OSX Leopard experience
Sat 12 Jan 2008Filed Under: Apple Computers, Computers | Leave a Comment
Apple’s latest OS X is much smoother and outwardly better than Vista. The screen animations and general OS type interface is really easy to get used to. More telling was that I was trying to understand or learn how to do things like uninstalling applications and so forth. So far all you have to do is to put it in the trash bin and its all done. After years of Windows I thought is that it? Surely there must be more? What about hidden folders and files? It doesn’t feel right… Yes simplicity is a thing I will have to get used to!
Another thing I have to get used to is the keyboard. I guess its caused by the design of the keyboard. I’m used to pageup, pagedown keys, end and home keys and the two types of delete. When using the OS X the Macbook doesn’t have these keys and they also don’t work in the PC way. Thankfully when I’m running the virtual XP the keyboard works the same way. In fact when using the external keyboard it become just like Windows except the special function keys are called different names.
The best features is the Spaces function which allows you to have up to 4 different desktops. When I run XP it displays on a different desktop to the Apple applications. Switching between them is really easy. Reduces clutter and trying to find the right application window which is often hidden. The Stacks application is usefully too, working much like the Windows bar on XP but I prefer Spaces.
There are a few hardware notes to make firstly the Macbook is really quiet! Both fan and hard drive make very little noise! The only time it turned on was when I was running a heavy duty graphics/music app and iTunes, and XP in the various environments all at the same time. It resumes its near silence when running just XP even though I have lots of apps running within XP. The keyboard is feels cheap both external and the integrated keyboard.
VMware Fusion Review
Thu 6 Dec 2007Filed Under: Apple Computers, Computers, VMware Fusion | Comments Off on VMware Fusion Review
Since I can’t completely stop using Windows based programs so I have been trying SWSoft Parallels and VMWare Fusion to run Windows XP on my new MacBook. What I’m doing is generally called virtualization.
For the non-techies it means that I have Windows XP running along side or within Mac OS X Leopard. It runs like an application under OS X with all the functionality you’d expect from Windows XP. I also created a shared drive so both operating systems can use the same files if needed. The shared drive uses the OS X file system so no need to format.
In the end I chose VMWare Fusion because it seemed to work as well if not with a tad more polish than Parallels. The price was the same.
So far having the two run simultaneously has been fantastic. VMWare sets up everything needed to windows to work, including drivers for the monitor, sound card, network both wireless and wired. I didn’t need to put in new driver disks or anything – it simply worked!
All I need to do now is to install all the programs I used under XP and everything will be fine again.
I could have used Apple’s Boot Camp but that means I have to boot the computer with XP and I didn’t want to partition my hard drive or not be able to switch between Operating systems.
My Macbook
Wed 5 Dec 2007Filed Under: Apple Computers, Computers | Comments Off on My Macbook
For Christmas 2007 I ended up with the latest White MacBook 2.2 Ghz Core 2 Duo with 2 Gig of RAM and a 120Gig Hard drive and a dual layer DVD burner. Accessories included a Wireless Apple Mighty mouse, Mini-DVI to VGA adapter and a the thin USB keyboard.
Not exactly cheap outright but value for money for what I was about to get it to do!
I plan to run configure the MacBook to do all my web and graphic development work but running it under Windows XP. If you recall my old ASUS development notebook is over 3 years old and although I haven’t installed any new software on it except for the occasional software update it’s coming up an odd memory reference error! Also the battery pack doesn’t last as long as it used to.
The old ASUS V6V is a great looking notebook its case is made from stainless steel and composite fibre, it’s a very sleek looking machine. (See the latest VX series from ASUS for what it looks like because the VX is based on the original V6. It is a very sturdy and classy compared to other ‘Windows’ notebooks, especially from Dell or HP. (Even better than the Macbook Pro)
In comparison the new Macbook is white and plastic all over. I reckon its friendly to look at. I hope it’s design will age well as the old V6. I also hope that at business presentations it won’t look too out of place.
As for construction the V6 beats the Mac any day. The Macbook although has worked flawlessly so far has a ‘funny’ j key. You have to press it harder than the rest of the keys. Hope nothing else goes wrong with it.
Why not buy a MacBook Pro? Well it’s more expensive and I didn’t see the value of getting it plus I’m up to the hilt in debt with the new Hayabusa!