Long before I'd decided to trade in The Colorado, I ordered a MacBook. I wanted the black version, suped up with a big hard drive and more memory. I ordered it, and because of their popularity, it sat on back order for a while. During this time, I bought a Honda Civic EX.
The day I drove it off the lot, Apple shipped my MacBook. Two huge purchases in one day. Don't think my bank didn't get a kick out of that. Their fraud protection people were all over it, assuming that because I'd written a down-payment check to Superior Honda AND bought an expensive notebook that surely I was the victim of some fraud. Not so much, I told them.
But the sucky thing is, I don't make big purchases like this all that often, and I like to savor them, maybe get a good story or two out of it that I can relate here. But the day I drove my new car, working title Gandalf the Gray, both for its color and its swift stealthy badassness, to work the first time, my MacBook arrived at 10:30 am on the FedEx truck.
So my excitement over the car subsided, and my interest in checking out the Intel Core Duo power inside my new Mac piqued. What a shame. But it is what it is. Who am I kidding? Its awesome! And the only shame is you had to wait three days to read about the MacBook! You bet.
After using the MacBook for a couple three days, I have two comments:
1) Its fast as all hell. My 1.8 GHz G4 with 1.75 GB of RAM was no slouch, mind you, but the MacBook runs laps around it. My iTunes library of 8500 songs scrolls so fast now its hard to get it to stop at the right song in the library list. My G4 would scroll fast enough, but slow enough to see what you were scrolling through. The Core Duo scrolls so fast the entire library is a blur. That's right: its TOO fast. At least, it is with Universal programs. Photoshop runs exactly the same as it did on the G4. Dreamweaver is actually slower. Ditto for Flash. InDesign is just a tad faster. Microsoft Office is barely faster. So I'd wait if I were you until everyone ports their programs over from PowerPC to Intel. Or buy now, and in six months when everyone is ported over, it'll be like getting a new faster computer all over again...for free!
2) Its hot as hell -- literally. There's a damn good reason the thing is called a "notebook" and not a "laptop" -- the bottom gets so hot its very nearly a safety hazard. I was using it on my lap during the Twins-White Sox game Monday night, dozed off because the Twins were kicking so much ass it bored me, and woke up to find my legs red as though they'd been sunburned. If I'd gone into a coma my flesh could have been seared. As it was, my 20 minute nap left me with 25 minutes of red legs after I took the laptop away. So I'd make sure to keep No-Doz handy if you plan on using the MacBook on your lap.
The keyboard is hard to get used to, as its the same size as previous models even though the widescreen size offers more room, leaving excess space on the left and right of the keyboard. The widescreen design is sweet, I love the slot-loading SuperDrive, and the new trackpad design is much more responsive than previous models. My biggest gripe is that, after a couple of hours of run time, you can not only feel the heat on the bottom of the CPU, but also the top. While typing, the feeling of heat coming through the keys is palpable. This will come in handy in January -- I won't have to run my furnace! -- but in July, its a bit much.
Now, on the case. $200 extra for the black case. I gladly paid this "design" tax. Are you kidding? I almost paid $100 to get my old iPod painted black a while back -- the white look just doesn't do it for me. The only difference between WHITE and LAME is that white has five letters.
I know white Apple notebooks, I've owned white Apple notebooks, and folks, this is no white Apple notebook. Its so much more awesome than you imagine. Just like the black iPod. Apple computers are badass, and white doesn't convey that. Black does. White is ABBA. Black is AC/DC. Which one do you prefer? ABBA or AC/DC?
Of course, you pick AC/DC. This is my reasoning behind picking the black iPod, and my reasoning for spending the extra $200 to get the black iBoo..sorry, MacBook.
You bet.
So...the MacBook is hot, literally and figuratively. Don't burn yourselves.
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