Archive for June, 2007

Reinstalling OS X?

Well, after a couple months of blogging, listening to music and designing websites, my MacBook Pro is screaming for a fresh and clean install of OS X (10.4.8) from the restore discs that came with it. I think the reason that you have to do this is that a machine that you use everyday is like a kitchen. You get something out, finish, and put it into the trash bin and now it is time for a summer clean. I personally think that you should have a fresh install everyone 5 or 6 months, just to keep it fast.

My Mac already has some small flaws which are now needing to be fixed. These are my crashing finder, skype and some other apps that I use regularly. My 120GB Hard Driveis now down to 10GB again and I think its time I got an external drive. This will let me do regular backups of my iPhoto memories, music in iTunes and some Documents to keep my memories safe and secure. I will be using SuperDuper – and probably time machine in Leopard – to do this. It’s an excellent, free utility to back up your mac. The paid version allows you to schedule backups, but that’s not a feature I need!

Macs deserve a reinstall every couple of months. It’s much easier than on a Windows PC since you need the manufacturer’s disks and all the right drivers, and it’s usually difficult and time-consuming to find all the right drivers on all the right support sites. So, I’m backing up my mac – my life – onto my 40gb external hard drive – a usb to ide converter, and finding discs I have hidden hidden under my bed. what? surprised? it tells you to keep them safe!

I hope this installation goes. I hope.

Which Display?

After working on my MBP for a while, I have developed quite a few health issues with how I work. Sitting at my desk 5 or 6 hours a day looking down at my laptop has caused me to have terrific neck and back pain because of my non-ergonomic setup. I feel silly for having it: I’m looking down to work and without realizing it I’m causing myself pain. I have a good desk – an IKEA MIKAEL – with matching side units. It’s a good height, size and design. However, my chair is really bad. It’s about 4 years old and needs to be replaced. I want to buy a chair with armrests and good neck support which will help me stop slouching.

I have come to conclusion the only way to improve is to buy a desktop, or a monitor and keyboard (Just those because I already have a Logitech MX Revolution). I have decided to buy a monitor and a keyboard, because I can add a base unit in after. I have finalized on what keyboard I’m buying: the Bluetooth Apple Keyboard. If I had the money, I would buy a diNovo Edge, but its a little over the top for my liking. Its look extremely sexy, and you read a couple of reviews, you’re just drooling for one.

Monitors.

I’ve been searching various websites for the best deals, specs and other various parameters for screens and I just can’t find one that I like. Here are some options:

The Dell 22″. This is a highly rated screen. Yes, I know it has the same resolution (1680 x 1050) as the 20″ but who cares about that? It also has USB ports on the side too. I know the 24” is slightly better, with card readers, but it is out of my budget.

Samsung, 20-22″. There are far too many screens that Samsung make, but if i did buy one, I would buy a 21”, running at 1680 x 1050, which is the same as the dell. Samsung make some awesome televisions and screens. I know a lot of gamers that use Samsung because of their quick response times. Is this the monitor for me?

ForMac 20.1″. These look like the old last generation apple cinema displays which I still love. They run at 1,600 x 1,200, but is not widescreen. Formac are a experienced company; I love their work. The only problem with this is the price tag: not for me.

Apple Cinema Display 20″. I don’t particularly want to buy one. Yeah, the look delicious, but they over just overpriced. That’s it. The Apple cinema displays have been around for quite a while now. I would like to see them improved and also with iSight cameras with microphones built into them.

Which one would you choose? Why? What do you have at the moment?

Leave your answers below.

Leopard and WWDC

Leopard

Well, the revealing of some leopard features was pretty huge for me, though there were some features which were not so important to me WWDC wasn’t as good as most people thought it was going to be; I know a lot of people that were very disappointed with the keynote. Here is my review of the best bits of WWDC.

Desktop

Desktop. A new sexier, sleek and slimmer new desktop. Its obviously been out on the town, come back with a swanky new look. I don’t like the transparent top menu bar and will be changing it back to a solid one. I don’t like reflective dock – do I need that to function? I use overflow with my MX revolution for apps normally. I do like stacks! I’ve always wanted something to use like this for downloads from Safari. My desktop is normally splattered with icons from downloading various items. I also take loads of screenshots of websites, so I can refer to them later. Stacks will be handy for me!

Finder

The new sidebar looks suspiciously like iTunes to me. The new sources list seems like a good idea, because it allows me to find my files quickly and easily. My current finder is covered in folders down the side linking to locations that constantly move. Searching other computers in my house is awesome. My house consists of my MBP, and 2 Windows machine, (1 desktop, 1 laptop). I’ll be able to search all of the computers to easily find files I might have left on other computers, without setting up a LAN, or manually transferring files with a memory stick, or CD-RW. Back to my Mac! Wow. Apple, this is one great marketing scheme to get me to continue using and buying the .Mac service. If I forget a important file when I go to college, I can simply go back to my home mac using a standard internet connection and grab the file I want. Wow. I really, seriously love this.

iChat

I’m forever video chatting with friends to get ideas for new projects and for general chit chat. I have found that iChat’s quality compared to Skype is far less superior, since Skype is using way better codecs and quality is twice as a good. The new low-latency codecs should be an awesome improvement. Watching the keynote, I’m guessing that the video demo was done over a local network, so the quality is dramatically increased. I would really like them to bring out a new iSight camera: I noticed that steve has two! And yet we can’t buy even one. I guess i’ll be spending some money on eBay for one. The photo-booth type effects look sweet, now I can waste more time playing than trying to fix ports. I doubt this will work with 3rd party apps… though still, fun fun fun!

Time Machine

Finally a back up utility from Apple, that works! I’ve been using the backup utility that comes with .Mac which is pretty poor. I love the way that Time Machine can work with AirPort Extreme Base Stations that have hard drives attached to them. That means I can buy a huge 1TB Drive, and back up my life to there. This is a excellent idea. Say one of my hard drives breaks, and one of my design projects is gone, i can go on time machine, and find it. Well, I hope it works this way.