So I got the chance to play with the new MacBooks. All I can say is that I want one badly. What’s that, you say? It gets toasty? The screen is too glossy? Well, maybe. Here’s what I think after some limited use.

Note: I actually wrote this article a week ago but never posted it. I’m fashionably late to the MacBook party now, but I brought plenty of pizza!

The Screen

Yes, it’s glossy. Under indoor lighting, the glossiness didn’t really interfere with my use of the computer. Glossy or no, its image quality flat-out beautiful; crisp, bright, evenly-lit, color-rich. It’s among the best laptop displays I’ve seen, right alongside the MacBook Pro’s. But of course, there is a tradeoff: under some lighting conditions, I could imagine the glare becoming rather irritating. Not that it matters; my iBook is already damn near unusable outside as it is. Looking at my iBook’s screen side-by-side with a MacBook’s screen is pretty painful; it makes me wonder what I’m doing to my eyes by using this iBook. Bottom line, it won’t change your minds on the glossy screens--if you hate them, you’ll still hate them. If you love them, you’ll still love them. If you’re like me and fall somewhere in between, well, you’ll probably still be somewhere in between.

The keyboard

I’m an English major. As such, I write a lot, so you could probably guess that the feel of a keyboard is very important to me. For example, I now have a hard time using regular desktop keyboards after using my iBook’s keyboard for so long. The keys just feel so big and unwieldy. When I first saw the MacBook’s keyboard, I was a bit skeptical. Would it have a nice feel to it? Did they make the keys smaller? I’m glad to report that I love the keyboard. It has generally good response and is as solid as a rock. It may take a little getting used to, but I am impressed. Unfortunately, the trackpadf button gives less feedback than the iBook. I like the fact that my iBook gives a nice satisfying “click” sound and tactile response when I press the trackpad button. The MacBook’s trackpad button doesn’t give that nice click. At least it’s still a fairly large single button. I might be strange, but I absolutely can’t stand multiple trackpad buttons. It has to do with the way I rest my hand on the trackpad, I think. The two-fingered-tap-and-click contextual menu function of the MacBook’s trackpad (place two fingers on the trackpad and press the trackpad button) provides the best of both worlds in the time I spent with the MacBook.

The build quality

My iBook is generally a solid machine, though it does creak a little. It may be too early to say anything conclusive, but the MacBook doesn’t seem to exhibit any creaking.

The niceties

After getting my iBook’s latch stuck on a few occasions, I was happy to see that Apple decided to forgo the latch completely with the MacBook. For those of you worried that the MacBook’s lid wouldn’t stay closed well without a latch, rest assured that the MacBook lid will stay closed until you tell it to. MagSafe is a welcome addition, but seems like it can also get annoying. But it sure beats having a laptop end up on the floor, I’m sure.

Heat?

The MacBook’s case didn’t seem to get any hotter than my iBook’s case, although after maxing out the cores for a few minutes (by running “yes > /dev/null” in Terminal), I did notice some hot air blowing out the back of the machine. The fan did kick in, and the case got warm but not what I would describe as hot.

Performance?

The 2.0 GHz MacBook handles 1080p high-definition H.264 video smoothly; or at least that’s what the Cars trailer I played on it indicated. Really, as long as you’re not doing 3D rendering or heavy gaming or anything along those lines, I think the MacBook’s integrated GPU holds up fairly well. Just be certain to add memory; you’ll need it.

I didn’t run any benchmarks, but it’s safe to say that it is at least as responsive as the other Core Duo Macs out there.

Overall, I was very impressed by the MacBook in my initial experience with it. The next step would be to, you know, buy one. Though would it be worth it to replace my 18-month-old iBook?

I guess I have a couple weeks until I get paid to decide.