Got my Mom a new MacBook
Originally, I was waiting for Mother's Day to get my Mom a new computer, wondering if we'd see updates to the MacBook line before then. But as she is a teacher and is on vacation this week so I decided to get one and give it to her today so I can show her how to use it.
I was going between the 1.83 GHz MacBook and the 2.0 GHz MacBook and decided that the additional RAM, larger hard drive, extra processor speed, and SuperDrive were worth the extra $200. I knew she liked the look of the white MacBook so that's what we got.
We opened it up and I figured I'd post some initial impressions. My sister has a 14" iBook which my Mom has been borrowing and the MacBook is considerably smaller and lighter. The glossy screen appears to be much brighter than the iBook and has a higher resolution as well.
The MagSafe plug is a nice feature, I hadn't paid much attention to it before, and I liked the magnetic latch as I've had problems with the normal latch in my PowerBook. The individual keys that make up the keyboard are a nice touch as well.
Setup, as always, was very easy. We booted the computer, entered her information including her .mac email, connected to the Airport Network (reception was amazing), and immediately started downloading system updates. Since the MacBook has a built in camera, my Mom got to take her picture for her profile. Definitely a very cool feature that had her impressed.
As for speed, the MacBook is very fast. The system seems to boot very quickly, much faster than my PowerBook G4 and similar to my brother's Power Mac G5. Safari is open to her home page before the icon even has a chance to bounce once and Dashboard is also very responsive. I didn't have much chance to look at the iApps since my Mom isn't quite up to that point yet but we did look at the 30 day 'trial' versions of both iWork and Microsoft Office.
iWork seems to be a decent application and my Mom might use Keynote as she has asked me before if I could show her how to do PowerPoint presentations. Pages was a little underwhelming and I think I will end up putting AppleWorks onto the computer for her. Apparently it involves installing AppleWorks on a PowerPC computer and then copying it over but she's familiar with it and it's probably worth the hassle to get it onto the MacBook.
As for Microsoft Office, I guess it's nice that Microsoft gives people a 30 day trial but on the other hand, you can't even *print* with the trial version. Great call MS, let people try out Word but don't let them print and see their results.
I'm hoping to show her how to hook up her digital camera and use iPhoto this weekend, along with how to burn a CD/DVD and use Front Row. It's the first time I've seen my Mom genuinely excited about learning how to use a computer, definitely some bonus points for the MacBook.
I was going between the 1.83 GHz MacBook and the 2.0 GHz MacBook and decided that the additional RAM, larger hard drive, extra processor speed, and SuperDrive were worth the extra $200. I knew she liked the look of the white MacBook so that's what we got.
We opened it up and I figured I'd post some initial impressions. My sister has a 14" iBook which my Mom has been borrowing and the MacBook is considerably smaller and lighter. The glossy screen appears to be much brighter than the iBook and has a higher resolution as well.
The MagSafe plug is a nice feature, I hadn't paid much attention to it before, and I liked the magnetic latch as I've had problems with the normal latch in my PowerBook. The individual keys that make up the keyboard are a nice touch as well.
Setup, as always, was very easy. We booted the computer, entered her information including her .mac email, connected to the Airport Network (reception was amazing), and immediately started downloading system updates. Since the MacBook has a built in camera, my Mom got to take her picture for her profile. Definitely a very cool feature that had her impressed.
As for speed, the MacBook is very fast. The system seems to boot very quickly, much faster than my PowerBook G4 and similar to my brother's Power Mac G5. Safari is open to her home page before the icon even has a chance to bounce once and Dashboard is also very responsive. I didn't have much chance to look at the iApps since my Mom isn't quite up to that point yet but we did look at the 30 day 'trial' versions of both iWork and Microsoft Office.
iWork seems to be a decent application and my Mom might use Keynote as she has asked me before if I could show her how to do PowerPoint presentations. Pages was a little underwhelming and I think I will end up putting AppleWorks onto the computer for her. Apparently it involves installing AppleWorks on a PowerPC computer and then copying it over but she's familiar with it and it's probably worth the hassle to get it onto the MacBook.
As for Microsoft Office, I guess it's nice that Microsoft gives people a 30 day trial but on the other hand, you can't even *print* with the trial version. Great call MS, let people try out Word but don't let them print and see their results.
I'm hoping to show her how to hook up her digital camera and use iPhoto this weekend, along with how to burn a CD/DVD and use Front Row. It's the first time I've seen my Mom genuinely excited about learning how to use a computer, definitely some bonus points for the MacBook.
Comments
Unfortunately, my mother passed away in Mid January and it was then that I realized that no matter what I accomplish in my lifetime, I want to make the most of it - so I switched from years of loyalty to Windows to an iMac (including a new printer/scanner combo).