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My MacBook Pro: A Practical Hands On Look

Posted Tuesday November 3, 2009 in Employee-Thoughts by Sebastian Massey

After the death of my beloved iBook G4 (she spent two years in Africa with me) and after about a month long mourning period, I purchased one of the 13in MacBook Pros in anticipation of starting grad school. I’ve had the new computer for a couple of months now, and I don’t think I could survive without it. However, rather than just preach to the choir about the glory of Apple, I want to talk about the practical ways some specific innovations have been indispensable.

One of the primary reasons I was attracted to this computer in the first place was the physical size. At 4.5 pounds it’s only a shade heavier than the Air, and not that much larger. And in trade you get back way more power and speed, so I can still play games on-the-go if I want to. Speaking of on-the-go, compared to my old iBook, this computer is a joy to carry with me everywhere. The portability allows me to follow my impulse to the next coffee shop and basically work from anywhere.

But shrinking sizes and boosted specs are nothing new. What really makes it easy to keep working is Apple’s new 7-hour battery. This thing lives up to the boast. In practice, I am able to charge my computer over night and leave the charger at home in the morning. I work on this thing all day at Small Dog, then take it for a study session at a couple of different coffee shops, and finally read web comics in bed before it finally tells me to plug it into power. Not having to remember to carry my adapter with me is, in a word, liberating. And all of that usage was done without ever turning off Wi-Fi or dimming the screen anymore than the computer does automatically (yeah, did I mention it auto adjusts to ambient light? ‘Cause it does!).

The third thing I really love, which has changed the way I think about user input devices, is the glass Multi-Touch trackpad. As an example, in my grad program, I have to read a lot of scanned texts. I like to save paper so I never print these out. Sometimes, however, they are scanned in vertically, so the text is the wrong way around. On my iMac, I have to go through menus to rotate each page. Pain in the butt. On my MacBook Pro however, all I have to do us use the rotate gesture on the trackpad. Nothing has ever felt so natural. Add to that the intuitive zoom and scrolling and it’s like I’m manipulating a physical document. This is truly the interface of the future!

The innovations Apple has packed into these unibody MacBooks and MacBook Pros are amazing and make mobile computing an absolute delight. With the polycarbonate body MacBooks finally getting some of the goods, it really makes it a great time to upgrade an older laptop.

Check out what’s new here.

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Review: Invisible Shield for iPod touch

Posted Tuesday May 26, 2009 in Product-Reviews by Sebastian Massey

There is no doubt that one of the fundamental appeals of Apple’s product is the appearance. There’s a sleekness and beauty to them that’s just sexy. If you’re an Apple fan, there’s no denying that this is one of the many draws. So why cover all that up with a bulky case?

I recently replaced my first generation iPod touch with a shiny new second gen. I figured if I was upgrading to the new hotness (ok, I know it’s not that new anymore). I figured, “why not show it off?” So I ditched my old leather flip case and went with the Invisible Shield from Zagg.

What?! You didn’t think I was crazy enough to leave my awesome, and expensive, iPod touch unprotected did you? Heck no! The Invisible Shield pretty much makes it scratch proof, which is what I worried about with keys and stuff going in the same pockets as my touch. I’d seen it on a couple of our demo iPod and so I knew it was going to do the trick. When you actually see it on a device it’s immediately apparent how strong it is. It also comes with a lifetime guarantee so if it does get damaged, Zagg will replace it. The shield not the iPod. That will still be unharmed.

The other key thing about the Invisible Shield is, you guessed it, it’s invisible! Or at least close enough. No, seriously. I was amazed that after putting it on, the back especially still has all of it’s beautiful shine. From any kind of distance you really can’t tell there’s anything on it. So jealous admirers will be able to get a nice full view of my sexy gadget.

Putting it on is a little bit of a project. Definitely not the sort of thing you just toss on at the checkout counter. The directions are detailed but not as daunting as they look. It’s all just a part of Zagg’s obvious desire to give you a quality product and help ensure you have quality results, something you don’t see a lot of anymore. Also, for the truly intimidated, there’s lots of helpful videos on YouTube of people putting them on. All in all it took me about 10 minutes with a while longer of just gently rubbing the shield into place, though I probably didn’t need to give it that much attention.

So if you really want to be able to continually appreciate the beauty and craftsmanship of your iPhone or iPod and not clunk it up with an overly large case, definitely check out the Invisible Shield by Zagg.

View the InvisibleShield for iPod touch here.
View the InvisibleShield for iPhone 3G here.

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Timbuk2 Commute Messenger Bag Review

Posted Thursday April 30, 2009 in Employee-Thoughts by Sebastian Massey

Don’t forget to play in HQ!

Check out all of our Timbuk2 sleeves, messenger bags, and notebook cases by clicking here!

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Dual Displays! Yeah!

Posted Thursday November 20, 2008 in Product-Info by Sebastian Massey

In my ongoing pursuit of a more awesome computer set up, I recently purchased a mini DVI to DVI adapter for my iMac. It’s a simple adapter that lets me hook my iMac up to just about any second monitor I might have lying around (in this case, a—gasp—Dell 15in from my old, old computer). Why is that exciting, or interesting, or worth writing a review about (unless it doesn’t work)? Because it lets me point out one of the many many features built into Leopard that many people may not even be aware of: Dual display support.

With your Mac, it’s incredibly easy to configure a multiple display setup. As soon as you plug in your second display your computer will detect it and you can then proceed to configure it with all kinds of cool options. When you have two screens and you go to the System Preferences, you will actually get two control panels when you select the display settings option—one on each screen. You can actually choose independent resolutions for each, or even have the two displays mirror each other, displaying the same thing. This option is great if you are presenting using keynote and want to see what the slides that are flashing up behind you are.

Where the Mac really shines is when you use the second display as an extended desktop. In this mode, you have just increased your useable workspace. Windows and files can be moved from one display to the other seamlessly. There are plenty of options for arranging the relative locations of the displays so that your Mac knows if the second display is to the left, right, above, or below the primary screen. You can even select different wallpapers for each display’s desktop. These are all features that I had to download or buy additional software to achieve on my older PCs. But they’re already built in to your Mac with Leopard!

Now, you may be asking, “why would I need a second display?” Here are some things that I do with my new dual display setup:

  • Keep my IM chats all open and together on the secondary screen while I work on the main screen. (Also useful for the compulsive email checker)
  • Watch a movie fullscreen on one monitor while surfing the web on the other. (Or chatting on the other)
  • Referencing a website on the second screen while writing a paper on the main screen.
  • Play World of Warcraft or other games in fullscreen mode and still being able to see chats or view a strategy website with out having to minimize. Never get killed because you were checking your email. (FYI You have to set the settings to windowed full screen for those of you trying to do this. If you do normal fullscreen it will blank out the screen you’re not playing on.)
  • Bigger Dashboard for more widgets!

And my favorite use for a dual screen will get those VMware Fusion or Parallels users excited. I can run Windows full screen on one monitor, and still be working in Mac OS X on the other. Switching between applications in the two operating systems becomes as easy as sliding my mouse off screen.

If you’re like me and have an old display sitting around, then all these options open up for just the $20.99 of a small adapter. Who cares if the monitor is old and weak if you just want to have some extra windows open (my Dell looks awful next to the 24 inches of glory that is my iMac). This is definitely a capability worth taking advantage of. Check it out!

See all adapters here.

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