MacBook Hands-On Impressions
So I had a chance to play around with a MacBook in an Apple store for a few minutes. As expected, it's a great machine. The keyboard has a really nice feel to it. At first swipe, I think I prefer it to the MacBook Pro keyboard, but I'd need to spend more time with it to make a real judgement.I put my head up to the case and heard what sounds like the MacBook Pro whine, apparently reinforcing the theory that this is perhaps actually an issue with the Core Duo in general, rather than one particular model.
The MacBook is lighter than its Pro brother, but not strikingly so. The glossy screen isn't as distracting as I thought it would be, though I still think it would take some getting used to. It also sensitized me to the fact that even the conventional "non-glossy" screens (on the MacBook Pros and such) have more glare than I'd like.
The hinge on the lid feels smoother and more solid than on other Apple portables. Also noteworthy is the fact that tapping the trackpad with two fingers at once generates a right-click, bringing up a contextual menu or whatever makes sense in the current situation.
These may seem like minor things, but both truly enhance the overall feel and experience of the machine. I'm a fan.
MacBook Hands-On Impressions
Posted May 21, 2006 — 16 comments below
Posted May 21, 2006 — 16 comments below
Daniel Lyons — May 21, 06 1309
I've read that all it takes to fix both issues is to scrape off the heat grease and re-apply the recommended 1/20th amount. If I had the money right now to be buying a new laptop, I'd probably get a MacBook and take the machine to a PC shop to have the heat grease re-applied properly. The machines seem to be completely awesome apart from this little issue.
Scott Stevenson — May 21, 06 1310
I'm very skeptical about this. I saw somebody mention it on the Apple forums, but given the option to believe the people that built the machine or somebody from the internet that I don't know, I'm going to have to go with the engineers.
It is, of course, possible, but I'd personally need to see more evidence.
and that the noise problems are caused by the fan being on too much because of the heat problems
I really don't think the whine is a fan thing.
Joshua — May 21, 06 1311
Cocoa really seems to be a great development tool - wish me luck on the transition from Windows to Mac development!
Andy Lee — May 21, 06 1312
I like the keyboard and the matte plastic finish. I'd have preferred a non-glossy screen, but it's okay.
I feel dumb about paying the hefty sales tax; that was the price of instant gratification. The $150 blackness tax, it turns out I don't mind so much. It does look much better than the white IMO, and after all I'll be staring at the thing for hours every day. I'll try to tell myself I'm not paying a premium, it's just that white MacBook buyers get a discount.
At least I didn't buy a memory upgrade from Apple. I placed an order at MacSolutions for a 2GB upgrade -- $82 a chip.
Jesper — May 22, 06 1313
Images from the service manuals to both MacBook and MacBook Pro shows that Apple *recommends* you apply overdimensioned swaths of thermal paste - amounts that are widely recognized to hamper heat conductivity by insulating it to the chip rather than helping spreading it to the heat sink. The laws of physics don't change because the guys on the internet are the only ones to report it.
kamelito — May 22, 06 1316
How about this as an evidence ?
regards
kamelito
http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1864582
Scott Stevenson — May 22, 06 1317
I love it. Very zen.
Scott Stevenson — May 22, 06 1318
http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1864582
It's certainly interesting.
Daniel Jalkut — May 22, 06 1322
Scott Stevenson — May 22, 06 1323
We may have differing opinions on this, but I think the simple workaround of activating one of the iSight apps is manageable, even if there is a minor reduction in battery life.
This is probably old news, but I heard that the iMacs may have the same issue, there's just more plastic acting as a buffer. It may simply be the chip?
Jon Hendry — May 28, 06 1340
That should be easily testable by checking out non-Apple Core Duo laptops. (We can do that now, we are no longer limited to comparing against other Apple products ;^) )
If Lenovos and Sonys and Dells don't make the noise, it probably isn't because Apple is getting bad chips.
It would also be worth seeing if Core Duo Macs make the same whine when running Windows.
Scott Stevenson — May 28, 06 1341
I've heard they don't (or didn't at one point), but there was speculation that this was because the power management features weren't enabled under Windows.
kamelito — Jun 03, 06 1346
Regarding the screen, at least for the MacBook Pro, what's best, Glossy screen or not ?
Cheers
Kamel
Scott Stevenson — Jun 04, 06 1347
It depends on your personal taste. You can see the difference by walking into any computer store, for the most part.
Leroy Ketelaars — Jun 30, 06 1427
Scott Stevenson — Jul 01, 06 1430
The sound actually shows up when the CPU is idle. In any case, I think the thing is that you can't hear it as easily through all the extra layers of plastic and whatnot in the iMac.
i do hope they fix the heat/whining/discoloration soon because i'd realllly like a macbook myself.
The discoloration is a legimate issue, but I really don't think the heat is something to be "fixed." There's a hot chip and a hot graphics card in a small enclosure. The only genuine fix is more efficent CPUs and GPUs, but additional efficiency will probably just be used to gain performance anyway.