You are not logged in. (Getting a New MacBook
Walk into my room at the moment and you will find a few new bits’n'pieces: a heater that makes beeping sound not unlike a microwave (appropriate since it will happily cook the room quite quickly), strewn-about bits of paper detailing exactly how direct effect in the EU works (or doesn’t), but most crucially, a shiny new MacBook, dusted to within an inch of its life.
Opening a box containing a MacBook is an experience in itself - the polystyrene has “MacBook” neatly etched into it. Starting the MacBook up is the usual shiny video. Not unexpected after the Windows XP reinstalls I’d done, but a bit prettier. Then Apple succeeded in scaring the hell out of me by suggesting a picture of er… me as the account photo. All the MacBook had done was switch on the iSight camera, but it was a neat showy trick.
Our wireless network was detected before I’d launched any apps, which was helpful.
Lots of time fiddling with settings (and there are a lot of ways to customise), and I had mostly set-up. This wasn’t without hiccups. Most things installed flawlessly, but I made an error trying to install a server having never used a Mac terminal before. XAMPP to the rescue though.
There were also problems with my iPod. Having transferred all my music over (very easy - after converting the library.xml file to Mac format it automatically loaded everything in iTunes), I formatted my iPod to Macintosh, and loaded all my music on again. Disconnect, reconnect, error -48. Restore, disconnect, reconnect, sync successfully, disconnect, reconnect, error -48. Reading around a bit I found a fix involving changing the time zone, so it’s all fine now. Better than the virus I got on my laptop after 15 minutes.
Everything else though, works flawlessly. Bluetooth syncs my phone, my iPod syncs with iCal which syncs with OmniFocus which on its own is the best todo manager around, Mail works with GMail IMAP, iPhoto works with RAW files, Quicksilver is just a software god, FuzzyClock is not just innovative but incredibly easy to read and now my preferred clock, Coda is a web coding experience, Expose is something I’m not sure how I lived without, NeoOffice actually works unlike its sister OpenOffice… heck even Preview has built-in highlighting of PDF files.
It’s the little things too. When I put a DVD in, no waiting for Cyberlink DVD to load and then getting past the hideous GUI to go fullscreen. It just plays fullscreen. And I know some people don’t want that (there’s a setting to turn it off), but actually, I want to just enjoy a film without being interrupted by Adium.
Installing my Epson Printer went something like this.
- Plug printer into MacBook
- Turn printer on
- Wait for sound/notification
- Wait some more and feel a bit thick when nothing happens
- Check settings to tell MacBook that there’s an Epson
- MacBook: “Yeah, I already know. It’s ready as if you’d installed it last year, and yes, that icon does look exactly like your Epson Photo R220 because I have an icon for every brand and model of printer”.
I used to hate Mac. I argued heavily against using them, even though I disliked Microsoft. I was also told “once you go Mac, you never go back”. Unless something drastic happens, Satan will be looking for his scarf, wooly hat and mittens the day I go back to Windows.
Yep, I’m a fanboy now. And the best bit is I don’t care, because this MacBook is so easy to use, I’m just having too much fun.
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