The MacBook: Apple’s ugly step-child?
The Mac user community raises hell every time someone even thinks a nasty or negative thought about a single Apple product, so lets see what kind of reaction this statement will elicit: the normal Apple MacBook is Apple’s mediocre product designed to hook new users on the Apple “experience” so they will later buy a machine that encapsulates both the experience and Apple design quality.
My reasoning for this statement is based on a few points that I think will at least sound reasonable to any unbiased listener:
- Fan and cooling design – The fan of the MacBook has been known to spool up to full power frequently in the MacBooks, due to poor ventilation. The poor ventilation is largely based on the way the air vents through the front of the laptop under the screen and is usually blocked by the screen itself.
- Poor case design and quality - The MacBook case is easily scratched, chipped, and dented; the plastic used is very soft and pliable, making it susceptible to any sharp object. Beyond that, the inside cover over the innards and keyboard is poorly attached to the case; it tends to crack and separate from the thicker shell.
- screen/display issues – many MacBooks experience bad inverters, leading to annoying flickering and lighting issues.
- poor keyboard design – though I really like the chiclet-style keyboard, the keys have been known to stick quite a bit.
Here’s what I’m getting at: sure, there are issues with every machine that any company builds. However, the MacBook has been around for a while now, and these same issues keep occuring; so much so that when visiting an Apple store for resolution of one or more of the issues, the Apple representative takes about 2 seconds to identify the problem and start working on having it repaired.
That is most certainly not indicative of Apple working to remedy these poor design elements. More than likely, Apple hasn’t remedied it because, after using a MacBook for a while, many people choose to upgrade to a different machine that offers more (like a MacBook Pro, which has increased specs as well as a better and bigger display, backlit keyboard, etc.) of the Apple experience. With the higher price you get better quality.
Why can’t you expect the same quality from an intro product like the MacBook? No one has answered that question, but perhaps the old adage, “you pay for what you get” crings true in this instance.
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December 6th, 2007
I have to say I disagree with most of what you say about the MacBook. I use a MacBook all day every day as my primary machine at work. Most of this time I am running WinXp in Parallels as we are Windows only at work. I moved to the MacBook from a Toshiba M400 Tablet which was a terrible bit of kit, much more expensive than the Macbook and both slower and noisier.
From my experience I dont find that there is enough of a distinction between the Pro and Macbook to warrant the steep price increase ( this is from someone who has a 24″ Aluminium iMac at home, so not averse to spending cash on Apple kit ).
Cheers
May 27th, 2008
I agree wholeheartedly with Scott. I absolutely adore my MacBook. I think the keyboard is fantastic – I start typing on PC laptops, or basically any keyboard that isn’t made by Apple and I find it very difficult. The keys are all scrunched too tightly, etc. And I don’t know what you’ve been doing to your keyboard, but not a single key of mine has ever stuck. And no flickering issues here either. No cracks, no nothing. A very, very lovely computer. That said, I’m still upgrading to an MBP because I need the better GPU. But I think every forum with a mac section knows that by now.