42 Mac days
It feels like it was yesterday, but it's really about one month ago I got the device I'm writing this words. Of course I'm talking about my favourite and newest toy, my black Macbook and the time has come to make a first conclusion.
Positive Things
First I have to say, that I'm really satisfied with the Macbook, maybe not really thrilled (like I was with the one or the other of my technical devices), but really satisfied. There're not much points of critique, but before I will come to these, I'm talking about the positive aspects:
Keyboard
First of all, I was a bit sceptical, how it is to write on that keyboard over a longer time. I never liked laptop keyboards at all and the design that Apple made shows you, that this is not a general laptop keyboard. The first typingtest in the Apple store was not too bad and over a longer time I noticed that the keyboard is much better, as I though it would be.
The keystroke is very comfortable and the keys are astonishing silent, what is really important for me for a mobile device that is mainly used in the train or in other situations very noise is perturbing.
The keyboard layout is a normal QWERTZ (=german version) with the typical additional keys for Apple computers. All keys are easy to press and to reach for, so it's very comfortable to work with that keyboard.
Trackpad
The Trackpad is another crunchpoint that I never liked on Laptops. I never found a version of a trackpad, that was cushy and effectiv to operate with. There are some cases at work, where I get a support call, and when I know that the person is using a laptop without an extra mouse, I was always taking one with me, because I never liked these so called input devices.
So you can image how surprised I was about the Trackpad of the Macbook, it's a complete different feeling, yeah I like it! That's because of the size and because of the sensitivity. You have to press your own finger until it hurts to move the mouse, a very smooooooth touch is enough. That's great.
In addition I love the extended possibilities of the pad, that can be configured in the operating system. These possibilities allow you to have a secondary click very easily, though the device itself has only one real button. You can do this secondary click by tipping on the pad with two fingers. Of course you can configure the pad that the normal click happens when you tip on the pad itself with only one finger. But the best thing is the possibility for scrolling, you are just using two fingers and move them in the desired direction. That's interpreted as scrolling.
The most of the possibilities that are mentioned in the previous paragraph are not available in the standard configuration. They have to be set up first.
Display
Yep, it's a glare type display and I don't know one single person who commits to these “make up mirrors”. Personally I have too less experience to say, which display type is better, but I never really had problems with this glare one even if I'm part of the usergroup that should never use glare type displays, because I'm using it mainly in the train (changing solar radiation) and outdoors.
I can't gripe about the colors or the quality, but like I said I have no real long term experiences with displays.
The standard resolution is the maximum one and is set to 1280x800 pixels. Usually I don't like these big resolutions, but Mac OS is handling the resolution exactly as it should be, so the fonts are not getting smaller, when you rise the resolution. Everything stays readable.
Noises
To say it direct to the point: The Macbook is the most silent computer I was ever using.
The fan is working so silent, you don' t really take notice of it. If there are very silent environment noises around you, the fan is drown out. I'm especially happy about that, because in the last months I became a silent freak.
There were just two situations in the last month, in which the fan turned on: The first time it was while I was testing Neverball and the other time it was on a hot day, when the Macbook was standing direct in the sunlight. If such situations occur, that cooling is definitly going loud and annoying, but that's very seldom.
Battery power
I'm really satisfied with the running time of the device. The battery holds between 3 and 4 hours in normal use (=writing texts, watching some videos… ) and has a capacity of about 5400 mAh. If I'm taking the battery out of the case, because of using the laptop with a connected power cable, it's still standing quite well. I know some other “three legers“ that are worser.
Negative points
Some words before again: Yes, there are a number negative points, that bother me. But they are all minor points, nothing really annoying (maybe except of the first one).
Case
Black is beautiful
, definitely. The look is great, but it suffers very fast, when use it often. The surface is perfect for seeing every fingertip, both on the backside of the display and the keyboard, acutally the whole laptop is affected.
I'm not sure if the white Macbook would have been a better choice. I had it for one evening and I think the problem is the same here, but I can't say for sure.
However I'm really recommending a fitting cleaning blanket, so the time for polishing and cleaning is minimized.
Temperature
The device is getting really hot on the bottom. For some people it's to disagreeable, I think there're sometimes about 40-50 degrees. That's something Apple should really take care of in the future.
WLAN
There's nothing to complain about the hardware of the built-in Airport Extreme card. Merely the drivers that are offered are not able to to Packet Injection, that maybe used by security consciousness users, who are testing their WLAN (or the one of a customer) for abuse. The Macbook has no extension slot, so if you want to do additional tests, you need an extra USB device.
Apple Motion Sensor
Hehe, yes it really works. Unfortunately (according to this link) it seems that my Macbook is to new and only the x- and the z-axis are working, whereat the y-axis would have been important for playing Neverball.
Some other facts in fast forward mode
The speakers are okay and are enough to have a nice evening with friends and some music in the background.
13.3 inches are really enough for me.
The weight is really portable.
The Mini DVI output is working and if you have the fitting adapter, you can impress your friends with a nice photoshow of you last holiday by using iPhoto.
Conclusion after the first month
The negative points are not acceptable, merely the cleaning peeves me.
I would buy it again.
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