Western Arab

Completed MacBook

Ok so apple released a new macbook. Wait let me rephrase that, apple released the completed macbook, adding the features that were missing from the incomplete. The new macbook which is now macbook pro has a firewire 800 port, an SD card reader and a back-lit keyboard. In addition, the CPU is 2.26 instead of the 2.0 and the price is lower at $1199. I think the battery may also be better. So it seems Apple does it again. They have been doing the same with the iPhone, releasing incomplete products and then selling what they call new or various generation products when really it is the same product but more complete.

Apple get your act together. I am not upset about the macbook, but clearly leaving out firewire caused a big outroar that apple finally caved in and corrected it. I would like to have the firewire but don’t necessarily need it. SD card reader is nice and so is the back-lit keyboard. But there is no way I am going to buy another macbook which also happens to be cheaper even though I got mine for about the same price or less for the original macbook aluminum. Now the new iPhone is out and I have to still decide between it and the blackberry storm. I have a few more months to decide, blackberry hasn’t released a new storm yet, just a big software update with many fixes. So in a few months I will decide if I make a change to either phone but possibly neither.

I looked at the new 13 inch MacBook pro some more, from what I see in the picture above, they removed the audio in port and made it so in/out are the same port. Odd! The 15 and 17 inch have separate in/out for audio. They also moved the Kensington lock slot to the other side right next to the dvd slot.

Well it happened again. Power flashed, internet stopped working. This time it was too frustrating. I hooked up the macbook directly and got it to work, put the linksys router back and could not get it to work. Was too stressful and I think maybe the router being a little old may have something wrong with it. This was around 8:30 pm which meant I went to the 24 hour walmart to pick up a new router.

LinkSys WRT160N Router

I picked up the linksys Wireless-N Broadband Router (WRT160N). Besides looking cooler than the old square linksys router, it is smaller and has a larger light up display which is easier to read. It is black and shiny so dust is going to show on it a lot. But I like the black and silver look I have going on my desktop with my aluminum macbook, my black and silver 24″ gateway monitor, my 19″ black and silver monitor, my logitech black and silver usb speakers and now the all black linksys router with blue lights like the gateway monitor has. And I also have a black and gray logitech headset and a dynex black usb keyboard. Only thing that stands out is this blue usps mail meter. And so I did plug in the new linksys router and disconnected comcast’s cable modem line and let it cycle up and it did connect. So perhaps the router was a problem, a problem that cost me $76 to fix.

More money to waste, I need to spend less and things keep coming out of no where. I already spent $295 to get an AC unit running about two weeks ago. Working hard to make money and it is flying out faster and so easily. I really need to fix this hole in my pocket! Other than that, I think the woman on line in front of me was flirting with at walmart.

UPDATE: This linksys router has problems and drops connections constantly, after looking it up online, many have same complaints, it seems linksys released new firmware to fix a vulnerability which in turn broke it and they haven’t released a fix for the fix! I am returning it to walmart as I bought a certified refurbished linksys wireless-g broadband router (WRT54G2) from compusa aka tigerdirect for $30. Maybe I am patching up this hole in my pocket after all!

LinkSys WRT54G2 Router

The past week or so …

My youngest sister is now engaged. She had her party this weekend. Everything worked out well with all that. Obviously the talk of me getting married is now on everyone’s mind since she was the last in line to get engaged/married which leaves just me now. So everyone gives their hint here and there that it is time for me to get hitched. Congratulations to her.

So it has been pretty cool, not so bad. Seven kids six and under running around the house, opening doors that they never close after themselves, leaving trails of food, spilling drinks, poop time alarms going off, diapers changing, screaming and yelling, crying … the WHOLE kid package multiplied by seven. But really it has been cool, not as crazy as it should be I suppose.

I finally can complain about the new mac book not having firewire. It really is odd that they left it out. I didn’t think it was a big deal cause I didn’t really need it, until I wanted to transfer the mini-dv recording of the engagement to the computer to do some editing. Yah that was problematic. Luckily what became my gaming machine after getting the mac book, has 4 gigs or ram and I was able to transfer the video file to the windows machine and then copy it over to the mac. I suppose it is like some have said, they needed to remove the firewire so that they can justify their hefty price tag on the mac book pro, or maybe firewire will be dying out slowly as floppy disk drives did. Who knows but it was annoying not having the port.

Other than that, I have been missing my work outs and eating a lot more then I should, including lots and lots of junk food. I need to get back on schedule. Family get together usually meaning gaining a few pounds. At least that is what Arab families do, eat and eat, and complain about the weight we gain afterward. Complaining is usually done while eating more. What can we do? We love to eat! And the best tasting food is always that unhealthy fattening food like the lamb we had on the weekend. Delicious!

I was getting shaky video on my desktop thru the kvm switch the past few days when playing Left 4 Dead. After investigating, it seems the shaky video is being caused by wire interference. I have had like a million wires and cables all wrapped and twisted together. I spent more than two hours cleaning this up. I disconnected everything. I did re-arrange things as well. My desktop went back down in the desk cabinet instead of sitting on my desk. I have more desk space now.

Finally after doing that, I went thru the same comcast crap as the last time. What appears to be comcast dns issues. Resetting router, modem and all that to fix it. Wasted I don’t know how much time on it. All I know it caused a lot of stress, cursing and anger. I hate you comcast. But atleast my desk looks cleaner and there are much less wires. It is 3:46 am right now. I will go get what sleep I can now.

And hopefully my video output on the desktop is corrected, but too tired to test anything right now.

Finally, the apple mini-display port to vga adapter arrived today. I am using the macbook right now my 24″ monitor. Apple used the worst possible shipping method. What genius thought that shipping thru DHL to USPS was a smart idea? Why didn’t they just ship it via USPS in the first place? I would have received it much sooner. So what this means is I started using my macbook as my main computer. I setup my work applications on it today and used it for work. So far so good. I installed VMWare Fusion with Windows XP 64 bit. I am hoping I don’t regret the 64 bit choice with software issues later, but for what I need so far, 64 is working. I will also have to buy Fusion since I am running their demo right now.

So for the transition and because I will still need my windows machine (especially for gaming), I installed a USB/VGA KVM switch. I also had to buy a USB keyboard, yes I was still using a PS2 keyboard! So I am switching between them easily and I have a shared folder on a third machine I use as a server for work. I also ordered 4 gigs of 1066 DDR3 RAM to replace the 2 gigs the macbook comes with. Mac OS X runs just fine with the 2 gigs but I will be assigning the virtual machine 2 gigs for XP, and OS X will be awesome with 4 gigs when the virtual machine is not running. The RAM should arrive later this week or so I am hoping. So yes a geeky post here, but it seems I have converted to mac. And now when I travel, I won’t have to synch up my work files anymore.

The new macbook is a winner, and today is the day that I converted to mac. But I will still have to use windows as well.

The macbook, I have walked into the apple store at the town center many times, each time trying to convince myself to get the new macbook, my very own piece of aluminum. I have never owned a mac book or any mac computer. I did have an apple I got from a friend to use for web development testing for macs, but I never really used it. Every time I go in the store, I try out the macbook, and everytime my intial rejection comes when I go to click the CLOSE button on the top right, except it isn’t there. It is on the left! And that just makes me feel everything is backwards. So why am I interested in the macbook?

13" Macbook

I have been wanting to get a new laptop for some time, my old toshiba sits around collecting dust. I work on a desktop I built myself with a nice glossy 24″ LCD monitor. My work is all done here, on this PC I am using right now writing this up. I rarely need a laptop, but it is needed when I travel. What I would like to do is actually use a laptop and dock it at home, so there is no synching to do. One machine to use at home and travel. But I am not sure if I can pull it of. I play my video games on this machine, they require a good video card, which most laptops don’t have. So I think I would still have to work with two machines.

My initial reason for wanting to get the macbook other than apple making it look so pretty and cool in their advertising, was to learn OS X, to learn the apple side of things, including programming. I went back and forth trying to decide. I can either get a Lenovo laptop and install OS X on it as well (illegal) or I can get a macbook and install vista on it as well (legal). Lately I have been leaning towards the macbook, every visit to the apple store I get closer to getting it. I made a trip to the apple store one time with intention of buying it but clearly I backed out of it. But I am almost there, I am almost convinced to spend the $1300 on it, and maybe I will cross over somewhat.

I was actually thinking today, by the end of the year I will be considering a new phone, and I will have to choose between the blackberry storm and the iphone. But if I got the macbook, will I just have to get the iphone? Will I be loyal to apple? I love gadgets!