So, my long-standing dream recently came true. I’m now a Mac user! I’ve bought shiny new MacBook Pro 15″ some time ago. And I absolutely like it! I also should say that this is my first notebook ever.
Ladies and gentlemen! (drumroll…) Let me introduce to you my cute MacBook Pro!
Nice solid aluminium case, Apple logo at the back of the lid, gorgeous widescreen display, integrated iSight camera, large trackpad with just one button, white glowing light indicator when it’s sleeping, MagSafe, DVI, FireWire 400 & 800… I like the fact that machine is incredibly quiet. My previous PC has an annoying noise like a jet engine. But this one is quiet, I tell you! Even under heavy load, when all the fans start rolling, it’s more silent than my old PC. Amazing!
It even takes care of my eyes – ambient light sensor in it automatically adjusts brightness of the display, turning keyboard backlight (sic!) on and lowering screen brightness in a dark room! It’s called “attention to details”, and I like it a lot! I quickly got used to the widescreen 16:10 display – now my 4:3 flat-panel 17″ LCD (which I used with my old PC) looks too narrow for me 
It’s nice to watch movies on a widescreen, because no thick black outlines distract you, since most movies are exactly 16:10. I enjoyed watching Star Wars on my MacBook Pro By the way, it has a resolution 1440×900 pixels.
Apple Remote is pretty cool for watching videos and photos, or listening to music (in conjunction with the built-in Front Row software), from the comfort of your sofa. Both the Remote and Front Row are very easy to use, almost like an iPod! Also, Remote can be used to control iTunes and other applications easily (its functionality can be expanded by 3-rd party software).
Keyboard is a pleasure to use. As a previous Windows and Linux power user, I had no problem to get used to a slightly different keyboard layout. Mac OS X has a set of its own keyboard shortcuts, many of them involving a key “Apple” (or “Command”), such as Command-Q to quit an application. All of them are intuitive and easy to learn. And these shortcuts are usually consistent across the system and applications.
Trackpad is quite large, but has only one button. Well, honestly, for me it wasn’t a problem. Simply because Mac OS X relatively rarely needs a right-click, and I quickly mastered to use Ctrl+Click when it’s absolutely needed. I love the trackpad for smooth two-finger scrolling in both horizontal and vertical directions! It’s so convenient! I even threw my mouse out of the window since I now don’t need it at all! Well, I’m joking here about throwing it, but I don’t use an external mouse with my MacBook Pro since it’s not really needed. Seriously. For me, at least. Maybe a graphics designer or a gamer will need it, though.
Since it uses an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, it’s quite fast. And it can also run Windows natively. I installed Windows on it (using BootCamp software from Apple), played Quake4 for a while, and then wiped it out from my hard drive. Why? Simply because I don’t need it. At all. All applications that I need to use at home exist for Mac OS X (and by the way, for Linux too).
Many people complained about their MacBook running insanely hot. I didn’t notice that problem with mine. Warm, yes. But not hot. Well, maybe I should say I don’t place it on a lap, since it is NOT a laptop, despite what some people think.
Well, I don’t know what else to say. I simply love my MacBook Pro. It’s an incredibly powerful machine, and it’s a pleasure to use. What more can I say? I’m glad my dream finally came true
Pretty nice stuff!
I was offline for ages, didn’t know you’ve started a blog. Nice posts, indeed. I’m your reader.
Here’s my 1 comment for all so far:
An interesting vision of the future of software development. F/OSS and Apple vs. Microsoft, and by .NET developer, actually,
. Hm.
Here’s my thought:
Microsoft is a vendor, right? They give us a nice OS, a player, a game console. An Apple is a vendor and it does the same, too (Mac OS X and iPod). Than, what’s the difference? Apple is more F/OSS-friendly, isn’t it? Alright, let’s see who gives us more freedom.
Freedom is 1) an ability to choose and 2) an ability to submit your alternatives (to make them wider).
When one chooses MS, one has an ability to customize the platform, one can specify hardware vendors (perhaps, one likes AMD+ATI or Intel+nVidia).
Can I customize a Mac? No. Some minor changes like memory amount or hard drive capacity are not that important. And with Apple I have very limited alternatives: an underpowered Mac Mini, Mac Book (which isn’t an option because of Pro), Mac Book Pro – the ONLY choice, iMac – which is desktop and you don’t need one – buy MBPro, and their server – which is overpowered, overpriced, and god-damn good-looking.
So what’re you gonna buy? MBPro – and you’ve got it! What if I dream of a tablet? Than I choose Microsoft.
From software point of view BOTH CAN be free, just use GCC on it. The fact that you got Darwin behind the Tiger doesn’t make it opensource, does it? Apple doesn’t invest into opensource, and Microsoft doesn’t too. They simply don’t care.
OpenSource is not a new BIG THING; it’s a method of doing software business. A company invests into F/OSS because it forced to do it. Consider Opera and Firefox. Opera is able to compete with Firefox, Safary and IE without opensourcing their browser. Moreover, for them it’s the only way to protect their technologies. They can HIRE a developer and PAY her or him to compete. Firefox can’t compete without opensource. So, instead of paying, they get code for FREE. Note, that both Opera and Fox get their money from Google, both give us the best web-surfing experience, but isn’t it more fair to thank developers monetary like Opera does?
IBM and Sun invest into opensource because they can’t compete on the software market with Microsoft (and Apple) without it. So it would be fair to speak about F/OSS+IBM+Sun+.. vs. Microsoft+Apple. And Microsoft is LESS evil for F/OSS than Apple. MS is a software-only company – they work hard to develop nice software for every case. They sell licenses to hardware vendors, they support hardware market. Apple is both software and hardware vendor. They earn money from MBPro itself AND from Mac OS X. The fact that they put OOo and Fox into their boxes doesn’t make’em friendly. They do it to make the boxes more attractive for F/OSS guys like you. They don’t invest ( = SPEND money) into F/OSS, they use it to EARN MORE instead.
Another issue of Freedom is iPod-iTunes-iPhone stuff. They don’t give us a freedom of choice. I can’t write Java, or Silverlight, or Flex application for it. I forced to use JavaScript and XML for it instead. Certainly, AJAX is free. But it’s not easy to develop with it. Flex et al are much easier, and if they would be available, iStuff would be a lot nicer platform to develop on. Apple doesn’t let other vendors to gain from their market, so they restrict our ability to choose. Java and Flex are OpenSource, too. I wonder, why AJAX, and Google AJAX Stuff (GWT and Gears) are considered to be MORE opensource? May be, because it looks more googly?
My point is not against Apple. My point is: F/OSS is a way to do business – it’s not an organization or a single united community. It’s a business method. Don’t put everything into one soup. There’s no Apple+F/OSS=moreandbetterF/OSS. Apple utilizes F/OSS to profit. Microsoft goes its own way. They simply provide solutions for everything. F/OSS can do the same.
Funny stuff:
TRUTH IS: Every vendor enjoys vendor lock-in. Lock-in is a limited choice – EVIL. MS and Apple are vendors – EVIL. F/OSS can be done without vendors, so it can be GOOD, but F/OSS without vendors is RARE. Choose lesser evil!
Best regards.
Andrew.