First Thoughts of My New Macbook

Well- it is now time to discuss my thoughts on the new Macbook. Initially, I was going to purchase the $1599 Macbook, but ended up ordering the $1299 Macbook. The main reason I wanted the high-end Macbook was for the backlit keyboard. The only other benefits were the 2.4MHz processor (mine has 2.0MHz) and a 250GB hard drive (mine is 160GB). I figured that I am not going to push the computer to its fullest capacity terribly often (if ever) and I can always upgrade the hard drive for $100 anytime and save the money for now. It came down to paying an additional $300 for a backlit keyboard.

After a lot of deliberation I realized that I have never had a backlit keyboard on a laptop before. I figured it's like a keyless entry system on a car. Before I had ever had a car with a keyless entry system, I had no idea how wonderful it was. Honestly, I never thought about constantly having to insert the key, turn, and remove before opening the door. I didn't bother me all that much and I was content going about my merry way. Then I bought my first car with the remote and was immediately amazed by it. In fact, I eventually forgot the days where I had to use the key at all. Now that I have it, I will never buy another car without it.

I rationalized that since I have never used the backlit keys, I really didn't know what I was missing and therefore, could still enjoy a new laptop without it. Next time may be different, but in this case, I can touch-type for the most part and ignorance is bliss, right?

Anyway, lets get back to another key point. The idea of ordering the Macbook. Ordered? Yes, ordered. You see, Tennessee has a 9.75% sales tax, so if I were to buy it at the Apple Store, it would have cost an additional $130. Always looking for a bargain, I was able to order it from Amazon.com (which also gave me a $5 rebate!).

Opening the box, my excitement was at an all-time high. After lifting the lid, I pulled the tab to lift it out of the box. It was quite cold from shipping, but looked amazing. With the machine closed, it is virtually seamless. Once opened, I have to admit to thinking it was beautiful. The LED screen is gorgeous and immensely brighter than that of our old G4. It took about 5 minutes and the operating system had initialized and the Mac was ready for use.

I must admit- all of the new gestures are awesome and really time-saving! It is really easy to get back to any program I wish to use, back a page while surfing the web, etc. The flat keys are going to take a little time to get used to for me. All in all- a fantastic piece of equipment.

Transferring some of my old files from my Windows computer has been a hassle. I have decided to reformat my iPod in order to allow iTunes to automatically sync it, but that causes some major problems. I have more than 80GB of music, video and photos. My iPod only has an 80GB capacity. I also do not wish to load all of the music onto my Macbook an bog it down and not have enough space to do anything else. So what do I do? I haven't answered that question just yet. I am trying to look at it as a good problem to have!

Once I get everything worked out, this will be awesome. For now, I am still enjoying this much more than that slow PC I have been using for over a year!

Will catch up with you later once I get it personalized.

-OUT-