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Tue. Dec 18, 2007

Random MacBook Observations

I got a new black MacBook last week. However, this will not be one of those photo tours of the first unboxing and ritual bowing before the new Apple product. Heck, I’ve owned it five days and have yet to take one photo of it.

I am not one of those MacPeople.

You know, the ones who believe Apple can do no wrong … until they slightly change the appearance of the Dock or Menubar in Leopard, and then, well, you’d think The End Is Near.

Myself, I noticed those changes, but they just didn’t seem like a big deal. I guess I’m not quite as “invested” in the operating system as some appear to be. More and more over time, I find my operating system’s name is “Firefox” ... which comes in both PC and Mac flavors! But I do have some other random observations:

• Comparative ease of setup. On first boot, the MacBook asked me if I already had a Mac, and if I’d like to transfers my files, applications, and settings. Why, yes, thank you, and next time you chat up the guys in Redmond, tell them it’s OK to steal that part of your interface as well. Setup was a breeze, and why Windows does not have a comparable default process is beyond me. By comparison, installing Windows XP on the Boot Camp partition of the MacBook has been a nagging nightmare of “activate me“ and 92 Windows updates to download and install (that’s an actual number, not an exaggeration), and then, “activate me once again because you used me in VMWare Fusion and now I think I’m on an entirely different computer.“ I ended up having to make a tech support phone call to Microsoft in order to get my fully purchased, virginal, and fully legitimate copy of WinXP to function properly in the one place it has ever been installed. They gave me some sooper-sekrit magic digits, and all has been well since then.
• VMWare Fusion’s “Unity” mode is like a five year old wet dream. As in, five years ago, if you wanted to run a PC application like NoteTab Pro right next to Safari while listening to iTunes, all on one computer, your only option was a rather vivid dream. Today, you just get VMWare Fusion, and All Your Apps Belong To Us, PC or Mac. It’s absolutely sinful the grins I get from seeing simple applications running side by side.
• After showing Susan how this new laptop ($100 less than her Dell laptop cost two years ago) ran both OSX and Windows, she asked “why would anyone want to buy a plain PC anymore?” It’s a very good question. I know when I bought the Dell workstation back in April, there was about a thousand dollar difference between it and the Mac Pro configuration I would want. But with the iMac, Mac Mini, and MacBook, I don’t think “price difference” is a valid reason for most people anymore. Only on the “Pro” line (desktop and laptop) is price still a factor.
• The cost of a full copy of Windows XP (required for Boot Camp) plus the cost of VMWare Fusion (not required, but adds tremendous dual-OS functionality) added a mere 12% to the total cost of the laptop.
• A fully stripped XP install plus the bare minimum apps I require (Adobe CS3, NoteTab Pro, Filezilla, Firefox, and a few others) only takes up 9.1 GB of space (I’ve only dedicated 70GB to the Windows partition, so I intend to keep it lean). Meanwhile, the Mac side is eating 62GB … however, 26.2GB of that is my iTunes library.
• Speaking of iTunes, Volume Logic is no more. Long live iWow.
• Keeping two operating systems and their applications tuned up and running properly can be a bit of a chore. Two OS’s to update, two sets of software to configure, and, all told, eight browsers to install/setup.
• For example, there’s glitches with Time Machine, Mac’s new backup application. When it works, it’s very cool. But Time Machine apparently does not like USB drives that have ever been touched (i.e., formatted) by Windows. Among other drive eccentricities. So each time I reconnect the drive or reboot OSX, I have to repair the drive, and sometimes completely reformat it and start over again, so that Time Machine will once again recognize and use it. So far, that’s not proving to be a very reliable backup method.
• Mr. MacBook can be a bit loud. Early MacBook owners complained about excessive heat from the processor, and it appears they’ve really amped up the fan speed in response. I’ve installed smcFanControl to up the standard idle speed in hopes of keeping its base temperature cooler. Right now the processor is sitting at 99 degrees. A half hour ago, it was at 171 degrees … with not one application running. A reboot seemed to allow cooler heads to prevail.
• Mr. MacBook simply does not like to be shut down. I’ve yet to have a successful shutdown in OSX Leopard. It always hangs, and finally requires a manual power down. Just like Windows 95 used to. Never had this problem with the Mac Mini and Tiger.
• Our home wireless network is very secure. I spent a half hour testing it, unbeknownst to me, trying every trick I knew to get logged in … until I finally realized the router did not recognize the mac address of the new MacBook, and was therefore denying it access. Just as I had set it up to do, months ago, and then completely forgot about it. Yay, me … sort of.

• The $125 surcharge for black MacBook versus an identically configured white MacBook? Worth it, judging by the dirt already showing on my little white remote control. And speaking of which … you know, for an extra $125, the remote control and the power supply ought to be just as black as the MacBook. As infamous as they are for their attention to them, that’s a “design detail” I’m surprised Apple dropped the ball on.

On the whole, I’m very pleased with it. It’s a fine machine, but it does present its own unique set of problems, as new machines are wont to do. But, somehow, I’m coping with them.