Couldn't resist....

She's so beautiful..... so sleek..... so tempting....... I was almost drooling as my fingers began stroking her back.....she's the epiphany of elegance and simply breath-taking.

Don't get evil thoughts now, I'm simply referring to my brand new Macbook I purchased today

SPECS
Base model: 2.0Ghz C2D, 2GB DDR3 RAM, 160GB 5400RPM HDD, Nvidia 9400M GPU

PURCHASING EXPERIENCE
After all the hype of the new macbooks and MBPs, I've decided to stop by my local apple store to see what all the fuss is about. I was pretty certain I was going to just browse around and check out the non-bag-of-hurt laptops Steve was wailing about during the 2008 WWDC. At first sight, the computer geek inside of me took over all emotions and actions while having flashbacks of the cool manufacturing process video I watched earlier today. After dwelling on the new macbook display for 2 minutes I quickly flagged down an Apple rep to swiftly proceed to the transaction and sped through the 2 mile journey back home.

THE UNBOXING
Like any new gadgets, taking the laptop out of the box gives quite an exhilarating feeling. As I unwrapped the plastic film surrounding the macbook, it also gave a sense of how precious this laptop really is. The box itself is quite plain and simple, but it goes along well with the "green" motto that Apple was aiming for - using less packaging material and non-toxic constituents.

PHOTOS
Now we've all see pictures from other NRB members and gadget websites, so I won't splurge this post with too many pictures.






















BUILD QUALITY
With the previous macbooks having the plastic exterior, the new aluminum casing feels stronger and more hefty. The uni-body casing allows the macbook to be virtually flex-free; the chassis nor keyboard can bend easily. Similarly, the screen is also extremely robust despite having such a thin LED screen. One potential disadvantage of having a brushed aluminum exterior is being less resistant to scratches and could favor dents if accidentally dropped.

SCREEN
The 13" LED screen on the macbook is quite good, but not the best. Although it significantly better than the average LCD screens, when compared to the LED screen of my Asus U6V-A1, it doesn't appear as sharp nor as bright. Nevertheless, the macbook LED is still very solid and shows no signs of light leakage. Horizontal viewing angles are excellent, but vertical viewing angles falls a little short. Phil (Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing) wasn't kidding when he said "one of the great things about a notebook is you can turn it however you want!".

Left: Apple MacBook 13"; Right: Asus U6V-A1 12"



BENCHMARKS

3DMark06 (XP Pro via bootcamp)


HD Tune (XP Pro via bootcamp)


Super PI (XP Pro via bootcamp)
1M calculation: 29 seconds

wPrime(XP Pro via bootcamp)
32M calculation: 42.03 seconds

Geekbench (OSX)
2300

HEAT & NOISE
The cooling system of the macbook is quite discrete, having the vents hidden beneath the screen hinge it makes the top of the laptop quite warm. The fans are not a bit noticeable unless you place your ear on the laptop. The only audible component is the optical drive when in use and during boot up. The fact that the aluminum material is used also helps the macbook stay cool and stay "male friendly" when used on your lap due to aluminum's excellent thermal and electrical conductor, by weight better than copper (source from wikipedia).
Using a culinary temperature laser gauge, the bottom of the macbook has an average idle temperature in the low 80s F (~28C) and tops off at 85F (29.5C). Most of the heat is concentrated near the back, so even if you are to use it on your lap, your knees are taking most of the heat.

TOUCHPAD
One of the new features on the macbook is the behemothic touch-pad. The entire touch-pad also serves as a large button for clicking. It is extremely easy to use and easy to adapt to after playing with it for a a couple hours. The multi-touch feature is also spectacular, making everything from browsing to scrolling effortless. IMO, the texture and friction is perfect, though a sweaty palm may make it slightly more difficult to navigate with.

Update: Even after 1 day of use, the multi-touch features becomes so intuitive! When I'm on my PC laptop, I constantly and unconsciously perform the 2-finger scroll, become puzzled for a couple seconds, and finally wanting to smack myself after realizing I'm not using my macbook.

KEYBOARD
Using the identical style as the MacBook Air, the macbook's keyboard is very spacious and quite comfortable to use. Although I would still prefer the traditional style keyboards with the no-gaps-in-between keys, typing on the new macbook is quite pleasurable. My only gripe with the keyboard is the lack of back-lit keys, which are only available in the pricier macbook model and macbook pros.

SPEAKERS
Can't see the speakers? Me neither. That's because the speakers are located inside the chassis and are vented out through the heat vents underneath the screen hinge. The sound is supposedly to be reflected off the screen and flow towards the user. While I was watching movies and listening to music, I can confidently say that my multimedia experience has surpassed all my expectations. I couldn't believe my ears when I heard how loud the speakers could get with amazing clarity. Of course, like 99% of all laptop speakers, it lacks a good bass. Nevertheless, it's quite possible that these stereo speakers are the best I've seen in a laptop thus far.

BATTERY
The macbook has decent battery life, but not something to boast about like the Lenovo X series laptops. While Apple lists a 5 hour "wireless productivity" battery life on their website, it should really be listed as 5 hour "idling with wireless" since the 5 hour mark can never be reached while web browsing.

Apple calculated battery life at idle at 5+ hours.

Once you start browsing websites or streaming videos from youtube or hulu, the calulated battery life drops immediately.

Battery update 1: A little disappointing here. Starting with 100% battery, wifi on, BT off, 70% brightness and performing a mix of basic tasks (web browsing/word processing/streaming 480p video from Hulu.com), the battery warning popped up exactly 2 hours and 39 minutes. Not quite the 5+ hours I initially saw from the battery indicator.
However, dropping all settings to the minimum should yield at least 3+ hours of battery life. I will run another test later.
Battery update 2: Same settings and usage as the previous test, but with screen brightness scaled to the minimum. The battery warning popped up in 3 hours and 56 min with exactly 3% charge left.

PORTS
With so much pros to boast about, it's sad to say that the macbook ain't that perfect. The limited selection of ports are quite the drawback for such a sleek laptop. Having only 2 USB 2.0 ports, makes me wonder what on earth was Steve smoking. Heck, even an Asus EeePC has more USB ports than the new macbooks. It's also quite disturbing for me that there's no built in HDMI or DVI output, forcing macbook users to buy a $19 video adapter to connect to their external monitors/TVs.

CONCLUSION
As much as I love my new Apple macbook, I somehow feel the macbook is more of a fashion statement rather than for functionality. Sure, the great long lasting battery life and cool multi-touch touchpad are neat features, but for $1299, there are other more economically friendly options for a mobile DVD player and web browser. So as far as practicality goes, it's average. But in terms of aesthetics, the macbook (and MBP for that matter) tops any laptop currently in the market. I believe the macbook would be a great companion for the light user and/or college student. It's definately no slouch and runs very smooth. However, power/heavy multimedia users should steer far away from the macbook and opt for the Macbook Pro instead.

PROS
+Superior aesthetics
+Solid build quality
+Large touchpad w/ multi-touch functions
+Excellent built-in speakers

CONS
-Lack of ports
-Lack of ports (yes, I said it twice)
-Prone to scratches
-I'm still a PC fan

 

Thanks for the pics! It certainly is stunning... this thread really makes me want to buy a new Macbook

 

I thought you said you weren't going to splurge with too many photos.
Nice pics though, thanks for them!

Wow, it never occured to me that it lacked vents!! Especially with the more powerful nvidia graphics, although the case is aluminum, I'd be really worried about heat especially during gaming.

 

Thx for the comments guys

I guess I got a little carried away with the pics I actually have a lot more and thought 12 should be the limit

 

thx 4 ur review emporiumboutique
could u plz do a real life battery test? for some reason I can't trust the battery indicator...



greetz us786

 

Sure, I'll do that tonight

 

So you made the jump too, huh?

--CS

 

Uhh, isnt it vented the same way that the older mbp were?

Basically blowing all the heat out towards the "Macbook" logo?

Cause thats where the fan is when you take it apart.

 

Absolutely
It's disappointing that there's no back-lit keyboard with the base model

Lol... you're right.... totally missed that. Gotta revise my review now

 

Great photos, emporiumboutique! The comparison with the ASUS notebook really brings out the attention to detail Apple gives in the design; the ASUS isn't terribly bad of a design on its own, but when next to the new MacBook, looks quite old of a design .

 

talin, i could be wrong here, but this is what i remembered hearing, and what i always believed:

i dont think any recent macs had vents, but were instead passively cooled. so the heat elements were hooked to the case. that is another reason why its metal, not plastic.

now that could very well be wrong. but i remembered reading that or hearing that somewhere.

 

There are vent on the macbook, but it's noticeable at all. I totally missed it until sulkorp pointed it out to me.
Here's a pic of the vent. It runs along the hinge of the screen

 

Great review. I really want to check out the new MacBook Pros...

 

Thanks! I agree, the macbook's design looks a lot more modern and sleek - almost like a concept laptop

You should, they too look amazing and packs a lot more power than the macbooks. More ports too

 

Nice review man, how you liking it? Is it pretty fast with the 2GB Ram?

 

I think the new macbook is going to affect the sales of MBP, consider they have similar chassis now.

 

Updated with real-life battery tests.

2GB of ram is more than enough to run OSX or XP. Every program I open starts up swiftly without much lag.

I think so too.

 

Hey emporiumboutique,

any chance of doing any graphics tests? I know it might be a bit more difficult on a mac. I'm interested to see how the new 9400 performs, its supposed to be just under a 9500!

 

emporiumboutique, thanks for the review.

When comparing screens, you should try and compare the same OS though because the gamma and color settings are different.

 

Just to clarify, all Mac notebooks have vents (they would explode if they didn't ), albeit they're quite small compared to most notebooks. The MacBook one is on the hinge, I forget about the MBP. Some heat is also emitted through the keyboard on the old MBP, I don't know if its still the same now on the new design.

 

Will do. I'm currently setting up bootcamp and will run a few benchmarks

Quite true. I'll compare the screens again once I have XP installed on my macbook

 

Can u take more pics of the screen please? Like some alone pics of it on and some better comparison pics to the Asus? Thanks!!!

 

Wow, the updated battery life is quite poor. It seems that there is about 30 min less life than prior models, no? I would've settled for equivalent, but worse battery life, no go.

 

Agreed. But the screen on the asus has better colors. It could be just an issue of calibrating the macbook's screen though.

As to the battery, it usually needs to be cycled a couple of times before you'll see max performance from it. so you might want to do your test after a couple of full discharges/charges.

 

Nice job m8...but a question I have to ask-are you disappointed or not?just to know

 

I bet that the MB's panel is the same as the Air, so if you've seen the latter, then you know what you're getting into.

For the record, I found my brother's Sony SZ's screen to be slightly sharper and better than Air.

Both are more than acceptable though.

 

hey
where r d speakers located!
pics will be much appreciated!

 

Great looking photo's. I agree with your critism. Yet still I want one

What is the brand and modelnumber of harddrive? The HDTune screenshot lacks that information.

 

Great review thanks.
Battery life is dissapointing. I expect that you should be able to manage another 45 mins maybe by dropping the brightness down to 30%. On the last gen 2.4 MB i could pull of close to 6 hours battery life with those settings the first time that i ran my battery down.

Apple is using a smaller battery now but with the combination of the LED screen which should add maybe 10-15 mins more battery life and the updated processor it should help things out a bit.

Intel integrated graphics is tried and tested. Nvidia is new when it comes to integrated graphics and what i have seen so far i don't think that they are as good as Intel when it comes to this.

What is the mAh in this battery?
The Sony SR with a 4800mAh battery and LED screen manages about 4 hours 30 mins using mid brightness and power saver with the intel 4500HD graphics card.

This is close to being my dream Mac laptop.
Now if only they had dual graphics (intel and dedicated) in there and an express card slot i would probably buy one of these even though i am not a fan of chicklet keys or uber glossy screens.

I would like a 13" MBP.

 

Well, I am a little disappointed, mainly due to the ports issue. However, I was well aware of it before purchasing the macbook.

The sound seems to originate from the vents beneath the screen hinge. It's a little unconventional, but that's the only opening in the laptop so I guess it would make sense that the sound is coming out of there.

Sorry about the screenshot. I didn't know how to use the printscreen tool on a mac running XP-bootcamp, so took a picture instead.
The HDD is a Toshiba 160gb 5400rpm.

I'm not quite sure how to convert Wh into mAh, but the battery is 10.8V, 45Wh.

 

no,I mean do you regret buying it?

 

The speakers are in the same place as the previous plastic MacBook, and the end of the bottom part of the notebook. It looks like vents but are actually the speakers. When the notebook is open, the sound bounces off the lid.

 

Wh capacity = (mAh capacity / 1000 ) * voltage:

45Wh = (mAh / 1000) * 10.8V
= 4166.67 mAh

take care everyone.

 

very nice looking but i am hanging off till the 17" comes out and it had better come with BLURAY, better webcam, better screen resolution such as 1920x1200 or they can kiss my money good bye.

I dont want the 9600 GT either they had better put better cards in than that.

 

Well, in all honesty, I'm still debating whether I should keep it or return/sell it. I don't really need the macbook at all. It was an impulse purchase for me, and doesn't quite suit my needs. But, as far as regret goes, I don't regret it at all. I'm having so much fun playing with it right now

That's very interesting! I never knew that... but, then again, this is my first macbook

Awesome! Thanks buddy!

 

I have seen batteries having the same wh but having different capacities. Just check on google when you put in those figures 10.8v and 45wh and see what comes up.
Maybe to be sure it is best to check something like Coconut battery. I am not sure if it will work on the new Macs but it might be worth a try.
http://www.coconut-flavour.com/coconutbattery/

 

Got any 3d Benchmarks? Such as HL2,Portal,3dMark06,Etc?
(Demos can be gotten off of steam)
I wanna see how many times better this is then my sisters desktop 6100 (That i play games on!)

 

Emporium, could it be possible that you have a malfunctioning battery? In another review I read that the battery lifetime (tested) was 4hrs...

 

3DMark06 score is posted in my original post

I don't think so. I believe it's because of the screen set at 70% brightness. I'm currently doing a real life test with minimum brightness and will post results soon.

Thanks a lot! It works with a mac and the max battery charge is 4166mAh - same as what Nirvana calculated

 

The battery in terms of capacity is not great at all. I was looking on the Apple UK and US website and i don't know if this is an error or not but a replacement battery for the new MB is listed as 60wh.
It is probably an error but it might not be.
It is good if you can buy an extended battery for this laptop.
http://store.apple.com/uk/product/MB771G/A?fnode=MTY1NDEwMQ&mco=MTk0NjQ2NA&p=1&s=topSellers
They are also selling a MBP replacement battery with the same 60wh as well.

 

I just had a play with the new macbook at the store today and wow, it is really really well built. I was a bit disappointed with the screen, but only cause I had heard so many great reports, and thus was perhaps expecting too much... it was also next to an iMac, and thus was perhaps a little overshadowed but that huge 24" beauty. Also quickly fell in love with the track pad, very natural with the button. My only complaint is the position of the security lock, its the same as my mb, and I really hate it, it gets in the way of all of the ports, why can they put it at the back?
I also don't really need it, but boy am I fighting not to buy one.
a

 

Nice shots, reflection on hinge pic scares me.

This is what is my debate in my mind right now

New:
Pros - sucker for new tech, will last longer tech wise
Cons - Glossy glass screen, aesthetics aren't as good as previous (dual colors), potential Rev A. Issues, expensive, display port (need two adapters)

Old
Pros - Tried and true, better aesthetics, cheaper by far, matte screen
Cons - Older tech, potentially outdated faster, potentially defective graphics card (though with the amount of times ill play games and sleep it right after, it will likely get screwed up if it is destined to.)

 

Updated with new battery life tests and more benchmarks.

 

What are the speakers like?

 

Like any other notebook speakers, the bass is lacking. Nevertheless, they are pretty darn amazing actually
The maximum volume is louder than any laptop I have experienced with and the sound quality is near or even better than laptops equipped with Altec Lancing speakers. Let me try put it in another way.... when I max out the volume on both my macbook and Asus U6V (w/ mono speakers) and place them side by side, the only sound I could hear is from the macbook

 

Excellent, I was quite disappointed with the volume from my M50SV.

 

Thanks for updating the battery tests. Does it disable Bluetooth and the DVD drive, and was it set in energy saving?

Just a tip: the first sentence sounds a bit confusing: :
"The macbook has great battery life. At 5+ hours with wireless on and browsing at full brightness, it can easily last a movie or two during a trans-continental flight. "

 

No problem
For the 2 battery tests, I set both "computer sleep" and "display sleep" to never in my energy saver preferences. Bluetooth was disabled, but the optical drive wasn't.

Yup, I agree, in fact you've just caught me in the middle of editing the review So far, I added a keyboard and speaker section. Will get to the battery life now

 

Finally done updating Hopefully this will give people more insight to the new macbooks.

 

Wow, the 3d mark is somewhat dissapointing...i think something is wrong though because i've seen almost 2000 with a 9200gs it probably is the CPU holding it back though either way this is a sick notebook thanks a bunch!