torsdag 13 mars 2008

Initial thoughts from a first time Mac owner

So after years of envy since Mac OS X first was announced and a true desktop unix alternative became available I have finally made the switch. I got my much anticipated Mac Book Pro yesterday and I will try share my thoughts as I live through the switch.

The first impression when getting the package was how nice and efficient everything was packed, I got the same impression when I bought my previous Apple products (Airport Express, iPhone) and I must admit that it feels good with a manufacturer that understands how important the first impression is.

My girlfriends first impression was that it was nice with a backlit keyboard, and that just one of the things that shows how much effort they put down in making small features that really makes a difference. 

I have used computers for as long as I now can remember and have a master of science within IT, but this was the first time that I really got the chance to use a Mac. I must admit that I was a bit nervous that all my past skills would  have to be unlearned and that I would have to start all over again - but despite my fears I have not yet felt lost, I actually think I feel more lost on my old PC which I been using daily for the past years.

But nothing is never perfect and however small here is a bullet list with my initial irritations:
  • The screen can only be opened to about 130 degrees. When the computer is located in the lap the screen can not be opened enough to be orthogonal with my line of sight. An other related issue is that the screen is so heavy (17") so the hinge have problem to keep the screen in the same position when moving the computer gently.
  • The trackpad is phenomenal and the two finger scroll and three finger swipes just makes life so much easier. But I do not understand why they didn't use the bigger trackpad from the Mac Book Air now that they introduced their multitouch. The minimal space to have two fingers over each other makes the pinch and rotate gestures a bit tricky since their is not much room to move the fingers after you put them over each other, and this even if I just have normal sized fingers.
  • The last thing I like to mention now is the keyboard layout or usage of the keyboard. I am used to use delete to edit text and control arrow while typing to move around and to select word etc. I have not found how to do this on the Mac yet although I am sure I will find the way in the next few days.
I will try to continue this update as I am getting more familiar with this new computer which by the way my girlfriend has named Cosmos.

1 kommentar:

The Evil Boss sa...

You can use the Alt-button together with arrow keys to navigate across words in your text. To jump to the beginning of the line you hold the Command-button instead.

To jump to the beginning of a paragraph you use the old school unix combination Ctrl-A. Ctrl-E jumps to the end of a paragraph.

You can delete characters by holding the Fn-button and tap backspace on you Macbook Pro keyboard, or use the unix combination of Ctrl-D.



A neat trick is the screen capture command that saves a picture to your desktop. Just hit Command-Shift-3.

To capture an image of a part of the screen use Command-Shift-4, then select the area to capture using your mouse.

Finally to capture an image of a window hit Command-Shift-4, and then Spacebar. Now click the window you want to capture.



Good luck with the switch