Aluminum MacBook
MRR Software, until a few days ago, was all produced from a Core Duo iMac (that’s the first intel based iMac that was offered). Now I’ve brought in a new piece of hardware to help shoulder the load: a brand new Aluminum MacBook. As someone coming from an iMac at home and a previous generation MacBook Pro at work, I thought I would post a personal review of my new MacBook. Switching from an iMac to a MacBook may seem like an odd transition, but it fills a couple roles. I will eventually get a new iMac, but not until they switch to the Nehalem platform, or Core i7 as Intel has dubbed it. In the mean time we needed a laptop for traveling and a second computer around the house as the wife’s G4 iBook’s screen has started to dim.
There are so many things to say about the new MacBook that rather than list it by likes and dislikes, I’m going to break it down into components and review that way.
Packaging
If you saw Steve Jobs unveiling the new MacBooks you know he took during his talk to mention the reduced packaging. I know now why he did. The box, like it’s contents is thinner and lighter with fewer structural parts. Instead of the usual cardboard outside with a inches of white styrofoam surrounding the machine, you open the box to find no white styrofoam at all. Instead there is a thin layer of black spongey foam that presses in against the the laptop and the rest is cardboard. The minimalist theme that is started with the packaging carries through to accessories. No more S-Video to RCA Video, phone lines, Apple isn’t even throwing in video adapters or remote controls. I’m not sure I agree with leaving out the latter two items, but Apple has done it and you’ll have to pay to get them. All that you will find besides the MacBook is a power brick, power brick extension cord and a small packet containing the CDs and manuals.
Monitor
Upon first opening the lid, you notice how thin the lid is. Adding to the thin look and feel is the beveled edges on the top of the lid and the on the inside of the lid is smooth glass, slightly inset from the aluminum shell on that surrounds it. Combined with LED backlit technology, the glass is part of what makes the monitor so thin: it’s used as part of the structure to keep it from flexing along with the aluminum shell. I greatly appreciate the glass adding thinness and structural integrity to the lid, but I hate how shiny it is. This is my greatest fault for the new MacBooks, the screen is just too reflective. Apple claimed the LED lights were bright enough to overpower the glare: they were wrong. The glass also greatly reduces the usable viewing angle of the monitor. If you are not looking straight on (up and down or side to side) the colors get washed out.
Keyboard
Though this style of keyboard, with spaced out flat keys, was introduced with the last revision of MacBooks and carried through to Apple’s new keyboards, this was my first extended use and I love it. The spaced out keys are perfect for preventing double key striking, touch typing is seemless and it’s just a great design. And while I expected to not mind the new keyboard, I’m surprised how much I like it.
Trackpad
Next to the shell itself, the trackpad has seen the most change. Apparently made of glass you would never know it as it feels the same as other trackpads of the past, perhaps a bit less resistance. Also the separate mouse button is gone, replaced by, well, the entire trackpad. Clearly hinged at the top, the entire trackpad clicks. And you needn’t be worried about accidentally clicking, because the resistance is set to perfection. For those who are used to clicking with their thumb, you will notice no difference. If you’re like me, and you frequently rest your other index finger on the mouse button and use it for clicking, you are out of luck.(Update: It would appear if you rest your finger at the very bottom edge of the pad, it will work.) The gesture recognition won’t allow you to rest another digit on the pad. Clicking and dragging become a little different, but not noticeably worse. Speaking of gestures they are interesting if not all that useful. Allowing some customization would make them much more useful. For example, I would
love to have three finger side swipes to change spaces. The App Switching gesture could also use some tweaking as the gesture brings up the Command-Tab application switcher but you can’t then immediately move between apps, you have to move the cursor into position, why not just let me keep swiping to change the selected app?
Aluminum Case
The case is what received the most attention from Apple, as it’s a brand new way of manufacturing a laptop. The result is a thinner lighter laptop. But it’s also much stiffer. The case has no flex which gives a much richer feel of quality to the whole machine. The single block of aluminum also gives a very clean look, which is what Apple is always after. This sturdy rugged feel doesn’t carry over as well to the bottom of the machine as right out of the box the battery/HD cover is a little loose and setting the laptop down results in a tinny sound that is discomforting. Something better could have been done with the microphone as well. It appears to be a group of tiny laser cut holes between the escape key and the monitor. It gives a dirty feel to an otherwise clean layout. The power button location was placed better, resting in the upper right corner of the case, it blends in fairly well with the typical Apple power on/off label. A great feature pulled over from the previous generation and the MacBook Air is the latch-less case. Instead of a button (which never works well on any machine) there is simply a recessed notch used to access the edge of the lid which opens on a smooth solid feeling hinge.
Internals
So far I’ve managed to talk about everything except the actual computing hardware. The internals are what you would expect from Apple, fast and quiet. I got the entry level 2.0 GHz model, and it is exceptionally quick, even with only the default 2GB of RAM installed. I will eventually bump this to 4GB, but for typical usage even that wouldn’t be necessary. I have yet to hear the fans spin up and can only hear them spinning at all in a very quiet room. Even the hard drive seems quiet as I have yet to hear the typical chattering you would expect. All the internals are well matched to maximize battery life, which I ran through yesterday while calibrating the battery. I used the machine off and on for over six hours before it finally went into standby. I started off by locating and fixing two bugs in NameChanger, updating the NameChanger website, uploading the new site, uploading the program to a number of thirdparty sites and general usage for the rest of the time. All in all the battery life is outstanding.
Overall
On the whole the new MacBook is a marvelous machine. Dragged down only by the hideously reflective screen, and to a lesser extent the tinniness of the battery cover(which I have yet to remove). The weight, strength, speed and keyboard all make up for these shortcomings, but if they made one with a matte screen, then I’d be thrilled, as would many others.
