MacBook: A User's Tale (Part I)

Having read all the reviews of the new MacBook and MacBook Pro that I could find, I placed an order with Apple's Online Store.  I'm still waiting for it to arrive, so the subject of this post will focus on the reasoning behind my choice, how I envision this machine changing my life, and a few other tidbits of info.

My unibody notebook of choice was the 2GHz MacBook.  I chose the standard 160GB 5400 RPM HD, but maxed the RAM at 4GB.  I'm sure some of you are wondering why I chose the slowest and least impressive of the new line-up.  Looking at the price differences between the 2GHz and 2.4GHz models was $350CDN.  However, doubling the RAM cost only $150CDN.  A faster processor is nice, but any speed gained from a faster processor can easily be negated when apps are forced to rely on virtual memory and constantly save application data to the drive.  Maxing the RAM is a must for me, and 4GB should be enough for me.

Economics played a role in my chose of drive size as well.  I can buy a 320GB 7200 RPM drive from a local dealer for less than the cost of getting the 320GB 5400 RPM BTO option.  The faster drive speed should make the machine feel snappier too.  This is an upgrade I plan to do almost immediately.

I spent some time at the local Apple Store comparing the displays of the MacBook to the MacBook Pro.  The 13.3" display has a resolution of 1280x800 which is respectable.  The MacBook display seemed large enough during my hands-on with the machine, and if I truly want/need a larger display I will just connect my 23" Cinema Display.  When compared to a 23" ACD, the increased display size of the MacBook Pro seems negligible.

The MacBook will not be replacing my current Mac.  After almost three years of unfaltering service, I still love my PowerMac G5 Quad 2.5GHz, with its 4.5GB RAM, dual 1TB HDs and 23" Cinema Display.  It's handled everything I've thrown at it from video editing, 3D rendering, Photoshop, software design, file serving...  Its only shortcomings are: 1) portability; and 2) no support for Boot Camp.

Portability isn't a critical issue, and honestly, I'm not a big fan of notebooks.  I have a history of terminating the lives of several laptops, and find them harder to maintain and less reliable then a desktop.  That being said, it would be nice to work while watching soccer or relaxing at a coffee shop.  This was probably the largest deciding factor for going with the low-cost model, because if I kill it I won't be out a pile of cash.  It's small size also brings back memories of the used PowerBook Duo 230c I had many years ago.

The lack of support for Boot Camp has led to over-crowding in my home office.  A quick head count reveals:

Let's take a look at how the MacBook will alleviate some of this clutter.

Acer notebook and IE7 box:  I need these for my day job as a web developer.  IE6 and IE7 won't co-exist, and given how old and slow the Acer is, it is just easier to have a separate box for running IE7.  The Acer's lack of a DVI port prevents me from connecting my Cinema Display to it, and so I design web pages on a 15" LCD (at a resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels).  A failing wireless card tethers me to a desk via an Ethernet cable.  On a good day it can run Dreamweaver and 4 browsers simultaneously.  I'm forced to rely on my PowerMac to handle all the email, documents, Photoshop, Word, Excel, and MSN action required for this job.  The only thing I actually need the Acer for is running browsers.

Two Boot Camp partitions should let me run IE6 and IE7 on one machine (with a reboot to make the switch), so there goes one PC.  Compared to the Acer, the MacBook is faster, has more RAM, and can alleviate my dependance upon the PowerMac for things like Photoshop and... email.  The 802.11n wireless card will work perfectly with my Airport Extreme base station, so I should be able to work anywhere in the house.

Gaming PCs: Honestly, my gaming machine is a joke.  I ressurrected it as a friend was in the process of throwing it out (actually, he physically threw it into his garage and bent the case).  It is old and slow, has a small maximum RAM capacity, uses DDR RAM for extra slowness, and has an AGP video slot.  The secondary gaming machine has more RAM, and more powerful video card, but for some reason I can't update the version of WindowsXP on it.  Nor will it let me reinstall a new copy of XP, or recognize a different drive with XP already installed on it.  This means I'm stuck playing newer games on the slower machine, and old games on the faster one.  WTF?!?

My recent gaming habits consist of Warhammer Online, Star Wars Battlefront II and the Dawn of War series of RTSs.  I mostly play MMOs these days, so my graphics needs are not that severe.  My PC handles my favorite titles surprisingly well, but playing Warhammer Online during peak hours is so laggy it's unplayable.

I was nervous about the nVidia 9400 in the MacBooks.  Several current Mac games are incompatible with the GMA950 integrated graphics of previous MacBooks, and I absolutely didn't want to have any issues with gaming.  All my fears were assuaged when I saw a video review of a 2.4GHz MacBook running Warhammer Online (read it here).  It was this review that cemented my choice for the MacBook.  Performance seemed at least as good as I was getting on my PC.  Having access to more RAM would certainly tip the odds in favor of the experience being better on the MacBook.

Result: That's at least 4 headaches I can rid myself of.  Two whole work areas will be clear and available for other activities.  Numerous wall plugs and router ports will be freed, and the mess of cable snaking through my office will go away.

I'm very excited about the iSight camera, and even more excited about the headphone port supporting the iPhone earphones.  I've always wanted to use my PowerMac for voice/video chatting, but never wanted to spend the cash for a USB headset.  Video chatting would require me to connect my Canon HV20 video camera, which is a major hassle and seems like a waste of a $1200 video camera.

Xcode and the iPhone SDK will be amongst the first apps I will be installing.  I'm very eager to get back to writing MacOS apps, and to try my hand at developing apps for the iPhone.  Coda will be included as well, which should be a staple app for any developer.

In Part II of this series... once I actually receive my MacBook... I will go through my impressions of the machine, my experiences running software and games, how well it replaced the PCs in my life and whether or not I regret my choice.