REVIEW: My Mac

Four months is the end of the probationary period for many employees; let's extend it to computers, too, and see what my white Macbook 2.16 GHz has done in that time.

Except for four** issues detailed below, I have been completely happy. The specs have held up under heavy work, even video rendering, and there is always the option of adding more memory to the existing 1 GB if I really need to. OS X -- less so Windows -- is an efficient battery consumer. It is nice to be able to watch two short feature films on battery power. My last ATI graphics card-equipped laptop seemed to run in space-heater mode.

1) It runs Windows fine. For the first month, there was a problem with spontaneous shutdowns when coming uot of sleep, but it hasn't happened in a while. Maybe a firmware update resolved it. Also, the MacBook did not like Parallels -- the $59 or so program that lets you boot a second operating system in a window within the Mac OS --it reminded me of a prank people used to play on each other -- running nested instances of Windows 3.1 back in the days when it was DOS-based; finally everything ground to a halt and I had to re-activate my copy of Windows XP before using it.

2) The white polycarbonate (sounds like graphite or something, means cheap plastic) casing is substandard. From merely the weight of my right hand, a horizontal crack has developed 2mm from the proximal edge of the laptop, which threatens to eventually extend all the way across the keyboard. Luckily the plastic has a grain or is baffled on the underside, so it is splitting in a straight line and is unlikely to expose any circuitry. It's just out of the range of the built-in iSight webcam, so photo to come later.

3) I had some issues with the glossy screen, but that was when we were still on our road trip. Since then -- commuting between home and office, and even while travelling in Europe -- I have forgot all about the fact that it is reflective. It still surprises me that the engineers wouldn't take more extreme uses (in a cramped car with direct sunlight) into consideration. For example, it should be possible to open the screen more than 135 degrees.

4) The slot-loading drive used by Macs is stupid. Two homemade CDs won't play (nor can the songs be imported) because the artist's CD label is too thick, or there are minor imperfections in the label adhesive. So I will have to ask a friend with a PC. And when a program such as iTunes encounters a problem with a dirty or damaged CD, it doesn't time out after a certain period of time, but will continue to "grind gears" interminably (pinwheel cursor) until a force quit, and even the response to force quit is sluggish.

As a veteran of the first Macs with their groaning sound upon eject, and having inserted many a paper clip into the little hole, every eject makes me think about impending drive failure, whereas I've never had that feeling with PC drawers.

** Well, there is a #5. The fact that so many other people have a white MacBook, even in Estonia. I used to duel with people in coffeeshops. The coffeeshop has become a stand-in for the oldtime saloon, and computers and cases have replaced guns and holsters. You and your opponent make eye contact briefly then proceed to draw your computers. No, Calamity Jane doesn't faint or fall off her stool, but you can imagine that the middle-aged lady selling vastlakuklid lets out a low whistle if your ax is really ripped...and you smile smugly as you start typing. (It's a virtual duel.) But ever since the Apple section was opened in the Tallinn Kaubamaja department store, there have even been folks packing aluminium MacBook Pros...a model that starts at close to 3,000 gold dollars in this here neck of the plains.