Engadget review of late 2009 macbook: FAIL

[GoCubsGo]

^ Remember, these are laptops on display. People are generally rougher with them because there will be no consequence. I do recall going into Apple once and trying to jolt their SMS. I would never do that on purpose on my own machine.

However, if the wear and tear is exactly as described there then I would say it is too soon for it to look that bad. Even after a week.

 

[thefaceless]

Well, mine arrived a few hours ago. Time to see how it goes - if it starts to look bad really quickly then I can always take advantage of the return period.

A bit surprised by the screen though - I was expecting tons of reflections from the glossy display, but in my regular room lighting there aren't any at all.

 

[Unspoken Demise]

Well, mine arrived a few hours ago. Time to see how it goes - if it starts to look bad really quickly then I can always take advantage of the return period.

A bit surprised by the screen though - I was expecting tons of reflections from the glossy display, but in my regular room lighting there aren't any at all.

Could I bother you for a few pics when you have a chance? Maybe after a few hours of use?

 

[GoCubsGo]

Well, mine arrived a few hours ago. Time to see how it goes - if it starts to look bad really quickly then I can always take advantage of the return period.

A bit surprised by the screen though - I was expecting tons of reflections from the glossy display, but in my regular room lighting there aren't any at all.

Can you tell us what panel you have?
You should be able to find it by going to system prefs, display, color, calibrated LCD, open profile, number 13 information.

 

[uberamd]

-No price drop

Oh well? Did they really expect a price drop? Why would the price drop?

-Scratches easily: "t scratches like crazy. Seriously -- all we've really done with our review unit is take it out of the box, snap some photos, and move it around the office for a day, and the top looks like it's been attacked by a bear."

I just find this hard to believe I would need to see it myself.

-Rubberized bottom discolors and shows dirt easily.

This seems possible, but how dirty are the surfaces at Engadget? Really?

-Dim lcd display: "We didn't notice the difference in day-to-day usage, but we did notice that it's rather dim -- to the point where we initially assumed the max brightness setting was only halfway up. It's still a nice screen, don't get us wrong; we just wish it was a little brighter."

This would be frusturating, I definitely do not ever want a dim display, my Dell screens have driven me away and my bright uMBP 17" screen is amazing.

-Dropping of firewire and lack of other features.

The main group I see with the white MacBook are college students on my campus, and never once have I personally seen anyone use Firewire.

-Lack of blu-ray: "[W]hile we've sort of given up expecting it, it's hard not to notice that lots of other thousand-dollar laptops have BD drives."

Get over the blu-ray already!

 

[thefaceless]

Can you tell us what panel you have?
You should be able to find it by going to system prefs, display, color, calibrated LCD, open profile, number 13 information.

This?

And unfortunately I can't take any pics Unspoken because I don't have a camera with me at uni. Sorry.

 

[Richard1028]

Could I bother you for a few pics when you have a chance? Maybe after a few hours of use?

People: the macbook isn't going to mysteriously get all scratched up just sitting there. It should be no different from the older whitebook. And god only knows what the gorillas at endgadget were doing with theirs.

 

[Unspoken Demise]

People: the macbook isn't going to mysteriously get all scratched up just sitting there. It should be no different from the older whitebook. And god only knows what the gorillas at endgadget were doing with theirs.

I recognize that. I just wanted to see it in someone's home, brand new, away from the prying hands of filthy 13 year olds and their cheeto riddled hands, and ignorant shoppers with no respect for a company's show room models.

 

[dyn]

I don't understand why people keep saying that, no its clearly is NOT. FW 800 is on many devices, and is very common in Apple's line up. Other then the MacBook, its just as common as FW 400 was back in the PPC days.

Lack of FW is one big thing holding me back from the new MacBook

Not everybody wants firewire or even needs firewire. In some countries firewire stuff is hard to get as usb is far more popular (pc's are more popular than Macs in those countries and those machines mostly don't come with firewire). When I'm looking at my stuff at home and what a lot of other people are using I'm actually the only one with a firewire device (an fw400 external hdd). Nowadays you see a lot more NAS devices than DAS and if you see DAS it's the cheaper and much easier to get usb2 drives.

Apart from that most people don't even use such devices with their laptops since they don't carry such devices along with them. They use usb for their mouse (you can use the Magic Mouse to free up a usb port as it uses bluetooth) and for the usb key to transfer files. They might hookup a camera or a cardreader that reads CF and SD (and not just SD rendering it unusable for people who only have a dslr using CF (and that's quite a lot of people!)). Both devices can be hooked up using usb. Again, no need for firewire.

Firewire just isn't all that common as some people seem to think. Firewire is mostly used in the pro-audio/video world and some hdd's but most consumers don't know about it and/or don't use it. Usb wins it hands on when looking at popularity and the amount of devices that use it. For a consumer notebook such as the MacBook there really is no reason to include firewire. Yes, there will be some consumers disappointed with it because they are the happy few that actually use firewire but they are not the majority.

Same thing goes for the remote. Since the new keyboards with the multimedia keys on them there is not really a need for the remote. Before the new keyboards that remote was actually the only thing that had any multimedia keys so it made sense. Some people use the remote for their presentation but this can be done without it (press the spacebar or something similar which has the advantage of you not standing there as a bag of beans throughout your presentation) or with an alternative (Logitech Presenter for example).

The lack of firewire and IR port are really not much of an issue, the dim display however is quite a big issue as it affects the actual use of the MacBook. The question remains if the screen is bright enough to be useful in most situations. Build quality of the plastic and rubber used for the MacBook is key as well.

Btw: comparing things with a showroom model is not very smart as it's commonly known that those things go through an awful lot of abuse. The only thing what is good for is as a quality check to see how your notebook may look like after 5 years of (ab)use.

 

[Richard1028]

I just wanted to see it in someone's home, brand new, away from the prying hands of filthy 13 year olds and their cheeto riddled hands, and ignorant shoppers with no respect for a company's show room models.

Yeah, I know what you mean.

Personally, I wouldn't get one until the skin vendors have caught on that there's a new macbook out.

 

[GoCubsGo]

This?

And unfortunately I can't take any pics Unspoken because I don't have a camera with me at uni. Sorry.

Yes thank you. the reason for this is as people report various screen issues/kudos whatever, I'd like to kind of compare. The 9CBE screen is not one I've noticed lingering around here.

 

[CrackedButter]

Not everybody wants firewire or even needs firewire. In some countries firewire stuff is hard to get as usb is far more popular (pc's are more popular than Macs in those countries and those machines mostly don't come with firewire). When I'm looking at my stuff at home and what a lot of other people are using I'm actually the only one with a firewire device (an fw400 external hdd). Nowadays you see a lot more NAS devices than DAS and if you see DAS it's the cheaper and much easier to get usb2 drives.

Apart from that most people don't even use such devices with their laptops since they don't carry such devices along with them. They use usb for their mouse (you can use the Magic Mouse to free up a usb port as it uses bluetooth) and for the usb key to transfer files. They might hookup a camera or a cardreader that reads CF and SD (and not just SD rendering it unusable for people who only have a dslr using CF (and that's quite a lot of people!)). Both devices can be hooked up using usb. Again, no need for firewire.

Firewire just isn't all that common as some people seem to think. Firewire is mostly used in the pro-audio/video world and some hdd's but most consumers don't know about it and/or don't use it. Usb wins it hands on when looking at popularity and the amount of devices that use it. For a consumer notebook such as the MacBook there really is no reason to include firewire. Yes, there will be some consumers disappointed with it because they are the happy few that actually use firewire but they are not the majority.

Same thing goes for the remote. Since the new keyboards with the multimedia keys on them there is not really a need for the remote. Before the new keyboards that remote was actually the only thing that had any multimedia keys so it made sense. Some people use the remote for their presentation but this can be done without it (press the spacebar or something similar which has the advantage of you not standing there as a bag of beans throughout your presentation) or with an alternative (Logitech Presenter for example).

The lack of firewire and IR port are really not much of an issue, the dim display however is quite a big issue as it affects the actual use of the MacBook. The question remains if the screen is bright enough to be useful in most situations. Build quality of the plastic and rubber used for the MacBook is key as well.

Thats your subjective view, I see Firewire everywhere.

 

[HiWhatsUpNothin]

I ordered a new macbook the day they came out, got it on thur, and I'm very happy with it, i have absolutely no marks on it, ive thrown it in my back pack (I'm a college student) and moved it around my desk/house/campus and it has no marks scratches or chips.

I bought it because i dont have anything that is firewire 800 and my rebel xt uses a compact flash card so the sd card slot was pointless to me. I also feel that if you need to look down to type thats a big problem of your own (backlit keyboard) so i bought what i needed and i feel like a got a good deal, Larger hd same processor speed, etc. I also prefer the white over the aluminum which gathers scratches and dents like its its job.

I bought what i wanted and needed and I'm very happy with my purchase.

Edit: I upgraded from an early 2007 white macbook because the logic board died.

 

[dubels]

I wish apple will put Blu-Ray drives on their laptops, and desktops. The HD drive battle has long since been over and everyone is using them. It would be nice to be able to take a macbook outside with me when I enjoy a cigar and be able to watch my blu-ray netflix instead of renting DVDs just to enjoy a cigar. I guess I will be waiting until my current macbook dies or until they put a Blu-ray drive in to upgrade.

 

[dyn]

Thats your subjective view, I see Firewire everywhere.

Not quite because when I check the stores around here the only firewire stuff I see are a couple of camcorders, hdd's and Macs. All the other digicams, external hdd's, camcorders, computers, etc. are usb only. This may be a bit of a chicken-egg problem but the fact is that firewire stuff is more expensive due to licensing that most people don't buy them. Because not many buy firewire devices there is not much reason for stores to put firewire devices in their collection. With not much firewire devices in stores people can't buy a lot of those devices.

In the USA Apple has a big market share regarding computers but in other parts of the world this is not true. In the Netherlands it's mostly Microsoft Windows and MSN, not MacOS X and AIM. Estimates are that Microsoft has a market share of about 95% to 99% on the Dutch market. Unfortunately firewire is not something you'll find on most machines. People tend to buy cheap Windows laptops and nearly all of them don't have firewire (remember that firewire is expensive due to licensing, if you want to save on price you leave out firewire because of that; firewire hdd's can cost 50 euro more than the usb2 version...guess what consumers do...). Since those Windows machines are the biggest part of the market a lot of companies tend to aim at those users. That means they won't bring out firewire devices a lot because most Windows computers don't have that. The return on investment is really low, it probably isn't profitable enough.
Other countries have a similar situation.

Your story may work for the USA and where you live/work/study but it doesn't apply to the rest of the world that mostly consist of Windows machines lacking firewire (because without it they are cheaper).

 

[Jpoon]

Not everybody wants firewire or even needs firewire. In some countries firewire stuff is hard to get as usb is far more popular (pc's are more popular than Macs in those countries and those machines mostly don't come with firewire). When I'm looking at my stuff at home and what a lot of other people are using I'm actually the only one with a firewire device (an fw400 external hdd). Nowadays you see a lot more NAS devices than DAS and if you see DAS it's the cheaper and much easier to get usb2 drives.

Apart from that most people don't even use such devices with their laptops since they don't carry such devices along with them. They use usb for their mouse (you can use the Magic Mouse to free up a usb port as it uses bluetooth) and for the usb key to transfer files. They might hookup a camera or a cardreader that reads CF and SD (and not just SD rendering it unusable for people who only have a dslr using CF (and that's quite a lot of people!)). Both devices can be hooked up using usb. Again, no need for firewire.

Firewire just isn't all that common as some people seem to think. Firewire is mostly used in the pro-audio/video world and some hdd's but most consumers don't know about it and/or don't use it. Usb wins it hands on when looking at popularity and the amount of devices that use it. For a consumer notebook such as the MacBook there really is no reason to include firewire. Yes, there will be some consumers disappointed with it because they are the happy few that actually use firewire but they are not the majority.

Same thing goes for the remote. Since the new keyboards with the multimedia keys on them there is not really a need for the remote. Before the new keyboards that remote was actually the only thing that had any multimedia keys so it made sense. Some people use the remote for their presentation but this can be done without it (press the spacebar or something similar which has the advantage of you not standing there as a bag of beans throughout your presentation) or with an alternative (Logitech Presenter for example).

The lack of firewire and IR port are really not much of an issue, the dim display however is quite a big issue as it affects the actual use of the MacBook. The question remains if the screen is bright enough to be useful in most situations. Build quality of the plastic and rubber used for the MacBook is key as well.

Btw: comparing things with a showroom model is not very smart as it's commonly known that those things go through an awful lot of abuse. The only thing what is good for is as a quality check to see how your notebook may look like after 5 years of (ab)use.

The point is, that we're paying 999$ MSRP for a notebook. Apple has constantly cut features and accessories that were previously standard in other models. Just because a feature isn't widely used doesn't mean it isn't used at all, which is why some legacy customers would like to see the continuation of those features. It's in our right to express our opinion on what we would like to see in the future.

Don't get me wrong, it's a respectable laptop overall. There are just things about it that could have been improved, or could be improved by the second revision. There's nothing wrong with a bit of dialog discussing the shortcomings.

 

[CrackedButter]

Not quite because when I check the stores around here the only firewire stuff I see are a couple of camcorders, hdd's and Macs. All the other digicams, external hdd's, camcorders, computers, etc. are usb only. This may be a bit of a chicken-egg problem but the fact is that firewire stuff is more expensive due to licensing that most people don't buy them. Because not many buy firewire devices there is not much reason for stores to put firewire devices in their collection. With not much firewire devices in stores people can't buy a lot of those devices.

In the USA Apple has a big market share regarding computers but in other parts of the world this is not true. In the Netherlands it's mostly Microsoft Windows and MSN, not MacOS X and AIM. Estimates are that Microsoft has a market share of about 95% to 99% on the Dutch market. Unfortunately firewire is not something you'll find on most machines. People tend to buy cheap Windows laptops and nearly all of them don't have firewire (remember that firewire is expensive due to licensing, if you want to save on price you leave out firewire because of that; firewire hdd's can cost 50 euro more than the usb2 version...guess what consumers do...). Since those Windows machines are the biggest part of the market a lot of companies tend to aim at those users. That means they won't bring out firewire devices a lot because most Windows computers don't have that. The return on investment is really low, it probably isn't profitable enough.
Other countries have a similar situation.

Your story may work for the USA and where you live/work/study but it doesn't apply to the rest of the world that mostly consist of Windows machines lacking firewire (because without it they are cheaper).

Your last reply is still subjective backed up with estimates without citing sources, look up 'subjective' in the dictionary to understand what I mean. I don't check stores btw, they all stock the cheap crap. Firewire is alive and well in online stores from 3rd party hard drives and computer manufacturers.

Btw I live in Europe and in the UK alone Dell sell 9 machines with Firewire. Do a search on their site with the keyword. 14 machines from PC world sell computers with firewire (and I've been careful not to count the same machines from Dells website). Again just a keyword search. We also know SONY use Firewire in their machines.

I would like to point out that licensing isn't the reason why Firewire costs more. Apple haven't charged for the use of Firewire in years, inertia and an even lower cost has brought USB2 forward. But Firewire is expensive as you state, but its probably because of component costs, like the fact that it has higher power requirements and actual hardware controllers, USB offloads those onto the main CPU. This is why the iPod stopped using Firewire. Stop spreading myths, there are plenty of computers with firewire (in fact more pc's are equipped with firewire than Macs if you stop to think about it) and licensing isn't an issue, hasn't been for years.

One wonders how e-sata is still around with your logic since even less Macs have it as a port.

 

[clyde2801]

The point is, that we're paying 999$ MSRP for a notebook. Apple has constantly cut features and accessories that were previously standard in other models. Just because a feature isn't widely used doesn't mean it isn't used at all, which is why some legacy customers would like to see the continuation of those features. It's in our right to express our opinion on what we would like to see in the future.

Don't get me wrong, it's a respectable laptop overall. There are just things about it that could have been improved, or could be improved by the second revision. There's nothing wrong with a bit of dialog discussing the shortcomings.

AGATA: Apple Giveth, Apple Taketh Away

 

[darngooddesign]

I wish apple will put Blu-Ray drives on their laptops, and desktops. The HD drive battle has long since been over and everyone is using them. It would be nice to be able to take a macbook outside with me when I enjoy a cigar and be able to watch my blu-ray netflix instead of renting DVDs just to enjoy a cigar. I guess I will be waiting until my current macbook dies or until they put a Blu-ray drive in to upgrade.

Here is an example of something that's subjective.

I'm waiting for the next video format so i don't want a power hog of a blue-ray drive in my laptop. Plus, I also don't want an optical drive that obsoletes any of my archived disks or my regular videos.

Regular DVD please, and external BR only.

 

[mashinhead]

Just asking: Do you think that that day on the show floor was user created damage or just normal open, play, close, open, play?

I really want a laptop, and I've been leaning towards an laptop, but I'd rather get a pro anyhow.

Im just curious on your opinion of the complaints Engadget brought up in this review, seeing as you are an independent opinion. I havent seen them in stores.

yea i think it was from normal usage. if you're concerned about how it looks i would wait until cases come out, the hardshell ones. and now, because its unibody the inside palm rests are for the first time, the same glossy plastic material as the shell, which is prone to scratching.

 

[GeekGirl*]

This?

And unfortunately I can't take any pics Unspoken because I don't have a camera with me at uni. Sorry.

mine has the same screen its beautiful nicer then my MBP

 

[DPB17]

When my friend sent me a photo of one of these new macbooks I thought it was a joke! They look absolutely horrible.

 

[darngooddesign]

When my friend sent me a photo of one of these new macbooks I thought it was a joke! They look absolutely horrible.

When I saw one in person, I thought they looked great.

 

[GeekGirl*]

When my friend sent me a photo of one of these new macbooks I thought it was a joke! They look absolutely horrible.

I think its beautiful, now the MBP to me they are fugly I hope they change them in the next two years.

 

[thefaceless]

Owned mine for a couple of days now, and I still love it - and no, despite Engadget's review, it is not scratched and the USB ports, despite me constantly switching what was in them, are not at all damaged.

...Unfortunately I think I'm going to have to send it back anyway, as I seem to be one of those people who can't handle LED backlighting. Pretty much constant headaches