I should first open this article by saying that I will never be one of “The Apple People”. In my recent job search, I noticed that since I was on the market last, there was a lot more people who wanted OS/X experience. (Macintosh).
So I have made it 10 years in I.T. and my last dealing with a Mac was in Junior High (we can forget about how long ago that was, but your hint follows). I had the opportunity to help run the school library computers. A network of 10 Mac Classics and about 15 old Apple IIe’s in the back. But lets forget about the IIe’s. The Mac network consisted of Network Bootable MacClassic systems using the MacJANet server.
Flash forward decade and a bit, I take the plunge from PC’s with Windows/Linux. Yes folks, I acquired a MacBook Pro 13”. Remember here, I will never be one of those cultish “Apple People”. I am sure many of you know the people I am talking about or are indeed a closeted one. If you don’t, spend 10 min in an Apple store and you’ll know what I mean. Seriously, no offence intended to those “Apple People”. I can understand why you are addicted.
Ok, tech talk. In this line up of MacBook Pros you have a choice of a Core 2 Duo 2.4Ghz, or 2.66Ghz. In my opinion, its not really worth the extra $$$ for the CPU. The 2.66 also has 8 gig ram rather than the 4 gig on my unit, the 2.4ghz one. As far as I am concerned, I don’t need the extra cpu, and I can add more memory if I need. So that was an easy choice. They all come with OS X 10.6.5. The latest and greatest OS X at the time of this writing.
Lets talk Hardware design. This thing of beauty is made from a single piece of aluminum. Its uni-body frame make picking it up easy, and no creeks and cracks. You can tell this is a solid piece of hardware. It’s not loose at all. From the way the lid comes down and forms a nice illusive seal. (note the gasket around the screen that you likely have never noticed if you have looked at one. ) Its virtually invisible built in web cam to the back-lit keyboard which illuminates behind the keys with lettering on the keys that let light pass through.
Its lack of keys makes up in its elegance. I have personally missed my home and end keys that are standard on PC’s. But Command+Left/Right makes up for that missing home/end.
The very large track pad allows for great multi-touch gesture control. (If you have a Mac and are not taking advantage of this feature, go to your AppleMenu>SystemPreferences>TrackPad control and set it up and learn. It has a little video showing them to you.
It’s a great design. Some of the things I don’t like hardware wise are its lack of USB ports, MiniDisplay Adapters required for various video attachments. Also resting your palms on the edges of the unit can be a little sharp and thus uncomfortable. Although I like its lithium polimar battery, I don’t lke the fact that its not user serviceable. So Battery replacement is not easy. It’s a hard trade up as a built in battery makes fitting it into empty space easier. However it is rated for up to 10 hours on the 13” mode. (Hard to actually achieve that, more likr 5 good hours with decent screen brightness)
==Software==
So yes, it’s a great piece of hardware, but what’s the system like. First you should know that I am a Windows/Linux user, primarily a Linux user. First and foremost, there is no Maximize. Nope, None, Zilch, Zip, Nadda. I don’t like that. Although I am getting my ADD like brain used to using a clutter of windows.
I did start manually dragging windows to full screen, but soon gave up on that. It took too much time. So I just adapted. This system dosn’t appear to suffer from too much slowdown. It just purrs ever so nicely. I can have many apps opened and switching between them is effortless.
Application installation and removal took a little getting used to. Compared to the Apples counter part, Microsoft, it was unbelievably simple. To install an application, you drag it to the Applications folder on the launch bar. To remove it, drag it from that applications folder into the trash. That’s it.
Its included suite of applications integrates tightly together. Garage Band and iTunes work nicely in tandem. Safari needs no talking about, a very good browser. I also must say that waking from sleep is FAST! I rarely shutdown the system. I just close the lid. After opening the lid, its waiting for a password within 5 seconds or less.
I am personally not a big fan of the launch bar. Its nice the way applications get your attention by jumping up and down, cute, but I guess I am still more used to the “Start” menu idea. Takes less screen real-estate and is more functional.
As a Linux person, I LOVE the fact that this is a BSD based system. (Unix Like, and thus also Linux like, but there are differences). But its nice to open a command prompt and feel at home!
On the whole, I think this is a great system. I prefer working on a Mac day to day than any other computer now. If you are considering it, I say its worth it, so long as there are applications available for you to use. You cant use windows applications on this system as a general user. There are ways such as BootCamp (duel boot) or VirtualBox (Running windows inside Mac) but not for the faint of heart. Maybe something we can talk about another time.
Comments? Questions?
