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MacBook – First Impressions

By on May 25, 2006 in General

Got the MacBook today. Some first impressions:

• It’s black. Really black. The references to Hotblack Desiato’s ship are fully justified. The case seems to absorb all light. I like it 🙂

• The magnetic screen closure. Good strong magnet.

• Screen angle. I can push the screen pack as far as I need. It certainly goes back as far as I ever used the PBG4 display.

• Screen covering. Glossy. Like a mirror when the backlight is off. Seems fine so far in use but all I’ve done is run the initial set-up and allowed it to download all the latest updates.

• Screen size. Nice and wide. It looks a bit to small in height though. 1280 x 800 in size. Be interesting to see if the 800 is limiting.

• Screen image. Very crisp. Very nice colours.

• Keyboard feel. Typed a few paragraphs to test it. Good feel in that test. Again time will tell. I’m not writing this message on it.

• Keys. It looks like the characters on the keys are offset to the right. In reality they are in the centre of the keys. This is a bit distracting. Probably get used to it.

• Keyboard position. The keyboard is sunken into the case. Hopefully it won’t touch the screen with the lid closed. Can’t close it to check as the software update is in progress.

• Heat. It’s been on for about an hour. The palm rests are room at temperature. There is a warm (not hot yet) bit on the left hand side near the power input and about 2 inches in radius. Goes over to the 2-W-S-Z-alt keys. Not hot. Just warmer than the rest. The right had side of the case feels cool to touch. Bottom is warm in the same area as described above on the left. Middle and right side is cool. Hopefully it’ll stay that way in real use.

• Weight. About the same as my PBG4.

• Fit and finish. Excellent. It’s really well made. Too me it’s like the offspring of a Titanium PowerBook and a Pismo G3. I really like it.

So far: Very nice indeed.

New MacBook

By on May 20, 2006 in General

I’ve ordered a new black MacBook (or BlackBook as they are increasingly being referred to). I’m glad I returned my MacBook Pro now. The new BlackBook has everything I need in a portable and from what I’ve read so far the case on these doesn’t get as hot on the top as the MacBook Pro does. This is to be expected as the polycarbonate case is not as good a conductor or heat as the aluminium in the MacBook Pro case. I expect the fans to have to work a bit harder to pump the heat out of the case. I can live with this. The BlackBook is more or less the same size and has the same screen resolution as the titanium PowerBook I use at present. Except the BlackBook will be about 5 times faster. The only concern I have is the glossy screen. We’ll see how that performs. I like the black case with the white glowing Apple logo. I had a PowerBook G3 Pismo before the titanium PowerBook and really like the way it looked.

According to the TNT parcel tracking page my BlackBook left Suzhou in China about an hour ago 🙂

Apple Hot plate

By on April 8, 2006 in Technology

I bought a MacBook Pro. I took it back a few days later. I already have a cooker in my kitchen. I didn’t need another one. Boy did that thing get hot. The serial number indicated it was manufactured in week 9. There is anecdotal evidence that those with week 12, 13 or later serial numbers run less hot. I’ll wait until later in the year and get one after a revision of the design I think.

Bloody Windows Spyware

By on February 5, 2006 in General

A guy I know, but haven’t seen for ages, arrived at my door the other day and told me his Windows laptop was displaying ads and stuff after his kid went to some site on the Internet. I was just heading into the office so couldn’t fix it. I’ve decided I’m not going to either. I don’t need that crap in my life anymore. I’ve told him to take it to a PC shop and get it fixed.

I felt bad doing that. I’m sure it’ll get easier as I do it more and more. I’m not fixing anybody else’s PC just cause I happen to know them a bit. Or even worse, because they are a friend of a friend.

Here is the best solution.