Apple MacBook Black 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo/2GB/250/SD/AP/BT
See it at Amazon.co.uk for £849.00Average Customer Rating
(4.5 out of 5)
Amazon Customer Reviews
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(3 out of 5)Good, but with BIG caveats
I really like the Macbook, but it comes with some caveats. First, black is best, but it comes at an exorbitant cost. Also it's not the sturdiest of builds. The matt black has been known to peel off (see apple websites discussion boards). Also a real problem I've found is that the keyboard edges crack; This isn't a rare problem, many people have complained, there's even a Flickr group dedicated to it. Also the other two people I know with macbooks have had these chips. The good thing is, book a meeting with the "Genius" bar at an Apple retail store, they'll replace it there and then if they have keyboards in stock (free, even after a year).
Another worrying aspect have been the crashes, which seem due to overheating or logic board problem. Twice it's crashed then on reboot claims there's no bootable drive (switch off again for a minute, it will reboot okay). I've owned five different apple laptops and four have had major defects (harddrive/combo drive failures in weeks of purchase, logic board failures X2, potentially exploding batteries, defective power lead). Apple produces the best operating system, it's almost worth suffering poorly manufactured laptops. If you buy this, be ready for potential problems and always save everything to external harddrives.
And lastly the biggest caveat... Can you wait till the end of June 2008? It maybe replaced by aluminum macbooks (or at the least another bump in speed).
In the laptops favour, the all the major failures happened either in two weeks of purchase or after three years, so I either got free replacements or I wanted to upgrade anyway... not much of an endorsement... of apple or someone repeatedly buying defective laptops...
(5 out of 5)fantastic
The other reviewer is talking more generally regarding problems that have been had. There are lots of other perfectly happy MacBook users that don't post on the internet as they haven't had issues.
This is my second macbook after the last one was destroyed in a flood.
This model is fast, has plenty of storage and at last Apple are installing a decent amount of RAM.
It's a great size for a laptop and I do bits of Photoshop, Word, Excel and InDesign on this. Very powerful little package and I love the black.
Worth buying.
(4 out of 5)Worth every penny but there is room for improvement.
I use both Macs and PCs and have done for about 5 years. the reason being that a lot of my programmes only run on a Windows system but I like to edit my photographs on a Mac. However, I do prefer the ease of use of the MacBook and it doesn't have the freeze or blue screen problems of the Window systems. NOW however, I no longer need to use two computers as this MacBook has an Intel chip and Boot Camp so I can partition the hard drive and use both Windows and Mac software alongside each other. Wish I could do it at the same time but no doubt that will come soon.
The MacBook comes with some real impressive pre-loaded software in iLife '08. That includes iTunes, iPhoto, Garageband, iMovie and iDVD. And it has a built in web cam!!!. What a saving if I only had a Pc I would need to pay up to £250 for similar programmes, though of course iTunes is a free upload for both platforms.
This MacBook flies. Its fast compact and even though I got this to replace a much larger 17 inch PowerBook, I can live with the smaller screen in that this is faster computer, has more memory then my old G4 Powerbook and I can transport it easier on my travels - flying and to events. It fits snugly in my LowePro Stealth 650 camera bag.
Downsides? Well they are few, the keyboard is very Sinclair Spectrum like (Remember those?) and it can cost an arm and leg to upgrade memory,
If you are thinking of coming out of the closet, so to speak, and switching to a Mac, you will not be disappointed with this machine. One other thing - buy the black version - it has more power and memory.
(5 out of 5)Brilliant.
This is a high quality laptop, with a great operating system.
Any students looking to buy a mac should definitely buy through Apple's own website or one of their official stores, as you can get a pretty good discount (works out at over £50 for the black MacBook).
(5 out of 5)Amazing
This is a good solid notebook. I bought it to take to classes with me, and it works. It is small enough, yet powerful enough to fit all of my needs. It looks beautiful and so does leopard (its operating system). I highly recommend this notebook.