ACDSee for Mac Coming True?!

Can it be? People over at ACDSee actually listened?

I checked a while ago, and nothing more had happened except for a lackluster response to my original post. But lo and behold, in addition to finding one other person on this planet who agrees with me, a moderator posted and showed me this page! It looks like ACDSee is working on a version for Mac!

First Picasa, now ACDSee! It is like a dream come true...

New MacBook!

This is the post I have been putting off for a while now. The post about the purchase of a new MacBook that occurred a few weeks ago. I have not had the time to write on it. But, as I have been productive tonight, I write on it now.

The new MacBook was purchased in all its two-tone glory. I love the backlit keyboard that is now standard and the edge-to-edge glass screen. The gloss really is not that bad, and I think the ease of cleaning way overcomes any downside that presents.

Along with the new MacBook was purchased Parallels 4. However, just a couple weeks ago, VMWare was running a "CyberMonday" (how I hate the term) special on Fusion; it was marked down about $40USD. Because of the deal, I also purchased Fusion and have tried it out somewhat; I hooked it up to my Boot Camp partition on the MacPro and it worked as well as Parallels I would say, but still did not run games well...

At any rate, another Mac has been added to the family. Another hit from Apple.

Best Firefox Plugin!

I recently discovered AdBlock Plus Firefox plugin (found here). I rate this as the most useful plugin I have ever used in Firefox. I don't see ads on my pages anymore. Whenever there is something annoying or offensive, I can remove it permanantly. It improves your load speeds because you are not loading flash ads or other unnecessary images. I do not see advertisments when I browse the web anymore because I have blocked all of the major suppliers. It is truely wonderful. I cannot reccommend it enough.

Picasa for Mac?

I recently read at Ars Technica and Apple Insider (and tried to post at Slashdot) that Google looks like it may release Picasa for Mac! Possibly quite soon! I say it is about time we got a decent iPhoto alternative... But I've ranted enough about that in previous posts.

Hope* is on the horizon!

*Curse the American politician for destroying that word in my daily usage. Chope...

Locking Your System

Macintosh has no obvious solution to the problem of wanting to lock your system. Macworld had a neat article discussing the topic here, but I did not really find any of their suggestions particularly helpful or useful. However, the one that I now use and found most practical and helpful was from the comments.

If you activate Fast User Switching, you can bring up the login window without closing any applications or documents. To activate it, go to System Preferences -> Accounts and then to Login Options at the bottom of the left pane. Check the "Enable fast user switching" box and you are set to go! The Accounts icon will appear at your top menu bar (or user name, depending on the setting you choose). You can move it around to your liking as explained here.

Just click on that icon (or text) and choose "Login Window" and (assuming the account has a password assigned) your system is locked!

Customising Mac's Menu Bar

A simple trick I wish I had learned earlier: Command + Click any of the little menulets and you can drag them around and even drag them right off!

However, some of them seem to resist being put back through any settings tabs. But, if you navigate to your main hard disk (Usually "Macintosh HD"), System -> Library -> Core Services -> Menu Extras, you can double click on those and add them back. A neat little hack. There are many more developments that need to be blogged about, but I am indolent.

Thoughts on Apple's Market Share

Thanks to David Pogue's latest post that got me thinking about this. I actually believe it is a thought I got from him originally (Via Mackorisnik), but I thought I would expound a bit on my feelings toward this subject.

I am happy with Apple having a small market share. Sure, you don't get all of the products you'd like due to lack of demand (à la ADCSee), but along that same line of reasoning you don't get viruses, trojans, or spyware.

Steve Jobs never set out to make Apple a major computer dealer along the lines of Dell, he set out to make something beautiful. Owning an Apple (in my opinion) should be like owning a BMW: you get what you pay for, and it is something unique and beautiful.

The proliferation of iPods is really what started it all, and now the proliferation of Mac Notebooks (especially among university students) may be starting a future trend. I just hope I don't have to switch to Linux to avoid the hassle of viruses.

Apple's New Laptops

Well, yesterday afternoon I watched Steve Jobs give his keynote (online, not in person). I was audience to the revealing of the new hardware. New MacBook, new MacBook Pro (in the 15-inch variety, though I just read an Apple Insider article that says the new 17-inchers are due in a few months), new cinema display, and updated MacBook Air and MacBook Pro 17-inch have been introduced. I though I'd add my voice to the cacophany already out there.

The new cases I'm sure will grow on me, but they are a bit jarring at first. I kind of dislike that there is minimal difference between the new MacBooks and MacBook Pros (deprives you the pleasure of smugness). Another feature that will certainly make the cases grow on me is the strength and lightness of them.

Faster processers is good. Better graphics is good. Can't argue with those. The new connectors give me pause, though. I will have to see how standard these get, but the idea of being charged more to buy adapters to make them work with current technology irks me.

My favourite new feature: the solid state drives! You will remember from my MacBook Air post

The glossy screens I remain neutral upon. If they are truly glass, then I would be pleased (truly meaning that they can be cleaned like glass making for easy screen cleaning without damaging the delicate little pixels).

Backlit keyboards are always a plus, but from what (limited) experience I've had typing on the MacBooks and MacBook Airs it takes some getting used to until you can type rapidly on the widely-spaced keys.

All in all, new hardware updates from Apple are (most) always a cause for joy, and I look forward to playing with (and possibly purchasing) Apple's latest hardware.

that I was hoping for these to be introduced. I am pleasantly surprised that they made it into the next update of notebooks! And increased size too!

Google Household

Introducing the latest Google product: Google Household™!
With this new product, Google can index your entire home, car, place of work, even a second home or boat and store what is in there on their servers.
With this handy search option (available at household.google.com) you will never lose anything again. Simply navigate to the page, type in your search, and Google Household™ will bring up a picture of the last place you left whatever item it is you are missing!

I managed to snag a screenshot of the search page


I also got a screenshot of an actual search (in my own home)


Please Note:
This product is still in beta testing and has not received official support. Also, due to high demand, the server hosting the Google Household™ page is often down and thus the search feature is unavailable.

iTunes Alternatives (and Ranting)

I would like to start off with this: I dislike iTunes to an extreme.

To be fair, I access most all of my media off of a network storage, and it has irked me to no end that Macintosh is most certainly geared toward using your local drive exclusively. I am rapidly beginning to believe that Macintosh in general is not very good regarding accessing networked storage of any sort. The second option is that the home network is slowing, which I believe to also be true, and that iTunes is far too bloated.

I try running Winamp via Parallels and it works like a charm. Quick and easy. I reached the point where I have decided to switch back to Winamp, until I realised that I had already reformatted my iPod into HFS+ and would have to reformat into FAT or FAT32 to use it with Winamp again. About that time iTunes decided to work one more, so I was placated. For the time being...

My main quarrel with iTunes is not the fact that it is slow to change information and begin playback and to transfer anything, I can accept that as the consequence of network storage, my main issue is that 3/4 of the time, when I click and drag to add a song to my iPod, it simply does nothing. It won't drag the song. Updates haven't fixed it, and it seems to be random. I can find no pattern.

As such, I decided to try out some different music players/organisers. Here are the results:

Songbird - I didn't play with this one long; it disqualified itself quickly. It locked up almost immediately and has all the old downsides of iTunes and then some. The internet features are just adding more bloatedness to it. It took a slightly shorter amount of time to add music from the storage, but still, its playback was severely lacking, choppy, and just terrible.

YamiPod - This is a handy little utility for on-the-go listening to your iPod, but not really practical for much. It is a standalone application that you could just load on your iPod, but it lacks the ability to add music to your iPod (as far as I explored). It is handy as far as changing metadata on songs on another computer.

All in all, I miss Winamp.

Links:
Songbird
YamiPod

ACDSee for Mac Thread

For all 0 people that read this blog, and share my wish for an ACDSee for Mac, I have started this thread on ACDSee's forums asking for one. Who knows? If enough people bug them long enough, maybe we can get our wish...

More Photo Organisers...

After a recent trip, I am again faced with the task of organising, viewing, and showing the pictures accumulated. For the organisation during the trip, I just used ACDSee via BootCamp and/or Parallels. But that's no good. I want to be finished with Windows! (Though I still have the issue of Winamp being superior to iTunes, but I have accepted that, at least for the time being...)

I have already expressed my displeasure with iPhoto. I like the slideshows (because of the automatic Ken Burns Effect), and it does look pretty, but I absolutely hate the way it tries to organise everything for you, and everything must be imported. I keep most all data on the network attached storage, and I have definitely gotten fed up with the way most Macintosh software wants everything to be on your local drive. It is faster, but that's not as secure and lacks central organisation.

The problem with Apple's products (Aperture and iPhoto) is that they all want to bring all your pictures onto your local drive, and at the very least create large database files on your local drive. This is so that they perform their pretty functions quickly, but ACDSee can somehow manage to access everything on a network drive with comparatively stunning speed.

The problem with basically every other programme is just that. They are far too slow to be useful. I have tested several more programmes and will relate my experiences.

1. FFView - The website said it was meant for viewing comics, but I could never get it to view anything! It also had an odd voice command module that comes up when you start it and of which you cannot rid yourself.

2. Graphic Converter - It looked so promising! It had a very similar layout to ACDSee, and looked liked it would be wonderful! It worked pretty well on the local drive, but every time that I try to browse a network drive with it, or open a picture from a network drive, it freezes and you have to Force Quit the programme to terminate it.

3. iView Media Pro - I saw many favourable reviews of this product in forums, but all were concerned with the product prior to it's aquisition by Microsoft. When I downloaded it and began to ran it, it appeared to be indexing everything you view! Unacceptable!

4. JView - This one is just lacking. It doesn't have a browser feature (it will only display individual pictures, i.e. a replacement for Preview) and it is very slow to access the pictures off the network drive.

5. Photo Mechanic - Another programme that looked promising, but disappointed. It has the browser feature, but doesn't appear to have any editing features. It also was just too slow. Plain and simple.

6. Picture Arena - I have already spoken briefly on this one, and I must say, I think it is the best of all the others I have tried. It has the browser, but it does lack editing. However, at this point I would almost be willing to accept this lack of feature, but it is still too slow. I believe it is faster than the other programmes (for the most part), but still quite a bit slower than ACDSee.

7. QPict - Another indexer. It tries to imitate iPhoto, which I certainly don't like.

8. Xee - I think this may be the fastest viewer I tried, but it is still slow! It also has no browsing feature; it is just for viewing. Another Preview alternative.

Just for the heck of it, I will throw in...

9. Preview - No browsing feature, and it loads pictures far too slowly.

10. Gimp - An editing programme, not a browser or viewer. It also irks me that it must run through X11 and you have to manually start X11 before you can start Gimp.

11. Aperture - Again with the databasing, it is also pricey.

To be fair, most of the pictures I am trying to view are rather large, from a Nikon D200 or D300, but even the pictures from smaller cameras like the Sony P10 or P200 load just as slowly in the programmes. The moral of this experience is, ACD Systems, please, please, PLEASE make a Mac version of ACDSee! You did once before (though I heard mixed reviews of it), give it another go. The Macintosh community is growing. The time has come.

Quick Note: I feel I should mention that I am running ACDSee 7.0. I have not tried the newer versions. However, I have seen some grumbling in the forums about ACDSee becoming more bloated in recent versions, but I cannot personally attest to this.

Jumping Steve iTunes Visualiser!

A link from the Joy of Tech. A Jumping Steve Jobs iTunes visualiser! Disturbing on a level that the torso and head do not move, but amusing nonetheless.

Jumping Steve

The Joy of Tech

Thanks to David Pogue post mentioning it, I have discovered the Joy of Tech. Many many hilarious comics, and supportive of Apple and cats! Does it get better?

The Joy of Tech!

Disabling Finder Indexing (Sort Of...)

Still on my quest to find out how to disable Finder/Spotlight indexing, I have found a solution of sorts. My ultimate goal is to prevent finder indexing any external drives by default, but this is a partial solution that will at least prevent any further indexing of a specific drive. Unfortunately, you will still have to go and delete the indexing that occurs when you first plug it in.

So, the solution?

Launch Terminal.app and use the command

sudo mdutil -i off /Volumes/

You have to do that for each drive in turn, but at least you should only have to do it once.

You can check the status of the drive by running the command

sudo mdutil -s /Volumes/

It should give the status as "Indexing disabled."

Note: You will probably have to eject and (when applicable) shut off the external drive and reconnect it to have the status accurately displayed.

Photo Organisers for Mac

I have been trying to find a replacement for ACDSee for Macintosh. I hate iPhoto because it lacks any useful editing tools and it forces you to import all of your pictures into your iPhoto library on your local drive and tries to organise them for you. I like ACDSee because it functions as a photo viewer as much as it does an organiser.

Thus began the quest. Quite a while ago I checked to be sure that there wasn't already an ACDSee for Mac, and there wasn't. They made one a long time ago, back in 2000 I believe, but I 1) can't find a place to obtain it, and 2) don't want something that old that probably lacks the features and stability that I like in ACDSee.

I got the demo version of Aperture 2.0, but it still rubs me the wrong way. It still won't function as a photo viewer, only an organiser. Although it allows you to leave the photos in their current location, it still forces you to create an Aperture Library on your local drive that gets fairly large very fast. This is not helpful on a laptop.

Another product I have demoed is Picture Arena. This is a nice programme that I liked. It is an excellent Macintosh version of ACDSee's viewing and organising features, but it lacks any editing tools. You could use Photoshop for any editing, but the you have two programmes doing the job of one, and since I would have to boot into Parallels to do that anyway, it isn't really worth it. Thus it also falls short.

There are a few other programmes out there I have yet to try; the next one up is Photo Mechanic. I will post as I figure more stuff out.

Links: Aperture
Picture Arena
ACDSee
Photo Mechanic

Ejecting CDs in Boot Camp

I have been annoyed ever since I got the Das keyboard that I no longer had an eject key in Boot Camp. With Mac, you can just hold F12, but in Windows, you have to open windows explorer, right click on the drive and eject it (and again to put it back in with the "close tray" command). However, I recently discovered this little piece of software: WinEject.

You can assign hotkeys to eject the drive (default is Shift + PageDown for eject, Shift + PageUp for close). I like it all few minutes I've been using it.

Link: WinEject

Connecting a Server at Startup

I have recently been wishing I could connect my NAS at startup. I thought it would be complicated, and was muddling my way through an Automator command when I found out it is quite simple (why did I ever underestimate Mac?).

Open System Preferences -> Accounts -> Login Items and then drag the server into the list. Simple as that.

Shortcuts and Word 2004

Until yesterday I had to boot up Windows with Parallels in order to run Microsoft Word. Not so any longer! I am completely freed from Windows (except for Photoshop... and Winamp. The Winamp vs. iTunes for iPod is still unresolved). A few things I have discovered recently...

You can customize pretty much any shortcut imaginable for Word 2004 by going to the Tools -> Customize -> Customize Keyboard... panel. But, the reason I had been trying to customize things proved to be unnecessary.

After about 10 minutes worth of research trying to find the Ctrl + Enter shortcut (to create a new page) for Mac, I discovered it myself. Cmd + Shift + Enter

However, while researching, I discovered a new shortcut: Command tilde (Cmd + `). This cycles through all of the application windows. Useful when you have several Firefox or Word windows open at the same time.

Art. Lebdev Studio

Just thought I'd throw out this website. I found it a while ago (after finding out that it is the source of several ThinkGeek products) but never thought to post it here. Their recent release of the Optimus Maximus keyboard has aroused my interest and wishes for funds with which to purchase it. As for now, however, I will suffice with the Das II Keyboard.

Art. Levdev Studio Website

Disabling the Startup Chime

Yes, that sound does inspire warm feelings in all of us, but there are times when you'd rather not hear it. For instance, on my MacPro, the chime always plays on the computer's inbuilt speaker rather than the ones I have connected. It just doesn't sound good on that poor quality one. Also, on the MacBook Pro, if you're booting up in a meeting or library or other public place, the chime isn't something you want going off and disrupting people. Enter this little freeware app I found.

Simply install it and an icon shows up in your System Preferences allowing you to change the volume of or simply mute altogether the startup chime of your Mac.

Simple.

Links!
StartupSoundPrefPane

Finder Folders First

This is an old one resurrected from a time when I had no time to write on it. How to list folders first in Finder, similar to Windows Explorer.

Rather than bore you with more senseless speech, I shall simply start saying such sayings as I simply should speak.

Launch Terminal.app and then type:

cd /System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app/Contents/Resources/English.lproj

After doing so, type the following commands, hitting Enter with each line break:

sudo chmod 777 InfoPlist.strings
sudo chmod 777
open InfoPlist.strings

The file should open in TextEdit or a similar application. Within that file you will find "Folder" = "Foler". Change it to "Folder" = " Folder" (note the space inside of the quotes within the second " Folder"). Save the file. Next use the Control-Option-Click combination on the Finder icon in the Dock and select Relaunch. When Finder restarts, when you sort lists by type, folder should always appear on top.

Note: I have noticed that this trick only works on my local hard drives, that is, it does not work on any of my NAS drives in Finder. Nevertheless, it is still a nice trick.

Note: Another shortcut that works is to copy the file to the desktop, edit it, save it, and then copy the file back to its original location and restart Finder.

UPDATE: Alas this no longer works! If you use the list view (as opposed to column or icon) and sort it by kind, then it works. But not for any other. I prefer column view myself, so I guess we will all have to keep our fingers crossed for Snow Leopard functionality...

The Right-Click Debacle

It began innocently enough. In OS X you hold down control and left-click to right-click. Well, in Boot Camp that doesn't work. So I went out and researched a solution. Lo and behold, I found one! A little freeware application that allows you to carry that Ctrl+Click over to Windows XP with Boot Camp. Problem solved!

But it wasn't. Now when using Windows Explorer, you couldn't select more than one file at a time (other than using shift, but if they weren't in a row, you were stuck). Then, while browsing for the solution to another problem, I found the solution. I had noticed it before, using a two finger tap caused a right click, but had never successfully gotten it to work. But the place I found the information was more descriptive: you hold two fingers on the trackpad and then click. There's your right click. Problem solved!

For real.

The MacBook Pro

It's pretty. It's silver. It is (or feels like) real metal. Here are the specs:

2.5 GHz Intel Processor
2GB RAM
17" Glossy LED-backlit screen
512MB NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT
250 GB 5400RPM Hard drive

That's it. More later.

Overload! (And Getting Rid of the Voume Change Sound)

The newest acquisition to the Macintosh arsenal: A MacBook Pro!

Yes, it arrived Saturday of last week, and I have been setting it up and getting it running. With it, I have already had many issues which need to be recorded, but I haven't the time for all of that. Thus, to start with, I shall tell you how to get rid of the volume change noise.

Some describe it as a quack, others as a golf ball hitting a chalkboard, but the most accurate description I've heard is a suction cup being pulled off a smooth surface. Yes, that noise that is made when you change the volume on your Mac. In OS X, it's as simple as opening System Preferences -> Sound and unchecking the box that says "Play feedback when volume is changed." However, using Boot Camp, it is not so simple.

After much searching, I found the solution and shall relate it to you:

The sound is stored in a .dll file that can be found in C:\Program Files\Boot Camp\Boot Camp.Resources\.lproj\Resources.dll (I am using English, but if you happen to use another language, you will open the appropriate folder)

At this point, you will want to make a backup of this Resources.dll file just in case.

Open that file with a resource editor (I used Resource Hacker) and find the WAV/WAVE resource (I believe it is the first one in a folder with a number for a name, such as 435). Delete the file within it.

Reboot and you're done!

And by the way, in case you were wondering, the light sensors in the MacBook Pro are at top of the speakers on either side of the keyboard; cover them and your keyboard will light up!

Negative?

A random note. Sometime you should view this blog with a negatised screen (yes, I made up that word, but in my defence, it is on Star Wars Episode III, even though a Nemodian says it) with Nocturne. For those of you out there who are Macintosh users, it is as simple as Ctrl-Alt-Cmd-8. That is, run Nocturne and then negatise the screen. Also, Microsoft Word looks far better this way as well. Much easier on the eyes.

Changing an Icon

A few days ago I updated my system to OS X 10.5.2. In this update, they changed the attached storage device icon from the nice little globe icon on a blue disc enclosure to a picture of three stick figures holding hands on the blue disc enclosure. It disgusted me. What is that, promoting the impossible goal of world peace? Togetherness?! God forbid.

Thus began the quest. First up, finding how to change the icon.

I found a helpful tutorial at MacApper on how to do it.

First, find the image you want to make the icon. Then, if it has a background, use Photoshop to remove it, and save it as either a .png or .psd. If you already have a clear-background-ed .png image, you can skip this step. Next is to download a freeware piece of software, Icns2Rsrc (and yes, the use of "2" instead of "to" does bother me).

Next you will need the Apple Software Development Kit, specifically Icon Composer. Take the image (either .png or .psd) and drag it from finder into one of the boxes. Apply it to all of the boxes, then save it as the .icns file. Here's where you use Incs2Rsrc.

Open it, then open the .icns file and save it again as a .rsrc. Once that is completed, find the file, folder, disc, etc. of which you would like to change the icon. Right click, Get Info, and then click on the icon in the upper right-hand corner of the box, so that it is highlighted. Return to Finder, click and copy the .rsrc file that you would like to be the icon, click that icon in the upper left-hand corner, and Cmd-V. Voilà! It should be changed.

In order to find the old attached storage icon, I first went to Google Images. I looked through 42 pages of images without ever finding the correct one. I found many others, in fact I found one marvelous icon that is the default hard drive image, only with an Apple logo. I like it. But I digress. In the end, I had to boot into my second installation of Leopard, on my backup hard drive containing my Boot Camp partition and copy the image from there and bring it back to my current system.

Links!
MacApper Tutorial
Icns2Rsrc
Apple SDK

Burn a DVD

So you made a backup copy of one of your favourite movies, and now the disc is scratched beyond all recognition. But there's one problem: how on earth are you going to burn it?

Well, ladies and gentlemen, problem solved. I shall reveal to you the way to make it work.

Once you have legally obtained non-copyrighted DVD material using Mac the Ripper, use another program called DVD Imager to take the VIDEO_TS folder and make it into a disc image. Once you have that, it's as simple as using Disk Utility to burn that image onto a DVD.

So simple... once you have the right software. But fortunate you! Thou hast found mine blog and discovered that I have done all of the legwork for you! Here follow the links to the pages where you may download these glorious programmes!

Mac the Ripper

DVD Imager

Nocturne

Black and White.
Simple.
Elegant.
Classy.

Can you get better than black and white? Not in my opinion. That's why I was pleased to discover Nocturne, a small app from the people at Blacktree. They developed Quicksilver, another app that I did not play with much, as at a glance it seemed to be similar to the upgraded Finder, offering the features that it now has but didn't in OS X 10.4. I am sure it has many more advanced features that I did not have time to discover, but back to my previous point.

Nocturne is an app that allows you to make your screen monochrome, in shades of black and white. It also offers a feature to invert the colours, but this can also be achieved with OS X by using the Control-Option-Command-8 trigger. It's a neat little app for when you're hunched over the screen late at night, and the colour of the screen just grits with the atmosphere.

Though it does not serve much of a practical purpose, it is a neat little app that now has a nice little place in my taskbar.

Link! Blacktree

More on Keyboards

Well, I hooked up the ol' Das II keyboard again. However, this time I did it when I went into BootCamp. And when I booted back into OS X, lo and behold Macintosh surprises me again! When you reboot without the Apple keyboard attached, it puts the button to eject a disk (The main reason I had previously not used this keyboard) along the top bar! I'm sure those (nonexistent) persons who read this will be thinking "duh!" but I was surprised.

Note: I had previously only had the Das keyboard and the Apple keyboard hooked up at the same time. I had not previously disconnected the Apple keyboard. As such, I am not 100% sure that you need a reboot to have the eject button appear.

Update: Another "duh!" moment... I knew this, but had forgotten it. Holding F12 also opens the SuperDrive. You don't need an eject key or button. Duh.

MacBook Air

It has been quite a while since I last posted. I knew this would happen when I started. But since I have no readers in the first place, nothing lost. What are some things I've been doing in the time since my last post? Well thank you for asking! In that time...

The MacBook Air has come out. Everyone else is giving their take on it, now I'll throw mine out into the world wide net of obscurity. It's pretty. It's small. and It's pretty small.

Features I like:
-Small Size
-L.E.D. Backlit Screen (comes on to full brightness)
-Backlit Keyboard (this should be on all MacBook models)
-Upgraded Touchpad with iPhone-like Commands
-Small Size
and, best of all
-Solid State Drive.
*Quick Note* I have been obsessed with solid state drives for quite a while and have been dreaming of when they could be found more commonly in laptops. I believe this step will usher in a new era and hope that solid state drives soon come to all MacBook, and in fact, all Macintosh computer, models.

Features I do not like:
-Slow normal harddrive
-No CD Drive
-Very, very few ports
-No removable/replaceable battery

Apple has done their best to overcome these problems with several interesting features. The one that I'm thinking of at the moment is the nice piece of software included with the restore discs that allows you to wirelessly use another Mac or PC CD drive to install software. However, this does not allow for watching DVDs and again, only works wirelessly. That's the real point I have issue with on the MacBook Air. I know, you must compromise in order to fit everything in such a small, less-than-an-inch-thick computer that weighs three pounds. But that doesn't mean I have to like it. The lack of ports is what really would prevent me from ever purchasing a MacBook Air.

In conclusion, I personally would not buy a MacBook Air, but I think it is a wonderful piece of hardware that shows us several new features that Apple has cooked up recently. I look forward to the integration of these features (namely the solid state drives, L.E.D. backlight, and touchpad upgrades) being integrated into the whole MacBook line. I plan on purchasing a MacBook Pro when I do get a Macintosh laptop, and dearly hope that Apple soon upgrades their whole line.

-Post Script-
I want Apple to update the MacMini. I hope they do soon. Quite soon.