Hands-On With the New MacBooks

Paige Philuer writes "Macworld has a hands-on article examining the new MacBook and MacBook Pro — not a quickie look from Tuesday's event, but a lengthy, in-depth look with laptops they actually have in their offices. Some interesting observations: No FireWire on the MacBook; the TrackPad doesn't feel like you're running your finger across a pane of glass, though that's what it is; and switching between graphics cards in the MacBook Pro requires you to log out." Reader Bourbon contributes three links at CNET related to the new models, too: a positive written review (giving a score of 8/10 to the new MacBook), a video review, and a behind-the-scenes look at how the new models are machined.

Comments

Who cares about the hard drive

[fermion]

Everyone is saying, Look! it is easy to remove the hardrive! Yeah!

This is stupid. I think the most insane thing about any laptop is easy harddrive removal. It screams of a manufacturer that is going to save money using defective harddrives since they will be so easy to replace. Even if they go up in smoke after a year, the user will be able to replaced it.

Here is why I think this is a bad philosophy. First, the hard drive is where my data is stored. Even with a backup, I want to know that when I turn it on, it will work. Especially with a laptop. It is not like I am going to carry my backup with me? The naysayer will remind me that drive do not fail often. I reply that I buy macs because I do not want this critical component to fail at all. In all my years, I have only had three mac drives fail on me, and only after a few years of use. Ports, DVD drives, power adapters, fine. I can still get what I need to get done, then get it to the shop. Skimping on hard drives is unacceptable.

Second is security. I love the way that Apple has always built physical security into the products. Lockable lathes on the back of desktops, kensington lock on laptops. expensive components not trivial to reach. The only thing easy to steal on a pro laptop is the battery and sometimes the memory, which is a reasonable compromise as these are things that maybe switched out somewhat often. Ram at least requires a few screws being removed, which I think is good.

(note: it is possible that the latch is locked when the kensington cable it in. I can't tell, in which case this paragraph is not valid)
But why in the world would anyone want a hard drive that could be stolen in 30 seconds. This is data. This is some people life. I know it is not a huge security issue, but really. I see some HP laptops that could be stripped in a minute. The Ti Powerbook was the perfect compromise. Several screws, mostly of the same size, to remove the bottom cover, then a few more screws to remove the hard drive. I know from experience that the 12" powerbook is insane, and the Apple designer that did that should be flogged. Hard drives do fail, so one should not have to disassemble the whole machine to fix a part that is not likely to last the lifetime of the machine. I don't know how it is in the Mac Pro machines. Exposing the hard disk every time the battery is changed is just plan silly.

For that matter, making a battery change a two step process is silly. I know I just ranted on security, and how things might get stolen, but there has been times when I changed the battery every day. I am willing to risk a hundred dollars for an easier change out. I am not willing to trust Filevault to protect my data when someone steals the hard disk from my tethered and locked machine.

And what is it about hiding the memory. Apple must be really hard up for money if they are going to hid memory in hopes that users will buy Apple memory. There is only one thing that is still over priced at Apple. The memory. I will do without rather than pay apple prices. Non replaceable battery and memory in the macbook air, fine. No SD slot in the iPhone, fine. But making the HD a user replaceable part and the memory not, that is just silly.

In any case, the new mac books are something different, and will take some time to digest. I kind of like the mac book air if these are the compromises that are going to have to be made on the pro line. I guess we will wait and see what happens with the 17", if it ever appears. Maybe they will follow the rest of the industry and make it 18". That might be worth some shenanigans with memory.

Re:Am I the only one who thinks

[NtroP]

And am I the only one who is wondering just who would be buying one of these shiny MacBooks in such a harsh economic climate?

I will be buying at least two. First, I find them a whole lot more powerful and better looking than the white MacBooks. I was facing the fact that, if Apple had decided to drop the MacBook price to 800 or come up with a cheap "netBook" I was looking at having to spend the money to move up to a MacBook Pro to get the graphics performance I needed. Now, it looks like the MacBook will have enough Oomph with its new GPU. That saves me at least $1000.00 right there.

As far as "harsh economic climate" goes. My job is secure. My paycheck has not gone down. I'm not buried in debt. I've been budgeting and saving for this purchase since I bought the last MacBooks -- After all I knew it was coming. You always need to upgrade computers; so save for it -- with the fact that it looks like the purchase will now *save* me a grand, I'm looking good for this Christmas. Sure the price of fuel went up and the cost of food and other supplies went up - who didn't see that coming though.

I saw it more than a year ago and started reorganizing my finances. I live *below* my means, not above it. Sure, I can't sell my house for the outrageous price I could have gotten for it two years ago - so what? I can afford my mortgage. I'm not upside down on it. I actually bought my current house as a "fixer-upper" and invested my own time in it. I can wait until the housing market recovers. Even then, I'm not looking to move - I love my job and my community.

Unless you are a Wall Street broker or have all your money tied up in the stock market, what, exactly is this "harsh economic climate" doing to you? Are you being foreclosed on? Why? Were you one of the fools who got greedy and bought a house you new you couldn't afford the payments for? If so, why should that affect me?

Now, I understand that if you were innocently employed by one of the banks that went under or an SUV maker that is downsizing, then you might have been laid off and are in a financial bind because of it. I'm sorry about that. That really sucks. Finding a new job - especially one that pays the inflated union rates of your old one - might be difficult. And for *you* this is a legitimately sucky economic time. But how many of *you* are there in America? There are billions who weren't laid off and haven't taken a pay cut and can make their mortgages. I wonder how many of them are panicking, wondering what they should panic about?

All this hysteria seems a bit over-blown. Is it harder to get a loan now? Yup! So what? You don't get that shiny new car you wanted and have to keep your old one running for a bit more while you SAVE UP for your new one. I drove a 22-year-old Volvo while I *saved up* for my (currently) 10-year-old Mercedes while I'm *saving up* for my next car. I buy quality. I can drive the same car for 20 years without a problem. That might seem like a bad thing - and probably is if you were sentenced to 20-years driving a Ford. I've spent the last ten years driving a Mercedes that I payed (almost) all cash for. By the time you make your last payment on your shiny-new *financed* F150, you'll have paid more for it than I did for mine. And yours won't last 20 years - not that you'd want to drive it that long even if it did.

This economy is just emphasizing the weakness in the American philosophy of consumerism. If you can't afford it - borrow for it! Those who live by that code are going to suffer in all but the best times. They've mortgaged their future. Remember when you were told that you should have 6 months worth of income in your savings account? Uh huh. Did you ever get around to actually doing that? Remember being told that if you really want something you should save your money up for it and decide what you are willing to give up in the mean time so you can save more for it? Uh huh. Wait, you mean that applies to all my gadgets too? Yup.

I'm betting that tho