooks? Was it on the iBook etc?
Originally posted by shetline
I hope that a driver update comes out soon, or a third-party utility, to do this right-click trick on the 15" MacBook Pro I finally gave in and ordered. It should be nothing but a matter of driver software to make the same thing work on a MacBook Pro.
My buddy says it is in his preference pane (mouse and keyboard) and he uses it on his MBP 15".
- Xidius
Originally posted by >_>
17: MBP:
- Xidius
Great! Probably just means that the 15" MBP I just looked at isn't fully up-to-date with system updates. I'll know in about a week.
Originally posted by garyuk
I noticed there was an article regarding how easy it was to replace the MacBooks hard drive, and it was user freindly.
Does this mean that the MacBook Pro does not have a user replaceable hard drive?
I always thought that was one of the main reasons for buying a Pro version, or it's previous iterations was its ability to be opened up to get access to wireless, hard drive, and memory?
Cheers
Gary
I upgraded the 80GB 5400RPM on my MBP to a 100GB 7200RPM in about 30 minutes. It was the first time I took apart a mac laptop and it was simple.
Check out the link below, go to the hard drive replacement area and select the quality for the MBP video.
http://eshop.macsales.com/tech_cente...directory.html
I'm sure it isn't as easy a as MacBook, but it wasn't too bad. Hopefully it will be a one time thing.
Originally posted by jpennington
I upgraded the 80GB 5400RPM on my MBP to a 100GB 7200RPM in about 30 minutes. It was the first time I took apart a mac laptop and it was simple.
I watched the video, thank you for the link; however, I am curious as to what the warranty implications of disassembling the case are. I realize they will not warranty your new hard drive; however, by doing that, did you void your entire warranty? Maybe a question for my local Apple store?
I don't mind replacing my hard drive myself. I do mind if something happens 3 months down the road and I can't get it repaired under warranty.