The Switch

Macbook Pro??

miccet — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 21:14:10 +0000

It was a while since I last wrote in this blog. Life with the Mac has evolved into installing MacOS on my PC and the netbook. I have my old Macbook and iMac as well. For candidates I have all possible OSes installed on my computers; Windows and Ubuntu primarily. I like what Microsoft did with Windows 7, but underneath it’s all just Windows and it doesn’t really excite me enough to push me over to a potentially cheaper computer. Ubuntu is nice, I like how it’s managed. What I get tired of though is the looks. It’s a few steps behind on the design of the interface and after a while I get tired of it and trying to download themes to change it into something better. In MacOS I change the wallpaper and im good to go again. Another thing is that I can’t run Photoshop and other applications that I need to work. It’s a showstopper that I can’t look past and no replacement applications really floats my boat.

So, the following computer for me will probably be a Macbook Pro if economy allows. Since I last bought a computer I have started my own company and I have some situations where it would be better if I had a proper notebook to work with. Right now I have a netbook to work on and even though the performance surprises me for normal applications the screen real estate is tiny. The keyboard is not really a joy to type on either and that’s a huge deal if you spend 10 hours or more working on your computer per day. I think this is the bottom line for me. I use the computer a lot, for work and for keeping up with my family back home. Then it might be worth it to spend a few extra bucks on a real good computer.

I’ve had some mixed experiences with computers in the past, like anyone and to be on the safe side I’m thinking of throwing in an Apple Care protection plan as well. Anyone reading this with experiences in this area?

Another thing I haven’t really decided on is the Glossy vs Matte screen. I looked at them in the store the other day and I find the matte screen to be more enjoyable screen to look at but a bit dark. Thoughts?

Right now I’m just waiting to see the new models come out. I’m guessing they’re gonna throw in i5′s in the 15″ model and maybe top with an i7 on the 17″ model. For me though 15 inch would be ideal. I thought 13″ would be enough but it’s really a bit small for GFX applications like Illustrator and Photoshop. 17″ is just too expensive and the computer get’s really big then.

So now we wait…

\system32\hal.dll error installing Windows XP on Mac

miccet — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 14:39:22 +0000

So this was the second time I got this error in less than a year and I had to do a good amount of googling before I found the solution again. So I thought I might help someone by writing this down specifically for this scenario. The solutions out there now are mainly for Windows users of course, and it might not be while installing, which is normally the case in my scenario.

Problem is that when I install Windows XP I usually remove the partition and format it new. This works on a PC, no problem. I have some ideas why this might be happening, and they are related to the MBR not being in sync with bootcamp if you remove it during the install. The exact description of this problem is still unknown to me, however the solution is not:

Quick Solution Description:

Do NOT remove or alter the partition created with BootCamp assistant in the Windows XP installation progress. Just choose it in the installer and format it.

Step – By – Step:

1. Start up Mac OS X and run the BootCamp assistant (Applications / Utilities)
2. Remove your old Windows partition by choosing to merge the parts back to one.
3. Run the assistant again and allocate as much space for Windows as you like.
4. Get the Windows XP CD and put it in.
5. Choose to install Windows now and reboot the computer.
6. Boot from the CD by pressing and holding the “c” after the start up sound.
7. Go on normally until you come to the partitioning.
8. Select the partition called BootCamp and hit enter. (DO NOT REMOVE IT).
9. Choose a full format in the file system of your choice.
10. Proceed with installation as normal.

If you did everything right and has the same problem I had your Windows install will go on after copying files and rebooting. Hope this managed to get rid of somebody’s headace out there. Comments and/or questions are more than welcome.

MobileMe, love for Google Calendar?

miccet — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 16:39:57 +0000

So the iPhone was released (west)world wide on the 11th July 2008. I was one of the crazy people in the first lines in Rotterdam 00:01. I got one and after almost a week of playing with it I must say I like it a lot. The beautiful screen, the animations, the easy interface and all handy functions that so far stand unparallelled from consumer class products. The battery time is a con, but not enough do be a deal breaker. You can easilly go through the day without recharging if you don’t browse the web or watch video all day and it’s enough for me.

On to the topic of this post. The situation is that I am a happy user of google calendar. It’s simply awsome. Integration with gmail is a plus, that let’s me send mails to myself when an event is getting near. I can also (and here lies the problem with iPhone) share my calendar with others. In my case my girlfriend. Naturally I wanted to be able to use Google Calendar on the iPhone. Turns out that the web interface for Google Calendar for the iPhone is not really enough to substitute the feeling of the calendar app. Here the problems start, because MobileMe does not allow for calendar sharing, in any way it seems, so I can’t even get a read-only subscription view of google calendars. Nor can I use MobileMe on the iPhone and get this into Google Calendar because there is no subscription export possible.

What I want to be able to do, as a minimum, is to be able to see my Google Calendar on my iPhone. This is possible if I have a computer that syncronises MobileMe with Google Calendar via a third party application. Besides seing Google Calendar entries I would like to be able to not just read calendars on the iPhone, but also (in a separate MobileMe based calendar) make new entries that is being reflected in my Google Calendar.

To my knowledge this is not possible in a handy way. I have red suggestions to use BusySync here for different scenarios, but I simply want it to be updated even without a computer manually syncing it every 15 minute or so. I don’t really need the Push feature, I can live with a refresh to see the new changes, but I don’t want to have the risc that something is in my Google Calendar and NOT on my iPhone.

I can not even use only MobileMe even if we would migrate to it because you can not share calendars with others. This, plus the lack of integration between the systems makes me hope that Google will make a nice calendar app for the iPhone. Hopefully in such app you could add reminders and stuff that only google does as well. I would gladly use that instead because I frankly see no reason to use MobileMe calendars other than for the push which is quite nice.

iMac has arrived!

miccet — Sun, 25 May 2008 21:11:20 +0000

So after all the events with actually getting the iMac here, it has finally arrived! I had trouble waiting to unpack it and start using it. Well now I have and I can only say it has to be the most beautiful computer I have seen. Honestly I can’t think of a more appealing one, esthetically. The performance of the thing is quite stunning as well. It encodes video much faster than the Macbook I’m used to (and still love much!). The main difference though is the gaming. It was after hearing that they were gonna put in a good Nvidia 8800GS card instead of a crappy ATI that I decided to get one. I have installed Windows XP on it (I know, but I need it for games) and ran Half-Life 2 – Lost Coast, it benchmarks a video test on all settings on high and 1920×1200 resolution with 121 FPS which is more than I expected. My PC pulls around 80 on a 1280×1024 resolution. Crysis run quite well, with all settings on MEDIUM. On HIGH, you can still play but it begins to choke, but remember that this is on the highest resolution. I have only one problem and that is that in Windows the screen will not go in sleep mode, as it does wonderfully in Mac OS X. Think it has to do with the Default Monitor driver that is installed. If someone has an idea for this, please let me know. I will write more if I have more specific tests, requests are welcome

Ordered, Delayed, Ordered

miccet — Fri, 16 May 2008 19:26:07 +0000

I did it. I ordered it. It was a while ago now, May 1st. Since then a lot has happend. Good and bad. Let me start with the good. I ordered the iMac 3.06GHz with the nVidia card in it and everything worked with the payment as usual and seemed to go smooth. All up until 8th of May. On that date, the status changed on the page from Under Review to Shipped. I got a carrier number very fast and the shippment was supposedly “On Schedule”. A good week wait I thought and took it with ease. The delivery date was set to 13th May, which seemed a bit too good to be true. It was. This status has never changed since. It’s now 16 May and the only change is that “Shippment is Delayed” is added. I called apple on the delivery day because I thought it was weird although I had a tracking number no information whatsoever got to TNTs system. The package was not even handed over to TNT, something I found out after emailing their support. They suggested that I called Apple to see what was going on, which I naturally did. First they told me to wait until the 15th, which was the date it said in the email, but not on the status page. I called again on the 14th and told me to hold off for two days and see if it appeared at TNT and if the status was not changed I was gonna call them back because if so something was really wrong. So that is today, the 16th. I called them 2 times today and they called my gf back once. The first time they said my case was escalated. Then they called back saying that they did not know where the package was and the best thing is for them to order another one and keep looking for the lost one. If they find the lost one they will find it, but I’m not counting on that. I think it will be yet another wait and it will take at least 2 weeks. This is all kinda sucky, especially considering this happend last time with my MacBook as well. I hinted towards getting some kind of compensation for this, and I might follow through with that, cause even though I’m kind of a patient guy, I have lost a bit of faith in the Apple Store by now.

I just wish they would be able to fix some higher priority on it and that it will start shipping and show some shipping progress on that damn TNT page that I have been refreshing constantly the last two weeks and that it gets here in one piece so I can be a happy boy again

This weekend I will go and get some more memory from the standard 2Gb that it shipps with. Did this with the MacBook as well and that has worked suprt. I also already got a backup drive as well, an Iomega UltraMax 1Tb from the Apple Store, and that shipped within a week or so. It works, and looks really nice. Here is an image of it:

i got it!

miccet — Thu, 01 May 2008 10:32:48 +0000

Well, the receipt speaks for it self. The 24″ model because of the Nvidia gfx card and upgraded because of the good price I got on it. Will buy memory later at the local shop because it’s so much cheaper and honestly I think it’s better quality as well. Total for 4Gb memory is around 80 euros, and the upgrade from 2 to 4 Gb on the Apple store is 140 something euros. My dad is also thinking about getting a Mac mini, so I will take the Mac memory in the iMac and put it in the mini. Will bump that one up to 2 Gb, which makes a huge difference (I know from my MacBook). Now it’s just the long wait left. I assume the wait because the past experience with the MacBook. Hope it will go smoother this time, but I expect some days before it will come through the door.

iMac 3.06?

miccet — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 12:51:54 +0000

Long time no update! Everything is just rolling on, still using the MacBook for most things. What I have been waiting for is a nice update for the iMac, because of the bigger screen and the power it has. What was gonna seriously make up my mind is the graphics card. Well, now Apple has updated the whole iMac line, and the 24″ models also got an upgrade to the graphics card! Good news, but still not without doubts. I have a PC already, with similar hardware that will run most games of today. Normally if you buy a new computer it’s supposed to be considerably more powerful than the previous one you had. In this case it will be an upgrade for sure, Dual 3.06GHz will set it’s mark, I’m sure, but in games the graphics card is the one thing you look at. In this case the PC already got a nice OCed 7900GT 256Mb card in there. The new iMac got a 8800GS (underclocked 8800GT) 512Mb card in there. I think these two cards score pretty equal in a benchmark. Still, Apple has been good to me in form of the MacBook, I absolutely love it. Leopard is also solid and I wouldn’t trade it away for any OS available. Thing is now if I would to upgrade the PC that would be just 850 euros somewhere, something I could afford in the future as well if I wanted to play all the latest games again. Right now it feels like iMac time! Hopefully I will order it beginning of next week!

Nationaldagen!

miccet — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 21:30:43 +0000

It’s 30 minutes left of Swedens national day, 6th of June. It was a good day, woke up late after the long trip back from Holland yesterday. We went to have a look at my sisters new apartment. It’s a nice cosy place. She borrowed a lot of my things, so I was like “Hey, that’s my shelf and carpet and tv and…” Good that it comes to use. Sweden also won against Iceland in football with a cool 5-0. Was fun watching.

This is not a long holliday, just 6 days. But it feels good to see everybody again and to get some fresh air again. It’s really a difference here. Everything smells of summer. Flowers, bushes and trees, it’s like beeing cold for a month and then suddenly get good in a flash and take a deep breath. The air is very fresh and not as damp as it was the last days in Holland. It was very warm back there but kinda hard to breath. Hope it will get better when I get back, it’s normally not that way. It’s really bright also here in Sweden, long into the night. It’s 23:36 right now and still very bright outside. I remember having full sunlight up in Jokkmokk at this time of the year, that was crazy.

Of course my Mac is with me, and I use it to keep in contact with friends still in Holland and of course my girlfriend.

Contribute 4 again

miccet — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 14:44:27 +0000

Here is another test by Contribute 4. This time on work and on a Mac. I don’t really see the need for this type of applications since the web interface is really so mature already. This application does not really add anything to functionality. Screw this I’m gonna go make some use of myself.

dead pixels

miccet — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 21:46:54 +0000

It’s really unfortunate, but in addition to the single locked pixel I already had there are 4 more now in less than a week. I could tolerate one, it’s not really that bad, but 5 in total feels like a bit too much to accept for a computer at this level. I don’t really know what Apple’s real policy is, and if it’s based on where the pixels are located as other brands have. I have tried with cloth on the screen and the widgets that supposedly would unlock them but nothing happends and I don’t want to ruin the screen in any way. I will go to the store and see what they can do and if they can tell me if this is something I should accept or not. In my opinion, 2 pixels are not that bad, it’s really unlucky, but 5, then it’s something going wrong when they made the computer. We will see how it goes…