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MacWorld 2006
January 13, 2006 |
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Summary: Macworld 2006 will always be remembered as the event where Apple launched its first Intel-based Macintosh hardware. The MacBook Pro is the hottest of the products to be launched, and we've compared the MacBook Pro's keyboard against the legendary IBM ThinkPad keyboard.
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But first, a look at the systems.
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With the MacBook Pro running Intel chipsets and Radeon Mobility X1600, the buzz is essentially that the MacBooks should perform virtually identically to their PCs. I mean, the hardware is the same and whatever advantages that the MacOSX can offer via its UNIX architecture are going to be offset by the added time and experience that developers have had when it comes to optimizing for Windows. The real question is usability.
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The core of the Thinkpad mystique has always been its keyboard. From the original Thinkpad to the “butterfly design,” to the current keyboard in today’s IBM Thinkpads from Lenovo, the Thinkpad keyboard has always been considered a reference for notebook quality. Keyboard quality is virtually paramount for all notebook buyers – it doesn’t matter whether you’re the businessman relying on Microsoft Office, the programmer writing code, or the Typing of the Dead fanatic.
So how good is it? Well, I fired up typingtest.com and gave the MacBook Pro a half dozen runs. I did the same with the Lenovo IBM ThinkPad Z60t. I was new to both keyboards so neither system had an unfair advantage. The Z60t was chosen for several reasons – it was the closest competitor to the MacBook Pro in weight and represents the newest model currently shipping from IBM/Lenovo. The Z60t was also the last of the Thinkpads to be designed before the Lenovo buyout.
The MacBook Pro did remarkably.
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Although I ran these tests several times, I consistently did very well with the Apple MacBook Pro and if I had more time with the unit, I think I could have broken the 140wpm barrier. What was definitely interesting was that the basic Apple Standard USB keyboard did surprisingly well. The Apple Standard USB did not feel anywhere as good as the numbers would suggest, but I don’t think the Mac implementation of Java is somehow less accurate. My guess is that the Apple Standard USB keyboard isn’t seen as a high-end keyboard because of fatigue. For example, the Goldtouch USB was only an average performer but the split ergonomic design makes it easier on the wrists.
The somewhat disappointing results from the Northgate Omnikey Ultra-type mechanism keyboard may be explained by the age of the keyboard. As it had been in storage for two years, it didn’t seem to have the nimbleness as I once thought it did. I unfortunately don’t have a good-condition Omnikey Ultra keyboard or the budget for an Avant Stellar
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One caveat is that IBM has keyboards manufactured by three different suppliers: NMB, Alps, and Chicony. When it comes to the T42/T43 line of Thinkpads, the NMB model is almost universally considered to be superior to the Alps version.
By now, the Apple guys were becoming suspicious with me randomly walking up to different PCs and loading up typingtest.com instead of the flashy iLife 06 or iWork 06. One of the Apple staff members started asking me what I did… whether I was a coder or not.
I’ve seen enough movies, when the heat is on you’ve only got 30 seconds to walk away. So that’s the only benchmark we were able to run. Hopefully we’ll be able to secure a MacBook Pro in February when they’re available at retail to run a real head-to-head against a Thinkpad.
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