Earth: Mostly Harmless

Arrival

Well, I got MacBook #3 (at last) two days ago. Seems to be running fine.

In celebration of this fine moment I would like to present to you the best/most terrifying photo ever taken (depending on your generation and disposition)

Continuing MacBook saga

Apple and TNT are complete knobs. Really. They are.

As I posted before, my MacBook went bananas. And I’ve had a hell of a time trying to arrange a replacement. Originally, they agreed to do a straight-out swap, and DOA MacBook #1 (which will henceforth be known as Hiroshima) was promptly returned via the ever-useless TNT:

Apple are going to replace it - they say it’ll take a week but I’m sceptical given that it’s a configure-to-order machine, and the new one will need to be shipped out from China.

Oh capitalism. How you mock me.

So, in the best spirit of tempting fate, more mocking was to come. The one-week shipping time for MacBook #2 turned into an indefinite malaise - I received notification that it had been built and dispatched, but the TNT package tracker showed no movement whatsover after the first two days, as you can see here. TNT aren’t sure (which amazes me), but think it’s still in China. Apple don’t know. TNT are investigating with Apple. Apple are waiting on a response from their investigation with TNT.

A woman at TNT kindly explained to me that there is a time zone difference between China and the U.K., which is why the Chinese warehouse’s investigations had taken so long. I pointed out that while this was perfectly reasonable, the time difference was in fact in the region of eight hours, and not five days. Harumph.

I called Apple this morning, and was ready to either get angry at them or demand a refund. To my surprise I actually got a straight answer: that MacBook #2 is now considered MIA somewhere in Asia. It shall henceforth be known as Colonel Walter E. Kurtz.

The other upshot of that call is the appearance of MacBook #3, which is (hopefully) being frantically assembled at this very moment. I’m also getting a ‘goodwill’ payment for my troubles.

I’ll believe it when I see it.

Stay tuned for updates on the Lazarus MacBook…

Initial thoughts on the MacBook

I received my new MacBook on Friday, so I’ve been swiftly copying everything I can onto it in the hope of moving lock-stock to it from my iMac G5 in the next few days. Some initial thoughts:

It’s built like a tank.

I managed to drop it this morning but despite a nasty deflection off a wooden desk it survived unscathed (the desk came off worse somehow - a big slice taken out of it).

The AirPort connection is erratic

This could be none of the MacBook’s fault, since my AirPort Express is very flaky, but it does tend to drop connections quite a lot. I haven’t had enough time yet to evaluate it on the office or university WiFi to verify this though.

The power system is extremely well designed

The battery itself is really very capacious - and the MagSafe adaptor is a decided improvement on the old Apple adaptor. Power management is also very good - including the very cool safe sleep (watch video demo) function.

The screen is a fingerprint magnet

I should also say that it looks fantastic in all conditions despite this - but I’m definitely going to have to get a proper cleaning cloth…

The iSight is streets ahead of the FireWire version

Perhaps because it’s so small - but having it built-in is so much more natural during conference use than an external camera. The resolution also seems better, though it’s probably just the same in fact.

It gets hot

Really quite hot! Not enough to burn you, but certainly a little uncomfortable for long periods on your lap. The obvious solution is to put it on a desk, but clearly this isn’t always possible. This isn’t really a design fault - I’d rather have a hot but quiet notebook than the noise of a small aircraft engine taking off every time I run something demanding. Interestingly, the battery doesn’t heat up at all, unlike our 12″ PowerBook G4.

It’s fast

Really very fast! Rosetta apps (ones written for PowerPC chips and so which run in a transparent emulation layer) aren’t noticeably slower, though I’ve been sticking to Universal Binaries wherever possible out of consistency.

The graphics chip could be better

It relies on Intel’s integrated graphics system, and so doesn’t have a dedicated graphics chip in the normal sense of the word. This is a bit of a shame, as my quick high definition video tests show. Playing 1080p24 clips from Apple’s HD movie trailers site (an activity which pushes my iMac G5 2Ghz over the edge) hardly even taxes the processor cores (about 20% CPU usage on each). But actually displaying twenty-four frames of 1920×1080 seems to cause the graphics system a bit of a problem. QuickTime Player reports that the full frame rate is being attained, but there’s a noticeable flicker. This could be a player/codec issue, so I’ll persist and see what I can find out.

However, 720p24 plays great. EyeTV footage looks fantastic in progressive scan mode too.

Overall, I’m really happy with the machine. I think it’s one of the best-value machines that Apple have ever made, and it will serve me well.