Apple Trots Out More MacBook Reruns

Posted on February 26th, 2008 Posted by Kent

Let me say straight off that I am imbibed with as much Mac fetish as the next fanboy. When it comes to notebooks, the MacBook Pro still remains the standard by which all contemporary laptops are judged, in my feigned humble opinion. But today’s “new” MacBook rollout left me feeling as though I’m watching reruns of early 1950s sitcoms. Did Apple’s hardware design team go on a writer’s strike? Was Johnny Ives shipped away in a crate to some Chinese manufacturing plant? Why is Apple prolonging the life of these tired designs?

Both the pro and consumer MacBook are getting long in the tooth. The MacBook Pro hasn’t seen a cosmetic change in almost five years – before Apple first slapped an Intel chip inside the PowerPC-based PowerBook and changed its name to MacBook. And the really disturbing implication from today’s product rollout is that Apple will likely be selling these regurgitated MacBooks for another eight months, until Intel launches its next generation mobile processor later this year. I closed my eyes and looked the other way when the Mac Pro came and went without a redesign, but not the MacBooks.

I never thought I would come to say this of Apple, but the company is beginning to fall behind the crowd. The MacBook once stood out as best overall consumer notebook on the market, in terms of hardware design and software. While the latter remains true, its design no longer holds up to contenders. Its once chic white motif is fading in popularity with consumers, even with Apple for that matter (read: aluminum iMac). With so many Sony Vaios in different colors and styles available for the same price (or less), it’s hard to justify paying Apple’s excise tax for the fingerprint-attractive black model. And at five pounds, MacBook isn’t exactly the Kate Moss of notebooks.

And it’s not just neglected aesthetics that have me playing the violin here. The polycarbonate plastic enclosures Apple is using for the MacBook isn’t known for its rugged qualities, despite claims to the contrary. Recently manufactured units still exhibit the same discoloration and cracking that made first generation MacBooks famous, in an infamous way. I’d like to see Apple move to an all aluminum design (similar to the iMac) available in a variety of iPod-like colors. Hey, they’re doing it with the iPod classic, why not extend that design to the MacBook for continuity? Makes sense to me.

At any rate, the purchase of a new MacBook Pro isn’t in my immediate future. I’ll hold onto my Ben Franklins a bit longer and wait for Apple to finally put some fire back in my furnace. Come Apple, bring Johnny Ives home and put your designers back to work. Build a MacBook to make your customers drool once more.