Home > Consumer Reviews > Apple MacBook MB881LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop

MacBook MB881LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop: is the prefect size and priced right for me from Amazon. I have been a long time PC laptop user and my husband really wanted me to get an Apple, so we did on Memorial Day. I love almost everything about it with one exception; I'm not able to find the sticky key application and make it stay on after I apply it. I have gone through the online tutorials & read the manuals with help screens to no avail. My next step is to call for help. I shall do that tomorrow and I hope it's not a lemon, I don't think it is.

I love the speed and graphics. I'm hoping I can come back here and say this is a great machine. I'll keep you posted with an update.

UPDATE: I'm getting this MAC very useful. I've setup the Sticky Key feature that works with my disability just fine. I spent 4 hour downloading many software updates and patches that help saved my settings.

I would recommend Apple to any person with ALL disabilities and even if you want to try these great machines. Thank you Amazon for bringing this to me for a reasonable price. Fast delivery with much care.

UPDate: I just bought my second MACBook MB881LL/A on June 26, for my husband. He will be very happy, because he asks for very little. He has never used anything but a PC. I'll update again. Thank you Amazon for this great deal.

UPDate: I love this machine and all its functions. No-more PCs here we'll be Mac users.

I am a lifelong PC computer user who moved to a mixed PC/Mac working environment in 2007 have learned to love Macs. This is the first one I've owned personally (my family uses Macs but I've always used a PC notebook at home and work), and let me say that it is a fine machine. It is quick, light, easy to use (I acclimated to Leopard on a design computer over the last couple of years so I didn't have any learning curve) and with a few upgrades, easily is one of the best laptops I've ever used (and I've used many; Sony, HP, Dell, Toshiba, etc...). There are some really frustrating omissions and things I'd like to see them do a better job on, but overall, my Macbook is fantastic.

What I love:

1. FAST boot times. Wow. What an improvement over sluggish Vista that can take 3-4 minutes before I can start working. This guy is up and running in about 90 seconds or less. Hibernate (or whatever Mac calls it) is also great. Close the screen, leave it for hours, open the screen, and 15 seconds later you can start working again. I love that.

2. Great monitor. The screen quality is very, very good and allows me to edit photographs with a high degree of accuracy. I use Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 which runs beautifully. The screen is also very nice for playing the occasional game, although the Macbook lacks the graphics processing power to play higher grade games.

3. Leopard OS (Operating System) is stable and easy to use. It feels quicker than the 32-bit version of Vista. (The 64-bit version is faster than leopard, but that's not really apples-to-apples).

4. Aesthetics and build quality are excellent. Not only does the Macbook perform well, it looks good doing it! Sleek but losing nothing in usability, the Macbook just feels sold and well designed. It's a pleasure to use, and creates a pride of ownership that lesser laptops never get close to.

What I am not so pleased with:

1. Pricing for the base model is fair. However, making upgrades is into the realm of gauging. I mean come one, in these days of drastically inexpensive RAM, why does Apple charge more than twice what the memory costs retail? I upgraded the RAM to 4GB myself using a kit like this one Kingston Apple Memory Upgrade. It's an easy process, so if you buy this machine, upgrade the memory yourself and save a bundle!

2. The hard drive is very small by comparison to PC laptops where 250gb has become the standard, with 320gb nipping at their heels. If you plan to work with photos, have a large music collection, or just have a lot of files in general, you will want to upgrade the hard drive. You can get an extremely good 320gb hard drive that is also much faster (7200rpm vs. the macbook's standard 5400rpm drive) like the Western Digital WD3200BEKT for less than half of what Apple will charge you for a slower (5400rpm) version. Again, Apple why do you charge so much for hardware upgrades???

3. Is missing a multifunction card reader. This is also standard on virtually all PC laptops. Why isn't it included? It's a cheap part and hugely useful!

4. No HDMI out. Again, this is virtually standard on PCs in the same price range. If you want to use your Mac as a media center with a HD TV, don't expect to export HD movie files easily.

Conclusions:

Essentially, with a little do-it-yourself mentality, you can turn the base model into a powerhouse for about 10% of the cost of the computer itself. That will negate two of my complaints (which are really beefs with Apple, not problems with the Macbook itself), and get the list of cons down to a pretty short one. If you want a stable, nicely designed and very quick laptop, this is a fantastic option, especially if you already are familiar with the Mac OS. Even if you are not used to the OS, you can easily learn it, even if you've only used Windows in the past. It's intuitive enough to pick up without a class, but if you're really lost, there is a lot of useful information online.

Value: 4/5
Features: 3/5
Aesthetics: 5/5
Ease of use: 5/5
Quality: 5/5

Final Grade: 4/5

This is my 1st and LAST MAC. Only 6 weeks after arriving, the LCD screen cracked. The laptop was kept on my desk. It never even made it outside! The company refused to repair or replace the screen and after less than 2 months I had an expensive repair. The manager at the Genius Bar informed me that the device was dropped (it was not) and the company did not insure the LCD screens. The laptop is very user friendly, (easier than Visa). But had I known the screens cracked so frequently I would have purchased a Dell. It was a $250 nightmare.

My MacBook is my second Mac - my first was a 20" iMac G4 that lasted me four years and was still working fine when I sold it. My wife also had a iBook G4.

I use a PC all day at work, and after selling my iMac briefly used a work PC at home as my primary computer for about three months. That was enough for me, I needed another Mac for home - I just enjoy the experience much more.

I initially had shopped for PC laptops with larger screens, and was a bit hesitant to get the 13" screen, but it's worked out well for me - I use a DVI to HDMI cable to work at home on a 22" widescreen monitor, and still have a laptop that is small enough to lug around when needed.

I'm not thrilled with the initial specs on the MacBook, but a couple of them were easy to rectify - on the advice of another reviewer here, I immediately upgraded to 4GB of RAM on my own, and replaced the drive with a 360 GB 7200 RPM Seagate drive. The system screams now, and I have plenty of room for everything I need.

I also installed 64-bit Vista using Bootcamp for my occasional work-at-home projects, I can't speak highly enough of this functionality.

Included software is great - out of the whole iLife suite (iPhoto, iDVD, iMovie, GarageBand, iWeb), I've used all of the software short of iWeb, and they've all been very handy and intuitive.

I will be purchasing more Macs in my future.

I believe this is a discontinued model and most people would probably order the latest version of this MacBook (unless this one is available for a lower price). But actually, I believe the 2009 13-inch MacBook Pro is worth the higher price for the following reasons:

- it's a little faster
- it's a little lighter
- the aluminum finish is more durable
- the all metal body should dissipate heat better
- the large glass trackpad is more durable
- multi-touch gestures make it easier to navigate
- keyboard lights up at night
- expands up to 8GB of memory (useful for the future)
- longer battery life
- the matte aluminum finish with black keys is beautiful

For me, these features justify the extra cost, which is why I purchased the Pro -- others might not feel they are important. I am writing this review mostly so people thinking about the white MacBook at least consider the Pro version before making a final purchase.

Note -- I got the least expensive of the 13-inch MacBook Pro which has slightly lower processor speed, smaller disk and just 2GB of RAM. The processor speed on the more expensive model is nice, but it's not significantly faster and the disk and memory can be upgraded later when prices drop (I eventually will get a solid-state drive and 8GB).