Apple have launched the much-rumoured 13″ MacBook, which comes in both White and Black versions (albeit for $200 more for the latter – a “vanity purchase” as one colleague described it).
Well, this certainly makes my laptop purchase decision even harder. Whilst I would immediately scrap the MacOS install on a MacBook and load Windows XP (and probably Ubuntu), the cost of the MacBook is still very competitively priced compared to rival options on the market.
The other laptop I’ve discovered since my original post is the LG T1 Express Dual – which is a sexy (ahem) little piece of kit too.
Back to the MacBook, I have to say I am very tempted – if only because it seems competitively priced (£967.03 for the black MacBook with BBC discount vs £1,028.99 without discount). That’s still heavily marked up against the $1,499.00 (£795.20) + tax cost for the exact same model in the US market. Welcome to rip-off Britain.
But I won’t be buying right now if only because I wouldn’t touch first-generation Apple products. Did you know that the MacBookPro is already onto it’s 4th revision? That scares me, and makes me wonder whether I really want to be Apple’s guinea pig beta tester on what would become my main workhorse machine?
The black macbook looks uber sexy 😮 OMG I WANT IT
I’ve just got a Sony SZ1XP/C which is lovely. 1.6kg, centrino duo core, nvidia 7400, 1gig ram. Its a really lovely piece of kit with a decent size keyboard and a stunning xblack screen. If you can, get it.
get the mac,,
if what ur worrying about is perfection, let me double assure you that LG is far far crappier and the complaints dont reach everybody ONLY because theyre not really as talked about as every MAC model.
I have a friend who works at an officially high position at LG and he often brings home different notebooks(LG) and i almost rape them always :] , which is why i can assure you,, their finish is only superficial.
Go for the mac dude,ul get windows too anyway..
hey and i almost forgot
Applecare,which compared to LGs care is really like.. or y dont u find out for yourself,, find someone who has used LGs support hmm?
re: new kit revisions.
Thing is, companies are constantly tweaking the hardware within a specific model. Linksys WRT56G anyone?
You are just as likely to get stuck with a new bit of kit in a 2 year old design than a brand new one.
Plus, typically down the line the only thing the manufacturer wants to do is cut the cost, so the new part is typically going to be a cheaper one.
At least if you buy early, and there are problems there will be more people screaming and more chance you will get Apple to swap it out.
To be fair, there is probably less pressure to rush out a change to an existing line than there is to launch a new one.
I still think this “testing hardware for apple” stuff is rubbish – that would only apply if Apple were sending you the hardware free, or at a massive discount.
What is it that makes you speak of OS X as a cat would of water? Windows-only software you use for your work or a traumatic experience in Macland?
I think there’s going to be serious iterations with the MacBook. I also hear the black matte cover chips off easiley and maybe the keyboard will need changing if a lot of people don’t like it.
I wouldn’t touch a v1.0 MacBook with a barge-pole!
1) I just don’t get on with the OS X interface. I like to run windows in full screen (yes, I know it’s vulgar, but stilll…), I don’t find the buttons intuitive.
2) I never know where stuff lives in the Apple file structure
3) It’s hard to find those trivial utillity applications that I use all the time… Like TagRenamer that sets MP3 tags based on FreeDB, PSPad – my favourite code editor, Xenu Link Sleuth. I also can’t use webcam on Skype (at least that used to be the case).
I really fancied the LG T1 Express, but does anyone know how you can buy one? They don’t seem to sell in the UK; can you get them direct from LG?
Anyone?
Thanks
J