Feet First | 323
Wednesday, 27 July
My shiny new MacBook Pro arrived! After four years, it was time for an upgrade. Much of the work I do on the computer is photo processing. I use Aperture, which I really love, but it can be quite demanding and the processor speed, graphics card and RAM in my old machine just weren’t cutting it.
Feet First | 324
Thursday, 28 July
Thunderstorms and time constraints delayed my getting to the new laptop for about 24 hours. It took about an hour to migrate my old machine over to the new one. I was immediately impressed by the increased speed. Everything happens faster–windows load quicker, applications launch immediately and making edits to photos blissfully happens without any appearance of the dreaded spinning beach balls.
I opted for the glossy screen this time around. (My previous MacBook had the matte screen, since I was concerned about glare and image quality.) After spending a year with the iPad’s amazingly brilliant screen, I knew that I really wanted to have the same eye-popping experience on the laptop. I’m very happy with my choice. Any fear of glare was immediately put to rest (there is none) and everything looks amazing.
I have noticed a couple of puzzling things. One is that the fan comes on much more frequently than in my previous MacBook and I wonder if that’s a function of the Solid State Drive. Quite often it sounds as if a mini-airplane was preparing to take-off, often when the machine is not active in any way that would indicate it’s working hard and needs to cool down. (Can you hear that? It’s doing it now.)
I’m disappointed to say that I’m still experiencing the occasional spinning beach ball, which surprises the heck out of me. Everything about this machine is wicked-fast, but there are times when the beach ball appears while I’m using the internet. Since my machine came with the new Lion OS, the problem could be that, the new machine, my internet connection–or a combination of all three. The jury is still out but it certainly is baffling.
Other than that minor quibble, just as expected, I’m loving my new MacBook Pro.
2 Things @ Once 