Apple MacBook Review (Late 2008 Model)

Screen

The 13.3" WXGA glossy screen on the MacBook isn't ideal for HD video, but it does offer sharp contrast, excellent color, and reasonably even backlighting. Unlike many other 13.3" 1280x800 pixel displays the screen on the MacBook doesn't suffer from "graininess." Horizontal viewing angles were excellent although vertical viewing angles were only average. The screen itself didn't suffer from ripples or stuck pixels, and we didn't notice any obvious light leakage around the edge of our display.

While we're on the topic of the display, let's go ahead and address our biggest problem with this screen: an extremely glossy outer layer that creates reflections so strong you might as well use the screen as a mirror. We've discussed this problem before with other notebooks, but unfortunately it appears that the notebook industry continues to think consumers want excessively glossy displays.

Our editorial staff actually likes standard glossy displays on notebooks. Traditional glossy displays usually have better contrast and deeper/richer colors than matte screens. However, over the last year many notebook manufacturers have started placing a glossy transparent protective layer in front of the actual notebook screen. Why should you care? This causes major reflections and serious eye strain problems because your eyes are constantly shifting focus between the reflections on the glossy protective layer and the text/images displayed on the screen underneath. Below are images showing just how reflective the protective layer is:

Dim room lights and maximum screen brightness

Normal room lights and maximum screen brightness

This overly reflective screen surface also makes it next to impossible to use your notebook outdoors in bright sunlight because the sunlight overpowers the screen's LED backlights and makes the screen look like a mirror.

Keyboard and Touchpad

The full-sized keyboard on the MacBook has no flex and is remarkably solid thanks to the laptop's aluminum construction. The keys have excellent cushion and response and were quiet during use. The keyboard lacks dedicated keys for home, end, page up, page down and also lacks obvious function keys for those keys. The f-keys also control a range of features (such as raising or lowering screen brightness). The only potential negative issue with the keyboard is that the keys are extremely flat. Some typists enjoy flat keys while others absolutely require traditional curved keys. This may or may not be a problem for you.

The backlit keyboard is a nice touch that proves quite useful when working in low light environments. That said, we would have liked the backlight to be even stronger.

The touchpad is nice and large and features a durable and responsive surface. The multi-touch functionality gives the touchpad some extra usefulness when editing photos or manipulating other files. The touchpad buttons are hidden beneath the bottom edge of the touchpad and the bottom of the touchpad actually presses down when you press the bottom left or bottom right of the touchpad. The touchpad buttons (or button) has extremely shallow feedback with a quiet, cushioned click. That being said, we generally prefer to have a bit deeper feedback in touchpad buttons. In general, the liberal size of the touchpad makes for a genuinely enjoyable experience.

One minor note, when testing the MacBook with BootCamp and Windows Vista Ultimate we discovered that the touchpad drivers provided by Apple don't perform nearly as well as the drivers under Mac OS X. Although I'm sure Apple wasn't overly concerned about Windows performance, if you plan to use this notebook with Windows we recommend you use an external mouse.

Input and Output Ports

Ports selection on the new MacBook is something of a mixed bag. While we're glad to see there are considerably more ports on the MacBook than there are on the MacBook Air, Apple decided to make some strange choices about what to include (and what not to include) on the new MacBook. The complete list of ports includes:

• MagSafe power port
• Gigabit Ethernet port
• Two USB 2.0 ports
• Mini DisplayPort
• Audio line in
• Audio line out
• Kensington lock slot

Although Apple engineers deserve serious credit for making the new MacBook so thin and so durable at the same time, we can't help but feel a little disappointed by the lack of ports. The most obvious omission is the lack of a Firewire port. Although USB 2.0 is more popular than Firewire, many Mac accessories require a Firewire port, so now those "Made for Mac" accessories are useless. Likewise, there is no standard video out port so you have to use an adapter (or one of Apple's new displays) in order to connect the MacBook to an external monitor or projector. Additionally, the lack of either an eSATA port or an ExpressCard slot makes the MacBook one of the least useful 13-inch notebooks on the market when it comes to ports and expansion.

Audio

The built-in stereo speakers in the MacBook are surprisingly impressive. After the downright horrid performance of the monospeaker in the MacBook Air, we expected the speakers in the MacBook to be underwhelming. Fortunately, the speakers in the new MacBook produce distortion-free sound at reasonably loud volume levels with excellent highs and midtones. The bass is rather lacking, but that's not a big surprise in notebooks that don't have a dedicated subwoofer. In short, the MacBook has reasonable audio performance for a notebook in this class.

The audio out port (headphone minijack) provides excellent audio output. There's little or no distortion or static and the sound on my earbuds was quite enjoyable.

Battery

The MacBook uses an integrated 45-watt-hour lithium-polymer battery. The lithium-polymer technology should have a longer lifespan than standard lithium-ion batteries found in most notebooks. Unfortunately, there is no higher capacity battery available from Apple.

Apple claims that the battery inside the MacBook provides "5 hours of wireless productivity." Our real-world tests suggest that estimate is very accurate. With the MacBook's power management set to maximize battery life and a 100 percent charge the battery life ended up coming to 4 hours and 47 minutes with the display switching between maximum and minimum brightness and wireless on.