Well, despite the fact I just put in for a new battery as part of Apple's PowerBook G4 battery recall, I just picked up a new laptop: a 13" MacBook! The new computer is the high-end black computer with 2.0 GHz Intel Dual Core, 80 GB hard drive, SuperDrive and 512 MB RAM.
I was in Nebraska Furniture Mart's Mega Mart the other night with my wife and we saw an "open box" MacBook on their special deals counter ("Open Box" to NFM means that the item was previously purchased new, and for whatever reason, has been returned). The price they had on it was a fairly good deal (about $200 off retail), so I had the sales guy open the box up and let me inspect the contents. Everything was there, and the computer booted just fine. No dead pixels. No scratches or dents. Looked brand new.
I had been looking around for an Intel-based Mac for development testing anyway (I had originally been leaning toward a Mac Mini for cost reasons), but this was such a good deal in my eyes we went ahead and purchased the computer.
I've been using it for a few days now and am generally pleased with it. The two biggest complaints people initially had about the MacBooks (the glossy screen and the keyboard) don't bug me at all. The computer does run a little warm, but no warmer than my 15" PowerBook G4 1.5 GHz does, as far as I an tell. One major difference here between the PowerBook and the MacBook is that when the fans in the MacBook turn on, you can really hear them, whereas in the PowerBook they were much quieter and barely noticeable. However, I've only had the fans in the MacBook turn on twice, so it hasn't really bugged me.
I really like the black look of the computer (ever so much more than the white MacBooks), although it doesn't look quite as..."polished" as the Aluminum PowerBook/MacBook Pro. I really like the new screen latching system--there isn't a latch. It's a magnet that holds the screen closed.
I look forward to using this new MacBook and already consider it money well spent.
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