Since the day after the new 2008 MacBooks were introduced, I've been using a MacBook running a 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 3MBs of L2 cache and a bus speed of 1.07GHz. The MacBook features a 13.3-inch LED-backlit display with a 1280x800 pixel resolution, NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics card, a 250GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm, and 2GBs of RAM. This is the standard top of the line model running for $1599 in the Apple Store.

The Build

When Apple unveiled the new MacBooks at the October 14th 2008 Special Notebook Event, they spent an abnormal amount of time discussing the way the new MacBooks were manufactured. Apple even released a video about the new MacBook that focuses primarily on how it's built. Apple developed a new manufacturing method of their own to craft a large portion of the machine out of a single slab of aluminum. This forms the body of the device. On the bottom, two other pieces of aluminum are attached: one a latched door that covers the removable battery and provides access to the user-upgradable hard drive; the other a bottom plate screwed into the main body by four screws and whose removal is required to upgrade the memory in the machine. A fourth solid aluminum piece covers the back of the computer's screen and meets nicely with the body when the device is closed. Additional parts include the solid glass covering the LED display, the keyboard, the new glass Multi Touch Trackpad, the exposed plastic hinge via which the screen is attached to the body, and four black plastic feet that sit on the bottom of the device.

Of all these parts, the only that have shown any wear and tear after two weeks of usage—and I should note here that I am not the more careful computer owner; I often prop my laptop on its side as I get up from a chair and have been known to occasionally drop my laptops or knock them over—are the four rubber plastic feet on the bottom of the laptop which scratched immediately the first time I slid the laptop across a table... or maybe it was the floor. I've already banged the side of the MacBook into the door-frames of my apartment a few times as I've walked from room to room carrying it open, holding it by the bottom left corner, as I like to do, and so far there's not a mark on the MacBook's aluminum, although there are a few marks in my door-frames.

The Body

The body of the MacBook is extremely sturdy and solid feeling. Unlike Apple's previous aluminum-clad laptop computers, there is no intolerable build up of heat on the bottom of the device. When doing extremely intensive tasks for long periods of time, it tends to get a bit warm on the left bottom of the laptop near where the power adapter plugs in. As one of the first owners of Apple's 12-inch PowerBook, I remember well an aluminum computer that I returned (twice) because it warped slightly due to the strong heat and wobbled when I set it on a flat surface. This new MacBook shows no signs of any sort of movement, let alone warping. When I pick it up by the bottom left or right corner and hold it out putting the full weight of the device on that corner, there is no give, and the one time I've dropped it so far (it was closed in a messenger bag that dropped from about 4 feet) resulted in no dents, dings, or odd newly loose bits. In short, the MacBook is one of the most solid feeling devices I've ever owned.

Screen

The LED-backlit screen is one of the best looking laptop displays I've ever used, but, unfortunately, it's also one of the most reflective. The colors really pop in nearly all lighting settings. In direct sunlight, you can turn the backlight off entirely and still be able to read things on the screen, although you must be at an angle where the light isn't reflecting straight back in your face or the face of someone sitting next to you (or shining like a castaway's mirror signal to a plane flying overhead; I mean it's really shiny). When the display is turned off, the MacBook's screen serves as a very nice, dark mirror. During day to day usage in a well lit office, however, I don't tend to notice the reflection that often. I have noticed that for someone who traditionally has never had problems staring at computer screens for hours on end, I am feeling a bit of eye fatigue at the end of the day once the ambient light in my office has dimmed and the lamp light starts reflecting off the MacBook's screen.

Keyboard

The keyboard, like the keyboard of the previous generation MacBooks, features the square, taper-less keys that can be found on the standard Apple Keyboard that ships with all newer Apple computers. Unlike the previous generation MacBooks, the keys are slightly translucent to accommodate the backlighting feature of the keyboard, they feel slightly more planted and solidly attached to the computer, making a more muffled noise as you type than the clackity clack on my wife's MacBook, and, anecdotally, one of my close friends who absolutely despised the previous generation MacBook's keyboard loves the new keyboard and swears it is greatly improved in its feel and responsiveness. If you have reservations about the keyboard, I would suggest you visit an Apple Store, Best Buy, or some other store selling the new MacBooks and type away on the display model for a bit to see what you think.

Multi Touch Trackpad

I already posted my thoughts about Apple's new Multi Touch Trackpad, and another week of usage has not improved my opinion of the trackpad that much, although I must say, I am getting more used to using it. That, however, is precisely the problem with this latest Apple innovation. Regular users like you and me must adapt to using the device, rather than having an industry standard device with optional extra features that adapts to our already established computing habits.

iSight

The built in iSight and microphone work very well with no problems whatsoever. Recording video directly via the iSight to iMovie is a breeze, so the MacBook looks to be a good device for would be video podcasters everywhere.

Ports

All the ports are along the left side of the MacBook, just as with previous models. From left to right, you have the MagSafe Power adapter port, an Ethernet port, two USB 2.0 ports for connecting peripherals, a DisplayPort for attaching to external displays, a line-in audio port, a headphone jack, and a security slot compatible with various security devices available for tethering your MacBook to a desk or some other stationary object to deter theft.

One of the major criticisms of the new MacBook has been the lack of a FireWire port. If you work in digital video and your camera, your hard drives, and other gear that you use daily works via FireWire, the lack of FireWire on the MacBook could very well be a deal-breaker for you. If your concern is more about not being able to create a bootable recovery hard drive or not being able to run the MacBook in target disk mode, keep in mind that the Gigabit Ethernet is capable of being used to transfer large amounts of data quickly between computers and the hard drive in this newer MacBook is easily removable and replaceable should you need to back it up and swap it out with a newer larger hard drive.

Also, if you've owned previous Mac laptops and already have a selection of mini-DVI and mini-VGA dongle adapters, the switch to DisplayPort means you're going to invest in new adapters for your new MacBook. I purchased both a DisplayPort to DVI and DisplayPort to VGA adapter, both for powering an external 24-inch Dell monitor sitting on my desk and for use if I need to connect to a VGA projector for presentations. Each runs about $30 directly from Apple, which is a bit steep, so hopefully 3rd party adapters will pop up soon. If you're curious as to why Apple would make this switch to DisplayPort, you should see Obsessable's feature explaining the story behind DisplayPort.

If you work with music and sound, the line-in and headphone jacks on the MacBook are actually a combined optical digital input/analog line-in minijack and a combined optical digital output/analog line-out minijack. For me, this means I can plug my guitar directly into the MacBook via a 1/4th inch to mini cord, launch the included GarageBand and wail away on all the hairband tunes I learned in high school and college. If you don't know what that means, don't worry. For practical everyday use by average users, the new audio ports on the MacBook have one killer feature: the headphone jack now supports the standard iPhone headset with built-in microphone so you can speak with your friends over iChat or Skype. This is personally, one of my favorite new features of the MacBook, as I use Skype all the time and now I no longer have to carry around a bulky USB headset to do so; I can simply plug in my iPhone's headset and chat away.

Graphics Performance

The new NVIDIA graphics card on the new MacBooks is touted by Apple as delivering five times the performance of the previous model MacBook, and so far I have no reason to doubt that claim. Spore runs great on the MacBook. Video playback is fast and delay-free, whether it is video delivered from the web or via a DVD. I perhaps tested the graphics most effectively when I rebooted the MacBook into Windows XP Professional via Boot Camp and played a whole slew of graphics intensive video games.

Audio Performance

The speakers on the MacBook are good and loud, but they're not an audiophile's dream, by any means. Playback of music can sound a bit high on the treble and low on the bass, as is the case with most laptops. However, as I mentioned in the above section on ports, the MacBook does have the power to do some heavy duty audio processing and hooking up some high quality headphones or external speakers will result in amazing sound. If you're not an audiophile, but just an average person who likes to turn up the volume and rock out every once in a while, thanks to iTunes out of the box and a good set of speakers, the MacBook will definitely satisfy your needs.

Wireless Performance

One of the problems that has continually plagued MacBooks has been poor WiFi connectivity problems. I'm happy to say that after two weeks of usage, I've not encountered any problems whatsoever with the MacBook connecting to wireless access points. In fact, the WiFi connection at my in-laws' house has always been governed by a Windows machine on the second floor of their house. Every time my wife and I have visited them, it has always proven difficult to connect to from the first floor and impossible to connect to from the basement using my wife's previous generation MacBook. The weekend after I grabbed my MacBook I connected to my in-laws' network without problems from all parts of the house.

Battery Life

I haven't done any scientific tests of battery life, but it's definitely as good as if not a bit better than the battery life of the previous generation MacBooks. I've spent over three hours of high usage before the machine goes into hibernation in order to preserve the state of the programs currently open. When running normal programs, like browsers and iChat, it has warned me as the power gets low. However, while playing Spore it has gone into hibernation mode twice without warning. This could be more the fault of the game fully taking over everything than something to blame on the computer. In any case, after I plugged the MacBook back in and it restored from hibernation mode, I continued playing Spore from where I'd left off without a problem.

Overall Performance

I am what you would call a power user. I normally have multiple programs open in Spaces on my Mac simultaneously. I have a lot of programs open simultaneously. I'm often downloading files from Bit Torrent, burning DVDs, occasionally running Parallels, and usually doing all of the above while I have at least two browsers open with a multitude of tabs open in each. I'm also usually chatting with multiple people in iChat, Skype, and Campfire. For the past three days, I've been running the MacBook non-stop, without putting it to sleep and without rebooting it, and it's constantly been doing things like downloading large files overnight while I'm asleep. Through all of this intense activity, I've not experienced any full system crashes, the MacBook has not become overly hot, and the only time that it made any audible noise has been while it has been verifying DVDs that I burned from downloaded .iso files. So far, I have experienced some slight system slowdown while I have been running Parallels in a separate window. If I let Parallels take over my computer and work solely out of Windows, or if I actually reboot into Windows XP, I don't notice any sluggishness. Also, I have had Safari crash on me once when I had over twelve tabs open simultaneously and I tried to load another Java-heavy webpage in an additional tab. Given those circumstances, I think the MacBook runs better than any other Mac I have ever owned. I cannot wait to upgrade the RAM in this machine to 4GBs and see how much better it works.

Out of the box usefulness

Thanks to Apple including iLife bundled with the MacBook, out of the box, this powerhouse is ready to accomplish the majority of tasks you may need. There was no iWork trial included, but if you're looking for an office suite you can either spring for Microsoft Office or grab one of the many free alternatives out there. If you just need to do basic word processing, keep in mind that Apple's TextEdit is capable of rich text formatting and can open Microsoft .doc files. You can also use Google Docs to do most office things. If you prefer an offline solution with the power of a full office suite behind it, you can do what I did and download OpenOffice.org for free.

What's missing?

Firewire and a non-glossy screen option. If those two items are deal-breakers for you, you're not going to want to buy the new MacBook.

What we hope to see in future models

Firewire and a non-glossy screen option. Also, a touchscreen and some buttons on the trackpad would be nice.

Obsessable Recommendation

If you're considering getting a new MacBook and the lack of Firewire and the glossy screen don't bother you, then you should definitely consider this machine. It's really more of a MacBook Pro Lite than a budget, entry level Apple laptop. While we're big fans of the backlit keyboard and the extra processing power in the model we reviewed, the entry level new MacBook should still perform very well and will have the same sturdiness of design as this model.

Also, if you've been debating whether you should get this MacBook or the more expensive, but less powerful MacBook Air, I strongly recommend that you go for this machine. It's not quite as light or small as the MacBook Air, but it does weigh in at only 4.5 pounds, costs less, and has a lot more power than the Air.

Obsessable Rating: 9 out of 10