another sam chan: the student blogger

Those who know me know that I have been a fan of Apple for a while now, and although I’m not of fanboy status, I’m usually pretty pro-mac and am proud to be a Mac user. However, Apple has been doing something that has continually irked me for a while now, and it is that Apple gives the perception that they hold back. Allow me to explain with some examples:

Apple Macbook Unibody (October 2008): This was majorly hyped and people were looking forward to having a powerhouse compact laptop (The Powerbook G4 had been gone for too long by then). However, with the exclusion of firewire and the SD card slot, it was not the ‘perfect’ laptop to date for media producers looking for somethign on the run. Both of those technologies were already old at the time, meaning Apple chose not to put them in. 6 months later, lo and behold, they rename it the Macbook Pro and have both those things. The argument that they went with a market reaction is ridiculous because even a dumb student like me could see how it would be beneficial to have those two inputs.

Apple iPhone 3G (June 2008): This was hoped to be a major revision from the original iPhone, which had terrific potential but lacked mainstream smartphone options such as 3G, Video, and Copy and Paste (are they serious?). Yet, they only hit 1 out of the 3 things. Qik had already proven video to be possible on the original iPhone via Jailbreak, and copy and paste had been on other fruit-named smartphones for almost a decade. So why the hold up? Again, Apple was definitely capable, but they chose not to add those features until the 3GS hit a year later, attempting to astound us with ‘brand new’ features. Not cool, Apple.

Apple iPod Photo (October 2004): My memory is a bit hazy here so I may be reaching a bit, but I’m pretty sure people liked to watch videos back then, and I’m pretty sure Archos was already kicking ass with portable video technology. So why the heck did it take not one, but two more revisions before the iPod Video ‘blew’ us all away? Ugh.

Which brings us to the i (already-an-old-joke-with-its-stupid-name) Pad. Unlike others, I do think it’s going to be a big deal over time. After all, creating a new market is not an overnight task. But why, oh why are they holding back once again? I can understand that they don’t have multi-tasking support or flash – it hasn’t been done on the iPhone yet and perhaps there are technological hiccups. I can understand why they chose to go with a 4:3 screen instead of the much more popular 16:9 widescreen – to make it easier for iPhone developers to port their apps over. I can even understand the dumb name – for every Wii that is sold gives Apple more reason for iPads to exist. But what I don’t understand is the lack of camera and built-in USB or SD slots. The technology has clearly been proven with the iPhone (camera) and Macbook Air (pop-down USB slot to keep it thin) so what in the heck are they waiting for?

My only explanation is that it’s a business decision and by leaving those features out, they can grab the fanboys and early adopters, while getting them to crave for a new one again along with the consumers who will purchase it for function in the next revision. I’m not a betting man but would you really want to bet against me if I said that the iPad Video or iPad Snap would be announced 10 months from now? It’s a bit disturbing to me as a technology enthusiast – the idea of companies holding back the latest and the greatest to get more sales, but I can’t explain it any other way. I would love to be wrong about this and if you are a computer or tech guru of some sort, I am begging you to shut me up with some specs on why a camera just isn’t do-able right now. Am I so naive as to think Apple are the only ones doing it? No. But please don’t make it so damn obvious! This is why even though I love Apple products, I will never truly be a fan boy.

Do you think that Apple has gone too far with these blatant omissions? What do you think the reason is? And the four hundred and ninety nine dollar question: will you still be getting one in three months?

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As many of you have probably already noticed, I’m a big fan of both Apple and Google and often wish they synced better with each other. iCal has always been a great proprietary program for the Apple’s OSX, especially for a disorganized student like me. However, due to its lack of a sync with Google Calendar, I have never bothered to use it. As for Google Calendar, while its ability to share and send to anybody and any computer is wonderful, it lacks some very simple tools which would have made it much more convenient. You could even say the lack of collaboration has resulted in all the late papers I’ve had the last four years.

Well, I should be late no more (or have one less excuse), because Google has finally put up a syncing program called Calaboration. In my opinion, this is even more exciting than the Gmail themes. There have been third party paid apps such as Spanning Sync in the past, but this one is directly from Google and free to use. It’s as easy as it gets, just follow the link, open up the zip file, sign in with your Google account, and sync away. If you’re not a gmail user or don’t own a mac (gasp), you could try Remember the Milk, which is a great time management site that is completely online. For small tasks, I recommend a small program called MiniTask. MiniTask requires Adobe Air, but it’s a neat little checklist that could give you some extra satisfaction out of finishing your papers or projects. Speaking of projects, time to book it. Good luck for everybody on their exams, papers, and finger paint projects.

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I decided to pick up (perhaps mortgage would be a better word) a Apple Macbook last week at Future Shop. I went for the lower aluminum model, with 2.0ghz core 2 dual and a 160gb hard drive. In some ways it was a tough choice over the more powerful 2.4ghz Macbook, which would have been an obvious replacement for my 12″ Powerbook G4. What it essentially came down to…

- Cost
- 2.4ghz wasn’t worth the extra 400 dollars I would have had to add on
- I’ve been typing QWERTY since All the Right Type, I think I can do without the backlit light
- I have my data backed up on a 500gb external hard drive so the extra space is meaningless.

With that, I went the economical (although going mac never really is economical. Asus would be economical) route and am glad of it. Some pictures of the unboxing:

The Macbook Box beside the Powerbook Box

There it is!

Not quite as thin as the Curve

Comparing the Powerbook 12″ and the Macbook 13″ side by side. Check out the glare

A video of it’s first startup

The rest of the pictures can be found on my flickr

Some initial thoughts:
- The new glass trackpad is cool, not ‘throw my mouse away’ cool though. Three Finger Swipe is nice on Adium
- The glossy glare can be annoying, but I’ve been using a NEC 17″ glossy LCD for years, so I’m used to it. What is annoying though is how noticeable fingerprints and dust are on the screen.
- Lack of firewire is a non-issue. USB 2.0 is fast.
- The keyboard has a strange give to it, with the space bar having a minor squeak and loud clicking noise.
- The brightness is unbelievable, especially in comparison to my old Powerbook.
- 1080p video produces a little lag, but 720p works perfectly.

As briefly mentioned in my previous post, this is going to be my only machine from now on. So far, it has not disappointed, with no signs of any lag anywhere except for when running video on 1080p, which shouldn’t be run on a 13″ screen anyways. Setup, with wifi, audio, video, and Chess running at full throttle took 10 minutes. Sam was pleased.

ps – I don’t usually talk in 3rd person, but I was that pleased.

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