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Macbook Review

I ordered a Macbook which arrived at work on Friday. I had it delivered because the last three time I've ordered things from Apple Online, the Delivery has been a Collosal Pain in the arse. I've had to schlepp across Manchester to pick things up from the depot.

I'd ordered the Black Macbook with a 160GB HDD and 2GB of Memory, Plus Applecare.

I currently own a Powerbook 1.25Ghz 1.25Gb Memory and a Mac Mini Core Duo 1.66Ghz

The Brown box it was shipped in was TINY, I was expecting much bigger, and when I opened the shipping box and saw the actual 'display' box I was even more gobsmacked.

As you'd expect from Apple, the packaging was a design in itself, someone had put time into it, it wasn't as good as the iPod Mini or Nano 1.0, or even the Mac Mini, but still well thought out.

In the box was the Macbook, Install disks, the Power block, Power lead, the Apple Remote and a UK adaptor to slot straight onto the Powerblock.

The first thing that struck me was how tiny the Macbook is. I have a 17" Toshiba work Laptop and a 15" Powerbook, this is significantly smaller than both.

There is no clasp or catch that keeps the Macbook closed, I assume there's a magnet in the lid and beneath the palmrest that keeps it closed, it is difficult to open with one hand, which I did tend to do a lot on the Powerbook, so I'll have to learn to use both hands.

The Black finish is nice to the touch, but it doesn't half show up fingerprints, I think I'll need to invest in a hard case for it, I'm clumsy to say the least and while the PB could take the odd knock without a mark, this MB won't.

When I got home, I put the Powerbook into Target mode and booted up the Macbook (Which already had a lot of charge in the battery) after a few minutes it was transferring 20GB of files and settings from the Powerbook and when that had completed, a reboot and I was up and running.

Most of my settings had been brought across, I had to type in the password for my Wireless and a few other bits and pieces. For some reason Menumeters had reset to default, but I assume that was due to it running under system preferences rather than being a traditional app, but a quick trip to the System Preferences and that was showing me processor and HDD usage again.

I've never transferred from one mac to another via the Migration Assistant and I have to say that I was hugely impressed with the way it worked so seamlessly.

The Screen is an absolute joy to work with, I don't even notice the Glossy finish, but it's really bright and easy to see from any angle.

My next task were to move my iTunes Library and iPhoto Libraries from the Mini to the Macbook, because they're both on the external drive I could move them quickly and easily.

I was debating whether to go for the 160GB instead of the 120GB HDD, but I'm really glad I did in the end (and if the 200GB drive had been 5,400 RPM I'd have gone for that instead) The Drive is reported at 148.73GB and I only have 46.81GB free, so I'm going to have to look at all of my stuff pretty much immediately and make sure I need it all.

The MB does not run as hot as my PB used to, not by a long way. I think that is partly because it's not meant to, but also because the processor is not working as hard as in the PB.

It's all positive at this point, things that would make the processor on the PB hit 100% for a minute barely register 25% on the MB.

There are a couple of negatives which I'll put in here because I noticed them, but I knew about them when I bought the MB and if anyone else is transferring from a PB to a MB they may make a difference.

The Screen Resolution on the MB is smaller than the PB, It's only a little bit, but enough to be noticeable in some apps, I especially notice it in iTunes and Firefox. I think I'll end up picking up a Widescreen Monitor for those times when I'll be needing more screen real estate, but for the day to day basic stuff the screen is great.

I used the backlit Keyboard on the PB a lot, and I have missed it already, but I couldn't justify the cost of a MBP.

All in all an excellent move. I'd recommend anyone on a G3/4 Notebook to move, I'm getting so much more done.

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