Pros And Cons Of Apple Macbook

By Author: Asli Mana
Total Articles: 72
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Measuring about an inch thick, 12.8 inches wide, and only shy of 9 inches deep, the new MacBook keeps the balance between design and portability, just like the Vaio SZ series of Sony.

When the beautiful MacBook launched, many hailed it as the perfect balance of productivity and artful design. If you think thats all it got, you are wrong, the MacBook has lots of attributes under its sleeve. While the new MacBook isn't a total overhaul of the previous version, Apple's upgrade features a faster processor, better 802.11n Wi-Fi performance, and longer battery life. It may not have enough additions to entice existing MacBook owners to upgrade, but those on the hunt for an excellent all-purpose notebook should snatch up this model.

Unibody, Apple's preferred term, is a bit of a misnomer, cause of the bottom panel is seperated, also lid and display are made up by different parts. This MacBook is completely silent in terms of noise or creaks. The flexy and fragile feeling plastic hinge on this MacBook is no match for the Aluminum model's hinge. All MacBooks use a magnetich latch to keep lid blocked instead of a LCD latch ...
... mechanism.

White plastic polycarbonate is used on this model, the material that we know for a long time now. Like its predecessors (I can say I owned three versions) they are very durable. There are small gaps where panels come together, and the battery still sticks out a wee bit. I can say construction of a plastic chassis is harder than the metal ones.Apple builds the MacBook from a single chunk of polycarbonate - the same rigid material you might know from Nalgene bottles, CDs, and even bulletproof windows. It's tough, and the MacBook shows it. When inspected from all around the chassis, the polycarbonate could make a second-rate notebook feel very fragile, but on MacBook it feels tough. The same solidification that happened on the MacBook Pro carries right over to plastic version, and we love it just the same.

LED backlit screen system is used on the 13.3 inch display (it is a standard feature of Apple merchandises now), LED backlit displays are known for their low energy consumption rates and quality. However, not like the more expensive Pro models, you don't get the slick-looking edge-to-edge glass over the screen. Also MacBook lack a backlit keyboard and an SD card slot and One forward-looking change we'd like to see is a move to 16:9 displays, which are quickly becoming an industry standard. For watching films or working with two windows the MacBook's 13.3 inch display provide the perfect size, still its small enough to allow you to put and airplane table on your lap.

I need to mention its bright very much (an above average 230cd/m² on our Minolta luminance meter), also the 1.280x800 display resolution provide the perfect screen detail for this size of display. In a first for an Apple laptop, the MacBook offers a glossy screen for starker contrast and more intense color, though in bright environments, the glossy coating results in more glare.

We're not typically fans of Chiclet-style keyboards, which always seem to lack the satisfying click of traditional models, still nobody can resist Apple's quality.

FireWire fans should note that the port has finally left the building. We would have thought this would be a good opportunity to add the same SD card slot found on the Pro 13-inch, but it was not to be.

Generally performance is good, but there are speedier notebooks on the market from brands like HP, Acer and Dell at about the same price. None of them have what are the MacBook's best features; OS X and iLife.

The Apple MacBook ran for 5 hours and 42 minutes on our video playback battery drain test, which is about 30 minutes longer than the 13-inch MacBook Pro, and nearly an hour longer than the previous white MacBook. Toshiba's Satellite T135-S1310, however, showed the advantage of using an Intel ULV processor, going for an additional 30 minutes to pass 6 hours of total running time.

Asli Mana is the writer of this laptop article. Too see her work about Toshiba notebook models see her Toshiba notebook website.