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Black MacBook Review by Peter
Overall this is a nice computer, though it has significant flaws in terms of design.
POSITIVES:
Power and Speed
- Display quality (bright, crisp and reasonable viewing angles)
- Sleek overall design
- magnetic latch is great
- great feeling keyboard
- nice size and solid weight
- Ability to run windows
NEGATIVES:
- Lack of dedicated graphics chip - not a problem for most people, but definitely a weakness for some.
- Smudging surface. Ridiculous to use a plastic that is so sentivie to fingerprints. It's not average - much much worse! It's really a magnet for finger prints and greese
- Very sharp edges that cut into your wrists - crazy to let something like this pass through.
- The display goes back further than the macbook pros, but still not enough
- Black versions seem to have more hinge noises than white ones. Don't know why, but I've had several with this problem.
- Gets quite hot
- speakers are mediocre
It's a nice computer, but there is much better hardware out there on the PC side - thinkpads and some sonys for example. the macbook has a nice minimalist design, though I feel Apple has clearly put style over function with its recent portables. In other words: nice, but not that special. No 'wow' feeling.
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also most civilised people wash their hands after eating and useing greasy items.
lol i have been using both macbook annd macbook pro for over an yr now...i dnt knw..either some people have really vulnerable and soft skin or maybe i just dont have too much of a sensory feeling...but watever it is..the guy who wrote about it getting hot...it does not with me even when i am listening to music or watching movies...when u watch dvds...it will get \"WARM\" ..not \"burning hot\"...but trust me if u r coming from the pc world ...mac world will seem like \"the north pole\" to you...and only reasonable complain that i saw in here is the smudge and finger print factor...yes macbook and the pros...both get dirty pretty easy...i mean apple really needs to do something about that...especially the macbooks...they are like finger print magnets...but trust me ...if u do what i do..it will stay new...after every use...when u see too many finger prints...wipe it off with a napkin..it wont b too hard...keep one or 2 napkins in ur mac pack...tht way it will not get dirty that soon...speakers are aight..i eman it is a 13 inch 5 pound laptop..what do you want...bose quality sound..pro has better sound but then it is a bigger machine..and HELLO...it is about $800 more expensive...besides i always use head phones.....as in literally always..unless i need someone to hear something in specific...i have no complains..with the inbuilt cam...2 usb ports are more than enough for me and for most...it does not make any hinge noises for me..i dont know what the person was talking about....my cuzin has a black macbook too...he never had any noise problem..so maybe u oughta send urs to apple for a check up...and as for windows running parallel...if i wanted to have windows...i would buy a pc...not a 1500 and a 2200 dollar laptop...dont need windows..dont want windows...i am not a gamer...as in gamer on laptops...i mean REALLY!!! games on latops...i have a xbox that does the job for me...its not even tht expensive...besides if u r 23 and u r worried about playing games on a laptop...trust me buddy...u got serious career planning to do....now if ur job involves gaming...well get the pro top model or something...i mean u need a nvidea in a 13 inch laptop...come on...i can see pictures and dvds really well and clear...dont need a nvidea to view my 6 mb pics taken by a 10.1 mp digital camera...i mean it cracks me up to see how some people would just consider impractical factors when they are buying laptops...big speakers on a 13 inch laptop...r u planning to have a home theater system on that...hook it up to ur tv and enjoy the sound out of ur tv if u r watching a movie...high profile graphics card on a 13 inch laptop..trust me friends..if u want to play metal gear solid 4 or GTA4 ...better get a 360 or ps3...and when i see 15 yr olds carrying macbooks and macbok pros...it just annoys me...really!!! maybe thts just me..but it does...when they could do with vaio or dell for 600 700 dollar laptops..they need it for one good reason...white apple glowing logo on the back to show around in school!!! well i was never spoilt...i got my first macbook at 21...well 21 and 7 months to b precise...so honestly..if u r going for a laptop that u want to use for ur web browsing...ur music and movie viewing...ur office works and low profile educational projects...but u want it to last thru ur entire college period ..say like 4 5 yrs without having to send it to apple or having ur computer crash every one month...get a macbook and not a pc...i mean...pcs r designed like tht...they are designed for a hard drive crash every 2 or 3 months...i say go for a macbook!!!
Furthermore is the Black MacBook better the the White one or are we just paying for the color? Yes I already know it has more memory but you could just buy external memory?
Oh and one more thing, for the blogger who posted the blog on July 22nd 2008. I agree with almost everything you had to say, except about th parralel systeem. For students the parralel systeem can really come in handy sometimes the programs and software that your college/univeristy may use for certain subject are not maded for Mac comp. So having the option of windows or any other similar program would let you have the windows feature and allow you to work with the college/university\'s programs with out the crash syndrom as you put it
so in escense having best of both worlds, isn\'t Mac wonderful
note former PC user
you said does it come with paralellel?
i just bought the black macbook last week, and currently ALL macs come with BOOT CAMP installed directly into, because the latest server leopard has the feature built in. boot camp and parallel are basically the same thing, but parallel you can use mac and windows all at once, but with boot camp you can use windows or mac, not both at the same time. but its a great future that i have actually already used, because i had the PC-windows program of photoshop from an art class i took last year where they providided us with PC laptops and we had to buy photoshop, so i run that on my mac instead of wasting another $700 to get the latest mac photoshop version. im 15 and i am going to be a sophomore and i need this laptop for school since i go to a boarding school, and though they dont require a mac, since theyre kinda expensive, they do heavily emphasize you get one because of how much better they are then PCs. and plus if you get a mac for school you can get $100 off of macbooks or $200 off of macbook pros, so it makes it much more reasonable.
yay black macbooks!! they\'re the best!!
When the transfer was over, I shut down, and then got back on a little later, however, when I opened up Myspace (Sad, I know) my iSight camera light came on, the one on the right side. Well, it wouldn\'t turn off. So I tried to turn it on myself, and nothing. I couldn\'t get the thing to turn off. Restart didn\'t even turn it off. I had to shut the whole thing down and reboot.
Like I said, not a major at all, just a little annoyance I found. Other than that I have loved ever second with my new little piece of Heaven. Especially after trying out vista.
The only other little tweak, besides having a hard time typing right now, seems to be the lack of double tapping the touch pad. I\'m just used to it, and the click bar seems to be a little.... Hm, unresponsive sometimes.
Anyone else experiencing RSS (random shut down syndrome) on their Macbook or Macbook Pro? Recently I\'ve found that Apple has NOT been producing the same high quality hardware they used to.
I have my Balck MAcbook now about 6months and will NEVE~r go back to Windows,accept the fact that I need to do one or two Windows based programs that Prodesktop or 2D Design doesn\'t offer in MAC.
Since I moved form Windows to MAC, I will never go back to windows. The biggest frustration for me was the time a Sony Laptop or my Toshiba I had to boot up.
Did any one of you times your Macbook how long or should I say how short it takes to boot up and make a Skype call? Mine takes about 85 seconds,it isn\'t the 4gig ram it has. Some idiot who has a Windows Machine said it was the 4gig ram,I took two out and did the same test. It was the same start up time and making the Skype call.
My next upgrade will not be a Macbook Pro but the New Imac 24\" and then I can still use the Black Macbook in the house. I will also have them both synched up so what ever program is on the one,the other will have them also.
There are so many excuses form PC users not to be in contact with you on the internet over weekends because it\'s either a defrag they are busy with or their pc crashed and must be rebuilt to to get rid of viruses and then they will complain about Vista hasn\'t got all the drivers for the mic or video camera when they upgrade to newer version of software.
I can be contacted in the UK at 0944 7763113535,Mobile or fax at 0944 1474 365311.
Keep well to all the Mac users and my sympathy to the PC users. LOL
www gnld-advance. com
I\'ve named mine,..\"Gen2 Pismo\" because that\'s what it is...
Better processor,....great screen but just as heavy and battery life just as short....and last macbook with firewire..
I think this was a respectful nod by Apple to the genius of the Pismo and I\'m still happy with decision...... However.... My Gen1 Pismo is still going strong and it can\'t be pried away from my hands.....
So to those who are having problems with such, you may try what I did - though you need to shell out some few more dollars but again I could attest, it\'s really worth it!
i agree with u man, but why does kids with macs piss you off?:P my family chose macs instead of pcs,.. oh and the speakers are really good! better than my sisters 1000$ hp! much better.
btw no one wrote about what happens when you drop a macbook:)
mine fell from the desk on the floor.......
As a side not - to the user who said he's annoyed by 15 year olds who have macbooks, I may be 15 but I have it for a reason. I worked hard and saved up the money and brought it myself, so don't you dare call be spoiled. And I use my mac for photo editing (one of many uses) which was very painful to even attempt using it on my family's desktop. I saved up for this laptop because it is practical and reliable unlike my family's computer. I did not buy this computer because of the brand name, or the "glowy apple." Please learn to type and think before you talk.
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