My first Mac - and I HATE it.
Written: Jan 07 '07
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Ease of Use: |
 |
|
| Quality of Tech Support: |
|
|
|
Pros: Sharp display. Good parental controls. GarageBand & PhotoBooth (included programs) are fun.
Cons: Horrible Office Performance. Runs VERY hot. Lack of 3rd party software.
The Bottom Line: Other laptops are a MUCH better deal, and give a LOT more features and performance.
|
|
|
| steveinkc's Full Review: Apple MacBook 13.3 in. (MA254LL/A) Mac Notebook |
I purchased this laptop for my daughter 6 months ago. This is the first Mac I've ever owned. I was looking for a laptop that had good parental controls and one that was easy to use. There are some great features on this laptop, but overall, I'm VERY disappointed with it and regret my decision to purchase it.
PROS: It starts up very fast from sleep mode. The display is sharp. The parental controls are easy to setup and effective. GarageBand and PhotoBooth (included programs) are fun.
CONS: Horrible, REALLY horrible performance with Office suite. Runs VERY hot. Loses parental control configuration requiring you to set it up again. High price compared to Windows laptops. Very difficult to install software that is SUPPOSED to be Mac compatible. Basic window features not available in Mac OS, like resizing a window from any border (small thing, but VERY annoying). Lack of 3rd party software. Too much glare on the screen.
I've been a Windows-user since the 80's and finally crossed the great divide after many of my co-workers were praising the Mac. I was certainly apprehensive about paying so much more for this laptop, but everyone assured me this was the best choice. Here's what I've concluded after 6 months.
I created Powerpoint presentation with Dell (Windows) laptop. It had music, pictures and animations and looked great on my laptop. With the laptop itself, it was supposed to be part of the birthday present for my daughter. I copied it to the MacBook and was absolutely shocked at how poorly it ran. The animations and pictures looked horrible - choppy and distorted; the music was choppy. Based on advertisements, I expected the Mac to blow away the Windows - NOT the case. VERY DISAPPOINTING start.
I setup the parental controls. This is the best feature if you are buying a computer for a child. I can allow a list of only approved websites for browsing, and can setup a list of approved email addresses. I can also deny access to any application on the system. These features allow me to feel secure that I've cut-off inappropriate material from my child. The one draw-back is that, in trying to load a software application, I had to temporarily setup my daughter's account as an administrator. When I set the account back as non-admin, all my approved websites and email addresses were wiped out. I had to reconfigure it all again - VERY ANNOYING.
I tried to install a typing tutor program. It is supposed to work on both Windows and Mac. It works great on Windows. It gives errors on the Mac and won't save any results.
POOR OFFICE performance. I just timed how long it takes to open MS Office Mac edition. When I click the Word icon, it (the icon) starts to bounce up and down - this goes on for 27 seconds. Then the Windows splash screen appears for 13 seconds before the window appears to let you select an existing or new document. It takes another 10 seconds if you select new Word document, before you actually get to a point where you can begin typing. So 50 seconds total before you can begin. In comparison it takes a total of 3 seconds to do the same thing on my Dell laptop.
I know this is a small thing, but Macs are supposed to be easier to use. In order to resize a window, you can only do it by dragging out the lower right-hand corner of the window. If the window is in the lower right corner of your screen, you have to move the window first, then resize it. Windows is SO much easier in that you can resize a window from any border or any corner.
To me it seems that Mac spends more money on cool advertising than really making a quality product.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 1100
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
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
steveinkc
|
|
Reviews written: 2
Trusted by: 0 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2010 Shopping.com, Inc.