Daily Clerks

Macbook

Intuos3

I bought the Macbook about 2 months ago and I haven’t been disappointed. The first thing I did when I got it was upgrade the RAM from 512MB to 2 GB, which is really what it needs to run well.

My impressions after using it for this long and this being my first Mac is that it’s not only easy to use, but also fun. I did have some qualms about the Macbook because it did run super hot, like some people have said, but recently Apple has released a firmware upgrade which keeps the fans running longer which makes the laptop run cooler. This has definitely been an added bonus.

I do enjoy using many of the mac’s features, granted, I probably only really use a small percentage, as I’m still trying to get used to it. But the most fun has been using the built in isight alont with Photobooth. Just taking random pictures here and there is great. And it’s also great for using with Skype and iChat for video conferencing. This has definitely helped me stay in touch with some of my team that are spread out all over the world.

Then there’s Front Row, the Macbook’s built in media organizer/player. Too bad it only works with the programs that are already preset for it. If I could use the Apple Remote along with Photo Booth, that’d be totally awesome or even with some other programs like VLC. But alas, it wasn’t meant to be unless you use a third party software. There are some great solutions out there such as Mira, by Twisted Melon. The program worked great for me but crapped out because of some other software I had installed, and I have yet to figure out which one it was. But it did was it was supposed to do, and when it did work, it was great to be able to use other programs with the remote.

Of course there are the widgets. These are fun little utilities, but I hate the fact that I can’t keep one widget open on the desktop all of the time. Instead I have to show all of the widgets, which is a pain. It’d be awesome if someone could create an app that will allow you to display one or a few widgets on your desktop at all times.

Aside from some of the quirks of the Mac, I don’t really have too many complaints for the little guy. I do find myself doing things on my PC that I can do on the mac, such as using expose. I’ve configured my macbook to use expose when I move the mouse to the lower right hand corner, which is really a great tool, and I tend to do that on a PC, which doesnt have that feature.

I have now taken my Macbook and made it my main computer as opposed to what I had originally planned which was to make it my traveling computer so that I can work on docs and whatnot while on the road. Instead, I have now hooked it up to my external LCD and really made it my main machine, especially after I found this great software called Curio. It’s a project management/idea project board. And the past few weeks that I’ve been using it have been really time saving and because you can draw and do everything with it and then export the files to pdf or even publish it to a website, it’s easy to share. I use this with an intuos3 tablet, to really get my ideas across.

Overall…I’m glad I finally buckled down and got this machine. If you are in the market for a great notebook, I would highly recommend this one, especially because it can now run Windows using Apple’s Bootcamp which dual boots your computer into OS X or Windows, or use Parallels, which is a virtualization software and is great for those of you that don’t need to run Windows stuff too often.

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