8/11/2011
Porche 911's Back Seat -vs- Humanity
Having long long days lately. Need to sleep a little. Will do all the random tasks in the morning. Nigh nigh!
8/06/2011
Google+
I'm hoping to do more with my blog, but I'm a lot more active on Google+ at the moment.
http://gplus.to/sug
If you need an invite for the G+, drop me a line and I'll hook you up. ;)
7/31/2011
7/26/2011
New MacBook Air 11"
This is a copy&paste from my G+ post. I've been a lot more active there. Need an invite for G+? (do they still require it?) Just let me know.
You can find me here: http://gplus.to/sug
Just got back from SF Apple Store with the new 11" MBA (i5/4gb/128gb).
It's looking great, fast, sporting the backlit keyboard and whatnot. Because I have the 1st gen MBA 11" (and had 1st gen MBA 13"), the size and form factor won't wow me anymore. That said, I picked up the 13" MBA at the store thinking "hey maybe I'll do 13-inch this time for a change" and quickly put it down after feeling the weight. Once you experience the 11", you can't go back! Cosmetically, only difference you see compared to the 1st gen 11" is the silkscreened symbols of thunderbolt, Mission Control and Launchpad. You don't see any physical changes from the last gen.
The 1st gen Ultimate I have is plenty fast and I use it as my main machine at work, designing things all day so I don't think I'll see much of speed difference in basic use, but I missed the backlit keyboard I had with MBPs, and I think this machine should serve me well for a few years to come. You might think I'm insane, but I think the biggest reason for this upgrade for me was the backlit keyboard. Yeah I'm not manly enough to go all blind touch typing in the dark.
I do think the new i5 processor will come in handy for multimedia stuff both watching and creating, but I've heard the video card on the new MBA is actually stepping backward from the previous generation so the CPU needs to step in a little to compensate. Will see if the battery runs better or worse compared to my 1st ten Ultimate which matches all basic numbers to this new one (but CPU is C2D, and SSD is Toshiba, not Samsung). Both the speed and the battery life are to be seen because I'm syncing my dropbox contents and the CPU is going full-throttle…
I wish they made the base model with 4GB RAM though. Some people MIGHT be able to get by with 64GB SSD, but going forward, I really think 4GB should be the standard. I want to recommend the MBA to my friends looking for a compact basic computer, but IMHO, 2GB/64GB base model is actually for more advanced users who know the limitations and what they need MBA for. Average, one computer-for-all people will get frustrated by 64GB drive because they can't download all their 14MP DSLR shots and 2GB RAM will slow them down because they don't close unwanted apps and then try to run iLife apps on top. I think Lion's very "animated" UI could use some extra RAM as well. At this point, I'd recommend the mid-range (upper end on Apple site) model to my friends. If you just want the cheapest MBA possible, then I'll still recommend CTOing the base model with 4GB RAM upgrade from Apple's online store. ($1,099, I believe)
On the other hand, I didn't see lots of compelling reasons to upgrade to i7. Even my 1st gen MBA feels a LOT faster than 2.4GHz Unibody Mini I have at home in basic operations, and I don't know if I'd do much or any of CPU intensive stuff on the MBA. That said, it is great that they have "Ultimate" option like last time. BTW, they DID have the both 11" and 13" Ultimates with maxed out specs in store. It gets a little too pricy for me, but the new Ultimate 11" with 1.8GHz i7 and 256GB SSD looks like really THE Ultimate Portable Computer you can buy today.
I'll report back battery/speed results after a week or so of real-life use...
You can find me here: http://gplus.to/sug
Just got back from SF Apple Store with the new 11" MBA (i5/4gb/128gb).
It's looking great, fast, sporting the backlit keyboard and whatnot. Because I have the 1st gen MBA 11" (and had 1st gen MBA 13"), the size and form factor won't wow me anymore. That said, I picked up the 13" MBA at the store thinking "hey maybe I'll do 13-inch this time for a change" and quickly put it down after feeling the weight. Once you experience the 11", you can't go back! Cosmetically, only difference you see compared to the 1st gen 11" is the silkscreened symbols of thunderbolt, Mission Control and Launchpad. You don't see any physical changes from the last gen.
The 1st gen Ultimate I have is plenty fast and I use it as my main machine at work, designing things all day so I don't think I'll see much of speed difference in basic use, but I missed the backlit keyboard I had with MBPs, and I think this machine should serve me well for a few years to come. You might think I'm insane, but I think the biggest reason for this upgrade for me was the backlit keyboard. Yeah I'm not manly enough to go all blind touch typing in the dark.
I do think the new i5 processor will come in handy for multimedia stuff both watching and creating, but I've heard the video card on the new MBA is actually stepping backward from the previous generation so the CPU needs to step in a little to compensate. Will see if the battery runs better or worse compared to my 1st ten Ultimate which matches all basic numbers to this new one (but CPU is C2D, and SSD is Toshiba, not Samsung). Both the speed and the battery life are to be seen because I'm syncing my dropbox contents and the CPU is going full-throttle…
I wish they made the base model with 4GB RAM though. Some people MIGHT be able to get by with 64GB SSD, but going forward, I really think 4GB should be the standard. I want to recommend the MBA to my friends looking for a compact basic computer, but IMHO, 2GB/64GB base model is actually for more advanced users who know the limitations and what they need MBA for. Average, one computer-for-all people will get frustrated by 64GB drive because they can't download all their 14MP DSLR shots and 2GB RAM will slow them down because they don't close unwanted apps and then try to run iLife apps on top. I think Lion's very "animated" UI could use some extra RAM as well. At this point, I'd recommend the mid-range (upper end on Apple site) model to my friends. If you just want the cheapest MBA possible, then I'll still recommend CTOing the base model with 4GB RAM upgrade from Apple's online store. ($1,099, I believe)
On the other hand, I didn't see lots of compelling reasons to upgrade to i7. Even my 1st gen MBA feels a LOT faster than 2.4GHz Unibody Mini I have at home in basic operations, and I don't know if I'd do much or any of CPU intensive stuff on the MBA. That said, it is great that they have "Ultimate" option like last time. BTW, they DID have the both 11" and 13" Ultimates with maxed out specs in store. It gets a little too pricy for me, but the new Ultimate 11" with 1.8GHz i7 and 256GB SSD looks like really THE Ultimate Portable Computer you can buy today.
I'll report back battery/speed results after a week or so of real-life use...
7/03/2011
5/30/2011
My Two Wheeled Mates.
MCS is super fun to drive, but I love riding these two wheelers more than anything.
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