Louie’s Current Gear – Summer 2010
It’s been almost a year since I wrote what my current gear was and a lot of things have changed since then. At one point, I had up to 3 notebooks, two smartphones, and a media player! Today, I’ve pretty much consolidated the functions of all that down to a MacBook Pro 13″ and an Iphone 4. Please click to continue reading!
It’s a new Mac! Of course we have to make an event out of it!
Apple iPad Review – First Impressions
So I got the 32GB iPad yesterday too at Best Buy and didn’t really need to wait. In fact there was still at ton at the Apple Store when I went yesterday afternoon to pickup the case for this thing. So after going through the unboxing and powering up, the very first reaction to me it is an oversized iPod touch for the most part especially when navigating around the OS. It does however have some major differences that separate it from it’s handheld counterpart.
It is definitely much better to surf the web and type on this. I’m writing this post on the iPad right now as week speak. The case helps a lot in typing on a flat surface because you can set it to elevate to a more comfortable typing position. I love how you can pretty much view an entire webpage at a more readable screen size where as. You had to zoom and unzoom to different sections on the iPhone.
Another feature that really shines on the iPad is the iBook app. Someone suggested on another website to use Calibre to convert PDF based books and magazines and then just drag them into to the iPad via iTunes and it’s just awesome. I converted a bunch of books and magazines and reading them on the iPad has been an incredible experience whereas reading them on my MacBook Pro or a netbook is cumbersome and awkward. It just feels natural on the iPad.
Well today was the launch day for the iPad and I have mine. Here’s the unboxing…
I’ll have the actual review up soon. I’m going to play with the damn thing now!
mobileme – doesn’t work for me! drop box and windows live to the rescue!
I’ve been curious about MobileMe for quite some time and have never bothered taking advantage of the free 60 day trial until I bought and installed an AirPort Extreme router and hooked up my 1TB drive to share it across the network. I read that with a MobileMe account, you can access that hard drive online without having to continuously adjust the IP settings. I’ve been reading about it and saw the mixed reviews and finally decided to take the plunge and try it out… and boy was I disappointed and even more baffled on why people would pay $99 a year for this (even $65 is expensive if you buy it on Amazon).
Going through the trial registration was easy, except that it asks for a credit card but they won’t charge you until day 61 of using this. I’ve set a calendar reminder to cancel it on day 59… I don’t want to take any risks. On the Mac and on the PC, it looks pretty simple using the web interface where you can access your e-mail, photos, calendar, contacts, and idisk. Nothing too really special especially from someone who’s been using Gmail and Windows Live for years. E-mail interface is very simple and matches the OS X interface, but I still prefer Gmail’s because it’s much more intuitive and customizable. Then there’s the contact list and calendar which which is clean looking but no use to me because I use an Exchange server to sync with my iPhone and Touch Pro.
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How to Get Bluetooth to Work on BootCamp 3.0 Windows XP
For a couple of days, I couldn’t get my Bluetooth mouse to work in Windows XP with the BootCamp 3.0 drivers which was quite frustrating since I am dependent on the mouse when running my Windows applications on MacBook Pro. I searched all over Google and found the solution below. However, before starting the process stated below, I uninstalled the Bluetooth device in Device Manager along with the HID Compliant Mouse to get this solution to work.
Quote http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2001613&tstart=0
1 – Load the ‘Add a device’ dialog for bluetooth
2 – Wait until your device is listed and just select it (highlight only)
3 – Right-click (or press ‘Alt+Enter’) the highlighted item and select ‘Properties’
4 – Go to the ‘Services’ tab and wait until it lists a ‘Drivers’ check box
5 – Place a check mark in the box and click ‘Apply’
6 – Click on the notification balloon that pops up on the right end of the taskbar to watch the progress of installation (it will probably say something like ‘Windows Update..’
7 – When done, your device should disappear from the list and should now have functionality (although from my experience not exactly perfectly consistent pairing).
This works on my MacBook Pro (late 2008 unibody)
Just Installed Snow Leopard Mac OSX 10.6!
Ok, I just installed Snow Leopard which took about 75 minutes. So far I noticed that I went from 214GB of free space to 237GB which is amazing. Also, it runs a lot faster and there definitely so visual enhancements here and there. I’ve used VLC, Microsoft Office 2008, Toast, and Adium which all run fine.
My only issue is that I’m still trying to figure out how to set up Exchange in Mail. In Entourage and in Outlook, I just put in the OWA server address and don’t need to put in the incoming and outgoing mail servers. In Mail, it asks for this and I’ve tried putting in different address and leaving it blank and it wouldn’t work. Any advice?
Also, I’ve installed the new Bootcamp drivers for Windows XP and there are two big things that I’ve seen so far when running it. The first thing is that ‘right clicking’ works! I put two fingers on the trackpad and press down and it right clicks just like it does in Mac OSX. This feature might have already been in Leopard though because I didn’t think about trying that till now. Now the second biggest improvement that I’ve noticed is that Windows runs MUCH cooler than it did on Leopard. I’ve used Windows XP with the new Snow Leopard Boot Camp drivers and it doesn’t heat up as badly as Leopard did.
So far, this is definitely worth the $29 upgrade!
Just Scored a New MacBook Pro 15″ (late 2008)!
Just picked this up on eBay! It’s about time I retire my MacBook Pro 15″ Core Duo 1.83Ghz…
MacBook Pro 15″ 2.53Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor (Unibody)
* 320GB HDD
* 4GB Memory
* SuperDrive (DVD/CD burner)
* Backlit keyboard
* Built in iSight webcam/microphone
* Mac OS X – 10.5.8
* iLife 09
* Strong Unibody design
* Removable battery!
* Original box
* Original accessories
EXTRAS
* BUILTny neoprene protective computer case
* Speck Products Satin Plastic Protective Sheild
* AppleCare Protection Plan – 2+ years of extended warranty from Apple.
I got this version vs the new MacBook Pros that just came out because the newer Macs don’t have the removeable battery, missing the express card slot (replaced with an old ass SD card reader instead of a multicard, stupid) and downgraded the L2 Cache from 6MB to 3MB! The late 2008 MacBook Pros (which I just got on eBay) is, IMO way better.
I just also installed Snow Leopard so I’m testing that out now as we speak. More to come!
MacBook Pro 15″ Core Duo 1.83Ghz Review (2006 Model)
I bought this on eBay in December 2008 as a Christmas present to myself for $600 and it is probably the best deal and purchase I’ve ever made on eBay. Even though this is the first generation 2006 MacBook Pro 15″ Core Duo, it still has many years to go thanks to the well designed hardware and operating system Apple has been known for over the years.
I could start off by rambling on endlessly about the notebook’s aesthetics but that was done over three years ago on other reviews and they are now in the unibody design of the MacBook Pro so I’ll just stick with what affects me. I like the fact that this is only an inch thick when and the weight is EVENLY distributed throughout the notebook making it very easy to carry by hand, in a backpack, or in a laptop bag. There’s also the lightup keyboard that comes in handy at night or in low light conditions. What this notebook does need is a built in 5-in-1 memory card reader (yes I know the new MacBook Pros has an SD card but that’s not good enough!). I did find great alternative however by installing an unobtrusive Express Card reader by Sandisk. My only other big issue is that this version of the MacBook Pro gets very hot especially on the top right hand side. Just make sure you have good ventilation and work in a cool place whenever possible.
Even though this was the 2006 incarnation of the MacBook Pro, it still performs very well and runs just about every one of 2009’s applications I’ve thrown at it without any slowdowns or issues. After the Fedex guy dropped it off and powered it on to make sure that everything works (hey it’s eBay, you never know), I installed a Hitachi 320GB 7200 RPM drive and did a clean install of Leopard along with the rest of the applications that I use on a day to day basis such as Microsoft Office 2008, Adobe PhotoShop, iLife ‘09, Adium, FireFox, VLC, etc… I can run all of these programs simultaneously and have no slowdown issues whatsoever.
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Upgraded MacBook Pro Superdrive!
Wow it’s been over a month since I posted anything on this site. I’ve been quite busy at work and basically eat, take a shower, and then sleep when I get home. And then on the weekends I just run errands and try to catch a movie if I can. Anyway, my weekend project this week was upgrading my MacBook Pro 15″ 1.83Ghz Core Duo’s SuperDrive.
I have the first generation MacBook Pro that comes with the crappy UJ-857C drives that are very unreliable and unpredictable with a GSA-S10N Superdrive I got on eBay for SuperDrive. I followed the guide at ifixit.com and it was incredibly easy.
It took less than an hour to do (MacBook Pro has so many screws!) but it was a great experience in opening up the Mac and learning how easy it was to replace the parts.
I now have a much more reliable drive and Dual Layer capabilities and couldn’t be happier! I feel like getting a whole new laptop for the price of $50! I also upgraded to Leopard from Tiger and am enjoying it. Finally running Windows 7 native on the MacBook Pro without Parallels and it makes a huge difference.
