Dabbs writes, “Move on, nerdo, nothing to see here.”
“If, on the other hand, you quite like the idea of a notebook that’s fun rather than furious, comfortable and convenient rather than cold and calculating, and looks cute rather than cacky, the MacBook could be the computer for you,” Dabbs reports.
“It is a terrific notebook computer that is great to use for pleasure and everyday work, and looks lovely being slid in and out of a student’s shoulder bag,” Dabbs reports. “It’s expensive, but I don’t care: if you want cheap, go buy a tombstone. What I do care about, however, is the limited range of I/O ports. Please, sir, I want some more.”
Full review here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Lava_Head_UK” for the heads up.]
I’m not saying that the MB is overpriced when compared to the PC competition, but I feel that the MB is too close in price to the MBP 13″ to be interesting to me.
It would nice to price it closer to the Mac Mini in price with more appeal to the PC convert.
My mother has a 6 year old G4 MacBook; the only problem with it is the letters have rubbed off all the keys. Fortunately she can touch type, but this is enough of an inconvenience that I wouldn’t recommend the white plastic models to anyone again. For only $200 more, she’ll be getting a 13″ MacBookPro pretty soon.
@Daner
Yeah- you’re exactly right. My GF makes almost no money, but the extra $100 was still worth it to her because the value proposition is just so much greater. I ran a comparison for another friend a few months later and came to the same result even after the MB got bumped up. And the little white MB is already plenty powerful enough for dang near anything the basic consumer will want it for.
I say next cycle, they skip the spec upgrade and just drop the price $150 to give it some distance from the 13″ MBP.
The white MB is now thoroughly distinct from the rest of the laptop lineup, so I don’t think Apple will suffer any brand degradation from letting a few more people into Mac computing at the lower price range.
The white MacBook exists to provide an anchor price that makes the lowest MBP look inexpensive. It is also there for schools, and can be more heavily discounted for very large sales.
I’d rather just buy a refurbished aluminum from the apple web site then the white macbook (If money is a big concern)
@ Famous Grouse,
Your mother can’t have a six year old MacBook since they they didn’t come out until 2006; with Intel processors, not the G4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacBook
If she has an iBook then she must have fingertips made of 24 grit sandpaper, because mine is six years old and looks like new after being used extensively darn near everyday I’ve owned it.
@ Mark
> I’d rather just buy a refurbished aluminum from the apple web site then the white macbook (If money is a big concern)
If money is a “big concern,” you can also buy a white MacBook from that same Apple Store “certified refurb” web page for $849. It’s the current version, and it has better performance specs all-around, compared to the $929 13″ inch MacBook Pro listed right below it.
I prefer the styling of the white MacBook over the MacBook Pros. If I needed a mobile Mac right now, I’d get that one off the refurb page.