The best cheap, err.. inexpensive laptop available
Written: May 21 '06
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Pros: Fast, slim, terrific keyboard and all the modern Apple features
Cons: glossy screen has a lot of reflection, looks cheaper than the black
The Bottom Line: The best bang for your laptop buck, PERIOD. The iBook is completely forgotten.
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| lawman67's Full Review: Apple MacBook 13.3 in. (MA254LL/A) Mac Notebook |
Yesterday I posted a review of the black MacBook (http://www.epinions.com/content_232258440836) and ultimately came to the conclusion that while it is a beautiful machine, it isn't for me. At its $1500 price point it fills the very same niche in Apple's line as the old 12" PowerBook, delivers every bit as much style and class (if not more), and even matches the vaunted "PowerBook Keyboard Feel" that made me and many others spend the extra $500 over the otherwise similar $999 iBook. I REALLY liked the black MacBook and spent as much time at the Apple store wiping my drool as playing with the computer, but in the end, it failed to live up to the 12" PowerBook in the key area of portability. Yes, it is small and will fit nicely on a coach-class tray table (same open height as the 12" PowerBook), but it weighs almost as much as the larger 15" PowerBook and MacBook Pro.
Everything changes when you go from the $1499 top model to the $1099 bottom model reviewed here. Rather than going against the outgoing 12" PowerBook with all its great keyboard, tiny size and exquisite beauty goodness, the cheapest white MacBook goes head to head with the old 12" iBook, at a price increase of only $100. Just the iSight camera alone is worth $100, as is the thinner case or better keyboard. The only thing missing is the psychological comfort of an under $1000 price.
To sum up the changes from the old iBook, the MacBook has a 13.3" glossy widescreen display (more on that below), a significantly slimmer though slightly wider case, a fast dual core Intel processor that lets you run Windows natively if you need to do that, built in iSight camera, a vastly improved keyboard (more below) and the ability to accept a full 2GB of RAM. What you lose is a dedicated graphics card, though the Intel GMA950 in the MacBook really doesn't give anything away to the old-tech ATI 9550 in the iBook or even the nVidia 5200FX in the 12" PowerBook, other than 80MB of system ram that is.
That video card is the biggest complaint that people have about the MacBook (and the similarly-equipped Mac Mini), but from the tests I've read it is quite capable for what it is. Magazine tests confirm that integrated graphics adapters aren't up to the latest high-end games, but for almost everything else the GMA950 does quite well. I didn't test high-end games on the MacBook under Windows as Boot Camp wasn't installed on the display model, but I have played Doom 3 (universal binary for Mac) on a similarly equipped Intel Mac Mini and not as good as on my 2.1GHz iMac G5, it was considerably better than on my 1.5GHz 12" PowerBook with its 64MB dedicated graphics card. In the end, if you are hoping to use a MacBook as a Mac laptop that also plays the latest Windows games, save your money and get a MacBook Pro. If, on the other hand, you want a Mac laptop that can run that Windows application your company requires and play any of the slightly less demanding Windows games, the MacBook video won't dissappoint.
Comparing the high-end MacBook to the PowerBook it replaced I found that the MacBook duplicates everything that the PowerBook offered except light weight. With the white MacBook, the comparison is much better, with the new model better in every way than the old and the weight close enough to forgive. .3lbs is what you'll be adding to your load over a 12" iBook, in a case that is much more compact in every dimension save width. You also get a keyboard that while very strange-looking and feeling initially, is perhaps the best keyboard Apple ever put on a portable computer. Yes, its that good. Keys are individual squares without any scultping or shaping, making me think of the toy computer of the early 1980s. To make the appearance worse, the keys are separated on a plastic grid, with essentially a plastic bar about 1/10th of an inch thick in between each key, which sink down into the holes that up the grid as you type on them. It looks cheap and strange, worse than the iBook's plastic keyboard.
Looks aside, this keyboard is golden. Where the iBook keyboard was flexible and sagged, had poor key action and just felt flimsy, the MacBook keyboard is regidly mounted to the frame of the computer, has absolutely no flex, and those strange looking keycaps sit on top of terrific key mechanisms with just the right amount of travel and resistance. I typed at my full speed (55wpm) on two MacBooks (black and white) on two different occasions and found that I made the same or fewer typos than I do on my 12" PowerBook, while I was faster and with fewer typos than on my slightly mushier 15" PowerBook. Just as the 12" PowerBook was worth the extra $500 over the 12" iBook for its keyboard alone, the $1099 MacBook is easily worth the extra $100 over the iBook on account of its keyboard.
The other big change is the screen. I wrote about the compromises and benefits of a glossy screen in my black MacBook review (http://www.epinions.com/content_232258440836) and they are the same here. You get better contrast, more vibrant color and deeper blacks, at the cost of often intrusive glare and reflection on the screen. Some love glossy screens, others hate them. I'm somewhere in the middle. Where it a no-cost option like on the MacBook Pro, I'd go with the matt screen every time, but with the value offered by the MacBook, I'd live with glossy. Other than the glare, the 13.3" widescreen delivers on its glossy promise, along with a widescreen aspect ratio that makes DVD movies more enjoyable.
At the $1499 of the black one, I found that giving up the portability of the 12" PowerBook and too small a weight difference compared to the 15" models made the MacBook a poor compromise as a PowerBook replacement. As an iBook replacement, however, the $1099 white model does much better. Not much heavier than the 12" iBook and a bit lighter than the 14" model which for movies at least, provided a smaller "widescreen" picture on account of the larger 14.1" panel actually being narrower than the 13.3" widescreen. There is no compelling portability or screen advantage (other than matt vs. glossy) to either iBook to overshadow the new MacBook. This is as it should be, as the MacBook was always designed as the iBook replacement. The fact that the black one looks nice enough and is priced higher is the only reason it is considered the replacement for the 12" PowerBook as well, which was really aimed at a different customer. I'd like to see a 12" MacBook Pro to fill the niche of the 12" PowerBook and then look at the MacBook as a greatly improved and far superior replacement to the iBook series.
So in the end, I heartily recommend the white MacBook for those who were considering the iBook. In a pinch it can also serve as a budget replacement for the 15" PowerBook, though the 12" PowerBook's niche has been largely abandoned rather than replaced. With the white MacBook, you get incredible speed for everything except high-end graphics work (CAD and games), the Windows compatibility of the Intel architecture, a stunning widescreen display (with glare to match) and what I consider the best keyboard ever on an Apple laptop. If Apple's 6 hour battery life claim is anywhere near true (iBook claimed 6 hours and gave 5), then Apple will clearly have a winner on its hands. The white MacBook is, in fact, so good, that I'll be sending my daughter to junior high school with one this fall.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 1099
Operating System: Macintosh
Processor: Other
Processor speed: over 1000
Screen Size: 13 inches
RAM: More than 256
Internal Storage: CD-RW and DVD
Hard Drive (GB): Over 50
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Epinions.com ID:
lawman67
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 in Computer Hardware |
 - Top 200 |
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Member: Andrew F
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Reviews written: 213
Trusted by: 64 members
About Me:
Her Majesty's a pretty nice girl but she doesn't have a lot to say.
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