Apple MacBook 2010 White Unibody review

Apple doesn't have a very large notebook lineup; just three MacBook Pro models and one MacBook. They've always kept it simple and that should make decision time painless, right? Not so much when it comes to the 13" machines with the MacBook and 13" MacBook Pro overlapping in most ways.

Indeed, plastic never looked so good-- think of the MacBook as the perfect esthetic companion to the white iPhone 3GS. The unibody design carried over from the last gen MacBook, is curvier and has a glossier lid than older MacBook generations and the casing is made from a single piece of polycarbonate for improved strength. The underside has a soft touch finish (again like the last gen model), and that keeps it firmly on your desk. The bottom panel is affixed with 8 tiny philips head screws; remove it and you have access to everything-- hard drive, 2 SODIMM RAM slots, the optical drive and the tiny motherboard. Unlike the MacBook Pro 15", the MacBook has a single fan inside rather than two.

Bottom cover removed for access to all components. The black rectangle is the battery, the hard drive is beside it, the optical drive is above the the 2 RAM slots are just above the hard drive.

What's new from the last gen MacBook? Apple bumped the CPU and GPU so they match the 2010 MacBook Pro 13". While the CPU increase is modest from the older MacBook unibody model, moving from the NVIDA 9400M to the NVIDIA 320M makes all the difference in the world, especially if you're into gaming or use apps that make use of the GPU (Photoshop et al.). The new MacBook gets a higher capacity "10 hour" battery that's still sealed inside under the bottom cover. While manufacturer estimates for battery life are unabashedly optimistic, in our tests the 2010 MacBook is good for 7 hours of use when surfing the web, playing some YouTube video with Flash 10.1 beta that uses the GPU, working on Office documents and checking email. That's excellent compared to most Windows laptops on the market with similar CPUs and screen sizes. 

 The bottom is affixed with 8 philips head screws. 

Geekbench Benchmarks

We ran Geekbench 2.0 64 bit on the MacBook upgraded to 4 gigs of RAM and it fared similarly to the 13" 2010 MacBook Pro, as expected. Going from 2 to 4 gigs of RAM increased the overall score by 100 points in our tests. Unfortunately, Geekbench doesn't test the graphics subsystem, so the real improvements over the last gen MacBook, graphics, won't show here.

Geekbench overall score: 3713
Integer: 3336
Memory: 2805
Stream: 1984

The superior GPU in the new MacBook is one of the strongest reasons to upgrade from an older MacBook, though we're bummed that Apple is still stingy with the VRAM-- the NVIDIA 320M gets only a paltry 256 megs of dedicated memory. That seems a few years out of date compared to Windows notebooks. Still, when running Mac OS it's more than enough for speedier window opening and better graphics performance in video and photo apps that use the GPU. If you attach a very large, high resolution display, the low VRAM and introductory-level discrete GPU does take a toll on performance though. The MacBook doesn't have switchable graphics where the machine switches between Intel integrated and dedicated graphics like the larger MacBook Pro models. It's all NVIDIA all the time.

Video of macbook 2010

Conclusion

If you want Mac OS (and we can't blame you), and are on a budget, the MacBook is Apple's most affordable notebook. It's attractive, has a colorful and bright LED backlit display that's a great improvement over pre-unibody MacBook models and the updated graphics give the machine enough punch for light gaming. It's a fast and responsive machine whether running Windows 7 or Mac OS X, and the multi-touch trackpad is superb. If you're not wed to Mac OS, there are certainly compelling Windows laptops in the same price range with better specs, but few have the Mac's build quality.

We do live in terror of the pure white finish that's scratchable and can stain. If you're rough on your computers, the MacBook unibody won't likely stay glossy and pretty for long. It is fairly impervious to dents and it is easy to wipe and clean though. Still, we wish Apple would find a way to toughen up the finish or move on to another one altogether (old black macbook, we miss you).

Pro:  

Good performance, very attractive and different, lovely gloss display, fantastic trackpad, very good chiclet keyboard, quiet and cool. Much more powerful than old generation pre-unibody MacBooks, can support large monitors.

Specs:

Display: 13.3" LED backlit display, 1280 x 800 resolution. NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics with 256 megs VRAM. Has Mini DisplayPort for video out (requires adapter to plug into monitors and projectors). Supports mirroring and extended desktops with monitors up to 2560 x 1600 resolution.

Battery: Lithium Ion rechargeable, 63.5 Wh, "10 hour" battery. Battery is sealed inside computer body, though it's accessible if you remove the computer's bottom cover. MagSafe charging port, 60W world charger.

Performance: 2.4GHz Intel Core2 Duo P8600 processor. 2 gigs DDR3 PC-8500, 1066MHz RAM, has 2 SODIMM slots. Apple sells it with a max of 4 gigs RAM, but there's no reason it shouldn't upgrade to 8 gigs via two 4 gig RAM modules.

Drives: 250 gig, 5400rpm SATA drive. Dual layer DVD burner (SuperDrive).

Size: 13 x 9.12 x 1.08 inches. Weight: 4.7 pounds.

Camera: iSight webcam and unidirectional mic.

Audio: Built in stereo speakers, mic and 3.5mm stereo headphone/mic combo jack with digital audio out.

Networking: Gigabit Ethernet, Integrated WiFi 802.11a/b/g/n and Bluetooth 2.1 +EDR.

Software: Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. Apple's iLife 09 application suite (iPhoto, iMovie, GarageBand and iPhoto), QuickTime, Safari web browser, Mac mail, contacts and calendar applications.

Ports: Two USB ports, Mini DisplayPort, Ethernet RJ-45, combined audio in/out 3.5mm jack and Kensington lock slot.

 

Source

Posted in: Apple, Gadget, Laptops, Mac OS, Macbook, review