Macbook Review

I've dabbled with Apple Macs in the past, and always liked them, but for various technical reasons, my main machine for work has always needed to be a microsoft powered platform. A month or so ago however i took the plunge and began using a new entry level Apple Macbook with the new aluminium unibody chassis.

I picked the entry level machine on the basis that it was going to be much cheaper to buy it and then upgrade the ram and hard disk myself than to buy a higher spec one from Apple. My machine is therefore the 2.0Ghz Core 2 Duo with 2GB RAM and 160GB hard disk.

Afer a month using it, i've become used to the apple way of doing things and finally figured out the various intricacies of the multi-gesture trackpad. On the whole, i like the mac. Performance of the machine is excellent, the build quality is extremely good and streets ahead of the previous generation of plastic MacBooks. Applications open very quickly, and switching between them is easy and fast.

Surprisingly, i find the 13.3" platform size quite comfortable for prolonged use. All my previous laptops were 15"+ machines, and one of my biggest worries was that i would find the 13.3" display and keyboard hard to use. Not at all, the screen is bright, clear and easy to read, and the keyboard is excellent and responsive.

I have Microsoft Office 2008 running on the machine, and thats probably the one thing i have a problem with. I find it very slow to open, resource hungry, the interface is counter-intuitive and infuriatingly difficult to work with. I use Excel a lot for accounts related spreadsheets, and never had a problem with my spreadsheets when i ran it on windows, but on the mac it just sucks. Data entry into the spreadsheet is taking me twice as long on the mac. I plan on trying Open Office for the mac in the next week and if its any better i'll be dumping Office once and for all.

Battery life is fantastic, with WiFi , surfing the internet, skyping, emailing etc, i regularly achive 4.5 hours plus on a single charge. The built in speakers give a surprisingly good output, perfectly comfortable for watching a movie on the go.

I've ordered a 4GB ram upgrade and a 500gb hard disk which i expect to receive in the next few days. Once those are installed i plan to use Bootcamp to allow dual booting with windows xp, for those rare occasions when i absolutely have to run windows.

I have grown very attached to my new macbook and can't see myself changing back to a windows based laptop any time soon.

If you're thinking of changing, go ahead. I really think you'll never look back.