Sat - May 27, 2006

Flaking black MacBooks?

There has been a fair amount of discussion recently as to the nature of the matte black plastic that makes up the casing off the black MacBook. It has an almost rubberized feel to it, which is quite different from the surface of the white MacBook.

A post on marklemdotcom first brought up the idea that the surface of the MacBook might be coated with something that could easily flake off by scratching it with a fingernail. The discussion in this thread on the MacNN forums (and my own very cursory examination of the black MacBook) seemed to indicate that this was not the case.

But then today another post on the MacNN forums pointed out that someone on Flickr also had problems with flaking finish on their MacBook. The two problems don't really look the same -- the first one looks like a clear coating was being rubbed off, while the second looks like black paint has been chipped off by the user's watchband. The interesting question is, why would the chips reveal what appears to be white underneath? Even if Apple used some kind of coating on the MacBook, wouldn't they have used black plastic underneath? It's possible that it's only the frame surrounding the wrist rest that is affected, but it's a little disturbing nonetheless.

Without more evidence, it's hard to say one way or the other. But I do know that my Pismo PowerBook had no such issues with the finish. I hope this doesn't become the "nano scratch" of the MacBook line.

Posted at 06:01 PM | Permalink |

Wed - May 17, 2006

Yet more MacBook take-aparts

Japanese Mac modder Keita Suyama has joined the growing ranks of people who have taken apart the MacBook. I met and interviewed Suyama several years ago about the phenomenon of "Mac modification" in Japan. At the time, he had just finished a black version of the iMac G4. He's taken apart just about every Mac that's come out in the last few years and has done some pretty impressive modifications as well.

The pictures are on his main page (in Japanese) at the moment, but this will change as he adds new content.

Posted at 08:33 PM | Permalink |

MacBook already disassembled

Update: Lookinsideit.com has what is probably the best set of take-apart photos.

Kodawarisan (the webmaster of which I met once at MacWorld Tokyo) has these pictures of the MacBook being taken apart.

And this Chinese site has some good close-up pictures of a white MacBook, including many shots of it being completely disassembled.

You can see the user-replaceable hard disk, which is a first for an Apple consumer portable.

Posted at 08:01 AM | Permalink |

MacBook Picture Roundup

Some people are already starting to get their hands on the new MacBooks, so I thought I would collect a few of the better photos I've seen.


Flickr user andrson has some pictures of a white MacBook box opening.


Flickr user fullgl has the same for the black MacBook.


Flickr user jaydon34 has some shots of his white MacBook.

Finally, this MacWorld First Look article has some good photos and a nice write up about the new models.

Of particular interest is the shot of a 12" PowerBook on top of a MacBook:


And a closeup of the MacBook keyboard:

Posted at 03:27 AM | Permalink |

Tue - May 16, 2006

New MacBooks arrive!

This morning Apple released their new consumer portable, the MacBook. The rumor sites were mostly right about this one. They sport 13” glossy screens with 1280 x 800 resolution. The low end model is $1,099 and has an 1.83Ghz Intel Core Duo processor, 512MB of memory, a 60GB 5400 rpm hard disk, and a combo drive. The middle model goes for $1,299 and ups the processor to 2.0Ghz and swaps the combo drive for a SuperDrive. Finally, the high-end model goes for $1,499 and ups the hard disk to 80GB and gives you a spiffy black shell instead of the white of the other two models.

About the only thing you can really complain about in this lineup is the fact that the MacBooks use GMA integrated graphics and not stand-alone graphics cards. That will certainly hurt them to some degree when it comes to gaming. But otherwise they are quite impressive, even featuring the extended desktop feature that has long been crippled on the iBooks. While it’s true that paying $200 for an additional 20GB of hard disk space and a black case may not make the most economic sense, I’m sure they’ll sell plenty of the black models. A lot of people have been waiting for a black portable from Apple ever since they discontinued the venerable Pismo (the last PowerBook G3).
 
I for one will be very interested to see some actual photos of these machines “in the wild” and not just Apple’s CG-like renderings. Things to watch for include: how the glossy screens will look and how they will affect usability, and how the “latchless” lids will work.

Posted at 09:51 AM | Permalink |

Thu - May 11, 2006

Safe Sleep for older Apple portables

Apple's newer portables now have a feature called "Safe Sleep" which is similar to "Hibernation" mode on Windows computers. Andrew Escobar has a page detailing how to enable this mode for some older portables. I tried it out recently on my 12" PowerBook. [If you're reading this in a browser, you may need to click "Permalink" below to read the rest of the article.]

Posted at 11:31 PM | Permalink |

Tue - May 9, 2006

No sign of new MacBooks today (May 9th)

It looks as though the rumor sites were wrong again. As of 6PM Central time, there is no sign of the rumored MacBooks. It did seem a little odd that Apple would release what is probably going to be their biggest redesign of the year to date without some kind of event or fanfare. The other Intel releases so far (MacBook Pro, iMac, and Mac mini) have pretty much just used the existing hardware designs with a few tweaks, but the MacBook (again, assuming the rumors aren't completely wrong) will have a new screen and likely a redesigned enclosure.

It does seem likely that the new models will appear sooner rather than later, though, as Apple will want to have them ready for students going back to school.

Posted at 09:08 PM | Permalink |

Mon - May 8, 2006

New MacBooks on Tuesday?

Rumor has it that Apple will be releasing a "MacBook" on Tuesday May 9th to replace the iBook. Although it's not proof positive, the recent slip-up on Apple's web site does seem to imply that there will be a product called the Macbook released in the near future. And the existing "MacBook Pro" name certainly did imply that there was be a non-Pro MacBook in the pipeline. Specs are said to include an Intel Core Duo processor, a 13" widescreen display, and two colors -- white and black.

The announcement of the MacBook would mean that most of Apple's product line has made the transition to Intel processors (with the conspicuous exception of the pro desktops, which Apple is undoubtedly saving for last). If the rumors are accurate, it would also mean a return to multi-colored portables. Black and white color choices seem to be an obvious extension of the iPod's color scheme -- an interesting reminder how important the iPod is to Apple today.

It also seems likely that the introduction of the MacBook would mean the end of the 12" PowerBook, and that seems a little sad. The 12" PowerBook is a great little machine (I'm typing this post on one) and I hope that the MacBooks will make good enough replacements. For example, I hope that the extended desktop feature (which allows you to use two monitors with the desktop spread across both of them) will be enabled by default, as it is on the Intel iMacs. Apple needs a small and light portable that doesn't require sacrificing basic functionality like this.

Posted at 09:08 PM | Permalink |