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A podcast about all things Macintosh. For Mac geeks, by Mac geeks. Show 138. The MacBook is here and it’s awesome. Creative hits Apple with the “Zen” lawsuit. Security researcher claims some flaws still exist after latest OS X security update. Now there is no iPhone. iLife ’06 applications updated. New Intel Mac firmware. Why a GB is not a GB? The mystery of disk storage sizes. Select your BootCamp startup volume with your Apple remote. What to do if your keyboard is not responsive in XP under Bootcamp. The 64-bit question, has Apple moved backward? What applications have VoiceOver support? My Interview on Mac Tips Daily
Correction: Looks like I didn’t read the MacBook specs closely enough. I incorrectly said the SuperDrive in the new MacBook was dual-layer. The dual-layer support is for reading only and not writes. Sorry for the confusion.
New music, Daytime Soaps and Shattered Hopes by Sweet Diss and the Comebacks
You want to see the lambada? I’ll SHOW you the lambada! –– Lambada (1990)
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I’m getting one, this year or next ;)
I have seen photos on the net and yes the MacBook’s screen does show glare. Sorry, not a pro machine as the exclusion of ‘PRO’ clearly shows.
Black costs extra? BAD BAD almost arrogant if you ask me. Good thing is after 10000 units sold Apple can cover their legal expenses, aka Apple vs. Apple
Ferris Guy, cool. Thank you for making it public, although Apple may not like it the end power users may want to know the details. A good public service if you ask me.
What a rant…hey it’s not all bad, Apple still makes and has always made the best computers and that’s not an exaggeration.
I took a look at the MacBooks today. They look and feel great. They’re speedy little buggers, too.
I’m not sure if people are differentiating between “glare” and “reflection” with regard to the shiny screens. I noticed no “glare” from lights making it hard to view things on the screen, but I did notice that the surface is pretty reflective. I was able look at the screen and watch people who were standing behind me. In a sense, the screen ended up having a 3D feel – on one layer, I could see folks behind me, and on the next layer down, I had the full, bright desktop and apps of OSX.
The colors on the screen are bright, crisp and saturated. I like it.
Despite the reflections (which were minor), I think this MacBook design is pretty sweet. Had I not just purchased a 15″ MacBook Pro 3 weeks ago, I think I would have gone with the MacBook as a backup to my 20″ iMac. MacBooks seem like the perfect vacation/travel/backup system.
PLEASE let people know to be VERY WARY of installing the Iweb 1.1 update. Just check out the iweb support forums – there are DOZENS of people who cannot successfully update thier .mac hosted sites after installing this and NO official Apple response yet! ARGHHH!
Regarding the Apple Phone. I saw this on YouTube yesterday and if an Apple Phone does come out and is anywhere close to being this sexy we will all be very happy!
Watch the mock ad – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Boy-uMf0aB0
You can decide yourself if the screen is good or bad:
http://w73.photobucket.com/albums/i224/chrisholland/DSC00193.jpg
That phone is very nice!
Good to hear a testimonial regarding the macbook screen, I guess it’s not that bad then, colors seems to be something everyone is touting. Sounds good!
Some things Adam didn’t mention about 64bit.
64bit is not necessary to address more than 4GB of ram on x86.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_Address_Extension
Although 64bit x86 chips are faster because 64bit x86 chips have double the amount of registors and a stackless FPU. 64bit is actually a much more valuable asset on x86 than it is on powerpc.
The Pentium 4 does now have 64bit as do AMD processors. The Core 2 Duo, new chip that will be released later this year will also have 64bit.
There are a couple of little details in the tech specs that bear mentioning:
The Superdrive in the MacBook can read dual layer discs, but it can’t write them.
The base 512 RAM is 2×256 SODIMMS. If you want to upgrade to 1 gig, you need to pull the 2×256 out and replace them with 2×512, leaving you with 2 256k SODIMMS you can’t use.
No Express Card Slot – this could be a big issue in the future if EVDO service (or any other non-WIFI wireless) becomes widespread and cheap.
Overall I think it is a great machine, and I plan to get one. I just think it’s necessary to read the tech specs closely to be sure you know what you are getting.
I found a workaround for the iweb issues I posted about above – goto my site at the link in this comment.
I don’t think it is right for you to complain about the $150 blackness. People pay extra for superficial exterior geegaws all the time. Clothes and cars are two areas where this idiocy is prominent.
While the black MacBook looks great, almost all of my other electronic gadgets are black. I’ve always loved the look of my white iBook that I might retire on its fifth birthday this September. I’d be hard pressed to go for anything other than the low-end model (I have a dual 2GHz G5 with a SuperDrive for my processor-intensive and DVD-burning needs.)
I’m interested in seeing how we look at people toting around black MacBooks. Will we think they are style leaders or silly fools who paid an 11% appearance tax?
Here is another opinion on the glossy screened Macbooks.
The night that the macbooks were introduced I made a visit to my local Apple store. I had seen glossy screens on Sony Vaios and thought they looked horrible (is it a computer screen or a mirror?) so when the Macbook came out with glossy screens I was perplexed; how could the apple design gods have made such an seemingly obvious mistake? I had to see them for myself.
I put the macbook and the macbook pro side by side to make a screen to screen comparison. And… The difference between the two screens is dramatic. The glossy screen is much brighter, crisper and overall shows colors that are very saturated. The matte screen on the MBP looked dull and sorry, like the old 12″ powerbooks. After a few minutes of direct comparison I was sold, but… My little comparison took place indoors, under the bright, but diffused apple store lights, and seeing as I couldn’t just take the laptops out to the parking lot to compare I still have real reservations about how the glossy screen would fare in a real world environment, like when I riding the light-rail to school or working outside. I am a photo/graphic design major so color accuracy and screen quality are huge concerns for me.
It also occurred on me that I was looking a computer screen that had only seen a few hours of use. How would the same screen look after being touched by greasy fingers, covered by dust or heaven forbid, getting scratched.
Although they look great when seen new and in the store, I’m afraid that once the glossy screened macbooks are on the open market and subjected to some real world conditions there will be some backlash akin to the outcry heard over the scratch prone black iPod Nanos. Just a thought. I know I for one am going to wait it out and see what happens before I throw my precious student loan dollars into the ring.
Sorry for the lengthy post just some thoughts I had to get off my chest