Went to my local apple store last night to finally get a chance to fiddle with the macbook. What can i say really?
the body looks very identical to the powerbook. i don't know if its a good or a bad thing, but at least it clearly keeps the computer in the family and it doesn't stand out like a black sheep. and the metal is pretty sexy.
things i didn't like:
as always there is only one mouse button. i will never buy a mac until they put a 2nd button in there. even the button they had was excecuted kinda poorly. i didn't feel comfortable pressing it. the keyboard i thought was another low point. i liked the size, an improvement over the powerbooks by far, but when i tried to type i didn't feel comfortable once again, the culprit this time: key travel. they just dont travel far down enough for my tastes. granted the laptop is really thin and they had to give up soem travel space to fit all the parts in, so i can forgive them that, but i wouldn't wanna be caught typing away on it for hours on end.
except for those 2 things, i can't really complain about it much more. i visited the store at the end of the day (7pm) so i assume the computer has been running for a while, because when i got to it, it was pretty warm. not the coldest notebook ever, but overall not too bad, "market average" if you will.
the size and the weight for 15" however surprised me, quite mobile. I mean, my uniwill is considered pretty damn thin (although not light) for the 15" seigment, but the macbook is just anaraxic compared to anything else.
prices scared me. although the base model ($1700) is ok, the top model ($2500) made me shit my pants. but then again, its traditional apple "boutique" pricing, and does not take away from the computer itself, just from the number of sales its gonna see.
with use it felt pretty snappy, but then again i haven't gamed on it. but its a mac, not really ment for gaming in teh first place.
verdict: huge step up from the powerbook. there is still room to improve (keyboard, 2nd mouse button) but overall not a bad package.
highs: size, weight, style
lows: keyboard
rank (1-worst 10-best): 7.5
the body looks very identical to the powerbook. i don't know if its a good or a bad thing, but at least it clearly keeps the computer in the family and it doesn't stand out like a black sheep. and the metal is pretty sexy.
things i didn't like:
as always there is only one mouse button. i will never buy a mac until they put a 2nd button in there. even the button they had was excecuted kinda poorly. i didn't feel comfortable pressing it. the keyboard i thought was another low point. i liked the size, an improvement over the powerbooks by far, but when i tried to type i didn't feel comfortable once again, the culprit this time: key travel. they just dont travel far down enough for my tastes. granted the laptop is really thin and they had to give up soem travel space to fit all the parts in, so i can forgive them that, but i wouldn't wanna be caught typing away on it for hours on end.
except for those 2 things, i can't really complain about it much more. i visited the store at the end of the day (7pm) so i assume the computer has been running for a while, because when i got to it, it was pretty warm. not the coldest notebook ever, but overall not too bad, "market average" if you will.
the size and the weight for 15" however surprised me, quite mobile. I mean, my uniwill is considered pretty damn thin (although not light) for the 15" seigment, but the macbook is just anaraxic compared to anything else.
prices scared me. although the base model ($1700) is ok, the top model ($2500) made me shit my pants. but then again, its traditional apple "boutique" pricing, and does not take away from the computer itself, just from the number of sales its gonna see.
with use it felt pretty snappy, but then again i haven't gamed on it. but its a mac, not really ment for gaming in teh first place.
verdict: huge step up from the powerbook. there is still room to improve (keyboard, 2nd mouse button) but overall not a bad package.
highs: size, weight, style
lows: keyboard
rank (1-worst 10-best): 7.5
.... Nevertheless its nice u gave macbook at leat 7.5 - thats passing grade 
