APPLE MACBOOK 13-INCH (ALUMINIUM)

High Design Doesn't Come Cheap

This MacBook is made with a completely new manufacturing technique that begins with a thick slab of aluminum and ends with a lusciously thin and gorgeous product. Design alone could undoubtedly attract both Mac fanatics and Windows converts. However, features are still a little weak. And the price? Well, it's not the $800 MacBook that we were all hoping for.

It is easy to mistake the new silver MacBook for the MacBook Air, since their dimensions are nearly identical: The MacBook Air is just slightly thinner. The aluminum enclosure. which is a huge departure from the long-standing tradition of Apple's white polished laptops. is a testament to brilliant design engineering. In many ways this MacBook is a cheaper and more feature-rich version of the MacBook Air. Here you get the edge-to-edge glass screen as well as superior typing and navigation (including gesture capability). But unfortunately, the feature set is the most underwhelming part,
hampered by such factors as the lack of a media card reader and no upgrades to the ports on this system (except for the new mini-DisplayPort).



Performance scores were what I expected from a system with the energy-efficient Intel Penryn P8600 processor. though the video-encoding and Photoshop CS3 scores seemed a little low for this processor and memory configurat ion. Battery performance took a slight hit because of the nVidia graphics card,lasting 3 hours 10 minutes on our tests. Again. Apple scores big points for design. But like the 15-inch Mac-Book Pro, this system offers a little less for the money than equivalent Windows-based systems.—CC

PC Magazine January 2009