Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, MacBook
Poll results: Will you buy a Blackbook?

Now that we've all had 24 hours (approximately) to mull it over and cast our votes, let's look at the results. We asked, "Would you pay the extra $200US for 20GB of disk space and black paint?" Here are the results of our highly unscientific poll:
- 48% of respondents said "I'm tempted"
- 30% said "No way in heck"
- 22% just can't wait, declaring, "I simply must have it!"

![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)


Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
andy said 6:24PM on 5-17-2006
is it too late to change mine? lol im not tempted anymore, sense got the better of me, although from whats about on the web, it seems everyone is getting the black one, their all mad haha
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Zach Holman said 6:42PM on 5-17-2006
My white MacBook is being processed for shipping. The black looks pretty good (the cover looks absolutely gorgeous with the white Apple logo on black), but... I don't know. It didn't look "Apple" enough, if that makes sense. I looked at the pictures on my ThinkPad and it looked too eerily similar. I think it might work well to attract some PC users though. Some might love it, and while I do like it, I'm heading white. Personal preference (in addition to cost!) :)
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John Adamo said 6:58PM on 5-17-2006
I went to the Apple Store last night, to get a first-hand look at these.
I have to say - the black is really nice. So nice, that it's really tempting to go with the black over the white. However, that price premium is inexcusable. There's no way that having the black case is worth the extra money. If it were a LITTLE more, I'd probably pay it, even though I still think that it's offensive.
But... it sure is pretty... Plus, seeing the Apple logo light up on the back of the lid, on the black case.... oooohhh I can feel my credit card melting now...
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new owner said 7:08PM on 5-17-2006
Well, yesterday I voted "I'm tempted;" today I'm typing this on my new black MacBook. Oops. Went to the store last night, saw them both, and fell in love with the weird retro monolith vibe of the black one. So, okay, it's dumb that it cost more. But it's making me very happy.
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NiChiLeMei said 7:53PM on 5-17-2006
I've been used a number of Apple PBs but never considered buying an "iMac" or now Macbook until now. I am ready to replace my PB 17" with a Black Macbook. Bye bye "pro".
/
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ccc said 8:21PM on 5-17-2006
Ummmmmm...
Can you say:
Black Nano Scratch Syndrome.......???
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Chris Dolan said 9:57PM on 5-17-2006
Dave Caolo wrote:
I'm with the majority on this one.
But there was no majority consensus in the poll (the highest result was 48%). I think Dave meant that he's going with the plurality.
Sorry for the nitpick...
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Padriac said 10:02PM on 5-17-2006
I feel the same way about black macbooks as I do black iPods. It is a novelty in that most of them have been white and thus black seems exotic and cool, but the white is objectively better looking. Yes, I realize how ridiculous it is to say "objectively" when talking about color preference
What I'm saying is that if you showed both colors to somebody who had never seen an iBook before, they would probably think the white was stunning and the black was ho-hum.
Glossy, clean, white goodness vs. matte, black Thinkpadness? No contest. I would pay $150 for the white if I had to. Thankfully, I do not.
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Tom said 11:41PM on 5-17-2006
Yeah, if iBooks had been black for the last few years and they released a white one yesterday for $200 more it would be the same reaction. I saw the iBooks today and I do like the black though I wouldn't pay the extra, and besides a white laptop is still far more Apple than black laptops. But the problem with the black ones was finger marks were all over the place and very visible.
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GadgetFan said 11:46PM on 5-17-2006
For me the issue isn;t the extra cost; I just like the look of the white one better.
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Don Wilson said 12:17AM on 5-18-2006
The white iPod with Video looks extremely ugly.
The white MacBook looks extremely sexy.
Not too sure why there's a big difference between the two. Perhaps the price difference between their bretheren?
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Bill said 12:33AM on 5-18-2006
i will never buy a first gen anything.
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Jamison said 1:51AM on 5-18-2006
For those who feel black just "isn't Apple" my first Apple laptop was a PowerBook G3, it had sexy curves and it was black. I think that was around the time my uncle had a white Toshiba laptop. Anyway, that G3 was what came to mind when I saw the black MacBook. It all really depends on what you've used before.
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tnkgrl said 2:55AM on 5-18-2006
Another "I'm tempted" vote here that turned into a purchase (white 2 GHz/Superdrive) last night at the SF Apple store... Oops!
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Dan Oblak - MacBigot.com said 10:12AM on 5-18-2006
I'm thinking the folks at MacSkinz.com are about to get a surge of business. I pulled up the white MacBook on the Apple Store web site and upgraded the hard drive from 60Gb to 80Gb (the only other difference between the two colors), and it only added $50 to the price. So now after two hundred years of oppression, we Americans finally know the cost of being black: $150. (OK, putting on asbestos underwear now...)
I'm thinking that it would be a lot more fun to upgrade the drive and run -- not walk -- to MacSkinz (no, I'm not affiliated...) for a *custom* (not black) cover for my new ride. Maybe our corporate logo (that would really tick off our mostly-Windows IT staff who have rolled out pretty decent-but-not-very-decoratable Dell laptops to the other 370 people in our building). Maybe my blog address. Maybe a posterized picture of my wife. Maybe the 'god kills a kitten' picture...
http://macbigot.com/media/kittens640x480.gif
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OneMonkeysUncle said 10:57AM on 5-18-2006
For anybody who hasn't physically seen one yet, I'd advise patience and a trip to an Apple store... Understand that the Blackbooks are MATTE black - they are, glowing Apple aside, indistinguishable from a ThinkPad or a late model Dell Latitude. That, in my book (pun intended), is a serious downside. While the "surface" appears to be the material itself (it won't "scratch" off), scuff marks on demo machines after a couple of days of manhandling by the Curious Hordes are VERY visible. Finally, think twice if you don't know how to touch-type well - the lettering on the all black, unlit keyboard is a dim grey... Very tasteful, to be sure, but in anything less than bright lighting, you may have trouble seeing what's what.
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