I ’m a Mac laptop computer fan myself , and the past month has been an interesting risky venture for me . Up until a calendar month ago , I was still using a 12 - inch PowerBook G4 , all the while urgently hoping for an Intel - based replacement . I finally got trite of expect , and as the editor in chief ofMacworld , I felt some serious insistency to make a switch . After all , I really ought to be someone who ’s actuallyusingan Intel - base Mac for my day - to - day work , so that I can write about it intelligently .

The switch

With a heavy heart ( and a arduous backpack ) , I switched to a MacBook Pro . And although I dislike its size of it and weight , I surely did n’t mind its mammoth screen and telling speed . come from that 12 - in PowerBook , almost everything seemed quicker — even hooey scarper in Rosetta seemed just as fast as it did before .

My two weeks with the MacBook Pro also made me point out just where having a dual - centre processor comes in handy . Sometimes , for whatever reasonableness , an app you ’re draw swallows your entire CPU . It catch hold and , for a clock time , wo n’t permit go . On a single - core processor , you ’ve get no recourse — you just have to wait it out . But on these dual - core Intel - based systems , it just does n’t happen . While that one athirst app — be it Eudora or iCal or Safari or whatever — chomp on one processor core , the other CPU core merrily continues do work on its own .

The remnant issue is amuchmore pleasant and fat experience , because I can tack to another coating and go on working while that fussy software - versus - central processing unit play play itself out in the background .

This broker is incredibly heavy to quiz , as I ’ve order numerous times in our assembly . But it can make a big difference in the realm of the uncrystallised and anecdotic : these duple - essence laptop justfeelmore responsive .

Anyway , not two weeks after I switched to the MacBook Pro , Apple announced the MacBook . Jon Seff and I ran down to the Apple Store , pick up two models on release day , and Macworld Lab pass its tests . When the run were pure , I took the black model and Jon took the white one , and we both started using them in earnest . I actually propel house entirely , using Shirt Pocket Software ’s SuperDuper to clone my MacBook Pro ’s hard campaign to the MacBook .

The next transposition

I love the MacBook . It ’s heavy than my erstwhile 12 - inch PowerBook , but the trade - off is a much big screenland . The fact is , 1024 x 768 is just too minor for many tasks , especially as Apple pushes all its computing gadget into a widescreen data format ( and builds exploiter - user interface widgets like boxershorts to take vantage of that vista ratio ) . And compared to my two - week MacBook Pro rental , the MacBook is light and lilliputian .

However , as I started to utilise the MacBook as my chief machine , I begin to mark some quirk . At oeuvre , I impound my laptop to a 23 - inch Apple Cinema Display and an external keyboard and trackball , and extend it with its palpebra closed . The MacBook would occasionally refuse to sympathise that it was move in lid - closed modality , a office that could only be remedied with a restart .

It was only when I realize that the MacBook ’s clever raw two - finger - dawn feature article ( you put two finger on the trackpad and click to bring forth a control - suction stop ) did n’t process on my MacBook that I discover what was pop off on . Although the MacBooks ship with Mac OS X 10.4.6 , they do n’t send with thesame10.4.6 that other Intel - based Macs use of goods and services . As a termination , my MacBook was being powered by an old 10.4.6 that was n’t build with the MacBook in nous .

In a inferno of mixed-up productiveness , I had to do the two - transfer shuffle . First I cloned my MacBook ’s drivebackto my MacBook Pro using SuperDuper . Then I wiped the MacBook ’s campaign and reinstalled Mac OS X from the videodisc that came with the MacBook . ( Interestingly , the MacBook ’s DVD refused to set up on the MacBook ’s drive until I completely wipe off all trace of my quondam information . ) Finally , I used Apple ’s Migration Assistant to transfer my personal files from the MacBook Pro back to the MacBook .

Once all was tell and done , the MacBook lick great . It recognized when it was run with its lid closed and the two - fingerbreadth get across worked . And so I take up using the MacBook as my main system . That is , until …

The MacBook two - step

I got the word from our most splendid art director , Rob Schultz , that we ’d require to charge both the shameful and snowy MacBooks for the cover of the next issue ofMacworld’sprint powder magazine . And since we only had the two MacBooks , my days as a black MacBook user were number .

I did n’t desire to stop my time as a MacBook user , but I had no choice . Although theMacworldIT stave had order me a MacBook , it had n’t arrived yet . And so I cracked candid SuperDuper yet again , this fourth dimension to transfer my MacBook hard drive back to the MacBook Pro .

This is how I learned that the MacBook ’s clever two - fingerbreadth click feature is entirely done in software , not ironware . Because when my MacBook Pro was execute the version of Mac OS X 10.4.6 that ships with the MacBook , it pull ahead that very same characteristic .

A few day subsequently , my functionary MacBook arrived . Another SuperDuper academic session later , I was up and run with no trouble on my unexampled MacBook . I could n’t be happy . After a calendar month and six complete migrations of my computer data point , I ’ve found a nice place to stay .

At least , that is , until Apple comes out with an even cooler , smaller laptop computer …