Apple MacBook Core 2 Duo 2.2 GHz - 13.3" TFT

Author's product rating:   

Speed	Very fast
Look & Feel	Excellent
Comfort & Portability	Excellent
Robustness & Durability	Good
Value For Money	Excellent

Advantages:	Fast, cheap, wonderful design
Disadvantages:	Some scrimping on features

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

There are those that do, and those that don't. There are those that could but won't. There are those that won't to but can't. And, there are those that don't know any different! It really doesn't matter which group you are in, the recently updated Apple Macbook is a wonderful little laptop!

I've been a Mac user for nearly two users, and whilst I prefer using the Apple operating system (Mac OS X) to Windows XP (and certainly Vista), I'm certainly not evangelical. However, as my warrenty had run out on my Macbook Pro (The larger screened and slightly more powerful laptop), I stuck it on ebay and sold it for only £300 less than the £1100 I bought it for. So, what did I replace it with? I was aware that there were rumours saying the Macbook would be updated in November, and it was. The updates were mainly around the use of what is called the Santa Rosa chipset, allowing more memory, faster bootup times and longer battery life, updated graphics, and an update of the bus speed from 667MHz to 800MHz. So, off I trotted to Apple's Regent Street branch to buy one.

The Macbooks come in three variants:

The base: £699
2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
1GB memory
80GB hard drive
Combo drive (DVD / CD only)

The Mid: £829
2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
1GB memory
120GB hard drive
Double-layer SuprDrive

The Top: £949
2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
1GB memory
160GB hard drive1
Double-layer SuperDrive

As you can see, there is no difference between the Mid and top version apart from a bigger hard disk and it's black (not white). But, Apple command a £120 difference in price between the two!

Anyway, enough of that, let's get back to the review. This review will concentrate on the mid, 2.2GHz, 120GB Macbook.

Design:
There are many laptops on the market, so unbelivably cheap. However, although Sony come close, no one has laptops that *look* as nice as Apple. The Macbook Pro is sleek with it's aluminium case, but the Macbook looks fun in it's plane white, glossy case. The footprint of the Macbook is just over the size of an A4 sheet of paper, give or take, and is 2.75cm deep. It weighs 2.27KGs also, which is not the lightest in the world. However, it does feel well built, and doesn't flex when picked up in one corner like the Macbook Pro does.

As with everything Apple, the case has been thought out. Along the front is nothing but a white LED to indicate status (on / off / Sleep) and a small black dot for the Infrared port. The right side contains nothing bar the DVD / CD slot, and the left side is festooned with all the ports you'll ever need (More details later). There are no ports on the back. On opening the screen, you are met with a beautiful white keyboard, track pad with one (Yes, ONE!) button and a beautiful, dark, glossy screen. You certainly won't feel embarissed getting it out on the train!

Bits and Pieces:
The Macbook comes in a small box which is easy to carry. You get the power pack, a clip on UK plug, as well as a plug on the end of a lead, a box containing some manuals and DVD's and the IR controller.

Starting for the first time.
When you first start the Macbook, you are taken through a very nicely and well designed wizard that sets most things up for you. You have the option of copying across applications / media from other Mac's (something which is a breeze and makes Windows XP / Vista look like something the Victorians designed), connecting to the internet (if wirelessly, it scans for networks and ask you nothing more than a security key if need be) and off you go! I cannot stress enough how simple it is to get going with the Macbook, even for a complete Mac novice!

Software:
As this is an updated Macbook, you get the following software:

Mac OS X 10.5 operating system
iLife 08 (iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, iWeb, GarageBand)
Internet apps (Mail, Safari (apple's web browser), iChat)
Others: Time Machine (backup), Photobooth, Dashboard, Quicktime and AppleScript

You also get trial versions of Microsoft Office and iWork.

User Interface:
If you've never used a Mac before, there are some huge differences between it and XP (or whatever else you've used before). If you have used Mac OS X before, the differences are more subtle. Either way, it's fast, clean and very easy to learn. What is more difficult is learning that what you've been used to using Microsoft based operating systems is not necessarily the right thing to be doing. And what I hate most is trying to do things on XP what I've learnt on Mac OS X! However, this isn't meant to be a review of the operating system, so I'll move on. I would recommend, if you are thinking of buying a Macbook that you trott along to an Apple store and have a look at the OS and how it works. Apple have several options, one of them being a personal trainer, who should be more than happy to help.

Screen:
So, you have this bright new funky laptop. What are you going to do with it? Well, firstly, you are a little constrained by the screen size. It's only 13.3" diagonal, which gives you 1280 by 800. Not bad, and it's great that you have it more widescreen than the regular 4:3 ratio that you are used to. However, I would prefer a little more screen vertically…. Some apps just don't fit on the screen properly!

However, the screen is quite bright (although not as bright as the OLED Macbook Pros). What will amaze you is how black the blacks are. If you are not sure what I mean, get an older laptop side by side to the Macbook and compare what the screen looks like. It's beautiful! The screen comes in Matt or Glossy. I went for the glossy, and in some situations, I prefer it. It's wonderful for watching movies and doing photo adjusting. However, it does suffer a little with reflections. Again, if you are considering buying one, compare the glossy and matt side by side.

Battery life:
The battery charges relatively quickly, and has a small button on it which gives you an indication of how much power is left. Under moderate use, I get around 4 hours out of it. Watching movies and DVD's will zapp that a little quicker. However, turning the brightness down a little and remembering to turn off the Wi-Fi will give you much more.

Port and Interfaces:
The Macbook, as suggested earlier, comes with a pleathora of ports. There are 2 USB 2.0 ports, a firewire port, Line in, headphone out (both analogue and optical), a mini DVI port (adapters for VGA and Svideo are available). The Macbook also comes with a 8x slot-loading SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW), which covers most eventualities. There is also Bluetooth, an 802.11n/g/b Wi-Fi Card and 10/100/1000BASE-T Gigabit Ethernet (RJ-45 connector).

Processor and Graphics:
The 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo is certainly more than capable, and handles the new Mac OS very well. It certainly zapped through my exporting of AVI movies to MP4 quite quickly! What does let the Macbook down a little is the integrated Intel GMA X3100 graphics processor with 144MB of DDR2 SDRAM shared with main memory. It's not bad, but it's not great either. However, it is capable of driving the Macbooks display at full resolution and an external display at 1920 by 1200 pixels at the same time, so it can't be that bad.

Memory:
This is where Apple are a little stingy. The Macbook comes with 2 x 512MB sticks, which sit in the two slots available. You can upgrade the memory to a maximum of 4GB, which is more than enough for this little Fella! I wouldn't bother going anywhere near Apple for memory upgrades. It's stupidly expensive. It's a £90 upgrade to 2GB, whereas you could go to Crucial.com where it's just £35 and you still have the original memory sticks that you can flog on ebay! Whilst the Macbook certainly isn’t sluggish, Memory is perhaps the one upgrade that is more than worth the money. Actually getting at the memory is a very simple affair and can be done with little or no experience, as it's done through the battery bay.

Hard Disk:
The Macbook comes with a 120GB 5400RPM hard disk. It's £50 to upgrade this to a 160GB affair, or you can even upgrade to a 250GB size, although that would cost an extra £150. Given that Apple's price is only slightly more than what it costs from Dabs, et al, that's not a bad price, and you won't have to install the OS again if Apple do it!

Trackpad and Keyboard:
The keyboard has an especially nice feel to it, and although it's not quite up to the standards of the Macbook Pro, it has a nice feel, enabling me to type at normal speeds. The trackpad is sensitive and allows a few features you may not be used to. For example, if you run TWO fingers down or across it, it scrolls the page you are currently on... No more hunting for the fiddly little arrows or keys for scrolling!

Additional:
One thing I especially love about my Macbook is sleeping..... When you close the lid, it goes to sleep. When you open the lid, it wakes up. No surprises there. However, it's the speed tat it does this. Almost instantly after opening, you can start using it. I've had mine for nearly a week, and it's still not had a reboot!

Warrenty & Support.
You get 90 days support from Apple (Telephone / In Person) when you buy a new Macbook. You also get a years Warranty, which is upgradable to 3 years if you fork out £199. For other issues, I can recommend Apple's discussion groups at discussion.apple.com whose members are a mix of Apple employees and other Apple users who will be more than happy to help, so long as you've attempted to search the forums first!

Summary:
I'm more than happy with my Macbook. It's going to get some more memory, and I wish the screen size was a little bigger, but for the money, it's certainly worth it. Managing photos and music is a breeze, Movies and music are wonderul to enjoy and, to quote Apple: It Just Works!