Flint Heart on 6 Nov 2006 15:16:14 -0000


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Re: [PLUG] First 24 hours with MacBook Pro (Core 2 Duo)


I ordered my MBP 15.4", 2GB ram, 160GB HDD ( I got this cause its a Perpendicular
model that is supposed to get similar performance to the old 100gb 7,200rpm
model ) Ordered my customized system on friday Oct, 24th.  I was given a
date of the 9th for it to arrive.  I recieved it on the first of the month.
If your interested in seeing some of the internal pictures and knowing
about a few of the design changes -> http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=2189

If you haven't used a Mac before I'd look into some of the apple apps like
safari.  Its rss features are very nice. ( i have a few folders filled with
rss feeds and it lists the number of new articles on all those pages and
lets me view news from each folder on one page)

I'm very impressed with the performance. I installed Bootcamp to install
windows and give a few games a whirl for performance testing ;) .  bf2 runs
at max settings flawlessly.  Oblivion runs ok on the max settings. I think
I will be needing to tweek the settings once I enter the outdors though.

I'll try and update my osx must have apps page / tweeks page shortly and
then post it to the list.

N-Tropy

On Sat, Nov 04, 2006 at 10:52:42AM -0500, W. Chris Shank wrote:
> I thought some folks may be interested in this since the laptop discussion seemed to have a lot of interest. 
> 
> MacBook Pro 15.4" 2 GB RAM, 120G HDD (this is the middle of the 3 models). 
> 
> First impressions: 
> I was surprised how quickly it shipped, from Shanghi to Malvern in less than 36 hours (I think - tracking said it left China at 11am on Nov 2 and arrived in Alaska at 12:15pm Nov 2 - time zones I assume). 
> 
> Display is beautiful. Backlit keyboard had me baffled for a while until I figured out that a light sensor detected ambient light - so it's not even activated unless it's dark. Very cool. Magnetically attached power connector actually works - give it a good yank and the laptop stays put while the power cord pops free. 
> 
> Sound quality is best I've ever had in a laptop. I'm surprised at the graphics quality, especially the dashboard effects. When starting a widget it gets plopped on the screen as if the screen is a pool of water - the ripple effect is flawless. But enough with the eye candy. 
> 
> The first thing I did was make sure ssh worked, installed some other terminal sheels (iTerm & terminator) and RDP and VNC clients. Then I installed FireFox 2 and TB 1.5. I removed all the apple apps I won't use (mail, safari, iWhatever) and added my stuff to the dock. I installed Apple's X11 from the media. Then I went to darwinports and got their Port app. From there I was able to install openvpn, gnome-terminal, much like apt-get. I'm still working on getting the entire gnome desktop installed. If you put X11 in fullscreen mode you can switch to X11 apps independently of the OS X interface. 
> 
> Also, OpenOffice v2 installed and is running nicely. If I can get an entire Gnome or KDE environment running on X11, I may forgo installing Linux all together. I've got the apps I need and I'd rather not have to deal with dual booting if I can avoid it. 
> 
> Overall, a pretty nice experience so far. 
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> W. Chris Shank 
> ACE Technology Group, LLC 
> www.myremoteITdept.com 
> (610) 640-4223 
> 
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___________________________________________________________________________
Philadelphia Linux Users Group         --        http://www.phillylinux.org
Announcements - http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-announce
General Discussion  --   http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug