kenjisan

For shame, Apple...

I finally got over to an Apple Store to check out the new MacBooks. First of all, yes, I am an Apple fanboy, blah, blah, worship Jobs, etc. While I wish they were a little smaller (see the discontinued 12-inch Powerbook), they still seemed very nice. I like the lack of an external clasp to hold the lid shut, as well as the slightly slimmer form factor.

What I didn't like very much was the black Macbook, and I'm not saying this because of the bloated price. They're matte black, not glossy like the white (or the iPods, for that matter). The store models were covered in finger prints, and I've heard that the track pad (black like the rest) gets easily marked up. Cyndi made the analogy to those stainless steel appliances: look pretty, not practical.

But what's worse is the marked up price. You can order a white model with the exact same specs (including the 80 GB hard drive) for $150 less than the black model. Is a different color plastic worth $150?

It comes in black...

But be prepared to pay a $200 premium for it. Still, it's about time they updated the iBooks, which haven't seen a revision for nearly a year, I believe. As expected the new MacBooks (minus the pro) have come bundled with the same dual-core chipset that the MacBook Pros have, only at slower speeds and the infamous Integrated Intel GMA graphics card. But I guess this was never meant to be a graphic processing powerhouse, but more of a nice student computer.

Needless to say, I want one. But then, whenever Apple comes out with this stuff, I want it. I'm a sucker. We all know that.

1.83 Ghz Core Duo White, $1,099
-Ships 1-5 Business Days
-60 GB 5400-rpm Serial ATA hard drive
-Combo Drive

2.0 Ghz Core Duo White, $1,299
-Ships 1-5 Business Days
-60 GB 5400-rpm Serial ATA hard drive
-SuperDrive

2.0 Ghz Core Duo Black, $1,499
-Ships 3-7 Business Days
-80 GB 5400-rpm Serial ATA hard drive
-SuperDrive

All Models:
-13 widescreen, 1280x800 display
-Front Row and Apple Remote
-Integrated iSight
-MagSafe
-Integrated Intel GMA 950 graphics with 64 MB shared graphics memory
-mini-DVI with extended display support
-512MB 667 Mhz DDR2 SDRAM (PC2-5300)
-1 Firewire 400, 2 USB 2.0 ports
-Gigabit Ethernet
-Airport Extreme + Bluetooth 2.0 (EDR) Standard