So that’s what? Two posts in three weeks or something. Yes well there’s a good reason for that and that reason was created by Apple and is called the MacBook. Oh yes. I flogged my powerbook to a man in a cafe slightly over two weeks ago and used the money to purchase a shiney new black MacBook. A BlackBook. What follows is an unbiased appraisal of said piece of hardware.

Why I Think The (Black) MacBook Is The Best Computer Ever Created

1 Look at it. It’s black. This pleases me in and of itself but what it also does is make the comp look retro. Old school, if you will. And not in a sort of crap, trendy, try-too-hard kind of ‘retro design’ way… In a totally amazing wait-a-minute, that incredibly powerful computer looks a lot like a ZX Spectrum, sort of way. (This is in perfect accordance with the computers I have been designing in my head for a very long time now. It makes me very happy.)

2 The build quality is excellent. The whole comp just feels really solid. And the matte finish is so amazingly good. I’m touching it right now. Prrr.

3 The keyboard, the screen and the trackpad… hats off, v. good, gold star. The bits that you have to look at and touch to get it to actually do anything. They approach perfection.

a It’s the first Apple comp to have a glossy screen and I wasn’t sure about that at first. I really liked the matte display on the Powerbook and wasn’t looking forward to lots of reflection. But I was worrying about nothing. It’s much brighter and cripser with richer colours and unnoticeable reflection. I like looking at this screen more than any other thing in the world at the moment.

b The keyboard is something I couldn’t really care less about as long as it had buttons to press. Or so I thought. The keyboard is amaaazing! (And I don’t use the word amaaazing lightly.) It’s hard to describe exactly how or why but this is the best keyboard ever. In the whole history of keyboards. Imagine that.

c And the trackpad. Ah, trackpad. Widescreen format, two-finger scrolling and I swear there’s a really light microswitch in the button. Let’s just say that this is the second most rubbed in my life at the moment.

And then there’s all of the other wee things that make a huge difference. Like the magsafe power adapter that connects magnetically. So you can tangle yourself up in the power cord and it just pops off the side without yanking the comp onto the floor or anything. I did this. It works.

And the latch. It too is just a magnet. And for various arcane reasons this is a vastly superior solution to keeping the lid closed in an aethetic and practical fashion.

This is basically just an incredible computer. Really well designed, well built, functionally excellent and good looking.

Now I’m not going to get carried away just because I think that this is the best computer ever made but I will say this: If you don’t love the (black) MacBook with every fibre of your soul, I don’t want to have anything to do with you.

The ZX Spectrum
The first computer I ever owned. Back in 1982 when I was seven.

The ZX Spectrum Tribute BlackBook
The computer I own now. Operating system hacked to give it the appearance of a ZX Spectrum.