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Top pick: The dark side
Apple has replaced its superb iBook consumer portable Macintosh with a new line of Intel-based MacBooks that run either the iTunes-generation's Mac OS X operating system or Dad's Microsoft Windows, and in doing so it makes applesauce of the myth that Apple computers cost more than comparable Windows machines.There are three basic MacBook configurations, starting at $1,099, two of them in traditional "iPod white" cases that are little more than an inch thick. Our favorite model, however, is the new, all-black MacBook ($1,499 and up), which no one will ever mistake for the snow-white iBooks used in elementary schools. It has a two-gigahertz Intel Core Duo processor, a 13.3-inch glossy widescreen display, a SuperDrive that reads and writes DVD and CD discs, an 80-gigabyte hard drive, 512 megabytes of system memory, a built-in video camera, wireless Airport and Bluetooth networking, and a complete suite of Apple software, including iTunes, Spotlight, and video iChat. The new screen technology delivers deeper blacks for viewing movies or photos. (www.apple.com) |
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