Cole W. Camplese

MacBook Reactions

So I have now been using a black MacBook for about five days and I am really enjoying it. The comments made by a whole bunch of people reveal that this is a personal choice that can only be slightly influenced by your peers. Before I get into my initial reactions I just have to say how funny it is that I try to post good stuff about teaching and learning with technology, but the posts that get the most traction are the ones about Apple Hardware and other product style reviews. I think I may have to switch this blog over to an Apple Fanboy site.

Ok, now on to my MacBook thoughts ... I am noticing a few things now about the MacBook that I thought I would share as a follow up to the previous post:

• I am missing the lighted keyboard ... I hate to say it but I look at the keyboard quite a bit when I type. I type fast, but I never really did practice the way Mrs. Hawk (my 9th grade typing teacher) would have liked. With that said, I am digging the MacBook's keyboard design.


• The sound is lame ... the built in speakers suck. Completely underpowered compared to the MBP. I don't use the speakers on my laptop much, but I do when I am on the road in hotels. I love music so when I travel my laptop turns into my in room entertainment system. Maybe I just need to forget how good the MBP speakers sounded and get on with life.


• I am not missing the larger display ... the native resolution of 1280 x 800 on the MacBook is treating me just fine. I can always go back to a virtual desktop setup, but Expose continues to be my favorite choice for rapid switching.


• I love the glossy screen ... I know you can get that on the MBP, but I didn't have it and really like it. We shall see how it holds up on a plane with an open window shade, but so far so good.


• Video seems a little slow ... but I guess that is to be expected. I am only noticing it now as I have hooked up to a 23" Apple Display ... it just feels that way, but it may be in my head. It does do a great job of driving the display however.


• It gets dirty ... and I mean it gets dirty fast. I have no idea how to care for the glossy screen, but I find myself wiping fingerprints off the case a lot.


• Sexy ... yep, I said it. This thing is sexy. People check it out ... funny, MBP's are everywhere on campus and this thing just turns heads. Not that I am into that sort of thing!
  


• It is fast ... with 2 GB of RAM it is very speedy. I have to say it feels faster than my MBP (which was a first generation Intel MBP) except for when I launch Word. Thankfully (a) I don't launch it as much as I used to and (b) a native Intel version has been announced.


• The size ... the form factor simply kicks ass. The size and weight are amazing. It has sharp edges around the wrist rests that I will need to get used to, but it is a joy to hold, sit on your lap, and use. I am liking that ... it reminds me of why I loved the old 12" PowerBook.

Later today I am getting my USB Broadband Modem and will be testing it. That will be the make or break on this thing for me ... I will post my reactions either tonight or tomorrow on that one. So there it is for today -- my mind may change tomorrow, but so far I am really liking the MacBook over the MacBook Pro. Any other thoughts for me?

Sick and Tired

I am getting really tired of all the Apple news as the lead up to MacWorld ... I am usually a little more interested, but all the iPhone stuff is too much and killing the Mac web.  Add to that Jobs' 2002 comments about tablet computers and you have a whole bunch of nothing going on.  Just my RSS reader lighting up with garbage.  That's all.

That Time of the Year

Yep, it is that time of the year again ... football is in the air. As we all get ready to answer the bell, I am reminded of getting ready for the season. For me it was always the real football -- soccer ... 2 a days hurt a lot after a summer of fun, but by mid-October the work put in was well worth it. Figuring out how to create a new team that could go after a huge goal was always a challenge. Winning late in the season always made the effort disappear. I remember going into seasons with big expectations and having to work extra hard to maintain, extend, and realize those exceptions. I sort of feel like I am in the same boat now.

Given WVU's high hopes you are going to have to put up with me. Trust me, I know it is going to be a long shot, but just to have the Mountaineers in this position is amazing. Madeline has her WVU cheerleading uniform and the forthcoming Max has a jersey waiting for him. It is going to be an amazing fall, not just b/c WVU football could be good, but for a lot of reasons!

.Mac up to a TB

I am not a Mac rumor guy ... but this jumped out at me.  This is sort of old news, but as I was logging into my .Mac admin panel I noticed that I had a TB of data transfer ... that was the other day, now when I log in I don't see any mention of it ... hmm?  It sorts of makes me think this is tied to the whole MacWorld thing coming up this month. I remember back in the day -- you know maybe 13 months ago or so, Adam Curry was using a .Mac account to deliver his podcasts because they didn't have a hard limit on bandwidth transfer. That changed. But, here we are creeping back up to a very respectable (even generous) level. This has me thinking that thre are potentially two things going on ...

The first is a real podcasting application and distribution system built on the iLife tools with big hooks to .Mac ... that would be a major deal for me. I podcast here and there -- for both personal use and, with more frequency, for educational purposes. The process is relatively straightforward, but still not easy enough for my tasts. I want one click easy ... you know, click once and record, click again to stop, encode, add meta data, and publish ... ok, that's two clicks, but you get the picture. For my dollar iLife is missing a simple publishing tool (read personal content management system) that supports RSS enclosures. .Mac would provide the perfect platform.  BTW, we are working on a simple classroom podcasting toolset at PSU ... more on that later.

The second is some sort of media transfer capacity ... this has been writen about before and as cool as it all sounds, doesn't get me as excited as a podcasting/writing application does. Trust me, I have my eye on the whole Intel Mac Mini as DVR/Media Center thing rumor mill thing but at the end of the day I can live without it. I know it would be great for a lot of people, but my life isn't driven by TV or video so I am not as jacked at these prospects.

Eiter way, that is my big rumor post for the new year ... I am hoping for option 1, that's for sure. Thoughts?