If you haven't heard yet, Apple on October 14th unveiled their new
MacBook. The most touted properties of the new notebook are its
aluminum unibody enclosure and the new buttonless glass trackpad. The
rest of the specs for the notebook are relatively the same as the
previous model.
Without question, the new aluminum MacBook is solid. It's unibody
construction is both attractive and feels very durable. When you are
carrying most notebook computers, whether a Mac, Dell, Sony, etc, there
always seems to be a bit of wiggle between the lid/screen and the
computer's main body. This is not the case with the new MacBook. When
you are carrying it, it feels like it is one solid piece of aluminum.
As far as the buttonless glass trackpad goes, I don't understand why
they refer to it as glass. It looks, feels and behaves exactly like the
previous model's trackpad. I suppose that “buttonless glass trackpad”
sounds better than just “buttonless trackpad.” The bottom half of the
trackpad doubles as a button. You press on it and it will click with
tactile feedback. I was a bit concerned how it would handle dragging
and dropping. *You can press down on the trackpad to click and hold an
item, and another finger to drag it. *If you lift the drag finger, you
will still be holding the item until you release the other finger. It
works just as you would expect.
The multi-finger gestures feature for the trackpad is kind of a mixed
bag. Some are useful and others are pointless. With the gestures you
can zoom and rotate pictures, go back and forward in your browser, go
to your desktop, and more. The most pointless gesture is the 4 finger
swipe to show the application switcher. Once the application switcher
appears you must move your mouse pointer to the desired application and
click on it. Even if I became accustomed to this method, I still think
using Command+Tab on my keyboard would be easier and faster. To me, it
would make more sense to use the 4 finger swipe to move from space to
space in Leopard's Spaces feature.
Other than that, the new MacBook is pretty much the same as the
previous model. The new MacBook has a better graphics card, the next
generation of RAM, and a faster bus speed, but for the average user,
these improvements are not worth upgrading from the previous model
MacBook.
A deal breaker for some users is that the new MacBook lacks any
Firewire port. Those who have invested in FireWire peripherals will
have to go for the old generation MacBook which Apple still sells at a
$999 price tag, or they will have to spend a bit more to get the
MacBook Pro which also has FireWire.
Another note, the 2 USB ports in the new MacBook are very close
together. I was unable to have a USB mouse and USB thumb drive
connected simultaneously.
Source : http://www.nillabyte.com/
MacBook. The most touted properties of the new notebook are its
aluminum unibody enclosure and the new buttonless glass trackpad. The
rest of the specs for the notebook are relatively the same as the
previous model.
Without question, the new aluminum MacBook is solid. It's unibody
construction is both attractive and feels very durable. When you are
carrying most notebook computers, whether a Mac, Dell, Sony, etc, there
always seems to be a bit of wiggle between the lid/screen and the
computer's main body. This is not the case with the new MacBook. When
you are carrying it, it feels like it is one solid piece of aluminum.
As far as the buttonless glass trackpad goes, I don't understand why
they refer to it as glass. It looks, feels and behaves exactly like the
previous model's trackpad. I suppose that “buttonless glass trackpad”
sounds better than just “buttonless trackpad.” The bottom half of the
trackpad doubles as a button. You press on it and it will click with
tactile feedback. I was a bit concerned how it would handle dragging
and dropping. *You can press down on the trackpad to click and hold an
item, and another finger to drag it. *If you lift the drag finger, you
will still be holding the item until you release the other finger. It
works just as you would expect.
The multi-finger gestures feature for the trackpad is kind of a mixed
bag. Some are useful and others are pointless. With the gestures you
can zoom and rotate pictures, go back and forward in your browser, go
to your desktop, and more. The most pointless gesture is the 4 finger
swipe to show the application switcher. Once the application switcher
appears you must move your mouse pointer to the desired application and
click on it. Even if I became accustomed to this method, I still think
using Command+Tab on my keyboard would be easier and faster. To me, it
would make more sense to use the 4 finger swipe to move from space to
space in Leopard's Spaces feature.
Other than that, the new MacBook is pretty much the same as the
previous model. The new MacBook has a better graphics card, the next
generation of RAM, and a faster bus speed, but for the average user,
these improvements are not worth upgrading from the previous model
MacBook.
A deal breaker for some users is that the new MacBook lacks any
Firewire port. Those who have invested in FireWire peripherals will
have to go for the old generation MacBook which Apple still sells at a
$999 price tag, or they will have to spend a bit more to get the
MacBook Pro which also has FireWire.
Another note, the 2 USB ports in the new MacBook are very close
together. I was unable to have a USB mouse and USB thumb drive
connected simultaneously.
Source : http://www.nillabyte.com/
