The latest MacBooks are easy to use and look superb, writes STEPHEN FENECH

APPLE has had a busy year with product announcements in 2008.

First there was the MacBook Air, then the iPhone and the usual September revision of the highly popular iPod line.]

Last week Apple was at it again, unveiling a closely guarded refresh of the MacBook and MacBook Pro laptop computers.

This time Apple has almost completely reinvented the products with new designs,materials, manufacturing methods and more consideration for the environment.

The new MacBooks and MacBook Pros sport a sleek aluminium housing and a newthinner and more rounded screen, now framed in black like the desktop iMac screens.

As usual, the products have been meticulously designed and manufactured using an all-new method – each enclosure is hewn from a single piece of aluminium.

This makes the product lighter and thinner yet stronger at the same time.

In the case of the MacBook, it is also 230g lighter, despite going from a polycarbonate shell to an aluminium casing.

There are no joins between the keyboard, wrist rest and the left and right side panels.

The space for each of the keys, ports and disc slots have all been exactly machined out of the original block.

Despite its lighter weight, the MacBook still has a sturdy feel and build quality.

The black keyboard is similar to that first seen on the MacBook Air, a welcome change to the previous white keys which can look dirty after extended use.

And for the first time, the keyboard on the MacBook is fully illuminated in low-light.

The black frame around the screen also hides the integrated iSight camera, microphone and light sensor.

One of the biggest changes to the Macbook is the 1280x800 pixel screen, which measures 33.8cm (13.3-inch).

The Macbook’s display is enhanced for the first time by LED backlighting, which means the screen attains its full brightness right away not gradually like the previous screens.

The result is a remarkable picture quality. But another new addition to the MacBook also contributes to the screen’s  performance and that’s the new NVidia GeForce 9400M graphics processor.

The image will be smoother with richer colours and even more detail. Perhaps the biggest change of the new MacBook is the trackpad and the first question we asked was, ”What did Apple do with the button?”

Yes, it’s still there.

The whole trackpad is the button.

It’s far easier to move your fingers on it because it is 39 per cent larger and has a glass surface for an even smoother feel.

The larger area is handy because the track pad offers gesture controls.

For example, two finger actions can enlarge and rotate images as well as scroll documents and web pages, while three fingers will flick through images.

Sweeping four fingers up the trackpad, like sweeping the papers off a desktop, actually does that by activating Expose, which clears all open windows to the edges of the screen.

Sweep four fingers down the trackpad and the open windows snap back to where they were.

Brushing four fingers left or right across the trackpad brings up the active applications pane in the middle of the screen.

With this on display a single finger movement on the trackpad lets the user navigate the list to find the application they want. The 9400M is for everyday use, while the 9600M GT is for turbo performance.

They are both available from local dealers.

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