Apple MacBook
Notebook
Scott Bartley | Tuesday, April 28 2009Apple’s 13-inch MacBook graced the PCW Test Centre with its presence this month. In fact, Apple has launched two new MacBook models, one costing $2,399 and the other, which we’re reviewing here, costing $2,899 and sporting a slightly ramped up feature set over the cheaper model. At the time of writing (or until Apple eventually releases a low cost netbook-style device) a third MacBook offering stakes its claim as the most affordable Apple notebook on the market – the plastic-encased MacBook White at just $1,848.
On paper there’s precious little to tell the MacBook from the MacBook White, the outer shell being the only overt clue and, on the inside, some slightly slower RAM and a smaller hard drive being the only notable points of difference between the $1,848 and $2,399 machines. Whether the better build quality, slightly better specs and striking good looks of the aluminium-clad MacBook are enough to warrant the added financial burden is something only you can answer.
Not only does the unibody construction look good, but Apple tell us it creates a more durable (less parts to break) and environmentally friendly (because it’s recyclable) notebook. We can only trust Apple’s remarks on the environmentally sound nature of the MacBook, but we can tell you about durability. During our time with the machine it had a fairly hard life, and was lugged around in a bag, chucked in drawers and had stuff piled on top of it, a fairly typical representation of the kind of life your average notebook can look forward to. It came through it all looking none the worse for wear and proved difficult to scratch – even deliberately (don’t tell Apple I deliberately tried to damage their notebook).
The 13.3-inch display is bright, crisp and clear, though some may not like the glossy finish that tends to reflect stuff quite readily. The keyboard is great (and illuminated on the $2,899 version) but the over-sized trackpad is even better. Virtually the entire thing is clickable, meaning you don’t need to muck around when it comes to clicking – one less obstacle for those to whom using a trackpad is a chore.
Inside all this aluminium bling beats the heart of a power user. The 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU and 2GB of DDR3 RAM provided plenty of processing oomph during our testing and the Nvidia GeForce 9400M graphics were no slouch when it came to a spot of gaming. A 250GB hard drive should be more than enough for most users. The lesser MacBook model comes with a 2.0GHz CPU and 160GB hard drive.
Just for fun we used BootCamp to install Windows Vista and then the Windows 7 beta. While Vista worked perfectly, the Windows 7 beta flew along, like it was born to live on a Mac. The only thing that didn’t work properly was the multi-touch trackpad.
Tablets tested: Can anything knock the iPad off it's number one spot? We round up 13 tablets.
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