Mossberg does MacBook

Seth Weintraub
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October 23, 2008
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No real surprises here. Mossberg echos my thoughts on the touchpad and glossy screen.  Firewire RIP.  Otherwise a winner.

Comments (22)

Drew (not verified) | October 23, 2008 - 3:44pm

The previous gen of MacBooks did not have an option between glossy vs. matt as Mossberg points out. So if you were in the market for a MacBook (before or now), you were already under the understanding that it was only available with a glossy screen.

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | October 24, 2008 - 7:29pm

I got a matte film coating for my MacBook. Easy to install, looks great. It does make the screen a little dimmer, but matte is always dimmer anyway. The coating was about $10, with the added advantage that it works as a protector.

It is statically charged. That's how it sticks.

So if you love matte, the MB series is stil a good option.

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | October 23, 2008 - 5:04pm

at the end, did he say "if you have the $1299, I can hardly recommend it."?

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | October 23, 2008 - 5:10pm

Walt smushed his words a bit... he meant "heartily"

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | October 24, 2008 - 3:07am

My thoughts exactly. But had to assume he said heartily.

gutless (not verified) | October 23, 2008 - 5:34pm

Before walt picks on the "changes" to the glossy screen in the new Macbook and it's reflections, he should look at is own glossy head.

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | October 23, 2008 - 6:39pm

this comment is way too ridiculous, period.

Cory Schulz | October 23, 2008 - 9:56pm

 Who says something like that? I have tremendous respect for Walt. He is very good at what he does and deserves at least a bit of respect.

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | October 24, 2008 - 12:57pm

Observing that he has a shiny head has no bearing on the amount of respect you have for him. He might wear a wig and I will still respect him. Ergo, I support the shiny head observation.

Jake (not verified) | October 23, 2008 - 8:30pm

I haven't heard the memory card complaint before, also, the macbooks always shipped with a glossy screen, the macbook pros previously only had the matte screen with a cto option of the glossy finish.

Lack of firewire is a big deal to me, in fact it's a dealbreaker, almost anything I do with my mac involves firewire, from hard drives to cameras, and I'm not about to spend hundreds of dollars to upgrade my hardware only to utilize a slower interface.

Visit my website and sign the petition to bring back firewire, if you feel the same way.

www.bringbackfirewire.com

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | October 24, 2008 - 4:58am

Try comparing the 'old' glossy to the 'new' glossy. In an apple store they have the old mbp and the new mbp next to each other.

The old mbp is glossy but usable. The new mbp is *way* worse - to the point that the usual collection of teenagers browsing myspace were avoiding them and crowding around the old white macbooks instead.

Bu113t (not verified) | October 24, 2008 - 6:37am

Actually, the whole thing presses down, but isn't necessarily a button. If you lightly tap without clicking the track pad down, it still registers as a click... It appears that the "click" is more for effect than function.

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | October 23, 2008 - 8:33pm

This new Macbook trackpad has NO BUTTON AT ALL!!! I REPEAT, NO BUTTON!! instead the whole thing is a button!

wait, so what you're saying is there IS a button!!
nice, walt.

Bu113t (not verified) | October 24, 2008 - 6:38am

Actually, the whole thing presses down, but isn't necessarily a button. If you lightly tap without clicking the track pad down, it still registers as a click... It appears that the "click" is more for effect than function.

Santiago (not verified) | October 23, 2008 - 9:29pm

I haven't had any problems with the glossy screen picking up glare, there is always a lamp behind me when I'm on it and I've yet to see any reflections. As for the trackpad I didn't have any problems adjusting to it, I started enjoying its innovative features right off the bat.

Apple_fan (not verified) | October 24, 2008 - 12:24am

I ordered my 2.4 macbook few days ago and can't wait. I don't mind glossy screens, I hardly use firewire (but i do understand its importance for others), I like the new trackpad, and most importantly.. now we have a great graphic card on a macbook.
I remember the days when everyone complained about how bad the choice of GC on MBs.

Dave (not verified) | October 24, 2008 - 2:54pm

Surely firewire is out of date now with so many camcorders like the new Sony TG3 HD using memory stick pro etc, what would be of more improtance as with so many windows laptops is to add a memory card slot

Benjamin Dobson | October 25, 2008 - 2:09am

Memory Sticks are used by an extremely small number of manufacturers. SD/SDHC and xD are the only ones really worth adding slots for.

Dave (not verified) | October 25, 2008 - 10:58am

NO I did say etc so I mean ANY momoryt cardds like SD miniSD blah blah anyway firewire is near dead IMO

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | October 25, 2008 - 2:16pm

I was thinking about the issue with the MB and MBP leaving off the SD card slot. It really wouldn't cost that much to put it on there, so I was trying to figure out why they wouldn't do it.

The only think I can really think of is the fact that the memory cards are always changing and if a new standard was introduced, you would be left with a port that is useless. SD cards will probably be around for a while, but who knows?

I think this is one of the reasons for doing away with firewire. USB is going to be transitioning to USB 3.0 and it will be much faster than firewire anyway, so...

Never cared for firewire anyway.

Andy (not verified) | October 27, 2008 - 11:03am

I cant stand walt mossberg...i dont understand the reasoning in having someone that old try and explain/review technology. Its like having britney spears give you a lecture about the history of the rolling stones.