Excellent Apple (and Windows) performance now at a reasonable price

Product Specifications:
MacBook 13.3" screen, 60gb hard drive, 512mb DDR2 RAM, 2.0 GHz Intel Core Duo processor, DVD/RW burner.

Introduction:
This is my very first Apple notebook computer. I have owned an iMac for a couple of years now, and it's been a great computer for design and photo editing, but I'm accustomed to Windows-based notebooks. Until now there has been a great gap in price, and I've always been one to seek out the "bang-for-your-buck" factor. I was very excited when the new MacBooks were released. The price is very competitive for what you get as far as performance and feature set are concerned. I have owned mine for about a month now, and I will break my review down into categories in order to more specifically describe the MacBook experience. For new users there is a definitions section at the end.

1. Design
Pros: Apple has a winner here. The new glossy screen is several times brighter than previous iBooks. They have also done away with latches. The lid now uses magnets to stay closed. When I first heard about this I was skeptical, but it's very solid and very handy. Even my wife, who is anit-mac, was impressed with this feature. (She's slowly warming up a little to the Mac world, thanks mostly to this new MacBook.)
The built in iSight camera is very handy for videoconferencing with family. This is a standard feature in the Macbook. The notebook itself is about 1" thick and has a beautiful, contrasty widescreen display. Movies look crisp and smooth, and the included wireless remote makes controlling them a snap.
The large touchpad is easy to control, and one can scroll by sliding two fingers or right-click/option-click by tapping two fingers on the pad instead of one. This feature is simple and efficient, and it really does work well. You can also configure the touchpad to automatically shut off when you plug in a mouse.
The slot loading dvd feature is very slick - no pop-out tray you worry about breaking.
The keyboard is also of excellent design. The keys are firm yet still easy to push. It appears the keys are directly supported by the notebook frame. The volume and brightness buttons are easy to use. Instead of having to remove a keyboard in order to install ram or a hard drive, you can remove the battery and a metal panel to easily upgrade your Mac. This is an improvement over previous Apple notebooks.
You also get the option of optical or stereo audio out. There is a built-in microphone for the webcam.
The Magsafe power adapter holds itself in magnetically as well, and it pops out easily if the cord is yanked on by someone walking by or by grabbing the MacBook in a hurry. This is a nice feature for those who have accidentally pulled their computer onto the floor by tripping over the power cord. It is also promising for those who have broken the inside receptacle by pushing the power adapter in too hard or wearing it out with repeated use. The Magsafe port is not likely to wear out.

Cons: Believe it or not, this sleek notebook does have a few noticeable design downsides. Even with extreme care, the top cover of the notebook is easily scratched and scuffed, and the scuffs are pretty obvious if you have it at the right angle. A notebook casing shouldn't scratch near this easily. I had a Sony Vaio laptop for a year, and it still has no noticeable scratches on either the top or bottom. This is probably due to the MacBook's shiny, polished exterior. It's better off without it.
The USB ports are too close together. I can't have a USB mouse and a flash drive plugged in at the same time. Some of the smaller flash drives might fit, but many will not. For only having two USB ports, they should have a little more space in between.
Another negative is the lack of an expansion slot. Most Windows-based notebooks come with the option of having memory card readers pre-installed or a PCMCIA slot where you can install a card reader of your own. Since Macs are so well-respected in the photo-editing world, there should at least be an option for this type of feature on Apple's notebooks.

Summary: As you can see, the cons are fairly nitpicky. The new MacBook has a very solid design. It's thin, sleek, attractive, and extremely functional.


2. Performance
Pros: With the new Intel Core Duo processor the MacBook is very speedy. It receives high scores in most benchmark tests, and in functional use the speed is definitely noticed and appreciated. It boots up in about 20 seconds. It rips CDs to iTunes fairly quickly, and burns optical media quickly as well. The applications are responsive, and user switching is a joy! The fast user switching is not new, but on the Intel MacBook it's really fast, even having multiple applications open with both users. I only have 512mb RAM, but that hasn't slowed me down noticeably yet. With multiple Internet pages open, iTunes and iPhoto running, it still opens new applications quickly and switches between them with ease. Macs by nature handle memory dump much more efficiently than Windows, so you don't notice a lot of lag opening and closing multiple programs by nature. The MacBook, however, does it significantly faster than my G4 iMac, even though my iMac has more RAM.
Searches with Spotlight start getting you search results often before you've finished typing the word in the search bar, and they are quickly categorized for easy viewing.
Battery performance is excellent. I worked up to 5 hours in one test on a single charge. You get about 3 hours watching DVDs at half brightness, 4 hours with normal use at half brightness or lower, and over 5 hours just listening to music with the lowest brightness setting. The battery usually recharges to full within two hours.

Cons: I have no complaints about the performance of my MacBook in the performance category except one: it's slower than many Windows-based PCs at reading newly inserted CDs and ejecting them after pressing the eject button.

Summary: The MacBook is a solid performer in all categories.

3. Features, Included Software, Value
Pros: With the new MacBooks you get oodles of great bundled software, like Garage Band for making your own music, iPhoto for editing, organizing, and printing photos easily and quickly, and too many others to list. You get Quicken 2006 for finances, iWeb for making your own web pages, etc. If you want the complete list, see http://www.apple.com/macbook/specs.html and check out the "Software" section.
For $1299 you get a top quality DVD-burner, a built-in webcam, and the excellent 2.0 GHz Intel Core Duo processors. The MacBook also features extremely zippy 667 MHz DDR2 RAM and a 5400rpm SATA hard drive. You get a lot of high end features and performance with many extras for that price. It's very comparable to many Windows-based notebooks now. Finally Apple hardware has become more affordable.

Cons: One huge feature Apple left out is the ability to shut the lid without putting the computer to sleep. What happens for those who just finished a paper and want to kick back and relax to iTunes when they shut the lid on their computers? The music stops. I've never had a notebook that didn't give me the option to select whether the computer sleeps when you shut the lid or not. This is something I have always done with other notebooks, in the car, at school, or even just around the house. Why leave the lid open to collect dust if you're just listening to music? According to Apple, you have to plug in an external keyboard, monitor, and mouse to do this. I'm not going to pack around these things in my backpack ... You have to shut the lid with your external peripherals connected, let the computer sleep, then wake it up again with a mouse or keyboard click. Wow.
I actually downloaded a third party shareware app to do this. There is a warning about the heat issue, but I had it on in my car with the lid shut (running the shareware app) four five hours straight playing music with iTunes. The screen still shuts off (now the music doesn't), and it actually didn't seem to get as hot as it does while under normal use, so there is a work-around.

Summary: You get a lot of bang for your buck. This is the first time I've been able to say this whole-heartedly about Apple. They make great hardware, and now it's a lot more affordable and practical.

4. Windows
Windows? Absolutely! I splurged for a copy of WindowsXP Home w/SP2 because I heard you could run Windows on the new Intel MacBooks with free Bootcamp software. The verdict follows.
Pros: Windows performs like a charm! USB, WiFi, and bluetooth devices work well for the most part. Games run great. I'm testing Warcraft III and Star Wars Battle Front II, and so far I'm very impressed. For integrated graphics with shared memory my test games are smooth and lots of fun. So far every Windows program I've installed runs great! It's responsive, reliable, and now I can use all my Windows software on my new Mac. The eject button works, too, and XP seems to take advantage of the dual core processors.

Cons: A few buttons are missing on the keyboard. Instead of being able to hit F1 and F2 to change the brightness, you have to select a slider with the mouse. Same thing with volume, but at least these features work well. Where's the real delete key? In order to delete a file on your desktop you have to right click, then click delete. The delete for the Mac is actually equivalent to the backspace key in Windows. This is resolved if you plug in an external keyboard.
The touch pad has no right-click nor scrolling option. Again, this is fixed by plugging in an external mouse.

Summary: Bootcamp is beta software, but it runs Windows great. You need the full version of WindowsXP, not an upgrade, and it has to have Service Pack 2. It truly is a joy for me to be able to use ALL my software on one computer, be it Mac or Windows based. Detailed instructions on how to do this can be found at http://www.apple.com/macosx/bootcamp/.

Overall Conclusion:
I consider my MacBook to be worth every penny, and I want readers to keep in mind that I am a budget minded consumer. I like to see the value in what I purchase. The features and performance of this thin, lightweight computer are quite impressive considering it's price. It receives very high marks after a month of intense and repeated testing and normal use. The new MacBook receives negative marks for the lid/sleep issue and how easily it scratches. Top features are the bright screen, battery life, multitasking capability, built-in webcam, included wireless remote, and the ability to not only run Windows, but run it extremely well.

Definitions:
RAM: Random Access Memory: Memory used to run programs and processes on your computer. A good comparison between RAM and memory on a hard drive would be: Think of your name or your parents' names. This information is stored permanently in your mind. It doesn't disappear when you go to sleep. This is like the information you store on a hard drive. It will be there even after the computer is turned off. Now that you're thinking of those names, however, they are currently in your short-term memory as well, just like programs you're running are in RAM. When you go to sleep you will no longer be thinking about the names, just like when you shut off a computer, the programs are no longer running.

Intel Core Duo Processors: A processor with dual cores is like having two processors in one. This makes it possible to more efficiently multitask (run multiple programs at the same time). Newer applications specifically written to take advantage of dual core processors will perform even faster.

PCMCIA slot: A slot many notebook computers have so you can add wireless access cards, memory card readers, and other peripherals to your notebook in order to increase its functionality. (The new MacBook lacks this feature)

OSX Tiger: Apple's current version of their operating system - what runs all your applications and provides interface between user and computer.