stripethree

It’s been a while since I’ve had a good new, or in this case new to me, tech toy to play with. I have been casually browsing and pondering some sort of computer purchase since my situation was gradually moving towards ‘dire’. The Cube is, and has been, dead. I tried a bunch of things to fix it and have resigned to the fact that it’s not coming back. I was given a friend’s 14″ iBook that died so I could pull the hard drive for her to get her data back and I haven’t been able to fix it yet. Everything about the problem says logic board, but I haven’t had any success with it yet.

Then my Powerbook starting acting up with symptoms of a bad reed switch or inverter cable. It will not sleep or wake properly sometimes, and more telling, it will randomly go dark regardless of power source, charge level, etc. It’s fixable, but, well, I’m not positive that’s the only problem and I wasn’t too keen on taking about my only working computer for a recon mission.

I found out Anand was selling his laptops to get a 13″ MacBook Pro, one of which was a Dell Vostro A90 with some nice extras. It was not much of decision since the price was right and I knew I could trust the condition it was in. This is the same friend I had Summer get her iBook from and it’s been running flawlessly. The Vostro arrived yesterday and it’s pretty kickass. It has two solid state drives, an 8GB running Mac OS 10.5.6 and a 16GB running Windows (you have to physically swap them but it takes all of 3 minutes), 2GB of RAM, 802.11g, Bluetooth, build in video camera, etc. etc.

While it does not have a lot of drive space, for what I plan to use this for it won’t need it. I’m going to take a whirl at fixing the Powerbook and hopefully that will work fine. I’m still looking for a second hand Mac Mini for a set top box, but people trying to sell them on Craigslist are asking out of this world prices. This machine will be great for travel – I plan on taking it with me week after next – and will also be great for some car related things (c’mon, you knew there had to be a car tie in somewhere). With the Windows drive, it will be perfect as a VAG-COM machine to scan and clear codes and, with the same cable, I can download a free program from GIAC and change engine maps with a few clicks. I see the addition of a 100 octane tune in the near future.

The biggest challenge will be adjusting to the keyboard. It’s about 90% of the size as a traditional laptop keyboard, has a few auxiliary keys shuffled around, and has different tactile feedback that what I’ve been using. I don’t see it as being that big a deal once I get used to it.

Now that the MacWorld 2008 keynote, and all the rumor and hype that preceded it has come and gone, I would like to take a look at what was announced and offer pure opinions on each new item. Note that I, like most of the rest of the free world, have no yet land eyes or hands on most of these things since they are not going to available for the next two weeks.

First we have Time Capsule, which is basically an 802.11n Airport Extreme base station with a built in 500GB ($299) or 1TB ($499) drive. It also has hooks to allow Leopard users to backup to a Time Capsule using Time Machine wirelessly and automatically. Pretty slick that Apple is bringing simple backup to the everyday user, good considering its something everyone should do, but usually dont until weve already had a catastrophic loss of data. Personally, I dont have Leopard, and dont plan on updating anytime soon since both of my Macs are, well, old. I would still love to have one of these, seeing as how only a few months ago I replaced a deceased Airport Express with a new Airport Extreme and I am in the market for an additional external hard drive. The price is more than you would pay for non-Apple wireless router and a comparable external hard drive, but I suppose Apple justifies the premium in the all in one functionality and the ease of use factor. Plus, when do Apple products not cost a premium? Is it worth it? I think so. In my experience Apples Airport products have been very easy to use, rivaled in that respect only by Linksys, which you could argue wrote the book on easy to configure routers for the average joe. Sure, I can plug an external hard drive into my existing Airport Extreme (or many other routers out there), but thats another device taking up valuable surge protector space, another USB or Firewire cable, and another box on a shelf somewhere. Theres something to be said about the elegance of a smart solution such as this, especially when you already have plenty of cables running amok in your office or under your entertainment center.

Apple also released some software updates to the iPhone ad iPod touch (of which I have neither) including an updated (new to the iPod Touch) Maps application which now allows you to triangulate your current position, provided you have a cellular or wireless internet signal. I like this idea, its one thing I do not have on my Sony W810i with Google Maps and I would love to have it. There are many times it would have been very useful. The new software for the iPod Touch will set you back $20 if you already have the hardware, and Im not sure why Apple is charging for this, since this stuff is already on the iPhone and the iPhone software update is free. Who knows. Id probably pay the $20 to get the Maps, Mail, Notes, and Weather (Stocks? Meh) on an iPod Touch, if I had one. Nice to know theyll be there if I get one.

Next was a dual announcement of sorts, AppeTV Take 2 and iTunes movie rentals. It is not clear if the hardware of the AppeTV has been updated, but the software certainly has, and it breaks free of some of the limiting factors of the first iteration. It is now a stand alone set top box, no longer requiring a computer. Brilliant. Buy and download directly from the iTunes store without having to have a Mac or any computer for that matter. HD content is now supported and the price also dropped, now $329 for the 160GB model. The 40GB model is still around at $229, but really, 40GB? I have more music than that, much less TV shows and movies. Movie rentals have arrived also, with every major studio on board, including limited amounts of their libraries in HD.Its $2.99 for a library title, $3.99 for a new release, and $1 more for HD content. I dont rent movies much anymore basically because I think Netflix is too expensive and going to the video store is a pain, but maybe this is the ticket. Once you pay for a movie, you have 30 days to start watching it and 24 hours from when you start watching it to finish it. Follow me? You can view it on your Mac, AppeTV, iPod, or iPhone. I like this, a lot, and its going to make it all too easy to rent movies. My only two questions are, why no subscription based service and why only 24 hours to view the movie? Most video places let you have at least 48 on new releases, if not more. I wonder how long that 24 hour limit will last, well see. I am anxious to try this out because I am a little nervous about how fast the movies will download and how the quality of the non-HD movies will translate on my TV. This pair of announcements were probably the most significant, simply because it shows that Apple really wants to go after the digital media market, despite some of the recent setbacks on the music side of the iTunes music store. The first revision of the AppeTV was lacking, and Apple knew it, Steve Jobs even directly said so in the keynote, and now I think theyve taken a huge step in the right direction.

Lastly was the long rumored, long drooled over super portable ultra light sub compact whatever you want to call it notebook, the MacBook Air. I understand what and why this product is what it is but have mixed views. This is certainly not a replacement for anything in the current MacBook line, and for the price point (starting at $1799) it can be easily pointed out that you can have a well (perhaps better, depending on your needs) configured MacBook. The Air does not have a built in optical drive, a built in ethernet card, firewire ports, and only has one USB port. It it built to be wireless, almost completely wireless, to the point that I bet if Apples engineers could have figured out how to solar power that sucker through the lovely lightweight aluminum skin or the heat generated by the Core Duo processors, theyd be throwing their MagSafe power adapters at the fridge to see if theyd stick. Its got an 802.11n Airport card of course, the latest and greater Bluetooth (2.1), 2GB of memory standard, a 13.3 LED backlit display, a light sensitive backlit full size keyboard, and built in iSight. Apple even will let you get a 64GB solid state (flash) drive in this little sucker, for about a grand more that the base price. I like it, and it would be very useful to me since I rarely have my laptop plugged into wired ethernet, I rarely use the optical drive, and really, I rarely use many of the other ports. I think it would fit my needs nicely if I were in the market for a new laptop, but Im not since my Powerbook keeps on chugging. Even with the trick software that lets an Air borrow another computers optical drive wirelessly and the other cool things Apple has to promote the wireless lifestyle (Time Capsule anyone?) I still dont think this is going to appeal to a whole lot of people, but I could be wrong. I love my 12 Powerbook and I, personally, would have much rather seen a MacBook Mini to complete the line, something with a 11.1-12.2 screen with some of the same de-contenting done to the Air at a lesser price. It seems small, but the 12 is so comfortable that even when I go into the Apple store and fiddle with the 13 MacBooks they seem cumbersome. Granted, the Air only weighs 3 lbs, which is 2/3 of what my Powerbook weighs, so maybe I will think differently when I have a chance to see and hold it in person.

Overall, the announcements did not seem to generate that frenzy that the last major announcement, the iPhone did, but thats a lot of expectation to live up to. Also, the fact that everything announced had been rumored for weeks, even months, and in some cases, leaked at the 11th hour, probably left some people waiting for a surprise one more thing on top of all the goodness that Apple delivered. They have simply set the bar for these types of things so very high and people seem more relieved than anything else that the things they were hoping would see the light of day, were revealed. Other than iTunes rentals, I probably wont buy anything that was announced yesterday simply because Im not in the market. However if I hit the Apple store in a few weeks and fall all over a MacBook Air, dont be alarmed if I accidentally throw/drop/kick/drop-kick-throw my Powerbook into a wall or something (oops!), but only after a thorough backup!