The Apple Mystique (Part Deux)

So I haven't had a whole lot more time with the Mac so I can't really update my impressions on the OS after having used it for a while. However I am going to comment on the hardware. Just an FYI; as an IT manager I've used notebooks from IBM/Lenovo, Acer, HP, and Dell within the last two years so I'm not just comparing this to a Thinkpad T62 or something.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I am running a Macbook Pro. This one has the 15.4" screen. It is a nice looking laptop, as I would expect from Apple. The screen is nice and bright and sharp (not sharp, ouch, as in the Air). The aluminum case is nice and will probably wear better than most of the plastic ones widely used these days. It is slippery though and I really liked my IBM Thinkpads because they have a non-slip coating on them that make them much nicer to handle. Of course it has the illuminated keyboard which is a really nice touch and I wish every other notebook manufacturer would catch on to this one (or has Apple patented it?). However the Mac logo is definitely a "Look at me, I'm an Apple user!" piece of bling that follows the form over function school of thought. Speed wise, it's on par with what you would expect from a dual core machine with 1 GB of RAM. Another GB would take it up a notch and allow more applications to be run at the same time; but really, how many apps do you need running at once? The performance is certainly as good as (if not better than) my Vista Ultimate notebook that has 2GB of RAM. The iSight is pretty amazing in that it has such a tiny lens and sensor and does some reasonable video.

So, the not so good? Well, it has the worst keyboard I've encountered on a notebook computer. Nothing compares to a Thinkpad keyboard, however this one isn't even close to as nice as either my current Dell D830 or my home Acer notebook. It feels like I'm typing on a marshmallow; there's very little feedback and it's tough too know if I've pressed a key or not. The touch pad also drives me crazy for two reasons. 1) Why can't Apple just join the club and have two mouse buttons? I've never realized how much of a timesaver the context sensitive menus are from a right-click in Windows or Linux. No wonder Mac users spend so much time memorizing keyboard shortcuts. Also I went for about a week before I found something on the web that explained how to use two fingers to scroll using the touch pad. Why can't they have a specified scroll area, or at least tell you somewhere that you need to use two fingers? 2) There is such a small difference in feel between the touch pad and the wrist rest that I often find my finger has drifted off the touch pad and I can't figure out why the cursor isn't moving. This seems like another form over function thing to me. Sure it looks sleek, but couldn't they have made a slightly larger indentation in the wrist rest for the pad? And what is with Apple and their battery technology? This is the only notebook I've seen where if you leave it unplugged and shutdown for a couple of days the battery is dead when I go to use it again. Is this like my iPod in that it never really actually turns off? I expect that when I use the shutdown option from the OS it is actually shutting down. I wonder though if that is the case.

Oh how I wish Apple would make OS X available for other hardware. Also, why, with so many negatives do I still find this notebook intriguing? It has that Apple "thing" to it. I want to like it, I really do. However, this morning I saw something that woke me up to reality again. One of our big box retailers is selling an HP notebook with a Core 2 Duo T5550, 4GB of RAM, 250 GB HDD, 14.1" screen, Wireless N, Webcam, 5-in-1 card reader, dual layer DVD, and Windows Vista for $799. The same retailer is selling a Macbook with the same T5550 processor, 2GB of RAM, 120GB HDD, 13.3" screen, Airport Extreme, iSight, and of course OS X 10.5 for $1,349 (sale price). I'm going to have to spend more time with the OS to see if there is any way I could justify that kind of price difference. At this point I don't think I ever will, but I'm not going to give up yet.