I work for Red Hat, where I lead JBoss technical direction and research/development. Prior to this I was SOA Technical Development Manager and Director of Standards. I was Chief Architect and co-founder at Arjuna Technologies, an HP spin-off (where I was a Distinguished Engineer). I've been working in the area of reliable distributed systems since the mid-80's. My PhD was on fault-tolerant distributed systems, replication and transactions. I'm also a Professor at Newcastle University and Lyon.
Friday, October 17, 2008
New Macs
I've been a Mac user for a few years (keep promising myself that I'll return to Linux one day), so I was looking forward to the announcement of new Macs. But I obviously missed something because I'm not really impressed with what I've seen. No button on the track-pad? No 1900x1200 resolution? Slightly improved performance. But gone is the metal screen surround, to be replaced by black plastic?! I'm not sure what I expected from Apple, but it wasn't this. Plus, maybe the thing will look better when viewed up close rather than through a web page. If the new design does get around the erosion problem then it'll be worth an upgrade eventually.
You should learn at least something about hardware before you critique it:
ReplyDelete"No button on the track-pad?"
The entire trackpad is the button, so you can click wherever you finger is. Also, it's a multi-touch trackpad, allowing you to do things that normally require keyboard & mouse clicks.
"No 1900x1200 resolution?"
This resolution on a 13" screen (even on a 15" screen) is totally unusable… unless you use a magnifying glass.
"Slightly improved performance."
If up to 5x the graphic performance of the previous MacBook is "slightly", I'd be interested in finding out what multiplier (10x, 20x ?)you would consider to be good.
"But gone is the metal screen surround, to be replaced by black plastic?!"
The screen is encased in aluminum and glass. There is no black plastic!
Thanks for your informative comment. I know quite a bit about hardware (design and development), so do your research before critiquing too ;-)
ReplyDeleteNothing you mention in your comment dissuades me from my PERSONAL SUBJECTIVE opinion: I'd prefer a click button (call me old fashioned); I can certainly work with 1900x1200 without a magnifying glass (looks like you're jumping into the subjective arena too); graphic performance for what I do isn't critical, but processor performance is; it looks like black plastic to me.
And like I said in the post, my opinion may differ when/if I ever see one of these things in person. But for now, I'll stick with my "old" MacBook Pro.
Mark, you should wait until you see/feel them. I have a MacBook Pro as my main machine and these things are nice and solid -- my only complaint with my MBP is after surgery (new logic board) it got a little less solid. With the new case design it doesn't look like that would be the case with these Macs...
ReplyDelete"I'd prefer a click button (call me old fashioned)"
ReplyDeleteIt does have a click button, the entire track pad is the click button. But if you were looking for something smaller... OK... you're old fashioned.
"I can certainly work with 1900x1200 without a magnifying glass"
Yes, so can I… on a screen larger than 20". But have you actually ever seen or used a 13" screen at 1900x1200? I haven't seen a screen that small at that resolution, but at that size 8pt. text will look smaller than 4pt. (unreadable).
"graphic performance for what I do isn't critical, but processor performance is"
As you probably know, when you offload graphic processing to a fast GPU, your CPU does gain performance. Once the new MacBooks are benchmarked, the speed increase will become apparent.
"it looks like black plastic to me."
What it looks like to you, and what it really is, are two different things. The information about the new MacBooks is readily available on Apple's Web site and in bona fide reviews, for anyone who takes the time to read it.
"And like I said in the post, my opinion may differ when/if I ever see one of these things in person"
This is not a matter of opinion… it's a matter of getting the facts before you critique anything.
"OK... you're old fashioned."
ReplyDeleteThanks. I feel so much better knowing that now.
"I haven't seen a screen that small at that resolution, but at that size 8pt. text will look smaller than 4pt. (unreadable)."
I wasn't considering a 13" screen. Where in my post did I even mention that? What's that you've been saying about "getting your facts right"?
"Once the new MacBooks are benchmarked, the speed increase will become apparent."
Sure, but putting some quad-core processor(s) in there instead would have been a much more impressive move by Apple IMO. I suppose what I was looking for was a big statement, whereas IMO what we got was a whimper.
"What it looks like to you, and what it really is, are two different things."
Well I shall certainly stand corrected if I ever get to see one up close. That's one of the nice things about being open minded and accepting ones limitations and mistakes.
"The information about the new MacBooks is readily available on Apple's Web site and in bona fide reviews, for anyone who takes the time to read it."
I did read it, but until I actually get my hands on one it doesn't shake my opinions.
"This is not a matter of opinion… it's a matter of getting the facts before you critique anything."
This is getting you nowhere. It's all about opinions! All reviews carry some level of subjectivity in one way or another, whether they are for laptops, cars, or food. As with other things, I'm more inclined to believe a friend's opinions than someone I've never met or a review by someone I've never heard of.
Hi Graeme. Maybe, but I kind of like my all-over-silver Pro. It was good on the PowerBook too. Apart from the pitting issue, I've never had any problems with either the PowerBook or MacBook Pro. Maybe if I see one of these news ones I'll get the wow-factor, but at the moment it's not there for me.
ReplyDeleteGraeme, ignoring the styling aspect of things (which is highly subjective, a bit like vinyl versus digital ;-) I think after reading about http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/08/13/dell_preps_quad_core_mobile/ I was hoping for something equivalent from Apple, at least in terms of compute power. (I don't like the styling of the Dell.)
ReplyDelete"I wasn't considering a 13" screen. Where in my post did I even mention that? What's that you've been saying about "getting your facts right"?"
ReplyDeleteSome facts for you:
- In your blog you wrote "I was looking forward to the announcement of new Macs".
- The two new Macs that Apple introduced have either a 13" or 15" screen.
- You never said that you weren't talking about the 13", NOR did you say that you were talking specifically about the 15" either.
- It's a logical conclusion that you were talking about BOTH new notebooks.
- Responding to this fact, I wrote "This resolution on a 13" screen (even on a 15" screen) is totally unusable"
So, maybe in your mind you were excising the 13" from the discussion, but in fact your text does not.
BTW, MacWorld has benchmarked the new MacBooks using Speedmark 5, which gives general CPU results, NOT dependent on the two new fast GPUs. The 2.1GHz white MacBook has a Speedmark of 181. The 2.0GHz Aluminum MacBook (with a "slower" processor) has a Speedmark of 195. That's a very respectable 8% speed increase.
Much as I like this discussion with you "viewroyal", as I said before it's not getting us anywhere. And it could go on and on: I could respond with one your attempted use of logic, for example and I'm sure you'd argue. Let's just draw a line under this and move on. My "personal opinions" remain my "personal opinions", and your "facts" remain your "facts".
ReplyDeleteOh, and next time "viewroyal" you might try not making this personal, which your opening statement did "You should learn at least something about hardware before you critique it". You'll find me much more amenable to open discussion when you stick to "just the facts".
ReplyDelete