A Month with a Mac II: The Mobile Experience
by Anand Lal Shimpi on January 24, 2005 12:14 AM EST- Posted in
- Anand
This was originally supposed to be a Christmas surprise, but me getting the flu/cold/pneumonia kind of put an end to that. Needless to say, the followup to my first Mac experience article is now live and it's called: A Month with a Mac II: The Mobile Experience. As the name implies, the article focuses on my experience with Apple's PowerBook after a month of use - similar in nature to the first article.
I originally took on the endeavor because after I came to realize the strengths of OS X, I quickly realized that they would work wonders on a mobile platform. So that combined with the fact that there were quite a few stones left unturned after the first article left me with the idea and premise for part II.
But that's not the end of it, check back Tuesday for a review of the new Mac mini as well as my impressions of iLife '05 and iWork '05.
As always, feedback is very much appreciated so keep it coming.
Take care.
I originally took on the endeavor because after I came to realize the strengths of OS X, I quickly realized that they would work wonders on a mobile platform. So that combined with the fact that there were quite a few stones left unturned after the first article left me with the idea and premise for part II.
But that's not the end of it, check back Tuesday for a review of the new Mac mini as well as my impressions of iLife '05 and iWork '05.
As always, feedback is very much appreciated so keep it coming.
Take care.
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Denis - Wednesday, January 26, 2005 - link
I use Yadal and/or Namely as application launcher.I use DoubleCommand to map Shift-Backspace to Delete and add a right-hand Alt key (DoubleCommand.pref contains 16388)
These are free applications, many more are available to enhance your Mac experience. See VersionTracker for a list of freeware and shareware:
http://www.versiontracker.com/macosx
Sam Samaha - Wednesday, January 26, 2005 - link
Great Article Anand..I grew up in the time of systems like the IBM 370 and Unix mainframes, but the sadly gotand lost in the windows world for years, first with DOS of course..
With the advent of OS X, the Mac has taken on a whole new life for me, and it's not longer that simple computer for art students and photographers, but now it's a power user system with full unix control and a "windows" shell that can't be touched.
Glad to have found OS X, as I'm sure you are Anand.
Can't wait for Tiger, and true 64 bit desktop computing.
mklein - Tuesday, January 25, 2005 - link
An important security feature is FileVault. When chosen, it encrypts the entire Home folder during use, on the fly, all in the background with no performance hit.So if the laptop is lost, there is Password protection AND the HD is unreadable as well.
Interesting that it comes with military security for such a user-friendly interface.
Ed Garcia - Monday, January 24, 2005 - link
The launcher I use is HimmelBar. Free and customizable. It's much better than putting the Applications folder in the dock.W. Andrew Loe III - Monday, January 24, 2005 - link
still think you are missing out on the complete mac experience by not using a launcher application.I run Butler (http://www.petermaurer.de/nasi.php?thema=butler&am... but there are many more: LaunchBar (http://www.obdev.at/products/launchbar/index.html)... QS as mentioned earlier, just do a search on versiontracker.com.
What these applications enable you to do is virtualy elimate the need for CMD+tab switching, using the dock, or using the Applications folder to launch things. Basically press CMD + Space (as I have it setup, you can go with whatever key combo you want!) and then type what you want - you can even teach them anacronyms for commonly used applications. For example if I do CMD+Space then type PS and hit enter it opens photoshop, or switches to it if its already open. The applications are infinitely configurable, I've got a shortcut for blog which runs an apple script that then pops open MarsEdit and opens a new post window for my blog (which is WordPress powered, MarsEdit contacts it via XML-RPC). Butler also has a built in dictonary, and multiple other widgets. Check it out.
I 2nd the suggestion on using sidetrack. I bought my PB (1st mac) in march last year and this was one of the first things that I had to have - makes it so much nicer.
hopejr - Monday, January 24, 2005 - link
#13, #17, #21, Anand has been sick and is still catching up with reviews (this one was supposed to be released around Christmas). So stop you're complaining!Michael2k - Monday, January 24, 2005 - link
#21: Valve hasn't released HL2 yet for the Mac, so no HL2 testing was done.Patrick - Monday, January 24, 2005 - link
Excellent article! I love reading your perspective of the Mac platform. I am really looking forward to the Mac Mini article. Good luck.Anonymous - Monday, January 24, 2005 - link
I should second #13, what happened to the HL2 CPU article?badtz - Monday, January 24, 2005 - link
Very well balanced and unbiased article! I was previously a PC user and switched to the Apple/PowerPC platform 3 years ago, and I feel the same way as you! You pointed out all of the strong points of Apple (good OS, GUI design, quality, etc.), while mentioning it's "so-so" features like gaming.Well written article! And for those PC/Windows users who are seriously even 'considering' OS X, you should really read the article thoroughly, and also watch the video clips!
:)