My first review of Macbook & Mac OS

Well, after having my macbook for over like 5 months already i would like to share my experiences and thoughts of all this.

This is not a complete review, just those points I feel are most important.

I'm not actually a switcher as i have other comps using Windows, but this is my first experience with mac.

Also i have to say that some of the points in this review will probably have a solution and I'd welcome if you answered it so this works both as a review and as a solution for my problems.

The reviewed macbook was a 13'' one.

NOTE: English is not my native language so excuse me if I make many grammar mistakes

Unboxing and first impressions:

Well, I don't think that unboxing and first impressions are actually that important but here we go...
The packaging was good, compact and nice. The case where the macbook was has worked some times as a real case for keeping it safe, althougt i missed some kind of real case, maybe not a briefcase but at least a soft one.

Design and Build quality:

The external quality is pretty good, it feels solid and resistant. The point that really impressed me was the lack of external fans which made it awesome to put on soft surfaces such as a bed, a couch or your legs The aluminium cover acts as a big heat sink so the laptop does not get very hot.

The keyboard is pretty solid too and fast to type once you get used to the keys.

As for the screen, well, its true it reflects a lot, if you use the laptop with window lights and during the daytime it can be a pain but with artificial light i have not had any problem. What bothers me more than reflection is how easy the screen gets dirty, I have to clean it almost every day :S

Another very positive point is how silent the laptop is, even when it's working hard, some friends also pointed this as a very good thing.

[EDITED] "Thanks Jervis, i know i missed something"
The multitouch pad on the macbook is another good point, it's wider that common pads, has a good feeling and reacts perfectly to touch. The multitouch tricks are very welcome, specially the one to scroll up and door web pages and, although other laptop pads can do this without multitouch, it's faster here.

The lack of buttons can be confusing at the beginning, but as everything else, once you get used to it, it's incredible faster than left and right buttons.

The negative point of trackpad comes in Windows, it doesn't go as smooth as in Mac OS and right click has some problems.
[/EDITED]

The latest positive point is the iSight camera, better than rest of the laptop cams I have used, and even thought i'm sure other laptops will have same or even better ones, had to comment this.

As for negative points, aside the screen, there isn't much i can say. Maybe the lack of extras for the 13'' macbooks such as illuminated keys, which would be very useful at nights. Very few usb ports and maybe a light overweight due to the unibody, but i think this one is worth it.

To sum up, I know there are other macbooks with same or even better build quality, but this macbook is the first laptop i own that good so it gets my favor. I previously had an 13'' XPS which may win in some aspects but generally falls far behind. I'm not going to comment differences now

Mac OS

Well, this one is complex because I'm not one of those mac fanboys who hate windows. I think that most of the things people complain for in Windows are human errors and not OS errors. So here we go:

First load and setup was easy and fast. I had previously read many articles about Mac OS so I had no big problems with it.

The OS is pretty fast and stable, although it's far from being error free as some think, specially using safari which gets stuck very often while browsing complex pages, I installed firefox and it goes smooth as usual.

The needless of ctrl+alt+spr is also false. Programs also get stuck and here you need to alt+cmd+esc. Once you force closing apps it doesn't become unstable, which is a good point.

What I dislike more was the behavior of "windows"... guess i'm too used to alt+tab that i hate it groups all windows within the same application into the same when altabbing. This is a problem with MSN for example where you only see one msn icon on the alt+tab menu instead of all chat boxes.

The button to spread windows and show desktop is, in my opinion, too far from the ctrl, cmd and alt keys. I'd wish it were closer to the tab key.

I also missed an easy way to create submenus with fast access to apps, i mean, it's nice to have most used apps on dock but i prefer having the sorted. Maybe there is 3rd party program for this.

The way apps are installed in mac os can be sometimes a bit confusing, specially if you come from windows.

BootCamp is one of the most useful things in Mac OS, it works wonders and it's solid as a rock. You can mess whatever you want with your windows installations and your mac os will keep there

I miss an option in mac to reset and switch automatically to the windows partition tho. Don't know if this can be achieved in any way.

I don't know what else to say, I'm sure I'm missing something but it's ok for now.

In conclusion, Mac OS is a pretty good OS for all kind of users, it's not perfect and it's not far superior than windows, but it does its job perfectly. It has its advantages and disadvantages, it's just matter of what are your needs and priorities as an user and what you value more.

my 20 cents

 

Nice review, I think you were accurate on all points. You must be a mouse user because I don't see any mention of the multi-touch. I'm not quite sure I understand your problem with Alt-Tab. Are you talking about switching tabs or switching windows? Check out the Expose function in your settings where you can set up active screen corners and single button presses. This may be a way to do what you are looking for.

 

Try F10 key it'll show all windows of the current program you're using. That does mean you have to click on the program you want to see. If you want to see all windows F9 will show it and you could be on any program. I believe this would be quicker than alt-tabing through all windows.

 

You can put folders into the dock and create a "stack."

 

alt + tab = cmd + tab to change between programs
cmd+` to change between windows in the same program

 

If you want fast access to apps install quick sliver. I can't live with out it.

 

thats odd... although Safari 3 I had problems now and then, but i'd never consider it "very often" Safari 4 Beta has been awesome to me though, but Firefox is good too.

that is needed sometimes, but I've needed it maybe 10 times in the last 6 years, maybe just a few apps you use have problems more than others.

CMD+Tab and CMD+` work pretty good. Tab is for apps, and ` is for windows in the same app. The keys are right beside each other so it makes it fast. I don't use that as much as i used to, Expose is much easier, and controlled with the touchpad. You can set up Expose hot corners as well... The default (you can change it) key for Expose is now on F3 (maybe you have an older Macbook) which isn't very far from Tab and `.

You can put a folder on the Dock on the right side by the trash. It will have 3 viewing options of how you want to see it when you click it (fan, grid, or list). I keep multiple folders under my Apps folder, and group my apps into types, then put links to those folders in the dock, so they basically pop up like a start menu in Windows and I can select my app.

everything is confusing in any OS until you learn how it works

Its more complicated to use VMware (or Parallels) but is more useful for most Windows apps since you can run it in OSX without rebooting.

in Preferences (also installed in WIndows control panel when you install bootcamp drivers) you can choose your boot drive. The one you select should be the default.. I can reboot with Windows as default pretty easy and wont go back into OSX unless I tell it to.

 

And thanks I didn't even know about the ⌘ ` shortcut. It would work well if you have like 2-4 window open anything beyond that I think expose would be better.