1 post tagged “macbook”
Hey, I know people are talking about you being sick and maybe even undergoing chemo, so don't take what I'm going to say too seriously. Your companies are doing great, even in this economy.
But I have to say, I just go the new 13-inch aluminum MacBook and have some initial thoughts.
First the good news. It's pretty darn nice - the larger, softer, MacBook Air curves are a nice touch - and nice to touch. It gives the MacBook a very different feel than the older MacBook Pro. I'd like to think that you listened to me when I ranted about how many people who want the 13" MacBook for the size still want all if not most of the performance and features of the larger MacBook Pro. So the high performance nVidia graphics card hits the spot, as does the back-lit keyboard and aluminum brick body.
Now the nit-picking. The new screen isn't so great, even after calibrating the color balance. It still often looks washed out and under-saturated. But the real issue is the small angle of optimum view. It's so small vertically, that just moving my head an inch or two up or down really changes the glare and perception of color. Looking at it from too low an angle and it looks dark. Look at it from too high an angle and it looks too white and washed out. The side to side angle is more tolerating - I can move my head within about 6 inches from center before I really notice the screen deteriorating too much. That's a 12 inch field of view horizontally. Vertically, it's only about 3 inches, from a distance of about 18 inches. I think this ought to be looked at seriously and improved. I've read about others returning their brand new MacBook because of this issue. Someone let this slip by in production.
While I use the Firewire occasionally for transfering large amounts of data - like connecting a digital SLR - it's not a deal killer for me, though it maybe for some. I still miss an ExpressCard slot. wish you could have put one in for my EVDO modem, or built-in 3G WWAN would be an alternative.
Not sure why the black bezel and keyboards. There are lots of notebooks out there that already had this color scheme - just saw some at Costco - HP laptops. But it's ok. My silver colored keys on my MacBook Pro had to be replaced because the silver paint was coming off of several of the keys. It's probably a relatively common thing with parts that are subjected to lots of impact from finger nails.
Anyway, otherwise, it's a very nice upgrade to the MacBook. Fast, and seems to be cooler than my MBPro.
Maybe I'll see you Friday when I'm touring Apple.
