14 DAY TRIAL // Apple has clearly struck gold with the new MacBook, and the little machine has received glowing reviews everywhere, even from those who have a reputation of being less than enthusiastic about Apple products, such as Paul Thurrott.
"I particularly value the MacBook's screen. Like many PC notebooks, the MacBook uses the so-called 'glossy' screen type, which enhances contrast but often creates glare, depending on the lighting. However, unlike all the glossy screens I've seen to date, the Apple screen manages to offer incredibly high contrast with a minimum of glare. Indeed, if you're looking directly at the screen, there's almost never any glare. It's one of the prettiest screens I've ever seen," Thurrott writes.
Of course, this being Paul Thurrott, there is the inevitable moment when he will get Windows up and running on the Mac. "The MacBook comes with Apple's reliable Mac OS X and the highly recommended iLife suite of digital-media applications, which are without peer in the Windows world. That said, one of the first things I did when I got the MacBook was download and install Boot Camp, Apple's dual-boot utility that lets you install-get this-Windows XP on any of the company's Intel-based Macs... That's right, this MacBook is now running XP Professional."
As usual, Apple's latest machine performed admirably even in Windows, the only inconvenience being the fact that by default the key mapping is Mac-centric, which can easily be changed from the preferences, but Thurrott didn't know so he used a third party program that did pretty much the same thing.
"What I'm left with is the ultimate 'best of both worlds' scenario, at least in the tech industry. The MacBook is a dual-booting sensation, capable of offering the best of both Mac OS X and XP, regardless of which I need. I've moved my email over to the machine, so I'll be using it regularly going forward. The screen, as I said, is a joy to behold."