Apple MacBook Notebook Review

My first personal computer was an Apple SEII. Self-contained, 8" screen, no graphics, green text on a black background. I think it had a 512K hard drive. I kid you not. I then moved on to a PowerMac. Eventually, I was forced to use an IBM-based PC, for professional reasons.

Now, all these years later, I'm back to Mac, and thrilled about it. I love my new Macbook. Here are some reasons why:

1) The MAC interface. Remember when people stood in line to buy Windows 95, because it was new and innovative? We Mac lovers had a laugh at that. Windows 95 was just a rip-off of the user-friendly, drag-n-drop interface Mac had been using for ages. All these years later, Microsoft still hasn't managed to keep up with how easy the guys at Mac make it to do things. With a Mac, everything is right before your eyes, and it's gorgeous to look at.

2) The magnetic cord. You know how, if your laptop is plugged in and sitting on a table, someone might easily knock it over and break it if they pass by and trip on the cord? The guys at Apple noticed this, and it annoyed them, so they deiced to design a fix. The Macbook's cord is magnetic. It doesn't click in and lock, it holds fast to the laptop with a magnet, but not tight enough to take the laptop with it if some klutz passes by and trips over the cord. Know what happens if you trip over your Macbook's cord? It gently pulls way from the laptop and disconnects - no damage.

3) Size matters! The Macbook is sleek and compact. It's thin and actually fits in my handbag. I can't say that about my HP laptop.

4) Long live the battery: My HP laptop has a pathetic battery that lasts just over 2 hours when using a word processor, but can't even stay powered up long enough for me to watch an entire dvd. Lame. My Macbook? Its battery lasts anywhere from 4-6 hours, depending on how many programs I run. I can watch two whole dvds, and then some, on one battery charge.

5) Cat scratch fever: Mac's scratch pad rocks. If I want to scroll down a long page, there's no need to keep pressing the bar: the pad recognizes the difference between one finger and two. Two fingers gently moving down the scratch pad=scoll down. I love it! No left click/right click. It's all easy as can be.

6) The dock: Mac's dock is great. You know how, on a PC, if you're looking for an app, you usually have to go to the bottom left-hand corner, click, and then got to "applications", and then look around for the right program? Forget about all that! On the Mac, you just move your cursor tot he bottom of the screen (or the left or the right - wherever you want the dock to live) and the dock appears. What's the dock? It's a user-friendly, great-looking, icon-based version of "my apps." With one move of the cursor, everything you need is at your disposal.

7) Widgets: This is exactly what it sounds like: cool, little apps that you may not need, but they sure are fun to have. Mac offers tons of widgets for free download. They even welcome Widget development by computer geeks. I love Widgets. Some great computer geek in San Francisco decided there needed to be a real-time Widget to let San Franciscans know when then their next Muni bus was due. One click, and I can see that there will be a 17 bus in front of my house in 4 minutes, and another in 22 minutes. There's a Widget that tracks flights from any airline. One click, and I can find out if my flight is leaving on time. There's even a MadLibs Widget. There are Widgets for just about everything.

8) The Magic Eye: Every Macbook comes with a built-in camera. Totally unobtrusive, the camera is nothing but a wee square built right into the screen. The resolution is gorgeous. Perfect for doing video conferencing or creating a video blog. Oh, did I mention that it's not just a still camera, but a movie camera? With a few clicks you can film yourself and automatically upload your film to Youtube. Oh, yeah, the mike is built-in, as well.

9) I-Chat, you chat: Forget about AIM or MSMChat. Every Macbook comes with Ichat built right in. Nothing to download. Take your new laptop out of the box, turn it on, click on I-Chat, and you're good to go. You can use it for text-only chat, or for chat accompanied by video feed, and it comes with cool skins and options. When doing a video chat, you can set it up to look like you're in an Andy Warhol poster, or in the middle of the ocean, or a dozen other places. Totally fun.

10) Integration: Everything in a Mac works together. There's no need to open five different apps when putting together a newsletter. Graphics, texts, charts....it's all doable in one app. It all works together, because few things in real life stand alone. I love that.