Macbook: First Impressions

Yes, I've finally given in to the dark side and bought a Mac. After all, I've experienced all the crashes and troubles a PC can give me (I've been using them since... 1988? or maybe 1989?) and I need a brand new set of problems. That and it looks a lot cooler than my old computer.

So, as I've been using it for roughly a day, I decided to post my first impressions of it. But first, the

Basics

I couldn't afford a MacBook Pro so I went with the basic white MacBook, which is still a very decent computer. With an Intel Dual Core 2.0GHz processor, 1GB of RAM, an 80GB harddrive, a 6X Superdrive (DVD/CD burner, basically), the only thing that's missing is a good video card. Sadly, the only Mac laptops that come with a decent graphics card are the Pros; this one came with an integrated 64MB card. Enough to play basic games, but hardly enough for hardcore gamers. Luckily, I'm not really a hardcore gamer. Except for the lack of a good graphics card and a slightly smaller hard drive, this is generally the same computing power as my old laptop, except the processors are different. Well, that, and it's a Mac.

Booting up

For those who know about Macs, I won't talk about booting up XP using Boot Camp; it's just... booting XP.

One thing I liked is that it booted quickly. Not so much that the splash screen is there for a shorter period of time, but rather that once it does disappear, you can actually start using your computer. On XP, the screen loads but you have to wait for a bunch of other components to load, which is sometimes frustrating if you don't sit through the boot; you think it's all booted up, only to click on the Start button and have it laugh at you and just sit there.

General Usage

I don't have any specific programs I'm going to use on the MacBook, mostly because I don't know much about Mac programs yet and I'll buy some in the future. For now, though, the interface is a bit of a mystery to me. As I was told by the sales rep who sold me the MacBook, it's going to be a period of adaptation. I've grown up on DOS, then Windows 3.1, then Windows 95/98/XP, and now I'm switching to something pretty much entirely different, so my habits and generally all I know about how to operate my computer are thrown out the window.

One thing that bothers me, though I'm quickly learning to take advantage of it, is that programs don't actually quit when you close the window, but rather you have to use the Dock (the Start bar under Windows) to turn them off. While it makes using the internet easier (I have a tendency to close down IE, then open it again, back and forth) it feels like some ressources are going to be sucked down because I sometimes forget to turn the programs off. A minor problem, but a problem nonetheless.

One thing I still don't understand is the lack of a "full screen" button. If you want the window to take up the whole screen, you have to drag the lower right corner to get the desired effect. Again, not a major problem, but still annoying when you're used to using the whole screen as your playground. Add to that the reduced size of the MacBook screen (13 inches) and some applications looks very small indeed.

Overall, as I haven't had the chance to explore the MacBook in its entirety, I can't really say how day-to-day usage is, but it looks like the user-friendliness of most of the product will eventually outweigh the parts I don't like much right now. Hopefully.

Overall

I like the MacBook. Sure, it's new and I haven't used had my own laptop for a while, but I think there's more to it than that. It's a good little machine on the hardware side, and Mac OS X is a good operating system which I'll likely learn to love after I use it for some time. Or I'll throw my MacBook out the window of a moving car on the highway...

I give it eight widgets out of ten.