I just took delivery of a 13" Macbook Pro, after being a long time 13" Vaio user. Here are my initial impressions of the hardware, divided into WIN and FAIL Categories. I'll start with fail, because that is the most fun.
FAILZ
High Gloss Screen == FAIL
There's no question - it is too glossy. UQ has issued a health and safety warning for it.
Missing keys == FAIL
No Home, End, Page Up, Page Down and Delete keys? What were they thinking? There's plenty of room to put them in, I guess I'll have to adjust my habits somehow - anyone know what mac users do to make up for these keys?
Sharp wrist rest == FAIL
The front lip of the macbook (when open) is a machined 90 degree angle, and is about as sharp a 90 degree angle as I have ever seen. When I'm lounging on my couch, this is where the heel of my hands rests (and rubs against). Painful! Yeah apple it makes the laptop look cool when it is closed, but this is one sacrifice of form over function that you shouldn't have taken.
Click anywhere trackpad == FAIL
I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that you can click anywhere on the oversized trackpad. Well you can't - you can click in about the bottom third of the trackpad, any higher than that the clicking action progressively diminishes into no click at all.
Glowing Apple Logo == FAIL
This is something I'd like to turn off. I don't consider myself an apple fanboy, and having that glowing apple log on the bus is embarrassing,
WINZ
Backlit Keyboard == WIN
It is very well designed, has nice keys and the backlighting is great at night. I still think they could have made the keys bigger though - my old Vaio managed to have full size keys with the same overall width.
Stylish == WIN
It's a beautiful machine, the aluminium and glass just looks superb. What amazed me is that when you turn it over - the bottom is just flat aluminium. They've managed to hide all the ugly bits very well.
External Buttons, Lights, Plugs == WIN
Superbly designed - hidden notification lights, a built in battery indicator on the side and the thing feels REALLY solid. It makes a precision 'thunk' when you close it like nothing I've ever heard.
Oversize trackpad == WIN
Nice and sensitive - almost as good as a Vaio. My tap to click occasionally doesn't register, but perhaps I just need to adjust my tap a little bit. The large size of the trackpad is brilliant too - why doesn't everyone make them this size?
Low Weight == WIN
It feels a LOT lighter than my Vaio - especially when in my back pack.
Sound == WIN
The speakers are hidden somewhere - (in front of the keyboard I think?) and they are excellent. The sound is stereo, it goes loud, and it is directed towards me, which the Vaio was notoriously lacking in.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
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2 comments:
When I starting using a Mac I also found it frustrating that the home & end keys were missing.
The equivalent is command-left arrow for begin and command-right arrow for end.
The other option is the emacs key bindings, C-a for begin and C-e for end. Works on the command line (bash), Firefox address field and various other places.
I have had to go back to using Windows a little bit over the last few months and I now find the home/end keys a bit frustrating - I have to move my hands too far to get to them. Prefer the emacs bindings the best. :-)
As for pg up and pg down and delete, the function key is your friend, in conjunction with up/down arrows and backspace, respectively.
And agreed with the touchpad button click area. Though if you want more, you can enable the more classic 'tap' in preferences.
Brad #2 out
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