I thought I'd post a review on my new Aluminum MacBook.
First, a little history.
The ghosts of notebooks past:
We all know how that ended.
I have always had a pact with myself that future laptops must be lighter than my last one. This severly limited my pool of suitable notebooks. I had a 5 lb notebook in the late 90s, I didn't want to downgade to something heavy and annoying.
Eventually the intel macs came out. And there was a new macbook. That eliminated the physical latch. I wanted that feature in a metal notebook. So I thought, well the new MBPs can't be far behind with that feature........
So many times while waiting I thougt I shoulf take the plunge into a new notebook. But I knew that as much as I wanted a metal notebook, it would be overkill for my modest needs.... so I stayed on the fence.
A few weeks ago my situation was looking moe urgent, to replace my ibook.
1. My hard drive was down to ~3GB
2. I was looking for a few 3rd party apps and the 10.3 versions were few and far between
So I returned to the same level of obsession I had a few years ago and began checking the rumor sites religiously (like I did while awaiting those G5 powerbooks). I saw the rumors new notebooks would be out in September, then October. I told myself no matter what, I'll buy a MacBook in October.
Stuff I really wanted:
1. metal case
2. multitouch gestures
These were the features that made me question my decision to go MacBook. My wallet on the other hand said....get a MacBook, save your money for accessories.
On October 14th, Apple made the decision for me, the Aluminum MacBook had all of my must have features as well as my top desires.
Now that I have had my computer for nearly 2 weeks, I hought I'd be able to give it a far and thoughtful review. I owuld have posted this in the other threads, but they all seemed to turn into gripefests.
First impressions on the new features (and the new to me features)
1. The construction feels sturdy
2. My notebook is in perfect condition, I didn't have an misallignment or keyboard issues
3. I love the new battery indicator on the side
4. The magsafe power adapter is really cool
5. The packaging was top-notch, as usual
6. The pictures don't really showcase the sleekness and attractiveness of the notebook
7. It didn't take long to adjust to the new keyboard
8. I love the new trackpad!!!!
Transitioning from Panther and XP
As you can imagine, my iBook started to feel pretty slow. Things like loading too many movies or graphics heavy web pages were really taxing my computer, and I always had the dreaded spinning beachball with too many browser windows. As for the work Dell? Browsing is pretty snappy, once all of the apps load. But there are other slowdowns, Outlook 07 and my other applications. This can be a bit annoying so I was looking forward to something speedier.
Big changes from panther:
Spotlight
New System Preferences Panel
New UI for Mail
Stacks
Here is the bad:
Office 2008 seems to be unstable. The first few launches crashed, but it seems to be running OK now.
Leopard is flakier than Panther. I have had a few slowdowns that required a restart. This is weird. But now it seems like my MacBook is happy, and I can start keeping it sleeping
Dashboard has crashed/lost connecton a few times. I think some widgets might be buggy, so I cut back on my Widgets. I like the idea though and I have the iStatPro and weather widgets installed. I killed Twitter and Facebook since they didn't seem to work well.
The migration wizard does not work with panther? This is a total bummer, and I am still trying to get my keychain over to my new mac.
That is ridiculous, and I am disappointed Apple left panther users out, since I am sure there are plenty of them who will trade in old hardware now.
Cool Apps I am using:
The verdict?
I love the size, form factor, battery life, overall system, but I wish Leopard was as stable as Panther. Even though it has been a year, it doesn't feel entirely finished to me. Hopefully things continue to improve over the next few weeks and my rating will increase. But I am glad I upgraded now. This RevA machine looks to be doing pretty well out of the gate.
First, a little history.
The ghosts of notebooks past:
- Everex - weighed about 7 lbs, Win 95
- Sony Vaio (one of the first ones!) - weighed about 5.4 lbs, Win 98
- Compaq (borrowed from my parents) - weighed about 6.5 lbs
- 12"PB (provided by work) running 10.2, later 10.3
- 12"iBook
- Now @ work: Dell Insipron, 5.5 lbs
- Now: 2.0 Aluminum Macbook
We all know how that ended.
I have always had a pact with myself that future laptops must be lighter than my last one. This severly limited my pool of suitable notebooks. I had a 5 lb notebook in the late 90s, I didn't want to downgade to something heavy and annoying.
Eventually the intel macs came out. And there was a new macbook. That eliminated the physical latch. I wanted that feature in a metal notebook. So I thought, well the new MBPs can't be far behind with that feature........
So many times while waiting I thougt I shoulf take the plunge into a new notebook. But I knew that as much as I wanted a metal notebook, it would be overkill for my modest needs.... so I stayed on the fence.
A few weeks ago my situation was looking moe urgent, to replace my ibook.
1. My hard drive was down to ~3GB
2. I was looking for a few 3rd party apps and the 10.3 versions were few and far between
So I returned to the same level of obsession I had a few years ago and began checking the rumor sites religiously (like I did while awaiting those G5 powerbooks). I saw the rumors new notebooks would be out in September, then October. I told myself no matter what, I'll buy a MacBook in October.
Stuff I really wanted:
1. metal case
2. multitouch gestures
These were the features that made me question my decision to go MacBook. My wallet on the other hand said....get a MacBook, save your money for accessories.
On October 14th, Apple made the decision for me, the Aluminum MacBook had all of my must have features as well as my top desires.
Now that I have had my computer for nearly 2 weeks, I hought I'd be able to give it a far and thoughtful review. I owuld have posted this in the other threads, but they all seemed to turn into gripefests.
First impressions on the new features (and the new to me features)
1. The construction feels sturdy
2. My notebook is in perfect condition, I didn't have an misallignment or keyboard issues
3. I love the new battery indicator on the side
4. The magsafe power adapter is really cool
5. The packaging was top-notch, as usual
6. The pictures don't really showcase the sleekness and attractiveness of the notebook
7. It didn't take long to adjust to the new keyboard
8. I love the new trackpad!!!!
Transitioning from Panther and XP
As you can imagine, my iBook started to feel pretty slow. Things like loading too many movies or graphics heavy web pages were really taxing my computer, and I always had the dreaded spinning beachball with too many browser windows. As for the work Dell? Browsing is pretty snappy, once all of the apps load. But there are other slowdowns, Outlook 07 and my other applications. This can be a bit annoying so I was looking forward to something speedier.
Big changes from panther:
Spotlight
New System Preferences Panel
New UI for Mail
Stacks
- So I am just now getting the hang of Spotlight, and have started using it to launch more apps.
- One of the first things I did was create the Apps folder shortcut on the Dock. The Stacks confused me for a while, but now I get the hang of it
- Right clicking on the trackpad is great. Most morning I have a transition time to stop hitting control on the work laptop.
- The downloads folder is helpful, but not groundbreaking since I have been doing this for years.
- I like the web receipts folder, and the fact that OS X automatically finds it when mail items seem like a receipt. Good job Apple.
- New keyboard shortcuts on the F-keyd. I am a little confused, but I'll get there soon enough
Here is the bad:
Office 2008 seems to be unstable. The first few launches crashed, but it seems to be running OK now.
Leopard is flakier than Panther. I have had a few slowdowns that required a restart. This is weird. But now it seems like my MacBook is happy, and I can start keeping it sleeping
Dashboard has crashed/lost connecton a few times. I think some widgets might be buggy, so I cut back on my Widgets. I like the idea though and I have the iStatPro and weather widgets installed. I killed Twitter and Facebook since they didn't seem to work well.
The migration wizard does not work with panther? This is a total bummer, and I am still trying to get my keychain over to my new mac.
That is ridiculous, and I am disappointed Apple left panther users out, since I am sure there are plenty of them who will trade in old hardware now.Cool Apps I am using:
- I installed Things, task manager for GTD type people. This is a really cool app, look forward to buying it soon. Love that it syncs with iCal (and my phone!)
- Missing sync for Palm: I can finally sync my centro wth Mac Address book! But it doesn't seem to connect consistently. That's annoying.
The verdict?
I love the size, form factor, battery life, overall system, but I wish Leopard was as stable as Panther. Even though it has been a year, it doesn't feel entirely finished to me. Hopefully things continue to improve over the next few weeks and my rating will increase. But I am glad I upgraded now. This RevA machine looks to be doing pretty well out of the gate.
