Disappointing new MacBook

Since I got the news of MacBook’s refresh this October, I’ve been waiting quite eagerly to see what Apple is coming up with next.

However,  I must admit to be disappointed with the result.

Hardware-wise, it’s ok. Although I was really hoping that Apple will go with ATI, after the Nvidia disaster; but I assumed that AppleCare plan will be enough to protect me from it. Also, I still don’t know whether its 2 USB ports will provide enough power for my external hard disk, but I’m willing to compromise that.

The deal-breaker was the design.
What’s with the black keyboard + aluminium shell combo ? I have seen black MacBook, and I want THAT. This is the owner of aluminium Powerbook talking. The aluminium shell is very easily scratched. At least,  the Powerbook’s looks much better, with its matching silver keyboard. But black one ?

Unfortunately I’m one of those people who need to concern about the design of my laptop instead of just its functions/capabilities. I carry my laptop around to meetings, and the aluminium Powerbook does help to create good first impression.

Jonathan Ive – don’t tell me you’re running out of creative ideas already. This “new” MacBook looks just like the (VERY) old Titanium Powerbook – back in the 2001 ! What gives ?

In desperation, I even considered the new white MacBook. No can do, I want it black.

Or something different. But seeing that they’ve ditched the “Think Different” slogan, one can’t help but to think that the creative ones in Apple has lost it.

Right, looks like no new MacBook for me then. I’ll just probably look around for a good deal for the old MacBook Pro. Or if anyone knows any excellently-designed laptop, feel free to let me know.

My sensible-self is very attracted to Acer Aspire One though at this point. It’s probably the most  powerful Netbook I’ve ever seen, with loads of features. And 6-cells battery to boost (unlike MSI Wind) – giving 5.5 hours of normal usage. That’s sweet.

With the price of US$ 400, this can be considered a steal. Plus, it got really raving reviews on Amazon.com.

What do you think ?

44 thoughts on “Disappointing new MacBook

  1. All the hype is up with the new line up of Macbook(s) huh. Well, I think the new Macbook is not that bad, if I didn’t have my Aspire One already, I would go for the Macbook (not the Pro, it’ll be an overkill for my day-to-day email & surfing only tasks)

    I do agree that all-black macbook would be pretty sleek though. I myself was eye-ing for the old black macbook. Came to think of it, now that the new line up has been announced, maybe its a good time to get some cheap deals on the old Macbook? hmmm..

    I owned a Aspire One, but not the 120GB version, I bought the 8GB version. Not the longest battery, I know, but it does fine for my needs. Word of advice though, I do experience a rather sluggish performance with Win XP (and some said you better install it as FAT and not NTFS, as it will be even slower).

    Read about Hackintosh for Aspire One few days ago, and I’m thinkin of having my Aspire with OSX as well. Again, not the most sophisticated spec, but if it runs just fine, you’ll have the smallest, most portable OSX laptop!

  2. People like you can consider either these two notebooks : Good netbook (MSI Wind, Acer AspireOne) or Perfect laptop (Thinkpad T61 :)) Glad to have these laptop, they have good hardware, and the design is old fashioned but good for everyday use.

  3. obviously you’ve never owned a macbook. 🙂
    .
    macbook hitam gue sekarang ini kondisinya agak menyedihkan. pojok handrest sebelah kanan bingkai plastiknya udah “mreteli”, somplak plastiknya, entah kenapa. dan rupanya ini merupakan problem umum di macbook yang sudah berumur. macbook putih si jay pun begitu. makanya move ke aluminum ini gue rasa untuk menghindari problem plastik somplak ini.
    .
    tapi kalau bersedia menerima resiko handrest somplak, bisa saja beli yang putih lalu pasang stiker hitam, ini di toko yang biasa pasang stiker di mobil bisa melakukannya, dan presisi, kecuali mungkin bagian dalam tetap akan berwarna putih.
    .
    macbook aluminum ini merupakan upgrade yang menarik banget buat gue, tapi mungkin menunggu dulu sampai muncul review tentang buttonless glass trackpad ini (btw layar LCD-nya LED glass juga lho).
    .
    lalu soal MSI Wind, ada yang jual batere 9 cell-nya tuh, klaimnya bisa bertahan 9 jam.

  4. @ryosaeba: Weird, because my Blackbook looked almost brand new (kecuali keyboard sama touchpad-nya yg keliatan greasy – palm restnya gw pasang protector untungnya hohoho). And to think that this notebook kissed floor the hardway for several times, I really think the build quality is top notch.

    @Affan: I have T61 and It’s newer than my macbook but the graphic fan is already giving away some weird noise. The build is sturdy alright (and love the keyboard too!). It’s just that it came with Vista and Vista suck the hard way! Gimme back my XP! (Well, I’ve tried to instal hackintosh on it, but it isn’t really straight forward and the stability after the installation leaves much to be desired).

    And oh, about Acer Aspire One, it sure is a steal for the money. But Uda Harry, won’t you also consider Lenovo S10 (or is it U10?). I just saw it the other day and the build quality is awesome (a notch above aspire one, probably in the range of HP Mini-note).

  5. @indra – yes, I’m split between looking for a deal with old MacBook Pro and Acer Aspire One.
    .
    Now I also have to consider Levovo S10 ! It simply looks GORGEOUS. And that’s without sacrificing its features. Wow.

  6. aa nata konon katanya udah berhasil bikin maxbook air dari MSI WIND, kita tunggu news updatenya aa nata

  7. @RyoSaeba – obviously you’ve never owned a macbook
    .
    I hope we’re clear on that one now 😉
    .
    macbook hitam gue sekarang ini kondisinya agak menyedihkan. pojok handrest sebelah kanan bingkai plastiknya udah “mreteli”, somplak plastiknya, entah kenapa. dan rupanya ini merupakan problem umum di macbook yang sudah berumur. macbook putih si jay pun begitu. makanya move ke aluminum ini gue rasa untuk menghindari problem plastik somplak ini.
    .
    Ada teman gua pemilik black MacBook dan dia cukup “kasar” dalam memakai laptopnya itu. Tapi sejauh ini gua lihat MacBook nya bisa tuh di abuse kayak begitu, he he.
    .
    Anyway, Aluminium juga sama saja deh (dan lebih parah). Yang punya gua dipasangi alas / handrest, dari bahan kayak karet+kain. Jadi yang belel / belang itu handrestnya.
    Lalu gue pasang keyboard protector, screen protector, dan ditaruh di sleeve.
    .
    Malah laptop gue (nyaris) gak pernah keluar dari sleeve-nya — dan tetap scratched !! dohh…. bingung deh.
    .
    menunggu dulu sampai muncul review tentang buttonless glass trackpad ini (btw layar LCD-nya LED glass juga lho)
    .
    Katanya itu seluruh trackpad nya adalah tombolnya ya? Jadi itu trackpad bisa kita pencet, lalu dia akan kepencet kebawah (seperti tombol) ?
    .
    Kalau ternyata bukan, alias tap = click, makin males. Tap/click di Mac suka gak reliable. Kalau lagi overload, kadang tidak bisa, jadi musti kita pencet tombolnya – baru dia ngeh bahwa kita klik.
    .
    lalu soal MSI Wind, ada yang jual batere 9 cell-nya tuh, klaimnya bisa bertahan 9 jam.
    .
    Iya, tapi ada komentator di Ars yang mengabarkan bahwa desain batere DIY tersebut ternyata berbahaya. Ledakan 3-cells saja sudah lumayan menakutkan, kalau yang meledak 9-cells wah …. bisa mandul seumur hidup entar (kalau masih hidup) 😀

  8. @Oskar – But Uda Harry, won’t you also consider Lenovo S10
    .
    Thanks for the excellent recommendation ! I just took a look, and boy that thing IS beautiful. I’m leaning towards that at the moment.
    .
    Now let’s see if we find find it here in Indonesia, shall we.

  9. @Affan – the geek in me is forever drooling over Thinkpads, way back to the Butterfly-keyboard series – the 701. They’re the innovators in the laptop technology for as long as I could remember. And they deliver truly powerful laptops. Whenever a friend asked for a workhorse, I always recommend a Thinkpad to them. None heard complaining, only praises.
    .
    I’ve been drooling now for a while over the giant called Thinkpad W700. Quad-core Extreme, 8 GB DDR3 RAM, dual disk + raid, Quadro GPU, widescreen 17″ 1920×1200, hardware-based Pantone calibration (read: killer colors from the LCD screen), and crazy number of ports.
    .
    Unfortunately, my work require not just functionality, but also looks. Although personally I think Thinkpad looks REALLY good, I know many others doesn’t share that opinion. So, hopefully some other time then.
    .
    More details :
    http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=4552
    http://www.slashgear.com/lenovo-thinkpad-w700-intel-quad-extreme-integrated-digitizer-1113699/

  10. Hmm ..always to side of a story. I personally like the new one, except the price. $200 more for aluminum casing is too much IMO.

    My brother has the previous MacBook Pro and you are right, it’s easily scratched and dinged. But, He travels to campus everyday. So, the damage is understandable.

    I’ll go to the store and check it out myself. Then, I’ll decide with my 10% off (student discount) option 🙂

  11. haha.. i agree with that black keyboards and silver body… what’s that all about??? ugly as hell. although i still have yet to see it myself. im going to the apple store tomorrow 😉 in the meantime im still quite happy with my eeepc for browsing and chatting. haha..

  12. I’ve got myself a black lenovo S10 couple days ago and it’s been more than satisfying. Now i can leave my heavy white macbook at home while wandering around carrying this little one.
    I’ve used fujitsu’s lifebook P1610 for sometimes and I think the s10’s 10.2″ screen is way better for my eyes.
    of course it wont suffice for the graphic-nerds, but if you consider acer aspire one you might want to try s10 as well 😉

  13. Pak Harry pernah cek Panasonic laptop ? kalau menurut saya itu yg terbaik. Di Amerika di pasarkan atas nama Toughbook, tapi di jepang, negara asalnya, dipasarkan sebagai Let`s Note. Coba deh, pasti nggak nyesel 🙂

  14. Oh, that’s really pathetic, the first impression was so good, but the product not serviceable. Its very good of you that you have warned us about the MacBook

  15. I am disappointed with it also. I hope apple will release a new products that can beat the popularity of Iphone.

  16. GM said to Tim Cook “Do you want to change the world or do you want to spend the rest of your life selling silverados” jiakakaa 😀

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  18. It will do anything more than just that Don’t get me wrong I am all for alternative forms of energy but the problem their is right now most of them are not economically feasible.

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