Personal Made Public

At the Apple Store we spoke to a sales rep that has both the MacBook Pro and MacBook at home. I already knew most of the differences, but his knowledge really contributed to our decision.

The biggest differences between the MacBook and MacBook Pro are screen size, video memory, and price. The Apple rep also clued us in to the fact that the MacBook chassis is stronger and more rigid (good!) and that the wifi antenna placement in the MacBook is better than in the Pro, so the MacBook gets a little better wifi performance.

The MacBook Pro has larger screens (15- and 17-inch models) and dedicated video RAM. I'm a fan of dedicated video RAM, but it's really essential only if you are a gamer. However, if you have a shared RAM model I would recommend that you add system RAM to improve overall performance. The Apple rep said that he had not seen any actually difference in video performance between the machines even when doing video edits.

We immediately ruled out the lowest-end MacBook (no DVD writer) and the highest end MacBook Pro (a 17-inch behemoth -- too big for us to consider it a laptop). We settled on the mid-level MacBook as the "sweet spot" in the Apple laptop lineup.

PROCESSOR: 2GHz Intel Core Duo
The dual-core Intel CPU is blisteringly fast. In spite of the fact that we have only 512MB of RAM at the moment and are sharing it with the video card, this little laptop screams. Photo Booth is a little application that lets you use the built-in camera to take pictures of yourself and to apply various warps, distortions, and special effects to your picture. My daughter LOVES the app. Here is where you can really see the speed of this machine: it previews NINE of the available special effects in near-realtime (I notice a quarter- to half-second lag between when you move and when all the previews show the move). Applications launch with amazing speed and the system itself boots really fast.

SCREEN: 13.4-inch Glossy
I was really trepidatious about having a smaller, glossy screen after working with my 15-inch matte-finish PowerBook for the last 3.5 years. What about glare? What about size? Well, glare has not been a problem, though I can see that it might be outdoors on sunny days. Of course, if I'm working in the sun a pair of sunglasses with polarizing lenses will likely solve that problem -- and I don't work in the sun often anyway. In terms of size I discovered that I'm not losing as much as I thought. The 13.4-inch screen has a 1280x800 resolution. The 15-inch screen on my PowerBook is 1280x854. By telling the dock to autohide I reclaimed more than 54 pixels, so I have a little more real estate (pixel-wise) that before (I didn't use autohide on the PBook). Also, this screen is much crisper and brighter than the PowerBook screen. It's a real pleasure!

RAM: 512MB
512MB of RAM is standard in the MacBook, but I recommend 1GB. Don't upgrade at the Apple Store, though! The machines come to them pre-built, the machine has two slots, and the RAM must be installed in matching sets. So, if you upgrade at the store, they sell you two 512MB sticks of RAM, install them and hand you the two 256MB sticks that were in it. There is no "trade-in" on the RAM!!! If you don't have to have a computer immediately (as was our case), order via Apple's online store and upgrade there. If you do have to buy from a brick-and-mortar store, don't get the upgrade. You can do it yourself via Edge Memory at a considerable savings -- not as cheap as ordering a custom build from Apple, but still cheaper than the Apple Store.

MISCELLANEOUS
Along with the MacBook itself, we purchased a Mighty Mouse. The little scroll ball (which allows for vertical and horizontal scrolling) is one of those things that you immediately "get". It's a great innovation. However, the MacBook has its USB ports located halfway to the front of the left side of laptop. If you are right-handed, this means the mouse cable must go all the way around laptop, leaving you a little short on cord to be really comfortable. Either the mouse cable needs another 8 inches of length or Apple should place a USB plug where it would be more accessible.

Another minor complaint is that the MacBook has a Mini-DVI connector rather than S-video. That's okay, but they don't include a DVI-to-AV cable, so you you have to buy it separately for $20 if you want to connect to your TV. That would be okay, too, but Apple is pushing FrontRow (a cool app!) as a kind of media center. They even include a remote control for it! Too bad I don't need a remote for watching anything on a 13.4-inch screen! However, I could use it if I had a DVI converter!!! It's a minor gripe, but I really wish the cable was included.

ROSETTA
Rosetta is the the translation layer that allows Intel Macs to run applications that use PowerPC binaries. Fortunately, the Intel Core Duo processor is so fast that they still run at near-native performance. However, I did have a problem getting Quicken 2006 to launch. I threw away preferences and search the web for solutions. On a hunch I tried launching Word and it crashed on launch as well. This clued me in: Rosetta had gone belly-up, not Quicken. A reboot fixed the issue for both apps, but it made me realize that Rosetta really is a bridge until new binaries are available rather than a permanent solution for compatibility.

SUMMARY
The MacBook is a well-built, high-performance machine that's a sheer pleasure to use. It has a few minor design flaws, but is a great little machine. I think the 2.0 GHz white MacBook is the sweet spot in Apple's current lineup for features, performance, and price. Upgrade the RAM to 1GB to get the most from it. I'm looking forward to OS 10.6 which will most likely bring Windows applications to the Mac as well running at native speeds without the need for dual booting.