FirstAdopter.com

Santa Rosa Macbook Pro Impressions

I had the 15" 2.2ghz Santa Rosa Macbook Pro for a few weeks now and I can say I'm pretty happy. I had to return the first one because it had a lot of dead pixels, weird vibrations, and a random crashes. This current one is pretty good except for 2-3 dead pixels, which aren't in horrible places on the screen.

Going back to the Mac platform after a 1 year hiatus was like going back to the water oasis in the desert. OS X is a joy to use and much more stable than Windows XP. It is also great not to have to worry as much about typing in a mis-spelled URL which might install spyware or a virus on my machine. I love the touch and feel of the keyboard and the LED screen is growing on me. I haven't used a laptop as my primary PC in 10 years and its great being able to be mobile and write while having the baseball game in the background. Plus I get the best of both worlds as I recently bought the Dell 3007WPF 30 inch monitor, which works perfectly with the Macbook Pro. Moving from a home built 2.4 ghz Core2Duo PC, the speed at 2.2ghz is pretty similar. Everything is reasonably quick and fast. The only deficiencies would be the incredible amount of heat the computer generates after some use. I assuage this by using Rain Design's iLap, but still it is kind of ridiculous to feel the heated air after some time. The form factor with 15" screen and thin-ness is very attractive. I'm happy with the purchase and recommend the machine highly. Discuss

iPod Touch Screen Stinks, so I Returned it

After one day of use, I could not that take the idea I spent $400 on a crappy screen. So I returned the iPod Touch to the Apple store and took the 10% re-stocking fee hit of $40. Ouch.

It seems the bad screens are pervasive in this launch. Compared to the iPhone, it's not even a contest. The black levels look literally green and the shadow detail is non-existent. The viewing angles are very narrow and the colors seem dithered like a bad gradient. It literally is like comparing a cheap LCD TN-panel vs. a high end S-IPS LCD monitor. I can't believe that PC Magazine had the gaul to say the iPod Touch has a better screen. It simply DOES NOT. If the whole point of getting the iPod Touch is to play portable video, it sorely fails at that task. For Apple to infer is has the same screen as iPhone is pretty appalling.

It's saddening to think I've been looking forward to the video iPod of my dreams all this time and to be so utterly disappointed. I now have to resort to buying a iPod Classic, which seems to have sluggish user interface and audio quality issues of its own. Sigh. Discuss

iPod Touch Unboxing Pictures

I read that some Apple retail stores had them in stock today, so I instantly called my local store and found they have a few 16GBs in stock. Although I was wavering about getting one because of the lower than hard-drive storage capacity, once I knew I could get one, I COULD NOT RESIST. And the raving PC Mag review posted today did not help either. Damn you Steve Jobs! Damn you PC Mag! I cannot wait to watch movies and video podcasts on the iPod of my dreams! I snapped some unboxing pictures with my Nikon D40 while the new iPod is syncing. Enjoy. Discuss - Permalink

Nokia iPhone Rip-off Video

Some companies really have no shame. Note the line, "It's what Nokia always has and always will deliver!" Yeah, right. Reminds me of Microsoft pretending they are innovating when they copy stuff left and right.

Can't Wait for iPod Touch, eBay + Apple = the Win!

I'm dying to get my hands on the iPod Touch (next iteration of the video iPod) this Wednesday or Thursday. Everyone is expecting an iPod in a iPhone form factor with more space and no phone.

I just sold my iPod Video 5.5G for $222 on eBay a couple of days ago. Yes it was used, and yes a new one costs $249, and yes in less than a week later there will be a MUCH better iPod at that price point. The wonders of eBay.

I've noticed on selling Mac and Apple stuff over the years (an iMac, an G4 iBook, a bunch of iPods) the re-sale value is out of this world even after 2 years of use. Even though you pay and arm a leg for Apple branded stuff initially, you get it back on eBay in 2 years. Anyone else dying to get the iPod Touch this week? The first major upgrade of the iPod years. Discuss