Hi Dave.

Not to burst your bubble or anything, but our company has been having a lot of hardware failures (motherboards, CD drives, displays) with our recently purchased Lenovo laptops. I'd look elsewhere if I were you.

How can you say it's not fast compared to a g4 powerbook? You can't even compare a 12" PB to a 15".. considering the 12" was never anything more than an iBook in a metal case.

I'm sure you'll blame Adobe next for not keeping their code up to date, and making users struggle with Rosetta -- which I'm sure is where you got your imaginary "This is slow" concept from.

Wow man you must have had some issues with the mac. How could have it been slow? If you looked at the benchmarks it IS faster than the "12 Powerbook it replaces. I can't blame you for the screws, it happens to some laptops. It's perfectly normal for the black trackpad to get fingerprint smudges on it, if you never saw the screenshots. The reason the keyboard is integrated is for easier servicability. And why are you so upset about the store? Hundreds or even thousands of people use the computers there every day. It wouldn't surprise me if a few of them had at least one problem.

You know, I just bought the same MacBook, and I'm quite pleased with it.

My trackpad after 3 weeks looks fine.
No missing screws.
I have no problems with the keyboard other than the fact thst I am used to a PC keyboard and miss the "delete" key (as opposed to the Backspace equivilent key named :Delete:.

Now, I dont' have a G4 to compare speed, but this MacBook seems pretty quick.

Overall, I'm pretty happy.

you are as dumb as they come

Poor widdle thing! Tell you what. Why don't you do the feelgood thing and send me that Macbook? You'll be smiling through December and into next year! You can't put a price on that.

A word to the wise: if you don't like seeing dust, DON'T BUY SOMETHING BLACK! It's Overall Rule #13 or something like that, right after, "don't slam your bologna in the refrigerator door".

As for germaphopia: DON'T FLY. Not are those things filled with germs and viruses, there's fungi, mice, and slimy rat snakes, too. And an occasional possum or porcupine, God help us...

If you send me that Macbook, I betcha someone will send YOU one of those Linux Thinkpads! FOR REAL!!

Ummmm...

I can't imagine how the G4 can even come close. I write this on a G4 PB 15". When I set up my friend's low-end, minimum RAM MacBook, I was shocked at the difference. Another power user of my acquaintance uses Linux (in Parallels) on a MacBook in preference to his relatively good desktop because of the speed. The jobs he runs are computationally challenging.

I'm calling baloney.

Yes, Office is expensive. Go on Newegg and find it for $279 for the Mac (newer release than Win, incidentally). Office 2003 Standard on the same site (for XP) is $314. Yes, MS prices their Office suite fairly high. Darn.

The employee is wrong that iWork replaces Office... but NeoOffice does just fine. Really. Costs a few bucks.

Again, calling baloney.

Alll keyboards feel different. There really are substandard keyboards out there, but I was surprised at how much the MacBook keyboard didn't suck - I was expecting it to.

(Mushy, weak) == taste, unsubstantiated) There are folks out there that can't use a desktop keyboard comfortably because the keys are too stiff, after going to a laptop. Keyboards almost always take a few days to get used to - and they then become the standard. Patience, grasshopper.

There is, however, no excuse for QC lapses such as the screw. :( That's not my general experience with the new products, but it does happen.

Man, oh, man what a whiner. If you're not running Intel native apps, the MacBook will likely be the same speed, maybe slower, than the G4. The non-native apps are running in emulation.

And $400 is too much for four applications? Is $100 too much for Word? Is $100 too much for Excel? Simple solution... don't use it. If the loss-leader iWorks, made by the OEM manufacturer who bundles it with their computers, is too much, try OpenOffice. If neither measure up to quality, handling spreadsheets and such, I guess that means $100 for Excel is worth it, huh?

"This is the same as the so-called open source efforts companies undertake when they throw mediocre products over the transom as open source."

You just have to know what's good and what isn't. Sure there is a lot of crap out there, but there are also a lot of incredible gems that beat the crap out of whatever Apple or Microsoft have to offer (Firefox, Amarok, Digikam to name a few).

Just because Apple makes it and it costs money doesn't mean it's good. iMail, iChat, iPhoto, Safari are all so terrible, my mom stopped using them in favor of open source alternatives (at my recommendation) and she is much happier with them.

You seems to be a typical basher. It has no value.

interesting.
i was equally unhappy with the sub-notebooks apple offered. i bought a sony vaio sz160p that is black, fast, and thin.

sometimes i miss my macs but i have itunes and honestly itunes is the only apple application i use on a notebook regularly.

for anything else i mess around with my powermac when at home.

the HUGE reason why I am so happy with my vaio is because for a bit more than powerbook applecare I got three years of full coverage PLUS accidental coverage. i don't know about you but i'm not rich enough to replace a notebook if it drops.
/used to work at an apple store
//is a huge proponent of comprehensive warranties

Well its too bad you got a bad machine, it happens. Nothings perfect. Everyone else (media wise) has given it good grades and they all have the black one. iWork does not have spreadsheet capability, if you researched you would have known that. And yes Microsoft Office Pro is 400 dollars.

Are you really using a MacBook with 2GB of RAM? I replaced my old G4 PowerBook two months ago and have been incredibly impressed with the speed of the machine and the build quality (though the surface is prone to fingerprinting on the black model; that said, you're human and you secrete oils and this notebook just shows you what you produce!). The latch and mag-safe power adapter connection are two features that I like most (especially the latter, when you have three dogs racing about your house!)

The keyboard did take some getting used to, but I thought it was a world better than the old iBook keyboard, which did feel cheap to me. Remember, this is the "consumer" machine (though I think this thing can go toe-to-toe with a MBP and I actually like the smaller form factor for travelling).

As for Office being expensive, I don't really think that is Apple's fault! Besides, everyone I know has been able to get a copy of the Teacher/Student Edition for about $150 USD. If that is too much, consider running Open Office under X11 on the Mac, or use NeoOffice, as I suspect that you'll likely be using Open Office on a Lenovo Linux Thinkpad.

You seem to be quite good at whining, but not all that resouceful at looking for solutions.

Are you the same Dave Rosenberg that spoke at the O'Reilley Open Source Convention. I found your discussion on open source marketing to be interesting and was just curious to see if you were the same individual. Thank you.

Nick Paine

Not sure if this will help, but what about OpenOffice or NeoOffice for Mac? It should handle your spreadsheet needs.

I have a MacBook as well for the same reason you got yours and initially I was feeling the same as you but I think there are a couple of things that can help a lot expecially with the speed.

1. I used the migration assistant when going from my 12" to the MacBook. I think I should have only selected user data as some stuff got moved that caused me problems (keyspan remote control software) so got rid of that and that helped with speed.

2. Don't know if you use Entourage but Entourage is a dog on the MacBook. Not sure if it's the VPN or the software but it runs very slowly and when it's on the rest of my stuff runs slowly as well. I'm assuming it's something to do with the rosetta technology. If you can switch to Mail that might help.

As for the price of office. Get the student teacher version which is the exact same and you get 3 licenses. The only down side I believe is you can't get an "upgrade" price when the next version comes out but buying the full version again is probably cheaper than the upgrade price for the regular version.

Sorry can't help with the color aspect but I haven't had any issues with the keyboard but I don't use the system to write a lot of long documents.

On your MS Office complaint. I don't know if that it "too expensive" or not, but $400 for MS Office standard is the same for Windows or Mac. The pricing is the same (based on a search a CompUSA), although currently the "Student and Teacher" edition is $10 less on the Mac, after a mail in rebate.

What else is new? Apple sells mediocre products to clueless religious fanatics who are more interested in how a product looks as opposed to how it works. The iPod is a perfect example of this. My iRiver H320 from 2 years ago is more feature laden (i.e. line input, line out, FM radio, voice recorder, drag-drop from Windows Explorer, etc.) than the 5th Gen iPod video. What a joke...

1. Most other people disagree. On what software and for what tasks? With Universal or Rosetta-emulated applications? or does the GUI just "feel" slow?

2. Of course, we all know that a Wintel laptop has never, ever shipped with a loose screw - or any other hardware problem. Hint - this will be fixed, and rather quickly, under warranty.

3. Wash your hands, or buy one of the many dirt-colored laptops on the market.

4. Funny, the keyboard said the same thing about you. It's a shame there was no way to try the keyboard before purchase..oh, wait. Seriously, as laptops become slimmer, one thing that goes away is the full-travel keyboard of older models. I liked the keyboard on the Apple Lisa, but time marches on.

5. I honestly don't know what you're talking about. The computers are up on jacks, or are contaminated in some way?

MS Office prices aren't set by Apple; they're set by Microsoft at $399 SRP for EITHER the Windows or Macintosh Standard Edition. Or do you mean you don't know how to find a pirated copy of the Mac version?

"Seriously, the Apple store in SF is about the worst shopping experience you can have if you actually want to buy a computer. People sit there for 5-6 hours a day (I asked a few sales guys) and just use the internet and play games."
Go to a PC store and you see about a quarter of the machines with someone infront of it - staring blankly at it, sometimes with an illusive sales person trying to sell its nebulous values, and most people stop less than 30 minutes in the store. That tells me a lot about the desireability of the product.

Dave I could not agree more. I cannot believe how rabid these responses are. We bought several of the Pro version. Very disappointing laptop.

Sorry you had bad luck. Perhaps you should have tried the keyboard out more. As mentioned previously Apple does not set pricing for Mac Office. There are alternatives for number crunching spreadsheets.
What applications did you preload? How many tasks were you running?
I wish you lots of luck on the Dark Side. Hopefully you won't have to use bluetooth, wifi or other wireless networking stuff. My PC sucks at that. Plus I have endless reboots every month to update crappy software.

You are all nuts. I have been a loyal Apple user for 15 years. The product is weak...get over it. It happens.

Why buy MS Office for $400. OpenOffice V2.0 runs on the Mac platform as well

http://www.openoffice.org/dev_docs/source/sys_reqs_20.html

My MacBook rocks - I don't know where you are coming from. Well, actually I think it rocks. I'm not really sure because IT'S BEEN IN THE REPAIR SHOP since the day I bought it getting a new superdrive and the f****g place I bought it from wouldn't exchange it for a WORKING model.

But I love it otherwise and am sure someday it will do wonderful things for me.

My MacBook also rocks...and by rocks, I mean it sucks. The guys at the Genius Bar and in the shop have had more eyes on my MacBook than I have. OK, that's a slight exaggeration, but I'm on my third time in the shop! They won't give me a new one, and I just want my money back. I've had the topcase replaced twice (back trackpad button, bad seal on the edge, discoloration), it overheats, replaced heat sink, battery, and now issues with powering up, shutting down, goes black after three seconds...etc.

My MacBook also rocks...and by rocks, I mean it sucks. The guys at the Genius Bar and in the shop have had more eyes on my MacBook than I have. OK, that's a slight exaggeration, but I'm on my third time in the shop! They won't give me a new one, and I just want my money back. I've had the topcase replaced twice (back trackpad button, bad seal on the edge, discoloration), it overheats, replaced heat sink, battery, and now issues with powering up, shutting down, goes black after three seconds...etc.

Ok, I too went from a 12'' PowerBook G4 (1.33Ghz, 1.25Gb RAM) to a 13.3'' MacBook (1.83Ghz, 2Gb RAM) and to say the PowerBook is faster is like saying a Ford Fiesta is faster than a Ferrari Testarossa.

And the PowerBook G4 was, IMHO, every bit as hot-running as the MB.

Ive just got a mac book, it works much faster than than the G4 I book. You seem to be against mac by the language you use. Go back to pc and be plagued by viruses, crashes and software issues. Im sure it may be faster, but it will never work as well as a machintosh stable operating system

don´t rant on the trackpad...i got a white ibook g3 (looking forward to buying a macbook) and my trackpad often gets a "brownish" color on it´s edges....yeah, i´m an obsessive compulsive neurotic too on those issues, so, just stick with the black....anyways, you solve that by cleaning your mac often...you know, housekeeping.

cheers
Fer

I bought 13" macbook for about 6 month. the computer tun slower and slower. now it had overheating problems and shut the computer down all the time. it is the worst computer i've ever had.

I'm a 12 year experience Systems Administrator. Worked with just about every OS and hardware make out there. I recently bought 50 new MacBook Pro 17" for our Institute. So far 18 of them have been sent back out to the Apple Care Black hole because of various issues...squeeking space bar, Gray screen of Death, even one had a network port that didn't function at all.

I know that Apple takes pride in having innovative hardware and software, but would it be too much to ask to have a SD memory card reader or perhaps a tablet style laptop, or how about a fingerprint reader? Most of my Apple users could care less about the built in camera and remote.

Keep watching the OSX86 movement...

MY BLACK MACBOOK IS NOT EVEN A WEEK OLD AND WHEN TRYING INSTALL HDTV IT DECIDED IT DIDN'T WANT TO PLAY. HAVE A THINKPAD WHICH NEVER STOPS WORKING, BUT AFTER BEING IMPRESSED WITH THE FAMILY'S iMAC G5 DECIDED THE NEW FANCIER BLACK MACBOOK, BECAUSE BEING THE EVER FASHION CONSCIOUS IT WOULD MATCH MY iPOD, AND PROVIDE ME WITH ALL I EVER WANT IN A COMPUTER, BUT HERE WE SIT NOT A WEEK LATER WITH A DISC JAMMED IN THE "SLOT LOADING OPTICAL DRIVE" AND A BLANK GREY SCREEN AND ME TRAWLING THROUGH MESSAGE BOARDS TO FIND PEOPLE WITH SAME PROBLEMS AND HOPEFULLY FIND OUT HOW THEY SOLVED THEM IN A VAIN ATTEMPT TO STOP MYSLEF FROM HURLING THE STUPID BLOODY THING THROUGH THE FREAKING WALL SHAH!!!

well i agree with you! my ibook G4 was a lot quicker (and cheaper!) than this newer and 'better' macbook. i had my other one stolen so had to buy this, but am not happy with it at all.

mac IS jacking up their prices just because they've become more popular among the general public. my opinion? adversly affecting real mac users.

My MacBook is a piece of shit. it is three to five time slower than my Dell of 2000. The internet doesn't work 1 third of the time. I can't access my chat on Gmail. My Fidelity instant rep doesn't work, and I can't stream from CCTV9. Photoshop plus DREAMWEAVER make it galcially slow. I am really bummed.
Trust me, I hate windows too.
Both MAC and Windows sucks. The hardware on Macs looks good, but I don't think that the bells and whistles of a MAC make it more user friendly. No way.
But most of all, the MacBook is as slow as a turtle.
Piece of crap.

I just bought a Macbook Pro Core 2 duo, 2gb or ram, 160gb hard drive. It worked for 2 days and then died. I took it to the local Mac Shop to find out that it needs a new logic board? The macbook won't be ready for another 2 weeks? Also, I had a missing pixel, iWorks 06 that was recommended to me can't keep up with my slow typing, and YES my trackpad is filthy already. I most agree, I am thinking seriously about returning it and get a Dell, yes a Dell. When my hard drive died on a 2 year old Dell Inspiron, a tech came to swap it the very next day! Sorry if it offends all the Mac Fanboys out there, but Mac just SUCKS!

u expect too much the macbook is aimed at the younger college generation,and they dont run all this power hungry shit.all they do is surf the net and write papers gah get a life.

Interesting artical.

Firstly I acknowledge that this is just your point of view.

Secondly I would like to say that I have been using apple products along side "The other technology" for over 15 years.

Thirdly I am a prof of Computer Science at Oxford (UK), and can confirm that your Macbook was at least 28.745% faster than your old G4 (just happens that your too slow to notice)

I do feel that your post was un balanced an poorly written. I can only conclude that Apple Inc will certainly not miss the likes of you.

My MacBook has bee back to Apple 4 times. First the CPU was overheating. Hello? Design? This should never have been released to the public. Had to bring it and they fixed it... 4 days without my laptop. Next, the CPU failed. Most likely becaused it overheated one too many times, and I had to have the logic board replaced. Next, the computer kept freezing up - yet another problem with the logic board and another trip to the apple store, only to be told that I am stupid and should NEVER upgrade RAM from anybody but Apple. HUH? Well, okay, so I bought third party RAM from Kingston (some crappy fly by night RAM maker). My Bad. Okay, new ram and no more problems right? Wrong. Now as soon as I run my computer without the AC adaptor the display goes whacky and flickers like the backlight is a flourescent tube in the cold weather not wanting to start. Can anybody say "overheating again"? Apple sucks for putting out a piece of junk like the MacBook, and not giving new ones when they finally determined that their design was FLAWED!

I have to agree that these machines suck. I have used macs and macs only since the 80s. I bought a macbook in July 2006 and have only had problems since. I really prefer my blue and white G3 tower -- sad but true. I've had the G3 for years, and it has never broken down -- it is much slower than my laptop, but much more reliable.

My macbook had random shutdowns -- I sent it in. A whole bunch of stuff was replaced (but no one at apple care will tell me exactly what the problem was, or whatwas replaced). It stains and dirties really easily (and it is a white one, so don't say I should have gottent he white one). It is slow compared to everyone I know that has a PC laptop.

Most recently, my hard drive crashed -- it just crashed. It's only 6 months old and i had to get the hard drive replaced. The only explanation I got is that sometimes hard drives crash and you can't count on them (it is only 6 months old).

So in less than 6 months, I have lost my data several timeas, and have had to send the piece in twice to get replacement parts.

I've been a long time mac user, but likely switch to pc on my next purchase.

Iv had my macbook black for a couple of days now, I haven't even booted os x yet and I think its crap it gets hot as hell and the screen does not even look as good as my dell inspiron 6000. And yes I an running windows xp because I can't even stand mac operating systems after using them at school for years.

"ve just got a mac book, it works much faster than than the G4 I book. You seem to be against mac by the language you use. Go back to pc and be plagued by viruses, crashes and software issues. Im sure it may be faster, but it will never work as well as a machintosh stable operating system"

That is such bullshit and you know it. You sound like a 4 year old Apple fanboy with dumb ass info like that. Any computer will run like sh*t if you treat it like Sh*t. You sound like you need Steve Jobs to hold your hand while you use your computer.

OK? I just got a Mac for the first time ever...It is a MacBook, White, average everything....

I LOVE IT...

IT is slick looking, the software is SEXY, the screen is just SICK for media, etc. And the operating system is SOOOOOO easy to use...

The keyboard is so nice and works sooooo well.

I am sorry DELL, but unless Apple goes under, I am stayin here in Apple yuppy land, ME LOVE!!!!

GOD I LOVE THIS THING...YOU CAN't HAVE IT!!!

Oh, and it is not heavy and the battery life is incredible.

hi i'm a teenager that owns a macbook and i must agree with you. my macbook has been broken (cannot turn on) 3 times. the first time, all my memory was gone. the second time, something was wrong with the system but my memory was okay and safe (phew) the third time, which just happened this weekend, half of my memory was gone from my itunes, ical, bookmarks in my safari, and my extra widgets that i downloaded for a month!

I SHOULD'VE BOUGHT A MAC PRO....!!!!!!!!!!!!

MAC BOOK is AWFUL. We bought two...each one has been in for repairs 4 times. This morning, my hard drive blew wiping out ALL my data. I'm done. No more Apple. We have 3 ipods, 2 macbooks and some other kind of mac notebook, and an Iphone. Never again. I can buy a better notebook at walmart than the doorstop I spent $1500 on. In addition, we were able to get $200 back on the phone. But know 3 people who are SOL. A horror of a company.

"the keyboard is weird and stupid"

... wow... what great diction you have... i dont think the keyboard is weird or stupid... i actually love it compared to any other laptop keyboard i have used. as for the trackpad, use a wet clothe. In regards to speed, the macbook is fast enough for my needs. I'm not sure what your doing on yours... I recently upgraded to 2 gb since i updated to leopard and noticed a tremendous jump in speed... I think your article is tremendously biased and hopefully was meant as a joke.

Oh god, I am a incompetant pc user whose partner just cheated and bought me a macbook or as i refer to it the guilt book (white...and still clean). my problem is that i need to be tutored in how to use the damned thing. You are all scaring me with your stories. where do i go to get tutorials. My ex also bought one and we both stuggling to convert from pc. Where do beginners begin?

Your G4 was as fast or faster than the Macbook? Uh, are you sure the Macbook was powered on?

I have to echo some of the comments here. I bought a new iMac and after two months a disk jammed in the unit which I had to take in twice. They replaced the drive.

I also bought a new Macbook and this thing sounds like a tank every time it does something like copying a DVD.

Ironically with a new Sony [Vista] and the two Macs I have had to search the net for the proper printer drivers to get them to work. On another computer running Ubuntu/Linux it loaded them for me. I am ready to dump Windows and Apple for Linux. Linux just keeps getting better and better. Windows and Apple are getting less convienent.

Ok, I recently bought a white macbook, and my trackboard is also filthy after only a month of use. Also, it frequently shuts down all of my programs and refuses to restart. I've been in contact with the apple people, and sent it in for repairs before, and nothing's helped. I'm calling tomorrow to see if they can replace my motherboard (or my ram).

Even though you only treated your macbook like a toy, I do feel your pain. (I'm a pc convert, but I'm still loyal to macs, even though I have problems...)