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This is my review of the black MacBook. The specs are as follows:Intel Core 2 Duo at 2.4GHz800MHz front side bus250GB HDD at 5400RPM2GB DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz13.3” displayI should first say that this machine replaces a 17” PowerBook 1.67GHz G4 with 2GBRAM, 120GB HDD, and a 133MHz front side bus.I picked up the MacBook at the Sherway Gardens Apple store in Toronto on March 25that around 11:30am. My friend and I walked into the store knowing what we wanted. Wehad done our research and were ready to buy. When we caught the attention of asalesperson, we asked for 2 black MacBooks.After purchasing them, we headed home. Un-boxing pics here:http://picasaweb.google.com/mikejrisi/BlackBookUnboxing02My first impression can be summed up in 3 words: It is beautiful. This machine isgorgeous. The matte black finish makes the screen pop out and seem incredibly bright.I love the new keyboard. At first I thought the extra spacing between the keys, and thechicklet-like shape of them would be a bit annoying, but after actually using one, Iwasn
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t worried anymore.Another 3-word description is needed: It is fast. And I do mean fast. Coming from a G4,I know speed when I see it. The black MacBook boots to a useable desktop in about 35seconds. Applications take no longer than 2 seconds to launch (cold, meaning firstlaunch from boot-up). I encoded a full length movie from XViD to MPEG4 in less than 20minutes. This would have taken about 2 hours plus on my PowerBook.I know what you
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re thinking... “the speed must cause a lot of heat, right?” The bottomcase did get warm during the video encoding and the fans spun up to full throttle. Thehottest temperature readout I got from the processor was 80 degrees fahrenheit. That
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swarm of course, but not scorching hot. It didn
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t burn my skin to touch the bottom case.Another thing that should be noted is the speed at which this thing uses USB. MyPowerBook would peak at about 16MB/s transferring over USB. This computer hit a bitover 30MB/s. This is a huge gain for me, because I backup my files quite often. I am yetto test the speed at which it copies to my iPod touch, which I noticed is a bit slow on myPowerBook.So, speed, beauty... what about weight? The MacBook line all weigh 5 pounds, or 2.25kilograms. THis is an absolute DREAM in comparison to my 7 pound PowerBook. It
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sonly 2 pounds of difference, but trust me, it is very noticeable. I had my MacBook in mybag last night, and I forgot it was there. With my PowerBook, I had to almost squeeze it
 
into my backpack at times, and I felt its huge width on my back, not to mention theweight. The MacBook is barely there at all. In fact, it doesn
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t even stand tall enough torequire the strap that my PowerBook did.I won
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t go on about how awesome the MagSafe magnetic power connector is. It isawesome, but everyone already knows that. For more info on the MagSafe powerconnector, visit:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MagSafeSo we
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ve covered sight (the computer looks beautiful), feel (the keyboard is great), taste(I think everyone can conclude that this computer is delicious), smell (if you saw my un-boxing pics, you
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d know what I
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m talking about)... that leaves one out... what aboutsound? I was very worried about the speakers on this machine. I love music, and I loveto hear my music the way it was intended. Of course you will likely never hear the musicthe way it is intended from open-air laptop speakers. Anyway, coming from the 17”PowerBook, with its large and deep speakers on either side of the keyboard, I wasworried that the speakers on the MacBook wouldn
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t be able to compete. I can say thatthe speakers on the MacBook are quite acceptable, even to me, who is somewhatadamant about sound quality. The speakers are absolutely ingenious. They are locatedon the rear of the computer, and bounce the sound off the monitor. What a brilliant idea.The speakers are acceptable. My main concern wasn
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t about the sound quality, but thevolume. These speakers are adequately loud for watching a movie. They do lack bassresponse.So, I will sum up the review by sensation:Sight: This computer is gorgeous. The black is truly beautiful with its matte finish. The fitand finish of this computer is nothing short of stunning. I was concerned that I would get
The speakers are located in the little slits on both sides of the rear, asshown in this picture.
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