Apple MacBook First Thoughts Review (pics, specs)

This is a first thoughts review of the newly released 13.3" Apple MacBook Core Duo notebook. I've only had the MacBook for 24 hours, but that's enough to offer some insight on the design and some thoughts from a Mac OS neophyte. There's some fantastic things about this notebook, but a major problem with heat has marred what has been otherwise been a great experience.

This review is a first thoughts, I've only had the notebook for 24 hours so it focuses on the design and my initial impressions. I couldn't possibly do a comprehensive review without a few weeks of usage, but people are anxious to hear about this and potentially buy the MacBook, so thus I write and will provide a more in depth review in the next few weeks.

Overview of the MacBook

The Apple MacBook 13.3" widescreennotebook (view large image)

After much anticipation and rumors, the Apple MacBook was released this week by Apple (available via Apple.com now). It is a 13.3" widescreen notebook, the screen is glossy and very nice and bright. It is geared towards those that need to be mobile with a notebook, a perfect match for students in fact. It's easy to carry and very sturdily designed with a nice look. It's not geared towards business users so muchas it has no expansion slots and security is not as robust as it needs to be for enterprise users, and it is not for gamers since it has no dedicated graphics. It does however fit the average consumer well, that just needs a notebook for communication, organizing, media storage and viewing, web usage and office productivity tasks.

Some competing notebooks with a similar size would be the Sony VAIO SZ series and Fujitsu LifeBook S6000 series -- both Windows based 13.3" screennotebooks.

Specs for Apple MacBook as Purchased

• 1.83 GHz Intel Core Duo processor with 2 MB shared L2 Cache
• 13.3-inch (diagonal) glossy TFT widescreen display, 1280 x 800 resolution
• 512 MB (two SO-DIMM) 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM (PC2-5300)
• 60 GB 5400 rpm Serial ATA hard drive
• Slot-load Combo Drive (DVD-ROM/CD-RW)
• Ports:
• One FireWire 400 port,
• Two USB 2.0 ports,
• Mini-DVI port with support for DVI, VGA, S-video, and composite video output (requires adapters, sold separately)
• Built-in 10/100/1000BASE-T (Gigabit);
• Built-in 54 Mbps AirPort Extreme (802.11g)
• Built-in Bluetooth 2.0+EDR

Where and How Purchased

MacBook notebooks on display in Apple Store (view large image)

This MacBook was purchased from an Apple store in Ohio. If you're lucky enough to have an Apple store nearby, it's definitely recommended to take a visit and try out the Macs they have if you're interested in making a purchase. Experiencing the use of a product first hand and the ability to ask questions ofhelpful people is certainly a nice thingand where the Dell direct model falls apart. The sales clerksI interacted with at the Apple store wereknowledgeable, helpful and sincerely enthusiastic about their job and products theywere selling and not at all pushy.

The black MacBook is configured with a 2.0GHz Core Duo processor, something I didn't want or need so I went with the 1.83GHz white colored MacBook. I have to say though, the black look is pretty cool and it's not a glossy piano black finish a la the iPod Nano like I thought it was, so there'd be fewer issueswith fingerprints that you get on the iPod(view large image)

After playing around with the 2.0GHz Core Duo black colored MacBook on display and the 1.83GHz white colored MacBook on display I decided to go with the $1,099 1.83GHz, 60GB, 512MB white colored MacBook (the black is only available with the 2.0GHz processor and costs $1,499). My reason for this was that I was only buying the MacBook for review purposes, didn't need the extra power, and was more interested in the product design and OS rather than the overall processor speed, power and functionality.The sales clerk went to the back of the store, grabbed my notebook and I then paid, after an applied Ohio and localsales tax total of 6.5%,the sumof $1,170.44. With that purchase you get in the box:

• Apple MacBook
• Apple Remote
• 60W MagSafe Power Adapter, AC wall plug and power cord
• Lithium-polymer battery
• Install/restore DVDs
• Printed and electronic documentation

My Background as an Apple User

It's going on six years now that I last used a Mac. So yes, it's been a while. During school I had a job as a computer lab monitor and a few of the labs I worked in were Mac labs. I worked to help other students use the Macs to run some anatomy software multimedia programs, do basic internet, email and MS Word related tasks. I never became a power user of the Mac platform. As an example of how raw I am with the newer OS look and feel, while in the Apple store I asked thesales clerk"how do you open a web browser." He laughed. I was serious though.

For the past six years I've used nothing but various Windows OS platforms and almost exclusively used PC notebooks as my main tool for work. I review and use a ton of PC notebooks. I also program, mainly web and database development, all using Microsoft tools. In other words, I'm as polar opposite Mac user as you can get, but like many other PC users always kind of curious what I may be missing. Realistically, the Mac OS simply won't work for me for my work needs, but the hardware has always intrigued me and with the release of the 13.3" widescreen MacBook I could no longer resist trying out an Apple notebook.

Apple MacBook Product Packaging and Unpacking

As we all know, Apple is very much so about presentation as well as utility in its products. This starts with the packaging presentation, something many PC manufacturers, except maybe Sony, ignore. Looking at pastApple productreviews on the web, it seems like it's sort of a requisite to display the package and unpacking process, so I'll oblige:

(view large image)	(view large image)	(view large image)
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Look and Design

Elegant comes to mind (view large image)

How can you argue with the look and styling of this notebook? It's simply pleasing to the eye. The clean look, the quality construction, the Apple logo that illuminates, the little green lights on the Caps Lock and Num Lock key (thank you Apple), the stylish lettering of the keys -- it all adds up. Fashion can certainly be expressed through both clothing and technology these days, and Apple realizes the importance of that, especially to many in the younger generations.

Apple MacBook 13.3" widescreen notebook on the left, my fulltime ThinkPad T43 14.1" notebook on the right. They're just so...different(view large image)

I use a ThinkPad T43 as my main work notebook. I love it and I certainly won't be parting with it for this MacBook, but it is refreshing to use a notebook with this kind of look. I suppose it makes me feel slightly hip, but then I realize I'm still me.

The Apple logoon the lid of the black MacBook has a particularly cool look on the lid due to the contrast with the white lighted Apple (view large image)

My one concern with the white colored MacBook is that it's going to show dirt quickly. While working in the office with this notebook a co-worker commented that he had too much black arm hair that would fall off and look obvious and gross on an all white notebook. I laughed at the comment, then turned to find an eyelash resting on the keyboard -- highlighting the fact that no hair or dirt will go unnoticed if it falls onto this thing.

Build and Design

For $1,099 I was half expecting some shortcuts in terms of overall build quality. But there are none. This MacBook feels like a rock, no joke. It's very, very sturdy feeling. It's coated with a glossy plastic finish, and most of the construction seems to be some type of rugged plastic composite material, it's extremely durable in feel and there'sabsolutely zero flex to the case. Less flex indeed than my rugged ThinkPad T43.

I give Apple a lot of credit in going with the 13.3" widescreen design, I'm a huge fan of this form factor, it's highly portable yet still a big enough size to get decent screen viewing real estate and room for a good keyboard. Somebody in the industry told me that the 13.3" LCD is more expensive to manufacture and why brands like Fujitsu killed their LifeBook S6000 line (which was a 13.3" screen portable). Even though it may have been more expensive for Apple to go the 13.3" route, their designers deemed it the best and so went with it.

One thing I like a lot about the way the MacBook screenhinges is that when you open it, the screen actually rests below the base of the keyboard. You can still see the entire screen of course, but what this means is that the screen isn't as high up and therefore better for fitting into tight spaces. In other words, much better for flying and using on a small tray without the screen running in to the chair in front. The widescreen display also means the screen isn't as high, further saving vertical real estate.

The lid latch is rather interesting, there is no latch to hold the screen down, it is instead held down by use of a magnet. This means you have to use two hands to pry it open (one holds the notebook down while the other opens the screen), but that's much better than having a lid that pops open in your bag and exposes the screen to potential scratching.

Speaking of magnets, Apple implemented the magnetic power cord adapter as well. This innovation means that if somebody in Starbucks walks through your power cord, instead of the notebook flying to the floor tethered to its power cord lead, the magnetically attached power cord will simply detach and wave harmlessly to the ground.

Above view of the 13.3" screen MacBook compared to 14" T43. Notice the MacBook is wider overall, it is less deep and thinner though due to its widescreen design (view large image)

The protection from the lid is very good, if I push in on the back of the lid there's no rippling that occurs on the screen. A sure fire test of a cheap product is finding that the screen lid is flimsy and offers no rigidity and protection, the Apple MacBook does not fail here.

Below is a tour around the MacBook and comparison to the ThinkPad T43 I have. Notice the MacBook is thinner. I consider my T43 very portable and easy enough to travel with, and the MacBook even more so.

Front side view, the MacBook has no latch for locking the lid down as you can see, instead it uses a magnet to hold the lid in place (view large image)

Left side view of the T43 next to the MacBook. All the MacBook ports are here: One FireWire 400 port, Two USB 2.0 ports, Mini-DVI port,ethernet, magnetic power connector

Back side view, notice how the MacBook hinges down lower than the T43, the screen of the MacBook actually rests below the base of the keyboard when opened(view large image)

Right side view of the MacBook and T43, the slot loading combo drive is on the right side of the MacBook (view large image)

Keyboard and Touchpad

I was really taken aback by the keyboard, it's not at all what I expected. The keys are actually raised and each key is completely individual. At first look it seemed like there would be no travel to the key, they looked short and stubby, but in fact the travel isreally good and the keyboard could rate as one of the best out there. There's no flex (as in zero, none, zilch) to this keyboard, it is completely firm due to the way it is designed.

Check out the raised key styling, to me it was odd looking at first, but very pleasing to type on it turns out. The large touchpad is much appreciated (view large image)

And the touchpad is just huge for this sized laptop. It's super easy to scroll using a two finger down on the touchpad method. One finger on the touchpad means you move the cursor around, move two fingers along the touchpad and you'll scroll the active screen.

I'm still getting use to this one mouse button thing though. You can hold down two fingers and tap the button for the equivalent of a right click on a PC notebook. But, well, it's not the same ease.

And, alas, as good as the touchpad is, the ThinkPad T43 pointing stick is still the best input method and fastest way I can control a cursor. I don't think I'll ever waiver in the opiniont that a pointing stick is the way to go with navigation for notebook input and cursor control.

The Mac OSX

I've not used this thing for long enough to have any firm opinion. But I will say the effects and many usability features are nice. I'm especially enamored by the Dashboard and widgets, not that you can't do similar things in Windows, but hey it's built into the OS here and simple to use.

Widgets in the Mac OS X dashboard, for some reason they just enamor me (view large image)

Setting up the notebook was intuitive too, I didn't like all the registration screens I had to go through when starting for the first time, but I did like the fact it immediately picked up all networks close by and then prompted me for a WEP password for the office wireless network I use. It was so much more seamless than doing it in Windows.

OS X at work (view large image)

However, I'm feeling a little lost to perform tasks that were natural and easy in Windows. The whole dragging and dropping a CD to trash to eject it seems kind of silly still (I keep thinking it'll format the CD or delete all the songs from it or something, even though I know that's totally dumb to think). And why oh why can't I maximize a Window with ease? I click on the green light in the top left corner to do what I figure is maximize the window, but I'm told it just adjusts to what it thinks is the best size for that window on the screen. Sorry, but I prefer to decide the best size, and I want it to be easy to maximize a Window. And how about taking a screenshot? How do you do that? Maybe these things are easy, but being a newbie to Mac OSx I won't say it's dummy easy like some will suggest and it isn't crash proof...I found that out rather painfully (see the Heat and Noise section).

Heat and Noise...and Crashing(or, and now for the bad part) (Please see update to this part at bottom)

So far everything is pretty glowing right? Everything was going swimmingly in using the MacBook during the day,this wasafter about 2 hours of off and on usage. But then evening arrived and I booted up the MacBook again for round 2 of playing. I popped in a CD to listen to and test out the speakers. I knew people had mentioned that the MacBook Pro got a bit warm so I wanted to run this machine for a bit, over an hour,and see how things would go. It didn't go well.

The heat quickly started building up after 10 minutes of spinning a CD and using the web. The fans kicked in (they're at the back) but weren't terribly noisy, and to be honest, probably kicked in too late. After about 30 minutes of usage the back left side got extremely hot, then after about 35 minutes this happend:

Oh dear, I don't think thiswas whatMac users had in mind when theytold me that OS Xis user friendly(view large image)

I don't care what language you read that in, it's not good, and I couldn't do anything to recover the web based email I'd just written. My legs were sweating from the heat on the bottom of the MacBook and now what I thought Mac's were immune from (that being crashing) had happened within the first 3 hours of usage.

After rebooting the MacBook from its crash I got this. I thought that Microsofhad this message copyrighted for Windows usage? (view large image)

I tried to reboot the MacBook after holding in the power button as instructed, but it wouldn't. I unplugged it and took the battery out and tried rebooting, and it did, but it crashed again within a few minutes of usage with the same message as above. I then tried rebooting and this time it flat out refused to boot, the screen was just black.

So I figured it had to be something to do with heat, so I walked over to my wall unit Air Conditioner and absolutely blasted it on the MacBook for 5 minutes. That cooled things off, and it booted again okay after being super chilled.

I blasted the wall AC on the MacBook to cool it down after it got super hot and crashed. It booted after being cooled this way. (view large image)

I decided not to spin a CD in it during my next 30 minutes of usage, it seemed that could have been what was warming things up so much. But, once again, in the space of about 30-minutes the MacBook went from cold to burning up on the bottom. The AC was still on and the room was probably about 68-degrees F at this point --quite cool. My legs began to sweat profusely again with the laptop being in my lap, the back left side got super hot and -- crash --same as above. Very, very dissapointing. In total it crashed like this 3-times before I gave up and went to bed.

My hope is that I got a bad MacBookunit, there's no way a notebook should overheat and crash within 30-minutes of just web browsing. I'm guessing I did get unlucky, which is unfortunate, but it will give me a chance to test Apple support. As more people buy this and report about their experience, we'll find if this extremely early production system I got is a bit of a lemon or if we have a serious issue here. As part of my full review I'll cover how this issue was resolved and how Apple tech support handles it.

Conclusion of First Thoughts

The MacBook is a beautiful piece of hardware, the design and look is fantastic and I really like the keyboard. This is all of course dragged down by the heat and crashing issues I've had so far. However, we'll assume that my early production system is an exception and not the rule and Apple will be able to replace it or figure out why my MacBook becomes a bit of a coffee warmer. It's a shame that I can't recommend buying this right now due to the heat issues since that trumps all the other great things about this machine, if others could reply or chime in on their experience with this notebook and say they don't have this problem, I would be hugely relieved and could then recommend. If others are having these same heat issues, well, that's a big concern then.

Stop back in a few weeks for a full and complete review in which I hope I'll be more versed in the Mac OS X platform, have an opportunity to run Boot Camp, report performance benchmarks, and put this MacBook to the test!

*** UPDATE 5/20/2006 ***

I returned the originalMacBook I bought in Ohio on 5/17/206 to an Apple Store in New York. I simply explained to a sales person I bought the MacBook while travelling (as I had) and that since buying itit had been crashing within the first 20 - 30 minutes of boot up. The store was extremely busy, but the total process of getting an exchange unit took about 30 minutes. It would have been quicker if the crowds were less. Thumbs up on customer service once again.

So far with the exchanged MacBook there's been no crashing so it is definite fact that the original MacBook I had was faulty. This MacBook does run hot, warmer than I'm used to on a laptop, but seems to be slightly less warm than the previous MacBook for whatever reason.

 

awesome review!!! no bias whatsoever like in previous Apple MacBooks reviews.

The heat issue on all Apple notebooks is something that stops me from getting one, so I am keeping Sony SZ for now... I hope they will fix this eventually

 

So there goes the one reason used over and over again (and virus of course) that let us know macs are btter!!. Don't take me wrong, macs get the job done, but so do pc's!! they both crash! they both work for bussiness entretainment. Macs at my school DO crash and quite constantly.

 

Do you know the weight of the thing? I saw a figure of about 5 lbs, which seemed a bit high. Perhaps that was with the AC adapter...

 

Very interesting with the heat issues. I just bought a Dell Inspiron E1405 and after seeing this notebook come out I was second guessing my purchase. It seems as though Dell is not the only manufacture that has issues with their notebooks at launch. Looking forward to the full review and to see if the heat issue is resolved. I hope yours is just a lemon.

 

Excellent, superb review for the limited time frame you had!
I'm so gosh darn envious, I really wish and hope to have your sort of job, just
testing out various notebooks, sounds like my kinda thing.

The overheating bit is exactly why I never have and will buy the first generation of electronics, I'd let guinea pigs like you test em out for me first.

I've been using Windows all my life and have been confused by the few instances I used Mac OSX in my local CompUSA. Is it really that great an operating system to completely blow away Win XP? Because XP has been wonderful to me, especially comparing it to 95, 98 and ME. Everyone I hear says OSX just can't be compared to XP.

And will those boneheads at Apple EVER make the transition to two button touchpads and mice!?!?

 

I think the weight is 4.27 pounds, if I remember correctly. I used it too yesterday, and am not a Mac person, but really enjoyed it. I still wouldn't consider it for a business machine, but for fun and home, why not? Well, so long as it doesn't burn up first.

 

Wow, what a review Abaxter considering the time!!
Seems like such a cool machine, but the heat thing is weird, I really suspect you have a faulty unit. Did you try installing windows on it w/ bootcamp? Does it do that?

 

I can't wait to see the new Apple commercials now Hello I'm a Mac! Hi I'm a PC!

Those commercials are so bloody ignorant and arrogant it makes me laugh, everything they compare is irrelevent and wrong.

 

Are you sure the weight is only 4.27 pounds instead of 5.2 lbs as showed in the specs, Brian? I'm really concerned about this cuz its weight is what scares me away from getting it. 5.2 lbs is as heavy as a dell inspiron 600m i owned before.

 

Yeah, I was wrong, I must have been thinking of or looking at something else, it is in fact 5.2.

 

the black version doesn't light the Apple logo with a blacklight? I'm highly disappointed.

and they should bring back the little bomb for when it crashes.

 

Yeah, the apple lights up on the black one.

 

On the heat/crashing issue - sadly, this is probably due to either a faulty unit or a problem that will have to be fixed in a firmware upgrade. i have multiple macs and when you buy a rev 1 mac, sometimes these hardware crashes happen, and they get worked out, and then, my experience is that my macs don't crash at all. i do have applications quit on occassion, a few specific culprits, but the system does not crash. as compared to my dell, which well....


the screen captures in osx are much better than in windows. go to keyboard in the system prefs and look at keyboard shortcuts, you can capture the entire screen to a file, to clipboard, or can select portions and do the same.

 

Please what do you excactly mean by "will have to be fixed by firmware upgrade"?

 

I really dont understand how that thing can weigh 5.2lbs can you put it on a scale. i would buy one just to play with for a while if it werent that heavy.

 

I was in an Apple store this afternoon getting something for my IPOD. They had about 10 Macbook's on display...the 3 that I and my daughter played with were all hot as heck because they must have been on for hours (since 9am when the store opened I am guessing). It remember wondering why they didnt put better air venting in for circulation/cooling. I did not see any crash while I was there though. The weight wasnt that bad. But a very plain and plastic-y vibe overall. I am guessing the extra weight is there to make it feel more solid. If it was very light with that plastic feel...one might consider it very fragile/ junky. Screen was exceptional, keys were a different feel but fine.

 

To eject a disk, even if you're not in the Finder, hold down the eject button on the keyboard (upper-right). Or activate the Finder by clicking on its Dock icon, and use the Eject command (under the File menu, or better, Command-E). You may have to click on the volume icon first if there is more than one volume mounted. Or activate the Finder and make a new Finder window if there isn't one already (Command-N) and in the left panel click on the eject icon that shows up next to the volume. So there are many ways to eject a drive, but the one that is most often taught to newbies is the worst.

To take a screen shot of the whole screen, command-shift-3. To choose which area to take a shot of, command-shift-4. The images are saved as PNGs on the desktop.

As for making a window fill the screen, I can't help you there. The green button usually does make the window as large as necessary to show all info, i.e. it will stop stretching a web page at the point no more info shows up. I guess if you want it even larger than that, you will need to drag it yourself.

There may be more things you can find just by querying the built-in Help, or Googling osx tips.

One thing I have found very useful for dragging files between the desktop and program windows (e.g. to add an attachment to an email or a graphic to a document): configure Expose to activate on mouse movement to the corner. Then you can move stuff between the desktop and your program window by grabbing your image or file icon and going to the corner (dragging the grayed file image with you).

Another tip is to toggle between programs with command-tab, like in Windows. You can also toggle backwards with command-shift-tab. Command-tilde usually toggles between windows of the same program.

Shift works to reverse direction in other contexts as well, e.g. shift+space is page up in a browser (as is function+up arrow).

 

Is the MacBook keyboard full-sized? Too bad Apple didn't use the same contract manufacturer as Sony (SZ-model). I was expecting the MacBook keyboard to be flush against the computer's footprint (like the Vaio SZ).

Also disappointed with the lack of dedicated page up/page down buttons, which are useful for Microsoft Office and the lack of dedicated graphics.

Was holding out and rooting for the MacBook instead of Vaio SZ or Latitude D620....but looks like I have to settle for the SZ.

 

Page up = Function + Up Arrow
Page down = Function + Down Arrow

(not bad after you're used to it; if you have time to move your right hand to the arrow keys, you can move your left pinky to the Function key)

The reason Apple doesn't use dedicated Page Up/Down keys, I believe, is that they don't want to add any keys to the right. This allows the H oto be centered under the screen, which in turn allows the trackpad to be centered.

(Other makers go overboard in adding keys to the right, IMHO. For example, our Compaq not only has an additional column of navigation keys, like many other laptops, but there is an extra large gap between those and the rest of the keyboard, then all the keys on the right side of the keyboard are extra large. For example, there is a double-size backslash key and TRIPLE-size delete and return keys, as if it's that important that you hit the backslash key just right each time you need it -- most people don't even know where it is).

Yes, all Apple laptops use the same keyboard.

 

I'm not exactly sure why. But during the heat issues section of the review I found myself mentally inserting Fry from Futurama as Mr. Baxter using this notebook. As much of a reputation as Windows has for crashing. I still found it comical, perphaps is was the way the story was told. Great Review! The multi-lingual message made me laugh out loud causing everyone in the Library to look at me like I'm insane (I don't want to clutter this thread with my junk, if anyone wants drop by the Random Thread in OT later and I'll tell you a story about when I got my Ipod Mini). I showed the review to a few people and they got the same kick out of that message.

I can relate to heat issues with notebooks. My old notebook a Toshiba Satellite A35 had terrible heat problems (Pentium 4 explains it all though), you wouldn't be able to put it on your lap. If you search for that model in NBR's notebook database and click on 'user reviews' or whatever that is, you'll find most of the people who bought it experienced the same problem. Except It didn't freeze and tell me to reboot. Windows took the liberty of shutting it down for me without warning because honestly everything except if I was lucky a work document was gone anyways. Give you a little less to fight with though. I can see myself going hay-wire at that message and really putting that build quality to the test. I wouldn't want a notebook that did that ever again, so that's enough to keep me away from Macs.

I wonder if it will survive long enough for the full review. =P

Again cool first review, always enjoy reading your reviews Mr. Baxter. It is a beautiful notebook. The keyboard sounds like the type a writer like me longs for at a less painful price. To bad about the heat. I have yet to go to my local Mac Store which is down by Universal Studios (Also the home of what is advertised as the largest Dell Direct Kiosk in the country and the Sony Style Store). Does Best Buy have the MacBooks on Display?

 

Some Mac knowledge from a guy who's been using em his whole computer life:

*Screen shot: Goto your HD/Applications/Utilities/Grab:
Open Grab, and goto the "Capture" on te menubar. Voila!
*Eject a CD: Hold the F12 Key (don't just tap it, that'll bring up your widgets)
*As for the window maximization deal, I can't give you any advice on that. It's never bothered me and I find it to be just as easy on Macs as on Windows machines.
*When you get that frightening blackish screen with the Power icon, it's called a Kernel panic and it usually has something to do with a conflict in your directory. I never had these before OS10.4 (Tiger), but i only had a problem with it after installing the new OS update. Look into this more since there may be something wrong with your Mac. Get the computer checked out by Apple since this heat issue shouldn't be happening.

*A note. On my Apple, I never once had a crash on my computer between when I installed the original OSX in 2001 and when the 10.4 "tiger" update came out in Spring 2005. I am very disgruntled by Tiger because I don't feel that widgets are a good enough reason for this new instability. The "Leopard" 10.5 update to release this year should be streamlined for the Intel chips, thereby having uninterrupted operation. (Cross your fingers)*

 

By the wasy if anyone has any general Mac opposed to PC type questions, you can ask me from a user's honest point of view as to what's good, bad, and ugly. I've been using Macs since the II in the 80's, through the horrific Performa rampup(OS7-8), to the original iMac(OS9), to G4(OSX->) to G5 and now I've got an Intel.

 

LOL , an honest mac user at last .. and another quality product by Apple .

btw I wouldn't subject the laptop to extreme temp changes , let it cool slowly by itself or you could cause trouble in the future .

 

I hear that the memory and hard drive are easily accessible. Mean, you don't have to open up the keyboard to change the ram or take apart the computer to switch to a faster drvie.

 

Thanks for some of the advice I'm getting here and via email. I agree the unit I have must be faulty in regards to the crash, I can't take it back to the store until tomorrow to ask for a replacement as I'm on the road travelling right now.

Apparently I incited what's called Kernel panic for the MacBook. I feel almost proud as that's hard to achieve apparently, lol.

 

Heat Issue: this sounds similar to the heat issue a number of users have faced with the Mac Book Pro. The problem was solved in those cases by opening the book, and removing excessive heat sink gel which had been added during manufacture. Excessive gel causes heat to be retained rather than vented, and when users (or techs depending on your comfort level) removed the excessive gel, the overheating problems disappeared. This was occuring in the last two or three weeks, which would be the time when the first MacBooks were being manufactured. So the issue could be related to something as simple as too much heat gel in the device. Get rid of it and your MacBook will cool properly. Unless there isn't too much heat gel...

 

Thanks for the review. I'm doubting to buy the new MacBook, but the heat problem seems to indicate that there is a manufacturing problem. There always seems to be with a new Apple product.

I'm sticking it out to the next revision of the MacBook and buy an iMac instead (and use my old iBook G3 for mobile needs).

Taking screenshots is simple: there is a program in the utilities folder. Also using shift+cmnd+4 key combination gets you a target mouse pointer. Hit the spacebar to highlight the window and press enter. There is a slew of key combinations to be discovered. Like the first time on a Windows machine, yuou have to figure it out.

And I have used a Thinkpad before and hated it; I even threatened to quit my job if they would not provide me with another machine (a HP). Especially that red stick was the source of my discontent; it cramped my fingers and the mouse pointer went all over the place, and I hated the hard cheap plastic and the noise of the keypad

I'm pretty pragmatic when it comes down to machines, but the Thinpad was the only piece of equipemt I really hated with passion

 

Wow, I thought after the fiasco caused by the MacBook Pro Apple would thoroughly test at least the first shipment of these things for horrible heat problems... The Pentium 4-M I'm on right now can stay on my lap for 2 hours without getting that hot...

I hope this gets fixed, because in something without dedicated graphics I just think that kind of thing is unacceptable...

 

The ThinkPad is not thicker... it's only the bigger rubber feet on it that makes it look thicker.... and probably the lack of it is why the macbook runs hot like hell.

 

Great "first impressions" review, although I do regret your bad time with OS X - a lemon maybe? Its been smooth sailing with Mac OS X and my iMac ever since I got it last year.
In addition to thomasmallen's way of getting a screenshot, you might also want to try "Command-Shift-3" - it'll save the screenshot directly to your desktop as a .pdf file (the command icons are the little Apple keys on either side of the spacebar). You also might want to try out "Command-Q" as an alternative to quitting apps. Good luck with the MacBook!

 

They are ridiculous, and completely incorrect. I don't get the, erm, poorly attempted humor, if you can even call it that. Blasphemy.

/rant

Only had that for 24 hours? Excellent job summing all that up into a dense and informational article Andrew.
I'll have to see the keyboard in person; not sure what to think of it from the pics. It's interesting . . and given that you said it was good, I'll take your word for it.

Chaz

 

but it lights up white. I wanted to see a blacklight (i.e. purple).

 

Great review, Andrew!

I can't wait to tell a co-worker who's been using Macs since Lisa about the crashing. He says they just work! Hah! & Muahahahaha!

Customer support is awesome though. He bought a G5 Mac a month before the Macintels came out, but because his desk is covered by feet of paper, he hasn't had the time to clear it to make room for the new Mac. So, of course, the G5 Mac was all of a sudden worth nothing, even though all it's been doing is sitting in the box. I checked Craigslist for him to find probably 50 posts a day at rock-bottom prices.

So, he called Apple, and they agreed to take it back with no restocking fee, and even paid for shipping back! They didn't force him to buy a new Macintel, either. Having learnt from the experience, he's waiting until he clears the desk to order the new Macintel, just in case a spec bump or two happen in the meantime

I hate them so much! It would make me feel embarassed if I owned a Mac. Now that BootCamp is out, my next computer just might be an iMac, so they better cut them out before that!

Malia

 

there much easier ways in the keyboard commands. combinations of shift/ctr/option and 3 and 4 do various captures. very easy. very cool. and much better than anything i am aware of on windows.

 

Print screen - open paint - paste. That's the best way I know of in windows . . if you have a shortcut to paint anywhere, it's even faster.

I have to admit, I'd be interested to try OSX for a day.

Chaz

 

chaz,
you should try it. i use both macs (home, video editing, music production) and i have always had pcs at work. i am sooo much happier on my mac. it is things like this:

save picture of screen as a file
save picture of screen to clipboard
save picture of selected area to a file
save picture of selected area to clipboard

those are all options and you can customize the key commands.

i use it all the time. i often have to send image captures on my pc at work, opening in a paint program simply to crop the image is something that should have gone away years ago. and it did on a mac.

lots of other niceties, ones that even people that "have been using macs for several years" are not aware of, but are sitting right there.

take care.
chris

 

Umm . . . yeah, that comic is just as slanted as those commercials. The way to combat ignorance is not with more ignorance.

The reasons why there are not many viruses for OS X are:
- The Mac userbody is significantly lesser in number. If you're gonna spend precious time ruining people's lives, you want to hit the largest target audience possible.
- OS X is MUCH harder to code in than XP.

Haven't you heard all the war stories? There are COUNTLESS stories of Mac/Linux users making XP viruses just to piss off PC users. And then there are even more stories of XP users trying to write viruses for OS X, and then getting frustrated because they can't understand the coding, and then giving up.

It's just like IE and Firefox; the fact that there are less security vunerablities in Firefox doesn't make it a WORSE browser - if that were the case, no one would use it!

I do agree that the commercials are terrible though.

 

Same can be said about Windows users . .there are so many great keyboard commands that nobody uses. I try to use the mouse as little as possible.

Thanks for the tips Chris, I'm going to see when I can hit the mac store and try out the OSX. I won't buy a mac since I'm a gamer, but still be interesting to see and use at least.

Chaz

 

Rofl Reize. xD! I hate those Adds to. Particularly the stupid one where they have the Mac guy saying he has all this great software packaged with his Mac while PC only has Itunes (MacSoftware).

 

Sounds like you have a faulty unit.

Great screen grab feature - press the caps lock key

Now press Command (apple) - Shift - 4

You will get a crosshair

Let go of those keys and press the spacebar - you will get a camera and the current interface focus (window, menu, dock) will become blue. Move your cursor around to move the blue focus. When you want to take the shot, click the button. You will have a .png screenshot of that interface widget - no need to do a selection rectangle.

 

Nice review. i do not understand why they push the clock that high. Well, I do understand but my own preference would be for a bit less speed and less heat/more battery time.
Anyway, the heat may be reduced by using preferences -> energy saver -> options -> processor performance.

Oh, and I really le-le-le-le... love!..
love those blipverts.

 

I don't know why this is such a big secret...you don't need two buttons when all you have to do is place a second finger down on the touchpad and BOOM! there's your right-click (and multi-directional scrolling). I honestly prefer this to my Asus' 2 button set up any day of the week as it's much more natural and comfortable.

 

He says the PC has clock and calculator, not iTunes. I do think most of the commercials are a bit ignorant focused but hey, some people really do think the idea of using a Mac is so another world and learning to speak another language, etc. and maybe for some of these idiots, they'll help them realize it's not that hard, at all...?? I don't know, maybe I'm crazy.

 

Buying RAM in Apple store istoo expensive.
So I wonder if you could use standard SO-DIMM. Did anybody try using SO-DIMM in a macbook?

 

FYI, the MB and the 17" MBP have a new touchpad feature. The usual one finger tap is the same (acts like a left click) but if you tap with two fingers it acts like a right click. You have to enable the feature in the mouse control panel. The two finger button click also works, but why bother clicking the button? Works great for me.

 

The kernel panic you witnessed had nothing to do with heat. If the machine gets too hot it will shut down.

Kernel panics can be caused by a number of things. 70% of the time it's bad third party RAM, 15% of the times it's a hosed OS (thank goodness with a Mac you're 45 minutes away from a good OS without having to re-install any third party apps and all of your data remains intact), and the other 15% of the time it's due to a true hardware issue (airport card, bluetooth card, failing HD, failing MLB, etc...). It would never be caused by heat. Your "assumption" that is was caused by heat was simply incorrect.

 

alt+print screen copies only the active window. and if you are on multiple monitors IIRC shift+print screen does only the monitor containing the active window.

I always paste into Irfanview instead of paint.



if you buy a real mouse and use it with a mac, is the right button enabled?

 

Yes, the right mouse button will work by default if you connect a two-button mouse to it.

-Zadillo

 

Really nice review! Thanks.

New Mac -- what I like:
* black color
* price
* 13.3"
* resolution (well, maybe not vertical)
* keyboard -- spacing between keys is great

what I dislike:
* keyboard -- there is obviously room for editing keys (pgdn, delete, home, etc) and Apple still ignores fast-typing persons; Apple -- add additional colum at the right, move the rest of keys to the left, space between main part and such column prevents accidental pressing such keys, everybody would win