58 Responses to “Apple MacBook MB466LL/A 13.3Inch Laptop”

1. William A. Fuller says:

   March 23, 2011 at 12:00 am

   Perfect for my needs
   Rating:5 out of 5 stars
   OK, my plan was to buy a cheap laptop for travel and instal some version of Linux, so that’s what I started out looking for. Obviously, I just couldn’t bring myself to do that. I’m a MacHead from way back, so syncing with the desktop and application compatibility became an issue. I needed small and light, and this is definitely small and light. I needed rugged and this is rugged. But, the keyboard is absolutely wonderful. I’m not a trackpad fan, but I really like this one. Took about an hour to adapt to it, and now I wouldn’t have anything else. The display is beautiful. On of the best I’ve ever seen with one minor exception. The glossy screen is less than ideal in some lighting conditions. By and large, I can adjust the tilt of the display and it’s fine, but the reflections can be a bit much. OTOH, in decent lighting conditions it’s gorgeous. I spent way more than I intended, but I’m using this machine much more than I intended also. It’s seen every bit as much action as my desktop since it arrived. The original plan was to use it only for travel, since I really don’t much like the laptop form factor. Except for this one.
2. M. Hayden says:

   March 26, 2011 at 12:00 am

   Couldn’t be happier
   Rating:5 out of 5 stars
   Excellent buy. Cheapest I could find on the internet. No issues with delivery. Couldn’t be more pleased.
3. Linda says:

   April 1, 2011 at 12:00 am

   Perfect for Me
   Rating:5 out of 5 stars
   I purchased this laptop after doing much research since Apple’s product line has gotten increasingly large and complicated. There was also some of the “do I really need this” since I have a relatively new 20″ iMac G5 and an older G4. I was concerned that the screen wouldn’t be large enough, but wanted something small and lightweight enough to carry with me when I’m traveling. Well, this fits the bill, weighing only 4-1/2 lbs.

   As other reviewers have stated, it’s taken me a while to get used to the trackpad also and I’ll admit to just ignoring the many features before finally starting to use it as designed. Now I love it!

   I was also concerned about the speaker system and was right. For me, it’s not good enough. A pair of small headphones makes all the difference in the world, though, and I’m considering connecting it wirelessly to my Bose Lifestyle, but it’s not a “have to” to get good sound.

   Also, I neglected to notice in the Description that it doesn’t have a Firewire port and that gave me some difficulty in transferring information from the G5. In using a USB port for that task, the computers recognized each other but the G5 kept searching for another computer, and an hour on the phone with Apple support didn’t solve the problem, so I was given a Case No. the very first day. I finally just manually transferred the information I wanted, leaving all the accumulated junk. The next day, I realized what the problem was: the G5 had been looking for my Wii, which was not turned on but is wirelessly connected to my network.

   My first computer was an Apple IIe in the early 1980s and I’ve had many more since then; some I liked more than others. This is one I would highly recommend. The weight is good and the screen size is perfectly adequate. If my eyes need a larger font, that’s easily done. It has quickly become my primary computer.
4. Yu-jin Chia says:

   April 8, 2011 at 12:00 am

   Good Generational Improvement
   Rating:5 out of 5 stars
   I’ve owned a white polycarb MacBook for just over a year, and recently bought one of these new ones. As such, this review largely covers improvements and differences between these two models. I understand that the older gen MacBooks are still available both new and secondhand, and as such many might be interested in knowing how they differ.

   Sheer performance wise, this machine is on par with my older MacBook. This is significant when you consider that I upgraded that one to the same amount of RAM (2 GB) and that it had a more powerful processor (2.2 ghz, as opposed to 2.0). For sheer crunching power, it’s a very fast machine- made more so by the innate superiority of the Mac OS. Startup time is measured in seconds, and it is good to go in a heartbeat from sleep mode.

   The case design looks nicer, is less prone to scratching and discoloration, and is thinner and feels more solid. The whole package is lighter, and the screen seems to be improved as well (brighter in general, and sharper). Some customers have reported a lot of glare on the glossy display, but I haven’t really noticed (admittedly, I’m known to not notice when my windshield is dirty either, though). The keyboard has a different feel to it than the previous one- less plastic and more rubbery. It makes less noise, but the general size, feel, and response is similar. I like it. The trackpad is now a ‘glass’ one piece pad, with no visible button. You push the bottom part to click, and can perform most iPhone-style multitouch input. It is a huge improvement over the old touchpad- far more responsive, especially when your fingers aren’t perfectly dry. The surface feels much smoother as well, and it’s easier to clean. One important thing to note: this ‘low end’ MacBook does not have the backlit keyboard. That’s only in the high-end model. Personally, I don’t really care- backlit KBs are more for show than function in my opinion, and it uses more battery power.

   I am a gamer, and as such I was particularly interested in the improved graphics suite on the new MacBook. My older one used an Intel integrated X3100 GPU. It was fine for things that were 2 or more years old, but let’s just say you probably don’t want to try playing Call of Duty 4 on it. I loaded up WoW on it and got from 10-20 FPS in most areas on the lowest settings. Not too hot. Right off, I can say that the new MacBook has greatly improved graphics performance (in the case of WoW, at least 20 FPS on medium settings). While it might be a stretch to say it has 5 times better performance (as noted in the spec sheet) the nVidia GF 9400M is certainly at least double the power of the old Intel integrated. I wouldn’t recommend you replace your gaming rig with a vanilla MacBook- for that, you probably want a Pro at least- but it’ll do in a pinch.

   The MacBook has a built-in camera and mic, and hidden speakers. All of them perform very well- I’ve used the camera and mic for videoconferencing, and they turn out as good a picture and quality as you’d expect out of any laptop. The speakers are good enough for movie playback; no complaints in that regard. As with the previous Macs, iLife suite and quite a few other tools are included, making the machine a true multimedia station right out of the box. The software is very intuitive and well designed.

   Input ports are perhaps the only concern for the MacBook. There’s a headphone, mic jack, ethernet, mini-DVI, and 2 USB ports. Unlike the previous MacBook and the Pro, there’s no FireWire port. There aren’t any good solutions for adapting FireWire to fit a USB or ethernet port, so if you have older devices that can’t use USB you might be out of luck. While the DVI port is nice and small, you need to buy adapter heads to use it with anything. The SuperDrive is as good as ever, and seems to make less noise loading and ejecting than previous incarnations. Apple Remote is an option that you have to pay extra for now; it was free with my old machine. I liked it, but don’t really miss it. The MagSafe power adapter looks completely identical to my old one, even down to the somewhat mismatched polycarbonate white casing.

   Generally speaking, the new MacBook runs quiet and warm- rarely hot, and never along the entire case as the old one sometimes did. I frequently had the fan rev up to really high speed on my older machine, especially when viewing movies- this one handles it without so much as a whisper.

   In terms of modifiability, replacing or changing RAM is very similar to the old MacBook. Replacing the hard drive is even easier- it’s literally right there by the battery when you open the battery cover, and you can pull it right out. Apple used to purposely make it really hard to upgrade or swap components; I’m glad they’ve decided to steer away from that rather frustrating doctrine.

   About the only major minus I’ve seen when comparing machines is battery life. The older MacBook definitely lasted longer and took less time to charge. I’m pretty sure this has something to do with the new graphics processor and perhaps some sort of logic board modifications (the older one was notorious for randomly failing). It is probably also why it tends to run cooler when plugged into AC power, which I think is a worthwhile tradeoff for slightly longer charge times.

   Warranty-wise, Apple is very solid for repairs under coverage. I had a logic board failure in my old machine, and had it replaced and ready for pickup within the same day at the local Apple store. Macs come with 1 year full coverage, extendable to 3 years. I recommend you purchase that warranty, and additionally- if you bought from a third party vendor like Amazon- make sure that they have your actual purchase date in their records. They often go from the sale date to the VENDOR, not to you, and that isn’t really right or fair. Call AppleCare and they’ll be glad to fix it for you.

   If you own an older MacBook, the question of upgrading is a bit tricky. I gave my white MacBook to a friend that needed a computer, so this was a replacement. If you’re just shopping for upgrades, bear in mind that aside from style and video performance the new MacBook is not a great deal better than the old one. That said, the old one was pretty darn good as is, and if you’re thinking of buying this as your first Mac or first Apple laptop, it comes with my highest recommendations. Frankly, there is no good reason not to choose a Mac over a Windows laptop, unless you simply can’t afford one. Don’t believe it? Go visit a local Apple store and see for yourself. You will be convinced.
5. M. Smith says:

   April 9, 2011 at 12:00 am

   Great Investment
   Rating:4 out of 5 stars
   This is my first mac and I couldn’t be happier with it. I was excited to find out that it came with Apache and PHP installed on it right out of the box. Not that it is hard to put them on a windows machine, but it saved me time to do other things. I also love how easy it is to install applications. You know where they are being installed and you know where their associated files are. Since it is built on a UNIX foundation you don’t need to worry about messing with the registry.

   My only problem that I have with it is that I should have got the one higher up. The only reason is because the keyboard can be difficult to see in rooms that are not that well lit. The back lit keyboard would have been a nice feature on it, but the price for the next macbook up just couldn’t be justified.
6. Dale Ellis says:

   April 12, 2011 at 12:00 am

   Almost there
   Rating:4 out of 5 stars
   This has been my first Mac computer (I swore I wouldn’t buy a Windows machine with Vista standard). I have been using it for gaming, web surfing, and document moding. I will be the first to admit that I am probably not using this thing to its fullest potential, but I have a pretty good feel for the ins and outs at this point. I did notice that several programs did not respond or function in ways that I needed them to, but this was easily fixed with some searches and a few downloads including the Mac version of OpenOffice. To be fair, I have done the same thing with every Windows computer I ever used. The computer also dual-booted an old copy of Windows XP without any incident, so I can run a couple of programs that do not support Mac. There is only one dark stain on this otherwise excellent item: the power cord.

   After a few days using this product, I notice the central block of the charger cord was very hot when I used the laptop and charged it simultaneously. This was almost too hot to touch, and I still worry about scorching my couch with it. When I went online to investigate this, I found two disturbing facts. First, this is not unique. This is how most of the cords come, and no one seems willing to place it on anything overly flammable. Second, this can lead to a short life for my charger, and a replacement will cost about $80 and have the same problem. Most people seem to consider this a yearly expense for the book, but I am not thrilled about it. I love my Macbook, but if I had known this ahead of time, I may have bought a different model. Please consider this in your production decisions.

   Conclusion!

   Pros: Good Battery Life, Better performance than the components should provide, NOT Vista, Easily Customizable, No Noticeable Performance Glitches, Dual-booted XP perfectly.

   Cons: Needs more USB ports, Very Bad Charger Cord!
7. insight with perspective says:

   April 16, 2011 at 12:00 am

   i have NOT received my $50 rebate from amazon
   Rating:4 out of 5 stars
   i ordered this item december 23, 2008,

   received the item the next day,

   completed the rebate process online,

   got a reference number for the completion,

   got an email in a month or so from amazon that the rebate was “approved of”,

   called amazon more than five times as i haven’t seen the rebate,

   only to be told
   
   1) i didn’t complete the process,
   
   2) the rebate was on the way,
   
   3) i would have to call the “rebate center” (that is NOT part of amazon) where i got irrelevant recorded messages and no real person to talk to,
   
   4) i would receive it in a week or two since i indeed completed the required process,
   
   5) i would get an email from amazon with “complete information” about the rebate.

   i went to the order information page in my amazon account and there is NO way to contact amazon with this issue but to call.

   so here it is.

   amazon will probably block this review, as well.

   but i will NOT go away, Amazon, until i get my rebate and your reasonable explanation for this otherwise shameful practice of yours.

   stay tuned.
8. K. Russell Walker says:

   April 19, 2011 at 12:00 am

   GREAT
   Rating:5 out of 5 stars
   product is an apple so of course it is awesome. i love the new mouse pad and alsothe built in camera. everything about the computter is great. the weight, the size, and the portability are neato. it was delivered quickly and the transaction was smooth.