Apple MacBook Core 2 Duo 2 GHz - 13.3" TFT

...hatred- an abhorrence, even- for Apple Inc. I saw the Apple Macs as being silly gimmicks, reserved only for those who feel the deep desire to use something flawed, purely because it's different. And maybe when I was younger and felt this way (about a year ago), that's the way it was. But now, after being forcefully led into using Apple Macs due to the nature of the graphic design degree I am about to start, I have discovered that Macs aren't PCs' ...
...I decided on buying an Apple Macbook over a PC laptop due to them being the industry standard for the visual arts. I ordered it from the online shop, as I wanted to upgrade the RAM to 2gb. Just to mention, this review is purely for the 2gb RAM version, which you can get if you customise it within the online shop. The whole package, minus all the fancy additions, cost me £999 with free shipping, and it arrived within less than 24 hours. Not bad going ... more

I have always had a certain hatred- an abhorrence, even- for Apple Inc. I saw the Apple Macs as being silly gimmicks, reserved only for those who feel the deep desire to use something flawed, purely because it's different. And maybe when I was younger and felt this way (about a year ago), that's the way it was. But now, after being forcefully led into using Apple Macs due to the nature of the graphic design degree I am about to start, I have discovered that Macs aren't PCs' horribly deformed and yet highly praised twins; I have instead concluded that they are beautiful, fast, graphically led, intuitive and essentially fun computers.

Ordering:
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As I mentioned earlier, I decided on buying an Apple Macbook over a PC laptop due to them being the industry standard for the visual arts. I ordered it from the online shop, as I wanted to upgrade the RAM to 2gb. Just to mention, this review is purely for the 2gb RAM version, which you can get if you customise it within the online shop. The whole package, minus all the fancy additions, cost me £999 with free shipping, and it arrived within less than 24 hours. Not bad going if you asked me. If you're going to buy one, I would highly recommend that you use the standard, trusted online shop. Normally I would be against this, but seeing as Apple have normalised the price wherever you go, it seems like the logical route to go down (especially if you want to customise (which you do)). The price is quite high, I must admit; it seems to be that way with all Macs, though. I guess it's because they're more specialist than PCs. I think it's worth the cost, although I would probably prefer it to be maybe £100 less. Still, that's life.

In the box:
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Upon gleefully opening the brown box, I found a sleek white box inside, with handle and all. At first I questioned why they would add a handle, seeing as it's only going to be pulled out of a box once, but hey- if they want to add a handle they can add a handle. I'm not going to write a petition about that. Included within the inner box was a power cable, some instruction manuals/CDs, a very useful remote control, a spare plug and some polystyrene. Also included was the laptop itself, which was obviously a nice addition to the power cable and remote control. It was all so nicely presented, that I will admit: I let out a small teardrop from my eye. It really is beautiful.

Initial setup:
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So first things first, I set the MacBook on the floor and insert the magnetic power cord (which is an amazing idea, as it means that the cord won't be tripped over and the MacBook damaged). That's a lie, actually. The first thing I did was let out a small squeal of glee; then I inserted the power cord. Pressing the power button, I see the familiar Apple logo and wait as it sets itself up. Then comes the magic: All these "welcome"s in various different languages come flying at me. Once that extravaganza was over, I was brought to a very simple and easy to use start-up screen. I entered my name and email etc, and it just brought me through it all step-by-step. If I weren't so inhumanly intelligent, I'm sure I would have been able to set it up just as easily. It really was ridiculously simple. It asked me which network I wanted to connect to; I selected it; it asked me for the password; it was done. No faffing about with routers and settings; it was just done.

The MacBook and OSX in brief:
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So, we are finished with setting it up, and now it has loaded the good stuff. After a few minutes of updating components (long enough to make a brew), it restarted- and by the upsetting lack of hair on my chinny-chin-chin it was fast. It took about 20 seconds to restart and get back to the same position. The amount of time it takes my "fast" windows PC to do the same thing, I think that world hunger could be quite easily solved. That's the beauty of it: it doesn't load items on startup; instead they are already loaded, within that 20 seconds or so that it takes. That's magic.

The first thing I did was to open Safari, so I could check whether the internet worked, and also to download Firefox. Safari is nice, but Firefox far surpasses it. Safari loaded in about a second, which was very nice, and the wireless was working perfectly at full strength. I was shocked at how easily I had got to this point. The only disadvantage I could see at this point was the screen, which you have to look at at the exact right angle to get the correct colours and brightness. I still find myself continuously adjusting the screen's angle so that I get it at the right brightness, and if I am using it for detailed works where colour is important, that can be quite a big problem. The screen is also not massively large, and is significantly widescreen. This, as before, isn't a huge problem, but it can get quite tiresome on the eyes. It is, however, possible to plug a standalone monitor into the laptop; it requires a special adapter, though.

The second thing that I did was to go through the system preferences. I always seem to do this, and it seems the most logical thing to do, because often really helpful features are turned off by default. One of these features is the ability to "tap" the mousepad in order to click (along with being able to press the specific button underneath). There is also the option to tap the mousepad with two fingers to simulate a right click, or drag with two fingers to scroll down a page. These options are very, very helpful, and yet are hidden away. When I initially bought my MacBook, I feared that the mouse would be the biggest letdown, what with only having one button and all. But the mousepad allows you to easily simulate scroll wheels and right mouse buttons. Bear in mind, too, that you can (as I have done), plug in a standard PC mouse via USB, and get perfect results as if it were Windows. Much cheaper, and more effective, if anything!

Another cool feature that I discovered, but I won't go into too much detail with, is the speech system. The speech system (which is simply under "speech" in the system preferences) is fantastic on Mac OSX, and with the MacBook's built in microphone (which is surprisingly high quality and very sensitive), it works like a dream. Essentially, you can speak to Mac OSX and give it commands, either triggered by pressing a button and then speaking, or by having it always listening. For example, if you set it up in the Speech panel, you can say "What time is it?" and the current Mac voice will say "It's _o'clock" or so. You could also say "Open Safari", for example, and it will do so. Can be very helpful and quite a timesaver, especially if you have no hands. It's a bit flakey, though, and it often doesn't understand first time around, or it hears something as "Close Window" and closes the document you're working on. It's still cool, and there are loads of very amusing voices to speak things out, too. Obviously if you are hard of sight, you can get Mac OSX to speak things on the screen out to you. Also quite nice.

Another fantastic feature of Mac OSX is the ability to switch between applications and windows in a fluid and quite exciting way. Hitting F9 will cause every single window open to get smaller and spread out across the screen, showing you everything you can choose from. This allows you to see any hidden windows, and also allows you to flip from one thing to another instantly. It works so quickly, without any interruptions, and is probably one of Mac OSX's best features. Pressing F10 does a similar thing, but only with the child windows within each application. This is handy if you want to flick between different pages which are open within, for example, your web browser, without getting confused by all the other applications open. Hitting F11 sends every window flying to the sides, showing the desktop. This is great if you want to view your desktop or easily open up your documents. Finally, pressing F12 brings the Expose screen up, which is like a layer that flies onto the screen, containing "widgets", which are little elements that can be a clock, a dictionary, a calculator, a weather guide or hundreds of other things. Quite useful if you ever find yourself needing to know the weather, but being in a place with no windows.

Something else that is very impressive is the plug-'n'-play compatibility; this is the ability to just stick any ol' USB device in, and have it work with no questions asked. It seems that the need for entering driver CDs is practically non-existent. Just stick it in, and it's ready to go.

After using Windows PCs for so long, using a Mac seems very strange. The buttons are in different places, the menu systems are different, and certain things seem confusing at first. However, after using it for a relatively short amount of time, you get accustomed to its ways, and its differences from the "norm" suddenly seem perfectly logical. And they are. Mac OSX and the MacBook itself are very well thought out, and deliver the easiest way of working.

Inbuilt iSight, and Photo Booth:
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Built into the top of the screen is a tiny little dot: a webcam. The "iSight" as it's known (original), is built into all MacBooks and MacBook Pros. Coupled with the software that comes with it, Photo Booth, it can be a lot of fun. When you open up Photo Booth, your face is right there. Press the camera button, count down from 3, and your photo is instantly taken. So easy it hurts ever so slightly. But then there's more! If you click the "1" or "2" within the program, you find yourself in front of an array of effects that apply to your image on-the-fly. For example, you can press one that makes the centre of the image buldge out, and you can move about and make certain parts of your face distorted. Then there's one that duplicates and colours your face 4 times, in the style of Pop Art. Many hours of fun can be had doing this. Then again, I am amused very easily, like a hyena on crack.

That funny little remote:
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With the laptop comes a little white remote, slightly smaller than an iPod Nano and weighing near to nothing. Pressing the arbitrary play/pause, volume +/-, fast forward/rewind etc can control your iTunes, Quicktime or many other things. If you press "menu", the entire screen shoots backwards and is replaced with a screen containing music, photos, videos and DVDs, which is a great thing to use if you want to listen to some music or watch a DVD without having to use a normal application. The music bit uses iTunes, but behind the scenes, and I'm pretty certain that the video bit uses Quicktime, but again, without showing it. Just a cool little addition.

Included software:
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Some of the software that is bundled with the MacBook is: Apple Mail, Safari, iChat, Address Book, iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie HD, iDVD, iWeb, iCal, Quicktime, Photo Booth, Big Bang Board Games, Garage Band, Comic Life, Chess, Office 2000 Test Drive and a lot more. It's quite a nice range, and takes care of most things you need, unless you want specific applications like Photoshop, Flash or Cubase.

The keyboard:
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The keyboard keys are all soft and separated, rather than being a single unit like previous Apple Mac laptops. Obviously this means that if you spill anything in it, it will be a horror to try to clean out. The other day I actually spilt a bit of tea in the mousepad and had to physically suck it out. That was interesting... No damage done, though. So I guess MacBooks aren't that fragile. Some of the keys need getting used to, such as how there are 5 "function" keys in the bottom left, rather than the 3 you'd get in Windows (excluding the Windows key). The mousepad is fantastic, as mentioned earlier. You just need to enable some settings in order to get it to work to its fullest.

The general look of it:
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It really is a thing of beauty. It's completely white, save a few little details. It opens perfectly, without a catch (pun intentional). The entire unit is sleek, rounded and shiny. I keep getting magpies clawing at my windows it's that shiny. As far as weight goes, it's about average. Nothing too heavy or ridiculously light; it's just about right, in a three bears sense. It is quite a small laptop, so it is possibly a bit heavier than average considering that. To me, it just feels the same as any other laptop I've ever used.

Durability:
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I've only owned it for a week, so I can't really pass judgment on that. However, the screen seems to get quite a few hard little bumps on it, as if the plastic has stuck out slightly. At first it looks just like a bit of grime, but when I try to rub it off, it just stays there, and I can feel that it sticks out from the surface of the screen. No biggie; it's just a bit strange.

I hear that a lot of people buy sleeves for the laptop, as it supposedly gets scratched very easily. But as I've earlier mentioned, I've not owned it long enough to prove that.

Speakers:
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The inbuilt speakers are fine for listening to music at a moderate volume, or listening to a movie on your own, for example. However, if you want to make your music a lot louder and more powerful, especially if you were using the MacBook at a party, you'd have to really invest in some speakers. But as I've mentioned, it's down to circumstance. If you want it loud and strong, you'll need external speakers; if not, it's fine as it is.

Hard Drive:
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The hard drive I have at the moment, in this laptop, is 80gb. Now that's not much, and seeing as my "cut down" version of my music library is already 12gb, it's not going to be hard to fill. So if you wish, I would recommend getting a larger hard drive in the customisation process. But that obviously depends on the user. Some people will never even need 80gb; some people will use it up in a day. That's really for you to decide.

Expandability:
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As far as hardware goes, it's quite difficult to expand it once it's made. I don't know because I've never done it, but I have heard through the grapevine that trying to upgrade memory or storage is a difficult thing to do. As far as expanding externally, or expanding in the sense of software, it's easy as pie. Once you get the hang of the installation process, it's ridiculously simple. You essentially drag the file into the application folder, and it's installed. Good stuff. Finding mac-compatible software is not easy, however. That's not Apple's fault, though- it's everyone else's!

Instructions and ease of use:
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Very easy to pick up, and very well explained. Everything you need to do, you can find out about through the help guides. I'm not going to go into it too much; all you need to know is that it is ludicrously easy!

Stability:
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The MacBook seems to be able to put up with a hell of a lot of processor usage. I regularly have Photoshop, Firefox, iTunes, Windows Messenger for Mac, Quicktime, VLAN, Finder and Azureus open at the same time and the laptop seems to be able to cope easily, and still able to fly between each application with the greatest of ease. However, I did save a 30mb Photoshop document straight onto a memory stick with all the above programs open once. Yes.. Photoshop and Finder both froze. Bad decision on my part.

Plus, Macs are famous for being immune to viruses (or virii). This is essentially because antivirus software, firewalls etc are built straight into the operating system. Plus, very few people try to write viruses for Macs. So all in all, they're very safe. Imagine Macs to be a bulletproof vault, whilst Windows is a soggy paper bag. Bad analogy? Yeah... sorry.

Customer support:
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Not sure, because I haven't run into any problems yet. I did ring them, however, when I placed my order (because it required me messing about with my bank), and they were very helpful and friendly. I don't know how that compares to technical help, though. I've heard (once again through this "grapevine" fellah), that it is very good. Can't back this up, though.

In a nutshell:
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Moving from Windows to Mac OSX is not an easy move. It requires changing your entire perspective on the way that computers work, both logistically and philosophically. But if you are going to change, definitely go for a MacBook. For what they cost, they are tremendous. Lightning speed, intuitive workflow, simple to use, beautiful to look at. Obviously the MacBook Pro has this and more, but at a much higher cost (starting at £1,350!)

As far as negatives go, it is quite dear, and so is software and hardware add-ons. An Apple Mini-DVI to DVI Adapter costs £15 alone, and that's only a converter. Another problem is the lack of available software. As said earlier, this is not the fault of Apple or the Macbook; it is simply that people don't tend to make as much software for Mac OSX, even though it is much more flexible. Life's a beach. Then, of course, there's the pretty poor monitor. But if you want to splash out, you could always buy a separate monitor and a converter. If not, you'll have to cope with a not-the-best screen. It's not awful- don't get me wrong- it's just not that good.

So I would highly recommend anyone to buy the MacBook from Apple. It's an excellent laptop and an excellent operating system. Just make sure to upgrade to 2gb of RAM! (although less than that is still fine, it's just not quite as lightning fast...) I believed I would never move to the bright-white-dark-side, but I was wrong; I have been converted! Don't worry though, I'm not going to get an Apple symbol tattooed on my forehead or start a mini-cult!

Thanks for reading. I hope this helps you in your purchasing. :) 

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