MACBOOK PROCESSING

As expected, the machine arrived at work on Monday. As not expected, it failed to properly transfer all my settings from the iBook, so I'll have to go to the Apple store to get my Mail and Safari preferences updated, the Expose keys are set to a new default, and I had to restart after a kernel panic the first time I got it running (that's your cue, Mac haters).

But the MacBook Pro is nonetheless a thing of beauty. While only an inch wider than my iBook, the screen itself is almost two inches wider, and it feels like more. The screen is so bright it's almost too bright. It's very thin, but nevertheless strong (I can't make the screen go all screwy by pressing on the back of the monitor case). It does get pretty warm, but so did the iBook. The speakers are much louder (not coincidentally, they're also bigger), while the machine itself is almost silent. As if I even needed to say, it's really, really fast; I've seen the beach ball only twice, and even then, for less than a second. The magnetic power connecter is pretty sweet. So is the remote control and the Front Row program it calls up. If there was one word to describe the MacBook Pro, I could search high and low, but "sweet" is probably what I'd settle upon.

So, in another shocker, it's earned my cultlike unconditional love. Even if you want to do something stupid like wipe down the screen with an alcohol swab or put XP on it, you won't be disappointed (unless it all goes wrong, big time).

And now I'm just cooling my heels until 10.5/Leopard comes out later this year or early next (either way, surely before Vista becomes available).

° ° ° ° °
So thus ends my latest saga with Apple Corp of 1 Infinite Loop, Cupertino, CA.

Well, one last thing: Why is it that every time I buy an Apple product, they come out with a better version of what I just bought within a week or two? This time it was the 17" MBP (which I frankly wouldn't have bought anyway). Last time it was the video iPod, released just days after my Nano arrived (same, I wanted to go small). And back in early 2003, it was the then-amazing 3rd generation iPod mere weeks after I'd put down the same amount of money on the non-beveled 2nd generation brick (grumble grumble, argle-bargle).

The solution, I guess, is to plan my next purchase, then wait a week. But if my Mac-buying is as star-crossed as it seems to've been, Apple will still release something cool the week after that. You bastards!

P.S. — Know that song in the new Nano commercials that goes like, "You spent all your time... in a little cubicle... in a cubicle!"? Well, if you're so inclined, you can hear it again at the band's official site.

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posted by WWB at 7:27 PM |