Apple’s little white wonder of a MacBook excels against its PC counterparts, but it’s no Gandalf. As expected, gaming is this laptop’s weakest link. And even complex multimedia tasks can cause the MacBook’s magic to wither.
Still, in most applications, the Vista-booting MacBook performed admirably. But as speedy as the MacBook’s 2.1GHz Penryn processor may be, the notebook’s fatal flaw—beyond the gameplay-breaking integrated graphics—is a paltry 1GB of DDR2 RAM. This was most evident in our Photoshop test, where the once-mighty MacBook lurched to a crawl.
The MacBook’s 13.3-inch glossy screen presents a perceptibly higher quality picture than the other laptops in its class, but not outdoors—you can’t see jack in the sunlight. We enjoyed running our fingers across the spacious keyboard, although many of the strokes we take for granted on a PC have to be relearned on Apple hardware. Bringing up a context menu isn’t a simple right-click affair but rather a three-button ordeal.
Since Apple products are often touted for their multimedia capabilities, the MacBook’s limited connection options are a disappointment. Two USB ports and a single FireWire port butt up against a mini-DVI output for external monitor connectivity—adapter not included. Perhaps Apple means multimedia watching, as the device’s Superman of a battery and easy portability are a perfect fit for an on-the-go lifestyle.
Speedy processor; spacious keyboard, large touchpad; great battery life.
Only 1GB RAM; glossy screen unreadable in sunlight; lousy for gaming and multimedia editing.
| Apple MacBook | |
|---|---|
| CPU | Intel Core 2 Duo T8100 (2.1GHz) |
| RAM | 1GB DDR2/667 |
| Hard Drive | 120GB, 5,400rpm |
| Screen | 13.3-inch glossy TFT (1280x800) |
| Lap/Carry Weight | 4 lbs. 15 oz. / 5lbs. 12 oz. |
| Apple MacBook | Asus F8Sn | Acer TravelMate 5720 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Premiere Pro CS3 (min:sec) | 38:43 | 48:38 | 35:59 |
| Photoshop CS3 (min:sec) | 5:48 | 4:12 | 3:53 |
| ProShow (min:sec) | 38:10 | 56:53 | 40:32 |
| MainConcept (min:sec) | 68:11 | 83:10 | 68:08 |
| Fear (fps) | 4 | 22 | 15 |
| Quake 4 (fps) | 10.3 | 79.2 | 29 |
| Battery Rundown (hrs:min) | 3:26 | 1:42 | 2:32 |
Geneva.S
December 22, 2008 at 4:44pm
If you had taken the time to learn more about it, you would know that on a MacBook,
1-finger tap = left-click, 2-finger tap = right click, 1-finger brush = move curser, 2=finger brush = scroll (even sideways, if you like).
It is so neat, it was one of the several reasons that I switched from PC to Mac. The new MacBooks trackpads also do enlarge & other things, like an iPhone. In fact, they don't even have a button.
The biggest reason for the switch was to get away from Windows & it's virus and a-v software entourage, so the ability to run Windows on the computer is not an advantage, for me.
daspenceman11
June 25, 2008 at 3:39pm
Yes this is a good review, except what they failed to mention is that all of this is not true. Tehre are several differentkinds of MacBooks. There are 3 of this type of macbook (To see these 3 go to store.apple.com and click on MacBook).and on the other two there is increased speed, RAM, and hard drive. On these other two it is a much better gamingexperience. If you were to buy one i would recommend the MacBook that costs $1,299.
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