My New MacBook Pro

So I finally bought a new Mac a month ago. I seriously thought of getting one when they came out with Intel processors but got stuck waiting for the price to drop to more reasonable level. Didn't happen :( of course, so when my creaky 6 yrs old Linux desktop at home finally drop dead of old age, took the plunge and got a new 13-inch MacBook Pro

So here's my thoughts on my shinny new Mac laptop. I've divided it into 3 parts. The fanboy rave, raving rants and savvy apps.

Fanboy Rave and Why You Should Get Mac

• Hardware: Macs are stylish and well-crafted piece computer machinery. Like most Apple products, it's meant to look gorgeous. Aesthetics has always been one of their strong suits and in Mac it's visceral! And of course, it work flawlessly!
• User Interface: Simplicity. At the end day, there's something to be said about a well-designed and consistent User Interface. I know Linux desktop and it is nowhere near as elegant or as polished as Mac.
• Performance: Generally faster, more responsive and smoother experience when using Mac. Of course, a lot of it has to do with it's tightly coupled hardware and software stack. And dual-core processor with 4 GB memory is no slouch. Windows on comparable hardware spec is still a crash waiting to happen. (Note: Linux scream on just about any hardware, in case you're wondering).
• Applications: Safari's webarchive feature, Preview and iLife. In Linux, I used either Evince or Okular, two very capable apps. After using Preview, these two nice apps just doesn't cut it anymore. Firefox's equivalent of webarchive feature doesn't even compare. As for iLife, it's the next best thing after invention of the Internet (or so I've been told, I have yet to try it).
• Core: Beneath the simplicity and elegant facade of Mac OSX beats the heart of true Unix beast. I'm Linux man. 'nuff said.

Raving Rants and Some Caveats

• A new Mac is absolutely, horrendously expensive. Even now, every time I pass an Apple store, I kept thinking who can afford these stuff (except for all those rabid fanboys). I was scouring the whole of Metro Manila looking for a store with a least markup. Found one at BHS, but even in store with scaled back pricing, Mac is still outrageously over-price that I had to wipe a tear in my eye when I had to hand my credit card at the counter.

• There is no single repository for Mac software. If you have a specific Mac software in mind, you generally track them down through Google.

• Installing software in Mac is awkward. It is so late 80's, it's weird. In Mac, there are two ways to install software and they're both counter-intuitive, clunky and messy. If you want to see software installation/management done right then check out Linux yum or apt-get. It is light-years ahead of Mac. It just works.

• While most task are incredibly easy to do in Mac, some are just plain exasperating.

Try burning an ISO image in Mac. In Linux, you simply right-click the file and choose 'Burn' and that's it. The appropriate app is open, and work unobtrusively in the background and when done, eject the CD/DVD. No fuss, no muss. How so in Mac? You go to your Finder and start Disk Utility program. From the File menu, choose Open Disk Image and select ISO to burn. Pick the right volume, then click 'Burn' button. Hardly intuitive, even for a long time Mac users.

• Minor pet peeve: In Linux and Windows, applications are categorize into different groups. This makes it less confusing for people. For instance, all Internet-related programs are group under Programs/Internet menu. This makes it more natural and intuitive. In Mac, it's all bunch together in the Application folder so you have to muddle through all the available apps, it's silly. You can drag and drop apps to the Dock or Desktop, if don't mind a cluttered a workspace.

Of Savvy Apps and Savvy Users

• QuickSilver (QS): Of all Mac app, QS is by far kick ass the most! And this is app only available in Mac. I've been using it for a while and it is truly a must-have. It's basically an app launcher with search capability but things you could do with this baby, awesomeness! If you've been nursing carpal tunnel, do your self a favor and try QS. Be warned though, QS goes against the whole Mac philosophy of "dumb-down" approach and adhere more closely to time-honored Unix/Linux tradition of using keyboard (rather than your mouse) to work with your computer. QS is what vim is to Unix/Linux. Steep learning curve but well worth the effort in increase productivity.

• Firefox: The day Safari have the following add-ons, is the day I ditched Firefox.

* Gmail Notifier, check new emails w/o logging in manually.

* AdBlock Plus, for those pesky Internet ads and pop-ups.

* Delicious Bookmark add-on

* Seamless integration with Tor for bypassing block sites at work.
* Vimperator. If you haven't used vi/vim before, this plugin is probably not for you. It is so un-Mac, it's ridiculously awesome!

• Transmission: Unless you've been living under a rock for last couple of years, then you've probably have seen, used and abused the charms of bittorrent. Transmission is lightweight and über-fast client for the bittorrent universe. Wat!?!? You haven't heard of bittorrent? Think of it as iTunes store but with wider selection, and all gratis!

• VirtualBox: It's a virtualization software which is basically a way for you to run 'guest' operating system on top of your Mac and it acts like any other apps inside your Mac. If you're familiar with Parallel or VMware, it's the same except that it's open-source so no need to pay extra (actually, apps I've mentioned here are all open-source). Handy, if you need to test networking stuff or do cross-platform development or install apps that only run on Windows.

• VLC: Over 90% of all movies and torrent videos you'll download are in avi format. For reason unknown, Quicktime choose not to support it. Use it for all the movies/videos that QuickTime doesn't play nice with.

• Fink: In you're coming in from Linux/Unix background, then you'll surely love this little app that could. If you used a lot open-source tools that hasn't been prettified for Mac, you should get this. Fink is basically a wrapper to install/run open-source apps.

If you have no idea how flexible or how powerful open-source tools are compared to their Mac brethren, check this: My nephew CJ love playing with PhotoBooth with his PowerRanger moves. So if I want to collate all his pics into a single, animated picture, I would simply type the following command from the Terminal console:

convert pictures*.jpg animated.gif

And there you go. The command might seem archaic, but here's the result:

iLife can of course, do the same thing, and so if working on command line is not your cup of tea, you can always revert back to it.

Of Conclusion and Trophy Girlfriends

So how do I like my new Mac? Linux (for those not in the know) is like having a smart, intelligent girlfriend. Nice! Mac is like having a trophy gf. Rock on!

Coolness, my gentle anonymous dear readers, is to basked in the reflected glory and pure awesomeness of having a Mac. Supersonic!