Gshocker's Toys

Macbook Pro in the house

 Well it looks like I am a MacBook Pro.. So I heard about the new models and had to hit the Apple store the next day to get a warranty plug for my iPhone. At first I thought that the pricing was a bit high for what you were getting out of these new models but I got caught up in the hype and ended up leaving the store with one of these models. 

I had been hoping to replace my Intel Core Duo MacBook Pro and this one looked perfect. The LED backlit screen won me over. The color seems to pop a bit more and seem overall more accurate than my old laptop. I had been editing my images on my PC but I think I am going to switch to my new Mac now.

Two things that are a bit dissapointing to me at the moment. 

1. The screen hinge is weaker than the old laptops. When laying in bed the screen wants to drop closed at certain angles. Not someting that is a full deal breaker but certainly something that they should tighten up a bit.

2. The nVidia graphics chips are great but when scrolling quickly I see some tearing which with some research seems to be a bad driver issue. I have heard that this is not happening in Windows running on one of these machines.

Overall I am pretty happy with the new unit. The Keyboard feels nice and the touchpad is better than I had first thought. If I get some more time over the next few weeks I will try and post some comments as I get more time with the machine. This is the first Mac Laptop that I have gotten on the first sales day so that was somewhat exciting.

Macbook Air?

OK.. so first off I have to say that this is pretty cool looking. As a person who feels compelled to get every high tech gadget known to man I was surprised that this one was not as tempting as I had thought it would be. Now this is not to say I would not get one if the opertunity arose.. But there are a few things that Apple did with this unit that have me scratching my head.

1. Non replacable battery? Now I can see that they are claiming 5 hours but when happens to you when you are on a 10 hour flight... Also what happens when the battery finally dies out. Do you really want to have to send your computer in to have the battery replaced.. Hmmmm

2. 1 USB port.. now I know you can just plug a hub in there but for those who are going to use a USB modem, transfer files via card reader(another thing missing) the single port is going to be inconvenient at best.

3. No ethernet port? What happens when heaven forbid you are in a place that doesn't have wireless but only has ethernet.. so now you would just be out of luck. I know wireless is all over but it seems maybe just a bit early to be pulling the plug on this feature.

4. Ripping CD's and watching movies just got harder.. now you are forced into iTunes to get your music while on the road. Buy a new CD and want to listen to it on the way home.. well think again. This will have many owners looking more at iTunes purchases.

So while it is pretty cool. As with many thin notebooks there are certainly some drawbacks. I hope this is not something that we are going to see spreak out into the whole macbook and macbook pro lines as I would have a hard time loosing my ports and ethernet connection.

Blogged with Flock

Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year everyone. Thought I would post a shot from my D3 using the cool new 14-24mm lens. Grabbed this one cruising Harvard Square last week. Hope everyone has a great new year ...    

Blogged with Flock

Resetting the PMU ?

Well once again I am finding myself resetting the PMU on my Mac. Seems odd that to get the computer to sleep correctly I would have to reset this. For the last few weeks I have been having problems with the laptop sleeping. Close the lid and it would continue to run.. and run.. and run. This can get anoying as friends thought I was just ignoring them all the time when the IM would never log off. This also made the laptop very hot as the lip being closed did not help out.

After some searching I ran across the resetting PMU article again and figured what the heck it was time to give this a try. I would have thought with the latest batch of laptop computers this would have been takn card of but I guess this is still part of the design. Having done this my laptop is now happy sleeping when the lid is closed. Hope this is the last time I will have to do this but I am sure it is not.

Apple on Intel Finally

MacBook Pro - Well apple is now using the dual core processors from Intel. This is something that we have all been waiting for. The hope is that we can run Windows on a unit like this as well. That would ceratinly be something special.
I was hoping to see something a little unique in terms of the look but I guess this is nice.. A few changes from the current powerbooks. The addition of the camera is nice.. Now that the imac and the laptops will have them I wonder how much longer the stand alone isight will be around.

Well head on over to the apple site to check out the latest specs on this.

Tiger Launch Date

Well Apple has announced that Tiger will launch on April 29th. This is a little behind what many thought but still exciting. I guess there will be some special store events for this one but I am guessing I will either order it online or pick it up that weekend.

Will be interesting to see how well this release works with all the old apps. I am also curious to see some of the new features that the mail client has.

Apple Tiger

Apple is now showing the retail box for the next OS. I wonder when they will set a release date for this one. Some rumors I read a few months back suggested March.

Mac Couch?

For the person who has everything comes the iMac Couch. Certainly an interesting concept.. I can just see couch potatoes all over now having everything they need.. Couch and computer parked in front of the big screen TV right next to the microwave and mini fridge.

Mac mini

Well this should be interesting.. The Mac mini seems to be the perfect size to fit in a car. I can see some cool mods with this little unit. I have already seen a few cars with mini windows machines in the trunk so that they can play music libraries and video. Will be interesting to see what people can come up with with the mini.

Mac Images

Mac mini - wow

iLife 05 with iPhoto support for RAW camera images.

iPod Shuffle. Flash based, small and affordable. Apple takes on the flash market..