It’s amazing to operate the new MacBook and find everything works, with only minor exceptions. Adding to its functionality, the new high brightness LED-lit screen is simply sensational. Everything that Apple promised five years ago – but users soon found to be limited, or even buggy – has come to fruition.

The test of Apple’s new MacBook was not without some reservations. A quick demonstration in a busy store left the impression that the new MacBook screen is too widescreen in format, with a slightly clunky keyboard and the intelligent multipurpose trackpad is a buggy gimmick. . . especially as the salesperson couldn’t enlarge images with two fingers, as promoted.

Click and hold on any folder like the Downloads folder, to open it to display the contents for selection.

Click and hold on the applications folder in the dock and all Applications and Utilities appear for selection.

You can swish through a display of viewing history, with a stroke of the trackpad.

In Apple's Safari web browser, top sites can be displayed for selection.

Wow – it works

How wrong this preconception was! The widescreen format is amazing for viewing HD video, plus the best for word processing or graphic production.

When using software (Apple calls it ‘applications’) the wide screen has room for tools on the side, leaving much more ‘acreage’ for viewing the document being created.

The screen is beautiful, with the highest contrast, intensity, colour saturation and clarity; especially suited for those who don’t have 20/20 vision. Heck, any brighter and you’d need sunglasses! Sure, the brightness and saturation are adjustable, but few users will, as an excessively bright, colourful screen looks terrific.

The MacBook’s keyboard soon proved to be most suited to wordsmiths, with the biggest surprise – how easily fingers glide over the new glass trackpad, instead of binding.