“Mac fans have been waiting a long time for this. The new Macbook is the long-overdue replacement for Apple’s aging iBook laptops,” Cliff Joseph writes for Personal Computer World. “The recently released Macbook Pro was the first Apple laptop to make the switch to Intel’s Core Duo processor, but with prices starting at £1,400 the Macbook Pro is very much a top-of-the-range option. This non-Pro version of the Macbook is the mainstream model aimed at the iPod-owning mass-market audience. There are three models, all equipped with a 13.3in widescreen display and measuring just 1in thick, 12.7in wide and 8.9in deep.”
“One detail that has attracted a lot of attention is the glossy coating on the screen – a number of PC laptops have similar screens. While they’re great for watching DVD films, the reflective surface of the screen can become quite annoying when performing more mundane tasks such as word processing. The glossy surface acts like a mirror and seeing your own reflection in the screen can be something of a distraction,” Joseph writes. “To combat this, Apple has added an anti-reflective coating to the Macbook’s screen, and this does reduce the mirror effect quite significantly.”
“The Core Duo processor represents a real step forward for Apple. It claims this processor is 4-5 times faster than the iBook’s old G4 processor. Of course, overall system performance relies on other factors as well, such as the graphics card and hard disk, but the Macbooks still clock in at 50-100 per cent faster than the iBook when running applications such as Apple’s iMovie video-editing software. The one weakness is Apple’s choice of a low-cost integrated Intel GMA950 graphics chip. This is perfectly fine for video work or 2D graphics, but it’s really not up to much when running 3D games,” Joseph reports. “Mac users are typically more interested in music, digital photography and video work, and for that sort of software the Macbook is ideal – especially with all the free audio and video software that Apple includes with all Macs. There’s nothing revolutionary about the Macbook, but it does give Apple’s laptop range a much-needed shot in the arm. And, of course, it’s got the gorgeous design that is traditionally associated with Apple products.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: There’s nothing revolutionary about the MacBook? Compared to Apple products, maybe; compared to any other PC assemblers’ stufff, MacBook is revolutionary. Apple’s MacBook runs a modern state-of-the-art operating system, Mac OS X. It also runs any other OS you can throw at it, even inferior ones, thanks to Boot Camp and Parallels. All other PC laptop competitors are stuck with the several-year-old Windows XP. If you’re “lucky,” you get a “Vista-ready” sticker glued to a hideous laptop case that, when closed, could double for a bathroom scale. Have an ugly wait until next year (supposedly) for Microsoft’s kludge Windows Vista that will attempt to deliver some lesser percentage of Apple’s Mac OS X which we’ve been enjoying for years. Virtually anyone in the market for a notebook computer today would be vastly better off with an Apple MacBook or MacBook Pro. Period.
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Related MacDailyNews articles:
Amazon offers US$100 and $150 rebates on Apple MacBook and MacBook Pro models – May 22, 2006
Ars Technica reviews Apple MacBook – May 19, 2006
iTWire’s Beer: My next notebook is an Apple MacBook – May 18, 2006
Analyst: MacBooks are best consumer notebooks Apple has created, sure to be big winners – May 18, 2006
Analysts expect Apple’s new MacBook to drive market share gains in near future – May 17, 2006
Apple’s new MacBooks are mobile HDTV media centers – May 17, 2006
Apple MacBook dissection photos – May 17, 2006
PC World: Hands on with Apple’s new black MacBook running Mac OS X and Windows – May 17, 2006
Analyst: Apple’s new MacBook costs a bit more than iBook, but will sell strongly – May 16, 2006
Close-up Apple MacBook photos (keyboard, glossy screen, and more) – May 16, 2006
Apple debuts new 13.3-inch widescreen MacBook; replaces both iBook and 12-inch PowerBook – May 16, 2006
Analyst: Apple Macs cost less than most people think – May 16, 2006
Apple quietly boosts MacBook Pro speeds – May 16, 2006
Dude, you got a Dell? What are you, stupid? Only Apple Macs run both Mac OS X and Windows! – April 05, 2006
Only MDN would find a way to criticize a favorable Mac review.
A friend of mine from Ireland has bought a new MacBook Pro and has no idea how to use it. He just got it because another friend and I have G4 PowerBooks.
The Irish chap works in Sri Lanka and I am In Afghanistan and the other chap is in Iraq. Soooo we are both trying to give him the OS tips and experience via emails and a few Apple URL’s.
Like feeding strawberries to pigs. I might ask if I can swap my G5 for the Duo????
Oooops, I meant G4.
from the article: “Apple’s first Intel-based laptop has potential, but the lack of software could let it down”.
What garbage
The MDN take was very dark indeed. Is it that time of the month?
I would love to have a Macbook. Will someone send me one for free please? Some, uh, fried chicken too. Yeah, that’s the ticket.
“MacDailyNews Take: There’s nothing revolutionary about the MacBook?”
There is nothing revolutionary about the MacBook.
Same chip and innards as any Windows notebook.
How old is OSX now? That´s not new.
In fact, it has been quite a while since Apple brought out anything new and revolutionary.
J,
The piece you quoted was quite true, when it was originally written. If you had read the article that it was referring to, you would have realized that the complaint was about the lack of software that had been written in the new universal binary format at the time.
Running OS X is NOT “Revolutionary” – Macs have been doing it for years and the occasional PC has been doing it for … months? Quite a lot of PCs have been running an “Advanced Operating System” – Linux, various sorts of Unix – for years, though few ship with such installed.
The MacBook is Evolutionary, which isn’t half bad when you are talking about a Mac. No need to froth at the mouth because a review was merely positive rather than gushing. We NEED people to look at Macs and say nice things, maybe noticing where things could obviously be nicer. How else will Apple know if they are doing good things that help us or interesting things that don’t matter a damn?
As for the Irish lad in Sri Lanka … must be tough. I’m just back from a trip across the state to support my 90-year-old mother and her G4 iBook. It turns out the ISP changed the phone number on her and … she hadn’t a clue. Someone nearby is spewing WiFi about and Mom’s dial-up could be one, sometimes two, bars of ‘borrowed’ bandwidth … but she can’t remember how to get connected! (Power up, say “yes”) … what can I say? She’s the only one in her crowd with an email account!
MDN needs to get slapped.
there, I said it.
MDN: Get a freaking life and cut the crap for once. You whine all the time for nothing and your takes are often a disgrace to apple and its fans.
http://web.mac.com/spencer_corey_cotton/iWeb/Site/Library.html
Dear DL Meyer,
Yes, my Irish friend is doing it tough! So tough that he is thinking of taking a year off from the strains of Surfing and deep sea fishing and going to Australia to work there for a year!
Poor bastard……. where the bloody hell is he?
Some langers have it good I tell ya!
if you want a decent review look up the ars technica review from few days ago.
this article doesnt really go into much detail really.
The MDN take is spot on.
The overall impression the article gives is that Apple needed to catch up with the PC world because it is so far behind…
Utter crap.
Anyway, its SALES will have the last word..and note the 5 star user rating.
Wonder if MDN has Windows on their shiney new Macbook????
Doubt they know how to put it on.
To continue bashing MDN,
I have it on good authority, Paul Thurrott, that even Dell has discovered the cotor red. So, MDN, let’s not hear any more about poor PC design.
I thought using English measure (i.e. inches) was illegal in England.
Dear qka,
Nothing to do with inches centimeters or anything else is illegal in the UK. Our Pommy friend decided a long time ago to change to Metric to get in line with the pasty faced Europeans, but they didn’t really mean it!
Take your next holiday in the UK and see for yourself. The whole system is a farce. Speedometers on cars still have dual speeds because they are not prepared to change the road signs to Kph. They think it will just confuse the locals too much and make traveling the roads an awful experience.
These are things that the rest of the world did 20+ year ago…..oops
Sorry I forgot, most of the folk on this site are americans and they have no idea what I am talking about, because they have their your own insular systems as well…..
maybe in an hundred years we all be on the same sheet of music, but I doubt it.
leo
How funny the MDN word is English!
Just a comment on the continuing discussion/complaints in this forum and others about the Macbook and its integrated graphics.
I would imagine the Macbook — as the lowest priced Mac portable –is intended to compete in the larger group of buyers who also would be looking at the general range of Windows PCs, i.e. people who might also have gone to their local Best Buy to browse through the offerings there.
If you look though the range of computers in such big box retailers, you’ll find the overwhelming numbers of their products, no matter the manufacturer, have the same integrated graphics. That’s not surprising, because after all, it fits in with what many people use their computers to do.
In fact, most of the machines at Best Buy aren’t even Core Duo computers; they’re Pentium Ms or low-end AMD offerings.
I think that indicates the Macbook competes very well in its intended niche, despite all the “furor” over its integrated graphics, which do include a graphics accelerator, from what I’ve read.
So…the Personal Computer Review article that says “Overall: Mac fans will lap it up, but PC users might think twice about the 3D performance” is misleading because I suspect “most” PC users don’t own machines with high-end graphics cards.
Myself included.
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-3513_22-6074778.html
Speaking of “a “Vista-ready” sticker glued to a hideous laptop case that, when closed, could double for a bathroom scale. Have an ugly wait until next year (supposedly) for Microsoft’s kludge Windows Vista that will attempt to deliver some lesser percentage of Apple’s Mac OS X which we’ve been enjoying for years”…
Dancing Monkey Boys says….
“We were trying to link too much innovation together in Vista,”
“It was beyond the state of the art of software development.”
LMAO!
“Innovation is the introduction of new ideas, goods, services, and practices which are intended to be useful” according to Google.
Mîç®ø$håf†’s pile of crap however, is DEFINITELY not innovation, or state of the art.
Also, its Vapourware.
Have fun with your Vista-InCapable piles of shit that run a stripped down version of what is already Crapware. Get a mac, idiots.
Hehe, Mafia$$oft is going down.
That’s one thing about MDN…it’s not enough that an article kisses apple’s a$$, they get all up in arms if they don’t slip them the tounge!
As much as I like to read MDN, I can’t help but wonder if I need to get a rabies test after I get off of the site.
This MDN take sounds like it was written by a 12 year old with an inferiority complex.
“This MDN take sounds like it was written by a 12 year old with an inferiority complex.”
Agree completely.
The new Macbook is awesome, mine should be here Wednesday. It has some great features for sure but it’s not totally revolutionary.
Jeesh….
1). Most people don’t play games so integrated graphics is fine and for me, I have a custom built PC to play games
2). I can aford black