And More Obsessive Tinkering With Irrational Justifications

I finally chose the name Lucius Euripedes as befits a tool for use of a drama queen such as myself.

Pros so far:

• It is still pretty.
• I kind of like the Office 2008 (for Mac) better than Office 2007 (for Windows) — all the tools you need are tabbed on the right side, like the windows of Adobe Photoshop.  I think this is so much better than the infamous ‘ribbons’ in Office 2007.  However, I can say that the extra graphics like charts and similar stuff are quite ribbon-y.  Granted the Excel is not as sophisticated as the Windows version (no macros, VBA to mention a few)… but then again, I’m an Excel dummy who sticks to the basics.  I have NEVER used VB or macros, nor do I have the sudden desire to do so.  Also, you can actually see the pages — not just the page breaks — of your Excel worksheets (I told you my Excel know-how is mababaw).
• The Dictionary is so nice!  I think it’s dependent on the Net.  But the interface is so pristine.  I don’t have to go to Dictionary.com anymore — that was cool, but the latest layout’s become so distracting, what with the sponsors and everything.
• The apps look so cool being animated onscreen.
• The slot-drive CD-DVD reader/writer loads up them discs so nicely!
• The laptop takes up less space in my backpack.
• It’s REALLY pretty.  I keep getting second looks from people.  They’re like, is that a Pro?  Is that an Air?  GASP!  It’s just a Macbook!  It’s like the mindless potency or projection — depends on your mindset — of all those Gee, Your Hair Smells Terrific and Axe commercials.
• It makes me want to use it more for work or for personal stuff.

Cons:

• For troubleshooting and networking, I’m still used to the Windows way.  I map drives, make connections, and install / uninstall software the Windows way.  The Apple apps are kind of amusing to install — just drag or drop, but I’m forever wondering if, when I delete an app from the Trash, I’ve made my OS less stable than before.  Should I do more?  Did I have to uninstall by Control Panel after all?  Where’s the Control Panel??? Force of habit.
• My Illustrator CS2 had a fit for a week.  I freaked out.  DSTS gave me a sermon of not preparing for Apple troubleshooting (it was a common problem — and he solved it despite not being Apple savvy.  He’s so smart).  I think this bit belongs to the Apple-Is-Not-For-Mass-Market rant.  CorelDraw even stopped developing for Mac after the 11th (it’s now released its 14th version).
• I can’t open files I did with Corel X3 and Illustrator CS3 because my available apps are Corel 11 and Illustrator CS2.
• The slot-drive CD-DVD reader/writer doesn’t work with mini-discs.
• I hate that the Delete button is the Backspace button (so you delete going backward) and there’s not an option of a Delete button going forward.
• There are no Page Up and Page Down button — although this is finely compensated with the two-finger scroll on the Wonderful Trackpad.  Still.
• The Command button kind of takes several Shift and Alt button functions — which kind of throws me off when using some apps for rush jobs.
• Being environmentally friendly sucks.  It makes me protective of the environmentally friendly consumer product.  I can’t help it… we got the product for a pretty penny and it’s made of glass and ‘aluminium’!  Fragile!  Scratchable!  It’s also thin and pretty!  What if somebody used the printer beside me and accidentally pushed it off my desk?  And so, I no longer leave my notebook open on my desk during luch breaks — I put it in its sleeve and in my backpack.  On some days I take the backpack with me.  Co-workers might note the Gollum-ness of it all, but they’re wrong!  It’s so much more than that.
• Unknown virus possibilities.  It recently adapted Intel processors, so chuck the impenetrable-to-virus claim out of the equation, which leads to
• Practicing temperance on filesharing apps like eMule, which I found out was actually aMule for Apple.

Gee… put that way, the cons look way more serious than the pros.  But I so like it very much!  I may be on denial and just don’t realize it!  So I need to buck up and read more about maintenance so DSTS can zip with future sermons that I really, really hate but somehow deserve.

It’s Bust.

But it’s pretty.  I mean, last Saturday, DSTS bought me the Macbook with the starter specs.  It is really pretty.  But I was a dork and for a day or two, I sulked that we didn’t get the one with the backlit keyboard and the bigger RAM and hard drive… D&G sold it at 5% off, after all.  But it’s REALLY pretty.  But DSTS had a point that electronic gadgets are tools that are best we don’t get attached to because technology renders them obsolete in a few years, plus we are in the midst of an economic crisis and raising our firstborn child.  But it is REALLY PRETTY… what firstborn child?  So I could type with my eyes closed… the backlit keyboard in the store did look cool.  Did, too!  But nah, even for a basic-spec-ed unit, this really IS VERY PRETTY.

I’ve just started to familiarize myself with OS X after almost five years of a PC environment because of my current work.  I guess most people already know what each Macbook in the current product line-up has to offer; I’ll just stick to things that stood out to me, then. The aluminum chassis has no flex whatsoever during use.  The keyboard does not creak.  The screen’s just… wow.  When I first read the Macbook did not add to the standard two USB ports, I was thinking, bummer, if I ever decide to get one this year and I use a USB mouse like I’m wont to (wireless accessories cost more and are much more high maintenance), I’ll only have one USB port left for hard drives and other stuff. Only the Macbook now has the Multi-touch track pad (DSTS: Excuse me, the proper original term is TT, touch technology. Gawdfriggin Macspeak!).  This is probably the best track pad I’ve ever used.

Firstly, it’s bigger than any other trackpad at 10.5 cm x 7.5 cm.  It’s made of glass.  The way it works just fits: it has the option where you can select an object using a finger tap, and select and drag stuff without the need to press down another button like in a PC (usually the right-click button), which has always annoyed me for making my selections in image editing software less precise, plus it strained my thumb and wrist something wicked.

Which brings us to the next topic, new Macbook buttons… there are none.  The best trackpad I’ve ever used serves as the buttons, too — yep, plural!  It made me reel a bit, the last time I used a Mac, there wasn’t even the Mighty Mouse second click function.  I was used to the Command or Apple + click stuff.  And I was a Mac mouse hater.  I oohed and aahed at the Power Mac G4s but those old mice that were available then were just horribly draggy and stubborn (the IT staff got tired of my whining and made me use a logitech double clicker. However, the Mac system rendered the second clicker non-functioning and that in turn annoyed me so much… yes, I’m easily annoyed and am a very annoying person).

But now those who used to hate Mac mice or scoff at a Mac notebook’s inability to right-click can now cross one more rant off their list; the whole track pad is the clicker that can be configured to have the two bottom corners assigned to clicks and right clicks.   However, I am using what I think is the better option, which is the single finger tap (click) and double-finger tap (right click).  I just tested this feature with usual Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop routines and it’s just great — less to nil wrist strain, great flexibility with drawing vector lines and tweaking photo images!  Which allays one apprehension… I may never use a mouse with this notebook, thus freeing both USB ports for peripheral connections.

OS X works pretty much like the OS when I left it but looks so much cooler.  Although it pretty much is the same way with Windows, Mac OS seems easier to add and remove files by just copying .dmg file icons to the applications to install, or dragging them to Trash if you don’t need ‘em.  DSTS was thinking that perhaps it is not necessary to run Windows on it using Boot Camp, but after testing stuff, I figure I have to to run the .exe files we use at work.  Plus there will be Windows-only software that I don’t use for work, like the brilliant open source yWriter, that I will sorely miss.  Boot Camp will be tested.

I was set to calling the computer Shylock.  For obvious reasons.  Previous names of machines I used include Umberto, Mother1, and American Gigolo (loaned for one month only).  But now, I don’t know… maybe I’ll rechristen this one to something like Lucifer (he’s pretty, he’s shiny; I don’t know if he’s that useful, and he’s caused me do ebil things).

I’ll set up Time Machine and other cool looking stuff like Spaces later, when I’ve finished migrating and setting up all files.  I’ll also need to sic our current IT guy test how it fares with all our insane database software in an all-PC environment.

And I now need to go back to my penance as a grown-up.

… And Then Maybe The Macbook Isn’t Too Bad.

They.  Are.  Here.

Macbooks and Macbooks Pros featuring a new, common-designed one-piece aluminum keyboard and CPU chassis, glass multi-touch trackpads and independent GPUs. The two now resemble the iMac and Macbook Air, having monitors with the glassy surface and black border plus the rounded corners and backlit keyboard with black chiclet keys. Yep, those aren’t typos… Macbooks now also have independent NVidia GeForce 9400M GPU! Backlit keyboard that lights up when the work area loses light!

What differentiates the Pro from the regular Macbook, then? Two GPUs! The NVidia GeForce 9400M handles regular office work, and NVidia 9600 GT kicks in for the graphics-intensive stuff.  The Macbook Pro also has better sound on its own (no external speakers), I guess… the Macbook’s keyboard area looks similar to the Macbook Air, while the Macbook Pro’s sides feature perforations in the aluminum case for the speaker on either side.

Netgeeks, I’ll be waiting for your benchmark thingies and defect reports.  Peazenthankoo.

I’ll repeat that the one sweet thing with Apple is the marketing… it’s so good, it’s ebil. According to the netgeeks, Sony and Lenovo notebooks have been doing the double GPUs thing for quite some time now, but well, only the tech geeks know that because both Sony and Lenovo don’t have the idiot-proof marketing stuff like the I’m a Mac, I’m a PC commercials to outline what’s different with their products.

When Apple launches something, no matter how ordinary the specs are compared to other PC makers’ offers, it makes the stuff look so cool, you’ll want to buy it. Ebil!

Another thing, it makes you feel good buying the stuff because it does deliver on the end-user experience… and then they do something like this — releasing cooler looking iterations of what was cool the last season. For the same price! Well, in the case of the new classic iPods and the iPhone 3G… even cheaper! EBIL! Saatchi & Saatchi calls it the lovemarks phenomenon; I call it a consensual sado-masochistic relationship.

I mean, look at these! It is not unheard of that people who are used to this arrangement with Steve Jobs and bought their Macbooks and Macbook Pros during the mad rushes like the back-to-school season are now stabbing the backs of their hands with a dull pencil and drooling like rabid dogs (“Macbook NVidia graphics processors!” “Macbook backlit keyboards… I can now glow in the dark in the lecture room!”).

And with that I wrap up with Bing “the Gollum” Crosby. It’s that most wonderful time of the year… Precioussssss!

Macbook Pro Or Bust

I’ve appreciated the esthetics utilized by Macs, if not Apple’s history as the instigator of commercially available personal computers with a comprehensive graphical user interface.  I can truthfully say that I could never justify Macs costing more than the average Windows PC except that it’s… pretty, so very pretty (and Steve Jobs is ebil).

However, logistics, budget, and the working environments I seem to find myself in hammer all thoughts of prettiness out of my brain, preventing me from actually getting one for my own use.  So basically, I have a love-hate relationship with Macs.  I’d love to use them if only tech support is good and spare parts are not hard to find in Asia, and if only Macs were compatible my work place’s network.

And then in 2006, Macs switched to Intel processors. Was worth noting for sure.  Virtual PCs are easier to run for must-use Microsoft apps in the office.  Kind of piqued my interest again and DSTS, who belong to the “Macs are for dummies” faction, for once started checking tech updates on the map (“Might be interesting, but buying one will still put a dent in our kid’s future college money!”).  For the next two years Mac specs upgraded and upgraded yet again.  You see, this is another thing that contributes to the hate part in the love-hate relationship.  The upgrade envy.  Macs upgrade several times a year… note the normal iPod incarnations and the Macbooks.  Each time you think this is the best upgrade yet, Apple comes up with something crazier.  Now my second-generation 14 GB iPod, a gift from DSTS, looks very much like a Neanderthal next to the iPod Touch… though I don’t want that, no.  Just the 12o GB iPod Classic.

Ebilness aside, Jobs still has me thinking, if I’m lucky, I’ll finally get the ideal machine — decent battery life, fun user interface, a partition to run Windows, great form factor and light to boot.  I mean, look at the Macbook black alone, at about HKD 11,000 it’s a good deal for 250 GB, iLife, DVD Superdrive in a small package.  Almost there, but not quite… and anyway, I want a Macbook Pro.  My problem with the Pro is the price, at around HKD 19,000 for my preferred specs.

And then last year, Vista happened.  Vista’s GUI kind of resembles the Mac OSX’s.  And so the ebil Steve Jobs messed with my head again!  ”If Vista resembles the Mac OSX and the .docx and .xlsx documents can be created and read without a problem on a Mac, then what’s stopping you from getting a Mac for your next hardware upgrade?”  That ebil, ebil man!  He’s a business genius.

Mac Rumors posted a speculation that new Macbooks and Macbook Pros might be launched sometime this October. Supposedly the new Macbooks will sport aluminum casings that are more familiar to the Macbooks Pro and Air, a glass touchpad, and LED baclkit monitor. Which would be sweet and almost erases the border between this model and the more high end Pro.  The Pro, which has undergone minor changes like hard drives, processors, keyboards, and LED monitors for the past recent years, likewise would probably be unveiled with a new look — its present physical form hasn’t been significantly altered since the launch of its ancestor, the titanium Powerbook.

In line with trend following introduction of the iPod touch, it is worth noting the entry’s comments offered further speculation that since lines are seemingly starting to get blurred between the Macbook and Macbook Pro, the Pro line will likely be dropped, its specs integrated into the Macbook line.  Apple will then launch a touchscreen tablet line to replace the Macbook Pros, which would make future line-ups as thus: Macbook Air, Macbook, Macbook Touch.

The last hurdle that’s grounding me to work place reality is the systems network.  Our IT department invented lots of bug-infested database support systems that are the bloodlines of our wonky work flow.  Dare I risk getting a Mac, not getting the stupid things to work on it, and getting yelled at by a boss who’s banged his desk several times amidst his transition to Vista heaven (he was an Excel whiz and didn’t appreciate the new Microsoft ribbons)?

If the rumors are true then this is probably the Macbooks and Macbook Pros with the best specs ever.  The new stuff might be better, of course, but like the iPhone, I gather bugs will be present as they always are after the initial product launches, and it’ll take several versions to make things faster, stronger, and slimmer.  Posit that present specs are the best for now.  Add that to the rumor that Steve Jobs’ bout with pancreatic cancer isn’t over to the point that his death had been announced by a bonehead newspaper prematurely, and the fact that Steve Jobs is the heart of Apple making products you’d want to buy (remember when they kicked him out of Apple in the 80s and Apple came up with nothing but duds until they brought Jobs back in again and he came up with iMac? Then iBook and Powerbook?  Then iPod?  I rest my case), I’d want to buy something that was developed when Steve was at helm.

I want a 15″ Macbook Pro.