MaximumPC 2008 08

A notebook PC isn’t like a desktop rig.

Tricked out, water cooled, and overclocked

like a mutha, your Guns of Navarone desk-

top rig will live a life that’s similar to your

mom’s PC: sitting safely underneath your

desk. And while you can freely upgrade

your PC’s peripherals—its keyboard, moni-

tor, and mouse—a notebook is everything

it’s ever going to be the first day you get it.

The trackpad can’t be replaced nor can the

LCD screen. If the mushy keyboard annoys

you, tough luck.

So our reviews of these notebooks focus

on not only performance but also usability

and price.

USABILITY

This is a crucial factor in a notebook’s suc-

cess. It includes the keyboard’s feel, the

placement of the trackpad, the number and

variety of ports, the machine’s weight and

size, the thermals, the quality of the screen,

as well as the overall look and feel. It’s a

lengthy list of review points, which ex-

plains why usability figures so prominently

in our final assessment.

PERFORMANCE

Don’t get us wrong—performance matters.

Unless your activities are strictly confined

to Microsoft Office and Firefox, you’re

going to notice when, for example, it takes

five minutes to enact a simple photo edit.

To test a notebook’s performance, we look

to our standard suite of desktop bench-

marks, which stress video editing and

encoding, photo editing, and slide-show

creation. We also run two older games at

moderate resolutions to see if a notebook

will function as a stand-in gaming machine.

Obviously, we can’t run our bench-

marks in OS X because the majority of

our tests don’t offer OS X support. To truly

assess how well Apple’s notebooks measure

up as PCs, we dual-booted the MacBooks

into Windows Vista Home Premium and

ran the benchmarks in that OS—for an

apples-to-apples comparison among all

models. (To get a sense of the performance

difference between a MacBook running OS

X vs. Vista, see page 43, where we show the

results of tests using apps that are native to

both OSes.)

PRICE

The Mac has historically been at a price

disadvantage to the PC, but is this still the

case today? Read on and you’ll see how

these x86 Macs stack up in terms of specs

and price. While not quite as important as

performance and usability, price will also

figure into our verdicts.

Categorical

Differences

Apple’s presence in the notebook market spans three distinct classes.

Here’s how we defi ne them and the key features we think each class demands

Our Testing Strategy

Evaluating a notebook is very different from evaluating a desktop PC

ULTRAPORTABLE

 Maximum 4 lbs. lap weight

 11- to 13-inch screen

 Minimum 4-hour battery life

 Transfl ective screen surface

 Real keyboard

 Video output

 ExpressCard slot

 Optical drive (optional)

MAINSTREAM

 Affordable

 Dual-core processor

 160GB or more storage capacity

 Maximum 7 lbs. lap weight

 13- to 15-inch screen

 Optical drive

 Appropriate expansion slots

PROFESSIONAL

 Dual-core processor

 Discrete graphics

 15-inch or larger screen

 Maximum 8 lbs. lap weight

 Appropriate expansion slots

 Robust video-out

 DVD burner

PC Notebooks vs. MacBooks

Apple’s presence in the notebook market spans three distinct classes.

MacBooks

24 | MAXIMUMPC | AUG 08 | http://www.maximumpc.com