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Review: New MacBook could have truly been a ‘MacBook Pro Mini’

Posted by Dennis Sellers Oct 28, 2008 at 1:05am

Test driving the new, mid-range MacBook (the US$1,299, 2GHz model with 160GB hard drive) has been an incredibly fun experience. In all but two aspects the new “consumer laptop” could indeed be considered a “MacBook Pro Mini.” But it’s those two aspects that cause me to shave some significant points off my Macsimum rating.

Like the new 15-inch MacBook Pro, the MacBook has a precision unibody enclosure crafted from a single block of aluminum (the much-rumored “brick” process), resulting in a thinner (0.95-inches thin and weighing just 4.5 pounds) and more durable design. It’s half a pound lighter than its predecessor, which makes it a bit more portable. It also runs cooler, even though it trades a polycarbonate case for a metal one. I’ve yet to have the fans kick on, and I can comfortably use the MacBook sitting on my lap without a cushion or stand to protect my legs (and other, more sensitive, parts).

In addition, the mid-range and high-end MacBooks sport Nvidia graphics, instant-on LED-backlit displays and new, large glass Multi-Touch trackpads that offer almost 40 percent more tracking area and support more Multi-Touch gestures. The displays sport the 1,280×800 resolution as the previous generation, but the LED backlighting increases visibility while also saving power.

The expanded touchpads make it even easier to use Multi-Touch gestures like pinch, rotate and swipe. New gestures let you activate Expose or switch between applications at the touch of a fingertip. The entire trackpad surface is also a button, which means you can both track and click just about anywhere on the trackpad. You can also easily enable multiple virtual buttons in software, such as right-clicking. The touchpad uses the same two-finger gestures as before, but now you can scroll through photos with three digits, or switch between apps or trigger Expose with four. Sweet.

The new MacBook line features the NVidia GeForce 9400M, a new 3D integrated graphics processor that features 16 parallel processing cores and, according to Apple, delivers up to five times the 3D graphics performance as previous MacBook designs. That’s a bit of an exaggeration, but the MacBook is now a fair gaming machine, whereas previous models were practically unusable except for with the most casual games. For specifics on the improved gaming performance, check out the gaming benchmarks at Macworld.

Packed with 256MB of dedicated DDR3 memory, the 9400M is capable of simultaneously driving the internal LCD and an external screen at up to a DisplayPort’s (and more on that in a moment) maximum 2,560×1600 resolution. However, the more powerful graphics cut into the battery life, shaving off, by my estimates, a half hour or so compared to the previous gen MacBook. However, that’s a compromise I can live with.

Apple moved the stereo speakers underneath the keyboard, which would seem to be a bad move. But music from iTunes and audio from a DVD was acceptable—equal to, if not better than, the sound from previous MacBook speakers. Of course, you’ll still want stand-alone speakers or a headphone for the best sound quality, but the built-in speakers aren’t bad.

The iSight camera and its microphone are now separated. The camera is centered at the top of the display as before, but the mic has been moved next to the keyboard. Apple says it has built noise reduction into the microphone (it’s on all the time) to reduce ambient noise pick-up. I’ll take their word for it, as the mic seems to work fine when I use iChat.

The latest MacBooks use the same Intel Core 2 Duo (Penryn) processors with 3MB of shared L2 cache as the previous generation. Before the MacBooks came with a 2.1GHz or 2.4GHz processor; now the options are 2.0GHz or 2.4GHz options. This would seem to be a step backward, but there are other advances that beef up performance. One is a frontside bus that’s been boosted from 800MHz to 1,066MHz, and RAM that increases from 667MHz DDR2 to 1,066MHz DDR3.

The MacBooks include the same 802.11n and Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR (Enhanced Data Rate) wireless networking as before. The 2.0GHz model has a 160GB, 5400-rpm SATA hard drive, while the 2.4GHz model includes a 250GB drive at the same speed. If you’ve got money burning a hole in your pocket (and if that’s the case, send some my way), you can choose a 128GB Solid State Drive (SSD) for $700 extra on the 2.0GHz model, or $600 extra on the 2.4GHz model. To me, that’s a waste of money. If I had the cash, I’d use it instead to boost the RAM and install a bigger hard drive. Both MacBook models come with an 8x slot-loading SuperDrive.

The new MacBook’s components are easy to access. You can pop off the battery cover to reach the hard drive. Remove a few screws and you have access to the memory, motherboard and optical drive.

The new MacBook line is also more-eco friendly. It meets Energy Star 4.0, EPEAT Gold and RoHS environmental standards and eliminates toxic chemicals by containing no brominated flame retardants, using only PVC-free internal cables and components.

Now for my gripes—and I’ve got some major ones. All the ports live on the left side of the machines, but there’s no FireWire among the ports. For some people, this is a deal breaker. All I can say is, “What was Apple thinking?” The official reasoning is that USB 2.0 is now being used on most consumer devices and that the MacBook is a consumer, not pro, device. While many hard drives and camcorders now have USB connections, there are still plenty of devices (hard drives, high end camcorders, etc.) that take advantage of FireWire. Heck, Apple invented FireWire so they should be showing it more love.

But, worst of all (at least for me) is that the loss of FireWire also means you can’t use FireWire Target Disk Mode for transferring data between two Macs. That’s a feature I use every time I buy a new Mac—but now it’s gone and sorely missed. With Target Disk Mode, you could connect two Macs via a FireWire cable and mount one as an external hard drive on the other to copy large files without relying on a network or cloning one system to another or migrating data with Apple’s built-in software. It was one of the most Mac-like, user friendly features and one that Apple was nuts to discard on the MacBook.

You can run Apple’s Migration Assistant software over a wired or wireless network, or with two Macs connected directly via Ethernet. I used this method, but it’s kludgy and didn’t work nearly as seamlessly as the FireWire Target Disk Mode. Plus, it’s slow as molasses.

To put it simply: removing FireWire was one of Apple’s most boneheaded moves in years. Heck, it’s worse than replacing iMovie HD with iMovie ’08.

Another gripe is the lack of a matte screen. If you work in bright lights or sunlight, this is a major problem. And, again, I can’t understand why Apple refuses to at least make this a build-to-order option.

But back to the ports: there are two USB 2.0 ports, a Ethernet port, audio in/out and the brilliant MagSafe power port. However, the DVI connector has been replaced by a Mini Display Port. It supports higher resolutions (up to 2,560×1,600) and integrated audio than DVI can, but there’s (currently) fewer monitors you can buy and use with the connector without an adapter (which costs extra). That may be part of Apple’s plan, of course. The company hope you’ll buy their new, $899 24-inch Cinema Display that’s specifically built for use with the laptops (although I’ll be hacked off it if can’t also work with the next rev of iMacs and Mac minis that I’m sure will also sport the Display Port technology.)

The new MacBook looks great and has excellent performance for a consumer notebook. But the lack of FireWire and the lack of a matte screen option means I can’t give it the perfect score I might have otherwise.

Macsimum rating: 7 out of 10 (and if FireWire is essential for you, shave another seven points off this rating)

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