A little change of scenery, my new Macbook Pro

March 1, 2007

I’ve been wanting a new computer for quite some time. My desktop has started to look ancient. In fact, all desktops are starting to look ancient. I appreciate all the work I can accomplish with them. I really appreciate the modular flexibility with home built systems. That’s why I’ve built my own, and friends’ computers for a few years now. Recently though I’m starting to tire of the cabling, the fans, the startup times, the heavy box. It’s like when you’re still driving the big Buick even though the world has changed to smart cars all around you.

Computers are expensive. And I didn’t go the cheap route with my recent purchase of the Macbook Pro. I did get a great deal because I acted quickly on a Craigslist ad. I probably saved 500 bucks off the retail price. You might ask why I didn’t go with Windows? I’m not too happy with Microsoft Windows right now. Vista just came out and sure it looks nice, but there are something like six versions of Vista all at different prices. From the lame loser edition up to Ultimate Kitchen sink variety. And I started thinking about how silly it is to have to even have to ponder all those compromises. Even the networking difference between XP Home and Pro is annoying. Apple wins in the simplicity area. If you get a Mac, you get OS X. And you’re getting the eye candy and the functionality that everyone gets for the same price. Also Intel Macs can run Windows XP, they can run Linux on the computer. So I see

I want something easy, dependable and fun. I had a big prejudice against Macs before, and truthfully, some things are still disappointing. But mostly the problems with them have faded. I still like the way the window panes behave in Windows and Linux a little better. And more utility-type programs are available for them. But some things on the Mac are just better. The fonts look great, the screen is pretty, the industrial aluminum is sleek and I don’t tire of it like I thought I would. The built in webcam and microphone is a must have. What is it missing? Mostly just a built-in card reader for digital camera pics would be the only thing coming to mind right now.

You get some pretty cool software with it too. I’d argue you get more with the Mac than with Windows, but that’s probably not true. You do get some real gems. iWeb is a webpage authoring program. It’s very well done. What does Windows give you? Hmm, notepad…what fun. The Mac has an outstanding comic book making program called Comic Life. I’ve used a lot of software and I can tell you that Comic Life is one of the slickest apps around. For what it does it’s at the top of its game. An old coworker remarked of mine said Comic Life looks like the programmers didn’t have a deadline when they made it, because they seemed to put their heart and soul into it. Another killer program, GarageBand, a music and MIDI program is like that too. You really get a lot with them and they are built in. Yay!

Despite my history of complaints to the contrary, I was able to set up my Mac with a lot of free software utilities that I was very happy to find. I still have to decide what to do about the Adobe CS3 Suite. I want it but whoa, it’s pricey. I’ll have to see what my options are for the Mac before I buy the full Adobe suite.

I thought I might share a few free programs I’m using on the Mac.

NeoOffice - totally free Office Suite (Port of OpenOffice.org)
Max Audio Convertor - Free GPL software converts to tons of audio formats
Bean - A simple Word Processor
Xee - image viewer (lets you view whole folders of pictures)
Gimp - Image Manipulator (Like Photoshop but much more annoying)
Inkscape - Free Vector Graphic program for high quality drawings
SnapNDrag - useful little screen capture utility
Instant Shot - an even better screen capture utility
Colloquy - IRC Chat client (helps me when I need answers from pros)
Adium - Regular mainstream chat client
The Unarchiver - unzipping program
NicePlayer - uses QuickTime but cleans and speeds things up
VLC Media Player - Plays tons of media video formats
HandBrake - DVD ripping program
FFMPEGX - utility does video conversions
Black Light - Does this reversal of white to black on your monitor to conserve energy (might help eyes too)
Process Wizard - a boring yet useful tool to let you know what your system is doing
Flip4Mac - Lets you play WMV Windows media videos
SketchUp - Great little 3D modeler for creating your dream home
Burn - CD Burn utility with expanded options
Jumpcut - multi-copy clipboard program (good for writing, gathering clips)
Google Earth - awesome mapping program
MAMP - I call this the pocket webserver
Celtx - Free Screenwriting application
Smultron - useful tabbed text editor
Blender - My favorite 3D program
ArtRage 2 Free - awesome painting program, like real oil paint
Audacity - another audio editor for cutting up audio clips
Firefox - Please tell me you’ve heard of this web browser.
Freemind - mindmapping program for planning virtually anything
MuCommander - Great FTP client for sending files.
Filezilla - FTP program I use on windows, now available for Mac (Yes!)
Fugu - Another FTP client (compare if you wish)
Renamer4Mac - Batch renaming software (for naming your thousands of pics)
Window Dragon - finally a utility that lets you size window panes from all sides
uApp - an uninstaller helper program
Tofu - triple pane (3 column) text viewer

To end this, if you are buying your next computer, consider a Mac. Mac OSX is easy, it’s sharp and it’s cheaper. Macs overall are shedding their more expensive image of the past. Most people worry about relearning a computer if they are leaving Windows. That may be true, but you do have a lot less to worry about in terms of stability issues. Plus, viruses are almost non-existent.

Posted in computers, mac, tools, webdev