13" MacBook Pro (2010) First Impressions

So i am writing this on my new MacBook Pro, this is not my first Mac but it is the first time i have owned a MacBook Pro, having used MacBooks for the last 3 years or so.

My last MacBook was the 2.4ghz Unibody model from 2008, while i loved this machine very much, i missed the firewire port. With the new batch of 2010 models coming out and a decent offer on my macbook, i took advantage of education pricing and upgraded for a few hundred pounds.

When comparing the machines, there were a few area which really drew me to the MacBook Pro to make the investment:

Battery Life:

While my old MacBook had a decent battery life (up to about 4 hours) i was starting to come up against the edge more frequently. I have been away from power for longer periods at university. I think the longer battery life of this machine will hold me in good stead for the next two years of study and work. I am looking forward to the next barcamp when i wont have to worry about loosing power right before my presentation!

Ports & Slot:

The other big hardware difference would be the new IO options. As i mentioned in the introduction my misgivings about the lack of firewire port on my old Macbook turned out to be true. While i have been working around the limitations, a few things i have been wanting to do have not been possible for example, i often work from home where i have a iMac, the ability to pop the MacBook Pro into target disk mode and use it to boot the imac means i can take advantage of the great iMac screen. The SD card slot i have played with and generally i like it, am looking forward to playing with booting from it in the future.

Software & Other Things

Not all of the changes are hardware based, this is also the first time i have been running snow leopard on my work machine. I have been using it on the home machines for a while, but as my work machine was running fine i held off upgrading. The migration was quick and i have found a few bits very interesting:

• Time Machine is much much faster
• iLife 09 (in particular iMovie & iPhoto) is a nice upgrade over 08, i have already made a little video using iMovie and been very pleased with what it offer. iPhoto 08 feels snappier, though i am not sure how much the beefier graphics play into this.

So thats about all, overall i found the migration went smooth and quickly (even if a dodgy router was mucking me around), the machine feels quick and responsive. The screen has blown me away and overall i am very very happy with my purchase.

note: This article was originally published on my tumblr blog. The original can be found at my old tumble account

Published: 10 April 2010 | Categories: Reviews , Apple Permalink

Usability; some resources from the indie world of mac development.

For this weeks post, i thought it would be good to share some of my favorite sites for design inspiration and input. I try to avoid always looking at websites when i am thinking about design. I have found a rich vein of sites focused around mac software and software usability which are always interesting to read.

UI&us: (uiandus.com)

UI & us is a blog about user interfaces, user experience and usability. Its written by Keith Lang who is a UI designer probably best known for his comic application skitch (which use to be distribute with all new macs). This site is a great resource for Keith’‘’‘’‘’‘s often in depth and though provoking thoughts on UI trends and specific UI issues.

A great example of one of Kieth’‘’‘’‘’‘s experiments and one of my favorite article is Rethinking the Inspector in this post he explores a new way of interacting with inspector palettes and shows a video demonstration of his ideas. A very thought provoking and interesting article.

Cocoia Blog: (blog.cocoia.com):

This great little blog provides great in depth views around mac software design. The UI roundups are great for keeping a finger on the pulse of where Mac OSX is heading. I also love the styling and design of the blog itself. Its visual simplicity is elegant, the use of textures make the design echo mac software and a high quality printed book feel.

Although i have not been following this blog for long, i have found many great links and interesting discussion pieces on the site.

Ignore the code: (ignorethecode.net/blog/)

Ignore the code is the personal blog of user interface design Lukas Mathis, Much like the other links this site is a great resource for in-depth articles on UI trends and analysis. Full of interesting articles and the occasional video or link this is a feed worth following!

The post Flatland from a few months ago discusses how user interfaces can cater for both the new user and the experience user. I find this article fascinating and it has influenced some of the systems i have designed since reading it. One of the 10 articles i feel all designers should read.

The links above are only a small insight into the multitude of great resources out there for mac software developers. If you have any other blogs, journals or resources you think deserve to be in this list then please let me know about them in the comments!

Published: 30 January 2010 Permalink

2008 2.4ghz Unibody MacBook Review

I first moved to the Apple Macintosh platform back in 2007, from those early days the MacBook was my trusty work machine and this new machine has continued this trend. 14 months after i switched from my original MacBook its still going strong.

When this machine was released it was the first of the new wave of unibody designs. This means that the case of the laptop is milled from a single block of aluminum. This leaves a light, rigid product with a classy finnish.

Having owned the previous plastic model i found the new finnish to be much more resilient to small scratches and denting. The older models would be covered in small hairline scratches after a few months which although not effecting the performance of the laptop would be mighty annoying after investing so much. I am happy to report that even after 14 months of use there are no scratches visible on the lid or the base of the machine.

One of the advantages of the all metal construction is strength, as i found out after owning the machine for about 3 months after the machine was dented. Although the machine dented it was fine, i feel that the older MacBooks were more brittle so i have been very impressed with the new case.

With the new models there also came a couple of smaller changes, with the biggest (and most impressive) being the new all glass fronted screen. Taking a few design cues from the Aluminum iMac the screen is surrounded by a black border. Having had a shiny reflective screen on my original MacBook i am use to the reflections, however the new screens are more reflective. I would argue this is not a huge issues but something it will catch you out! Luckily those times when reflections are an issue you can normally move the screen or increase the brightness to compensate.

The final, change was the inclusion of a backlit keyboard option. If like me you work a lot in the evenings then this optional extra is a god send. A gentle glow from the back of the keys works wonderfully to reduce the eye strain of typing away! Its one of my favorite changes and to me is worthy of the upgrade cost alone!

However, as with anything all is not perfect with this machine, my only functional gripe about the machine has to be the lack of ports. In between this and the last model apple dropped the firewire port. Although the firewire port may not be that important to everyone it seems silly to exclude the people who use it, on a machine this expensive it seems a huge missing piece rendering the machine far less useful.

On the other hand, Apple are well known for introducing the new and removing the old, they were the first to drive adoption of the USB port and they were the first to stop supporting floppy disks. Apple argued that most consumer users (the target audience for the MacBook) never used the firewire port, and that their 15” models retained the port for the pro users who required it. Although this may work for many, for myself the size of the 13” model was the main draw. When i was choosing my machine the screen size was the deciding factor. Apple reversed the decision a few months later when they bumped all the unibody MacBooks up to be Pros. Very frustrating for people who had invested in this generation of machine.

Ultimately this MacBook has, and continues to serve me well as my work machine. Coupled with the fantastic Cinema Display in the office it makes my ultimate work set up. Its portable, powerful and reliable, while also being able to be mated with the larger display in the office.

Published: 15 January 2010 | Categories: Reviews Permalink