MacBook Pro
Hey Diode!
So I have three new toys that I wanted to share with ya … here is the first:
MacBook Pro: I got a 15” MBP off of eBay and so far it’s been really quite nice … for the most part I’m very pleased with it. I’d initially planned to continue to use Windows programs with Parallels, but after working with the Mac for a few days I’ve decided to convert everything over to Mac. Some observations:
1) Windows runs like a champ on Boot Camp and in Parallels. However, being able to compare it side-by-side with the Mac OS … well, there’s no comparison. Windows just feels kludgy and ugly. Now of course I’m running Windows XP and not Vista … but I suspect there’s still a major difference in “feel” between the Mac and anything else.
2) It hasn’t helped that I’ve already had to REinstall Windows, since the first installation (which I spent hours on) developed some sort of major error and stopped working. Re-installing windows … jeez I hope I never have to do that again … (but I suspect I will … )
3) Using the Mac reminds me of how much I’ve missed using one all these years. That was a brilliant marketing move by Apple, getting the universities to use Macs all those years ago … I used one freshman year in college because that’s all they had in the computer lab, and purchased my Mac 512ke because Apple had a sweet student discount … that was almost 20 years ago. And it created a lifelong Mac fan …
4) The thing I miss the most about my Dell & my Thinkpad: The TRACKPOINT. Can’t anybody else see how much better a trackpoint is? You don’t have to move your hands from typing position. Sigh …
5) The Apple trackpad, thankfully, is better than the trackpad on any of the laptops I’ve had before … the scrolling function is nice, and it's nice to be able to do right clicks with 2 fingers, … but it’s still a trackpad …
6) Windows programs I miss: ACDSee (Fastest image viewer EVER … there must be something like it for the Mac but I haven’t found it …), Outlook (am using Entourage now, but … see below), FinePrint, Microsoft Money (going to see if I can get Quicken for Mac to work), Cakewalk Sonar, foobar2000, DriveCrypt
7) Still trying to figure out how to best manage my email, contacts, etc. … I don’t think the Mac solutions are going to cut it … the closest there is to Outlook 2003 is, of course, Entourage 2004, but it is severely lacking in many of the things Outlook has … SEVERELY … but it’s going to have to do for now … took forever to transfer 30,000+ emails …
8) Firefox and Thunderbird settings transferred quite nicely (just pointed them to the folders that I copied over from my PC)
9) Lots of little goodies are similar if not better on the Mac … such as chat client (Adium), bittorent client (Transmission), media player …
Of course there’s just that “intangible” thing that Windows just lacks … the Mac is just beautiful and elegant, from the OS to the hardware and even to the packaging etc. … too bad it comes at such a premium …
So I have three new toys that I wanted to share with ya … here is the first:
MacBook Pro: I got a 15” MBP off of eBay and so far it’s been really quite nice … for the most part I’m very pleased with it. I’d initially planned to continue to use Windows programs with Parallels, but after working with the Mac for a few days I’ve decided to convert everything over to Mac. Some observations:1) Windows runs like a champ on Boot Camp and in Parallels. However, being able to compare it side-by-side with the Mac OS … well, there’s no comparison. Windows just feels kludgy and ugly. Now of course I’m running Windows XP and not Vista … but I suspect there’s still a major difference in “feel” between the Mac and anything else.
2) It hasn’t helped that I’ve already had to REinstall Windows, since the first installation (which I spent hours on) developed some sort of major error and stopped working. Re-installing windows … jeez I hope I never have to do that again … (but I suspect I will … )
3) Using the Mac reminds me of how much I’ve missed using one all these years. That was a brilliant marketing move by Apple, getting the universities to use Macs all those years ago … I used one freshman year in college because that’s all they had in the computer lab, and purchased my Mac 512ke because Apple had a sweet student discount … that was almost 20 years ago. And it created a lifelong Mac fan …
4) The thing I miss the most about my Dell & my Thinkpad: The TRACKPOINT. Can’t anybody else see how much better a trackpoint is? You don’t have to move your hands from typing position. Sigh …
5) The Apple trackpad, thankfully, is better than the trackpad on any of the laptops I’ve had before … the scrolling function is nice, and it's nice to be able to do right clicks with 2 fingers, … but it’s still a trackpad …
6) Windows programs I miss: ACDSee (Fastest image viewer EVER … there must be something like it for the Mac but I haven’t found it …), Outlook (am using Entourage now, but … see below), FinePrint, Microsoft Money (going to see if I can get Quicken for Mac to work), Cakewalk Sonar, foobar2000, DriveCrypt
7) Still trying to figure out how to best manage my email, contacts, etc. … I don’t think the Mac solutions are going to cut it … the closest there is to Outlook 2003 is, of course, Entourage 2004, but it is severely lacking in many of the things Outlook has … SEVERELY … but it’s going to have to do for now … took forever to transfer 30,000+ emails …
8) Firefox and Thunderbird settings transferred quite nicely (just pointed them to the folders that I copied over from my PC)
9) Lots of little goodies are similar if not better on the Mac … such as chat client (Adium), bittorent client (Transmission), media player …
Of course there’s just that “intangible” thing that Windows just lacks … the Mac is just beautiful and elegant, from the OS to the hardware and even to the packaging etc. … too bad it comes at such a premium …
posted by aki at
12:44 PM
6 Comments:
Some app suggestions:
ACDSee: try GraphicConverterX (http://www.lemkesoft.com/)
Entourage: ... bleh. I use the built-in (Mail.app + Address Book + iCal). They work together very well, and you can sync Address Book/iCal info to a mobile phone easily with iSync.
(What specifically about Outlook do you like, vs say Thunderbird? I know many people are hooked on Outlook, but I've never understood why.)
Microsoft Money: have you tried http://wesabe.com/ yet? I'm a huge fan of this site.
DriveCrypt: if you want to encrypt your home folder, FileVault is built-in to OS X. It's the "Security" panel in System Preferences
Disk copying & backup: SuperDuper! is highly recommended by almost everyone I know. http://www.shirt-pocket.com/
By
Matt Kangas, at 12:09 PM
Cool ... thx for the suggestions.
- I've tried a bunch of software for image viewing now and haven't found the right one yet ... GraphicConverter is good in that it can view RAW files and has a decent interface but I can't understand why, when I'm in full screen mode, why can't I hit a button and go to the next image? For example I CMD-G to full screen, but any button I hit it goes back to non-full screen. Well little things like that. Also it doesn't seem particularly good as an image cataloguer/organizer. Which makes sense, it's not called GraphicOrganizer X. Bridge/Lightroom are just too slow to be primary image viewers ... I may have to use a combination of programs to do what ACDsee does.
- Entourage ... I guess I've used Outlook for so long that I've grown accustomed to the all-in-one integration ... Can’t say that I’ve actually given Mail.app a good TRY yet, just fiddling around with it and iCal and the Address Book … maybe I’ll try it again and see. But anyway Entourage is not Outlook 2003 … it’s hard for me to describe exactly what’s great about Outlook but it just worked for me. I do actually use Thunderbird for some other accounts that I have and while the it works well enough for mail, the Thunderbird address book is a joke in my opinion and the calendar plugin (I think it’s called lightning) is also a joke.
- I took a look at the Wesabe site and it looks interesting … I just would feel uncomfortable not having the data on my hard drive for use when I’m not online. I took a look at Quicken 2007 and it looks like it might do the job, we’ll see. What else do you like about Wesabe?
- You know, I was looking at filevault and my initial reaction was, wait, it’s only 128kbit encryption? I’m used to DriveCrypt’s 256kbit encryption (that’s what I used though I think it goes up to 1344kbits) … but I did a little research and yeah I can see how 128kb is probably fine … hey I have some pretty sensitive stuff lol … anyway I tried getting filevault to work and it says I need like 4000 gigs of space on my hard drive. yup, 4000 GIGS. Google shows this is a known error but I guess I need some time to figure out how to get it to work …
I will definitely try Super-Duper …
thanks!!!
By
aki, at 12:57 PM
re GraphicConverter: ah, if you're using ACDSee to examine your digital SLR shots, you shouldn't emulate me... i'm using iPhoto! :) (iPhoto is damn slow, and i'm strictly a JPEG shooter thus far)
So aside Aperture and Lightroom... maybe this for rapid browsing? http://www.damsimple.com/products.html
(i have no experience with this, tho)
re wesabe: What really makes wesabe different is that it leverages its "online-only" in a nifty "social" way. Tag expenses with as "cellphone", and suddenly you can statistics on other people's cell expenses (strictly anonymous, natch). it also shows you personalized cost-savings advice, based on the tags or merchants you select. e.g. if you have bills for Cingular, you will be shown suggestions by other users on how to shop for better rates with Cingular.
in this sense, it makes the "user-on-an-island" experience of Quicken, et al, look antiquated in comparison.
By
Matt Kangas, at 11:20 PM
i agree with matt. Switched from entourage to mail.app and ical myself an glad with the change. Has the mac touch with nice little features, eg you click on an address and googlemaps pops up. I know outlook can do that but not quite as easily as addressbook. Integration of these apps is excellent i think. Emailing websites and searching email is also pretty good.
And you didnt even mention ichat, which is awesome.
By
Unknown, at 12:17 PM
just testing to see if the comment mailing system is working ...
By
aki, at 11:15 PM
another test to see if the comment system is working. pls reply to this comment if you get it ... thx
By
aki, at 10:35 PM
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