Real World Mac User Review of the Late 2006 Apple MacBook
Meet John…a real world Apple Mac laptop user. He owns a late 2006 series Apple MacBook (the black one) and graciously offered to share his thoughts and experiences with you here at the The Apple Mac Laptops Guide. Thanks John!
John’s Black MacBook features:
- 2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
- 2 GB RAM
- 200 GB Hard Drive (upgraded after purchase)
- 6x Superdrive
- Built-in iSight Camera
- 13.3″ Glossy TFT Display
- 1 x Firewire 400 and 2 x USB 2.0 ports
- 10/100/1000 Base-T (Gigabit) Ethernet
- Airport Extreme Wireless-G (Upgradeable to Wireless N)
- Built-in BlueTooth
- Six Hour Battery Life
- Size: 8.92 x 12.78 x 1.08″ (227 x 325 x 27.5 mm)
- Weight: 5.2 pounds (2.36 kg)
- Part no.: MA699 (1.83 GHz), MA700 (2.0 GHz, white), MA701 (black)
Here’s John’s review…
I bought my “BlackBook” in April 2007 to replace an aging iMac G4 and PowerBook G3. I’m a typical home user, using a computer for email, internet, music, photos, and occasional video editing of home videos. My PowerBook G3 was the last of the black laptops. It was nice to see Apple Mac laptops available in black again and I happily paid extra for the privilege.
I purchased it online from the Apple store and paid extra to get a 160 GB hard drive. I considered getting a MacBook Pro, but couldn’t justify the extra $1000 for processor power I really wouldn’t use. In retrospect, I would like to have had the backlit keyboard of the MacBook Pro, but I really haven’t wanted for the extra processor and graphics power. In fact, I have grown into my Apple Mac laptops capabilities, as I have owned it. The built in iSight camera was unused for about a year until my family started iChatting. I also discovered the Superdrive could burn dual layer disks which was a nice surprise, but I felt like a rookie Mac user by not realizing it out of the box.
My MacBook usually acts as a desktop, docked with a Bookendz docking station and hooked up to a monitor, printer, and backup drive. The built in Bluetooth connects to a wireless keyboard and mouse to complete a desktop like experience. It took some doing to convince my better half that a laptop was the way to go, but my current arrangement provides the comfort of a desktop and while maintaining the flexibility of a laptop.
As an Apple Mac laptop, I have been extremely pleased. The battery life is outstanding even as my machine is rapidly approaching 2 years old. It is thin, compact and lightweight, and the power adapter can be detached from its three prong cord and replaced by a two prong adapter which mounts directly on the square adapter. Not a big deal but a nice feature to shorten the mess of cables.
The MacBook’s hard drive failed at about the year point, which seemed a bit premature, but could have been caused by me carrying the laptop, open, with one hand. This causes a bit of flexing which might have put pressure on a platter inside the drive. The drive didn’t totally fail, but when tested, had an unacceptable number of bad blocks. The good news it that replacing the hard drive is a breeze and requires minimal dis-assembly since easy access is provided through the battery bay. I bought a bigger and faster drive and decided to max out my RAM and the same time.
I am extremely happy with my Apple Mac laptop purchase and will hold on to my “BlackBook” for at least a couple more years. Hopefully, Apple will be “back in black” before then.
If you have an Apple Mac laptop and would like to help others learn about Apple’s computer line up by sharing your experiences (including the good, the bad, the ugly and heroic) contact us by email and we can set up a guest post.
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Macbook Air - The Sexiest Apple Mac Laptop
Apple has a fantastic laptop in their lineup geared to the hard core, on the go road warrior. Called the MacBook Air, this Apple Mac laptop weighs in at a scat three pounds and is the world’s thinnest laptop. Talk about lightweight, powerful, on the go computing. The MacBook Air is nearly thin as your index figure and has a sleek tapered design. It features a Multi-Touch trackpad, a gorgeous 13.3 inch LED illuminated display and a full size back-lit keyboard (with ambient light sensor) that is a pleasure to type on. The MacBook Air makes use of a magnetic latch for closing and also comes with an iSight camera integrated so smartly that you can hardly notice it’s there.
Apple Mac laptops featuring a Multi-Touch Trackpad, allow users can zoom in and out with the pinch of a finger and rotate an object with the twist of a wrist. A double tap and drag will grab, hold and move objects without even clicking.
The MacBook Air comes with tons of storage space and can be configured with an optional solid state hard drive increasing reliability, data access speed and battery life. An Intel Core 2 Duo processor running at 1.6GHz is standard and can be upgraded to 1.8 GHz. Either choice is powerful enough to deliver the speed and horsepower your mobile computing requires.
The MacBook Air uses a NVIDIA GeForce 9400M as its graphic card which brings amazing, high quality and high speed graphics to this Apple Mac laptop. Graphics intensive applications run faster due to a four times boost in graphics performance. Movie and the video playback is now richer than ever and even simple tasks such as Cover Flow flips runs more smoothly.
This Apple Mac laptop notebook uses lightning fast 802.11n Wi-Fi for its wireless connectivity and Bluetooth version 2.1/EDR. These two bits of technology form the backbone of a MacBook that was designed to be entirely wireless. Everything from printing, the Internet, data backup and even movie rentals can be done wirelessly. All this wireless activity requires strong battery performance and the MacBook Air delivers with a useful battery life of approximately 4.5 hours.
Perhaps the most controversial aspect of the MacBook Air is that it lacks an optical drive. Apple believes its users won’t have a need for one due to the robust wireless capability of this Apple Mac laptop. But don’t fear if you love this laptop but need to access a CD/DVD. Apple offers a companion USB Superdrive as well as Remote Disc which allow you to make use of another Macintosh or PC’s optical drive…wirelessly, of course.
If you are in need of a light weight, power packed Apple Mac Laptop that’s built for the serious road warrior, consider the MacBook Air.
Our retail partners offer great deals on new machines. If you desire to save a bit more money, check out these savings on our selection of used Apple MacBook Airs.
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The Next Generation of Apple Mac Laptops Has Arrived!
All we can say is WOW! Talk about sex appeal! The next generation design of Apple Mac laptops (both the Macbook and Macbook Pro) are eye-candy that pack a powerful punch.
The new Apple laptops take advantage of a new manufacturing method that uses a solid piece of aluminum to form the machine’s body. This design and production approach offers a thin and lightweight Macbook with a durability and a solid feel not found before in any laptop on the market. Every curve and contour is smooth and the top case is completely seamless. It’s absolutely gorgeous! The bottom line - the new Macbooks look great, look solid, feel solid and are solid. Now we have an Apple laptop case that can keep up with the longevity of the Mac OS.
The casing isn’t the only improvement that Apple made on this new generation of Apple Mac laptops. The screen features edge to edge glass with an LED backlight that is 24% brighter than the previous generation of Macbooks. An LED light source means that the display uses 30% less power than its predecessors and instantly comes alive when power is applied to the display. LED’s also make colors more vivid so they pop off the display and enrich the Mac experience.
Another thing you’ll notice almost immediately after opening the case is the ginormous trackpad. It’s almost 40% bigger than those found on the previous generation of Apple Mac laptops and made entirely of glass. No detail is too small as the Apple engineers tediously researched and tested a variety of surface textures for the trackpad, ultimately achieving the perfect combination of touch, feel and friction. Noticeably absent from the trackpad is a button. That’s because the entire trackpad serves that function. No clicking on this Macbook, only tapping and Multi-Touch gestures.
Under the hood you’ll find a standard variety of Intel Duo Core processors to power your computing experience. No major updates here. However, Apple and NVIDIA paid close attention to the graphics processor bringing performance normally found in desktop computers to a laptop. The new Macbooks boast graphics and frame rate performance 5x faster than their predecessors and offer a new level of high-speed, high-end game-playing power than ever before.
If that wasn’t enough, Apple made a concerted effort to build a green laptop. Yes it’s an Apple, but not all of them have been green in the past. This line of Apple Mac laptops is Energy Star compliant and has achieved EPEAT Gold status. The laptops were designed to be green and recycled. Everything from internal components to packaging materials received a green-over. Each new Apple laptop is Arsenic-free, Mercury-free, PVC-free and made of highly recyclable aluminum and glass. The packaging itself is 37% smaller which means transportation requirements are less as more product can be shipped on the same plane, train or automobile.
Only time will tell, but Apple has the makings of a great laptop on their hands. If you are shopping for a new computer, give consideration to these new Apple Mac laptops.
Find great deals on Apple Mac Laptops.
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Welcome to the Apple Mac Laptops Guide
Welcome aboard Apple laptop enthusiasts! If you’re looking for information about Apple Mac Laptops then your search is over. Here at the Apple Laptop Guide we are determined to provide you with the essential information that you need to select the best computer for your specialized needs that fits your budget.
New or used, Apple laptop computers and the advanced Apple OS X operating system retain their relevancy, possess greater longevity and are characterized by a modern feature rich interface that clearly outclasses the Windows-based competition. It’s not uncommon to find Macbook users running the latest software and being highly productive with older machines. As an example, this site was built and is maintained with a six year old Apple Mac laptop running the latest version of the Mac OS X system software. It’s a Powerbook G4 Titanium DVI (667 Ghz) to be exact. This laptop serves as a daily road warrior wirelessly surfing the net, writing emails, making presentations, watching movies, conducting video tele-conferences, making use of Photoshop…the list goes on and on.
Try that with a six year old Windows-based PC laptop!
Ask your PC laptop loving friends and family how old their computers are and more importantly, how long they think they’ll last before needing to be replaced. The brevity of their answer may surprise you.
Apple’s approach to making high quality Macbooks that can stand the test of time creates a great opportunity for you to take advantage of their benefits regardless of your budget. If you can afford a new Apple laptop, you can buy one that will easily meet your needs for many years to come. If your budget is tight, used Apple Mac laptops are a viable alternative to the $399 PC phenomena that seems to be the all the rage.
Check out great deals on a used Apple laptop in our store.
Stick around and paticipate in the discussion as we showcase the features and benefits of new and used Macbook laptops.
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