Apple has released the MacBook , an Intel - based 13.3 - column inch widescreen notebook which replaces both its iBook and the 12 - in PowerBook . Tonight , I ’m using one — and thanks to Boot Camp , it ’s running Windows XP as well as Mac OS X. ( I ’m using the US$ 1499 black version . )
I have n’t had enough meter with the motorcar to give any definitive finding of fact on it , but so far I ’m let a really dear sentence . The black MacBook is n’t the most feature - rich good example in Apple ’s new Intel - base laptop line , but it ’s probably the cool … which makes it one of the cool laptop on the market , catamenia .
A routine of backdrop : For a couple of years now , I ’ve been a Windows individual when I ’ve been sitting at a desk ( my employment and home desktops bunk window most of the time , with the odd expedition into Linux ) and a Mac person everywhere else ( my chief notebook computer has been a 12 - column inch Apple PowerBook ) . Being biplatform work remarkably well most of the time , but there are moments — peculiarly when you work for a publishing called PC World — when you ’ve just got to work in Windows . I ’ve used Microsoft ’s Virtual PC emulator on the PowerBook to run Windows applications , but while practical microcomputer is amazingly servicable , you ’re never going to misidentify it for a existent Windows computer .
Apple ’s Boot Camp give me what I require : one computing machine that can run both operating systems . ( Has it really been only six weeks since it appeared ? ) But I was n’t really tempted by the 15 - in or 17 - inch MacBook Pro modeling , which , besides being on the pricey side , are just too liberal and bulky to make me a well-chosen traveller .
The 13.3 - in MacBook is still considerably more zaftig than my ideal laptop — before I used the 12 - inch PowerBook , I usually prefer for an even smaller and tripping Windows simple machine — but for a notebook that packs as much as it does , it ’s reasonably thickset , flimsy ( 1.08 ” ) and brightness ( 5.2 pounds ) .
And it does pack a lot of poppycock : that glossy , hopeful display , a 2.0GHz Intel Core Duo CPU , 512 MB of RAM , an 80 GB hard drive with shock protection , a ( unmarried - layer ) DVD burner , Wi - Fi , Bluetooth , USB , FireWire , a make - in iSight webcam , and a remote that lets you sit back and practice the Front Row media software system . About the only thing that seems like a significant cost - saving measure is the use of integrated art rather than a distinct arranger ; so far , though , the MacBook seems nippy in both OS X and Windows , without the lag time that integrate graphics sometimes inflict .
address of display engineering , this is the first Mac portable with a glossy screen , something that the Windows world has had for for a while now . Some of these silver screen have depend too glossy to me ; so far , the MacBook ’s display looks pretty good , though I do see some reflections at certain slant .
Some of the nice thing about the MacBook do n’t relate to specs per se . This black version ’s lustrelessness case is passing good - looking ; it ’s plastic , unlike the aluminum living accommodations on my PowerBook , but if anything , it ’s classier and more professional looking . ( As well it should be , hold that the $ 1499 black model dominate a $ 200 bounty over the variation with 20 GB less disk space and a shiny , white case that ’s more like that of the honest-to-goodness iBook . ) I do n’t intend businessfolks who trade in a 12 - column inch PowerBook for a bootleg MacBook will sense like they ’re slum , even if the MacBook is a bare “ consumer model . ”
At first blush , the keyboard count unearthly — I had flashback to the one on Texas Instruments ’ ancient 99/4 . The keys are n’t sculpted , and there ’s what looks like a fortune of place between them , but so far , the keyboard does n’t find weird in the least . The ports and connective are neatly lined up on the left over - handwriting side of the case , which opens and closes without a latch . And the unusually compact power adapter has Apple ’s MagSafe connexion which helps you void knocking the notebook off a table if the cord gets yanked . In short , this is a thoughtully - designed , well - build laptop computer that prepare most Windows machines look gawky and compromise .
Oops — this is a Windows simple machine , or can be with the addition of Boot Camp and a full copy of Windows XP SP2 . My install took only slightly more effort and time than a typical Windows install , and XP seems to be running like a title-holder so far . ( Too big that Apple does n’t provide a driver for the iSight , though . )
Dual - booting two operating systems is n’t exactly a nostrum ; I ’m go to essay Parallels ’ virtualization software , which lets you flow XP in a window within OS X. But it ’s a huge advance over practical personal computer , and being able to hit the road with a real Windows laptop computer and a Mac that happen to be the same machine is going to be great .
One other obvious question about the MacBook : Is it a bargain or a big - tag item at $ 1499 ? As usual , it ’s hard to do a thoroughgoing price comparison between a Mac and a Windows - ground equivalent . HP ’s dv1000 is n’t a accurate match — it has a bigger 14 - inch covert — but you’re able to custom - configure one with specs are mostly pretty comparable . And while it initiate at a careful $ 630 , the config I built out that had a webcam , Bluetooth , and bunch up software that delivers functionality roughly comparable to that in the MacBook ’s iLife cortege goes for $ 1556 , a bit more than the black MacBook and more than $ 200 more than a white MacBook with similar specs .
Of course , supply Windows to the inglorious MacBook make it into a $ 1699 scheme , not a $ 1499 one . Then again , you ca n’t add OS X to the HP at any price . Like I say , it ’s voiceless to do the math . All in all , though , this Mac seems to be a decent great deal considering that it ’s anything but a stripped - down going drawing card .
To repeat myself , I care what I see so far with the MacBook , but I need to spend more time with it ( for one matter , I do n’t have a sense of its barrage fire life yet , and I ’m not sure if it runs hot , as some folk music have reported with the MacBook Pro ) . I ’ll cover back ; if you require to read more hands - on impressions , check off out this man by my Macworld colleague Jason Snell , who was trying out his own MacBook . Macworld ’s Cyrus Farivar has also posted his impressions and Macworld Labs ’ occupant director James Galbraith has posted benchmarks .
Oh , and a random side note on the Mac vs. Windows wars . One of the nice thing about the Windows set up on this MacBook is that it ’s unadorned by the irritating applet , marketing pitches , and icon fuddle that dog most big - name Windows PCs ( and which Apple does n’t weight you with when you buy a Mac ) .
Already , though , I ’m thinking that it ’s going to be tough to keep this XP installment mean , thin , and free of botheration . After I installed XP on the MacBook , I started set up some Windows apps , including “ Triton , ” the current version of AOL Instant Messenger . A little while after , I get the Active Update popup from my System Tray .
How chafe . ( Should n’t that dialog have a third button : “ Go aside and Never get to Me Again ? ” ) And how typical of the way things make for in the Windows world . I ’m going to be glad to have a Mac that does Windows , but XP is go to bring along hassles that just do n’t exist in OS X.
Which bring up another question : Will I spend the absolute majority of my metre with this notebook as a Mac person or a Windows one ? I ’m still not certain … but I ’m look forward to finding out .
