Nice product

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I am a software engineer with twenty years experience developing system services for MS Windows and generic UNIX platforms. For the last ten years, my experience has been with MS based servers and workstations. The last time I used an Apple personal computer was in 1980 when I owned an Apple II+.

On a whim I purchased a MacBook running OS X 10.5.2 for my wife who has virtually no computer experience and avoids all things computer. She was not happy with my home MS Windows systems and she was not happy with the available portable computers running windows.

She has taken to the MacBook like a duck takes to water. She likes the package design, the display, and the desktop layout. She does not have the experience to appreciate the thoughtful interfaces and bundled applications that come with OS X. She just knows the entire package is enjoyable and not intimidating.

Me - I like the UNIX foundation to OS-X. Knowing the internals of both operating systems, UNIX is the clear winner when it comes to reliability, durability, predictability, consistency, and security. Additionally, UNIX (with its open source variants) does not suffer from conflict of interest between operating systems and applications. One always wonders if some MS Windows quirk exists to solve a development problem in some MS application. I quickly put the terminal icon on the MacBook desktop so I could indulge myself with the UNIX shell command line any time I want ;-).

I installed a third party wireless router and configured internet services on the MacBook in a few minutes. I also added a third party optical bluetooth mouse in about thirty seconds. It took longer to install the mouse batteries than configure the MacBook bluetooth capability.

Apple has a very solid package with the current MacBook. There is little that one needs to add to the MacBook. It comes with just about every hardware interface available today. It has ample processor, RAM, and hard disk storage for average users. It comes with dual layer DVD RW. The bundled suite of applications is adequate for the full spectrum of casual computing (e.g., web browsing, email, chat, word processing, photo/video/audio processing). Apple stuff is a bit pricy but you receive the value you pay for.

If you want a good comprehensive companion book for your MacBook, I recommend David Pogue's "Mac OS X Leopard: The Missing Manual". This book is large and contains much technical detail but is very well written. It is not for the casual computing novice that finds reading and comprehension tedious.

I have used Apple support one time and found the wait to be acceptable and support engineer to be competent, efficient and attentive. I have used MS support many times over the years and found them to be equally capable.

I have not found anything I dislike about the MacBook after thirty days of usage. My wife, however, would like the Apple logo on the lid to glow red instead of white when the MacBook is powered up.
By Curmudgeon

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