A Month with a Mac II: The Mobile Experience
by Anand Lal Shimpi on January 24, 2005 12:14 AM EST- Posted in
- Anand
This was originally supposed to be a Christmas surprise, but me getting the flu/cold/pneumonia kind of put an end to that. Needless to say, the followup to my first Mac experience article is now live and it's called: A Month with a Mac II: The Mobile Experience. As the name implies, the article focuses on my experience with Apple's PowerBook after a month of use - similar in nature to the first article.
I originally took on the endeavor because after I came to realize the strengths of OS X, I quickly realized that they would work wonders on a mobile platform. So that combined with the fact that there were quite a few stones left unturned after the first article left me with the idea and premise for part II.
But that's not the end of it, check back Tuesday for a review of the new Mac mini as well as my impressions of iLife '05 and iWork '05.
As always, feedback is very much appreciated so keep it coming.
Take care.
I originally took on the endeavor because after I came to realize the strengths of OS X, I quickly realized that they would work wonders on a mobile platform. So that combined with the fact that there were quite a few stones left unturned after the first article left me with the idea and premise for part II.
But that's not the end of it, check back Tuesday for a review of the new Mac mini as well as my impressions of iLife '05 and iWork '05.
As always, feedback is very much appreciated so keep it coming.
Take care.
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Commodus - Monday, January 24, 2005 - link
The blank space on the 17" is a bit disconcerting, but then the standardized keyboard size also helps with economies of scale and with repair. Apple probably couldn't have three different sizes of PowerBook, especially not with the fairly rapid decrease in prices, if it didn't have a common foundation for the design.araemo - Monday, January 24, 2005 - link
About the build quality/etc of the powerbooks..Keeping the 'full size' keyboard on the 12" model IS nice..
But the 17" model has inches of blank aluminum beside the keyboard/speakers.. I would be more tempted by the 17" if they used all that extra space to put in a truly "full size" keyboard, and/or a numpad. ;P
Personally, I'm quite happy with my Compaq X1000, another 15" widescreen that I, annoyingly enough, paid almost as much for. ;P
I can definately back up your opinion that 256MB is not enough ram for a smooth OS X experience. My main OS X usage is on a 733 mhz G4 w/ 256 MB and a geforce # mx. No expose for me with 10.2, but a decent enough system anyways.
Michael2k - Monday, January 24, 2005 - link
What about the Half Life 2 CPU Scaling Article? What does have to do with OS X, a PowerBook, or a month with a Mac II?Commodus - Monday, January 24, 2005 - link
Thanks for the review. Not so much for myself - I already have a PowerBook - but because you obviously care about addressing things fairly, which is important for a new user. I imagine that the videos in particular would be EXTREMELY useful for someone who doesn't know what, say, Exposé is and why it's so useful in the notebook environment.My PowerBook, by the way, is currently a 12" model (though I'm looking at a 15" if/when the G5 comes in the summer) and I can attest to the value of having a decent-sized keyboard on an otherwise small laptop. I rarely find myself hitting the wrong key while typing, which is rather important given that the 12" PowerBook is most likely to be used for typing-dependent apps.
Mephisto - Monday, January 24, 2005 - link
An excellent Mac article - one of the best I've read on any site.As mentioned above: machine code BIOS isn't the same thing as Forth based Open Firmware:
http://developer.apple.com/technotes/tn/tn1061.htm...
Right-clicking is a non-issue for most regular Mac users... I never find the need to hunt contextual menus that are inconsistent across apps (even in Windows) and may or may not contain what you are looking for. Once one comes across the single button way to do things it usually turns out to be easier.
I must say, though, that it was a rare delight to read a Mac review on a PC site that didn't descend into a gratuitously ill informed, spittle drenched, mockery. I hope that you don't get too much hate mail from disappointed fanbois. I notice #13's not taken his lithium this morning.
Hail Anandtech! Long may this continue.
ksherman - Monday, January 24, 2005 - link
One thing I think we really need is a slot reference guide... with PCI, PCI-X, PCIe and AGP floating around, some are apt to be confused (as i am when it comes to the differce between PCI-X and PCIe other thatn the physicsal interface)Anonymous - Monday, January 24, 2005 - link
WHAT ABOUT THE FREAKIN HALF-LIFE 2 CPU SCALING ARTICLE?hopejr - Monday, January 24, 2005 - link
#10, you know that's almost exactly how I had sidetrack set up on my iBook (except the back and forward were at the top and the rt-click was a the bottom). I don't use it anymore tho because I hate nag screens and don't have a credit or debit card to pay for it (but it's such a good tool!!)OoTLink - Monday, January 24, 2005 - link
And now Anand knows why I want a powerbook so badly :big grin:I dunno about him, or anyone else here, but one other nice thing about them is how the side ports are so clean, even though exposed. Even on dell's 700m, you see exposed metallic trim and sometimes HOT PINK parallel or whatever other PC(99?) spec colors you'd usually only see on a desktop.
Thankfully, they made it look good :) Perhaps you'd be one of the crazed few to do a 7200.1 seagate momentus review when those come out.. if they ever come out *sigh*
Alex - Monday, January 24, 2005 - link
Hey to make the annoying one mouse button problem go away download a program called sidetrack. It allows you to set the far right of the touchpad to scroll like many pc laptops, you can also set the corners of the touchpad to do things as well. On my iBook i have the top right corner set to right click, and the bottom left and right corners as forward and back for my web browser.