Black MacBook owners - need your reviews

[knopix]

A request for Black MacBook owners..

I'm working on putting together a collection of Black MacBook reviews from real owners of the notebook.

IMO a review from someone that's owned and tested the notebook is a lot more credible than a review from someone at CNET who got to play with it for a few hours.

All of your reviews will be added to www.blackmacbook.com/reviews/
I've already had several reviews submitted by visitors but I would like to reach out to more owners

If you're interested, please email your review to reviews [at] blackmacbook.com or simply submit them here.

A few common questions:

• How would you rate the Black MacBook? (On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest)
• What are your likes and dislikes?
• Have you upgraded your MacBook? If you have, was it worth it?
• Have you had any problems with your MacBook?

Anything else you want to include is totally up to you.
Your review will influence potential future Mac owners so your opinion definitely counts

 

[Mudbug]

I'll have to play along with this once I've ordered mine - I'm just waiting until after MWSF07 just to play it safe. I've been burned too many times ordering things I don't think will be updated, then they turn around and put in things I wish I had waited for.

 

[kalisphoenix]

I'm starting a similar site:

http://www.whitecore2duoimacswithupgradedvideocardsfullramandthreeexternalharddrives.com/

 

[Digidesign]

I've had my C2D BlackBook since Nov '06. Here's my response:

How would you rate the Black MacBook? (On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest)
8.5 to a 9. I'll try and explain my reasoning with the next question.

What are your likes and dislikes?
Likes:
- Core 2 Duo, 2.0Ghz. I put it through its paces with FCP5 and it performed flawlessly. World of Warcraft runs fine on it too, under medium settings.
- Size & portability
- Black case (a little more rugged than MBP, imho)
- Battery life. I was able to watch a near 3 hour movie while on a flight, which is more than my old PBG4 could handle.
- runs Windows XP just fine, performance wise.
- Does everything I need it to do, without crashing.
- Quiet. I almost never hear the hard drive, only the whooshing fan when I run intensive programs. The fan is never a bother for me.
- Wifi works well. Was able to grab a signal from a far neighbor's house while on travelling.
- Glossy screen. Personal preference here, but I like it a lot.

Dislikes:
- The keys are very flat and smooth, so they take a bit of getting used to, versus the curved + textured keys of the MBP that is easier to type on.
- Smudges easily
- In Windows, there is no support for right-click off Bootcamp. You have to get third-party software to do it.
- In Windows, two-finger scrolling is spotty and not smooth and consistent like in OS X.
- When you switch between OS X and Windows, the clock will often go haywire and need to be reset/resynced.
- The speakers have a slight pop every now and then, even when sound is muted.
- Superdrive is sensitive. It does not like all CDs and has issues ripping tracks even when CDs are flawless.
- GPU bottleneck. Does everything I need it to do, but if they had a nicer card, I could run more games on it.

Have you upgraded your MacBook? If you have, was it worth it?
YES. I upgraded the ram to 2GB and it was worth every penny.

Have you had any problems with your MacBook?
No problems at all.

 

[knopix]

Thanks Digidesign, and everyone else that submitted their reviews through the site.

The reviews are now online at http://www.blackmacbook.com/reviews/

I'll be doing the same thing for WhiteMacbook.com in a few weeks, so white macbook owners shouldn't feel left out

Thanks again everyone.

 

[ITASOR]

How exactly would a black Macbook review and white Macbook review be any different? I don't really understand the point of a Macbook review site, but I really don't understand why you would separate the colors...

That would be like asking for reviews of the video iPod, but saying you only want reviews of the black ones.

 

[phungy]

Color doesn't really matter. It's the same T7200 processor, 2.0Ghz, both can be upgraded to 200GB, 2GB RAM. All hardware is the same except for the paintjob. Personally, I think the Blackbook looks great and would have gotten it to match my desk but think it is a bit overrated too. I wouldn't notice a Blackbook in an auditorium full of students but I would notice a white Macbook.

 

[knopix]

How exactly would a black Macbook review and white Macbook review be any different? I don't really understand the point of a Macbook review site, but I really don't understand why you would separate the colors...

You're right, they're very similar. I had these two sites separated because they had two different galleries and video sections, I figured people interested in buying a Black MacBook aren't going to be interested in seeing photos of the white one.
Now that I added a Review section it's too awkward to merge it all into one site so I'm going to leave it alone as is.
In other words I'd do it differently if I was to start over, but it's no big deal.