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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