Macworld First Look: Apple's new MacBook. Glossy screen, new keyboard style, a black model, as well as all the other MacBook features (Intel Core Duo, built-in camera and remote, no modem). The black model has a matte finish, which I'm pleased to hear; I was a little worried it'd be black-shiny on the outside. CNet first look photos. Forbes is excited. Apple's feature comparison chart for all MacBook and MacBook Pro models. Also, a cynical ArsTechnica editorial on why people like glossy screens. I'd say that the glossy screen didn't seem that bad when I checked out the MacBook in the store the other day, but I think that's precisely his point. I do prefer the anti-glare finish of the MBPros (and all other iBooks and PowerBooks to date).
News to me from the Macworld article: MacBooks have a new trackpad feature where clicking while keeping two fingers on the trackpad becomes a right-click/control-click, such as for contextual menus. According to the article, the right-click feature is available on the 17" MacBook Pro but not the 15". Guy At The Store said you can turn this feature on for the 15" using the "defaults" command, but I can't find a web page on the subject. But I thank Guy At The Store for telling me about iScroll, a free third-party extension that grants magical two-finger scrolling trackpad features to PowerBooks made prior to 2005, including the two-finger click. I may have one less reason to upgrade.
Mostly because I don't fully understand the consequences yet, I'm a little annoyed that the MacBook power charger is a different wattage than the MacBook Pro charger. I hope this just means that a MBPro would just take longer to charge using a MB charger, and that an MBPro charger wouldn't make any difference to an MB. I'm very used to being able to take my laptop to the living room, or to other people's houses, and "borrow juice" without slinging around my own charger. The MagSafe connector already means that, were I to get a MacBook Pro, I would not be able to use our iBook's charger. But in the distant future when all computers are MacBooks, I really hope I don't have to keep track of which charger is which wattage. (I actually assume Apple has thought of this, but I'd like to know more about the consequences of using the "wrong" wattage supply with an MB or MBPro.) One person claims to have measured actual wattage consumption, mostly below 75 watts. James Gosling complains that airplane power outlets for business travellers are limited at 70 watts, and MBPro 85-watt supplies won't even turn on at that wattage, regardless of actual power draw. Anyone got good info on this?
The wattage difference on the chargers isn't very different from before. The chargers for the 15" and 17" PowerBook G4 (also, the 14" iBook G4) have a higher wattage than the chargers for the 12" PowerBook G4 and iBook G4.
I now have a 15" PowerBook, but I used to have a 12" iBook. The lower-wattage chargers work fine on the higher-wattage machines. It charges a bit more slowly, and the chargers get a bit warmer (but not unbearably slow.) The only downside is that doing intensive tasks (big games, HD movies, etc.) on a higher-wattage machine with a lower-wattage charger will actually slowly drain the battery.