new macbook
December 6th, 2008
So I decided to finally bite the bullet and give away (well, sell) my old 2006 Black MacBook. It served me well — could even run Final Cut Pro when it really wanted to, despite what Apple told us. I figured that now would be the best time to do it, considering that the value will only decrease from here on out.
An eBay auction listing and PayPal transaction later, and I’m typing this on my fancy schmancy new aluminum MacBook. I opted for the base model, per my friend’s suggestion, and will most likely upgrade the hard drive in the next few weeks if I can get some cash. It’s hard to believe that 160 GB just doesn’t cut it anymore. Anyways, this is more of a computer for the interim, considering I will most likely need a MacBook Pro for the future — whether that means trading up in 8 months, or two years from now remains to be seen.
Some observations so far: first, it looks fucking awesome. As usual, Apple knows that one of the first things that drives their fanbase batshit is a new case — “enclosure envy” — and this one certainly fits the bill. It’s sleek in every possible way, rounded corners, smooth finish… nice. Not without its flaws though: some slight discoloration on the front (weird purple stain) and my function keys are crooked, which makes the rest of the keyboard look crooked. Oh well, as long as it doesn’t affect performance, I say. When something goes wrong internally, then I can bitch and whine about screwy keys. Overall though, I’m really pleased so far. But the proof, as they say, will be in the pudding.
December 7th, 2008 at 3:36 pm
You will probably find it a little hard to get used to the touchpad, as it sometimes does unexpected things, like spread two fingers and the type size increases, or click where you would have clicked on the clicking part of the older Macbook touchpad, and it offers a menu of choices rather than doing what you expect a double click to do.
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Anout the hard disk — I ordered mine 320 GB and see that some custom reseller was offering 500 GB built in. I got a 500 GB external Western Digital the size of a big wide chocolate bar for Time Machine backups (it was around $ 130, don’t remember, from Amazon).
About the discoloration — one way to tell yours and mine apart when I visit and if I bring mine to your parents’ house
As for the tilted function keys, I think I see them, but it is probably a hallucination. I actually lived through the 60s and probably have traces of both memories and recreational substances from then.
December 8th, 2008 at 9:20 pm
The track pad is quite sensitive and a bit clunky at the same time… I tried enabling the tap-click (click without actually pressing the button) feature and that was just chaos. I feel that mine is also unusually loud… and as for the discoloration, it now appears to be gone (?) I’ve got some mutant substance growing on this thing, perhaps.