Real Kato Blog: Apple Watch: Meet the New MacBook

The newest member of the family.

As you may recall, I sold off Nadia (my iBook G4 purchase from last year) to Crouching Hamster , to replace her now-deceased iBook G3 from 2001. And while Nadia will always be remembered with fondness, today I present Keira:

The specs: 13" MacBook Pro, Intel Core Duo 1.83 GHz, 60GB hard drive, 2GB RAM*, CD-RW/DVD-ROM combo drive, 802.11b/g and Bluetooth wireless built-in, iSight camera built-in, FrontRow media software with remote control. I did not opt to get the black version (which, as I mentioned before, costs $150 extra just for the blackness.) However, talking to the Apple Store employees, apparently LOTS of people were willing to dole out extra cash to get the black model... that model sold out first.

*I purchased extra memory from Other World Computing, one of the absolute best online stores for Mac and iPod accessories. That's an unsolicited endorsement.

Opening the box:

As usual, as the computer is about to be revealed, it starts to emit a Raiders-of-the-Lost-Ark kind of glow:

Here's Keira out of the box.

Note the glossy black screen (and note that this photo is completely unretouched and unaltered). You might ask yourself, "How much more black could it be?" And the answer is, "None, none more black." It's really quite impressive: with its smooth surface and its anti-reflective coating, it almost seems to absorb light. Coupled with the extra-bright backlight for the display, the resulting picture is pretty danged impressive.

Here's Keira's first power-up. I could swear she started singing, "Daisy, Daisy..."

And here she is, running normally...

So here are my impressions.

The Good

1. The keys on the keyboard lie below the plane of the lower half of the case, meaning that they won't touch the screen and mar it. This was a problem since way back in the days of the Lombard.
2. Performance is quite snappy. Video playback is smooth, and the Finder is very responsive.
3. The screen is gorgeous.
4. Battery life seems excellent. In my first calibration, with most power-saving features disabled, the computer ran for nearly four hours before giving me a low-battery warning.
5. Memory upgrades are simple. And surprisingly, hard drive upgrades are also simple. In previous iBooks, replacing the hard drive was very difficult, even for an experienced technician.
6. The built-in iSight camera is great, and PhotoBooth is instant fun.
7. The MagSafe power connector and the all-magnetic case latch work very well. (The case latch in the last iBook was a little finicky.)

The Bad

1. The case gets quite hot. It's not unbearable, but it's enough to be uncomfortable on a bare lap.
2. I had some problems connecting to my home wireless network (with an original graphite Airport base station). There's some anecdotal evidence of problems connecting to WEP-encrypted networks, as opposed to WPA-encrypted networks. It took some voodoo to get it to work... it seems to work now, but I can't tell you why, and it seems a little slow. I might have to get a new base station to make this more reliable. It's about time I got an 802.11g wireless base station anyway.
3. No doubt the built-in Intel GMA950 graphics will provide less than stellar for gaming.

All in all: I love her. Welcome to the family, Keira.

Permalink 6 Comment

Posted by Ken in: techwatch

Comments

Comment #1 from John C (Guest)
2006 May 18 - 6:42 am : #

Nice name, nice quote from Spinal Tap, and nice computer. The convincing of the wife begins for John...

Comment #2 from Jen (Guest)
2006 May 18 - 7:37 am : #

OK, if users clearly prefer black in their technological devices, as evidenced by the fact that people are willing to shell out extra money for black (as I would be, because black is geekier and black computers work better), why does Apple insist on making their stuff white? So odd and unattractive! It boggles me. I suspect that they do it because they know that their users are proud to be different, and want it to be obvious that they aren't using some Dell/IBM/Gateway machine. But the popularity of the black model belies this theory.

It seems very jerky of them to charge extra for it. Why? The black plastic can't really cost $150 more than white plastic, can it?

Yep. I care nothing for the specs or ease of use. It's all about the color.

Comment #3 from olafandyjon (Guest)
2006 May 18 - 9:26 am : #

IT'S BEAUTIFUL! BEAUTIFUL!!!

*head explodes*

Comment #4 from JohnC (Guest)
2006 May 18 - 12:11 pm : #

Jen, you kill me. They are charging more because people will pay it... seriously. Plus, as you say they work better.

Comment #5 from JohnC (Guest)
2006 May 18 - 3:27 pm : #

Is it just me Ken, or does it sound like Jen is weakening?

Comment #6 from Crouching Hamster (Guest)
2006 May 18 - 9:36 pm : #

Whoa! I'm getting all geeked out!

As much as I love Baby Whitey (even my cat, Mir, loves Baby Whitey), I would shell out $150 for blackness. Black does not get dirty. Black is beautiful. Black is BLACK. Need I say more?

Lime green would be cool, though.

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