by , 2:55 PM EDT, October 23rd, 2008

Walt Mossberg with the Wall Street Journal has been testing the new Apple Macbook for several days and found it to be polished and a terrific choice.

While there were just a few downsides, Mr. Mossbrg wrote: "I found this new MacBook to be speedy, solid, innovative, and comfortable to use, with very good battery life."

MacBook 13-inch, unibody

Mr. Mossberg applied his standard battery test and found that he got 3 hours and 53 minutes of service playing an endless loop of music. He concluded the average user would obtain the claimed 5 hours of battery life -- or close to it.

One thing that took some getting accustomed to was the new trackpad. "At first, I found its surface so slippery that I had trouble accurately placing the cursor on the item I wanted to select. But three other people I asked to test this had no such trouble, and my own woes with this disappeared after a few days, either because I got more used to it, or because the surface picked up enough dirt to become less slick," Mr. Mossberg noted.

The noted WSJ technical editor didn't mince words when it came to comparing the MacBook to PCs: "Like all current Macs, the new MacBooks come with Apple's Leopard operating system, which I consider superior to Windows."

Not unexpectedly, the reviewer had a few bones to pick with Apple. Some people won't like the mandatory glossy screen, and Apple made the decision to drop FireWire completely from this model. Also, "Apple still stubbornly refuses to incorporate a slot for the flash memory cards commonly used in cameras and cellphones," Mr. Mossberg noted with annoyance.

"All in all, though, Apple's new MacBook is a terrific choice for consumers and students, if you can handle the $1,299 price," he concluded.