Got my MacBook today... A review from a "new switcher"

[animefx]

13.3" Black MacBook 2.0ghz - 512 MB RAM - 100 GIG SATA HD

The FedEx truck was nice enough to come by a 2nd time after she had tried earlier in the day when I was at work.

I enjoyed opening the box and sorting through the nicely wrapped hardware. The initial setup was easier than any Windows or Linux setup I've ever used. I've been using the MacBook on my livingroom table the entire night, sometimes plugged in, and sometimes not. It has made no mooing or buzzing sounds at all. The heat isn't bad either... most of the time I don't even notice it, sometimes its a bit warm in the upper left corner, but even if I left my hand on it I don't think it would burn me. I've ran several programs at once and the fan kicked on once noticably, but it was quiter than any PC I've ever had/used. It wasn't an unpleasant sound at all. The fan slowed down or stopped after a minute of running.

For the record, I haven't installed my 2 gigs of ram yet, I'm running stock 512 MB or ram at the moment, and its plenty fast to do several basic tasks at once. I know it will be a lot quicker when i install the ram tomorrow.

As for the keyboard, I was REALLY afraid that I was going to hate it. For the first 15 or 20 minutes I wasn't sure what I thought of it... but now I'm typing in the dark and quickly without error and its THE BEST notebook/laptop keyboard I've ever used BY FAR. Trust me, don't think about it too much... Just look at the screen and let yours instincts tell you where everything is.

The large track pad is also a welcome bonus. I went into the preferences and checked the option to double click when I click the mouse button and have two fingers on the track pad.

The screen I have yet to test outside in the daylight, but inside/indoors its beautiful. The verticle resolution is the same as my 17" LCD and the text is very crisp and easy to read, and I'm someone that uses glasses. The brightness is very nice, although not quite as bright as my Sony X-Brite LCD, which I sometimes consider overkill for brigthness.

The black matte finish on the body of the laptop is high quality. I do not regret spending the extra $150 for the look. The Apple on the backside of the screen glows a bright white which adds to the notebooks class.

Overall, I have nothing "bad" to say about this notebook. This is by far the best computer I've ever had, and I'm glad that this was my first Apple computer. I give it a 9/10.

I hope this review was helpful to someone.

btw- I'm installed azereus, but every time I try and run it, it simply shows up in the dock breifly and then quickly goes away. I tried installing Java, but it said I had the latest version already installed. Could anyone help me out?

[berkleeboy210]

Nice Review - I'm ordering my Black MacBook Tomorrow, once my MBP is sold (MB will be much better to travel with) - Can't decide whether I want to up the Internal HD or just buy an External HD.

[Lebowski]

sorry but i think gloss black is the worst thing apple has ever done.

very 80's looking, and shows every mark, fingerprint and imperfection.

[Chundles]

sorry but i think gloss black is the worst thing apple has ever done.

very 80's looking, and shows every mark, fingerprint and imperfection.

It's matte black, not glossy black.

[Lebowski]

It's matte black, not glossy black.

whatever, still hideous.

part of the "cool" factor with apple products, is not looking like EVERY other product out there......

but now they are intel, AND black to boot. SWEET!

[Blackheart]

Congrats on the 'book!

Try out Bits on Wheels (http://www.bitsonwheels.com/) instead of Azureus, it's a native OS X torrent app.

[Sutekidane]

whatever, still hideous.

part of the "cool" factor with apple products, is not looking like EVERY other product out there......

but now they are intel, AND black to boot. SWEET!

It's really all a matter of preference, but people are raving at being able to choose a black apple notebook.

[TonySwartz]

I'm in the same boat as you are -- FedEx dropped it off today and I don't regret it! It isn't running hot or being noisy at all (I transferred about 3,000 songs at once into iTunes and opened around 600 folders on accident while doing so -- didn't hear a fan or anything turn on...).

[cloudblood84]

I'm in the same boat as you are -- FedEx dropped it off today and I don't regret it! It isn't running hot or being noisy at all (I transferred about 3,000 songs at once into iTunes and opened around 600 folders on accident while doing so -- didn't hear a fan or anything turn on...).

ive heard my fan once in the past week that ive owned mine

[applemacdude]

most annoying thing about is the heat... one can live with it though

[gnasher729]

sorry but i think gloss black is the worst thing apple has ever done.

very 80's looking, and shows every mark, fingerprint and imperfection.

Just as well then that it costs $150 extra to stop people buying it.

[mainframe]

good review :)
im glad you like your first mac!

now as for the person that was whinging about the black macbook.
dont like it? - don't buy it. rather simple.

i personally have ordered the black one for a few reasons:-

*one being that it has a matte finish
*that while it may show finger oils it wont show as much gunk as my white mac desktop keyboard does after a short while.
* my colour scheme is silver, black and blue.(since black is the only colour on the list, its the one im going for) it is all i wear and i prefer it if my gadgets fit into my personal style. i am aware that other people wont have this as a reason but it is a big one to me - white just wont cut it for me in that respect.
*white in my opinion can at times seem a bit toy'ish.
* it is replacing both the ibook AAANNDDD the 12" powerbook (which i have traded in for this baby). so its only natural that they have one model for a more professional and corporate feel while still retaining a sleek body and distinct apple logo...you may think it looks like other notebooks, but ALOT of the notebooks i see by pc vendors, aside from being hideous chunks of sticker covered poorly designed crap - tend to be silver or grey....some even white now. ibm thinkpads and hp are about the only ones that still have a black notebook...and even then they look nothing like this in terms of shape or design.

i also like how the isigt camera blends in with the black, and im not too fond of the white one having a white keyboard but neutral grey plastic interior....they look odd being different colours. but i havent seen one in person so meh.


and in the end - it is all personal choice.
some people will want the black - others will want the white.
apple has used that in the best way to make money for themselves - they ARE a company after all. and lets give them credit where it is due, it IS rather smart of them to price the different one higher.

suffice to say, in the end it all comes down to options.
the more of those - the better.

[MACDRIVE]

The black matte finish on the body of the laptop is high quality. I do not regret spending the extra $150 for the look.

Are you saying that there is a separate Matte Black version apart from the Gloss Black version?

[AmnesiacOpera]

Are you saying that there is a separate Matte Black version apart from the Gloss Black version?

There is no gloss black Macbook. There are gloss white and matte black versions.

[Abulia]

* my colour scheme is silver, black and blue.You have a color scheme?

LMAO! :D

[Chrispy]

After seeing the black one in person I agree that it looks sharp. The new keyboard looks really nice in black. If I did get one it would be white tho... not because of the look but because of the price.

[moesker007]

Great review! I just got mine yesterday, i got the white model with a 100GB and 1GB ram, my fredex lady was also nice, i was at school when it came, but i ran into a FedEx truck downtown and was talking on the phone and saw the truck and told the person i was tlaking to that i hope my laptop gets delivered today, she overheard and called me over and i got the laptop! I was really surprised of the luck i had lol. I also am undecided on the screen, indoors it's beauitful! The built in isight is also very fun, makes my friends with PC laptop jealous of photobooth lol.Actually one friend of mine is looking to get one now, after he saw mine. The keyboard i thought would be weird at first, but now i really enjoy it.This is by far my most favorite mac,(Macbook, iBookG4, PowerBook12", iBookG3, Powerbook Wallstreet), i have no complaints about it! Just wanting to add my 2 cents on the greatness of this laptop!

[livingfortoday]

That's great to hear! For Azureus, you'll want to get their Intel Mac build, available here:
http://azureus.aelitis.com/wiki/index.php/Intel_Macs

Works great on my Intel Mini. Have fun with your new MacBook!

[animefx]

Thats good to hear... I'm glad you guys are enjoying your MacBooks as well.

I'm thinking that the Fed Ex employees secretly know that we are getting MacBooks and they are all Apple fans! ;)

I also needed to clear up something about my choice of color. I think that the Gloss White body is still very attractive, but I still decided to go with the matte black because my glossy black iPod Nano is really very super scratched up (yes, its my fault I know) and in general, matte finishes don't scratch as badly depending on the quality of finish. The only disadvantage is if the black matte MacBook DOES get badly scratched, it won't be possible to "buff" out with brasso.

I went to the UPS building today and picked up the 2 gigs of ram I ordered... I will be installing that in my MacBook tonight.

[B-Line]

Im with you on the black macbook. I ordered black so it WOULD blend in with every other laptop and not stick out like a sore thumb. I also think it looks more professional... but to each their own. Congrats on the purchase! If only FedEx could ship faster...

[killmoms]

i also like how the isigt camera blends in with the black, and im not too fond of the white one having a white keyboard but neutral grey plastic interior....they look odd being different colours. but i havent seen one in person so meh.
Clearly you haven't. They're all white, all over. You're thinking of the previous iBooks.

[mainframe]

no.. they arent white all over, actually. the interior plastic is still a grey colour with the keyboard white


and yes, i do have a colourscheme :P

[Abulia]

no.. they arent white all over, actually. the interior plastic is still a grey colour with the keyboard white


and yes, i do have a colourscheme :PDo you have a theme song, too? ;)

[sam10685]

* it is replacing both the ibook AAANNDDD the 12" powerbook (which i have traded in for this baby).

i have a 12" Powerbook and i SO badly want a black macbook. how and where did u trade yours in?

[slffl]

Not a fan of the black either. Every single PC laptop is black, whats the big deal? At least a color would have been nice. And with the material it's made out of, some designs would have been even better.

Just curious why you gave it a 9/10?

[mainframe]

and i traded it in at an applecentre in sydney.
but i have to pay the difference, its not as if i could just swap them... i wish :P

[danny_w]

I'm glad everybody is liking their Macbooks. They look like such sweet machines! I didn't think that I would like the black finish at all based on the photos I have seen, but in person it was a different story. It looks so much nice than I had expected, and nothing at all like a black PC. I still haven't seen the white one though. I'm toying with the idea of selling my 15" PB for one, even though I really don't need it in the least; the PB does everything I need and more, plus I have my iMac. Guess I'll just have to stay away from this forum and stores for a while until my desire dies down. Yeah, right.

[mainframe]

I'm glad everybody is liking their Macbooks. They look like such sweet machines! I didn't think that I would like the black finish at all based on the photos I have seen, but in person it was a different story. It looks so much nice than I had expected, and nothing at all like a black PC. I still haven't seen the white one though. I'm toying with the idea of selling my 15" PB for one, even though I really don't need it in the least; the PB does everything I need and more, plus I have my iMac. Guess I'll just have to stay away from this forum and stores for a while until my desire dies down. Yeah, right.


aww, go for it :D

[macdaddy121]

i thought most pc laptops were silver now. Am I wrong. I checked out Dell, hp, sony, and gateway and most of them are silver or black and silver. It looks like HP has switched to the black look but they have been a silver or dark grey look in the past year. Check it out. I don't know why everyone is saying that pc laptops are black because I'm pretty sure most laptops aren't black anymore.

[mainframe]

i thought most pc laptops were silver now. Am I wrong. I checked out Dell, hp, sony, and gateway and most of them are silver or black and silver. It looks like HP has switched to the black look but they have been a silver or dark grey look in the past year. Check it out. I don't know why everyone is saying that pc laptops are black because I'm pretty sure most laptops aren't black anymore.


exactly.
while all the pcs are trying to emulate apple by going silver and white etc, most of them have left black alone...one line of hp and the ibm thinkpads are about the only black ones i know of...and even then, you'd have to be stupid to confuse them for one of these

[macdaddy121]

exactly.
while all the pcs are trying to emulate apple by going silver and white etc, most of them have left black alone...one line of hp and the ibm thinkpads are about the only black ones i know of...and even then, you'd have to be stupid to confuse them for one of these


I wonder if the glowing white apple on the back of the screen helps? ;)

[celebrian23]

I guess the days of choosing a color just because you like it better and not because it might have the same color as the competition are gone :rolleyes:

[mainframe]

I guess the days of choosing a color just because you like it better and not because it might have the same color as the competition are gone :rolleyes:


i chose black because of personal preference.
i dont care if people mistake it for something it isnt.

im sure many other people did the same

[iPC]

exactly.
while all the pcs are trying to emulate apple by going silver and white etc, most of them have left black alone...one line of hp and the ibm thinkpads are about the only black ones i know of...and even then, you'd have to be stupid to confuse them for one of these
IBM does not make laptops anymore.... ;)

[mashinhead]

no.. they arent white all over, actually. the interior plastic is still a grey colour with the keyboard white


and yes, i do have a colourscheme :P

Here are my thoughts. I like the black, but only closed, i don't like the interior. when i first saw the pics on the net, the white looked all white, which i liked, but in person its just like the ibook materials, which i hated. If it had been all white it would have been much cooler, even matte white finish on the outside would have been nice. But the black i think its grown on me a bit. But i think i really think it only looks good closed and i mostly look at it open. Wish they had mad and aluminum version though. Love the keys on them. But i will get one, probably white cos of the price. I have to see the black in person still. I wish the bezel around the screen wasn't so thin either. I really like the user replacable Hd, great feature.

[animefx]

i give it a 9/10 because the sound quality through the speakers isn't the greatest even for a notebook/laptop, and the minor heat issue.