Big Bird

So, how was your Thanksgiving? I hope you had a good time with your friends and family.

Well, I’d like to give my first impression on my new iBook. It’s a 12-inch, 1.33 MHz one (2005 model). I didn’t change any of original configurations, although I’m thinking about adding more memory. I got a very good deal (refurbished) from Apple store.

I had 500MHz iBook briefly in the past, so, I’d like to compare features with that model. First, improvement in speed is good. (Well, you cannot compare 1.33 GHz with 500Mhz…) I guess it probably due OSX, but some of applications act little slower than my expectation, but come to think of it, many of Linux application do that too…

Other part of OSX Tiger is OK. New two-finger navigation is very convenient. I wish we could have more control in detailed part, though. For example, Aqua interface is good, but if I can change it to something else, I don’t mind trying other color scheme or different position of buttons. Many of Linux distribution comes with various interface, so, it shouldn’t be so difficult. (I guess I can find some patches somewhere…)

The screen is also good. It’s not as crisp as high-end laptops, but iBook isn’t a high-end laptop. I don’t like shiny displays they used for current Windows laptops, thus the anti-glare screen is good. If 14-inch model has a higher-resolution, I might have gone that way, but since both are the same resolution, I took portability.

The keyboard is also good. I think it’s better than 500 MHz model’s. It’s not as fancy compared to transparent one, but I prefer having firm key-touch than transparent keys.

The whole body is less solid than what I expected. For instance, my iBook’s bottom is not flat. It seems like they added little more clearance between the keyboard and screen; so, I guess I don’t need to worry about scratching the screen with keyboard (a common problem in Apple’s laptop).

The heat coming out from the CPU is pretty high. Your left palm is considerably warm than your right, and you hear the fun going often. But iBook is not the only laptop with the problem. My ThinkPad does the same. And the noise from the fun is not loud.

Overall, I’m pretty happy with my iBook. It has good speed, a decent display, two wireless options, and a good keyboard. Oh, by the way, it took only 15 min to connect Internet from the time I open the box, and going through all the setups. (I’m telling this because Apple used to advertise iMac saying you could connect to the Internet in 15 min or so)

Well, that’s about it for today.
Cheers.

Tip of the day: try minimizing (or maximizing) with your shift key hold down ;)

Winter breeze

Well, I haven't really written much in this blog, mainly because I'm writing the other one in Japanese. Often time, my eyes get so tired after I upload the other one and I don't want to write any more.

I've noticed that this page is bit dull, so, I will start writing texts in here too. (I will continue posting my paints whether you like them or not ;) But instead of translating the material from my Japanese blog, I will focus on Apple Macintosh and other computing topic.

I used to be a big Mac user. My first big exposure to Mac was Mac plus and My first Mac was Mac Color Classic, and I upgraded rather faithfully until around introduction of the first iMac. But due to various reasons, I start using Windows in recent years and didn't really own a Mac.

Recently, I acquired an iBook and decided to learn more about Mac OSX. So, I will write about my struggles on the process of re-learning the Mac OS.

By the way, where is 'delete' key on this thing? This 'delete' key is actually a 'backspace' key... (I know, Function + delete, right?)

Shark attack!