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I reviewed my first Macbook (Mi-Chan) one month after I started using it. This was way back in 2006. I had been quite excited about switching from virus prone Windows to a good ol’ Mac OS. I would have gladly switched to Ubuntu, which is the cheapest alternative (plus the geek in me would always go for open source), but it doesn’t support Adobe products so…

Anyway, I’ve had Mi-Chan 2 for about nine months now. I was thrilled about the brand spanking new Macbook with its brand spanking new Snow Leopard OS.

That is…until I noticed that the Macbook had been nerfed.

The first thing I hated about it was that some of the keys don’t work until you sort of almost pound into them. Then there’s the issue of my shortcuts. Folder arrangements are a mess (you hafta fix your settings for this). It was also annoying that I had to buy a new projector adaptor because the old one no longer fits. The pins are different.  Aaaaaand…unlike my old Macbook, this one didn’t come with free iWork, the equivalent of Microsoft Office, or a remote. (Oh, remote, I never knew you were so relevant until I lost you!) By the time I got to the battery settings, I was already missing my Tiger OS.

This part was really glaring and I had to take photos to really make sure that I wasn’t imagining the nerf. Here’s a photo of the old Macbook battery/energy settings:

See how many options there are? There’s just enough for you to choose from without getting bogged down with the details. More importantly, “Custom” is there, so you can simply switch to your custom settings in one click.

Here’s what it is now:

Um, yeah. Please don’t tell me I have to look for the settings again here, too. I got tired of fixing so many things that didn’t need fixing on the old Tiger.

There’s one other thing that I found faulty with my old Macbook that I wished had improved with this new one. Err…the distance between USB ports.

As you can see here, I bid goodbye to one of the USB ports because my internet connection happens to come from a gargantuan dongle modem.

You might notice one good thing about that photo, though. The old Macbook gets sullied easily because of its surface texture. Now, dirt doesn’t easily stick onto the Macbook’s surface. You’d have to be a total slob to manage it.

I also like the screen resolution better with this new Macbook.

I think, though that some of the differences lie in the fact that my first Macbook came from the US and my second came from Canada. The stores in those countries probably have bundles and stuff, much like the tech retailers here.

As for the rest of the downgrades? I suppose the unspoken laws of commodification are to thank for how one simple, perfectly usable projector connector had to change pins just so I am forced to buy a new one. Annoying.

It actually took a while for me to get weaned off my Tiger. (I didn’t even want to sell Mi-Chan. I just had to, because I was just so unwilling to part with it that it was becoming mentally unhealthy.) I guess I also had to let go because its RAM and hard disk space are too small for my needs now. When it comes to capabilities, though, I suspect that its current equivalent is the 13″ Macbook Pro. Too bad, I don’t like boring silver. (I am a kikay geek, after all.)

Overall, though, this baby is not too bad. It is rather fast (definitely no complaints about its performance), quite sleek and pretty. Just don’t edit videos on it, for the love of gawd.