Quick impression of the new Macbook

As you are probably aware Apple recently released a new line of low-end Macbooks with updated specs and an updated body mold. I picked one up today to replace my amazingly loyal but aging Powerbook 12". Actually to be more accurate, this Macbook will take the place of three different systems that I use. My Powerbook, an ancient Ubuntu Thinkpad 600E, and a Windows/Ubuntu desktop.

Since this is the low-end, I don't have a Firewire port, or an SD card reader, but to be frank I won't miss either of those features. If I was a professional photographer or videographer that might get in the way.

I opted for a 4GB RAM upgrade, since I do a lot of "multitasking" and I sometimes work with Parallels, simulating Linux and FreeBSD installs. The 4GB of RAM has paid off, I think. If you get a Macbook, opt for the RAM upgrade. People always say "Macs love RAM", and it's still just as true.

So far I'm very impressed with the horsepower this laptop packs. Even as Apple's lowest-end portable offering, it's taking everything I can throw at it. The fan is pretty quiet despite my running of flash videos and Second Life in the background. It's staying fairly cool overall although there are some hot spots.

I notice when the graphics card kicks in to high gear, the keys (WSAD in particular) start to heat up, but so far it hasn't been a big deal. I can't comment on how much it might cook my groin, because I've got a laptop lap-table thing that I swear by.

The physical build quality feels sturdy, considering it's not aluminum like a Macbook Pro. But it's still plastic, there's no doubt about it. As much as I loved my aluminum Powerbook, I couldn't justify the $800+ premium for another Aluminum bodied laptop, at least in this generation of Apple computers. Let's see what happens in a couple of years.

I've popped the back off of it to take a look inside (had to, I couldn't help it!) and you can get to pretty much all of the components with little fuss. This is a huge change from most Apple laptops I've dealt with in the last decade. I changed out the hard drives on both my Blueberry iBook and my Powerbook, and each time was a huge production requiring documentation of every step, and of which screws went where.

When the time comes, I'll be able to drop a 500GB SATA drive into this MacBook without giving myself any new wrinkles in the process.

Let's see how I feel in a month, but at the moment, I'm more than happy with this Macbook as a replacement for my Powerbook AND desktop systems.