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You Can Run Microsoft Office On Your Mac, But Don't
 Apple
One of the common questions a person has when they are thinking about switching to Mac's for the first time, is "Can I run Microsoft Office?". They usually word it in a way that doesn't quite make sense, but that's what they mean. They want to be able to create and edit Word and Excel files.
The short answer to this question, is "Yes." Microsoft makes a version of Office just for Macs. And like the Windows version, it's pretty expensive.
Apple also make their own office suite, called iWork. It contains a word processor (Pages) and a spreadsheet (Numbers), and also a presentation app (Keynote). Apple's programs are nice, and they are cheaper than Microsoft's.
Enter OpenOffice
OpenOffice is a totally free office suite. Yes that's right, totally free. It's an open source project, which means it's not made by a company, it's made by it's users and fans. To a traditional Mac or Windows user, free software usually means a poor quality demo. But in the unix world where OpenOffice was born, nearly everything is free.
How does OpenOffice compare to MS Office and Apple iWork? Well OpenOffice's interface is a little more retro. It has square buttons and lots of grey, that reminds you of the classic days of OS 9. It's not quite as fast as Apple iWork, but it's probably on par with current versions of MS Office. As far as functionality, it's great. It has a fully functional word processor and a fully functional spreadsheet program. In fact, it kind of reminds you of using older versions of MS Office, before Microsoft started changing the look every release. But it's not office. And it's free (have I mentioned that?)
Compatibility is great too. Each office suite (MS Office, Apple iWork, OpenOffice) creates new documents in their own format by default. MS Office uses Word and Excel files, which have become a de-facto standard, but they are not true standards. OpenOffice saves files to the standard OpenDocument format. While this format is a standard, few applications use it, so it's kind of de-facto proprietary. Apple's iWork of course uses it's own proprietary format for new documents too. It's the Apple way. HOWEVER (this is the most important part), both OpenOffice and Apple's iWork can open MS Office files, and can save as MS Office files. With Apple's iWork, it's a little clumsy. iWork automatically opens copies of Microsoft files, then if you make a change and want to save, you have to save that copy as a Microsoft file. OpenOffice makes it even easier. OpenOffice lets you open and save Microsoft files directly. This lets you use OpenOffice on a Mac, while sitting in an office full of Windows users who send you (proprietary) Microsoft Office documents, seamlessly.
So what does it all mean? Yes, you can get Microsoft Office for Mac, so you can create Word and Excel files. BUT you can also get OpenOffice on your Mac, which is a totally free, and slightly less visually attractive office application, that lets you do all the same things as MS Office. Prices of Microsoft Office range from $149 to $399.
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The Hole in Apple's Lineup
Apple
Years ago, a small section of the Mac community would often complain that Apple should release a "headless iMac". The rest of the Mac community argued that this made no sense. If you want an all in one, buy a G4 iMac ($1300). If you want something headless, buy a G4 tower ($1700). Apple eventually even released the Mac mini ($500). The idea of a headless iMac made very little sense.
But times have changed. iMacs have become a significantly more powerful machine. iMacs have more than enough power for the average Mac user. Very few users need the processing power of a Mac Pro. But many users do still need the expandability of a tower. This can be a problem because unlike the days of the G4, the Mac Pro towers are extremely high priced. They start at $2500 and the current high end models are as much as $5000. A computer that expensive is not a good fit for someone that needs no more CPU or GPU power than an iMac, but needs maybe one or two PCI cards installed, and could benefit from more than one internal hard drive. Adding to the difficulty of "getting by" with an iMac, about half of Mac users prefer n anti-glare screen, but Apple has no anti-glare option on iMacs. Also the iMac has only one FireWire port, and zero eSata ports.
So the hole in Apple's lineup is a product for people who would be perfectly happy with the processor and graphics power of the current generation of iMacs, but need some amount of expandability, and would prefer anti-gloss screens. This machine would also appeal to a large segment of the PC user population that still cling to towers for their tinker-ability. This 4th model of desktop computer really didn't make sense 8 years ago. But things have changed significantly since then, most importantly including Apple's market share.
The image included with this article is not a spy shot. It's just a quick photoshop mangling of a photo of a Mac Pro. Replace the two full size optical bays with a single slimline drive, remove one of the PCI slots, replace the server class Xeon processors with Corei5s and Corei7s, and replace the fully buffered, super hot RAM with several (8) standard laptop DDR3 slots. This artwork is to scale in front of an actual Mac Pro. This would be a great little Mac. My prediction: This Mac will never happen. Apple does not have much interest in desktop computers. Every engineer working on a desktop Mac, is an engineer not working on iPad 2 / iPhone 5 / MacBook 19.
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New Mac mini - Less Size, More Disappointment
Apple
Every time Apple updates the Mac mini, some people are left disappointed. I think this is because such a nice, powerful little machine has so much potential filling all sorts of niches. The Mac mini is always one or two features away from being an amazing [fill in the blank]. The previous two Mac mini updates were great in my book. There were still a few more features I'd want, but it was still a great little machine. However, this most recently update, is very disappointing to me. When it comes down to it, I feel like Apple just put the Mac mini in a fancy case, and then jacked the price.
It's true, they did upgrade the processor and the graphics chip. But they didn't put high-end processors and graphics in the mini, they just bumped them up to match the same low-end that the MacBook and MacBook Pro's have. High end mobile graphics, at least as an option, was one of the things on my Mac mini wish list. Something on par with what's in the more expensive MacBook Pros.
Apple also changed the video-out ports. From one miniDP plus one miniDVI port, to one miniDP and one HDMI port. Lots of people have been waiting for this for a long time. But again, I find this disappointing. miniDP to HDMI adapters are only $10. I would MUCH rather have seen the new Mac mini have two miniDP's, with a miniDP to HDMI adapter included in the box. That way they could still advertise it as "having HDMI", but it would give the mini a lot more versatility. Two large LCD displays powered by a single Mac mini would be a GREAT setup for 2D graphics, like print and web work.
Apple did add an SD card slot. Most of their laptops have an SD card slot too. It's very handy on a laptop. You're on the go, so you don't want to carry an extra USB device around. You just spin your MacBook around and stick the memory card in. But the Mac mini is a desktop. It's not a hassle keeping a card reader around. And the SD slot is on the back of the machine. The way most people set up their desks, the back of their Mac mini is not easily-accessible. I see the SD slot as more of a gimmick than a useable feature. Also, while I did have an expansion slot on my Mac mini wish list, I was thinking more along the lines of an ExpressCard slot, not an SD slot. That way you could install something like a dual port eSata card, and run up to 10 external hard drives through your mac mini. Or maybe a second gigabit ethernet port. A little expandability goes a long way. But the SD card… isn't it.
The new Mac mini has a fancy new 'Unibody' aluminum case like the MacBook Pros. And I agree, they do look nice. And they no longer have an external power supply, it's all included in the case, which is also nice. But, these are desktops. The biggest benefit of unibody isn't the look, it's the strength. MacBook Pro's are super rigid, which makes them much nicer to handle and work with. You don't handle a Mac mini. You put it on your desk, you tuck it's external power supply (on older models) in a corner somewhere, and you never give them another thought. This style of case is MUCH less necessary for a desktop computer. And I do not see this new case as justifying the $100 price increase, from $599 to $699.
$699 is a lot of money for an entry level desktop. This Mac mini still only has 2 GB of RAM, and you still need to buy a keyboard, mouse and monitor to go with it. It's as if Apple is trying to take the "features" of the 13" MacBook Pro (Apple's best selling Mac) over the MacBook, and apply them to the Mac mini. But it's a whole different story when you're talking desktops. The value just isn't there in my opinion. So in conclusion, I'm fairly disappointed by this new Mac mini upgrade. I was tentatively thinking about buying two of them before they came out. But i'm just going to stick with what I have for now.
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Liquids & Laptops Don't Mix, Now More Than Ever
Apple
You don't need to be a rocket scientist to know that liquids and laptops don't mix. Still, everyone gets thirsty. A very common form of Mac damage happens when someone spills just a little bit of their drink on the top of their computer. It seeps into the keyboard in kills it.
A bunch of years back, this was an annoying thing to happen, but it wasn't all that expensive. Apple's PowerBooks and iBooks had keyboards that were pretty easy to remove. And they were comparatively cheap. A small screw driver was all you needed to remove the old keyboard and install a new one.
Then the MacBooks came along. Apple came up with a way to make them even thinner and lighter and more rigid. This came at a cost, the keyboards became integrated into the top case of the computer. So to replace the keyboard, you had to replace the top case, keyboard, and trackpad. A much more expensive part, and also a lot more complicated to install.
Apple's current line of laptops are all what they call a "Unibody" design. On all older laptops, the bottom of the computer was the main structure of the computer, and everything bolted to that. Then you bolted the top case to the bottom and there was your computer. The new Macs are all reversed. The "Unibody" top case is the primary structure of the computer, and everything bolts to the top case. Then a thin cover just screws to the bottom to close it up. This new "Unibody" design makes the laptops even thinner and lighter, but more noticeable than that, the new Macs are extremely rigid. The main frame of the computer is a single block of CNC'd aluminum. The old ones were thin layers of aluminum welded and screwed together. The new laptops don't bend and flex and creak when you pick them up.
But the down side, and the point of this article is: they keyboards are not easy to replace. You're not just replacing a top case that bolts to the main structure of the computer. The new top case IS the main structure of the computer. This makes it even MORE expensive than before. But the big catch is that to replace it, you have to strip every single part out of your Mac, and put it all together in the new top case. It is the most complicated procedure there is. Any other part, even replacing the screen, can be done with fewer steps than replacing the keyboard.
So as a public service announcement to all owners of "Unibody" style MacBooks and MacBook Pros: Please be extra careful with your beverages! A tiny spill can easily cost you $500 or more to fix.
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When's A Good Time to Start Backing Up Your Data? Yesterday.
Apple
I've been in the computer repair business for a while now, and this is exactly how it goes over and over again:
You know people that backup their data. You've seen hard drives that have notes on the box about backing up. Maybe you've even come across backup software before, but you don't use it regularly. Whatever the case, you don't back up your data. Then one day you lose your data. The most common way to lose data is from hard drive failure. All hard drives die, it's only a matter of time. So at this point, you have a computer that won't work, and either no backups, or maybe if you're lucky, you have old or incomplete backups. The next step is to call a computer person, like myself. Then I give you the bad news that your hard drive is dead and all it's data is lost. Sure I can put a new hard drive in and reinstall your system so your computer will work again, but all your personal data is lost. After much grief, you start over from scratch, and this time you start backing up properly. Next time you have a drive failure, you'll have a little bit of downtime, but you won't lose any data at all.
Disclosure: backups aren't a guarantee. If a meteor crashes into your house and hits your computer AND your backup drive, you're kind of out of luck. But data loss due to meteor is very rare. Almost all of it comes from failing hard drives. Even a brand new computer can have a drive failure. It's always important to have an up-to-date backup. Your new computer's warranty will cover replacing the hard drive, but it won't get your data back.
Do you backup? If not, you should start NOW. Don't wait until you lose all your data, like most people do. If you have Mac OS X 10.5 or newer (Leopard or Snow Leopard), it's extremely easy to back up. The operating system has really great backup software built in called Time Machine. All you have to do is plug in an external hard drive and turn Time Machine on. If you have an advanced setup, you can also use a network volume or a Time Capsule device as a backup destination.
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Introducing Mac OS X 10.6, "Snow Leopard"
Apple
The next version of Mac OS X is here. Version 10.6, codenamed Snow Leopard. It is significantly cheaper than all of the recent previous versions of OS X. I believe the reason for that is simply that on the surface, it doesn't look very different at all. It does have a lot of under-the surface features, but for the user, it looks and feels pretty much the same.
The most significant change is that this operating system only runs on Intel-based Macs. PPC Macs, G3s, G4s and G5s, are all now officially obsolete and no longer supported by the most up to date Mac OS version.
The main feature this upgrade brings is greater optimization and performance.
With most of the PPC code stripped out, the operating system as a whole uses a lot less space. In fact, upgrading to Snow Leopard will actually free up several GB of space on your Mac. Apple has also upgraded almost all of their apps to 64-bit.
Apple also introduced two new technologies that you really won't feel at all now, but down the road they will make a huge difference. Applications on the Mac will be significantly faster. The names of these two technologies are Grand Central Dispatch, and OpenCL. Without going into too much dull detail, what these technologies do is allow programmers to greatly speed up their programs by having them more easily use all of the processors in your Mac. All Macs have multiple processors, Mac Pros can have as many as 16 virtual processor cores. They also let programmers use the graphics card in your Mac to give a tremendous speed boost to certain kinds of math. As programmers start to use these tools, programs will get faster and faster.
There are lots of other even more minor changes too. Like support in Mail/iCal/Address Book, for MS Exchange servers.
The bottom line is, this isn't going to be like all the previous Mac OS X upgrades, where it's this big new thing. But it does have lots of optimization and new features beneath the surface, and for only $29, you definitely want to upgrade soon!
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iPhoneOS 3.0: Your iPhone's Full Potential
Apple
I've been using the new iPhone OS 3.0 for over a week now. I have to say, I finally feel like my iPhone is the powerful device it's supposed to be. There are many features under the surface that Apple likes to go on and on about. But I want to tell you about the features you will notice. Also keep in mind I'm using iPhoneOS 3.0 on a 1st generation iPhone, not a G3/G3S.
First thing you'll notice, it's snappier. It's particularly noticeable in the phone app. Making phone calls is much faster. When you hit the phone app, it pops up almost instantly. When you hit Keypad, the keypad also pops up almost instantly. And dialing on the Keypad, I can't put my finger on it, but it feels much better and more natural too.
The phone app isn't the only place you'll feel a boost. The whole phone feels faster, like there is less delay when you click or swipe on the phone. Thing's just happen.
My favorite new feature of 3.0, the thing I've been dying for, is the Landscape (aka wide) keyboard. Thats when you turn your phone sideways, and the skinny little narrow keyboard turns into a wide keyboard. Apparently my thumbs are much bigger than Steve Job's thumbs. But I find it very difficult to type a lot of text on the narrow keyboard. But with all of Apple's apps now incorporating the wide keyboard, I feel like my iPhone finally is that "Internet Communication Device" Apple first advertised it as. I have 6 email accounts set up on my phone, and now I can reply to emails with ease. And without giving very short, abrupt replies. The same goes for text messaging. I've never gone over my 200/month limit before, but I might end up going over now that it's such an ease to type.
Push notification is finally here. You can receive messages and sounds from apps on your phone, when they are not even running. You can talk to your friends on AIM, then switch to Mail, and still get instant messages from your friends. It really gives you the ability to multitask.
There are many many other improvements, but those three are the ones that really effect me the most. I use my phone much much more these days, because of them.
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MacFixer Featured in the Boston Herald
Apple
It just goes to show you, treat every customer like they're someone important, because they just might be. I recently helped out a customer that turned out to be a writer for the Boston Herald. He was so happy with the work I did [get his new mac to boot, recover all his data from his old dying mac, to his new mac] that he wrote a small article about MacFixer in the paper.
The article is also on their site, but the print version has my company logo and my handsome face next to it ;-)
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What To Do With .dmg Files
Apple
Everyone knows Macs are easy to use. But one aspect of Mac OS X continues to confuse the less nerdy among us. This is the Disk Image file.
In the old days, you would install software onto your computer by inserting a CD ROM, or even further back, a floppy disk. Usually that disk would have an Installer. You would double click that and you're on your way.
These days, most software is downloaded over the internet. Mac OS X has popularized the use of Disk Images (.dmg files) as a means of transferring software. They're easy to use once you get how they work.
The .dmg file is the actual file that contains all the data. When you double click the .dmg file, it mounts a "virtual" disk to your desktop. It's usually a white icon but it can be a custom icon.
When you double click on the mounted virtual disk, there are three common things you could find. The most common is the application itself. No installer necessary, often times the whole self contained application is right on the disk image. This is where people make a mistake. You don't want to run the application on the disk image. Disk images are just a means of transportation. You want to copy the application from the disk image, to your applications folder. Then eject the "virtual" disk, and delete the .dmg file. Lots of people drag the application into their Dock. But that doesn't actually move the program, icons in the dock are just shortcuts to launch the program. Then every time they DO launch the program, the .dmg file has to mount it's disk image. There are many other ways running programs off the mounted disk image can cause problems. For one thing, the disk image is read-only, so if the application has to store any data internally, it won't be able to. Also, 6 months down the road when you empty out your downloads folder and delete all your .dmg files, you just deleted your only copy of the application in question.
But wait, sometimes the application itself isn't sitting there on the disk image. Sometimes there is an installer on there instead. There are two kinds of installers, package installers, and custom installers. Package installers have a neat "opened box" icon, and are usually a .pkg file. Other kinds of installers could be anything, and have any kind of icon. Installers pretty much always work the same though, just double click to run through, then you're good to go. After running the installer, you are again free to eject the disk image, and delete the .dmg file.
It may seem like installers are an easier way to get software, but the disk image with the application directly on it is actually the preferred way to get software. Installers can be installing all sorts of files, all over your computer. With an application directly on a disk image, you know what's on it and you know where it's going, because you are putting it there.
So in summary, when you download a disk image that contains the whole application on it, simply copy it to your Applications folder, then eject the disk image and trash the .dmg file.
And the most common application that comes this way is without a doubt, Firefox. If you're not sure what I'm talking about, just give it a download.
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New iMacs, Mac Pros and FINALLY Mac minis!
Apple
Last Tuesday, Apple dropped a whole slew of upgrades on us. These include new iMacs with faster processors, better graphics chips, and a big drop in price for the entry level 24-inch model. The new iMacs can also hold 8 GB of RAM, which is pretty nice. The only thing they don't have is 4-core processors, like some sites had rumored.
The new Mac Pros have intel's new Nehalem processor. The clock speed is a bit slower but the speed is supposed to be much faster. It's still only available in 4 and 8 core models. No 16 core Mac Pro's yet. However the new processors have hyper-threading that gives them "16 virtual cores". The Mac Pro also has some new graphics options. The default is the GeForce GT 120 with an optional Radeon HD 4870. The Pro's use DDR3 RAM now.
Apple also had some minor updates for the 15-inch MacBook Pro and the Airport devices.
But the BIG BIG news, is that Apple FINALLY released new Mac Minis! So lets go through my Mac mini prediction page from a few months ago and see how well I did...
I thought the new minis would have a redesigned case. I figured no more plastic top, something more resembling the new MacBooks. Nope... oh well.
The insides were very much as predicted. 1066 MHz system bus with DDR3 RAM. nVidia 9400m Graphics & chipset. 4 GB max memory. And 2.0 & 2.26 GHz clock speeds. They also added n speed wireless.
I was mostly right on the video out. They did add a mini display port, that does support a 30" display. And they did get rid of the full size DVI port, but strangely, they added a Mini DVI port too.
One thing I got wrong was the price. I thought they would drop the price a little bit, especially considering the state of the economy. But they kept the price the same, $599 for the entry level model.
I had predicted firewire would be gone, but hoped that they would keep it and upgrade it to FireWire 800. They DID keep it and upgrade it to FireWire 800. I'm psyched about this!
My Wish-List also had dual display ports, which I mentioned above. It wasn't the way I expected it, but they did it. They didn't add any expansion slots but that was a very very long slot to begin with. The one spec I'm not sure about is the SATA with Port-Multiplication. I haven't yet been able to confirm one way or the other. I sure hope it has this feature, we'll see.
But overall, these new minis are awesome! I'll be ordering one very soon.
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Apple Needs More Matte LCD Options
Apple
In the beginning, all LCD's were matte. A matte screen means that it's not shiny. You really can't catch a reflection off of it. Matte screens are great, you can use them in a well lit room without having to deal with reflections.
Then Apple decided that matte screens are ok but glossy screens are great. Glossy screens have shiny glass over them. They make darks look darker, giving an illusion of deeper contrast and sharper colors. And the trade-off is that they are like mirrors. They reflect everything. In a well-lit room, it's like looking in a mirror. Outdoors, all you see is what's behind you. Unless you do all of your computer using in a Cave, glossy screens are not good.
Then Apple made a horrible decision. Glossy screens are so great, we don't need an option anymore. Everything will be glossy. The glossy screens on Aluminum iMacs are horrible. But the iMac's are the only real choice for their price/performance bracket, so I have to recommend them anyway. And they're otherwise great computers, you're just going to have to deal with tons of really bad glare while you use it.
Apple thankfully brought back the matte option on the new MacBook Pro 17". So the current screen situation is this: iMac 20" and iMac 24" are all glossy. MacBook 13" MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro 15" are all glossy. The MacBook Pro 17" is glossy but has an available $50 matte option. If you're spending all that money on the laptop, I highly recommend you spend the extra $50 and get the screen you can actually see.
Of course the Mac mini and Mac Pro don't have built in displays. Apple makes stand alone displays, which used to be all matte, but recently Apple again replaced the 23" cinema display with an all new 24" display that is glossy. So the 20" and 30" cinema displays are matte, but the 24 is glossy.
Personally I would love to replace my Mac Pro tower with a high end iMac in 6 months to a year. But the glossy screen is a deal breaker. It's just unbearable to constantly be fighting the reflections.
Hopefully, Apple well get the hint and make matte screens an option on all their LCDs. The photo is of a new Aluminum MacBook 13" and a 20" iMac, both glossy. You see what's behind you as well as you see what's on the screen.
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New Mac Mini Predictions
Apple
As of this posting, Apple's Mac mini has gone 509 days since it's last update. That's nearly 17 months. That's a VERY long time, an eternity in computer years. Finally, it looks like an update is eminent, and with it comes my New Mac mini Specification Predictions!
The Case: I think they are going to remove the white plastic from the top, and have the top piece be a solid chunk of aluminum, similar in style to the main body of the new MacBooks. I also think they will find a way to make it a little smaller. Not much, but I'm sure they'll have a very exact number for just how much smaller it is. I'm going to say about 10% smaller.
The Innards: On the inside, I'm nearly certain they will upgrade it to the new nVidia chipset they use in the MacBooks. This includes the integrated 9400m graphics. Current mini's come with 1.83 or 2.0 GHz Core 2 Duos. New mini's will likely see a modest boost to something like 2.0 Ghz to 2.4 GHz, or maybe 2.2 GHz to 2.4 GHz. They are probably going to use a soldered-on processor like the laptops currently use, instead of the upgradable processor slot that current minis have. Mini's have always used laptop hard drives, so SSD will probably be an option, even though there's not much mass appeal there. Also this new nVida chipset means an upgrade to a 1066 MHz bus and DDR3 RAM, again matching the new MacBooks. And the Max RAM will officially be 4 GB. It may be one of the many Macs that can unofficially hold more but who knows.
I/O: Bye bye DVI port, hello Display Port. Other than the hassle of having to buy a new Adapter to make your old monitors work ($20 for normal displays, more for a dual link adapter for 30inch displays), this won't mean much to anyone. Also I think the new mini WILL support a 30" display at full resolution, for the first time.
Here is the sad part. Like the MacBooks, I predict FireWire will be no more. Your four USB ports will be all of your I/O. Getting rid of FireWire is such a horrible thing for apple to do to it's computers. FireWire is so versatile, and can do so many things that USB cannot. But, despite that, I predict Apple is going to get rid of it.
The mini will also be upgraded to n speed wireless.
And those are my predictions. I also think/hope they will drop the price points back to the original entry level mini price of $500. That would be sweet. We'll see.
And now, my mini wish list. Things I want to see, but I highly doubt I will.
FireWire 800: Not only should they keep firewire, they should upgrade it to FireWire 800. Thats about 100 MBytes/sec. That's pretty good. Especially if you are using a raid, 'Regular' FireWire aka FireWire 400, and it's 50MByte/sec throughput, is not going to be enough. And forget about USB puuhhleeeeze.
SATA with Port-Multiplication: The SATA specification has a feature that lets you hook up what is basically a SATA HUB to an SATA port, so you can hook up as many as 5 independent SATA drives to one SATA port. A 3Gbit SATA port can do 375MBytes/sec. But the SATA port has to support this feature, for you to use one of these Port Multipliers. So the feature I want to see is for the built-in SATA interface that the mini's internal hard drive is attached to, to support Port Multiplication. This would make it very easy for hardware hackers (the good kind of hacker, not the bad kind) to remove the internal hard drive, route the internal SATA port outside, and connect it to a 5-Bay eSata drive tower. With this and FireWire 800, the mini would go from a Max theoretical throughput of 50 MBytes/sec to a theoretical max of 475 MBytes/sec (ignoring USB). They could even design the new case in such a way that it would be easier to poke a little hole in it somewhere, to run an SATA cable through. A mini like this, with Core2Duo power, 4 GB of RAM, HUGE data I/O, and super low power consumption (minis use on average 20 watts of power), these minis would be incredibly versatile, while still being a great simple basic Mac for the brand new Mac user.
Dual Display Ports: With the switch to Mini DisplayPort, there's more than enough room for two display ports on the back of the mini. And I'm sure a 9400m can handle dual displays. Every video card since the early 00's has been able to do that. (except maybe Intel integrated graphics?).
ExpressCard Slot: Last but not least... actually last and least (likely to happen), the ExpressCard Slot. 15" and 17" Mac laptops have had expansion slots forever. From PCMCIA/PC Card to Cardbus, to the now modern ExpressCard34 and ExpressCard54. This would be, the least likely thing for Apple to add to a mini. But it would be pretty awesome if they did. This would make the mini a hacker's dream. One possibility would be to make the built-in Airport Card an ExpressCard, that way hacker-types could remove airport, and put in a 3rd party express card if they wanted something like more FireWire ports instead of Airport. That would be sweet.
There you have it. My predictions for what the New Mac mini's will be.
Followed by my wish list of what I wish the New Mac mini's would be... but they won't.
Enjoy
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Does Your MacBook Freeze When You Close It's Lid?
Apple
For the longest time, I was battling a problem with my MacBook where it would crash maybe 33% of the time, when you closed the LID. I had done every trick in the book, but the problem remained. I was convinced it was a hardware problem and just lived with it. Then I got a brand new Macbook and it was doing the same thing! I couldn't believe it, I was so pissed!!
Then finally, I stumbled upon the answer! Newer Mac Laptops use a feature called Safe Sleep, where the computer writes the contents of your RAM to the hard drive. That way, if your MacBook is sleeping and the battery completely dies, your computer can still resume from where you left off once you plug it in.
This greatly slows down the process of falling asleep for your Mac. My current MacBook has 4 GB of RAM. Even coming straight from RAM, writing 4 GB of data to the hard drive is going to take a little while.
This also means that the computer is going to use up 4 GB of extra disk space on the drive.
But heres where it gets bad.
I boot other computers off my MacBook's hard drive regularly so I can run repair utilities on them etc. I booted a Mac Pro off my MacBook's hard drive. The MacPro had 8 GB of RAM. So when I found safe sleep ram storage file, it was 8 GB in size!
And of course, this whole system tends to not work great, causing LOTS of crashes when you close the lid.
And a little more on those crashes. What happens is the sleep light lights up, but doesn't pulse, it just stays lit. If you don't notice this and throw the computer in your bag, you're in for a surprise when you get home and remove the computer. When the computer crashes, it apparently runs the processors at full speed. The computer very quickly gets EXTREMELY hot. Putting it in a bag in this state can seriously shorten the lifespan of your Mac.
So weighing all this against the only drawback of disabling safe sleep, which is that if your battery dies completely while it's asleep, you'll lose unsaved documents as if you had done a hard reboot.... to me it's a no brainer, bye bye safe sleep.
So, To Disable Safe Sleep:
Type these two commands in the Terminal, and hit return:
sudo pmset -a hibernatemode 0
sudo nvram "use-nvramrc?"=false
Presto, instant fast sleep, and no more crashing!!
Now if you want to reclaim some hard drive space, an amount of space equal to the amount of RAM your computer has, do the following:
In the Finder, choose Go To Folder... from the Go menu
Type "/var/vm" into the prompt and hit return
Don't touch the swapfiles, they are important. But if there is a file in that folder called 'sleepimage', just drag it to the trash and you're good to go.
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Switch To The No Glass Dock In Leopard, The Best Dock Ever
Apple
The default dock in Leopard is the "3D Dock". At first it looks pretty cool. It's very shiny, it has a reflective gloss to it that reflects any windows you hold near it. But it doesn't take long for this dock to really get on your nerves. Here are my main beefs with it:
- It's Slow! If you're using Leopard on a G4 for example, it takes a lot of computer power to generate this glossy, reflective dock. Switching over to the no-glass dock will speed up your whole system! Especially if you're running it on slower, unsupported systems.
- It's hard to see! Apple has changed the indicator that tells you when an application is running. It used to be a small black triangle, now it's a small glowing light. This would be fine except the dock is a reflective glossy 3D looking object now, and these lights blend right in, making it very hard to see what apps are running and not.
- It's awkward! No matter what your dock looks like, your screen is only 2D. The 3D look is just leaves you with icons that are, in the real 2D nature of your screen, half on the dock, half hanging off the top of the dock. And between all the gloss, and reflections, and transparency, its just a big, ugly mess.
The No-Glass dock on the other hand, is the best Dock apple has ever created. It doesn't try to be something it's not. It does 2D and it does it well. There is transparency but there is no gloss, and no reflection. Just a dark and well defined area with a clear border. Inside this area that is the 2D dock, your icons have increased contrast and increased visibility.
How To Do It:
Paste these lines into the Terminal and hit return:
To switch to the NoGlass Dock:
defaults write com.apple.dock no-glass -boolean YES; killall Dock
To switch back to the default, ugly, 3D Dock:
defaults write com.apple.dock no-glass -boolean NO; killall Dock
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My New MacBook
Apple
Here's my new MacBook. It's pretty sweet. Its one of the Black ones. The brand new aluminum MacBooks don't have FireWire!!! Can you believe that. That makes them absolutely not an option for me, so I got a refurb previous model, which is actually faster. Its 2.4GHz, with 4 GB of RAM and a 250 GB Hard Drive, plus a Superdrive. Its a little powerhouse!
So I thought the black would make me feel like I had a cool new thing. Until I ended up ALSO buying a used beat up MacBook Pro 15". It was kinda dirty but I cleaned it up and now it too is in pretty good shape. After using that aluminum MacBook Pro with the totally awesome light-up keyboard and the big 15" screen, my little black MacBook is feeling a little meh. But in the end my black macbook will serve me well, I just wish it's keyboard would light up. Also I might be doing some interesting mods to it anyway, like a matte screen. And maybe just maybe a higher res screen too :-)
So, this means I have two laptops for sale:
My old White MacBook
And my new old MacBook Pro
Both are very clean and work great sooooo buy'em!
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iPhone Screen Shots!
Apple
Hey I found out you can take a screen shot of your iPhone! Just hold down the home button, and hit the sleep button. It snaps just like Mac OS X does when you hit Command-Shift-3. And you get a full screen shot image. Sooooo heres what my full home screen looks like (for now anyway, I download new stuff daily it seems).
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The New Cheaper iPhone 3G That Costs More
Apple
Apple revealed the new iPhone 3G today, like everyone expected. It has pretty much all the features everyone knew it was going to have. Fast 3G support, GPS, even the $200 cheaper "Half The Price". During the Keynote presentation, Steven Jobs himself even made a big point about how people wanted the phone cheaper, and Apple delivered.
With one catch. The phone is now $200 cheaper. But the plans for the iPhone are now $10 more expensive. So you save $200 over the old iPhone. But you also pay $240 more over the two year contract. So the new "Half The Price" iPhone is actually $40 more than the old iPhone.
$70 is pretty damn expensive for a 450 minute/month cell phone plan, even if it comes with unlimited web browsing.
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I Love My New Keyboard
Apple
This new keyboard is the best keyboard ever! It's made out of keys that are just like MacBook keys. Super low profile, super easy to push. Typing on this thing is so effortless and so fast. Plus it's aluminum which just makes it even cooler! This thing is so nice, it's WAY better than my old MacAlly Icekey... which was made out of keys similar to iBook keys, but much firmer which was no good. Anyway you can get one of these awesome Apple Keyboards right here.
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Best Tape Dispenser Ever & Mac OS X 10.5.2 Update Finally!!
Apple
This is the coolest tape dispenser I've ever seen. I want one.
Also, Mac OS X 10.5.2 Update has FINALLY been released. Us up to date mac users have been waiting for WEEKs for this. Finally, the stacks in my dock can have normal icons. Hopefully, my MacBook will no longer crash when I close the lid. Best of all, I can finally ship my new server to my datacenter in Michigan. I've been wanting to migrate over to this new server for weeks now. It's being upgraded right now and hopefully it will be on its way tomorrow or the next day. My web sites will be even faster. BTW I want one of these tape dispensers!
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Verizon Voyager - Complete iPhone Rip Off
Apple
I got an ad in the mail today. Postal mail that is. It was from Verizon. My contract expired months ago and they really want to lock me into another one. (I'm actually just waiting for my E815 to die, then I'll get an iPhone and switch to ATT, thats the plan) Anyway...
So they send me an ad for this phone. You've got to be kidding. I don't think they could possibly make this phone look any more like an iPhone, and not get sued. Apple might sue them anyway for this thing. It looks like it's specifically designed for people who don't know what an iPhone is, but saw a picture of one once and wanted it.
"yeah yeah this must have been what you saw, sign on the dotted line please"
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Mac OS X 10.5 "Leopard" First Impressions
Apple
I've been using Mac OS X 10.5 for about two weeks or so now. Heres my review on it.
Overall
Overall, it's great. It is so fast. So much faster than 10.4. Especially on Intel Macs. But even PPC Macs run faster. It has a new look that does take some getting used to, but once you do it's real nice. It has some killer new features that make it so much easier to work on. Under the surface, Apple has made big changes all around. Windows users might thing that newer versions of software will run slower than the ones they replace. But thats only a windows thing. In the rest of the computing world, newer means faster and more optimized. Should you upgrade to Leopard? YES, right now, what are you waiting for? If you meet the (somewhat high) minimum specs, you should absolutely go for it. As always, upgrading your RAM will only help matters. Even with the minimum, you are going to be doing better than you were with Tiger.
Awesome New Features!
- Spaces: When I first heard about Spaces, and saw it demo'ed, I wasn't terribly impressed. It was a nice feature and I'd probably use it, but it didn't really blow me away. But now, having used it for a while (and having set it to activate via one of my screen corners, like expose), I find it one of the best features in Leopard. Its hard to explain without a demo, but essentially, Spaces lets you set up more 'virtual' screens. So for example I could have one screen with my iChat and Mail in it, one with a few Safari windows, another with some photoshop documents and another with.. I don't know, more stuff. You get the idea. When you activate Spaces, all your screens shrink so you can see them all on screen, then just click on the one you want and BAM you go right to it. It raises organization and productivity to a new level!
- Time Machine: Nobody backs up. I know this because people call me all the time with dead hard drives, accidentally deleted files etc. Even I don't backup like I should. But now, backing up is easier than even I could have imagined. Hows it work? You plug in another drive. It can be an internal drive if you have a tower, or it can be a firewire drive if you are using another Mac. A few clicks will tell Time Machine to use this new drive for backing up. And thats it. First it copies everything to the backup. Then it copies your changed files to the backup any time anything changes. So this gives you two things. One is a full backup of everything, you can restore to if your hard drive dies. The second thing this gives you is a running history of your files. If you are working on a big project and you inadvertently mess it up, you can go back in time an hour or two and get a copy of the file as it was then. If you accidentally delete a folder, and don't realize it until a week later, just hit Time Machine, and you can go back and get it. It's really an amazing system. So far, the biggest downside is that it only lets you backup to one drive. You can't do multiple backups, which would be ideal. Also, you can backup over a network, but the computer you are saving TO must be Leopard. I haven't played with this too much yet, as that requirement doesn't really make sense to me, but we shall see. So in conclusion, if you want to go form a typical unbacked up user, to a user who's data is very safe, all you have to do is plug a firewire hard drive into your Mac, and tell time machine to use it. Thats it. It does all the rest. It's amazing.
- Speed: There isn't too much to say about the speed. Its just fast. Way faster than Tiger. Everything is much more optimized. Memory management is significantly improved, which adds up to even more speed. It's just by far the fastest Mac OS X ever.
- New Apps: There are tons of updated Apps with 10.5. It comes with a non-beta version of Safari (3.0.4) that runs really nice. It has a new version of iChat which is less... buggy/peculiar? than the Tiger version of iChat. And it lets you use video effects in your video chats :-) A new version of Mail is again, even faster and more optimized, and also contains an RSS client. Its about time, RSS feeds should be in your mail program, it makes no logical sense at all putting a feed reader in your web browser.
- New Finder: Leopard has a new Finder. New menu bar, new dock, new desktop etc. It too will definitely take a bit of getting used to. But once you do, it's really great. The dock has an interesting new look. But more importantly, it has new things called Stacks, that let you instantly see the contents of a folder. Not by showing you a traditional popup menu, but by actually shooting the contents all over your screen, then just as quickly, whisking them away. All image files in Leopard, have their icon set to a thumbnail of the image. So you can actually SEE what your files are. And if thats not enough, you can use Quicklook to view instant slideshows of files in a folder. The Finder is also, you guessed it, so much faster!
- Spotlight: When Steve Jobs first demonstrated a Spotlight search back when Tiger came out, everyone thought it was the coolest thing ever. Then when we upgraded our computers, we all wondered why our Spotlight was so slow, and we had to wait for it, while Steve's spotlight was blazingly fast. Now, in Leopard, Spotlight is super fast FOR REAL. No joke this time, it will blow you away. It truly is instant, which makes it significantly more useable.
Downsides
There are a few downsides as with anything new. But Apple has a track record of updating its software frequently, and so any minor issues should be sorted out soon. As I mentioned above, Time Machine is great, but it can only do one backup. And it's kind of odd when you backup over a network. The new Finder is great, but it has this issue. On my Mac Pro anyway, the Finder will stop seeing my keyboard. So I am unable to type anything or use any keyboard shortcuts in the Finder. Its easy to fix, just Control Option click on the FInder in the Dock and relaunch it. But still, it would be nice to get that fixed. Leopard is not yet compatible with SoftRAID Stripe volumes. They thought it was, but I found out the hard way that it is not. For this reason, the upgrade to Leopard on my Mac Pro was a little problematic until I figured out what was going on. I have since stopped using SoftRAID for the time being, and everything is great. So again this is only going to effect you if you are running SoftRAID. Another problem I has was that my MacBook was running Mac OS X 10.4 Server. The Leopard installer did not like the idea of trying to import users etc from a Server volume. This one also took some playing around with, but eventually it is also working fine. I have done some regular updates on some 'normal' systems and it has gone flawlessly.
So I'll end with the same conclusion I started with. This software is great. If you have at least 512 MB of RAM and an 867 MHz G4 or faster, you should upgrade your computer as soon as possible.
Plus, as a bonus, Leopard is only $109 on Amazon!
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Safari Memory Leaks
Apple
Oh what I would give to have a version of Safari that didn't PISS memory all over the place. What is a memory leak? Basically it is when a program doesn't give back memory when its done using it. So as you use the program, it keeps grabbing more memory for all the new things you are doing, but it doesn't "release" the memory it is done with. So it sucks up more and more and more memory until you quit it. Quitting programs does "reset" their memory usage.
Memory leaks won't use "all" of your memory though, because thanks to complex Virtual Memory systems, your computer actually has an unlimited (well, as large as your hard drive is) amount of RAM. So you won't run out, you'll just get unbearably slow.
Anyway. My Mac Pro has 2 GB of RAM. Thats a lot. I had about 10 Safari windows open, plus GoLive, Photoshop, Preview and some others while I was updating my MacFixer Store web page. The more used Safari, the worse it got. 1.94GB by the time I was done, and I wasn't working on it all that long. The pie chart at the bottom shows usage. Basically had no free memory. Hopefully once OS X 10.5 comes out, things will be better. I could also use another 2 GB of RAM I guess.
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Damn I'm Good / iPod Predictions
Apple
Apple's iPod Page
I was so dead on! I got the shuffles right (minus the color change, which I think is really bad anyway, the older colors were much better). I got the nanos right. And I got the iPod 'touch' basically right. I didn't see the iPod classic, but hey I guess the more iPods the better! I don't consider the iPhone nano a miss, it is probably coming in another month or so. Now I really want to buy more iPods. I want a nano for my car and a touch for me and I already have a hot orange shuffle.
Only problem is that it seems the iPod touch does not have an email client. That kind of sucks. I want to be able to surf the web, email, and iChat with people. Then i'll be complete :-)
I've actually been thinking about buying a Palm Tungsten C lately. It started as a way for me to debug MenuLizard Mobile. But as I looked at it, that kind of palm, with built in keyboard and wifi, could be a lot of fun. Not as the "organizer" its intended to be, but as an "internet communication device".
Yikes more news as I type this. 8GB iPhone drops from $599 to $399! Now I want one of those too!
OK screw then palm pilot.
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John's iPod / iPhone Predictions
Apple
OK. Here are my own personal iPod predictions. There is an Apple Special Event this week, although my predictions may turn out to be a little more long term than that. Anyway, here's the goods:
• iPhone - The current iPhone stays as is for a while to come.
• iPhone Nano - Apple comes out with a cheaper iPhone, missing some functionality. What is missing? I don't know. My best guess is that it has a cell phone and an iPod but not much internet capabilities.
• iPod Shuffle - I love my Orange shuffle! It stays pretty much the same, only greater capacity
• iPod Nano - Capacity doubled, or more. Screen maybe enlarged and given more capabilities. Nano turned into a thinner, smaller version of todays "regular" iPod.
• iPod - The "regular" iPod turns into iPhone without the Phone. It has the nice wide touchscreen, wifi for internet, full web brower, email, all the other good stuff, and of course an iPod.
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Touched an iPhone...
Apple
I went to the Apple Store Burlington today. No wonder my stock is going through the roof, these stores used to have a few people in them, now they are PACKED!
So anyway, I touched my first iPhone. It was pretty cool. But honestly, it wasn't THAT cool. I'd definitely like one, but I wasn't about to whip out the plastic on the spot to buy it. I found it hard to type on, but like they say, you probably get used to it quick. It had lots of other cool features too. But still, I'd much rather just open up my MacBook, vs trying to read my email on such a tiny little screen. Same with surfing the web. Youtube wouldn't work at all. The phones were active though, and I did make calls on it. But I hate talking on the phone anyway, so that didn't exactly blow my mind. I think that once you can use the phone as a bluetooth modem, using the unlimited internet access to allow your MacBook [Pro] to connect to the internet as needed, anywhere, then the phone will probably have even greater appeal. Also, 4GB isn't very much.
I think once Apple has an array of iPhone's, like they now have an array of iPods, they'll really take over the cell phone market. Meanwhile, the Apple Stores are packed, and my stock soars every day. :-)
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I ♥ My New iPod
Apple
So it recently hit me. My old 15 GB iPod I use in my car is fine. I should just keep that, and buy a new iPod Shuffle to use when I'm biking, or any other time I'm not driving and want to listen to music. Its only 1 GB, but thats still like over a days worth of music right? So I'll just AutoFill the damn thing every night. I'll never run out of music and the 1 GB capacity won't be a big deal. So I got my shuffle and it is awesome! I've used it a bunch of times biking, its really great for that. I also used while I was cleaning the boat the other day. It just so small and handy. Plus mine matches my orange bike so well. These things are sweet.
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TV Adapter
Apple
Hey, did you know that with a little $20 adapter, you can plug your MacBook into a TV. It works really neat, not only using Front Row, but any other program that can go fullscreen like VLC. You could, for example, download DVD Rips of Knight Rider as Xvid files and watch them in VLC on your TV. Its cool until you realize that you forgot to quit iChat and someone IMs you in the middle of your movie/show :-)
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More On iPhone
Apple
I found this nice video that details a lot of the extra features of the iPhone. Very informative.
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iPhone
Apple
Apple finally announced the iPhone today. Its a phone, iPod, PDA, camera all in one. It is also just about the coolest thing ever. Which is no surprise coming from Apple lately. It won't ship till june, and its $500 for the 4 GB model and $600 for the 8 GB model. That is WITH a 2 year contract from Cingular. I never liked Cingular, but I guess I will learn to like them. My Verizon contract will be up right around the time this phone starts to ship. Although I probably won't get one until it gets cheaper, and my E815 breaks. Apple should be posting video of their event soon. This phone is seriously cool. Like it makes your iPod look lame.
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Serious Looking Power
Apple
A dual 1.8GHz G5 and a quad 2.66GHz Xeon Mac Pro. It "Looks" like its some serious power. The G5 has 2 GB of ram and it is VERY fast. Its a little slow at video encoding but thats about it. The Mac Pro has 1 GB of RAM and is slow as dirt. Its pretty fast at video encoding, but everything else is dog slow. I hope you liked the beachball from OS X 10.1, because it's back. Turns out, the intel code in a universal binary actually uses more RAM than it's PowerPC counterpart. From my observations, I'd say that intel Mac RAM ÷ 2 = PowerPC Mac RAM. So my MacBook has:
( 512 MB - 64 MB (As Video Mem) ) ÷ 2 = 224 MB
I guess this explains why sometimes the machine runs so slow, the trackpad won't even work. The Mac Pro is a little better. It has 1GB ÷ 2 = 512 MB. You can at least check your mail, surf the web and chat on iChat at the same time. You can't do that on the MacBook without beachballing. Hopefully, RAM prices drop fast. At current prices, I'm looking at about a $1500 RAM upgrade between the two Macs. Oh, and the reason the G5 is in this picture is because the guy that bought it on ebay returned it because he says the front FireWire port doesn't work. What a pain in the ass. To Craigslist we go...
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