MacBook Pro Review

Around August 2009 I custom ordered a Late-2009 model 15" MacBook Pro and figured I would write a review about it. I know it isn't exactly a new product, but I've now owned it well over a year and can write about my experiences with it.

Design

The design of the MacBook Pros are excellent. Looks of it could not be better. Feel of it could not be better. The trackpad did take some time to get used to, but now I can't go back to any other laptop. The size of it makes it so easy to use and find what I'm looking for. The feel of it is a bit strange because it is glass. It also needs cleaning once in a while to keep it working properly, but glass is like that. Multitouch is great and does almost everything I can think of. The keyboard has flat keys that are backlit when light is low and shuts off when there is plenty of light. The iSight camera is good for a laptop, but does not beat a desktop camera. This is because the housing of the screen is extremely thin so you can't fit too much stuff in the thin bezel. One thing people will notice is the lack of a removable battery, but I think that Apple got it right. Because you cannot remove the battery, you do not have to deal with the housing that batteries come in. These take up space. Because you do not have to deal with a housing, you can make a larger battery. Instead of maybe 3-4 hours of battery life, you now have 7. In my experience, I routinely get around 6, but I turn off most of the power-saving features. A quote attributed to the founder of the Lotus car company comes to mind when I think about Apple products: "Simplify, then add lightness."

Features

As perviously mentioned, I custom ordered mine. Mine came with 4GB of RAM, a faster processor, and a Solid State Drive (SSD). Of all of the upgrades, the SSD made the biggest difference. I knew about the performance enhancements because I also upgraded an old Dell desktop to one and it dropped the bootup time from 1 minute 30 seconds down to just 30 seconds. True I sacrificed space for speed, but it is well worth it if you can afford it. I believe my drive is less that half as big as the standard MacBook drive, but it cost about $200 more at the time. To me it is the biggest benefit for the cost.

Operating System

The MacBook came preinstalled with Snow Leopard and it took some getting used to for me. I've always been a Windows user but I started to get fed up with it. Once I got used to it, I find it much easier to use as a regular user. As a power user, it is not as good as Windows because there are many things that are either hidden or they do not allow you access to them. Installing software was probably the biggest change to get accustomed to. Sometimes there is an installation package, but sometimes you just drag and drop the program into the Applications folder. I find myself less concerned with the file system and where files are located.

Impressions

My impressions of the computer have been good overall. I had an issue with what I thought was the wireless card so I took it to an Apple store. They had the part in the store and had it back to me in less than 12 hours, no questions asked. That is something you do not see with other companies. I've also had some other questions, which the Apple employees were glad to answer. As for the computer, it is probably one of my best investments. Some people complain about the "Apple Tax" as mentioned in a previous post, but I believe it will well worth it. I don't mind it in exchange for the good design, performance, and support I've seen.

Apple vs. Microsoft

Many new computer have a big choice when deciding on a computer. While many people see them as competitors, they, in fact, are not. Comparing them is really like comparing apples to oranges.

Apple

Apple is really a hardware manufacturer that happens to make an operating system. Apple produces a number of different hardware product lines. Off the top of my head, I count about 8 different lines plus the variations on them. I count: iMac, MacBook/MacBook Pro, Mac Pro, AppleTV, iPod, iPhone, iPad, Airport/Airport Extreme, Time Capsule. And those are just what I can think of. These are all different hardware devices. They also use their own home-grown operating system called OS X (or OS Ten), or the iOS.

Microsoft

Microsoft, in contrast to Apple, is a software manfacturer. If you do not believe me, count the number of hardware products Microsoft produces. I count 1, which is the Xbox. Compare that with the 8 that Apple produces. The major difference is that Microsoft has a lot of hardware supporters behind them. Windows (the software operating system) makes up approximately 90% of the computers people own. The number of computers Microsoft designs and produces: 0. Microsoft is not a hardware manufacturer. The largest computer manufacturers in the world use the Windows operating system, but none are Microsoft. Microsoft allows the hardware manufacturers to modify Windows by adding their own software to the OS. This pisses me off because they tend to add software from partners so they can make money. Often, the additional software slows the OS down and may be impossible to remove.

Apple, on the other hand, does not license hardware providers to develope their own computers, so the OS X you get is the exact same as Apple designed.

Cost

Apple does put more effort into the look, feel, and design than any other company. Microsoft doesn't because they are not a hardware producer. Apple has to get CEO Steve Job's approval before a product goes to the market. Steve believes form is just as important as function. The MacBook Pros are machined out of a single piece of aluminum because it looks good and functions well. Because of this, there is what many refer to as the "Apple Tax." If you compare the cost of an Apple laptop vs a laptop running Windows, the Apple is about 50% more. The same is true for desktops. I attribute this to many factors including support, design, retail presence. Apple provides support over the phone or in an Apple Store. Microsoft doesn't provide much support because the harware manufactures (Dell, HP, etc) are responsible. In my 20+ years experience, I have found Apple's support much more responsive and easy to use than any Microsoft hardware company. I have owned IBM computer, Dell computers, HP computers, Acer computers, and Apple computers. By far the best has been Apple.

Conclusion

If you have the funding available, I would definately recommend Apple products. If cost is an issue, especially with our current economy, I recomment either an HP or a Dell with Windows. My recommendation is to use an Apple Mac product at home and a Microsoft Windows product at work.

AppleTV Review

As you may have noticed, I do enjoy Apple products. I own a first-generation AppleTV and I've recently upgraded to the new generation. The new generation is a major step forward in some aspects, but a step back in other aspects.

Footprint

The first thing you'll notice if you've ever seen, used, or own the previous generation is the size. At approximately 4"x4" it is about a quarter of the size of the original. This is great because the pervious generation. There are a few reasons for this which I will get into. Another visual/functional benefit it the remote control. Instead of the cheap white plastic of the original, it contains the aluminum remote that Apple offers as a premium to other products. If you've never owned an AppleTV, these are some of the first things you will notice. Another thing you will notice is the lact of cables. The only cable included in the box is the power cable. Overall, the size of it is a great improvement because it can fit into much smaller places.

Interface

The interface looks exactly the same as the pervious version, but uses the iOS used on the iPhone, iPod, and iPad. Now the iOS has the capability to install other apps from the iTunes App Store, but for some reason they haven't deployed this feature yet. Hopefully in the near future they will enable this and allow us to install them. My theory is that the interface is not completely developed yet; the other devices are touch-driven while the AppleTV is remote-driven which will require a different type of interaction. Those without a previous gen AppleTV will see a simple interface that is simple to use even if you've never used an Apple product. It is based on a feature used in other Apple products called Front Row.

Movie Rental

One major feature removed from the previous version is the ability to purchase movies. This is because of the lack of a hard drive in the AppleTV. My guess is that Apple is trying to push ISPs to increase internet bandwidth and also to put pressure on the big movie studios to provide more content available for rent. At the same time, they are shooting themselves in the foot by offering Netflix as a native feature. True, they are taking some of their business away by offering the ability to stream movies and TV shows for $8/month for Netflix, they are also appealing to a much larger audience which may draw more people to rent movies via iTunes. They did raise the price of rentals to offset some of these costs.

Native Capabilities

The old AppleTV had the capability to display 1080p, while the new version can only support 720p which is a step back. But Apple does have a point here: not many people can support 1080p streaming and not much content is available at 1080p. I believe Apple will offer an upgrade in the future to support it, but right now 720p is plenty. Until the average internet speeds in the U.S. increase, 1080p streaming is out of the pitcure. Another feature removed from the AppleTV is the absense of the component connectors. While this is good for the overall quality, not all customers have the ability to support the HDMI-only connection. A High Definition TV is required to use the AppleTV, or at least one that supports HDMI. It also supports Wireless N in addition to its network port so you have the choice. Another capability is to stream internet radio stations which is great when I am doing my homework. Yet another feature available is called AirPlay. Apple created this so you can start watching a movie on an iPhone or iPad and then send it to your TV. I have not actually used the feature, but it shows promise.

Price

The price of it is one of the biggest changes. Gen one cost a minimum of $229 while the new version costs a much more affordable $99. This new cost brings it in line with other streaming boxes such as the Roku boxes.

Media Streaming

I have a media server on my network that holds all of my media such as music and movies. I also have iTunes running on it, so my AppleTV sees my shared library on the server and allows me to stream anything on my server to my TV. This is great for the movies I own (such as Digital Copy movies) because I can see them all alphabetically on the AppleTV and can play them.

Conclusion

Being that I have a few other Apple products, this is perfect and logical selection for my setup. If I were to provide Apple with a new slogan, if would be "simplify." That is it. I am a fan of a small company called Lotus that makes cars. There is a phrase attributed to the founder that goes something like this: "Simplify, then add lightness." Apple has kept true to their design philosophy and kept to the simple interfact, simple looks, and simple packaging of the Apple TV. Overall, I am very impressed with the new AppleTV. Is it a big step forwards from the pervious version? With the interface, no. With the design, yes. With the features, there are tradeoffs.

If you are not into Apple products, I would say that there are other alternatives that may be better. If you currently own some Apple products or plan to switch to them, then it is a no-brainer.