[Review] 13" Black MacBook - Santa Rosa chipset

[Martyn]

I recently reviewed my new MacBook on my blog. I thought that since I have had a lot of good responses about some of my phone reviews from my fellow Neowinians I wrote a few years ago, that I would share this with you. This review is more me being very general towards the audience of my blog, so forgive me if it is not that in depth. If you would rather read the article on my blog, then you can do so by clicking here...

Three weeks have passed since a lovely black MacBook found it?s way into my possession, and now the time has come for me to review it. I mean, you would be disappointed in me if I did not write a small piece on such a lovely specimen of human engineering like this, would you not?

I ordered my MacBook and it?s lovely case on the 2nd November, and it was meant to be delivered on November 5th?but thanks to a **** up from UPS I only received the case. Imagine how depressing it would be just to receive a laptop case and no laptop? Bloody hell it was almost if they where torturing me, the gits! I later found out that the delivery man had left the laptop in the truck as he had not realised the delivery was a consignment of two, just my luck. Anyway, I got it in the end and that is all that matters, and anyway, and they do say absence makes the heart grow fonder?

As you would expect from an Apple product, the packaging was almost as elegant and as beautiful as the actual laptop. I like that about Apple, they take great care in everything about their product and seek to perfect every detail. As you would expect, included in the box where various manuals, software CD?s, a FrontRow remote, various power cables (even they are sexy)?oh, and a MacBook! All of which where beautifully packaged, and a joy to open.

I have never used OS X before. Never ever. Of course, I have seen various screenshots around on the online world, but that is a lot different to actually being familar with the operating system. So what was I to expect when I pressed the power button on my new cold black MacBook for the very first time? I never expected it to blow up, and thankfully it did not. I must say though that booting up into OS X is a lot more pleasant than booting into Windows, everything just worked as it should do but in an efficient and beautiful way. After running through the short and sweet configuration wizard and inputting a few details, I was presented with a whole new world in front of me, an OS X desktop was waiting for me.

I had always believed that OS X was pretty, but as I said before I had only experienced it through screenshots on the internet. My first impressions of OS X is that everything seemed to be perfect, it is hard to describe what I thought. Everything just worked, and it is that beautiful simplicity that I love. There is just something about OS X that you cannot explain.

Don?t get me wrong. I am a big fan of Windows and what Microsoft have done for the industry. Without Microsoft I highly doubt the world would be as it is today, technology plays an important role in evolving society. Without Microsoft I doubt I would even own a blog, and I would not be writing this right now, who knows what I would be doing instead?

A lot of people express their view that OS X is a better operating system than Windows, but I believe each of them to have its own individual strengths, and weaknesses. People enjoy bickering and slagging each other off far to much in this world, don?t get me wrong, I love a good rant (like now!) but I hope I never become blinded and ignorant towards other technologies. I just do not understand the constant hate between ?fanboys?. Some people just do not realise how lucky we are, we are in a great situation where computational rivalry between companies like Microsoft, Apple and Google is only helping to improve technology at an even greater pace.

Anyway, back to my new lovely MacBook. Some of you may remember I was talking about getting one a while ago, but I decided to hold off because there where rumours of Apple updating the MacBook line. Well, I did decide to wait a few weeks and it was worth it because Apple updated the MacBook?s in early November to the Santa Rosa chipset, they also improved clock speeds as well as upgrading the integrated graphics cards.

I have to say, taking a laptop to University is really beneficial to me. My eye sight is not the best, and it makes things a lot easier downloading the notes directly off the University intranet and viewing them on my MacBook in lectures rather than squinting at an over head projector. Also, for some reason in my University there seems to always be a lack of available computers, so now I have the pleasure of studying on my MacBook wherever I want and connecting wirelessly to to the University?s WiFi system without the hassle of searching for a computer. There are countless other advantages of me taking a laptop to University, but it would take to long to list them and I doubt any of my faithful readers (anybody out there??) would be that interested! I do love the fact though that my new MacBook is so small and sexy, and a total joy and ease to carry round!

Now the bad things. I can?t be totally positive can I? I mean, Bill Gates may feel a little bit down hearted when he visits my blog if I do not have one small, minor annoyance with my MacBook. Well anyway Bill, here it is?I hate trackpads! Ok, maybe that is more to do with my incompetence at using them them rather than my beautiful MacBook. I find trackpads to be clumsy, slow and annoying. Because it is a laptop, there is nothing you can do besides buying a mouse and I have done just that, I purchased a ?Microsoft Wireless Notebook Optical Mouse 4000″. I would like to challenge Apple right here and right now to innovate and change the world of computing once more, and create a better inputting device than a trackpad!

Well, even with a very nice education discount MacBook?s do not come cheap. I normally class myself as an orthodox tight arse, but since I bought my desktop I have been on a bit of a spending spree. Although, my spending spree can no longer continue as I really cannot afford to buy anything else now, besides of course four pence tins of beans in some unpopular Scandinavian supermarket that exists in England. So a quick one line summary for those who skipped my drivel and came to the bottom of this post; my MacBook is the best thing since sliced bread and I would like to shag it, now is that wrong?

Just for reference my blog is UnknownLogic.com.

Edited December 18, 2007 by Martyn

[PL_ Veteran]

Thank you very much for this review, I was just searching for someone who had reviewed this one :)

EDIT: Think you could extend this review a bit? It doesn't seem to say much. What's the glossy screen like? Good outdoors? What about battery life? Graphics card? :p

[b20a61u31]

Come on, don't shag it :) . Very nice review and i'm a little envious for that MacBook of yours. It looks wonderful.

[Cormier6083]

That's it. I don't care if I have to rob the bank, I'm going get a MacBook.

[Brian M. Veteran]

What's the glossy screen like? Good outdoors?

If it's anything like the glossy screen on my notebook you will have to get it at just the right angle away from the light to see it properly.

[fukachu]

nice review, now this might sound strage but before i had used my 1st gen macbook with with apples two finger tap/scroll freatures i didn't like trackpads much at all. now i love using the trackpad, more so than a mouse except for in graphics software. maybe im just one of the crazy ones..

[Digitalx]

ouch wouldn't go humping teh superdrive :uberhump:

[Martyn]

EDIT: Think you could extend this review a bit? It doesn't seem to say much. What's the glossy screen like? Good outdoors? What about battery life? Graphics card? :p

I'll extend it for my fellow Neowinians then! I didn't want to have a massive, massive review because I only did it as a blog post originally!!

The glossy screen is absoloutely awesome, and the image quality is just shockingly good and I was pretty surprised at the quality when I fired the laptop up for the first time. I have not actually played around with my laptop outdoors yet, it is winter and I don't want to get it nicked either.

I was pretty happy with the battery life as well. My old laptop had the battery life of a goldfish though so maybe I am not used to having a good battery in my laptop. Anyway, battery life of course depends on what you are doing with the laptop, but typically I would get around four hours with moderate use...and when I say moderate use I mean programming/reading/browsing the web. I use this utility called CoconutBattery which tells you the health of your battery, and apparently my battery is healthier now than it was when I first got it.

I've not really tried out the graphics card to be honest, I only really use my MacBook for programming and actual University work, so I have not tested any games on it. Although of course, I welcomed the new graphics card that added when the system was recently updated. I suppose one day I could install BootCamp and have a go on Team Fortress 2 to see how it handles it, but I have my desktop for gaming, and I know if I install games on my MacBook then I will end up doing no work on it :p

Any other questions just ask, I know this review was a lot briefer than my normal reviews, so I am sorry about that. But yeah, anything you would like to know...just post in this thead or comment on my blog.

[MasterC]

Without Microsoft I doubt I would even own a blog, and I would not be writing this right now, who knows what I would be doing instead?

Technically you would still have your blog because it's hosted on a Linux machine :p

Nice review (Y)

[Martyn]

Technically you would still have your blog because it's hosted on a Linux machine :p

Nice review (Y)

Cheers!

The originally point I wanted to get accross to my readers is that Microsoft has done a lot for the world, and inspired a lot of people. Would Linux exist if Microsoft had not been founded?

[MasterC]

Cheers!

The originally point I wanted to get accross to my readers is that Microsoft has done a lot for the world, and inspired a lot of people. Would Linux exist if Microsoft had not been founded?

Microsoft didn't have the first OS, so technically yes. :)

[Cormier6083]

Thats true. If Microsoft didn't make crappy software, we wouldn't have the amazing Mac OS. :D

[Martyn]

Microsoft didn't have the first OS, so technically yes. :)

:p

The point I meant to try and get accross was that Linux was inspired by Windows, at least partially!

[Echilon]

Great review. (Y)

I was thinking about getting a Mac Book, and sometimes I regret not. On the whole though, I'm happy with my XPS M1330.

[Admodieus]

Very nice review. I don't own a Mac (and am not the biggest Apple fan by any means) but I always enjoy a good hardware review.

[markwolfe Veteran]

:p

The point I meant to try and get accross was that Linux was inspired by Windows, at least partially!

Ummm. No.

Linux was designed to be a Minix clone that worked on the x86 (specifically the 80386 CPU). It was not designed to be a Windows clone. The wine project (and its offshoots) intend on allowing apps written for Windows to run in Linux.

Some UIs resemble Windows to make transitions easier (or if you bounce between a Linux box and a Windows box, I suppose). But I am not big on the Windows "start" button, and use Fluxbox where you right-click on an iconless (ahhh, so clean! ) desktop to initiate most apps. There is a Blackbox UI for Windows, bb4win, I believe that aims to bring Blackbox to Windows platforms. So, inspiration goes both ways (three or more ways, if you count OSX and other OSes).

[neufuse Veteran]

Thats true. If Microsoft didn't make crappy software, we wouldn't have the amazing Mac OS. :D

And if it wasn't for MS Apple might be out of business!... Might want to look up how they saved Apple around the time Jobs had to come back... Also I don't think OSX had anything to do with MS having windows... it was just the next logical path for a company that bought NeXT and wanted to ditch their legacy Mac OS..

[Martyn]

Ummm. No.

Linux was designed to be a Minix clone that worked on the x86 (specifically the 80386 CPU). It was not designed to be a Windows clone. The wine project (and its offshoots) intend on allowing apps written for Windows to run in Linux.

Some UIs resemble Windows to make transitions easier (or if you bounce between a Linux box and a Windows box, I suppose). But I am not big on the Windows "start" button, and use Fluxbox where you right-click on an iconless (ahhh, so clean! ) desktop to initiate most apps. There is a Blackbox UI for Windows, bb4win, I believe that aims to bring Blackbox to Windows platforms. So, inspiration goes both ways (three or more ways, if you count OSX and other OSes).

I am not saying that Linux totally copied and ripped off Windows. What I was trying to get across is that it was inspired by Windows, in my opinion at least. There was a gap on the market for an open source operating system when Windows was popular in the 90's, and Linux filled it very well. Every operating system takes different concepts from their counterparts as you said and Windows has been main stream for a long, long time now and that has to be for a reason. I also think that recently Windows has been taking various design elements from OS X, and I don't really have a problem with that if in the end it improves operating systems.

Just for reference, I am not a particular fanboy of Windows, Linux or OS X. I like them all!

[Cormier6083]

And if it wasn't for MS Apple might be out of business!... Might want to look up how they saved Apple around the time Jobs had to come back...

Lol, as if I don't already know that.

[Quillz]

Thats true. If Microsoft didn't make crappy software, we wouldn't have the amazing Mac OS. :D

Mac OS was crap. Mac OS X, however, is quite good.

[CelticWhisper]

I am not saying that Linux totally copied and ripped off Windows. What I was trying to get across is that it was inspired by Windows, in my opinion at least. There was a gap on the market for an open source operating system when Windows was popular in the 90's, and Linux filled it very well. Every operating system takes different concepts from their counterparts as you said and Windows has been main stream for a long, long time now and that has to be for a reason. I also think that recently Windows has been taking various design elements from OS X, and I don't really have a problem with that if in the end it improves operating systems.

Just for reference, I am not a particular fanboy of Windows, Linux or OS X. I like them all!

Just to make sure, you are aware that X is not Linux and Linux is not X, right? The Linux operating system is basically the Linux kernel, and functionally speaking, a shell by which to access it. Many, many fully-functional Linux systems either do not boot into a GUI by default, or don't even have a GUI installed. A default install of Slackware will see the user booting to a command-line and needing to start X manually (until you add the line to one of those million /etc/rc.init.d.script.02.rc2.init.i.can.never.keep.these/things/straight.forthe/life.of.me files). Fedora, Ubuntu, SuSE, Mandriva, and others set up X to boot by default in order to make things easier, but it's not a requirement of the OS where Linux is concerned.

You could argue that Linux was inspired by DOS (and I don't know enough Linux history to say for sure whether it was or not) but to say that the core of Linux - the kernel - was inspired by Windows in any capacity beyond being an operating system is false.

Mac OS was crap. Mac OS X, however, is quite good.

You know, when I got my G4 back in 2001 it shipped with a dual boot configuration - Mac OS 9.2.2 and Mac OS X 10.0.0.4. Though OS X was severely lacking in polish and I had to use OS 9 out of necessity (few apps out at that time for OS X), I have to say that any OS wherein you need to manually assign memory to applications has something seriously wrong with it. OS X on the other hand, while being an extremely memory-hungry beast, has the courtesy to handle allocation for you.

[RedFlow]

Good review. Very detailed. I'll definitely consider a mac now that I have seen these.

[Martyn]

Just to make sure, you are aware that X is not Linux and Linux is not X, right? The Linux operating system is basically the Linux kernel, and functionally speaking, a shell by which to access it. Many, many fully-functional Linux systems either do not boot into a GUI by default, or don't even have a GUI installed. A default install of Slackware will see the user booting to a command-line and needing to start X manually (until you add the line to one of those million /etc/rc.init.d.script.02.rc2.init.i.can.never.keep.these/things/straight.forthe/life.of.me files). Fedora, Ubuntu, SuSE, Mandriva, and others set up X to boot by default in order to make things easier, but it's not a requirement of the OS where Linux is concerned.

You could argue that Linux was inspired by DOS (and I don't know enough Linux history to say for sure whether it was or not) but to say that the core of Linux - the kernel - was inspired by Windows in any capacity beyond being an operating system is false.

To be honest I do not know that much about Linux and its inner workings and I am not pretending to either. I am still learning about the deep inner workings of operating systems. When I was comparing Linux to Windows I was just slighting on the fact that the GUI is similar (in my opinion). Thanks for the informative post though :)!

[internetworld7]

Great review! I know the joy you feel when you sit down in front of your new Mac. I just switched from a PC to a new Macbook on Nov. 30th. I've finally escaped the stone ages. :woot:

[RAID 0]

Great review! I know the joy you feel when you sit down in front of your new Mac. I just switched from a PC to a new Macbook on Nov. 30th. I've finally escaped the stone ages. :woot:

OK.. here we go. Windows users are not in the stone ages. We use our operating system for a WIDE plethora of software. That said... go download the Cyrsis demo and get it to run on OS X. What about something small like.... Party Poker? Americas Army? Will that run on OS X? Battlefield 1942/Vietnam/2/2142? Can you download and use Trillian? Winamp? Enemy Territory? Do ya see where I'm going with this?

My point is, use your "game lacking" OS. I'll load XP and have fun. I LOVE my games. LOVE THEM! Now... if/when I can run ALL OF MY SOFTWARE on a Mac, I'll probably use that full time. I fear though, when that happens, so will the malware, trojans and viruses. So they'll be no point in switching anyways.....