22Mar/105
Apple MacBook MC207LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop
- Ships in Certified Frustration-Free Packaging
- 2.26GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 3MB on-chip shared L2 cache running 1:1 with processor speed
- 250GB Hard Drive, 8x Double-layer SuperDrive, 2GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM
- 13.3-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit glossy widescreen display with support for millions of colors
- Mac OS X v10.6 Snow Leopard, up to 7 Hours of Battery Life
Product Description
The MacBook uses a graphics processor that economizes space in a whole new way. A traditional computer logic board contains multiple components: the CPU, two chips that control communication throughout the computer, and the graphics processor. The logic board in the MacBook contains only two components: the CPU and a graphics processor with all of the core logic built into a single chip.Open your MacBook and you're instantly greeted by glorious full screen brightnes... More >>


March 22nd, 2010 - 18:47
My son has had a MacBook for about 2 or 3 yrs, and it has been a disapointment. I’ve got 3 Dell’s in the house, but my son insisted on getting a Mac because he thought it was better. First of all, for $1K, all you get is a basic computer with a small HD and only a 13″ screen. For ~ half the price, you can get a PC with a 15″ screen and more powerfull chip and drive. We’ve had several reliability issues with the Mac. One time, the bottom half of the screen stayed blank, so we had to bring it to the “genius bar”, and fortunately it was still under warranty – solution was to replace the screen. On two other occassions, we had to bring it in to have the disk drive replaced since the CD/DVD’s got stuck and would not eject. Another problem with Mac is they don’t run all the programs that a PC does. So my son just partitioned his HD and installed Windows7 on his Mac so he could run the programs his Apple OS won’t run. He conclueded that Windows7 is better, and he wants a Dell notebook for his next computer. My other son also wants a Dell notebook now.
My kids learned a valuable lesson which I am passing on to you – you don’t always get what you pay for.
Rating: 2 / 5
March 22nd, 2010 - 21:24
I have had my macbook for about 3 years. I love the interface and the aesthetics of the computer. Within the last year, I have begun to experience trouble with my internet speed. It took 30 seconds for a webpage like DrudgeReport, all text, to load. Trying to watch streaming video is almost hopeless. I watch video for 10 seconds, it loads for 3 seconds, I watch for 10, load for 3, etc. My blackberry Bold is faster than my 13″ Macbook!
I upgraded to Leopard and thought surely that will solve my problems. No, it did not. I bought a new router. That did not do a single thing. I am not a computer whiz but I have been using PCs for the last 20 years (actually, my first computer was an Apple IIe). I am not computer illiterate. It should not be this difficult to get my mac to perform as fast as a PC laptop. Incidentally, I can connect my wife’s Dell to our wireless and she gets blazing fast wireless, so the router and network are working just fine.
I am so fed up and frustrated with Apple. After doing online searches to solve this problem, it seems that many, many people share my frustration and have uber slow internet. There are a myriad of proposed solutions…not of which have worked for me. It should be easy and quick to fix any problems and updates should be made available from Apple.
Here I am, stuck with my thousand dollar computer which I purchase specifically so that I could easily and quickly access the internet and streaming media. I feel like I have gone back 12 years in regard to speed.
Buyer beware…Apple is not as intuitive or as functional as they advertise. Yes, it is a sexy machine but it seems that often it does not perform like it should. I would much rather have a PC than this white brick of a computer.
PS – forgot to add that the internal fan likes to run at 6000+ RPMs on a regular basis. It is LOUD and HOT. Also, when this fan runs so loud and hot, it suck up your battery and slows down everything else that you are trying to do. oh, guess what? Apple does not have a fix that you can download. WTF?! Seriously. You have to get a third party program that is fortunately free and fortunately it works. Apple should provide this themselves but they do not.
I cannot understand this company. They do some things so well but just drop the ball on other things.
Rating: 2 / 5
March 22nd, 2010 - 23:04
Consider the MacBook Pro instead.
For those who don’t want to carry the bulky 17″ or 15.4″ just for the matte screen, this is a good alternative? Why? You may apply anti-reflective film directly over the image plane. This is not the same as applying anti-reflective film on the glossy unibody MacBook Pro, because the image actually project about 3mm before hitting the matte film, which degrades the image by reducing clarity.
The plastic body is a vast improvement from the flawed design from May, 2006. The plastic body is more resilient and is not as likely to be dented or be deformed from normal use. The bottom plate is rubberized aluminum. It may help heat dissipation. The previous version has a very poor record with heat dissipation, so hard drive failure rate is significantly higher than any other product on the market (regardless of brand). It is a sliver (like two sheets of paper) thinner than the predecessor. (SO WHAT!)
What’s so bad about this unit?
Let me list the negative aspects of this ‘new’ product, now I am done with the positive attributes, let me outline the bad and the ugly–regardless of how trivial they might be.
* At $999, it’s only $170 less than the MacBook Pro.
* No FireWire of any kind. Apple might as well call this the ‘NeuterBook’.
* No IR remote access.
* No backlit keyboard.
* Wider and deeper than the previous version (Sorry, we are not dealing with B-movies, so these are not good attributes).
* A few ounces heavier than the 13.3″ MacBook Pro.
* No SD card slot.
I think we are easily giving up more than $170 of convenience and equipment.
Let this product fail. It’s not meant to be. Stay away from this.
Rating: 1 / 5
March 22nd, 2010 - 23:54
I bought this Mac looking for better computer quality. I hear a lot of good things when I ask about Macs, such as no virus’s, ergonomics, sleek, Linux etc. I had this Mac for about 3 days. It was smooth, efficient, and just plain good looking. I had time to create a Sims 3 game. I could play on Farmville and chat with my family ON WIRELESS with no problem. Then all of the sudden, with out any warning whatsoever, the wireless stops working and after I ran a few tests it said the airport card was not installed, then after re-installing everything, it’s still says “No airport card installed”. Sad Face :[ Now I have to go through the head ache of returning and exchanging this product for either a new one. Total wet blanket on my hot affair with Macbook. Would I buy another Mac book?
sure if I had a money tree out back that I could harvest any day of the week!
Rating: 2 / 5
March 23rd, 2010 - 00:47
The absence of a FireWire Port is a MAJOR flaw.
Get the smaller MacBook Pro instead. (Only $168 more)
This Macbook is a non-starter due to no Firewire. Removing Firewire is like taking all the Philips screwdrivers out of a toolbox.
Firewire Target Disk Mode is arguably one of the most useful Mac diagnostic tools. With Firewire you can safely migrate, REPAIR, or perform component tests on a Mac, without damaging the internal drive. Ethernet may work, IF you have two FUNCTIONAL machines. The great thing about Firewire Target Disk mode was that if the Hard Drive or OS was corrupted, or the computer was for some reason unbootable you could still get data off of it quickly, without tools or special equipment. Firewire Target disk mode has saved my rear several times on every machine I have owned.
Thousands of devices are Firewire ONLY, with more coming out all the time and this Macbook will NEVER be able to use ANY of them.
Some FireWire advantages are:
True Target Disk Mode (ethernet can be used ONLY if the ‘Bad’ machine will boot)
FireWire can be daisy chained
Bus Power – FW – Up to 30V/45W vs USB 5V/500mA
Peer to Peer Connections (no host or CPU required)
Multiple Host on a bus support
TCP/IP Networking support
No Drivers Required (config ROM built in) aka Plug and Play
Remote Control of devices like cameras
CableTV Box Support
You can’t transfer (at full quality) a VHS tape or other Video tape using an Analog-to-DV Converter without Firewire
DMA transfers – device to device data transfer no CPU involved
Firewire allows two operating modes. One is asynchronous, like USB which suffers from latency, bus contention and collisions.
The other is isochronous mode, and it lets a device carve out a certain dedicated amount of bandwidth that other devices can’t touch. It gets a certain number of time slices each second all its own. The advantages for audio/video should be obvious: that stream of data can just keep on flowing, and as long as there isn’t more bandwidth demand than the wire can handle, nothing will interfere with it. No collisions, no glitches. Firewire is Rock Solid.
There are no USB to Firewire adapters. (Desperate Macbook owners are looking, but it can’t be done.) Firewire MUST be in the computer. USB can not “keep up” with Firewire speed.
The Macbook Pro has Firewire. (The 13.3 inch is Only $168 more.)
The MacBook has no slot for an Express Card. There’s NO WAY to connect any Firewire device to the new MacBooks…period.
Keep in mind that when Apple dropped ADB, SCSI and floppy drives in the Mac at least there where alternatives. USB floppy drives and usb to ABD adapters that protected your investment. There is NO option to connect existing or future Firewire products to the new Macbook.
When you have a Mac (with Firewire) that will not boot, it will most often still work in target disk mode making it possible to either fix the hard drive or at least back it up.
If you want to go into a creative field then Firewire is a must, and will be a standard for a long time, this includes video, photo, and especially anything to do with music.
Firewire is “isochronous”, basically meaning that you can pump “clocked” data though it in real time. USB works more like TCPIP, with the data chopped up into packets and later reassembled.
Firewire is continuing to improve. (Firewire 3200 will be out soon.) Firewire is more relevant than it ever has been.
Apple has always been a visionary company, leading the way in new technology adoption. This one has me scratching my head. They have removed a mature, ubiquitous and robust protocol and replaced it with… NOTHING!
Get the smaller MacBook Pro instead.
Rating: 1 / 5