We recently got to spend a couple of days with the new aluminum unibody Macbooks. Here are our impressions:
Specs
These were the specs of our demo unit:
2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor
2 GB of 1066 MHz DD3 SDRAM
160 GB 5400-rpm hard drive
13.3-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit glossy widescreen display; 1280×800 pixels
NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphic processor with 256 MB of DDR3 SDRAM shared with main memory
Built-in iSight video camera
8x slot-loading SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
Two USB 2.0 ports
Mini DisplayPort
Optical digital audio/analog audio input and output ports; built-in stereo speakers
Built-in 10/100/1000BASE-T Ethernet
Built-in Airport Extreme wireless networking (802.11n) and Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
Preinstalled Mac OS X and iLife
Size and Weight: 12.78 by 8.94 by 0.95 inches (32.5 by 22.7 by 2.41 cm); 4.5 pounds (2.04 kg)
What’s Included
The MacBook comes in a svelte cardboard box with a 60W adapter (includes US/UK plug points), a cleaning cloth, manuals, two Apple stickers and two discs (OS + Extras). Note that power adapter is identical to what comes with the previous generation of MacBooks. You can also use the old MacBook Pro (60-85W) adapter in its place.
Feel, Fit, Finish
Goes without saying that the new MacBook looks stunning. It also feels incredibly solid and light. I am sure with Apple’s next design iteration we’ll wonder how we ever liked these new MacBooks but as of today not a single millimeter feels out of place.
Screen, Keyboard, Trackpad
The screen is incredibly bright. I have a first generation intel MacBook and the new display is way better in every respect. It draws you in the moment you switch it on, and the black border around the screen makes the colors stand out. The brightness does make up somewhat for the screen being glossy but if you have a source of light right behind you, it can be distracting. That said, the last generation of MacBooks didn’t offer a matte option either so I guess we are not much worse off than before.
If you’ve been using the thin aluminum keyboard that comes with iMacs you’ll feel right at home with the new chiclet keyboard. However, if you are transitioning over from an old MacBook Pro it’ll take you some time to adjust.
The same cannot be said of the new trackpad though. It takes constant use for about a day to get used to the new button-less trackpad. I found the absence of a button the hardest to get over. That the whole of trackpad is a big button doesn’t quite feel natural. Fortunately the trackpad can be configured extensively and mapping ‘tap’ to single click worked for me.
I hardly ever used the three and four finger gestures. They felt a little awkward and had all the trappings of a product feature that is contrived rather than thought through.
Miscellaneous
The battery indicator has been moved to the left side (next to all the ports) and that definitely makes it more accessible. If you turn the machine over you’ll see a sliding aluminum cover which is secured with a latch. Removing it gives you easy access to the battery and the hard-disk.
Access to RAM requires removal of the ‘main’ cover but with the right screwdriver you could do it in minutes.
For a second we mistook the new Mini DisplayPort for a FireWire port! As of now the choice of Mini DisplayPort – owing to absence of adapters for more commonly used interfaces – is somewhat frustrating.
The absence of FireWire is definitely a step a backward – clearly form took precedence over function here.
During our testing one of our disc got stuck inside the slot-loading drive. We don’t think it’s a flaw with the new design as this happens once in a while with the older MacBooks and MacBook Pros as well. Fortunately rebooting the machine while holding down the trackpad caused the disc to come out.
And yes the speakers sounded better (and louder) than the older MacBook. Not the best on a laptop, but definitely an improvement over its predecessor.
Software
MacBook comes loaded with Mac OS 10.5.5 and iLife. The machine booted fast and the OS felt snappy. We also installed 32-bit Windows Vista Ultimate via BootCamp. Once all the drivers were in place (they were on the discs that came with the machine), the MacBook performed beautifully. It managed a decent Windows Experience Index of 5.0 and the NVIDIA GeForce 9400M GPU made sure that Aero ran smoothly.
Conclusion
I’ll shamelessly state that I could feel my heart wring when the day to return our demo unit came. On paper the machines had looked like a bit of a letdown but after actually using one, I seem to have formed a favorable opinion. Yes, we have our quibbles, but in the overall scheme of things, they can be overlooked. In short, likable – Rs. 72,000 something likable!
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Today (8th Dec 2008),