Trackpad Notes
I have two problems with the new trackpad. First, it seems to periodically ignore my request to move the cursor. I find myself furiously waving my finger along the glass without any reaction by the computer. Lifting my finger and once again waiving does not seem to have an effect.
The second issue is actually more obnoxious than the first. The trackpad ignores physical clicks. There appears to be no rhyme or reason why the trackpad stops working. I took the computer to the Genius Bar at my nearby Apple Store. They happily swapped it out with a new one, but unfortunately this one has the same problems.
Certain gestures adhere to focus follows mouse. Meaning I can be watching a movie in QuickTime with a web page in the background and with two-finger scroll I can scroll that webpage without changing to web browser. However three finger back and forward do not work. Perhaps this makes sense since two-finger scroll is a system wide gesture while three finger navigation only works in certain apps.
Perhaps the biggest missed opportunity with regard to gestures other than the their inability to be customized is their immunity to modifier keys. While four finger swipe down allows for Expose|All Windows, why doesn’t Command+Four-Finger-Swipe active Exposé|Application Windows?
Screen
- I can confirm the viewing angle results posted by Gizmodo are true. However, since i don’t view my MacBook from the side I wouldn’t have noticed had I not been curious to confirm what Gizmodo showed.
Misc.
Yes, the battery indicator is on the side, more convenient than before but I still use it as often: never.
I upgraded to Flash Player 10 at the same time that I started using this laptop, so I don’t know what is to account for this, but flash video takes up much less processor power than before. Its startling.
Related to the above note: this laptop runs cool. Chalk it up to using 25w processors instead of the 35w Penyryns in the prior models.
My MacBook came with a Toshiba drive. I’ve been obsessed with quiet hard drives, and have done numerous upgrades in search of the quietest. Previously Toshiba was not rated high on my list, but in this MacBook, it is silent. The silence could be in part due to the new casing.
Also much quieter are the fans. They come on less than any prior notebook I’ve owned, and when they do come on, they are about 1/4 as loud as my first gen MacBook and a shade quieter than early 2008 MacBook Pro.