Blog of Zeke Franco—Quasarkitten.net

I’ve been on a mac for about thirteen months. Prior to that I had been following mac news and podcasts for two years, but at the time I couldn’t afford a new computer. Unfortunetly by the time I was ready to purchase Steve announced the Intel switch. I decided to delay my purchase until both laptop lines went Intel so I could make the best decision. Now I know that during this time everyone said if you need a Mac, buy one, its not like a ibook or powerbook is going to be useless in a year. I agree with that statement, but if you already ready have a moderately fast computer, I already had a great self-built PC, I think there is less of a hurry.

I went for the macbook. Mainly because I new I was going to be buying a powermac now a mac pro in the future so I didn’t see the need to have a super fast video card. Plus I just like the white plastic better. :) So now I’m gearing up for school in the fall and Intelm hoping on getting a Mac Pro sometime this fall. I’m kind of waiting for upgrades of the CPUs, video card options, and hopefully a new redesigned case. Maybe this is more like hoping.

This past weekend was basically used for backup, backup and more backing up. I found myself with one group of HFS+ drives, another group of NTFS drives, and one 500GB FAT32 drive with a mixture of Mac and PC stuff on it so I could transfer one thing to another. The only thing I use my PC for now is to download podcasts, since I had all my subscriptions and music library on my PC. So I bought Superduper (blog-review, podcast interview w/ the developer) and got to work. It was very simple I backed up each NTFS drive to a disk image on one of my HFS+ drives then reformated each NTFS drive to HFS+. Then the disk image was blasted back onto the newly formatted drive. SuperDuper made this really easy to do.

Here are the steps I used to back up one of my drives.

1. General Interface Notice in the interface it tells you in plain English what is going to happen.
2. Pick the drive you want to copy.
3. Pick the drive you want to backup to.
4. Select the type of backup you want to do.
5. Click Options to choose settings:
   1. General Options Smart update is feature you don’t get in the free version. Its definitely worth the price as its function is to read the source drive for any changes then update them on the destination drive. Of course the first time you do a back up will have to copy everything over.
   2. Advanced Options

The next question people usually have is “How did you hook the internal drives to you Macbook?” Part of the reason which made this easy was my AMS Venus T4 RAID box (the T4 has been updated to the T4U). Its able to connect up to four IDE drives. These drives can set it up to be seen as 4 seperate drives, one combined drive, or 2 separate drives. The device doesn’t require four drives to be connected. The T4 can work with one, two, three, or four drives connected. Also the drives don’t need to be equal in size. It doesn’t do automatic RAID 5 like the Drobo, but it is $375.00 cheaper. OS X can create a RAID 5 from the drives, but software RAIDs are not considered as reliable or robust as hardware RAIDs. I have had the Venus T4 for about 12 months and I’ve never had a problem with it, I just hope they come out with a SATA drive compatible one that has Firewire 800 out. The last part of my setup was a 500GB Western Digital My Book. This is a pretty barebones external drive, but the price is great, and this drive is only used as a third backup for offsite storage. Remember if you house gets robbed or burnt down, all you data will be gone too. This now brings me to my favorite feature of SuperDuper. It has the ability to backup a hard drive to an encrypted disk image. This way you don’t have to worry about partitioning the backup drive or buy one backup drive for every drive you have. I have three drives backup to my WD My Book

Labels: apple, backup, mac, macbook, storage, system maintence

Here is a screen capture of Ubuntu running in Parallels on my Macbook. There are some screen shots of the installation process in my Ubuntu Linux Flickr set.

Music by:

Software used:

• Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn
• Parallels
• iShowU

• iMovie HD
• Quicktime Pro

Here is the direct link to the Ubuntu wallpaper I created.

Labels: 7.04, apple, fawn, feisty, linux, mac, macbook, parallels, screenshots, ubuntu, video, wallpaper

After computer has been on for three hours, while streaming iTunes music, and working in Pages, terminal, Firefox, and other apps. I will measure different parts of the MacBook with an infrared gun. I think the results are good. (specs: 2.0ghz core duo, 2gb ram, 80gb drive)

Yes I misspelled acceptable, I made this video in about five minutes.

Labels: apple, hardware, mac, macbook, video

So on my previous post, MacBook (non-pro) to Arrive in 30–60 days (my tech spec. requests), I made some “demands” on what I want in a MacBook. Well lets see what they did “right” and “wrong”, how’d it compare to my requests, and lastly will I buy one?

Pros

• New look! Now they both come in white and black. The white MacBook’s keyboard and hand rest are a nicer gray then on the iBook. The iBook had an ugly off-white/grayish color that I hated. Its also thinner now at only 1.08in (27.5mm) thick which is a ¼ inch smaller than the iBook. Changes to the keyboard allow for a firmer more tactile response, make the keys flush with the body of the macbook, and also the keys do not touch the screen.
• Addition of MagSafe adapter, FrontRow with IR remote, magnetic latch for closing lid, 10/100/1000Mbps ethernet, digital audio in and out, and integrated iSight with PhotoBooth.
• New glossy widescreen display. According to Apple it is 79% brighter than the iBook before it and has 30% more screen real estate (native 1280x800). The whole glossy thing, is said to make images/video look more saturated and blacks more black.
• Dual Screen Support, this is a huge plus! By dual screen support, I refer to the fact that you can now “power” your laptop screen plus an external monitor with a resolution of 1920x1200. (basically up to a Apple 23-inch Cinema HD [expect a future post about how I like the Dell UltraSharp Widescreen Flat Panel Monitors better than Apple's displays) Also this isn't in mirroring mode. The external display you hook up can be a fully independent extended desktop. New Intel Core Duo Processors are said to be up to 5x times faster than previous iBook. The MacBook is capable of 2gb of 667mhz DDR2 RAM. 6hrs of battery life, 3.5hrs with normal usage, 2.5hrs with DVD playing/burning. User replaceable hard drives and easier to install ram slots. Heat-staked feet designed not fall off.

Cons

• No express card slot! That sucks. I wanted a truly portable system, so I wanted to get an EVDO plan so that I can have internet everywhere. Hopefully Verizon will start uncrippling their phones, so people could use their phone as a bluetooth modem. Even better would be a EVDO USB 2.0 solution (Edit: usb modem are now readily available) or T-mobile to come out with an EVDO like service, since they don't cripple anything.
• Integrated graphics chip. :( Although they are more powerful than the ATI 32mb cards that were in the iBooks. But I hate to have to share my ram. The GMA950 does support core video unlike the previous iBook.
• Superdrive doesn’t burn dual layer DVDs.
• Only two USB ports, and one firewire 400 (not that big of a surprise or deal)
• Black model cost $150 more ($200-$50 [60GB to 80GB HD]) as far as I can tell theirs no difference between the two beside the hard drive being 20GB large which is worth $50. (I don't want the Black anyways)
• Still not ultra-portable, like some of the Sony Vaios, but I don't mind that much because the Macbook and the iBook before it have a much sturdier shell then the Vaios.
• Glossy Screen may suck for office environments due to reflections on the display. My concern is that if images look more saturated and blacks look more black, then will it be harder to make accurate prints? From what I heard this can be true. (MacCast podcast 5-17-06)
• Magnetic Latch cons: Depending on the strength of the magnet you'll have to be careful not to place Cds and DVDs, near this area. (Notice that the Cd drive spits the CD/DVD out of right of the MacBook.) In the user manual for the MacBook Pro it does caution users: "The MacBook Pro power adapter port contains a magnet that can erase data on a credit card, iPod, or other device. To preserve your data, keep these and other magnetic media away from the power adapter port." I assume will see a similar warning in the MacBook manual.
• Apple states that the MacBook will run hotter than its predecessor. They even have tips page for customers worried about damage due to heat. p106 MacBook Pro Manual: "Do not leave the bottom of your MacBook Pro in contact with your lap or any surface of your body for extended periods. Prolonged contact with your body could cause discomfort and potentially a burn"

Comparison

Here is Apple's comparison between all of their current notebooks. And here is some guys comparison between the late iBook model and the new Macbooks.

I'm going to compare it to my previous post, in which I said I want an dedicated graphics card, 1280x768 min screen resolution, and a EVDO slot. Well I did get my screen resolution which was an |absolute| must, I would never buy a laptop with a 1024x768 screen. The integrated graphics is a bummer, but it has done well in tests, and reviews. The lack of an express card slot is a bit disappointing, but with bluetooth and usb 2.0 I'll find a work around. So, did I make the purchase? Yes I did. I got the white model MacBook with 2.0 ghz Core Duo, and upgraded the hard drive to 80gb and added iWork '06, mini-dvi to DVI adapter, mini-dvi to VGA/S-Video Adapter, and of coarse apple care. I did get an educational discount from Apple on my purchase since I'm a student which saved me in total $201. I also add 2GB of RAM, not through the Apple store though. That would have cost me $450. Instead I bought it from transintl for $209. I should be receiving my MacBook April 26. I paid for 2-3 day shipping, and they are going to take 5 days to ship it. :( (1-5 days my ass) When it comes in I take some hi-res shots of it and post them. Why not black, you may ask? Personally I don't like the way it looks, I prefer white, and I don't want to see every single figure print, and I'm not going to pay $150 extra for simple black, maybe I would for aluminum or something else nifty, but not black. (I'm not saying it sucks, its just not for me.) Since this will be my 1st Mac I will be posting info about the process. Also I'm planning a video podcast that may debut toward the end of July.

Reviews

• MacWorld 1st look
• Up close and personal with Apple's MacBook (photos)

Labels: apple, hardware, mac, macbook

“Apple has begun manufacturing its new MacBook and should have the laptop in consumer hands in the next 30-60 days, sources report. The MacBook and it will indeed be called the MacBook, sources have confirmed, as Apple will be dropping the iBook moniker.”

~ via Digg read more | digg story

My Take

Recent rumors of the macbook (non pro, previously known as ibook) finally being released sometime between May and June has me quite excited. So far I've read that the macbook will sport a 13.3in display with 1280x720 resolution ! <rant>: Finally, I mean seriously I can't believe that the ibook was still running at 1024x768 especially the 14 inch!</rant>

The next major concern I have is that they will use an integrated graphics chip in all version of the macbook, I mean I can understand if they put one in the low end version, but they should have a second ibook version that has a 64mb graphics card, or at least 32mb. Or at least an upgrade path. With the mid-end Dell laptop line (inspiron E1505) for example you can upgrade the laptop from a Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950 to either an ATI 128mb x1300 Hypermemory for $79 or ATI 256 x1400 Hypermemory $143. The Intel GMA 950 chip is also used in Mac Mini with Intel, this is what is suspected to be included in the macbook. The Inspirion E1505 has a base price of $1261 (w/ 128mb card $1340 & w/ 256mb card $1404) Now I don't want to get into a total comparison of who is priced better Dell or Apple, I just am pointing out that it is an affordable option to upgrade the card if you need to, I would gladly pay $143 to get the x1400 instead of the GMA 950.

Also rumored is that the industrial design of the macbook will be the greatest change to the computer line, that Apple has made in years. Hopefully not some shiny black case that scratches easily.

So will I buy a macbook. . .? All I can say is I definitely won't if it has less than 1280 resolution screen, a video card that is integrated (with no optional upgrade path), and I'm also hoping that they will put a Express card slot, so that when the EVDO cards do come out I can use them. As of now the ibook has no slot of any kind.

So what if they do all the things I don't like? Then I'll be waiting for the macbook pro with a conroe chip or maybe a 13.3in macbook pro. I didn't buy the macbook pro because the apps I want to use (Creative suite, Final Cut Express) are not available yet. For me personally the whole point of the macbook pro is to have a top of the line notebook, which I believe it is, but by the time I get to use it it's full potential it we be a year old. So when Creative Suite and Final Cut Express comes out I will be buying a high end system.

Note: I know I'm making a lot of demands on the macbook, but I'm not saying all this features need to be in a $999 version. I would gladly pay $1499 for a 13.3in ibook 1280x720 res. Screen, 512mb ddr2 ram, 128mb x1300 card, (which I doubt they do.), 60gb 5200rpm SATA drive (hopefully i can upgrade it to a 7200rpm 100gb drive) & a Superdrive.

Labels: apple, hardware, mac, macbook