First Flavour of Apple

First impressions of the MacBook I recently acquired via a project are very positive.

Little but important things impress. It starts up in under 15 seconds and shuts down in about 6 seconds. All the Windows machines I use take ages to do either. Batter life is very good compared to the Windows XP and Vista laptops I’ve used. Lightweight and looks good but will I have to use a special cleaner to keep it that wistful white?

Absolutely love some of the pre-loaded software but haven’t yet harnessed it in a productive sense. Really need to spend a day just playing with the software and the MacBook/Tiger OS in general. Given I’m going to be carrying this laptop around a lot (for the project work) can I set a password on the machine? Can I easily encrypt or password protect folders or files on it if I cannot set a password? Love the wi-fi on it. Very good at picking up networks and quick to access those that are open. Again might not just be down to Windows but the Wintel laptops I use versus this recent MacBook. So very promising initial experiences but not perfect…

MacBook Update(s)

This morning I went and bought a replacement Power Supply Unit (Actually MagSafe Power Adapter) and so was able to power up the new MacBook.

First thing it did was predictable. It wanted me to sign up with all kinds of details in relation to the warranty, Apple's marketing needs and anything else that suits them. Like many people I rarely read the full End User Licence Agreement (EULA). Who does (apart from maybe Lawrence Lessig and the EFF)?

It then surprised me a little by downloading lots of crucial-looking updates(I'm used to this from Microsoft) and wanting to re-start.

There was then a moment of confusion (on my part) before I realised it also wanted to perform a firmware download and re-start. Now maybe this is a rarity in the world of Apple and my machine was going online for the first time since it left the factory and was in dire need of the goodies.

It will be interesting to see if this keeps happening or if things quieten down.

MacBook - Oh Goody - Oh Dear!

Received a new MacBook today funded by a specific project but will have uses beyond that particular project. Couldn't wait to fire it up and begin to compare it against my own Vista laptop and some XP machines.

Looks gorgeous, even the packaging is desirable but the comparisons will have to wait as the first thing that happened was that the supplied MagSafe Power Adapter blew up on me. So it looks lovely but so far my Windows laptops are one up on the Mac because they at least got as far as powering up before giving me grief the first time I used them.

No doubt a replacement will take ages to organise under the warranty so I'll to just go and buy one as I need to get up to speed on the MacBook before installing some project related software...