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Review by D. Bowman:

Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R1UZDPX5TFLZ8G

I made this video to hopefully add a little more life to the product.

Snow Leopard adds a lot more than I thought.

This is a great computer if you want to play with pics, surf the web, mess with your music collection.

This is not the Mac if you want serious processing power of lots of inputs to create a home network.

Look to a MacBook Pro or iMac for that.

I would have given it 5 stars if it had more inputs.

This is a pricy computer already, now I have to spend more to get adaptors.

I wish it was still available in black or you could opt for the non-glaze display.

I hope you enjoy the video, I had fun making it.

Review by Stephen Hall:

I had intended to purchase my mother a Macbook for some time now. I wobbled between the several models I considered. However, Apple’s late October 2009 update to the white polycarbonate MacBook made the decision much easier.

Reasons for my Decision – With this update to the 13-inch white MacBook, Apple gave its entry-notebook impressive numbers. The processor a 2.26 GHZ Core 2 Duo is the same processor found in the 13-inch MacBook Pro. 2GB of memory? Same as the Pro. Nvidia 9400 Graphics, Same as the Pro. Hard drive? 250 GB, bigger than the MacBook Pro (it has 160GB only).

Yes, considering the larger hard drive, 250 versus 160, this white MacBook actually gives you a higher specification computer in some regards than the 0 more expensive MacBook Pro 13-inch. Remember this updated white MacBook also now incorporates the unibody under its polycarbonate shell. The unibody provides strength, and I must say this notebook is very solid. Furthermore, Apple has incorporated a long-life battery! The only downside is Apple must replace it, though it has a longer life cycle. In terms of performance, my mother reported to me simple usage of nearly six hours on a charge. Impressive. Blows away my older Mac notebook’s battery.

Yes, this white MacBook does lack the remote control sensor, Firewire Port, and backlit keyboard that the MacBook Pro would offer, but my mother would likely not use those features and she had an affinity towards the white polycarbonate. The white does look nice, but handle and place it on surfaces very carefully as it will show light scratches easily.

The bottom of the MacBook is a bit strange. It is a rubber seal so to speak like what is found on the bottom of Airport Extreme and Apple TV. I’m not certain I like that choice by Apple. The material does pick up dirt easily. I would recommend wiping off whatever surface you are going to sit the computer on, to remove light dust, if you worry about the computer’s appearance.

Overall, I was looking to find a quality Mac, for my mother. I didn’t want to compromise performance, and I feel I didn’t despite choosing this entry-level MacBook. Truly, with its stats, it can hardly be called entry level. My daily Mac is only slightly faster. These computers are getting faster and faster, and they impress me. Snow Leopard is great, and my mother is enjoying iPhoto and iMovie, all included with the computer.

The price to value of this MacBook is remarkable. At two hundred less than the MacBook Pro you get the same speed and memory, plus a larger hard drive. You can’t argue with that. I didn’t, and the MacBook has impressed.

Review by Jeffrey Stanley:

This is my first Mac computer. My first four computers ran Win 3.1, Windows 95, XP, and Vista (from about 1995-present). I have quite a lot of time spent on each of them. Switching from Windows to Mac is not difficult, but it can be a bit frustrating for a week or so. There are Windows features that you will miss, but they are mostly overcome by overall advantages in my opinion.

I’ve spent two weeks with this machine now. If I had written this review after one day, I would have probably stated that I regretted the switch to Mac. After getting more proficient with the machine and realizing how well it works, I would definitely recommend it to a friend.

This review is going to be a mix of my impressions of both the hardware and the Mac operating system from a new Mac user perspective.

The only difference between my machine and the one on this product page is that I ordered directly from Apple and upgraded the hard drive to 250GB (from the 160GB base option). I am using 2gb of ram and the lower-end processor.

My Mac OS impressions:

The biggest thing I missed from Windows at first was the task bar. Mac uses the “dock” to replace the task bar. The dock is kind of like the quick launch toolbar in Windows spread out across the entire bar, with large icons. Having used windows with a task bar for the past 13 years, I missed the ability to see all open programs and switch between them with the task bar. The dock has a tiny dot below the icon on running-programs, but nothing else to separate it from other program and folder icons. The dock is not nearly as useful for multitasking as the task bar.

The saving grace that rescues the Mac from awkward app-switching while multitasking is called expose. Expose is activated by either pressing a key or using a multitouch gesture (four-finger swipe). Expose uses the entire screen to display all open windows and allow you to switch between them. It’s like alt+tab on steroids. Having used the machine for a couple weeks, I miss using expose when I use my Windows machine. As much as I hated the dock at first, I have to give the advantage to the Mac for managing multiple windows while multitasking.

The controls for open-windows are quite different than in MS-Windows. In Mac, there is a resize, hide, and minimize button instead of maximize, minimize, restore, and close. To close an app on the mac you need to use a menu command or keyboard shortcut. The Mac resize button kind of works like restore/maximize, only it’s a bit more awkward. A commenter here pointed out that it resizes the window for ideal viewing without using the entire screen. I find myself resizing windows by dragging corners more than I ever did on a Windows machine. I really miss the ability to maximize, if for no other reason but to avoid distractions. The green resize button may be better on an enormous monitor, but not on a 13″ notebook. When you minimize or hide an app on the Mac, it is only available from the dock and is hidden from expose. I’ll give the window size-management advantage to Windows in this contest. The windows system is just easier and more logical in my opinion. It isn’t a deal-breaker, but I do miss the Windows “window controls.” If you are a frequent user of the F11 key while web browsing in Windows you’ll have to kiss that feature goodbye. Neither Firefox nor Safari will go full-screen.

Windows Explorer is “replaced” with an app called Finder. Finder is kind of like the start menu and an explorer window all rolled up into one. Compared with older versions of Windows, finder is adequate but Vista’s explorer is quite a bit easier and more logical to use. I prefer Vista’s preview pane to Mac’s coverflow. I miss the “up folder” button. I have found myself mostly using the view that puts files, folders and apps into a column view for easiest computer browsing, and it just isn’t as elegant as Windows Vista. The lack of a maximize button has caused frustration especially in the finder, because the finder likes to stay in a very small window unless you drag the corners.

The Safari web browser is nice and quick and has a decent security reputation. I have been switching back and forth between Safari and Firefox. Firefox has crashed a couple of times and I really like being able to use multitouch gestures with Safari, so I’m leaning toward making Safari my main web tool. Reading RSS feeds, and the bookmark toolbar are really well done in Safari. Browsers are so personal that it’s difficult to recommend one over the other, but as a Firefox user in Windows I think I have high standard and Safari has met or exceeded them.

I absolutely hate the iPhoto app. Iphoto does not allow you to organize and browse your photos in folders. It imports your pictures and sorts them itself based on time/date stamps on the photos. This works fine for personal vacation snapshots but it completely mixed up the rest of my images. Folders that were neatly organized for work projects, and fun web clippings, and adult stuff were all shuffled into one big mess after I imported my image collection. I ended up just deleting all of them and not using iphoto at all. Right now I’m just using Finder to browse my photos and the preview app to view them. Light editing work isn’t possible in the preview app and I still haven’t decided what to use for a basic photo editor yet. Vista’s photo app is junk but it’s still superior to iPhoto if you like to keep your photos organized using your own folder system. I know people who love iphoto. It comes down to whether you want the ability to organize your collection yourself. If you have a big mess of photos, you’ll love iphoto’s ability to organize them via event and face recognition.

Edited to add: you can organize your photos into “albums” after you import them into iPhoto, but be prepared to spend a lot of time reorganizing everything. Even after you organize into albums, the main library screen gives you views of your entire collection (perhaps things you don’t want everyone to see).

I have not used Garage Band or iMovie yet. I’ll update later when I get a chance.

Edited to add: I played with garage band a bit and it’s pretty powerful. It allows you to import and export AAC and MP3 tracks and record sound in multiple tracks. Very easy to use. The only other audio app i’ve ever used is audacity and I much prefer Garage Band. I haven’t used any of the music lessons it offers yet but plan to soon.

I played with iMovie for a few minutes and it seems pretty nice and very intuitive. I actually don’t mind Windows Movie Maker, which is included with Vista. I would not consider it a big step up from Win Movie Maker, but it’s a nice app.

The mail, calendar, and address book apps are basic but work very very well. The address app will import common file types easily. It will sync with yahoo out of the box. Address book will only sync with Google contacts if you own an iPhone or iPod Touch.

Everyone has an opinion about iTunes. I’m a big fan of it. It’s exactly like the windows version only it runs a bit faster without the bugs. If you have an iPhone or iPod touch, the Windows-iTunes bug with time/date being wrong after the computer sleeps is not an issue on the Mac.

Time machine is the Mac’s backup app. It is amazing and very simple. I’m using an external drive plugged into my Apple Airport wireless router, as a backup disk. My wireless disk showed up on my desktop instantly once I plugged it into the router. Time machine noticed the external drive right away and went to work backing up my files (after asking permission of course). Now my machine automatically backs up any changes every hour as long as I’m in range of my wireless access point. Time machine is a big load off my mind. If I ever have a drive failure or my computer is destroyed I have an exact backup of everything without remembering to backup my files. Vista will backup according to a set schedule, but it lacks the ability to easily look through backups for specific files. Time machine is wonderful and make wireless backup effortless.

The Mac disk utility is almost as good as the one in Vista and it’s easier to use. It’s far superior to the one in XP. I used it to format my external wireless drive because the Mac router couldn’t read NTFS formating (although the computer can read NTFS drives via USB for some reason).

The graphics control software is a joy to use. When I plug in my external monitor it immediately extends my desktop to the new monitor. Adjusting everything from resolution to rotation couldn’t be any easier.

Boot camp is a utility that allows you to create a partition and install Windows as a secondary boot system (you need to own or buy a legal single-disk 32bit copy of either Windows XP or Windows Vista). When you start up the boot camp utility, it gives you a choice between using either 5 or 32 GB of space for the Windows partition. I learned the hard way that Windows XP SP3 won’t fit into 5GB. You need to give it at least the 32 GB (which left me with almost exactly 200GB on my “250″ GB drive). Installing Windows using the Boot Camp utility is very very easy. Once you get Windows loaded, your OSX install disk makes quick work of installing drivers for all of your laptop’s hardware. It’s too bad that Nvidia and HP aren’t as good at putting together easy Windows driver packages as Apple. In order to boot into Windows, you simply press the “option” key during bootup and it allows you to choose which OS to run. Windows XP absolutely screams on this hardware.

The hardware:

The hardware is where this computer really shines.

The biggest advantage is stability. My last computer purchase was a vista machine. To say that I had stability and hardware compatibility issues with my HP Vista desktop is an understatement. The main reason I turned to mac for this purchase was the fact that the hardware, drivers, and software are made for each other. This machine has ran flawlessly for the past two weeks. I did have two crashes of the Firefox browser while watching Flash video, but only the browser went down rather than the entire system.

I have connected an external monitor, camera, ipod, USB drive, and router to this machine. All of the drivers were already installed and everything has “just worked.” The hardware is a joy to use when it just works. It is difficult to put into words how happy I am with the lack of effort in using this machine.

The speed isn’t blazing-fast but it runs very well, even with many many apps and windows running. My Vista desktop has similar specs, but my new Mac feels slightly faster.

One outstanding productivity feature of this machine is the touch pad. I honestly prefer it to using a mouse for office and browsing tasks. I can’t say enough good things about the multitouch gestures. Two finger scrolling, two finger right-click, three finger forward and back in Safari, and four finger expose make this machine feel like like it is part of you. Having the entire surface of the touchpad as the button is brilliant, especially for drag and drop operations. The large size of the touchpad makes it very precise.

The keyboard is really nice. At first I thought the keys were a bit soft and the travel was too shallow, but I quickly got used to it and now prefer it to my more “clicky” desktop keyboard. I don’t know how I lived this long without a backlit keyboard. The backlight is more useful than I thought it would be.

The display is beautiful. It has good color, a wide viewing angle, and is plenty bright for indoor environments. I would prefer that the screen wasn’t glass, but the reflections aren’t as bad as I feared. If there is a bright light source behind you, you’ll need to angle the screen to reduce the glare but it’s workable.

The DVD drive is a DVD drive. It feels slow and makes a lot of noise. I’ve never owned an optical drive that I considered fast and quiet, and this one isn’t any exception. It works well, but isn’t anything special.

The battery life is incredible. The seven hour battery life is not an exaggeration if you are using the computer for light browsing and office apps. Expect about 4-5 hours if you’re using it for heavy web browsing and a bit of media. Listening to music with the display off would easily last over the advertised 7 hours. Streaming high definition video on netflix using wireless will knock it down to at or below three hours. I haven’t watched DVD movies on battery power but I expect it to barely get you through a single two hour film with a bit left over.

The size and weight are ideal for portability. 4.5lbs doesn’t exactly feel light until you compare it to similarly spec’d machines that weigh a full pound (20%) more. I wouldn’t want a larger machine if I had to lug it around much.

The speakers are quite good for a small light machine. Don’t expect much bass, but the sound is very clear with good mids and highs. The speakers are plenty loud for listening to podcasts or music in a semi-quiet medium sized room or office. I won’t need to pack external speakers for use in my hotel room when I travel, like my last laptop.

The “magsafe” power adapter is more than just a gimmick, and more than just a way to avoid tripping and breaking your machine. The “power brick” itself is a lot smaller than my last dell laptop. It’s exactly the same size as the USB wall adapters that used to be included with ipods. The cord is 6ft long and the brick includes fold-out wings to wrap the cord around. It is very well thought-out for travel. With the cord wrapped up and the plug folded into the body, the power brick only takes up about 2.5″ x 3″ x 1″ in your bag. When you are using it at home or at the office there is an included 6ft extension cord for the power brick so you aren’t as tethered to your desk.

The computer runs very cool compared to most laptops. Also, there are no vents where super-heated air blows out. While I’m sure it uses a fan, I’ve never audibly actually heard it run or felt a stream of warm air from it. I think it may vent through ports and the keyboard but it runs cool enough that you don’t notice it. Edited to add: it does get rather warm when watching high resolution video, but stays quite cool when web browsing or using normal office apps. Even when very warm, the fan is still quiet (the only way to actually hear the fan is to hold it near your ear).

The only drawback to the hardware compared to Windows machines is the fact that there is no option to hibernate when closing the lid. It sleeps when you close the lid but it still is using a small amount of power. If you’re only going to be away for a couple hours this isn’t an issue, but you must completely shut down when on battery power if you’re going to be away much longer.

This machine is a lot more expensive than similarly spec’d Windows machines but I feel that it’s worth the money. I’m a very satisfied Mac switcher.

Review by Nate:

Well I must say I am very happy i did not buy apple’s first iteration of the 13″ aluminum macbook last year b/c they really got it right the second time around upgrading it to a macbook pro! Its nice to have that “pro” stamp on a 13″ now! Apple has listened to their customers adding almost everything we have asked for and more, and managed to reduce the price! Thanks Apple!

CHANGES FROM LAST YEAR

- 0 less

- 13″ aluminum macbooks became macbook pros

- 2.53Ghz up from 2.4GHz dual core

- 4GB RAM up from 2GB

- led display has 60% greater color gamut than previous model

- new advanced built-in battery that lasts up to 7 hours vs 4hrs

- FireWire is back (after all the complaints of first model)

- SD card slot (replaces express card slot)

- new models now come with iLife ’09

- separate digital audio input is gone

- new model uses the same integrated mic and headphone port as the iPhone

PROS

- finally a price cut with a performance upgrade! i knew apple could do it. i was tired of paying for aesthetics and not performance.

- new Snow Leopard Operating System comes pre-installed! Same great ease of use with much faster performance!

- much better lcd screen! inline with the pro models…still glossy and still some glare but much nicer!

- backlight keyboard on all 13″ models now! ( i really enjoy this as it can be controlled from low to high)

- battery life is significantly better than last year.( i get about 6 hours w/ regular use not the 7hrs that is reported)

- the computer is designed beautifully truly a head turner.

- iLife 09 suite is superb for pictures, movies, and music. Good software really does sell hardware.

- SD card slot accepts SDHC, which goes up to 32GB and works like a charm. (can boot from SD card as well)

CONS

- aluminum outer casing does dent easily if dropped. (buy a soft case for it!)

- power cord is short and does not reach as many places as I would like…must sit very close to power outlet.

- battery can’t be removed easily

- SD card sticks about half way out of slot. eye sore.

- blu-ray option would have been nice but understandable given licensing fees. (many blurays are offering digital copies which help)

Taking into consideration all the great improvements over last year with a nice price cut I can now truly recommend this near perfect Macbook Pro!

Review by Jeffrey Stanley:

This is my first Mac computer. My first four computers ran Win 3.1, Windows 95, XP, and Vista (from about 1995-present). I have quite a lot of time spent on each of them. Switching from Windows to Mac is not difficult, but it can be a bit frustrating for a week or so. There are Windows features that you will miss, but they are mostly overcome by overall advantages in my opinion.

I’ve spent two weeks with this machine now. If I had written this review after one day, I would have probably stated that I regretted the switch to Mac. After getting more proficient with the machine and realizing how well it works, I would definitely recommend it to a friend.

This review is going to be a mix of my impressions of both the hardware and the Mac operating system from a new Mac user perspective.

The only difference between my machine and the one on this product page is that I ordered directly from Apple and upgraded the hard drive to 250GB (from the 160GB base option). I am using 2gb of ram and the lower-end processor.

My Mac OS impressions:

The biggest thing I missed from Windows at first was the task bar. Mac uses the “dock” to replace the task bar. The dock is kind of like the quick launch toolbar in Windows spread out across the entire bar, with large icons. Having used windows with a task bar for the past 13 years, I missed the ability to see all open programs and switch between them with the task bar. The dock has a tiny dot below the icon on running-programs, but nothing else to separate it from other program and folder icons. The dock is not nearly as useful for multitasking as the task bar.

The saving grace that rescues the Mac from awkward app-switching while multitasking is called expose. Expose is activated by either pressing a key or using a multitouch gesture (four-finger swipe). Expose uses the entire screen to display all open windows and allow you to switch between them. It’s like alt+tab on steroids. Having used the machine for a couple weeks, I miss using expose when I use my Windows machine. As much as I hated the dock at first, I have to give the advantage to the Mac for managing multiple windows while multitasking.

The controls for open-windows are quite different than in MS-Windows. In Mac, there is a resize, hide, and minimize button instead of maximize, minimize, restore, and close. To close an app on the mac you need to use a menu command or keyboard shortcut. The Mac resize button kind of works like restore/maximize, only it’s a bit more awkward. A commenter here pointed out that it resizes the window for ideal viewing without using the entire screen. I find myself resizing windows by dragging corners more than I ever did on a Windows machine. I really miss the ability to maximize, if for no other reason but to avoid distractions. The green resize button may be better on an enormous monitor, but not on a 13″ notebook. When you minimize or hide an app on the Mac, it is only available from the dock and is hidden from expose. I’ll give the window size-management advantage to Windows in this contest. The windows system is just easier and more logical in my opinion. It isn’t a deal-breaker, but I do miss the Windows “window controls.” If you are a frequent user of the F11 key while web browsing in Windows you’ll have to kiss that feature goodbye. Neither Firefox nor Safari will go full-screen.

Windows Explorer is “replaced” with an app called Finder. Finder is kind of like the start menu and an explorer window all rolled up into one. Compared with older versions of Windows, finder is adequate but Vista’s explorer is quite a bit easier and more logical to use. I prefer Vista’s preview pane to Mac’s coverflow. I miss the “up folder” button. I have found myself mostly using the view that puts files, folders and apps into a column view for easiest computer browsing, and it just isn’t as elegant as Windows Vista. The lack of a maximize button has caused frustration especially in the finder, because the finder likes to stay in a very small window unless you drag the corners.

The Safari web browser is nice and quick and has a decent security reputation. I have been switching back and forth between Safari and Firefox. Firefox has crashed a couple of times and I really like being able to use multitouch gestures with Safari, so I’m leaning toward making Safari my main web tool. Reading RSS feeds, and the bookmark toolbar are really well done in Safari. Browsers are so personal that it’s difficult to recommend one over the other, but as a Firefox user in Windows I think I have high standard and Safari has met or exceeded them.

I absolutely hate the iPhoto app. Iphoto does not allow you to organize and browse your photos in folders. It imports your pictures and sorts them itself based on time/date stamps on the photos. This works fine for personal vacation snapshots but it completely mixed up the rest of my images. Folders that were neatly organized for work projects, and fun web clippings, and adult stuff were all shuffled into one big mess after I imported my image collection. I ended up just deleting all of them and not using iphoto at all. Right now I’m just using Finder to browse my photos and the preview app to view them. Light editing work isn’t possible in the preview app and I still haven’t decided what to use for a basic photo editor yet. Vista’s photo app is junk but it’s still superior to iPhoto if you like to keep your photos organized using your own folder system. I know people who love iphoto. It comes down to whether you want the ability to organize your collection yourself. If you have a big mess of photos, you’ll love iphoto’s ability to organize them via event and face recognition.

Edited to add: you can organize your photos into “albums” after you import them into iPhoto, but be prepared to spend a lot of time reorganizing everything. Even after you organize into albums, the main library screen gives you views of your entire collection (perhaps things you don’t want everyone to see).

I have not used Garage Band or iMovie yet. I’ll update later when I get a chance.

Edited to add: I played with garage band a bit and it’s pretty powerful. It allows you to import and export AAC and MP3 tracks and record sound in multiple tracks. Very easy to use. The only other audio app i’ve ever used is audacity and I much prefer Garage Band. I haven’t used any of the music lessons it offers yet but plan to soon.

I played with iMovie for a few minutes and it seems pretty nice and very intuitive. I actually don’t mind Windows Movie Maker, which is included with Vista. I would not consider it a big step up from Win Movie Maker, but it’s a nice app.

The mail, calendar, and address book apps are basic but work very very well. The address app will import common file types easily. It will sync with yahoo out of the box. Address book will only sync with Google contacts if you own an iPhone or iPod Touch.

Everyone has an opinion about iTunes. I’m a big fan of it. It’s exactly like the windows version only it runs a bit faster without the bugs. If you have an iPhone or iPod touch, the Windows-iTunes bug with time/date being wrong after the computer sleeps is not an issue on the Mac.

Time machine is the Mac’s backup app. It is amazing and very simple. I’m using an external drive plugged into my Apple Airport wireless router, as a backup disk. My wireless disk showed up on my desktop instantly once I plugged it into the router. Time machine noticed the external drive right away and went to work backing up my files (after asking permission of course). Now my machine automatically backs up any changes every hour as long as I’m in range of my wireless access point. Time machine is a big load off my mind. If I ever have a drive failure or my computer is destroyed I have an exact backup of everything without remembering to backup my files. Vista will backup according to a set schedule, but it lacks the ability to easily look through backups for specific files. Time machine is wonderful and make wireless backup effortless.

The Mac disk utility is almost as good as the one in Vista and it’s easier to use. It’s far superior to the one in XP. I used it to format my external wireless drive because the Mac router couldn’t read NTFS formating (although the computer can read NTFS drives via USB for some reason).

The graphics control software is a joy to use. When I plug in my external monitor it immediately extends my desktop to the new monitor. Adjusting everything from resolution to rotation couldn’t be any easier.

Boot camp is a utility that allows you to create a partition and install Windows as a secondary boot system (you need to own or buy a legal single-disk 32bit copy of either Windows XP or Windows Vista). When you start up the boot camp utility, it gives you a choice between using either 5 or 32 GB of space for the Windows partition. I learned the hard way that Windows XP SP3 won’t fit into 5GB. You need to give it at least the 32 GB (which left me with almost exactly 200GB on my “250″ GB drive). Installing Windows using the Boot Camp utility is very very easy. Once you get Windows loaded, your OSX install disk makes quick work of installing drivers for all of your laptop’s hardware. It’s too bad that Nvidia and HP aren’t as good at putting together easy Windows driver packages as Apple. In order to boot into Windows, you simply press the “option” key during bootup and it allows you to choose which OS to run. Windows XP absolutely screams on this hardware.

The hardware:

The hardware is where this computer really shines.

The biggest advantage is stability. My last computer purchase was a vista machine. To say that I had stability and hardware compatibility issues with my HP Vista desktop is an understatement. The main reason I turned to mac for this purchase was the fact that the hardware, drivers, and software are made for each other. This machine has ran flawlessly for the past two weeks. I did have two crashes of the Firefox browser while watching Flash video, but only the browser went down rather than the entire system.

I have connected an external monitor, camera, ipod, USB drive, and router to this machine. All of the drivers were already installed and everything has “just worked.” The hardware is a joy to use when it just works. It is difficult to put into words how happy I am with the lack of effort in using this machine.

The speed isn’t blazing-fast but it runs very well, even with many many apps and windows running. My Vista desktop has similar specs, but my new Mac feels slightly faster.

One outstanding productivity feature of this machine is the touch pad. I honestly prefer it to using a mouse for office and browsing tasks. I can’t say enough good things about the multitouch gestures. Two finger scrolling, two finger right-click, three finger forward and back in Safari, and four finger expose make this machine feel like like it is part of you. Having the entire surface of the touchpad as the button is brilliant, especially for drag and drop operations. The large size of the touchpad makes it very precise.

The keyboard is really nice. At first I thought the keys were a bit soft and the travel was too shallow, but I quickly got used to it and now prefer it to my more “clicky” desktop keyboard. I don’t know how I lived this long without a backlit keyboard. The backlight is more useful than I thought it would be.

The display is beautiful. It has good color, a wide viewing angle, and is plenty bright for indoor environments. I would prefer that the screen wasn’t glass, but the reflections aren’t as bad as I feared. If there is a bright light source behind you, you’ll need to angle the screen to reduce the glare but it’s workable.

The DVD drive is a DVD drive. It feels slow and makes a lot of noise. I’ve never owned an optical drive that I considered fast and quiet, and this one isn’t any exception. It works well, but isn’t anything special.

The battery life is incredible. The seven hour battery life is not an exaggeration if you are using the computer for light browsing and office apps. Expect about 4-5 hours if you’re using it for heavy web browsing and a bit of media. Listening to music with the display off would easily last over the advertised 7 hours. Streaming high definition video on netflix using wireless will knock it down to at or below three hours. I haven’t watched DVD movies on battery power but I expect it to barely get you through a single two hour film with a bit left over.

The size and weight are ideal for portability. 4.5lbs doesn’t exactly feel light until you compare it to similarly spec’d machines that weigh a full pound (20%) more. I wouldn’t want a larger machine if I had to lug it around much.

The speakers are quite good for a small light machine. Don’t expect much bass, but the sound is very clear with good mids and highs. The speakers are plenty loud for listening to podcasts or music in a semi-quiet medium sized room or office. I won’t need to pack external speakers for use in my hotel room when I travel, like my last laptop.

The “magsafe” power adapter is more than just a gimmick, and more than just a way to avoid tripping and breaking your machine. The “power brick” itself is a lot smaller than my last dell laptop. It’s exactly the same size as the USB wall adapters that used to be included with ipods. The cord is 6ft long and the brick includes fold-out wings to wrap the cord around. It is very well thought-out for travel. With the cord wrapped up and the plug folded into the body, the power brick only takes up about 2.5″ x 3″ x 1″ in your bag. When you are using it at home or at the office there is an included 6ft extension cord for the power brick so you aren’t as tethered to your desk.

The computer runs very cool compared to most laptops. Also, there are no vents where super-heated air blows out. While I’m sure it uses a fan, I’ve never audibly actually heard it run or felt a stream of warm air from it. I think it may vent through ports and the keyboard but it runs cool enough that you don’t notice it. Edited to add: it does get rather warm when watching high resolution video, but stays quite cool when web browsing or using normal office apps. Even when very warm, the fan is still quiet (the only way to actually hear the fan is to hold it near your ear).

The only drawback to the hardware compared to Windows machines is the fact that there is no option to hibernate when closing the lid. It sleeps when you close the lid but it still is using a small amount of power. If you’re only going to be away for a couple hours this isn’t an issue, but you must completely shut down when on battery power if you’re going to be away much longer.

This machine is a lot more expensive than similarly spec’d Windows machines but I feel that it’s worth the money. I’m a very satisfied Mac switcher.

Review by Nate:

Well I must say I am very happy i did not buy apple’s first iteration of the 13″ aluminum macbook last year b/c they really got it right the second time around upgrading it to a macbook pro! Its nice to have that “pro” stamp on a 13″ now! Apple has listened to their customers adding almost everything we have asked for and more, and managed to reduce the price! Thanks Apple!

CHANGES FROM LAST YEAR

- 0 less

- 13″ aluminum macbooks became macbook pros

- 2.53Ghz up from 2.4GHz dual core

- 4GB RAM up from 2GB

- led display has 60% greater color gamut than previous model

- new advanced built-in battery that lasts up to 7 hours vs 4hrs

- FireWire is back (after all the complaints of first model)

- SD card slot (replaces express card slot)

- new models now come with iLife ’09

- separate digital audio input is gone

- new model uses the same integrated mic and headphone port as the iPhone

PROS

- finally a price cut with a performance upgrade! i knew apple could do it. i was tired of paying for aesthetics and not performance.

- new Snow Leopard Operating System comes pre-installed! Same great ease of use with much faster performance!

- much better lcd screen! inline with the pro models…still glossy and still some glare but much nicer!

- backlight keyboard on all 13″ models now! ( i really enjoy this as it can be controlled from low to high)

- battery life is significantly better than last year.( i get about 6 hours w/ regular use not the 7hrs that is reported)

- the computer is designed beautifully truly a head turner.

- iLife 09 suite is superb for pictures, movies, and music. Good software really does sell hardware.

- SD card slot accepts SDHC, which goes up to 32GB and works like a charm. (can boot from SD card as well)

CONS

- aluminum outer casing does dent easily if dropped. (buy a soft case for it!)

- power cord is short and does not reach as many places as I would like…must sit very close to power outlet.

- battery can’t be removed easily

- SD card sticks about half way out of slot. eye sore.

- blu-ray option would have been nice but understandable given licensing fees. (many blurays are offering digital copies which help)

Taking into consideration all the great improvements over last year with a nice price cut I can now truly recommend this near perfect Macbook Pro!

Review by Parry:

Coming from a troubled Nvidia 8600M GT MacBook Pro – let me say that I was very skeptical buying another Apple Laptop with nVidia chip in it.

However, one weekend I decided to visit the nearest Apple Retail Store and check out the newly released models. My decision was mostly influenced by the reduced prices and increased battery life.

After some debating over buying the older model for same price or getting the latest one we settled on the newest mid end 99 model with 2 GPUs. As is common I got a very nice resale price for my older MacBook Pro as it had AppleCare.

This generation is an all around improvement over the past generation unless you happen to be using ExpressCard on 15″ model that is. In our case we never used the ExpressCard after attempting to use a eSATA card that did not work really well. And we have a few SD Cards that we figure we can easily use.

So on to the specific improvements over its predecessor -

1) Battery Life – I was very doubtful that the battery would last any longer than 4 hours at the maximum but was pleasantly surprised to find that for surfing/email type and the occasional CNN/Youtube flash videos getting 6+ hours was quite easy.

2) Prices – No doubt prices are the most reasonable Apple laptops have ever had. If you have no need for the dual GPU you can get the 99 model which comes with a respectable 2.53Ghz Processor, 4GB RAM and a very capable 9400M GPU.

3) Operating Temperature – I have owned my share of laptops (Apple and non-Apple) and I have to say this one is the coolest – it never gets too warm and I can use it on my lap all the times – even encoding videos using the HandBrake application did not make it uncomfortably hot. However if I switch it to use the 9600M GPU it gets warmer even on regular use. It also runs very quiet – the fans may be coming on but I never notice.

Initially there was a lot of furor over Apple’s downgrade of the Serial-ATA interface speed (used to transfer data to and from the hard disk) to 1.5Gbps but Apple quickly restored the speeds to 3Gbps – I do not however notice any difference with the 5400RPM hard disk.

About the display – it is gorgeous and colors are vibrant. I had the opportunity to use a calibrated color profile to make it look even better. However I find the display to be a little too much reflective but I am coming from almost always using matte display so I figure it’s a matter of getting used to it.

Apple’s use of Mini DisplayPort is ahead of its time – not many displays support it and so I had to buy a DVI adapter – not a big problem but Apple should at the very least re-start bundling the adapter with the Pro machines. Also, another USB port in lieu of the SD Card Reader would be quite welcome – people can use the SD Card Reader for only SD Cards, but a USB port can be used for SD Cards as well as other peripherals.

That said, this generation is overall a very nice improvement – the great battery life itself is enough to convince one to upgrade.

[ Edited to add some findings after extensive use ]

After using it for a few months, I find a handful of things moderately annoying about this laptop -

1) The positioning of USB ports – both USB ports are on one side of the laptop and they are far too closely positioned to use both at once. For example I found I could not attach my Sandisk USB thumb drive and anything else at a time. And I don’t have any irregular/unusual devices. They should really go back to having the ports on two sides or at least position them a bit more apart.

2) The Lid of the laptop is loose – this was known to me before but I never thought it would become annoying. I don’t routinely use the laptop in bed but whenever I do it’s annoying.

3) The amount of RAM Apple advertises (4GB) is not actually entirely usable – only 3.75GB is. So you lose 256Mb of RAM for the dual GPU.

Review by Tristan Harward:

This machine is without a doubt the best computer, if not the best piece of technology gear, that I have ever used or owned.

Going to try to keep this review short, but sweet.

I’ve had it for about 9 months now, basically since the Unibody MBP’s came out. First, the construction is just outstanding. The solidness of the enclosure makes the whole thing feel sturdy and basically indestructible. In 9 months, I have treated it like I treat all my equipment – I use it thoroughly without too much concern for cosmetics – and there is not a single scratch or sign of wear on the entire machine. The thing still looks new, after 9 months – that’s how durable it is. Incredible.

The speed and responsiveness and stability of the computer itself is excellent. I’m a programmer and photographer, so I take it to the max every time I use the computer, and I expect a lot of it. With 4 GB of RAM it’s never sluggish and handles everything better than any computer I’ve ever owned.

Graphics and gaming performance is surprisingly good with the 2nd dedicated Nvidia 8600 video card. I dual boot to Windows XP (however reluctantly) and it works great.

I don’t even need to talk about the software, hopefully you know all about it by now. OSX is truly awesome, especially for programmers. It’s so refreshing to have a real operating system where you can pop open a real console and still have a nice graphical interface on top of it. The OS is a matched pair with the quality of the hardware.

In short, this is a seriously great machine. I’m no Mac fanboy – I run Windows, Linux, Mac, whatever – but I’m very impressed with the quality and especially the construction and build durability. It’s honestly at a level above any other laptop, it’s a pretty stunning difference. If it is more expensive, it will make up for it in longevity and resale value alone. Definitely worth it.

Review by John Van Uden:

Apple’s current version of this adapter is for DVI-D cables only (no pin holes around the bar), and therefore won’t work with DVI-I cables (4 pin holes around the bar), which other than Apple displays, are the vast majority of cables out there. This 3rd party solution works perfectly for me to be able to connect to presentation systems that use the DVI-I interface, and also works with the other DVI formatted cables I have tried, including DVI-D. It therefore does everything the apple products does, allows more cable compatibility, and is significantly less expensive.

Review by B. Kramer:

I know that says alot, but comparing it side-by-side with the same solution direct from apple, it was a winner. I sit here typing and watching a signal on an external monitor for my macbook pro coming over this adapter – it works very well for it’s application.

Review by M. Davis:

I bought this battery to replace the original battery for macbook, which had just died. I bought this off Amazon because it was about fifty dollars cheaper than if I were to buy it direct from Apple. The item was shipped very quickly, but I am ultimately disappointed in it. The battery works well, but it does not quite fit properly, almost as if the plastic outer-covering was not cut correctly. Also, that outer-shell separates very easily from the battery, as if it were only attached by very low-quality glue. I have only had the battery for a couple of days, and I have not experienced any problems with the charging aspect of it, but i feel that this was very shoddily made. Next time, I will buy the battery directly from Apple.

Review by SylverCloud:

While travelling, I can use my macbook for 6 hrs working on word prosessing and can watch about 3hrs of DVD playback with earphones. Ofcourse I have to optimise settings like turning off wireless and bluetooth (which aren’t used while in flight), dimming the LCD, closing unnecessary apps etc. Macbook together with this battery is a good piece of engineering from Apple. Only four stars because the battery forms a part of external plastic and isn’t something that slides into a casing. Disadvantage is a slight imperfection in fit.

Review by Jose Elias:

This unit arrived and the first thing I noticed is how bad it looks. It does not match the white or silver colors of recent MacBooks and MacBook Pros.

However, the unit did work flawlessly and that’s all I really cared about.

Then, about a week later, something weird happened: The display went blank (black) for a couple of seconds, and then it came back up. I figured that maybe the VGA cable was loose, so I tightened the cable just in case, and forgot about it.

But then, about 3 days ago, the same thing happened, and this time the unit failed to work again for good. I happen to have multiple Macs and monitors at home and tested everything with them, and indeed came to the conclusion that the unit went bust.

So, beware, unless I happened to have lemon, this unit is product appears to be pure junk…

Review by Lucas Carey:

Works just as well as the Apple version, at half the price. It’s grey, not white, and feels cheaply made, but it works perfectly, and that’s what counts.

Review by Parry:

Coming from a troubled Nvidia 8600M GT MacBook Pro – let me say that I was very skeptical buying another Apple Laptop with nVidia chip in it.

However, one weekend I decided to visit the nearest Apple Retail Store and check out the newly released models. My decision was mostly influenced by the reduced prices and increased battery life.

After some debating over buying the older model for same price or getting the latest one we settled on the newest mid end 99 model with 2 GPUs. As is common I got a very nice resale price for my older MacBook Pro as it had AppleCare.

This generation is an all around improvement over the past generation unless you happen to be using ExpressCard on 15″ model that is. In our case we never used the ExpressCard after attempting to use a eSATA card that did not work really well. And we have a few SD Cards that we figure we can easily use.

So on to the specific improvements over its predecessor -

1) Battery Life – I was very doubtful that the battery would last any longer than 4 hours at the maximum but was pleasantly surprised to find that for surfing/email type and the occasional CNN/Youtube flash videos getting 6+ hours was quite easy.

2) Prices – No doubt prices are the most reasonable Apple laptops have ever had. If you have no need for the dual GPU you can get the 99 model which comes with a respectable 2.53Ghz Processor, 4GB RAM and a very capable 9400M GPU.

3) Operating Temperature – I have owned my share of laptops (Apple and non-Apple) and I have to say this one is the coolest – it never gets too warm and I can use it on my lap all the times – even encoding videos using the HandBrake application did not make it uncomfortably hot. However if I switch it to use the 9600M GPU it gets warmer even on regular use. It also runs very quiet – the fans may be coming on but I never notice.

Initially there was a lot of furor over Apple’s downgrade of the Serial-ATA interface speed (used to transfer data to and from the hard disk) to 1.5Gbps but Apple quickly restored the speeds to 3Gbps – I do not however notice any difference with the 5400RPM hard disk.

About the display – it is gorgeous and colors are vibrant. I had the opportunity to use a calibrated color profile to make it look even better. However I find the display to be a little too much reflective but I am coming from almost always using matte display so I figure it’s a matter of getting used to it.

Apple’s use of Mini DisplayPort is ahead of its time – not many displays support it and so I had to buy a DVI adapter – not a big problem but Apple should at the very least re-start bundling the adapter with the Pro machines. Also, another USB port in lieu of the SD Card Reader would be quite welcome – people can use the SD Card Reader for only SD Cards, but a USB port can be used for SD Cards as well as other peripherals.

That said, this generation is overall a very nice improvement – the great battery life itself is enough to convince one to upgrade.

[ Edited to add some findings after extensive use ]

After using it for a few months, I find a handful of things moderately annoying about this laptop -

1) The positioning of USB ports – both USB ports are on one side of the laptop and they are far too closely positioned to use both at once. For example I found I could not attach my Sandisk USB thumb drive and anything else at a time. And I don’t have any irregular/unusual devices. They should really go back to having the ports on two sides or at least position them a bit more apart.

2) The Lid of the laptop is loose – this was known to me before but I never thought it would become annoying. I don’t routinely use the laptop in bed but whenever I do it’s annoying.

3) The amount of RAM Apple advertises (4GB) is not actually entirely usable – only 3.75GB is. So you lose 256Mb of RAM for the dual GPU.

Review by Tristan Harward:

This machine is without a doubt the best computer, if not the best piece of technology gear, that I have ever used or owned.

Going to try to keep this review short, but sweet.

I’ve had it for about 9 months now, basically since the Unibody MBP’s came out. First, the construction is just outstanding. The solidness of the enclosure makes the whole thing feel sturdy and basically indestructible. In 9 months, I have treated it like I treat all my equipment – I use it thoroughly without too much concern for cosmetics – and there is not a single scratch or sign of wear on the entire machine. The thing still looks new, after 9 months – that’s how durable it is. Incredible.

The speed and responsiveness and stability of the computer itself is excellent. I’m a programmer and photographer, so I take it to the max every time I use the computer, and I expect a lot of it. With 4 GB of RAM it’s never sluggish and handles everything better than any computer I’ve ever owned.

Graphics and gaming performance is surprisingly good with the 2nd dedicated Nvidia 8600 video card. I dual boot to Windows XP (however reluctantly) and it works great.

I don’t even need to talk about the software, hopefully you know all about it by now. OSX is truly awesome, especially for programmers. It’s so refreshing to have a real operating system where you can pop open a real console and still have a nice graphical interface on top of it. The OS is a matched pair with the quality of the hardware.

In short, this is a seriously great machine. I’m no Mac fanboy – I run Windows, Linux, Mac, whatever – but I’m very impressed with the quality and especially the construction and build durability. It’s honestly at a level above any other laptop, it’s a pretty stunning difference. If it is more expensive, it will make up for it in longevity and resale value alone. Definitely worth it.

Review by Parry:

Coming from a troubled Nvidia 8600M GT MacBook Pro – let me say that I was very skeptical buying another Apple Laptop with nVidia chip in it.

However, one weekend I decided to visit the nearest Apple Retail Store and check out the newly released models. My decision was mostly influenced by the reduced prices and increased battery life.

After some debating over buying the older model for same price or getting the latest one we settled on the newest mid end 99 model with 2 GPUs. As is common I got a very nice resale price for my older MacBook Pro as it had AppleCare.

This generation is an all around improvement over the past generation unless you happen to be using ExpressCard on 15″ model that is. In our case we never used the ExpressCard after attempting to use a eSATA card that did not work really well. And we have a few SD Cards that we figure we can easily use.

So on to the specific improvements over its predecessor -

1) Battery Life – I was very doubtful that the battery would last any longer than 4 hours at the maximum but was pleasantly surprised to find that for surfing/email type and the occasional CNN/Youtube flash videos getting 6+ hours was quite easy.

2) Prices – No doubt prices are the most reasonable Apple laptops have ever had. If you have no need for the dual GPU you can get the 99 model which comes with a respectable 2.53Ghz Processor, 4GB RAM and a very capable 9400M GPU.

3) Operating Temperature – I have owned my share of laptops (Apple and non-Apple) and I have to say this one is the coolest – it never gets too warm and I can use it on my lap all the times – even encoding videos using the HandBrake application did not make it uncomfortably hot. However if I switch it to use the 9600M GPU it gets warmer even on regular use. It also runs very quiet – the fans may be coming on but I never notice.

Initially there was a lot of furor over Apple’s downgrade of the Serial-ATA interface speed (used to transfer data to and from the hard disk) to 1.5Gbps but Apple quickly restored the speeds to 3Gbps – I do not however notice any difference with the 5400RPM hard disk.

About the display – it is gorgeous and colors are vibrant. I had the opportunity to use a calibrated color profile to make it look even better. However I find the display to be a little too much reflective but I am coming from almost always using matte display so I figure it’s a matter of getting used to it.

Apple’s use of Mini DisplayPort is ahead of its time – not many displays support it and so I had to buy a DVI adapter – not a big problem but Apple should at the very least re-start bundling the adapter with the Pro machines. Also, another USB port in lieu of the SD Card Reader would be quite welcome – people can use the SD Card Reader for only SD Cards, but a USB port can be used for SD Cards as well as other peripherals.

That said, this generation is overall a very nice improvement – the great battery life itself is enough to convince one to upgrade.

[ Edited to add some findings after extensive use ]

After using it for a few months, I find a handful of things moderately annoying about this laptop -

1) The positioning of USB ports – both USB ports are on one side of the laptop and they are far too closely positioned to use both at once. For example I found I could not attach my Sandisk USB thumb drive and anything else at a time. And I don’t have any irregular/unusual devices. They should really go back to having the ports on two sides or at least position them a bit more apart.

2) The Lid of the laptop is loose – this was known to me before but I never thought it would become annoying. I don’t routinely use the laptop in bed but whenever I do it’s annoying.

3) The amount of RAM Apple advertises (4GB) is not actually entirely usable – only 3.75GB is. So you lose 256Mb of RAM for the dual GPU.

Review by Tristan Harward:

This machine is without a doubt the best computer, if not the best piece of technology gear, that I have ever used or owned.

Going to try to keep this review short, but sweet.

I’ve had it for about 9 months now, basically since the Unibody MBP’s came out. First, the construction is just outstanding. The solidness of the enclosure makes the whole thing feel sturdy and basically indestructible. In 9 months, I have treated it like I treat all my equipment – I use it thoroughly without too much concern for cosmetics – and there is not a single scratch or sign of wear on the entire machine. The thing still looks new, after 9 months – that’s how durable it is. Incredible.

The speed and responsiveness and stability of the computer itself is excellent. I’m a programmer and photographer, so I take it to the max every time I use the computer, and I expect a lot of it. With 4 GB of RAM it’s never sluggish and handles everything better than any computer I’ve ever owned.

Graphics and gaming performance is surprisingly good with the 2nd dedicated Nvidia 8600 video card. I dual boot to Windows XP (however reluctantly) and it works great.

I don’t even need to talk about the software, hopefully you know all about it by now. OSX is truly awesome, especially for programmers. It’s so refreshing to have a real operating system where you can pop open a real console and still have a nice graphical interface on top of it. The OS is a matched pair with the quality of the hardware.

In short, this is a seriously great machine. I’m no Mac fanboy – I run Windows, Linux, Mac, whatever – but I’m very impressed with the quality and especially the construction and build durability. It’s honestly at a level above any other laptop, it’s a pretty stunning difference. If it is more expensive, it will make up for it in longevity and resale value alone. Definitely worth it.

Review by He who spends too much:

I don’t think I’ll go back to regular “full-size” laptops again. I didn’t think that the weight difference between my 15.4″ 2008 MacBook-Pro and the “AIR” would be so substantial, but it is. My back is thanking me. Even with the power supply and my average bring-to-work payload, I often forget that I’m wearing a bag.

As far as general computing goes, it has been — by far — the most pleasing computing experience I’ve had in over 17yrs working with computers… no doubt because of the SSD.

–Average applications load in one or two “bounces”, tops.

–Web pages load faster

–No stuttering when displaying the contents of a a folder, scrolling through image galleries, etc.

–Startup/Shutdown times.

Other PROS:

–Screen is perfect. I was worried that the glossy screen may be a little bothersome, though I’ve yet to come across a situation where it was a problem and I’ve taken it everywhere with me.

–Its build seems “solid”. Maybe it’s a trait of the new unibodies, but, when the lid is closed; it feels like a solid piece of metal that would be very difficult to damage. Maybe im naive, but I no longer feel the need to wrap my laptop in 4 layers of protection to keep it from damage in my bag.

CONS:

–Today’s laptops support up to 8GB, typically in 2x 4GB configurations. It would be nice to see support for a 4GB module in the future.

–Typical complaints: no firewire or eSATA, only 1x USB.

–Runs a little hot, and I’m not fond of the location of the exhaust vents.

OTHER:

Don’t call it a netbook or a laptop. It’s the best of both worlds. It deserves its own category.

Review by A. Barkaloff:

First of all, make sure that the battery is working properly. I just returned one with a bad battery — it kept telling me that there was no battery present and also the system kept stalling. But i did play around with one that worked properly.

I’m only going to speak about the SSD (higher end) version. If you are going to get this MacBook Air, I completely feel that you are wasting your money buying the lower end version. The lower end drive is terribly slow and feels underpowered whereas the SSD drive version beats a faster MacBook Pro with a HDD. To further illustrate, the Macbook Air SSD opens up Adobe Photoshop in 3 seconds. Word in 2 seconds or less.

So here are the pros:

–super, light…it’s addictive, wonderful. You’ll carry it everywhere, annoyingly so.

–good battery life. I think the battery life in real world conditions even beats out the 7 hour battery of the Macbook Pro. Seems to use less battery and more intelligently

–AC converter is also light to carry around (but i still think it should be lighter)

–sturdy, and able to comfortably hold with one hand

The cons:

–don’t use this for multimedia, other than simple video, YouTube, etc. If you try playing HD video on this machine loses frames

–the speakers! sorry, the speaker. don’t use this machine for presentations that involve sound. hard to hear in a busy environment (such as trade shows). really i think this is the worst con!

–the USB port is hard to reach, difficult for those USB Verizon/Sprint/AT&T mobile broadband sticks. You have to use with a cable. But i think this is just a little cosmetic issue

The non-issue issues:

–lack of DVD drive. Other than installing software or viewing DVDs that someone wants to you watch then and there, how many times do you really need to do this? If the answer is frequently, then this machine is definitely not for you (go with a Macbook Pro). If occasionally or infrequently then the networked DVD drive (using Bonjour) works really well. If you feel a need to get a portable drive, then don’t get this machine. It wasn’t meant for this, really.

So, who is this for?

–writers! Screenwriters, students, business writers, writers, period. This is the funnest machine to use if you are a writer, period. you will love the ability to take this everywhere, put in a small, light bag, just open it up and start writing, either in Word, Pages, Final Draft, etc. (I HIGHLY recommend using a service like Dropbox — [...] — so that whatever you write is automatically synced over the air to your home desktop, automatically! — no need to worry about losing your work ever!).

–traveling business people who need to show off pictures, electronic brochures, etc. Even to walk around shop floors and plop that Macbook Air out of a bag, hold in hand as you are walking

–road warriors, photographers on the road, journalists, etc.

Review by L. Russo:

I bought this as a second charger to have for my Macbook. It’s very similar to the original Apple charger although it’s a little bigger (it is not a rebranded item, it’s not the same as the original Apple charger). It seems to charge my computer fine and works pretty well except for one issue… it gets ridiculously and untouchably hot. This is a concern regarding it eventually burning out and/or burning/melting something that might be adjacent to it.

Still, for the price, it’s a great value over the original Apple charger.

Review by Ravishankar Balaji:

I purchased the charger from EMBIZ. The shipping was very fast and the product was delivered in excellent condition.

The product works perfectly. Though I do not believe it could be a genuine apple product, it looks and feels exactly like an original one !

For a person (like myself) with “just-need-a-good-working-laptop” attitude, it absolutely suffices the need.

However, I have to point out one issue with the charger : Very often, the light (amber/green) on the charger does not glow. But, I did not feel it to be a complaint. I could always see the status either on the task-bar (when the computer is being used) or the glowing LED at the back of the laptop (when its switched off).

The bottom line is – I paid 25 USD for this charger; whereas I would have ended-up spending almost 90 USD had I opted for original one.

DISCLAIMER: This is no way an anti-apple propaganda. However, this would serve to be a very good alternative if you cant afford so much money.

Review by DampGuitar:

I bought this to hook a MacBook Pro to our 50″ Plasma. I set the macBook up near TV, hooked the adapter to an HDMI cable, hooked up a bluetooth keyboard, and turned it on. Works great!!! From the couch you can basically see a high def 50″ display!!!

Review by Sammi:

I’ve tested this with my Macbook Pro Aluminium generetion 5,1 and my LG 37LF2500 LCD television, and it works perfectly. At first the picture seemed like it was zoomed in a few pixels, so I changed the screen settings on the tv from “16:9″ to “just scan”, which fixed it. The plug doesn’t look exactly like the picture here, but that’s no matter, because now I’ve got glorious 1080P going on

Review by Mirna B. Orellana:

I love this laptop sleeve. It is so stylish and can be used alone or to protect your laptop when carrying it in a bag. Great accessory for my new Macbook. Great value by the seller!

Review by roens018:

I love this zebra case—it is so cute and it protects by new MacBook Pro 13” very well!