raublekick
01-01-2007, 10:34 PM
been messing with my friends new macbook pro here for a little, here's what a think...
the physical:
really nice casing, lightup keyboard sensitive to the light in the room, good speakers, and a camera. way awesome.
the software:
OSX is pretty, and it's really not too difficult to use. the file browser is very much like Nautilus, which is good. dashboard is pretty much the coolest thing i've seen on a computer, i have to look into a linux alternative. iTunes is not my favorite music player, and Mail seems like nothing special.
the media stuff is awesome though. using the remote lets you use set the laptop in a sort of jukebox mode where you can play all sorts of media from a distance.
the bad:
all of these criticisims are coming from the view point that using a laptop can be quite awkward. i feel that laptops should strive to eliminate much of that. well, first off the trackpad is pretty lacking. one button, damn apple, two buttons is fucking necessity when it comes to eliminating mouse movements. the trac pad also doesn't have vertical or horizontal finger dragging scrollers. jesus! how the hell am i supposed to quickly scroll down a webpage? oh i guess i will just use the page down key... wait... where is it!? NOOO! it doesn't exist! from what i can tell in this brief usage, the best and only way to scroll down a webpage is just to use the arrow keys... lame. next, the function keys take a back seat to the special secondary functions. it's nice to have the volume and brightness stuff up there, but i think that F5 should refresh my browser, not fn + F5.
these aren't little nit picky complaints. seriously, if i want to remove items from the little bar at the bottom, shouldn't i just be able to right click the item i want to delete and simply select delete? holding the mouse click down isn't too bad, but it just takes longer. the scrolling is a friggin' huge deal though.
well that is all!
if they fix these issues in the future, i would definitely consider buying one if i can easily get linux running on it. but then i wonder why i would pay for a fancy looking laptop.
the physical:
really nice casing, lightup keyboard sensitive to the light in the room, good speakers, and a camera. way awesome.
the software:
OSX is pretty, and it's really not too difficult to use. the file browser is very much like Nautilus, which is good. dashboard is pretty much the coolest thing i've seen on a computer, i have to look into a linux alternative. iTunes is not my favorite music player, and Mail seems like nothing special.
the media stuff is awesome though. using the remote lets you use set the laptop in a sort of jukebox mode where you can play all sorts of media from a distance.
the bad:
all of these criticisims are coming from the view point that using a laptop can be quite awkward. i feel that laptops should strive to eliminate much of that. well, first off the trackpad is pretty lacking. one button, damn apple, two buttons is fucking necessity when it comes to eliminating mouse movements. the trac pad also doesn't have vertical or horizontal finger dragging scrollers. jesus! how the hell am i supposed to quickly scroll down a webpage? oh i guess i will just use the page down key... wait... where is it!? NOOO! it doesn't exist! from what i can tell in this brief usage, the best and only way to scroll down a webpage is just to use the arrow keys... lame. next, the function keys take a back seat to the special secondary functions. it's nice to have the volume and brightness stuff up there, but i think that F5 should refresh my browser, not fn + F5.
these aren't little nit picky complaints. seriously, if i want to remove items from the little bar at the bottom, shouldn't i just be able to right click the item i want to delete and simply select delete? holding the mouse click down isn't too bad, but it just takes longer. the scrolling is a friggin' huge deal though.
well that is all!
if they fix these issues in the future, i would definitely consider buying one if i can easily get linux running on it. but then i wonder why i would pay for a fancy looking laptop.