Common Sense

Here is a first-look review of the latest Apple notebook, the Macbook Core Duo.

I am decidedly anti-Mac. I use a G4 everyday in the newsroom and my life is a living hell because of it. Usability issues and constant error messages are the norm. There are days when I just want to scream “I’d give anythign for a right-click mouse button!”

After three years of using a Mac, I still haven’t figured out how to do something as simple as screenshots. The whole host of programs that I can use at home on our PC desktop are gone, not to be replaced with anything. And so much of the interface with the Mac OS is just so counterintuitive to me that functionality is a problem, too.

In short, I just do not like Macs.

I did have an oppurtunity last year to use one of the paper’s Powerbooks and I did like it. And there is something to be said of the stylishness. I found it to be much more portable than my current Dell widescreen notebook, too. Lugging that thing to Austin is a pain. It is heavy.

The Macbook looks thinner and sleeker than what I’m currently using, which could be a big advantage to me as a blogger. But this review found a significant overheating problem too, which should give anyone pause before purchasing.

The reviewer liked using the dock in the Mac OS. I like that my Web pages are easier to see than the much thinner Windows XP task bar, but having all the regular use programs there seems, I don’t know, redundant, especially if there are already shortcuts on the desktop. I usually set the dock to hiding mode at work because it just seems to get in the way really.

Utilizing Firefox’s tabbed browsing also seems to cut down on needing to minimize lots of Web pages anyway.

All in all, buying a Macbook doesn’t take into account the fact that we now live in a Windows world. everything is geared toward the PC owner. Buying one of these really just limits you for no reason. If you really like the OS, I hear Windows Vista is going to be more like OS X, but with the functionality we’re all used to, including programs like MS Word, Paint and Notepad (who doesn’t use Notepad for Web page designing and HTML hacking?).

Because I know your just riveted by all of this, I strongly recommend against purchasing a Macbook. If you just love the style, I think a Sony Vaio is a good substitute, but it runs an OS you’ll be used to and I think it is better looking anyway. Worth the investment of the extra dollars.