fun with PhotoBooth
Had lunch with colleagues near the Apple store today. Couldn’t resist checking out the new MacBook.
The problems:
- The matte black finish must cost Apple a lot of money. As others have pointed out, $149 for a different color laptop is bullshit.
- Not sure I’m digging on the glossy screen. It’s nice and bright, but at certain angles, super reflective. The matte border helped some.
- No dedicated video card. It has a chip on the motherboard that uses available RAM. Not good for the Apple Pro apps and I wonder how good it’s going to be for iLife.
The not problems at all:
- The MacBook will drive larger monitors and does screen-splitting. It will also drive an external monitor in the shut position. Looks like the 2 gig of RAM the MacBook holds will come in handy driving an external monitor.
- The widescreen is shorter than the 14″ iBook and about the same width. It’s 1280 width means more room for palettes and such.
- Digital audio ins and outs. Not sure if it’s TOSLink or what, but it’s a nice touch.
- The price points seem a tad high, but the processor speed is surprising for the money.
- Felt sturdier than my iBook.
I really like having an Apple store nearby for new product launches.