iPad (3rd Gen): First Impressions.

So, Apple released a new iPad. Unsurprisingly its faster than the last version and has better specs in keys areas. I own the original iPad which is starting to get long in the tooth. I picked up an iPad 3 to give it a whirl and see how it compares to my 1st gen model. These are my first reviews after a few hours with the device at home.

The one line review would be: Great screen. doesn’t feel slow. It’s thinner, lighter and has a better case.

Getting set up.

The Packaging is simple to open and robust, the first start process takes you through a few screens before landing you on the home screen.

It took me a few minutes to get a few of my favourite apps installed. From opening the box to reading my RSS feed in reader was around 6 minutes.

First impressions

I tend towards using the iPad for media consumption. A mix of reading, web browsing and watching media streamed from the iMac. The new screen makes a big difference to all of these activities. Text is pin sharp and easier to read.

The increase in resolution makes a noticeable difference to the 720p video files i stream from the iMac. Colours are better and the whole picture is sharper.

The extra resolution in safari makes text and some screen graphics super sharp. However, images and other page furniture can appear blurry if its using an image. The blurry edge to text rendered as an image is very noticeable and distracting.

Compared to the Original iPad.

I skipped the iPad 2 as it offered little more than my original iPad. Skipping a generation has made the differences more pronounced. The screen improvement alone is worth the upgrade. Combined with the thinner and lighter form factor the new iPad is very compelling.

Wrap up.

A few hours in and the new iPad is making a good case for itself. It improves on my first generation iPad in almost every area. If you own a 1st gen iPad then it looks to be a worthy upgrade.

Image Credit: The image for the header is from Simon Page’s great wallpaper collection Do yourself a favour go get one!

Published: 18 March 2012 | Categories: Reviews , iOS Permalink

Exploring HiDPI in Mountain Lion

As a heavy user of Mac OSX screen zooming, i thought it was time to take a good look at what the Mountain Lion Beta offers in the shape of improved HiDPI support. I wondered if HiDPI could provide an answer to my vision issues.

HiDPI (High Dots Per Inch) is the Mac implimentation of the double resolution technology used on the iPhone 4 and shortly the iPad. However, as we dont have the super high resolution screens for our Macs yet, the net result is a doubling in the size of everything in the Mac UI. This means that for every 1 pixel at normal resolutions HiDPI uses four. Even though all the graphics have doubled in side most things stay pin sharp. (more on that later.) This massively aids readability and visibility for poeple like myself with poor image processing.

Mountain Lion

In past versions of OSX doubling the screen DPI broke the UI quite badly. I last tried HiDPI when Snow Leopard came out, and most things were visually broken. In the screen shot below of Coda the task bar is completey screwed. Still usable, but only just!

This is to be expected, HiDPI is not a released. It’s hidden away in the developer tools for a reason. So last time i went back to my normal screen zooming technique. With the release of Lion and Mountain lion many site reported that HiDPI was more robust so i felt it was time to give it another go.

27” iMac, thinks it’s a MacBook.

I have installed the Mountain Lion beta on my 11” MacBook Air. Its my personal machine and not used for work, so its a safe place to experiment. The inbuilt screen on the 11” MacBook Air is not compatible with HiDPI mode. Its too small, after the pixel doubling the resolution drops below the minuim resolution OSX requires. In order to use HiDPI i hooked the Air up to my work machine, a 27” iMac.

Even on the high resolution (2560 × 1440) 27” panel the workspace once HiDPI is enabled is only 1280 × 720. For context thats a little smaller than the resolution of the 13” MacBook Pro. However, its more than enough room for my day to day computing.

Performance

My little 11” MacBook Air is no powerhouse and running the large moniter at double resolution is a but much for it. Scrolling smoothly in safari is not possible. Scrolling in Chrome was smooth, however chrome was not being pixel doubled so the point it mute. Of course, the effect on battery life is not so important for this test. I’m using the iMacs display so its easy enough to just plug the MacBook in.

Rough Edges

Overall i am very impressed with HiDPI. It really has lived up to my expectations. The only app i have noticed which dont support HiDPI is iTunes. Even then, iTunes still works, its toolbar is just a little pixelated. Another issues is web page graphics. Text which once appeared sharp is not blurry and sometimes unreadable. Luckily, this is mostly adverts.

Better than Zooming?

With the few hours i have been using HiDPI it has won me over. I dont plan to continue using screen zooming on my MacBook when i am at home. Screen zooming web pages often makes them fuzzy and browser zooming often breaks pages. HiDPI does not have this problem. Text is rendered pin sharp and reading is much easier.

Published: 1 March 2012 Permalink

2010 Mac Mini Review

I know, its a bit weird, writing a review for something you have just sold… i agree it’s a bit daft but i thought it would be good to share my experiences with the Mac Mini for those who are interested.

I only owned my 2010 Mac Mini for about 6 months in the end. It was a replacement for an aging 1.66ghz Mac Mini i purchased in 2006. Over the 6 months the 2010 mac mini had been used a number of ways, as a normal desktop hooked up to a few different displays (a 24” Cinema Display, and a cheap Samsung Display) and as a media centre under the TV.

This review will try to both review how the Mac Mini performs as a desktop computer, and how it works as a media centre.

Design

The Mac Mini is a very well designed little box. Inside its basically a unibody MacBook but without a screen or keyboard. This leaves you with a small, rounded aluminuim block with the port on the back and a DVD drive upfront.

The unibody construction is extremely sturdy, during my time with the Mini i dropped a few things on and it was completely unscathed. I do wonder why exactly a desktop needs such sturdy construction in the first place however it does add to the fit and finish of the product.

The ports are on the back of the computer, the highlights are a HDMI port, an SD Card Reader and a Mini Displayport. This means the Mini is capable of running two screens.

This is something i took advantage of, at one stage i had the Mac Mini plugged into a display on the desk, with a long HDMI lead connecting it to the TV on the other side of the room. This meant that we could use it as a desktop, and use it for playing back media.

Sadly, managing this arrangement is a little fiddly so we rarely used it. However, for occasional use it works well.

I was not that impressed with the HDMI port, no matter what screen i connected it too there were issues. On my Samung TV (a 40” 2009 model) the picture was terrible. Even after spending hours messing with TV setting i never got it to look right. The same was true of a 24” Samsung moniter i tried with the system.

However, connected to the 24” LED Cinema Display there were no such issues, so your experiences may be better.

As a Desktop

As a small footprint desktop computer the Mac Mini performs very well. Handling all the day to day compuing needs easily. Its not a powerhouse but it was good enough for basic gaming and media needs.

The Mac Mini was also used for web design and development work. With 8gb of RAM installed it performed very well with fireworks and coda.

The Mac Mini also acted as a media server for the house sharing a large (multi-terabyte) iTunes library.

As a midrange desktop the 2010 Mac Mini performs well and will cover the needs of most. The small size, super low energy usage and near silent operation all add up to make for a well balenced and impressive package.

As a Media Centre.

Alongside its role as a desktop, the Mac Mini was also purchased to work as a media centre. For a short while it sat under the TV connected via HDMI.

This is where the Mac Mini really underperformed, however the issue was only partially the hardware. While the HDMI port problems were annoying the real show stopper was the software. Much of our media is from iTunes, so that left us with Frontrow for playback. Frontrow has become extremely buggy and never ran smoothly on the Mac Mini. With OSX Lion Apple has dropped frontrow entirely.

Boxess & plex had many issues playing back iTunes protected media so they were not options.

Conclusion

I would recommend the Mac Mini to a friend, though with a couple of caveats. For desktop use its a wonderful machine, however it really does pay to pair it with a high quality moniter and Apple keybaord.

As a media centre, its only really an opiton if you are using something else (like an Apple TV) to connect to the TV or if your library does not contain any iTunes content.

I only briefly owned the 2010 Mac Mini, the frustrations with the screen setup and frontrow issues quickly made me annoyed and frustrated. After a short while it was replaced with an Apple TV and then a few months later it was sold to raise funds for an iMac.

Published: 10 February 2012 | Categories: , Apple Permalink