This past Tuesday Apple dropped a sexy new bomb in the shape of the all-new MacBook. It’s a pretty logical step forward in the evolution of their consumer-oriented laptop line with a larger and brighter screen, integrated iSight, and of course the Core Duo processor.

Do I like it? Absolutely. The thing is, to put it bluntly, hot. Do I love it? Not quite. There are a couple things keeping me from buying one two days ago:

  • Culprit numero uno is the finish. Black or white is fine for those lower echelon notebooks. I’ve been spoiled by the industrial aluminum finish that’s graced Apple’s professional lineup since 2003. I don’t care how easily it scratches. I don’t care how it shows smudges. It absolutely needs to match my display.
  • Number two? That glossy screen. I’ve been harboring a gradually-building dislike for glossy displays. My office at home is very, very bright during the day and I can do without the glare. And again, I worry about the glossy screen of the laptop clashing with the matte screen of the monitor. It would be nice if it were optional, though I can understand why they wouldn’t want to add yet another choice to their non-pro line.
  • I’d like to see them offer a 7200 RPM hard drive as an option on the MacBooks, but they won’t because that’s one of the small upgrades on the Pro.
  • This is not a huge issue, but I’d like to see what they can come up with for a slightly smaller form factor. A good example of what I’m talking about is to compare the (ex-)current 12″ Powerbook to the outgoing 12″ iBook and take note of how the entire shell seems to have tightened around the internals on the Powerbook. Like I said, it’s not major but it is noticeable.

See a trend? I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: build a 13″ Mac Book Pro. Every single item listed above would be null and void and I’d be awfully close to a new laptop.

I have to admit that I don’t plan on upgrading immediately regardless, but I see myself making the switch to a Mactel fairly soon after Leopard makes its appearance, though depending on when that is (I’m going to guess October-November if it’s similar to Panther) I may hold out until MWSF in January. We’ll see. I’m not quite as desperate to ditch this machine as I was when I upgraded to it.