Crosswalks to Nowhere

A couple weeks ago, I bought a new MacBook. It's the 13-inch Core Duo 2.0 GHz machine, and I upgraded the hard drive to 80 GB. The unit came with 512 MB built-in, which I upgraded myself (more on that in a second).

The image above is a screenshot of my current desktop. Note the cool aspect ratio.

Now, you may recall I bought an Intel Mac Mini earlier this year; well, that computer is now in the hands of a coworker who bought it from me, and from what I understand he's having a whale of a time with it. He's got it connected to a spankin' new BenQ 20-inch flat panel monitor and he's very happy with its performance. The funds received from the Mini helped underwrite the cost of the MacBook.

When I sold the Mini, the 2 GB memory upgrade I purchased from OWC did not go with it. I swapped in the 512 MB from the MacBook to the Mini and the 'Book got the 2 GB. And yes, the buyer was aware of the switch. :-)

Before I go any further, let me say that I became something of an expert in the process of opening up the Mini. I followed the video instructions on OWC's web site, and if you have the right tools (one skinny metal putty knife and one plastic putty knife) you can do the job and leave your Mini's case unscathed. If anyone wants to hire me to open their Mini, my rates are reasonable.

Now, on to my first impressions of the MacBook:

The MacBook's glossy screen is probably the one thing that's caused the most noise among the user community. Prior to now, all Apple notebook PCs had screens with a matte finish; with the introduction of the MacBook, Apple has followed a similar path to HP and other PC manufacturers and now provides a glossy-finish LCD screen. I'm going to cut to the chase here: the screen is wonderful. It's bright, the colors are more intense than on my iBook, and speaking as someone who works in an office with overhead fluorescent lights and rides a train every day, the reflective qualities of the screen do not get in the way of my using the MacBook.

Another of Apple's changes was to make upgrading the MacBook's memory and hard drive about 1000% easier. On the iBook, the memory was under the keyboard (and on most older models, also under the AirPort card), which was not too difficult to access. Changing the hard drive, though, required major surgery involving the removal of about 90 screws. On the MacBook, you remove the battery and three screws to remove an access panel. Once the panel is open, two levers help you remove the memory, and pulling on the hard drive's plastic tab removes it from the machine. Upgrades could not be simpler.

Another change is the keyboard. The keys are now flat, square, individual buttons mounted through the case, as opposed to a single, removable keyboard unit on the iBook. Some people have said it's the same keyboard layout as the iBook, but it's not: there is a separate "Eject" key at the far right, next to the F12 key. On the iBook, "Eject" and "F12" were the same key. This makes accessing Dashboard easier on the MacBook, where you just hit F12; on the iBook you had to hit the Function key and hit F12. Some people have said they like the new keyboard better, but I'm still getting used to it.

When I first fired up the MacBook, it asked me the standard questions including "are you moving your information from another Mac?" At first, I said "no" and created a user with the login name I always use. Then I tried to run Migration Assistant (the program that copies your files and applications to your new Mac) and it complained that there was already a user with the name I wanted, so it created a new user and copied my info there. After it was done, I tried to put things the way I wanted, but I realized it would have been too much hassle to change everything, so I re-imaged the machine and ran Migration Assistant right from the first login screen.

Most of my apps worked fine the first time out, and for most programs I wasn't required to re-register when I fired them up for the first time. Microsoft Office, iWork '05, and Photoshop Elements 4.0, among others, all transferred fine. Some other apps, like WireTapPro and Audacity, don't have Universal binary versions so they did not work.

I had reinstall my printer drivers. I have a Samsung laser printer connected to a DLink Ethernet Print Server, and while the queue and the drivers seemed to have been moved over, I was unable to print. I wound up reloading the drivers from CD.

Other than that, my iBook world was merged nicely with my MacBook world.

I bought a license for Parallels, and that's loaded on my 'Book as well. I haven't done much, but I was able to get file sharing working between the Mac and XP environments. First impression: it runs very nicely.

Another observation from the user community is the MacBook's tendency to run hot. One area-- the part that would be on your left leg if you sat the computer in your lap-- does get warm. I don't find it disturbingly warm, but it does run hotter than my iBook or my ThinkPad did.

When I ordered the Macbook, I wanted to get an extra power supply with it. The challenge was that the online Apple Store's lead time on the 60-watt MacBook power supply was 6-8 weeks, yet they had the 85-watt MacBookPro adapter in stock. I ordered the 85-watt version and it works perfectly-- it's got the same MagSafe connector, and although the power cube itself is a little bigger, it works just fine. And most important of all, it's the same price.

I was unsure of how I would deal with the larger size of the MacBook since my iBook is a 12" model. I'm pleased to say that it only takes up a bit more room in my briefcase, so the difference is negligable.

I purchased a sleeve online from Waterfield Designs, and it's great. Their customer service is top-notch: I think I had three or four emails from a real, live person at WD telling me the status of my order. I have a Booq Vyper for my iBook, and while I'm impressed with its durability, the WD case is just so much nicer.

So those are my initial thoughts about the MacBook. More to follow!

At the dawn of the CD age, getting information about which of your favorite LPs was being reissued on CD when wasn't that easy. Record stores (as we called them back then) had their CDs either behind the counter or in a single rack somewhere in the store.

As a result, many CD-only stores popped up, and most of them were great. My favorite was Chicago Compact Disc in Evanston, who had a huge selection of domestic, import, and bootleg CDs. We also used to get a bunch of people together to place orders from a company out of Oregon called Noteworthy Music, who published several catalogs a year and carried some really cool, really rare CDs.

In order to keep up with what was coming down the CD pipeline, some publications started up as well. The best of these was a four-page newsletter which was xeroxed on yellow paper called "International CD Exchange." I picked up my first copy at Chicago Compact Disc in August of 1987. I was so impressed that I immediately subscribed: and it turns out I was one of the first to do so.

ICE was primarily a listing of upcoming releases from the record companies, but over the years it grew to include articles about artists and recordings, concerts, and digital media. It also progressed from the photocopied sheet to a 24-page full color magazine.

19 years later, ICE has closed its doors.

Subscribers received a letter from publisher Pete Howard explaining his decision to close down the magazine (the letter is on the site in the link above).

I emailed Pete to let him know how sorry I was to see his magazine go. Along with ICE, over the years I also subscribed to Musician, Rolling Stone, Goldmine, and CD Review as a part of my music-listening hobby. As I told Pete, ICE was the only magazine subscription that survived 19 years, at least seven address changes, and some major life events on my end.

ICE always stuck to what it did best, and they adapted to the new technologies as they arrived: when email and web sites became prevalent in the mid-90s, they were a part of it. And when the Diamond Rio, Napster, and MP3s came around they reported on it. And then, when the little white box with the wheel appeared... you know the rest.

It's impressive to think of a publication that made it through all the changes in the way we communicate and we're entertained.

Pete wrote back to tell me he appreciated my sentiments, and that he was going to share my email with his parents. Now there's an endorsement..

R.I.P. ICE. We'll miss you.