Black MacBook Review by ben

First of all, I'm no stranger to the Mac, I've owned 4 Apple Laptops (2x G3 PowerBooks, 1x G4 PowerBook and now this lovely C2D MacBook) and 3 Apple Desktops (1x G3 iMac, 1x CD iMac, 1x Mac Classic). In addition to the 7 Macs I have/do own/ed, I was also a Lab/System Administrator at a University computer lab full of Macs (mostly G4 iMacs and G5 PowerMacs) for many years. My experience thus far has been that the Black MacBook C2D is impressive to say the least.

I use the machine as both a personal and work computer. I am a web programmer in my work life and just a nerd in my personal life. The machine more than meets my needs for personal stuff which usually includes web browsing, chatting, email, the occasional CD/DVD rip/conversion. I'm not a gamer so I can't fairly comment on the graphics card, but for my uses it's perfect. For my work needs, it again meets my needs fairly well. The only small annoyance is that while working I have lots of windows open and if I forget my DVI adapter to hook up to my external Cinema Display, it gets rather tight (which means that I've finally had a real reason to use Exposé I guess).

I did BTO options on the Apple Store and upgraded myself with 2 GB RAM and a 160 GB 5400 RPM hard drive. They were both well worth the extra cost. The extra hard drive space allows me, obviously, to store more date (in the form of other operating systems, notably Win2k, WinXP, WinVista) and just in general cart more of my life around with me in a rather small footprint. The extra RAM allows me to run said operating systems quite smoothly in Parallels Desktop for Mac. Being a web programer, I often have a need to test sites in IE6 and now IE7 so having multiple Windows OS's on hand is ridiculously convenient.

Other software I use mostly consists of web browsers (FireFox, Camino, Safari, Opera, OmniWeb), Adium, TextMate, Mail, iTunes, Terminal, and Transmit with a few other odds and ends here and there. I routinely run most of those all at the same time (aside from maybe the browsers, Camino is always open but the others are only opened when they're being tested against) and don't notice any slowdowns, at least I don't perceive any slowdowns. I should note, that I avoid all non-native/non-universal software. I go out of my way not to run PowerPC only apps. That being said, I can't comment on things like the Macromedia or Adobe suites which I used every now and again to do minor tweaks on various things. I'm by no means a graphics person or even a flash person, so I haven't missed having those types of applications on here at all. Same goes with Microsoft Office, which I hadn't really used on my PowerBook since writing papers in college anyways so I don't miss that either.

The glossy screen is very bright and sharp (to my eyes anyways). Text looks nice and crisp for the most part (unless the font is too small, which again, could just be my eyes), which is important since most of my time is spent reading and typing. The only minor complaint I have with the glossy screen is that it's hard to get a really good view of it when you're say watching a movie. If there is a lot of black on the screen, some portion of the black invariably looks washed out. It doesn't bother me too much because I don't really use it for that, but it would still be nice in the event where I'll probably use it for that.

Reading around in forums, I see a lot of people have problems with their MacBooks, loud fans, weird noises, airport connectivity problems, the is apparently no shortage of people complaining. Not that their complaints aren't valid, but I've yet to have a single issue that I've seen mentioned as common problems. I chalk it mostly up to the fact that people love to complain, while people who have nothing to complain about are more prone to just not say anything at all. The last thing that people complain about (but is really a non-issue) is finger prints showing up (apparently like crazy they'll have you believe) on the black MacBook. In my experience, yes, it shows some smudges and fingerprints (by no means as bad as it's been made out to be), but who cares? You bought the laptop to use it, right? So use it and quit complaining. If it bugs you that much, cover your precious purchase or get use to cleaning it (like everything else you own.) Nothing that I'm aware of is impervious to getting dirty or looking used.

The physical quality of the unit itself seems, to me, to be way better than the 15" PowerBook G4 it replaced. The PowerBook was "mis-shaped", as in, I had to take three of the rubber feet nubs off to get it to sit flat on a level surface. The lid also didn't close evenly on it. If you looked at it from the front, the left end of the screen would rest flush on the body while going down towards the right end the lid would lift away from the body. I'm happy to say my new MacBook has neither of these issues, it sits flat on level surfaces and it closes evenly all the way across. The unit itself also just feels less fragile in my hands, that is, aside from the keyboard. The keyboard on the MacBook isn't bad by any means, but it doesn't feel as "solid" as the G4 PowerBooks/MacBook Pros. Still easy and comfortable, it just feels like its of lower quality.

Before getting the black MacBook, I had recently recommended MacBooks to two other people. One being my friends girlfriend, the other being the same friends parents. Everyone is happy with their white MacBooks as near as I can tell. Requests for help have sharply dropped since moving away from their windows machines. I've also recommended the MacBook to some family members desperately in need of new computers, but I'm still working on that transition.

Phew, that was long winded. I hope I covered enough stuff to make this at least somewhat informative. Overall, unless you're a hardcore gamer, you would likely be happy with the black MacBook. I say this as a user who was initialy hesitant to go with the MacBook vs. the MacBook Pro because it's the "consumer" model. I'm quite satisfied with my purchase, however, and have no regrets.

Pros:
- Handles all my tasks without complaining or slowing down
- Lightweight and very portable
- Great battery life (usually it's easy to see capacity in the 4 hour ball park, give or take some due to what I'm doing).

Cons:
- Keyboard doesn't feel as good as MacBook Pro/PowerBook G4
- Glossy screen can be irritating if watching movies


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