New MacBook Brief Review

I had a chance to play with one of the new unibody MacBooks the other week. My school district purchased two to use as spares. The first thing I noticed was how solid they felt- not just compared to the old plastic MacBooks, but to the old MacBook Pro’s as well. The case did not flex at all- even the old MBP’s case flex a little bit. That certainly is very nice. One thing I do wonder is how well it will hold up in a drop.

The new trackpad was actually easy to use. I was worried how the buttonless “feature” would work, but I had no problem using it all all. It felt natural. I liked it better actually. I could not get the 4 finger swipe to work however- not sure if that was a bug or what. 

It didn’t feel any faster but then I did not have much time to play with it. I also did not get a chance to test out the screen- which really is my biggest fear. I am not a fan of the glossy screen. Hopefully, when they update the 17″ MacBook Pro, which is what I am waiting for, they will have an option for glossy. 

The only downside I could really see is the loss of FireWire, which is a huge mistake. Losing target disk mode is a giant loss- not only for the Migration Assistant and recovering data, but for booting other Macs with that Mac. The MIgration Assistant is the best thing that the Mac had and Windows didn’t. Now a stupid decision has cut that out. 

But other than that I would score it as a win. I would definitely get a MBP though- gotta have FireWire.