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The Apple MacBook 13-inch has captured the hearts of several generations of users frustrated with the complexities of Windows. It's a campus favorite and a hit among teens and novice users. Now, the MacBook 13-inch has made the transition to Intel's latest "Penryn" processor core, which has boosted speeds and battery life across every laptop we've seen it on. Thanks to this upgrade, Apple 's impeccable customer support network, and the MacBook's overall sex appeal, we expect sales of the new incarnation—the Apple MacBook 13-inch (Penryn), priced at $1,299 direct—to thrive for now. But other laptops are offering more features and cool designs for less money. Apple needs to work on a makeover, as well as improving the feature set and price, in order to keep the 13-inch MacBooks flying off the shelves.
Two years ago, the 13-inch MacBook's glossy white frame was a design marvel that had other manufacturers rushing to emulate it. With the MacBook Air clad in aluminum and decorative patterns appearing on competing laptops, the MacBook 13-inch (Penryn) is no longer leading the way. Still, subtlety has its benefits. The look bespeaks simplicity; it is clean of unnecessary labels, contrasting colors, lines and crevices. The polycarbonate plastic used for the exterior is similar to the kind used in bulletproof windshields, durable enough to protect the laptop from accidents.
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Although the 4.9-pound frame is light in weight relative to the HP Pavilion dv2500t, the Dell Inspiron 1420, and the Toshiba Satellite U405-S2830, it's too heavy considering Apple's reputation as an innovator. The MacBook Pro 15-inch (Penryn), with a 2-inch-larger screen, is only half a pound heavier. The MacBook Air and the Lenovo ThinkPad X300, with similar screen sizes, are 40 percent lighter. Three pounds doesn't have to be the target weight, but Apple needs to slim its 13-inch MacBook a bit further.
The 13-inch 1,280-by-800 LCD screen is superb for all things multimedia, including photo editing and or viewing YouTube videos or a DVD. Typing on the raised keyboard is slightly different from working with conventional laptop keyboards, but the overall experience was pleasant. The gesture-based touchpad, which debuted on the MacBook Air, wasn't implemented on the Macbooks, which is unfortunate. It's a standard touchpad instead, but you can still perform the two-finger scrolling function.
I appreciate that Apple has updated the MacBook 13-inch (Penryn)'s storage capacity to 160GB (from 120GB), but a 250GB drive is becoming the standard for mainstream laptops, such as the Toshiba U405-S2830 and the Gateway T-6828. The particular configuration of the MacBook 13-inch (Penryn) that I tested comes with a dual-layer DVD burner, but you have to pay at least $1,299 to get one, and you can't upgrade to one from the $1,099 base configuration—meanwhile, DVD burners are already standard among laptops at the $800 price point. Apple partly makes up for these deficiencies by implementing other cool features such as the Front Row remote, the MagSafe adapter (which magnetically connects power cord to laptop), and the iSight webcam.
These complaints aren't new to readers, yet the MacBook continues to climb in popularity. The advertising campaigns factor into the overall equation, taking cheap shots at Microsoft's Windows Vista—the competing operating system—at every opportunity. Fact is, MacBook owners are happy with the user experience and the idea of a more secure and stable Leopard operating system. The MacBook 13-inch (Penryn) includes a raft of free and useful software that you would have to pay an arm and a leg for on a Windows operating system. I rarely talk about customer service, but when PC Magazine and other publications rank Apple at the top of the totem pole in service and reliability, credit has to be given where it is due. Imagine if you're away at school and your MacBook experiences technical difficulties. A support network with a knowledgeable staff, short wait times, and quick turnaround times is priceless.
About the only reason why MacBook owners would want to upgrade or Windows users switch is the recent installation of a new Intel "Penryn" processor core. Keep in mind that a new Intel platform (code-named Montevina) is due to arrive in the summer of 2008, so you'll probably see another upgrade and perhaps a design overhaul later this year. Of course, this is only speculation. My configuration runs a 2.4-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T8300 processor and 2GB of RAM, producing SYSmark 2007 Preview Overall scores that ranked behind those of the Toshiba U405-S2830 and the Gateway T-6828. On the SYSmark 2007 Preview Overall and the Windows Media Encoder tests, the Penryn-equipped MacBook tallied a 10 percent and 37 percent improvement, respectively, over its predecessor, the MacBook 13-inch (Core 2 Duo T7200). The MacBook 13-inch (Penryn) also topped the competition in other categories, such as video encoding and CineBench R10 results. Granted, the HP Pavilion dv2500t and the Dell Inspiron 1420 haven't been updated in a while, so please stay tuned.
As always, my benchmark tests are compatible only with a Windows operating system; therefore Windows Home Premium was installed and run with Apple's Boot Camp application. Even so, the MacBook 13-inch (Penryn) scored 3 hours 41 minutes on MobileMark 2007—a 16 percent improvement over the previous version. It topped the battery scores of both the Toshiba U405 and the Gateway T-6828. Apple didn't switch batteries; the Leopard operating system was not the cause; and a super power-management utility wasn't involved. Improved battery life was a direct result of the Penryn processor's deeper sleep states and a more energy-efficient processor core.
Although the MacBook 13-inch (Penryn) is still a darling in the laptop space, Apple needs to work on several things in order to pick up more market share. You can get a lot of laptop for $800 these days, and the MacBook's $1,299 price tag might scare off many would-be Apple converts. You can configure a Dell Inspiron 1420, an HP Pavilion dv2700t, and several other systems exactly the same way for under $1,000. And with the glut of UMPCs infiltrating the marketplace, the Apple MacBook, or at least the base configuration, has to hit the three-digit mark. For now, the processor upgrade, improved battery life, and top-of-the-line support services will hold the fort until Apple can revamp the line.
Apple MacBook 13-inch
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