Mini MacBook Pro, or finally a replacement for the 12" PowerBook

I've been a huge fan of Apple's 12" PowerBook models for quite some time, bought three of them new, and still own one today. The 12" PowerBook, while still capable of many of the tasks we use our computers for, is definitely obsolete technology that has been clearly left behind. Still, the 12" PowerBook has an extremely loyal following and commanded prices on the used market far out of line with its specifications for the simple reason that it was the smallest and lightest fully-featured Mac laptop ever, until now.

The new MacBook is actual 0.1 lb lighter than the 12" PowerBook at 4.5 lbs. It is also about 1/3 of an inch thinner, about equal in depth, a hair lower in opened height, and is only larger in a single dimension, width. Like the plastic MacBook before and the exotic MacBook Air, the new MacBook fits well on a coach-class tray table and will generally go anywhere a 12" PowerBook will go.

When the 12" PowerBook was discontinued in 2005, Mac users clung to them for other reasons beside size. The newer MacBook with its plastic shell, while slightly thinner, just didn't have the same jewel-like look and feel that the smallest PowerBook did. Yes, the Air brought a premium feel to a small Mac, but it lacks an optical drive, has a sealed battery like an iPod and has only a single USB port. Small and luxurious is it, but full-featured it is clearly not.
The MacBook exceeded the PowerBook's features and capabilities as well, and is what Apple intended as the replacement, but even the high-end black one looks and feels a bit cheap next to the 12" PowerBook.

Which brings me to the subject of this review, Apple's new masterpriece. The new MacBook isn't perfect, but if you can live with its (few) limitations you will find it to be about the best small laptop ever built. Any resemblance to my review of the new MacBook Pro is no coincidence, as for the first time in Apple's history, consumer and Professional models are far more alike than different. In fact, with the exception of the Pro model's FireWire 800 port, dedicated graphics, larger screen and correspondingly larger case, there is almost nothing to distinguish the consumer MacBook from the professional MacBook Pro. The consumer MacBook is a second-class Apple citizen no longer. Read on.

In terms of specifications and equipment, the new MacBook actually is slightly inferior in many respects to the high-end plastic models in the old lineup. Processor speed is the same, as is maximum memory and hard disk capacity. There are no new 3G network cards, no card readers, no BlueRay and no new battery technology. The new MacBook is rated at an hour LESS runtime than the old one, and strangely gives up the FireWire port without adding a suitable replacement.

There are only two performance specifications that are improved on the new model, graphics and bus speed. The front-side bus is sped up from 800 MHz to 1066 MHz, which is a significant bump that may actually translate to improved application performance in some situations. Bus speed isn't like processor speed or hard drive speed, which will almost always give a massive performance boost, but it does help the computer's various components to communicate with one another faster.

The more significant performance improvement relates to the graphics. The old models used an integrated Intel GMA X3100 graphics chip that sucked 144 MB of RAM from the main memory, hence the term "Vampire Video". Vampire Video was always a negative, slowing graphically rich programs down and in the early days even slowing regular desktop graphics like opening windows and moving icons.
Things are much better with Vampire Video these days. The previous model MacBook, of which I own a 2.2 GHz late 2007 model, doesn't do so badly in moderately demanding graphical applications. I've used mine (in Windows XP) to play 2005-era games with decent results, though the high-end games of 2005, like Doom 3, would barely run.

The new MacBook's nVidia GeForce 9400M is also a Vampire Video system, sucking 256 MB of system RAM, but unlike all VV systems of yore, this one actually isn't too shabby. Doom 3 can actually be played, albeit at medium detain and XGA resolution. Its MUCH faster than the old MacBook, and perhaps half as fast as the old MacBook Pro, which has a 256 MB dedicated nVidia chip. In fact, Doom 3 on the new MacBook plays at XGA resolution just as smoothly as my MacBook plays it at SXGA resolution. Not bad for Vampire Video in a consumer laptop.

So performance is improved, battery life is sacrificed and you lose your FireWire port, why then would anyone want the new MacBook? Simply put, it is GORGEOUS. Anyone who thought the old 12" PowerBook was jewel like is in for a treat. If the old PB was a jewel, the one is made from pure unobtainium. It is THAT nice. The case is cut from a single block of aluminum, and the resulting laptop is the most rigid feeling portable computer I've ever put my hands on, even better than special ruggedized models like Panasonic's ToughBook series. I don't know if the machine is as tough as it seems, and I doubt that the glass display and the hinge are ruggedized, but it sure feels durable and should more than handle anything that normal users can throw at it.

The new MacBook has the same keyboard as the MacBook Air, which is almost identical to that of the old MacBook, though with what feels like a higher quality of construction. The high-end model is even backlit like the Air and the MacBook Pro, reinforcing the sense that this is a premium product, though the base model makes do without the backlight. Of course, 12" PowerBook owners were always jealous of the backlit keyboards on most 15" and 17" models.

Speaking of keyboards, I am a certified keyboard snob. I find Apple's modern keyboards to look strange and feel stranger, but they are also fast, accurate and comfortable. They aren't bad, just different, and once you get used to it, you will likely find, as I did with my own MacBook, that your typing speed increases and your error rate decreases. That said, I still prefer the old metal-look (they are actually plastic) keys on the MacBook Pro and the old PowerBooks. Yes, I am slightly faster and more accurate on the MacBook keyboard, but the MacBook Pro/PowerBook keyboards, much like the ThinkPad, just feels higher quality and more luxurious.

Another major change is the new touchpad, which is made entirely of glass and has NO BUTTONS AT ALL. Yes, while PCs are going to two, three and even five buttons on their touchpads and eraserheads, Apple took away the single button and leaves you with none. Not to fear, the entire touchpad IS THE BUTTON, and with a setting in the control panel, the right or left bottom corner can be configured as a "right button", taking away the one complaint many users had about Apple's old touchpads. I found the entire pad-as-button concept to feel strange for like the first two seconds I used the MacBook, then it quickly became second nature. I just continued clicking as I always did with my thumb and the new touchpad worked exactly the same as the old one, but when I tried clicking elsewhere, I found it so intuitive that I stopped moving the thumb. This negates one of the major disadvantages touchpads have always had over eraserheads, which is the requirement to move your hands too much to click. Now, the same finger or thumb can point and click in a single motion that in some situations is even faster and more intuitive than a regular mouse.

The last major change is the display, which like the old MacBook is only available in glossy, but unlike the old MacBook is all glass. This is a major improvement, as glass is more environmentally friendly (says Apple), easier to keep clean and less prone to scratches. It also looks a whole lot more expensive and higher-quality than the old MacBook display, which looked like it was covered by a thin sheet of flexible plastic, though that clearly wasn't the case. The display itself is also of higher quality, with the LED backlighting from the MacBook Air making for brighter colors, instant warm up and decreased power consumption.


There is a downside to the new display design, shared with all glossy screens, and that is glare. Glossy screens produce deeper blacks, whiter whites and vivid, saturated color that makes them terrific for watching movies and viewing photographs, but lousy for working with text or for use near strong light sources. Glossy screens, and this one is VERY glossy, are in effect mirrors, and while the strong LED backlight can overpower almost any reflection, that doesn't mean that the reflection isn't there. I often got a headache when using my old MacBook in the late afternoon, just at the same time that the light came through my office window and right onto the laptop display. My current matte screen laptop makes me headache-free. The moral is that you need to examine not only how you will use your laptop, but where, and even when, to see if glossy will work for you. In my old office glossy was terrific, while in my new one it is literally a pain.

In the most simple terms, the new MacBook is nothing more than a MacBook Air thickened to include an optical drive, a removable battery and a new glass screen. Anyone who liked the idea of the Air but couldn't deal with its compromises should love the new MacBook. Anyone who didn't like the look and feel of the Air will be similarly disappointed with the new MacBook. I really like it.

In conclusion, the new MacBook is a revolutionary product, perhaps even more significant than Apple's titanium laptops of 2001. They are thinner, stronger, lighter and far nicer than any portable ever made before, and should set the standard for a long time to come. In fact, the only real competition the new MacBook has comes from its big and little bothers, the MacBook Pro, which got the same treatment, and the MacBook Air, which really was the shape of things to come.