Mac

I Need A New Mac!

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I have been eluding to my desire to get a new Mac. The lack of hard drive space is killing me. I see people in the train station (did so today again) with the 15″ powerbooks and I go “i want one”. I day dream about the power of a Power Mac when it takes a minute for my Powerbook to load a PDF.

My problem is I know I want a new Mac, but I haven’t decided what I want to get. Until then I am stuck with what I have. Now it is in great condition, but I am hitting the limits of its performance.

My current options are a single processor G5 tower, the newer 12″ Powerbook, or the 15″ Powerbook. When I make up my mind I will go and get one. You know what that means? eBay in my future for my current model.

Mac’s Are Great, But Slow

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So if you read this site you will know I am a fan of Mac’s. Now this is new for me. For years I was such a Windows snob. I was so against Apple in every way. Over the past 2 years I have become a fan of Mac’s. OS X has done it for me. it is a great OS. My Mac of choice is the Powerbook. I love them. I have had 3 of them. I upgrade quickly, especially since eBay exists it makes it easy.

So I have mentioned I love the Mac. Now the downside. They are slow. I don’t care what Apple says, my Powerbook 1GHZ with 640 megs of ram is noticeably slower than my 1.5GHZ Thinkpad with 768 megs of RAM. Now the powerbook was bought in February. The thinkpad is 15 months old. Apple always says that the megahertz doesn’t always matter. Well let me tell you, I believe them to a point. But when it takes forever (3-4x as long as it does on my thinkpad) to open a PDF file with Adobe Acrobat on my powerbook, it is slow. When I have iTunes, Firefox, and Microsoft Word open and word is sluggish to respond, it is not looking good for Apple. they can claim that Microsoft or others don’t optimize their software for their OS, but I as a user just see it being slower on a mac versus my windows PC. Now I tolerate it, but it is becoming a problem. Granted I want to upgrade to a faster powerbook, but I shouldn’t have to just because their is a faster one out there. I want to upgrade because I need more drive space, but I am also hoping that the newer machine is allot faster. The speed issue as I said is becoming a problem. What is the deal Apple?

iMac, Gone

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I dropped my iMac off at the UPS store yesterday. It is on its way to its new owner cutisy of ebay. I really liked that computer but I decided I need to be mobile. So I am sticking with my Powerbook as my only Mac, and as my main computer now that the iMac is gone.

I will miss that computer but I am looking ahead to smaller more powerful portable stuff:)

iMac Is Packed And Ready To Go

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I am moving fast before I change my mind. I have wiped the hard drive and restored it to the factory defaults. I then boxed it up and took pictures of it for ebay. Now I have to post an auction and sell it before I have second thoughts. I am working off my Powerbook as my main computer for now. My Server and desktop PC’s are still not unpacked.

For now the plan is to sell the iMac and possibly buy a nice 20″ or 23″ flat screen and plug my Powerbook and desktop into it. Or I may just get a bigger powerbook with the 15″ screen. I know I had one 2 years ago, but I am not sure what I want. I love my little powerbook, but it does not have a DVD burner, and it is not super fast. if I am going to use it as my main machine I need more out of it. Especially the hard drive. Even with an external firewire drive, the internal 40 gig drive just wont cut it.

For now I will stay with the 12″ until I sell the iMac.

It Just Works

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Whoever said that is correct. Mac’s just work. To make a long story short, I have an Eye TV that I have plugged into my iMac. I am moving, so I unplugged it. I packed my TV, DVD, VCR, Tivo and all other gear away. I still wanted to watch tv. I went to elgato’s website and downloaded the latest software for Eye TV and dropped it in the applications folder of my Powerbook and plugged in the EyeTV. I was watching TV in 3 minutes.

I never had that kind of luck with my ATI all in wonder capture card on my PC. The idea of setting the Eye TV up on my laptop is now when my cable company shows up at my new place I don’t need my tv to be unpacked. I just need the Eye TV and my powerbook and I can verify that cable works. Both items are small so they can go in my laptop bag.

I am very happy I didn’t have to spend hours figuring out how to get the dam thing to work. I don’t even want to watch tv now that I know I can when I want for the next few days.

Tivo withdrawal is another story, and another post…

Palm And Entourage

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I installed the Palm conduit for Microsoft Entourage 2004 over the weekend. After using it for a few days I have no idea why I haven’t been using it for longer. I want outlook like functionality on my Mac. I want free / busy data that works with outlook. Turns out I am a dumbass and have had that all along with Entourage. It makes sense, Entourage is Microsoft’s answer to outlook for the Mac.

I removed the Missing Sync from my Mac and ran the Entourage conduit. it worked great so far. I will put the missing sync back on when the new version 4.0 comes out with support for Entourage. No more iCal & Address book for me. Almost everything sync’ between the palm and Entourage. The only thing that doesn’t is calendar categories. I think that is because the palm doesn’t transfer them, because Entourage has the ability to handle them, and so does outlook.

I am going to try to sync my Treo 600 with my Powerbook today at work, and use the powerbook for my PIM instead of my windows box and outlook. I will see how it turns out. Now all I need is for my Treo to do Bluetooth and I would be a happy camper!!!

Firefox Vs. Mozilla Vs. I.E.

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I downloaded Mozilla’s Firefox 0.91 last night for my Mac. To me it didn’t seem that much different from Mozilla 1.7. Not sure what advanced features they were touting but it just looked like a stand alone version of Mozilla to me. It had better import / export of bookmarks. Other than that, not sure what the big deal is. I will probably start using it, but only because I don’t need or want the newsreader or email client that comes with mozilla.

I find it funny that the government is telling people that Mozilla is more secure than IE. It probably isn’t. it is just less used, so less people using something equals less people trying to exploit it. I still think mozilla is a better browser. We have been pushing mozilla as a browser in my company for over a year. We love it. This past attack on IE reinforces my decision to go with Mozilla. Like I said it probably is not more secure, but in reality it will be attacked less, since fewer people use it. I think that theory is holding up.

iMac Will Stay, For Now

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I have decided to keep the iMac for now. I decided that I do like it, and I do use it. Any other solution won’t be that great right now. So instead of investing more money in something else, I will keep what I have.

I do need another firewire hard drive though. My Lacie 200 Gig drive is running low on space. My other 160 gig drive in my PC only has 8 gigs free. I think I can get another 200 gig firewire drive for around $200. I will wait till after I move to pick it up. I am trying to save this month. So far I am doing ok, but there is several things I need to buy that I am waiting to spend money on.

iMac or Not to iMac

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I am still pondering the sale of my iMac when I move next month. I can still get a large amount for it, so I keep thinking will I be better served by a different computer? If I do sell it I would need a DVD burner for my powerbook or some other solution. I would also want a larger flat panel screen for my desk at home since I use the 20″ most of the time.

Too many choices. Pondering continues…

Office 2004 For The Mac

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So my initial review of Office 2004 for the Mac is this. It is great. it is just as great as the previous version Office v.x for the Mac. That is the problem. I went out and bought this thing (and I am not regretting upgrading) and it doesn’t have that much new stuff. It is not a quantum leap of enhancements in any way. It is what everyone has been saying about Microsoft office upgrades. It is minor changes, that if you have 2 or 3 versions older product you will appreciate the upgrade. But if you are going from one realize behind to the new release you wont find much difference. That was my problem.

Entourage is nicer than it was in the previous version. Other than that, I don’t see much difference. I still like the product, but for what I do it is very similar to the older version. I will see after a few months if I change my opinion.