ArsTechnica has put together their review of the Apple MacBook – Apple’s new Intel Core Duo-powered 13.3-inch widescreen notebook. They point out something that has been floating around some of the notebook sites – If you bump the middle MacBook up to an 80GB harddrive, it’s still $150 cheaper than the black one, and why the black one is still more expensive – This is undoubtedly done on purpose and is the direct result of Apple’s experience selling iPod and iPod nanos in two color options. It didn’t take long for Apple, and casual observers of Apple’s operations to notice that the black models were selling out faster. A lot faster.
They discuss the LCD’s glossy finish at length, and why it’s generated a lot of buzz, range, angst, and a lot of other feelings. I love this quote from John Siracusa:
We’ve set aside cost for the sake of argument, and we’ve eliminated the idiot consumer as a factor. Only Apple itself is left. The long-standing tradition of Apple punditry demands that Apple be personified in the form of one Steve Jobs, and so I will now consider the possibility that all blame for the GlossBook and GlossBook Pro lies entirely on him.
Two important things to consider, both of which are pictured in the review – the MacBooks are the easiest to service of the Intel-powered Apple portables – both the memory and harddrive are easy to get to – yes, you heard me, anybody who’s ever replaced a harddrive in an iBook or PowerBook knows what I’m talking about when I say this was a major move on their part (maybe not to rival the display, but still).
It’s a good review, they benchmarked it against a 1GHz iBook G4, the low-end MacBook Pro, and the Mac mini Core Solo, and they concluded:
In contrast, I’ve developed a high opinion of this machine and my anecdotal research for this review seems to indicate that many others are of a like mind. With that in mind, I am giving the Apple MacBook a solid nine.