Hardware

A New MacBook Pro

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My mother in law is fond of saying you don’t know if you don’t ask, or something to that effect.  i don’t always agree with that but most of the times I do.  Earlier this month I asked for a new laptop from work.  I have been without a work laptop since early summer (long story I wont go into).  I have used a desktop I had an my own Macbook Air.  My company allows personal Mac’s on a bring your own support type model.  I was wanting something more powerful than what my Air could provide and I really didn’t want to keep using my personal gear for work.  I researched my options and the Dell developer build laptop they offered was powerful but very big.  I liked the power but I didn’t’ really want to go back to a windows machine.  I looked and noticed i could get a Macbook Air bundle that wasn’t much more than the Dell and it was basically just as powerful.  Since I can do my entire job on a Mac i asked if i could just get one of the new Retina Display Pro’s instead of a Dell.  My boss got approval and said yes i could get it.  I was extremely pleased.

Today the computer arrived unexpectedly early at the office.  I was on vacation but got the tracking information.  I talked with MC and she agreed to let me go in to the office to pick up the computer and come home.  That would allow me to start migrating my stuff off the Air onto the new Pro before I got back to work after the new year.

The Pro is bigger than anything I have had since a 15″ Powerbook, but it was just as heavy as my 13″ Macbook Pro I used to have.  It is much heavier than the Air I had and that will take getting used, however that extra weight comes along with the more ram and much more powerful processor.  Not to mention the bigger screen.  I wont need the bigger screen most of the time but when i am not plugged into a monitor it will come in handy.

The Decision To Get Another Mac Mini

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I know that I waffle on what approach I take with regards to my computer equipment.  I have been known to swing between wanting one laptop I use for everything to a laptop and desktop, to just a desktop and using works laptop.  Right now I have a semi-new 2012 Macbook Air.  I sold my main desktop, a 27″ iMac that I bought and tricked out in 2011 over the summer.  I also am selling my old 2011 Macbook Air because I wanted one computer, a laptop.  At the time my thoughts were I wanted a single machine so I can go between work and home and have my stuff with me.  I had the iMac because I previously worked from home 2-3 days a week and having the more powerful desktop made sense.  Since I am in the office most days as of early summer that didn’t make much sense anymore.  I also have a 2010 Mac Mini I have been using as a media center.  Its no longer plugged directly into my TV but is hosting all my media and acts as a headless server that my Apple TV or Macbook Air connects to.  I can’t use it as a desktop since the Thunderbolt display I have is not compatible with the older Mini.

Flash forward to now, and I am happy with my Air however I am finding myself wanting a desktop that is always on.  I still need my laptop for now for if I need to work from the bedroom or anywhere else if the baby is in the area were my computer is, but having a desktop for me and the family has its advantages.  Having a super powerful iMac still doesn’t make sense.  My current solution is to get one of the new Mac Mini’s that were just announced.  It is 1/3 of the price I paid for my iMac, and if i need to I can unplug the Mini from my display and plug in my laptop as needed.  The 1TB Fusion drive looks like a good compromise for speed and storage space.  The new Mini’s looked good enough that I ordered a new one on the 5th.  It arrived Friday.  So far the Cinema Display and the Mini is a great alternative to a laptop or an iMac.  I still have to carry around a laptop to work but I like having a flexibility the mini provides vs an all in one iMac.  Only time will say if I remain happy.

 

The Case for Two Tablets

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On last Wednesday Apple announced several product refreshes as well as a new iPad mini. It was very funny that a company as secretive as Apple had this product announcement predicted so perfectly weeks before. I for one was hoping the rumors were true since I really wanted a smaller iPad even though I love my third-generation iPad.

The dilemma for me has been I want a tablet to use in multiple situations. MC and I use my iPad around the apartment, usually on the couch to do all sorts of things. We will order take-out, fresh direct, browse the web, or just look up where we know some actor that were seen on TV using the IMDB app. We use it when we travel as a map, research tool, email checker, reading a book, watch a movie, and probably lots of other things I’m not remembering. At work it’s what I take to go to a meeting. I have a notebook and a pen but I barely ever use it. With the iPad I can take notes with Evernote, jot down a task with remember the milk, or quickly pull up a story on our Jira system via the web browser.

For all those situations the iPad is fantastic! The screen size is beneficial and it’s either sitting on a desk or not being held long enough for the weight to matter that much. If there were no other use cases for me one device would be perfect. Problem is I also want something that I can use on my 45 minute commute each direction to work. I could use my smartphone but the screen is still pretty small and sometimes it’s difficult to read for long periods of time. If I’d better vision maybe that would be in, since plenty of people just use that. A Kindle is a great idea, but the regular ones you can only read books on. I would love to catch up on just by reading but during the commute time I want to be able to get up to date on all the overnight email at work (I get up to 100 overnight). I also want to review my tasks for the day, read news stories, books, and watch movies or podcasts. I don’t do that every day but each day in the mood to do something different. Using my full-size iPad is difficult since it’s hard to hold in one hand while standing on the subway. If I get a seat it’s usable but still not the best option. Let’s face it I don’t always get a seat anyway.

When Google announced the Nexus 7 I was excited because I thought that form factor would be perfect for my commute to work. I was right. Reading on it perfectly fine with one hand for less than an hour at a time. The screen size was okay. I would’ve liked bigger but I understand the need to be aware holding one hand was more important. The problem is it’s low and kind of buggy. This is an about the Nexus 7, so not going to all the details. Let’s just say I got what I paid for but the experience is still lacking. So much so that I do not always take it with me each morning.

I am hopeful that the iPad mini will be as well built as the larger iPad. There’s no reason to believe otherwise. With the smaller device I’ll be able to use it on my commute to and from work, possibly in meetings, when empowered about in the city for the day, and as a second device when MC and I both want to use it at the same time. That last one has happened several times when we traveled even though she’s not wanted to get her own.

I will admit that it’s an expensive device for specific purpose, however that aside I see need just by looking at how much I’ve tried to use the Google tablet. I opted to spend the extra $130 to get the LTE model. I’m not sure if I will activate it but I have seen the limitations of just Wi-Fi only in both the original iPad and the Nexus 7 slut want the option. Now all I have to do is wait three or so more weeks and give it a testdrive. Worst-case scenario is it gets eBayed. The unlikely but possible best case scenario is I eBay my iPad three.  More likely is I end up keeping both, but we shall see.

I will end this post by saying that no one really “needs” a tablet computer.  There are people out there who can’t afford food so having one or two niche devices that didn’t really exist before 2010 is not necessary   Whats necessary and what people want or makes their lives easier is a totally different story.

Desk Reconfiguration

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At work I have had 5 monitors on my desk.  Let’s not argue the necessity of five monitors. It is a bit excessive. That is why I’ve been thinking about downsizing for a while.  At the time the setup made sense, and I had the equipment on hand so I figured why not.  Recently however my desk is been slightly cramped, and I found myself using my third computer significantly less.  This set up started when I got a new 27 inch display for my laptop.  It was a great needed addition since the extra real-estate is used and I blow text up a lot.  With that addition I had the two 19″ monitors I was using for my Macbook Air free to move to my Mac Mini that I use.  I have that machine mainly to sit on the guest wifi network to do Skype video chats with far flung staff.  I can use Skype on the internal network but it never seems the same.  The 15″ monitors (2 of them) I was using for the Min went towards a Dell desktop I have that I run a specific work app on.  I can run it in a VM but on my older Macbook Air the VM was starved for memory.  Now i may revisit the need for that machine but i like having a dedicated Windows machine around even if I dont use it often.

Since I wasn’t using the windows machine a lot I gave away the 15″ monitors and just have the Dell desktop plugged into one of the Mini’s 19″ monitors.  They take DVI & VGI so I created  poor mans switcher for the monitor.  Longer term i will probably just RDP to that machine.  Surprisingly 3 monitors is not uncommon at work.  Some people even have 4 but i was a bit out there with the 5.

Now I have space on my desk that you can actually see my wedding & engagement photos.  Now isn’t that whats important?

Next Gen MacBook Air

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After much pondering I broke down and put an order in for a new MacBook air 13 inch. I bought a 2011 model last August and I’ve been very happy with it, except for a few drawbacks. The new model seems to correct all the drawbacks I’ve experienced. The only thing I had to do to get it was spent a lot more money for it. I think it’ll be worth it in the long run. I have been generally upgrading laptops every year so, and in the near future I don’t think that’s going to happen with a baby on the way so I want to get the upgrade out-of-the-way and be happy with additional capacity now.

This new MacBook air is sporting eight gigs of RAM and a 512 gig SSD drive. The old model didn’t have enough memory for what I was using it for, especially running a virtual machine. I also maxed out the 256 gigs on the old one SSD, so going for the 512 gig SSD was a must. But that upgrade broke the bank. I contemplated going for a MacBook Pro 13 inch with the regular hard drive but the cost difference and the performance difference really didn’t make it worthwhile for me. I’ve been spoiled with the SSDs in the Air’s for the past two years so going back to a 5400 RPM hard drive wasn’t really something I wanted to do. Other notable improvements is the USB three, but I really don’t have any use for it at this moment. Also the Core i7 dual core processor is slightly faster than what I’ve been used to all my old air.

It doesn’t come with Mountain Lion, but I get a free upgrade when it comes out in a few weeks.  I will probably buy the upgrade anyway since I have other computers I want to upgrade anyway, and the free upgrade is only for this laptop.

So far I’ve been extremely pleased with the upgrade. Now all I have to do is eBay my old laptop.

Naming Schemes

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I am in the technology field. I think about stuff that not many other people might. Take for example naming schemes for your computers. Until recently most people only had one or two at home and probably had generic names for their stuff. I have worked in environments with hundreds of servers and other devices. Dealing with numbers like that you think about how to name things. For me that got me thinking about how I name all the deices at home.

At Partsearch in the beginning Gus twisted my arm to name stuff with some sort of meaning and avoid a utilitarian scheme. As a history major I opted for naming things for WWII naval ships. Our web servers were battleships. Our database servers were air craft carriers. Our production database servers were all US Carriers involved in Midway. you get the picture. That decision was universally disliked. I was almost pretty happy that everyone wasn’t happy since in the end Gus just gave up and let me name everything with a more formalized structure that I wanted all along.

Before the experience at Partsearch coming up with a standard like that I named my computers at home each as a planet in the solar system. My desktop was always Mars, my server was Saturn. Back then I only had two computers at home (typically) but if i had more i always followed that standard.

After dealing with thinking up a standard I read about how different people did it and I changed what I name stuff at home. I started using names of space shuttles and then generally any space capsule name NASA has used. My main laptop has been Endeavour for years. I have had Atlantis (still do) and Discovery for a while as servers or other extra boxes I have had sitting around. My main desktop was Odyssey for years, now it is Aurora.

I write about this topic now because after I got M a Macbook I have had to deviate from that structure a bit since she gets to name her own machine. It is funny to see how other tech people I know take great care in how they name their equipment and then how non tech people don’t think anything about it. To me this topic was funny to think about.

The New MacBook Air

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This week turned out to be a two laptop week.  I was already thinking about selling my existing 2010 Macbook Air and upgrade to the new i5 2011 Air’s that just came out in July  when I convinced M to order a new Macbook Pro but I finally pulled the trigger on the new Air today.

I was waffling for a while since the 2010 model is still perfectly good.  The big drawback for me was the processor wasn’t anywhere near a desktop or even a bigger laptop’s speed.  That changed when the new i5 Air’s came out.  After figuring how much i could sell my old Air for i decided to make the jump and upgrade.

I have bought lots of stuff at the 5th ave Apple store but today was actually the worst experience i have ever had there.  It was super crowded and it took forever to find someone to help me, only to have them tell me oh you need to find a free computer and tell the ipad sitting next to it you need assistance and then you will go into queue to get help.  Problem there is everyone is on these laptops for hours surfing Facebook and two no one tells you that is the process.  I have bought more than one computer from this store and this is the first time i have ever had to do that.

Drama aside i was able to get the model I wanted and headed home.  Well after more minor train drama i was able to get home but that is another story.

I had already taken a backup of my old Air using Carbon Copy Cloner so setting up this computer was as simple as plugging in the backup hard drive and saying yes restore from an external hard drive.  For that function alone i have to love Apple!

 

 

Another Convert

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Today the unthinkable happened.  I ordered M a new computer.  Since 2003 M has had the same HP laptop.  Long ago I gave up making fun of her for it.  For me I like something new, and I know that most people don’t.  For her even though the laptop was old by any standard it worked for her.  If she was happy, I was happy.

Recently however M has been rebooting the laptop constantly and commenting on how slow it is.  I am not sure if something changed recently or if it was just that she has been using my new iMac and noticing the difference in speed.  She was hesitant to spend the cash on a new one.

I finally convinced her to take the plunge.  I was pushing a Macbook Pro, but I really didn’t know her usage requirements so I wasn’t sure if she could do everything on a Mac.  After running a test of the one app in question I ran into a snag.  A remote desktop app she used required an activeX control and couldn’t be used on a Mac.  After talking with M I realized that app wasn’t used that much so using VMware was an option.

With the activeX issue squared away we ordered the entry level Macbook Pro 13″.  I am hoping M will be a happy Mac convert.  She is not the first person I have converted to the Mac.  Besides about a dozen friends or more I finally got my parents converted to an iMac also.  I think everyone has been happy as a convert with the exception of Jayson, but Jay is now looking to get another Mac so I will have a 100% conversion rating.

We await the new Mac to arrive later this week.  Then I have to figure out how to migrate all the data from the HP to the Macbook Pro.

The New Mac Mini

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I ordered one of the new Mac Mini's the other day.  It should arrive on Wednesday.  It is taking so long since I wanted 4gig's of RAM so it was a special order.  I got the stock HDD and Processor since I don't think I needed more than what it came with.  Now I will agree I have a few computers so why would I want another one?  Good question.  No real good answer.  I don't "need" anything.  However with this new Mini I can use HDMI naitivly so my hopes for a media center machine are once again alive.  I don't know if this Mac will have the same HDMI issues as my other ones have with the adapters to HDMI, or if the native cable will "just work".  If this doesn't work I am sure it is my TV that is the problem.  Well I am already pretty sure it is my TV that is messed up but we will see Wednesday.

If the media center doesn't work out I mainly bought this new one because my 20" iMac is slowly going.  Not sure why since it is only 2 years old but I don't have Apple Care and the screen has lighter colored vertical bars here and there (in regular intervals) that make me think it is the back-lights.  That was an issue for a while but now I am not even able to put most DVD's into the drive.  It starts making really bad sounds and wont spit them out.  I know I use the iMac as a server mainly to host up my iTunes video library but I do want it to work.  If the DVD drive goes I may end up just moving it to my bedroom to use as a TV or streaming host for videos that I wanted to do a while back and use the new Mini to host my iTunes collection.  In the end the Mini will be used as some sort of media center.  If it plugs into my TV or an extra monitor on my desk is really all that is up in the air.

eBay Items

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I go through phases where I sell a bunch of stuff on eBay. I always say eBay is my enabler to buy more gadgets. It is kinda true. I sold 3 things this week and I boxed them up and they will ship out tomorrow.

I am parting with my G1 that I bought second hand in December. I was hoping to like Android and that T-Mobile would have worked by my apartment and at work. T-Mobile didn’t work well in either locations and I wasn’t such a fan of Android so far, so I am sticking with my iPhone and AT&T even if I have signal issues at work. Honestly I had this G1 sit around for a while since I only used it for about a week in December but was lazy to sell.

I am also selling my Archos 5 Internet Tablet. This was another Android experiment. I was hoping for something with a bigger screen than the iPhone to use as a tablet. Well I wasn’t a huge fan. It was a great device but, just not for me. I am going to wait for the much larger iPad instead.

I am also finally selling an extra magic mouse that I got by accident.

Next up on the to sell list is some larger stuff.