MacBook Wows, Woes
Published 2 years ago, at the end of May under Reviews
Yesterday, after pleading my friend to drive me to the Apple store, and a narrowly averted SunTrust Check Card debacle, I drove home with a brand new 13.3″ MacBook - in black. I was a bit concerned over the rumors of thermal goop mishaps in the MacBook/Pro lines, but rationality couldn’t restrain me from this purchase. After using it for several hours quite extensively, I’m glad I took the plunge. I can’t give it a perfect review due to some tropical case temperatures, but it’s damn close to laptop nirvana.
Back in Black
The new MacBook comes in both iBook white and now black, yet the black model remarkably costs $150 more than the same specs in white. This is outrageous, un-necessary, and downright ridiculous. So did I pay the $150 black tax? Of course I did. Have you seen how jaw-droppingly gorgeous the matte black finish is? Rationality never entered my mind in this decision - I was too filled with nostalgia over the old Wall St PowerBooks. Nevertheless, it’s tough to justify the extra bucks for a mere paint job. You pissed off a few people with this one Apple, but you’re far too lovely to stay mad at.
The MacBook runs about as hot as my friend’s PowerBook G4. It’s not blisteringly hot as many Digg trolls would have you believe, rather it runs warm. I used it with and without AC power through tasks such as DVD playback, iPhoto, and iDVD. It will get warm, but it never became anything that concerned me. If you’re watching a DVD with the MacBook on your lap, it’ll get warm. Now, If you’re rendering a feature film while riding shotgun, you’ll really start to feel the heat -just think of it as your personal sauna.
Integrated Graphics
Integrated Graphics means this puppy is not a gaming machine. If you want a gaming laptop, go Pro (although, I’d bet the X1600 only adds to the heat issue). However, the Intel 950 in the MacBook is awesome for HD playback all the way to 1080P, handles the OS rendering effects without breaking a sweat, and can even throw down for a little gaming action now and then (think World of Warcraft instead of F.E.A.R.).
I upgraded from a 1 GHz iBook G4, and Apple claims a 5X speed increase over the 1.42 Ghz iBook - so by Apple’s measure, I’m getting about 7x better performance. They aren’t kidding either. I can finally enjoy the joys of instantaneous Spotlight searches, 20-25 second boot times, and GarageBand is actually usable. I’ve got 2 GB of memory on order from Newegg, which should blow the roof off performance, but even with a miserable 512 MB of memory this thing screams.
Other Niceties
The package of loot that comes standard on the MacBook is very impressive. Front Row and the Apple Remote are unbelievably slick, the glossy screen is spectacular - the glare is not as bad as suggested elseware, and I’ve had a bit too much fun with the cool MagSafe power adapter. The bundled software is fantastic, and of course un-paralleled in the Windows world. Overall this is an amazing machine for the price I paid - I would easily recommend it to others.
The Bad
9/10
My experience hasn’t been perfect with my brand new MacBook. About 30 minutes after first turning it on it decided to randomly shut itself off. After a few hours of stubbornness where the computer would refuse to turn on (the sleep light would turn on but the display would not), it magically began working correctly and has continued to be reliable since. Zapping the pRAM or some other tomfoolery I tried when attempting to revive my slumbering notebook may have fixed the issue, but if I encounter even the slightest proble