MacShrine

Just a quick one this week, but it couldn’t go unmentioned: the new MacBook. This is actually causing a bit of a stir out there in the big wide world - more than probably would have been expected from the release of just another Apple consumer notebook. Traditionally the iBook line from Apple has been lacklustre to say the best - relatively cheap entry-level computers OK for light to moderate use and gaming by nothing too heavy. An update to an iBook may draw a few ‘woos’ simply because the audience for this model is so large (Apple are targeting the people at home here, instead of the people at work), but when the initial reaction to Something New™ is over, there’s rarely enough substance in an iBook update to keep interest levels really high. Sure, they sell well, but that’s because they quite cheap and quite well designed - not because they’re going to win any innovation or speed awards.

You see, the thing is, this has all kinda changed with these new MacBooks. There have been some quite interesting surprises to come out of Apple with this update. First up: glossy screens. The subject of some contention it would seem, but it looks like Apple are moving their laptop displays across to using glossy screen across the board. Now, whether this is because these types of screens are tending to be the norm out there in PC Land, and a matte-finish screen on a Mac laptop wouldn’t look as ‘bright’ or ’sharp’ next to one, or whether these screens are actually any better, is a debatable point.

The next thing that Apple have done with these MacBooks is to give them all dual-core CPUs - even for the entry-level cheapest models. This is probably the most significant surprise from this release. It was widely predicted - where people cared to speculate on these things (hey, go dip a toe in the waters of forums where people speculate on things Mac and you’ll see how crazy it is in there…) - that at least the entry-level machine would have a Core Solo (single core) Intel chip, and there would probably be a high-end model with a dual core - or maybe even no dual core MacBook at all and if you wanted dual core, you had to go Pro. But they didn’t, and instead stuck a nippy little dual core in all models.

One other very vital point is that these Intel-based MacBooks now give the average Joe a way of still running legacy apps that only run under Windows - either using Boot Camp to dual book the MacBook, or using Parallels Workstation (see last week’s article for more info). As I mentioned last week, I think this whole Intel move - and being able to demonstrate Windows running alongside OS X - is going to be a real crowd-pleaser. At the end of the day, I don’t think people really care what computer they’re using. They want something that just works - and these MacBooks present consumers with something that just works in the 95% of the time they can use OS X for everything they need to do, and now also just works for the 5% of time they need another OS. Very very compelling - and now at a height that even consumers can reach.

So what this means is that for a few extra quid (and not that much more wonga than the old iBook really), you get a machine that knocks the spots of almost any other laptop out there in terms of performance. Plus it has Airport and Bluetooth built in. Plus it has an iSight built-in. Plus it has a user-replacable hard drive. Plus it has gigabit ethernet. Plus it has a reasonable amount of memory by default.

These MacBooks are a very very solid update. For whatever reason Stevey has decided not to do any more 12″ Powerbooks, it would seem that the slack is taken up quite nicely by these MacBooks. So much so, in fact, that I’m probably going to upgrade my 12″ Powerbook to the entry-level MacBook pretty soon. I’ll wait until the dust settles (always wise when dealing with Very New Apple Stuff™) and see what the word on the street regarding performance and other things like heat issues. Then I might actually upgrade. I’ve not real reason to though, to be perfectly honest. My 12″ Powerbook with 1.25GBs of RAM is very very nice indeed. But I feel like this is a new phase for Apple - moving to Intel - and I feel like I should be there too.

You may like to catch up on some of the previous weeks’ articles by the same author:

Week 1 - Fanning the Fanboys
Week 2 - The Lament of the Mac Mini
Week 3 - Market Share? What’s That?
Week 4 - Integrations What You Need (aka. the assult on Windows)
Week 5 - Beating Windows At Its Own Game

Craig Pugsley works as a technical consultant for a small independent software vendor in the UK, and writes commentary pieces for various publications and online sources in his spare time. He lives in Berkshire with his astounding nearly-wife Lucy and a surprisingly large mortgage. He gives thanks for every day he is able to work on a Mac, and yearns for a life when more people can freely experience the life-changing benefits of a good computer.

© Copyright Craig Pugsley 2006 - published by MacShrine with permission.