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MacBook Air
Pixelmator's Progress
Re: Leopard And Me And Power PC - I'm Torn - OS X Odysssey 909
Photoshop Elements 6 for Mac First Impressions
Swift Publisher 2.2 - Page Layout Made User-Friendly And Inexpensive
MacBook Air
From David Chilstrom
I understand your disappointment with Apple's MacBook Air announcement, and early reviews of the Air by Walt Mossberg, USA Today and Newsweek, bear out similar doubts about Apple's choices. Though I don't see an Air, or any other notebook in my near future, I do think it's a courageous and bold move by Apple to rethink what a sub-notebook can be. I believe Apple is on the right track in cutting most of the traditional tethers and liberating the Air from the tangle of cords that even on my iMac (which I swivel frequently for DVD and download viewing) are a cluttering annoyance. Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, here I come.
The non-user replaceable battery is unusual, but when I had a spare battery for my iBook, it was little more than an expensive paperweight, its life draining away whether I used it or not. Reports indicate that replacing the battery is fairly simple (the Air's compressed innards are paradoxically vastly more accessible than my old iBook), so this may end up being a drop off your Air at the Apple store, come back after you've had a cup of coffee affair. I'm fairly certain that any authorized Apple dealer will be able to swap in a new battery.
The hard disk is the one place I'd agree where the form over function aesthetic bites with a vengeance. For a machine conceived to be free of tethers, 80GB is cutting it pretty close, especially when toting music and downloaded movies. A 160GB drive, with the slight increase in bulk, would have eased the pain of some of the other design choices. Still, a Time Capsule, at home or office, provides backup and ample space for media files.
In doing a price comparison between the stock Air and the cheapest Portege, I think it comes out a wash features wise. Here's my features breakdown. I've added Apple's external CD to bring the Air closer in price to the cheapest 2K Portege.
Some will prefer the feature set and limitations of the Portege, others the Air, but these are much closer than I originally thought. With the exception of the bigger/faster HD, nothing else about the Portege trumps the Zen elegance of the Air for me. One is sleek, the other is geek, and we all sit on one side or the other of that fence.
My first impression of the Air was that it could be another Cube debacle. However, I think it will be a reasonable success, as the Air is aggressively priced for an ultra-light, very sexy and adequately featured for its target market. Like the original iMac, it's on the bleeding edge by dispensing with traditional removable media, but I think that Apple is dead on that the future for notebooks is wireless all the way. Down with the disk.
Regards,
David Chilstrom
Hi David;
I agree with you that the MacBook Air will likely enjoy a substantial degree of sales success. Never underestimate the potency of slick styling and the cool factor.
However, from a personal and philosophical perspective, I have to disagree with you on several of the points you cite. It's not a matter of who's "right" or "wrong" but a matter of taste.
I am not a fan of wireless input devices. I've tested quite a few wireless mice and keyboards over the past several years, and the convenience of untetheredness with peripherals that are normally used within easy cable range of the computer do not for me compensate the functional compromises one is obliges to put up with. In all cases you are stuck with having to install and eventually replace batteries. With mice, the batteries make the unit heavier as well as often upsetting its heft and balance, and IMHO, a mouse can never be too light (my perennial fave is the MacMice Danger Mouse). Every wireless mouse I've used has a maddening little microsecond latency hesitation, that drives me nuts. FWIW, Kensington's wireless mice that use a proprietary USB receiver and better than BlueTooth units on this score, but reguire a USB port and all wireless mice are afflicted. There is also the hassle of pairing and wake-up lag with Bluetooth mice.
Also philosophically-speaking, I am oreinted in the diametrically opposite direction from where Apple seems to be going in terms of versatility, connectivity, and expandability. One of the reasons why the Pismo is my favorite Mac laptop of all time (besides its anvil-like dependability and longevity) is that it provides one with so many options in the aforementioned categories. the MacBook Air is the extreme (so far) polar opposite of that. I could live with an external optical drive in the interest of lightening, but I want two (preferably more) or more USB ports, FireWire, Ethernet (without dongles or adapters), a card expansion slot, at least one and preferably two RAM expansion slots, and since I'm stuck with dialup-only access for probably a year or two yet where I live, a built-in modem. The late, lamented 12" PowerBook had all of those things except for the third USB port and the card slot, and an internal optical drive as well, and I loved it.
I can't imagine ever being able to tolerate the restrictions imposed by the MacBook Air. I only hope that this is not the direction Apple is fixing to go with the MacBook and MacBook Pro future revisions.
On the other hand, Apple tried connectivity minimalism before with the original iMacs and iBooks and eventually repented of it, adding more ports and FireWire. Perhaps there is hope.
Charles
Pixelmator's Progress
From Eric
Thanks for your reflections on Pixelmator since your original review. I've casually followed its development and release, then scored my own copy of the program in the latest MacHeist (and since I participated in the Heist before the bundle was announced I got an even better deal, but I digress). I noticed that some features are Leopard-only and wonder what I'm really missing out on since both Macs in the house run Tiger. Care to comment on how Pixelmator stacks up differently in Tiger vs. Leopard (assuming your updated review reflected you running it in Leopard).
I have to confess I haven't really taken it for a test drive yet, but am anxious to try it out. I don't have PSE for comparison, but do have GraphicConverter, Seashore, ToyViewer, and ImageWell in the toolbox. It'll be interesting to see how they compare to Pixelmator. Sometimes I wonder why I have so many different apps in the same category. Could PSE (or some other program) replace them all sufficiently? Each has their strengths, but having one program might be nice. At least it seems that way to me as I write this. And I say this while having several web browsers, word processors, text editors and ftp clients at my disposal. Should I be seeking a support group?
Another image editor I have available is ChocoFlop, which is available in prerelease form (currently version 0.75). Have you played with it before? I'd be curious to hear your impressions.
Cheers,
Eric
Hi Eric;
I've found that Pixelmator works fine in Tiger as well as Leopard, and I don't have occasion to use special effects filters much, and am not quite sure what Quartz Composer is, so I've not personally noticed any difference in fuction or performance between the two systems for my purposes, and I'm running Leopard most of the time these days.
I've used all of the programs you mention except for ChocoFlop. If I could only have one, it would have to be PSE, and version 6 (I'm currently awaiting my test copy) promises to raise the bar substantially. Another old favorite remains Color It! 4.5, which is still probably the most user-friendly bitmamp graphics app, asn certainly the fastest!
As an all-round application with strong photo correction capabilities, Pixelmator is in second-place behind PSE, but be sure to check out the new image correction and editing tools in OS X Leopard's Preview app. when you get around to moving up from Tiger.
Charles
Re: Leopard And Me And Power PC - I'm Torn - OS X Odysssey 909
From Peter;
Sorry to hear about your Leopard travails. I swore I would never install the beast until 10.5.5 came along. Alas, my wife needed CS3 on her pre-Tiger G4. Since it only works 10.4 and up, I decided to go all the way to Leopard. I also splurged with a family pack. The results: 3 PPC computers running 10.5.1 with few problems.
Here is my small list of woes: Firefox is slightly more unstable and a USB 2 PCI card won't work with some peripherals.
Leopard is just as fast, makes certain tasks easy and is generally very responsive. The new features make it worth the investment. Memory leak is definitely less of an issue for me with this cat.
Overall, I give Leopard a B+ at this stage.
PS. I don't use Spaces.
Hi Peter;
Glad to hear that you're having a better trip with Leopard than I am. I expect many are. I'm pushing this old PowerBook awfully hard.
Speed isn't a problem except for the email issue I mentioned in the article. POP 3 messages are slow incoming and like the proverbial cold molasses running uphill in the wintertime outgoing through SMTP - if I can get them to send at all. Webmail and general internet with a browser is as fast or daster than with Tiger. It seems to be specifically a problem with the email protocols, perhaps complicated by the fact that the fastest dialup connections I can get here are 26,400 bps on good days.
I agree tha memory management, as well as temperature control ate better with Leopard than Tiger.
As for Spaces, I simply could not function in Leopard without it since WindowShade X is not yet supported.
Charles
Photoshop Elements 6 for Mac First Impressions
From iGreg
What PE has always needed was a better photo organizer.
Good point.
Charles
Swift Publisher 2.2 - Page Layout Made User-Friendly And Inexpensive
From Jim:
Charles,
I have been using Swift Publisher for a few years now, and like it. That's about all I have to say about that for now...
Hi;
Glad you've had a good experience with it. A nice program.
Charles
***
Charles W. Moore
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