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The Road Warrior Mailbag - November 17, 2008

Voice Recognition on the Mac

From Ken Shifrin

Hello Charles

I hope you don't mind me writing to you to ask for your advice. I got your address from Richard Houston in response to a posting I made on the OxMacUser group. He thought you had experience in this area.

Briefly, we're about to buy an Intel iMac and some speech-to-text software. We've been advised that the best thing is Dragon Naturally Speaking v10 which we'd have to run on Windows via Parallels Desktop. We loathe using Windows, and I've seen a program called MacSpeech Dictate which seems to get very good reviews, especially in its latest iteration (v.1.2). I wondered what your experience of these is and which of these paths you thought we might best pursue. Or maybe there's another alternative altogether that we've overlooked?

Any help or advice you can give would be greatly appreciated. I look forward to hearing from you.

Best wishes
Ken Shifrin

___

Hi Ken;

I do have about ten years experience using Macs with dictation software. I'm still running a Power PC Mac, so haven't been able to upgrade from MacSpeech's iListen 1.8 to their new Dictate program, but I can convey based on the experience of colleagues who've tested Dictate that it's an excellent dictation program, which is no surprise since it uses the same speech engine as Dragon Naturally Speaking which you've been correctly advised is the gold standard of speech recognition software.

My inclination for use with a Mac would be to go with native Dictate rather than running DNS in Parallels. If you do decide to pursue the latter solution, I suggest contacting DNS Support before purchasing the software to confirm that the program will be a happy camper running in Parallels Desktop. I'm not sure if there would be any problematical issues there or not.

I hope this helps a bit.

Charles


***



cmoore@macopinion.com

Note: Letters to The Road Warrior may or may not be published in The Road Warrior Mailbag at the editor's discretion. Correspondents' email addresses will NOT be published unless the correspondent specifically requests publication. Letters may be edited for length and/or context.

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New MacBook Pro A Performer In Spite Of “Questionable” Apple Choices

It's always interesting to peruse non Apple-centric reviewers' impressions of Apple products. In his review of the new unibody 15" MacBook Pro, Computershopper's Les L. Shu is generally positive, but says that the poverty of accessories and adapters it ships with - none besides the necessary power cord and AC adapter is a chintzy bit of nickeling and dimeing for top-of-the-line computer. Especially that MiniDisplay port adapter that will set you back an extra $99, that is if you can find one at all.

In the positive column, Shu notes that while saying a laptop is built like a tank is a bit of a cliché, it does appropriately describe the impression he got from the MacBook Pro's solid, dense construction, which designer Jonathan Ive claims to be "fundamentally thinner, stronger and more robust". That impression may be a bit illusory according to this report from ITWire, but I'm sure Apple will take the compliment.

Back in criticism mode, Shu is not enchanted by the black accents around the screen, back, and keyboard, which in his estimation slightly cheapens the feel of the machine, a point on which I've been in agreement since the black accent theme debuted on the MacBook Pro last January. I rather like it on the aluminum iMac, but it doesn't translate gracefully to the laptop form factor - I think the prominence of the keyboard as a murkily black area with the laptop form factor is the key to this impression if you will. The aluminum-colored keyboards on the old school MacBook Pros and PowerBooks look classier and more aesthetically-pleasing to my eyes.

Another gripe I share with Shu is the MacBook Pro's relative poverty of ports. "The system still has only two USB ports, which is sure to annoy those who love to plug in a ton of peripherals," he comments. It certainly annoys me, and when even cheapo (and thin) PC netbooks often come with three USB ports, Ethernet, and internal modem, and a card reader, I don't perceive any reasonable excuse for Apple not doing likewise with the MacBook Pro, or for that matter the MacBook, other than a perverse ideological minimalism when it comes to I/O support. FireWire 400 is gone too, leaving us with a single FireWire 800 port, which is backward compatible with FireWire 400 but you need an adapter dongle which is more extra expense and bother to live with. At least it still has FireWire, which the unibody MacBook does not.

Speaking of which, if you'll forgive a digression, in my Low End Mac review this week of the Targus USB 2.0 High-Speed File Transfer Cable. which is designed to facilitate transferring large amounts of data from computer to computer via USB, serving essentially has a USB substitute for Apple's built-in FireWire Target Disk Mode, I note that this cable could ease the sting and become a popular workaround for buyers of the new, FireWire-bereft, Unibody MacBooks.

The High-Speed File Share Cable offers a claims maximum nominal transfer rate of 480 Mbps, although that speed will never be attained in real world applications, with something like 260 Mbps being more likely on most machines. However, some testers have reported that USB throughput on the Unibody MacBooks seems to be significantly faster than we've been accustomed to with older Macs.

The genius of the Targus High-Speed Data Transfer Cable is that it includes built-in file transfer software called EasySuite that works with both Mac OS X and Windows OS - it can be used to transfer files cross-platform as well as from Mac-to-Mac or Windows-to-Windows. And unlike FireWire Target Disk mode, one of the computers does not have to be shut down and restarted in order to set up file transfers.

As for another magesterial Apple decision not to offer a matte display option with the new MacBook Pro, Shu observes, and again I agree, that while a glossy display tends not to be an issue with a consumer notebook, the MacBook Pro is targeted at professionals. Personally I think they probably would have continued offering a matte display except it just doesn't work with the display under glass styling motif, so function has followed form as is so often the case with Apple hardware.

Shu notes that the MacBook Pro delivers in the performance column but still runs hot. This is true, although there has been a substantial improvement with the latest Penryn Core 2 Duo CPUs, which draw less power (and thus create less heat) than older C2Ds, and especially the Core Duo chips used in the earliest MacBook Pros and MacBooks. OnScreen Scientist.com reports that his 1sr Gen Core Duo MacBook Pro can hit operating temperatures of 100° C or 212° F, (the boiling point of water) while running graphics-intensive software under Windows Vista installed on a Boot Camp partition on my first generation MacBook Pro, and has recently observed temperatures under Mac OS 10.5.5 climbing to levels that make the Vista temperatures seem mild in comparison, however, hitting 104° C with the Microsoft Update program open, and 121° C (250° F) during a photo download with a browser before automatically shutting down.

Overall Les L. Shu concludes that from out-of-the-box to starting the OS to firing up applications, the company has made the experience completely seamless and enjoyable, and although some of Apple's choices are questionable, they are minor compared to how well the machine works. It's just too bad that Apple couldn't rethink those questionable choices and give us what we want rather than what they decide is good for us, which I think would be good for them.

A ChangeWave survey of 3,699 consumers conducted between Oct. 23 and Nov. 3 found that a full third of US notebook buyers surveyed, or 33 percent, plan to buy some form of Apple notebook during the holiday season or within the next 90 days from the start of November, and that about 20 percent of the 33 percent leans towards the higher-end MacBook Air and MacBook Pro systems, with notably a relatively small 7 percent likely to buy the new unibody 13-inch MacBooks (could the misbegotten decision to drop FireWire support be hurting worse than Apple anticipated?), with nearly as many at 6 percent setting their purchase sights the holdover (and FireWire-equipped) while plastic MacBook.



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Charles W. Moore

The Road Warrior archives may be accessed from the link at the bottom of this page


Note: Letters to The Road Warrior may or may not be published in The Road Warrior Mailbag at the editor's discretion. Correspondents' email addresses will NOT be published unless the correspondent specifically requests publication. Letters may be edited for length and/or context.

If you would prefer that your message not appear in The Road Warrior Mailbag, we would still like to hear from you. Just clearly mark your message "NOT FOR PUBLICATION," and it will not be published.

CM

Is The End Of Matte Notebook Displays A Problem For You?

The two most prolific complaints about the new MacBook and MacBook Pro models are abandonment of FireWire entirely on the MacBook, and cutback to just one FireWire 800 port on the MacBook Pro (which is backward compatible with FireWire 400 via an adapter dongle), and the discontinuation of a matte finish display option on the Pro (the MacBook has always has a 13.3' glossy display).

Personally, the FireWire issue is the more problematical one for me. Maybe someday, but I relay on FireWire too much at this stage of the game to give up on it and resort to the various inconvenient and inferior workarounds that have been floated. There's no substitute for FireWire Target Disk Mode, and I still have a bunch of FireWire peripherals that I won't ready to give up on for probably years to come yet. That factor alone will most likely be the tipping point in making my next computer an early 2008 model MacBook Pro. I'm torn, because I really an smitten with the engineering of the new unibody MacBook cases and a new MacBook Pro is too expensive for my wallet, but FireWire is close to being non-negotiable for me.

I'm more ambivalent about the matte vs. glossy screen issue. Refurbished old school MacBook Pros are available with either, and I haven't decided which way to jump, but I'm probably leaning toward matte without really strong preference. They both have their strong and weak points, and after all we used to live with glossy glass displays in desktop systems not so long ago and curved-surface ones at that. However, for some folks this is a matter of passionate conviction, and as with FireWire for me, is a deal-breaker that's settled them on grabbing one of the outgoing MacBook Pro models, with some even vowing to never buy a Mac portable with a glossy screen.

Another issue that's surfaced, so to speak, with both the MacBook and MacBook Pro unibodies is that even glossy screen fans are finding that while the brightly LED backlit displays go a long way toward overcoming glare and reflection off the display area itself, the wide black display bezel surround, likewise under glass, is of course not backlit and under certain light conditions essentially becomes a mirror surface aiming glare and reflections right at the user. Even in the Apple PR Press images that appear here, reflections are evident.

One potential workaround is Photodon's $15.50 anti-glare film ( http://www.photodon.com ) that can be used to cover the entire display surface including the black bezel surround.

The Photodon film uses a no-residue silicon resin adhesive, that can be removed without leaving sticky residue behind. According to a mini-review on MacInTouch this week Photodon film does indeed go a long way toward subduing glare and reflections from the unibodies' mirror-like screen surface, although they say it it adds some graininess to the image, making it a tradeoff. This is definitely a matter of taste, but if you can't abide the glossy reflections, the Photodon film redeems the new MacBook. For just, it's a very cheap way to vastly improve the MacBook's day-to-day usability.

Matte display advocates cite the lack of reflection and glare, and superior characteristics for color calibration, while glossy fans tout bright, more saturated and vivid colors and intense blacks.

Some have suggested that dumping matte displays is a cost-cutting measure. That could be a subsidiary factor, but the main reason as I see it is that the "under glass" motif is an integral design element of the new machines, and so far as I can fathom there is no practical way that could be made to work with a matte display option, so once again with Apple, form trumps function.

For that matter, the elimination of FireWire on the MacBook is also a consequence of styling rather than cost. FireWire ports, per se, are not that expensive. but the ultra-compact motherboard design necessary to fit inside that MacBook Air-esque, ultra-slim enclosure simply left no room for a FireWire port, or so they say.

I had been concerned about this ever since the MacBook Air rolled out in January, since it seemed virtually inevitable that future MacBooks and MacBook Pros would follow the design themes introduced with the Air. The shift to a Mini DisplayPort from the former DVI video port on the MacBook Pro is another example. As in previous instances, Apple will try to brazen it out and convince us that less is more, but it patently is not.

That said, I would rate prospects for restoration of either FireWire or matte displays as slim to nil. The only instances I can think of where Apple restored lost or omitted I/O support was in adding FireWire to the late 2000 iBook, a second USB port to the 2001 iBook, and a FireWire 800 port on the 15" MacBook Pro at its first or second revision.

With the under glass display motif pushing matte off the options list, the last of the Mohicans there will be when the 17" MacBook Pro gets replaced by a unibody model, probably in the spring of 2009, so if you really want a new Mac notebook with a matte screen, better grab one of the end-of-the-line old school 17-inchers while they're still available.



***



cmoore@macopinion.com

Note: Letters to The Road Warrior may or may not be published in The Road Warrior Mailbag at the editor's discretion. Correspondents' email addresses will NOT be published unless the correspondent specifically requests publication. Letters may be edited for length and/or context.

If you would prefer that your message not appear in The Road Warrior Mailbag, we would still like to hear from you. Just clearly mark your message "NOT FOR PUBLICATION," and it will not be published.

CM

The Road Warrior Mailbag - October 27, 2008

New Apple Notebooks Enticing But Not Without Shortcomings
New Apple Laptops
Laptop Laidback 3 Discount?



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New Apple Notebooks Enticing But Not Without Shortcomings

From Rick

Charles, I read your thoughts on Apple's new notebooks with interest because I value your views on such matters perhaps more than any other writer on this subject.

I ordered a maxed out MacBook Pro (2.8 Ghz., 7200 RPM 320 GB HD) the day they were announced, and I'd like to tell you why I'm pretty excited about the promise of it.

First, I've been wanting to consolidate to one machine after using both a desktop and a laptop/notebook for many years. I've attempted to do this twice in the past (once in 1998 when I switched to the Mac and again in 2005). I've been unsuccessful each time for one or two reasons. The primary factor in the past has been hard drive size. I simply couldn't get a portable Mac with a hard drive as large as I needed. I seemed to always be swapping files back and forth between my portable Mac and my desktop Mac at home.

A second reason was video capability. For the past two years, I've used a MacBook, which has been enough computer for most of my needs, but was very slow when editing video. Granted, I don't do a lot of video editing, but the MacBook simply isn't made for this kind of use with any regularity. I bought an aluminum iMac last year strictly for video editing which is a wonderful computer, but having it for this sole use seems like a waste of a good computer. Well, technically video editing wasn't the sole use of the iMac. I also kept my iTunes library on it because of the aforementioned issue with hard drive space.

So anyway, because over the years, I've come to the point where I use a portable machine 90% of the time, I really only felt I needed a Mac notebook. When Apple announced the new MacBook Pros last week, I felt like my answer had arrived.

I have a number of Firewire peripherals, so I had to opt for the MacBook Pro with which I'll use an adapter. But I wanted the larger 15" screen anyway if this is to become my only machine. Also, I know a lot of people are upset about the glossy screens, but for my purposes I've very much grown to like the glossy screens using one on my MacBook for the last two years and the iMac for the last year. I find that simply tilting the screen slightly usually takes away any significant glare.

Regarding my concern with hard drive space, if Apple had offered a 500 GB drive (which is now on the market from third parties) I would have opted for that, but I'm willing to be patient and upgrade the MacBook Pro myself later when even larger hard drive offerings arrive. One thing about the new MacBook Pros which is especially nice is how easy it is to swap out hard drives. My MacBook had been easy enough and I had already upgraded the hard drive on it once and performed the same kind of upgrade for a couple of my friends. But with the new MacBook Pros, Apple has recognized that consumers ought to be able to upgrade the storage space on laptops as easily as we can upgrade RAM.

Further, from what I understand, the new MacBook Pros use a SATA optical drive. This should mean that the drive could be replaced with a SECOND hard drive with very little effort (although I'm not sure yet how easy it will be to get to the drive). Frankly, I don't use an optical drive all that often anymore. I need one occasionally, but I certainly wouldn't mind having an external solution via USB2 for the optical drive.

With this kind of expandability--although it's not exactly the same--the new MacBook Pro may be the most expandable Mac portables since the Wallstreet/Pismo days.

Regarding video concerns, the dual Nvidia chips will certainly allow me to replace the iMac for the purpose of occasional video editing and then some.

But there may even be more advantage. Although Apple says the memory limit on the new MacBook Pros is 4 GB, there is much speculation going on as to whether 8 GB might not be the actual limit. Nvidia has confirmed that their chipset will not limit the MacBook Pros to 4 GB but will allow for 8 GB:
<http://blogs.computerworld.com/nvidia_says_new_macbook_pro_can_do_8gb_of_ram>http://blogs.computerworld.com/nvidia_says_new_macbook_pro_can_do_8gb_of_ram

Of course, right now the only question is whether or not Apple has crippled the MacBook Pros to a 4 GB ceiling. I haven't heard of anyone actually testing this out yet because two 4 GB chips cost upwards of $1100.

However, IF the new MacBook Pros can be expanded to 8 GB (RAM prices always come down eventually), this fact along with the easily expandable storage options could mean that these notebooks could have VERY long life spans for consumers.

So while a lot of folks weren't overly excited about the new offerings, I think they are quite significant in the ongoing evolution of Mac Portables. Mine should arrive today, and I'm looking forward to finally consolidating to one machine.

Rick

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Hi Rick;

Good to hear from you again, and thank you for sharing your thoughts on the new Mac ntebooks. I sounds like the new MacBook Pro hits the sweet spot for you.

I totally agree about the ease of swapping hard drives. Long overdue, and one of the most compelling features of these computers for me. Unfortunately, the new Pro models are out of my price range, and with good deals available on leftover and refurbished early 2008 MacBook Pros,which also have LED displays, I can;t justify the greater outlay for one of the newbies, especially in this economy with my retirement nestegg melting away like an ice cube in the hot July sun.

As for the RAM, perhaps you recall that the official Apple ceiling for the Pismo was (and remains) 512MB, but they happily support twice that. I have no idea whether the same dynamic will obtain in the new MacBooks.

Good point about expandability. Well short of expansion by grade, but definitely some enhanced flexiility with the second SATA bay.

Reportedly, getting at the insides isn't too bad with these 'Books. See this article.
http://blog.smalldog.com/article/1375/the-new-macbook-from-a-service-technicians-point-of-view/

I hope you will send us a report or two about how well you like your new MacBook Pro.

Charles







New Apple Laptops

From Lachlan

Hi Charles, just read your astute impressions of the new Apple portables.

Personally I'm saddened that Apple chose to differentiate the models by leaving FireWire off the MacBook. It seems to me that they are shooting themselves in the foot when it comes to the education sector, as many schools have drives, audio interfaces and cameras that all connect via firewire and are not going to rush out and purchase the MacBook Pros due to price. (I believe the entry level MacBook (White) is a run-out model that won't be around for much longer - and seriously, who "upgrades" to the same machine they already have anyway?) In Australia we are paying a price premium, with the new Unibody MacBook retailing at $2099 - with less connectivity!!

This leaves the door open to other manufacturers and operating systems surely.

Steve and Co need to get back into the real world, where people have peripherals they expect to be able to use. (It's not like firewire was replaced with a new superior standard ...)

I don't find the new laptops compelling enough to justify their price especially with the dearth of connectivity options. (Only 2 USB 2 ports on a > $2000 laptop? Ridiculous.)

Thanks for the review. I'll be looking for a last gen MacBook Pro too.

Cheers,
Lachlan

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Hi Lachlan;

Glad you enjoyed the article.

I agree with you about FireWire, although I don't think it was a product differentiation decision so much as that the tiny logic board necessary to fit inside that ultrathin unibody case with a footprint dictated by the 13'3" display simply didn't have room for a FireWire port.

Personally, I have too many FireWire peripherals that I have no intention of giving up on for a good long time yet to seriously consider buying a machine that doesn't support FW.

Charles







Laptop Laidback 3 Discount?

From Jimmy Yuan

Thanks for your intro.

Laptop Laidback 3 Stand For Reclined Computing Re-Engineered is a good and funny goods, but $99 is too expensive. Where have a discount price?

Some can help me?

___

Hello Jimmy;

Actually, that $99 price is a substantial cut from the price of the earlier, Laidback 2 model which sold for $139.

As far as I know, the only vendor for the Laptop Laidback is the manufacturer and no discounts are available.

Charles



***



cmoore@macopinion.com

Note: Letters to The Road Warrior may or may not be published in The Road Warrior Mailbag at the editor's discretion. Correspondents' email addresses will NOT be published unless the correspondent specifically requests publication. Letters may be edited for length and/or context.

If you would prefer that your message not appear in The Road Warrior Mailbag, we would still like to hear from you. Just clearly mark your message "NOT FOR PUBLICATION," and it will not be published.

CM

New Apple Notebooks Enticing But Not Without Shortcomings

Now that I've had a week to ponder the new MacBook and MacBook Pro models Apple unveiled last Tuesday, impressions are beginning to gel, and a lot of equivocation is setting in.

For example, I really like the styling of the new machines, but lament the engineering and practicality compromises that were necessary to achieve the look - pretty much the same dynamic that applied to the MacBook Air last January. The seductiveness of the aesthetics can't be denied, but it comes at a heavy cost in functionality.

The casualty list is lengthy: FireWire 400 on both machines (the Pro still has a lone FireWire 800 port, which can support FW 400 with an adapter dongle); the DVI video port on the Pro, since the skinny profiled unibody enclosure only has room for a Mini DisplayPort, a matte finish display option on the MacBook Pro - this one largely because of the "under glass" styling motif; roughly 16 percent less battery capacity on the MacBook Pro - the former model's 5600mAh/60Wh spec. downgraded to 4700mAh/50Wh.

However, they really look cool if you can live within the new limitations.

On the upside, new MacBook and 15-inch MacBook Pro's unibody enclosures should be extremely strong and rigid, being crafted from a single block of aluminum, and both machines have more powerful graphics than their predecessors, using brand-new NVIDIA chipset technology. The MacBook gets NVIDIA's new GeForce 9400M integrated 3D graphics, which are expected to be dramatically superior to the Intel GMA X3100 integrated graphics used in the preceding MacBooks, and which should be able to make the Macbook into a much more satisfactory gaming platform, although still well short of what it would take to satisfy serious gamers.

However, the new MacBook Pro gets both the NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics and a full fledged NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT discrete graphics processor unit with 256MB or 512MB of GDDR3 video memory. All good in that department.

Both new models gat LED display backlights, which is an advance from the previous MacBooks, although the 15' MacBook Pro has been LED backlit since June, 2007. Another point to consider is that the glass surface of the display unit is bonded to the screen lid and can't be non-destructively disassembled, so if the glass ever gets broken, you'll be obliged to get a whole lid/display assembly to replace it.

Also new across the board are glass Multi-Touch trackpads with almost 40 percent more tracking area than before and supporting more Multi-Touch gestures like pinch, rotate and swipe. The new trackpads are also "buttonless." You just press downward on the trackpad surface to click, a feature that's getting mixed reviews.

Commendably, the entire new MacBook family meets stringent Energy Star 4.0, EPEAT Gold and RoHS environmental standards, containing no brominated flame retardants, using only PVC-free internal cables and components (the MagSafe power adapter cord still contains PVC), and displays that are mercury-free and made with arsenic-free glass.

The new MacBook is essentially a smaller MacBook Pro and available in two models: the base unit with a 2.0 GHz Core 2 Duo processor and a 160GB 5400 rpm hard drive, and a 2.4 GHz version with a 250GB 5400 rpm hard drive and a backlit keyboard, both with 3MB shared L2 cache and a 1066 MHz front-side bus. At At 0.95-inches thick and weighing 4.5 pounds, the new MacBooks are a tenth of a pound lighter than the old and sorely missed 12" PowerBook, and arguably at long last a suitable MacIntel replacement for that machine, although some will argue that the footprint obligated by the 13.3" display still makes then too large for a real 12" PowerBook replacement. I would suggest that for 12" PowerBook aficionados, this is probably as good as it's going to get unless Apple takes my advice and engineers a netbook Mac. IMHO, the new MacBook's biggest shortcoming as a 12" PowerBook successor is the lack of FireWire rather than the footprint.$1,299, and the high-end model at $1,599, or $100 more than the previous black plastic MacBook. The entry-level white plastic older model is carried over with bigger hard drives and a price cut to $999 in compensation.

The new 15-inch MacBook Pro measures also 0.95-inches thick and weighs a modest 5.5 pounds. It's available in 2.4 GHz with 3MB shared L2 cache and 2.53 GHz Core 2 Duo with 6MB shared L2 cache versions, and a 2.8 GHz CPU is a build to order option, all with a 1066 MHz front-side bus. The 2.4 GHz model has a 250GB 5400 rpm hard drive and the 2.53 GHz version a 320GB 5400 rpm hard drive, with a 128 GB solid state drive optional. Price points have held at $1,999 and $2,499.

All models except the 2.53 GHz MacBook Pro come with 2 GB of RAM upgradable to 4 GB, while the 2.53 GHz unit has 4 GB standard. All have 8x internal SuperDrive optical drives, built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, a Gigabit Ethernet port; a built-in iSight video camera; two USB 2.0 ports; one audio line in and one audio line out port, each supporting both optical digital and analog. The MacBook Pros have one FireWire 800 port and an ExpressCard/34 expansion card slot.

The MacBook Air also gets a mild tweaking for its first revision, with Intel Intel Core 2 Duo CPUs at 1.6 GHz and 1.86 GHz, with with 6MB shared L2 cache, the NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics, and a new 128 GB solid state drive option. Price points remain the same at $1,799 and $2,499, the latter with the SSD.

Finally, the old school 17" MacBook Pro is held over for a few more months until a new unibody model is ready with the high resolution 1920 x 1200 LED-backlit display now standard and a larger 320GB hard drive or an optional 128GB solid state drive at the same $,2,799 price point.

Personally, I'm both pleased and disappointed, with the new models, especially the diminishment of I/O connectivity across the board and the complete jettisoning of FireWire on the MacBook, which I would otherwise find very enticing as a compact MacBook Pro in all but name.

I'm not smitten with the glass, buttonless trackpads, nor for that matter the MacBook/MacBook Air style chiclet keyboard on the MacBook Pro. These are nice laptops and I don't doubt that many owners will be thrilled with them, but my inclination is now to pick up an early 2008 revision 15" MacBook Pro .

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Appendix - The Apple Late 2008 Notebooks Lineup Specs.

The new MacBook, 15-inch MacBook Pro, and 17-inch MacBook Pro are now shipping and the new MacBook Air will be available in early November through the Apple Store ( http://www.apple.com ), Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers. An updated 13-inch white MacBook featuring 2.1 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processors, a 120GB 5400 rpm hard drive and a slot-load 8X SuperDrive is now available for $999 (US).

The 2.0 GHz, 13-inch aluminum MacBook, for a suggested retail price of $1,299 (US), includes:

* 13.3-inch widescreen LED-backlit 1280 x 800 glossy display;
* 2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 3MB shared L2 cache;
* 1066 MHz front-side bus;
* 2GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM, expandable to 4GB;
* NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics;
* 160GB serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm, with Sudden Motion Sensor;
* a slot-load 8X SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW) optical drive;
* Mini DisplayPort for video output (adapters sold separately);
* built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;
* Gigabit Ethernet port;
* built-in iSight video camera;
* two USB 2.0 ports;
* one audio line in and one audio line out port, each supporting both optical digital and analog;
* glass Multi-Touch trackpad; and
* 60 Watt MagSafe Power Adapter.

The 2.4 GHz aluminum MacBook, for a suggested retail price of $1,599 (US), includes:

* 13.3-inch widescreen LED-backlit 1280 x 800 glossy display;
* 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 3MB shared L2 cache;
* 1066 MHz front-side bus;
* 2GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM, expandable to 4GB;
* NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics;
* 250GB serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm, with Sudden Motion Sensor;
* a slot-load 8X SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW) optical drive;
* Mini DisplayPort for video output (adapters sold separately);
* built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;
* Gigabit Ethernet port;
* built-in iSight video camera;
* two USB 2.0 ports;
* one audio line in and one audio line out port, each supporting both optical digital and analog;
* glass Multi-Touch trackpad and illuminated keyboard; and
* 60 Watt MagSafe Power Adapter.

Build-to-order options for the MacBook include the ability to upgrade to 4GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM, a 250GB 5400 rpm, 320GB 5400 rpm hard drive, a 128GB solid state drive, Mini DisplayPort to DVI Adapter, Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter (for 30-inch DVI display), Mini DisplayPort to VGA Adapter, Apple USB Modem, Apple Remote, Apple MagSafe Airline Adapter and the AppleCare Protection Plan.

The 2.4 GHz, 15-inch aluminum MacBook Pro, for a suggested retail price of $1,999 (US), includes:

* 15.4-inch widescreen LED-backlit 1440 x 900 glossy display;
* 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 3MB shared L2 cache;
* 1066 MHz front-side bus;
* 2GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM, expandable to 4GB;
* NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics;
* NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT discrete graphics with 256MB GDDR3 video memory;
* 250GB serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm, with Sudden Motion Sensor;
* a slot-load 8X SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW) optical drive;
* Mini DisplayPort for video output (adapters sold separately);
* built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;
* Gigabit Ethernet port;
* built-in iSight video camera;
* two USB 2.0 ports;
* one FireWire 800 port;
* ExpressCard/34 expansion card slot;
* one audio line in and one audio line out port, each supporting both optical digital and analog;
* glass Multi-Touch trackpad and illuminated keyboard; and
* 85 Watt MagSafe Power Adapter.

The 2.53 GHz aluminum MacBook Pro, for a suggested retail price of $2,499 (US), includes:

* 15.4-inch widescreen LED-backlit 1440 x 900 glossy display;
* 2.53 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 6MB shared L2 cache;
* 1066 MHz front-side bus;
* 4GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM;
* NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics;
* NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT discrete graphics with 512MB GDDR3 video memory;
* 320GB serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm, with Sudden Motion Sensor;
* a slot-load 8X SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW) optical drive;
* Mini DisplayPort for video output (adapters sold separately);
* built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;
* Gigabit Ethernet port;
* built-in iSight video camera;
* two USB 2.0 ports;
* one FireWire 800 port;
* ExpressCard/34 expansion card slot;
* one audio line in and one audio line out port, each supporting both optical digital and analog;
* glass Multi-Touch trackpad and illuminated keyboard; and
* 85 Watt MagSafe Power Adapter.

Build-to-order options for the MacBook Pro include a 2.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, the ability to upgrade to 4GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM, 250GB 7200 rpm, 320GB 5400 rpm or a 320GB 7200 rpm hard drive, a 128GB solid state drive, Mini DisplayPort to DVI Adapter, Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter (for 30-inch DVI display), Mini DisplayPort to VGA Adapter, Apple USB Modem, Apple Remote, Apple MagSafe Airline Adapter and the AppleCare Protection Plan.

The 1.6 GHz MacBook Air, for a suggested retail price of $1,799 (US), includes:

* 13.3-inch widescreen LED-backlit high resolution 1280 x 800 glossy display;
* 1.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 6MB shared L2 cache;
* 1066 MHz front-side bus;
* 2GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM;
* NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics;
* 120GB serial ATA hard drive running at 4200 rpm, with Sudden Motion Sensor;
* Mini DisplayPort for video output (adapters sold separately);
* built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;
* built-in iSight video camera;
* one USB 2.0 port;
* one headphone port;
* Multi-Touch trackpad and illuminated keyboard; and
* 45 Watt MagSafe Power Adapter.

The 1.86 GHz MacBook Air, for a suggested retail price of $2,499 (US), includes:

* 13.3-inch widescreen LED-backlit 1280 x 800 glossy display;
* 1.86 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 6MB shared L2 cache;
* 1066 MHz front-side bus;
* 2GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM;
* NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics;
* 128GB solid state drive;
* Mini DisplayPort for video output (adapters sold separately);
* built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;
* built-in iSight video camera;
* one USB 2.0 port;
* one headphone port;
* Multi-Touch trackpad and illuminated keyboard; and
* 45 Watt MagSafe Power Adapter.

Build-to-order options and accessories for the MacBook Air include the MacBook Air SuperDrive, Apple USB Ethernet Adapter, Mini DisplayPort to DVI Adapter, Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter (for 30-inch DVI display), Mini DisplayPort to VGA Adapter, Apple USB Modem, Apple MagSafe Airline Adapter, Apple Remote and the AppleCare Protection Plan.

The 2.5GHz 17-inch MacBook Pro, for a suggested retail price of $2,799 (US), includes:

* 17-inch widescreen LED-backlit 1920 x 1200 glossy display;
* 2.5 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 6MB shared L2 cache;
* 800 MHz front-side bus;
* 4GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM;
* NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics with 512MB with GDDR3 video memory;
* 320GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm, with Sudden Motion Sensor;
* a slot-load 8X SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW) optical drive;
* DVI output port for video output (VGA adapter included);
* built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;
* Gigabit Ethernet port;
* built-in iSight video camera;
* three USB 2.0 ports;
* one FireWire 800 port and one FireWire 400 port;
* ExpressCard/34 expansion card slot;
* one audio line in and one audio line out port, each supporting both optical digital and analog;
* Multi-Touch trackpad and illuminated keyboard; and
* 85 Watt MagSafe Power Adapter.

Build-to-order options for the 17-inch MacBook Pro include a 2.6 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, a 320GB 7200 rpm hard drive, a 128GB solid state drive, anti-glare display, Apple USB Modem, Apple Remote, Apple MagSafe Airline Adapter and the AppleCare Protection Plan.

*EPEAT is an independent organization that helps customers compare the environmental performance of notebooks and desktops. Products meeting all of the 23 required criteria and at least 75 percent of the optional criteria are recognized as EPEAT Gold products. The EPEAT program was conceived by the US EPA and is based on IEEE 1680 standard for Environmental Assessment of Personal Computer Products. For more information visit http://www.epeat.net.

**The MobileMe service is available to persons aged 13 or older. Annual membership fee and internet access required. Terms and conditions apply.

***Time Machine requires an additional hard drive (sold separately).

****Video chatting requires a broadband Internet connection; fees may apply.



***



cmoore@macopinion.com

Note: Letters to The Road Warrior may or may not be published in The Road Warrior Mailbag at the editor's discretion. Correspondents' email addresses will NOT be published unless the correspondent specifically requests publication. Letters may be edited for length and/or context.

If you would prefer that your message not appear in The Road Warrior Mailbag, we would still like to hear from you. Just clearly mark your message "NOT FOR PUBLICATION," and it will not be published.

CM

The Road Warrior Mailbag - From The Archive - October 20, 2008

• MCS computer sensitivities
• Computer Workarounds For The Chemically Sensitive [Originally Published March 26, 2001]

MCS computer sensitivities

From Daniel

Hi,

I recently read your article here.

I was wondering where you got that list from OSHA about the chemicals released by computers. thats a pretty nasty list. I tried searching OSHA's website but couldn't find anything.

Daniel

___

Hi Daniel;

That was a while back. I can't find my research notes for that article, and I struck out with Google as well. The resource may no longer be available.

These ones may be of some help.

http://www.ehcd.com/websteen/flame_retardants.htm

http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/assets/binaries/toxic-tech-testing

http://www.videojug.com/interview/the-chemicals-in-my-computer-2

Charles

___

Re: MCS computer sensitivities

I have a website... not sure if you've seen it.
http://www.rawair.net

You can ignore the enclosures I put on the site. I'm going to be halting this effort and totally changing the enclosure design and construction to something more more visually appealing and lower priced.

Thanks for the info... It sure is hard to find out what chemicals outgas from devices..

___

Hi Daniel;

Bravo for pursuing this project. There was someone marketing computer enclosures in the late '90s, but disappeared. I get occasional queries from readers looking for a source, and have only been able to share the ideas for my own homemade laptop enclosures.

I hope you will get around to a laptop enclosure model. In several respects, enclosing a laptop is easier than with a desktop, thanks to their smaller size and self-contained nature.

Things are improving slowly. Did you see Apple's 2008 Environmental Update signed by Steve Jobs?

A couple of points are particularly topical.

"Last year we announced the unprecedented goal of eliminating polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and brominated flame retardants (BFRs) from Apple products by the end of 2008. We also pledged to remove mercury from our displays and arsenic from our display glass as we transition to more efficient light-emitting diode (LED) technology.

"The greatest of these challenges has been eliminating PVC and BFRs, which many other companies have only promised to phase out of certain parts like enclosures or printed circuit board laminates. In contrast, we are removing all forms of bromine and chlorine throughout the entire product, not just PVC and BFRs. Apple has qualified and tested thousands of components and mechanical plastics as bromine and chlorine free, and we are in the final stages of developing and certifying PVC-free power cables.

"I’m proud to report that all of Apple’s new product designs are on track to meet our 2008 year-end goal."

You can read the entire document here:
http://www.apple.com/environment/update/

Charles

***


From The Archive - Computer Workarounds For The Chemically Sensitive

For our From The Archive selection this week I've chosen an earlier The Road Warrior column on the topic of chemical emissions from computers, originally published March 26, 2001.

Notwithstanding the measures Apple has recently undertaken referenced in the recent Apple 2008 Environmental Update referenced in my reply to Daniel above, disappointingly little has been done to remediate the situation in the past seven years, and indeed the Intel based Macs, both notebook and desktop, have been among the worst offenders based on the volume of mail I've received from computer-using chemically-sensitive folks since 2006. It's good to hear that Apple is addressing more conventinal toxicity and recycling issues, but there is little indication that the problems of chemically hypersensitive users are being tackled.

A recent spike of interest in the topic catalyzed by a report in the French newspaper Liberation regarding issues allegedly encountered by some MAc Pro users is a case in point.

For Google machine translation click here.

And incidentally, both my old WallStreet, and the three PowerBook G3 Pismos I've owned subsequently all did eventually gas off to a degree that they no longer cause me problems, but it took literally years after their manufacture for the fumes to subside.

___

Computer Workarounds For The Chemically Sensitive [Originally Published March 26, 2001]


Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, with which I and and unfortunately growing cohort of others are afflicted, makes one's relationship with computers a bittersweet affair. On the one hand, a computer connected to the Internet is a means of communication and a tool for interaction with a world that many of us are obliged to keep at arm's length. MCS is not sometimes called "20th Century Disease" for nothing.

The other side of the computer coin for some of us struggling with this illness is that computers contain a lot of plastics, and plastics tend to gas off chemical vapors. Computers, especially newer ones, also tend to run hot, which increases their chemical emissions.

For example, I never had a problem with my PowerBook 5300, even when it was brand new, but I have severe reactions to my 233 MHz WallStreet PowerBook, which I am obliged to isolate in a glass case, force-vented away from my work area.

My level of sensitivity fluctuates somewhat, and during relatively good periods, I can tolerate my UMAX S.-900 tower machine. Most of the time, however, I have to direct its cooling fan exhaust to the outer atmosphere through ducting that I have fabricated.

I've written from time to time about my MCS travails, and I hear frequently from other folks who have similar difficulties. The thread of correspondence with a reader that appears below is a good example. With her permission, I'm including part of our exchange in this column.

Chemical Sensitivities and the G4 Titanium PowerBook

Hello Charles,

I read your article on chemical sensitivity and computers with interest. I am also chemically sensitive and so share some of your difficulties. I have had two PowerBooks over the last few years - a 1400cs and a G3 "Kanga" (second hand), both of which fortunately emit few fumes and are safe for me to use (I have them still).

For various complicated reasons, I am possibly about to lose my friendly old Kanga and be given a G4 Titanium PowerBook (gasp). I gather you have had recent experience with this machine, and I was wondering how 'toxic' you found it (i.e. how much it smelt). I had thought originally that it would be a relatively safe machine because of the metal casing, but I have since discovered that the metal is coated with something. I have been lucky with PowerBooks and fumes so far, but my luck may just run out with this new, powerful, hot-running machine, and I'd hate to have a brand spanking new G4 which I couldn't use.

Any comments or insight would be appreciated.

___

Hi;

This is a very hard issue to judge for someone else.

Basically, I have not been able to use any PowerBook since the G3 Series II (the WallStreet I was not a problem for me) without a gas mask or isolation case because of the phenolic and plastic odor. My own WallStreet II lives in a glass case.

The metal skin of the TiBook is a plus, but you still have those phenolic circuit boards in there gassing off. It depends on your tolerance for the sort of phenolics they use at the PowerBook manufacturing facility in Taiwan. (The WallStreet Is I tested were made in Ireland). Mine is almost zero.

The TiBook is painted, but that should gas off relatively quickly.

The ideal way to approach this is for you to try a TiBook in your normal work environment before committing.

Good luck!
Charles

___

Hello Charles,

Thanks for replying. I know it's an impossible thing to judge for someone else; I was just looking for clues. Testing in my 'normal work environment' probably isn't going to be possible, unfortunately.

My 'normal work environment' is my bed; I've been chronically ill and bedridden on and off for 16 years since being poisoned by pesticides in my late teens, hence the MCS.

My Kanga G3 PowerBook, which normally sits on a stand over my bed in front of me, is my connection with the outside world. Apple have it in for warranty repair at the moment (again...) and are considering replacing it with an iBook for free because I've had such reliability problems and warranty repair stuff-ups with it and the 1400cs I had before it (whoever said they were reliable?), So I can use the iBook they're offering me as credit towards a G4 PowerBook (I don't want an iBook). Because of all this, I don't think they're going to let me test the new machine beforehand, but I'll ask them of course....I have told them about my chemical sensitivities....

___

Hi again;

MCS is a hell of a thing, isn't it?

Sorry to hear about that, and about your PowerBook problems.

Like I said, it's hard to judge how someone else will react.

A family member who is a Mac tech and IT support person, is skeptical that I would ever be able to use a recent modern PowerBook, noting that their new Lombard PowerBook smells as strongly now than when it was new 14 months ago (this person is not chemically sensitive - just aware).

On one hand, PowerBooks are great for someone in your circumstances - small and self-contained. However, all that hot, smelly stuff is right there under your nose.

Charles

___

As I noted to the reader, I really am a poor judge of how likely a particular computer is to cause adverse reactions even for me, let alone someone else. My own sense of smell has been partially wiped out by a half-decade-long yeast infection in my sinuses. For example, I can't smell at all whatever it is coming from the WallStreet that clobbers me. My wife says she can smell it. I have a Kinesis ergonomic keyboard that I love the feel of, and that I can't smell even with my nose pressed to the keys, but using it for an hour puts me in pain for days (not in the arms and hands). There is some vestigial chemical emission from the plastics and/or circuit boards that doesn't agree with my immune system.

On the other hand, the MacAlly New Wave keyboard that I use most of the time never bothered me even new from the box. This idiosyncratic response to randomly combined chemical emissions from various products makes speculation about whether a particular product will cause difficulty or not futile.

Neither does sniffing a product in a dealer's showroom help much. It might identify something that smelled truly awful, but there are too many other odors floating around in an environment like that for such tests to be useful. An MCS person really has to try the product out in his/her normal working environment to discern whether there will be a problem.

Nevertheless, any effort on the part of manufacturers to cut down on chemical emissions from computers is welcome. An Apple authorized reseller friend of mine recently noted that:

"Regarding your environmental issues, I've noticed both the Cube and the TiBook are a whole lot less smelly when you first turn the things on straight out of the box than either iMacs or Pismo/WallStreet/Lombards. Who knows? They may have made them more toxic and less smelly, but at least in my unscientific analysis, there was a whole lot less physical nose irritation to deal with."

That's encouraging news. Still, I am skeptical that a really chemically sensitive person like myself is going to be able to use any of today's generation of hot-running computers comfortably when they are new.

___

Appendix

Research Confirms Computer Chemical Allergy Hazard

Swedish researchers have found that a chemical compound widely used as a flame retardant in plastics is emitted into office air in large quantities, especially during the first week of [computer] operation.

The compound, triphenyl phosphate [a flame retardant,] is known to cause allergic reactions in some people, with symptoms ranging from itching and nasal congestion to headaches.

The study, led by Conny Ostman of Stockholm University, was published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology, a publication of the American Chemical Society.

Ostman's team found that some monitors contained as much 10 percent of the allergenic compound, but that concentrations seemed to vary among various manufacturing plants, and may also be different at various times within the plants, which could explain my personal experience of reacting severely to one example of a particular computer model, but not to another seemingly identical one.

Even after 183 days operation, the equivalent of two years of working use, emitted levels of the allergen remained 10 times higher than normal background levels. "Even in offices with adequate ventilation, this compound could be a potential hazard for computer users," Ostman is quoted saying.


***



cmoore@macopinion.com

Note: Letters to The Road Warrior may or may not be published in The Road Warrior Mailbag at the editor's discretion. Correspondents' email addresses will NOT be published unless the correspondent specifically requests publication. Letters may be edited for length and/or context.

If you would prefer that your message not appear in The Road Warrior Mailbag, we would still like to hear from you. Just clearly mark your message "NOT FOR PUBLICATION," and it will not be published.

CM

The Road Warrior Mailbag and From The Archive, October 13, 2008

• Leopard on a G4

• From The Archive Learning To Love Leopard






Leopard on a G4

From: David Anasco

Charles,

Greetings from the Philippines. Still going strong here in Asia, serving the Lord and His people. While it has been quite a while since I last wrote, I still follow your writings avidly. Keep up the great work.

My question to you is about 10.5 on your G4 Powerbook. I am still running 10.4.11 on my 15' 1.5 Powerbook. I have been slow to upgrade because I am afraid of slow downs. When I was using my Pismo (still running strong by the way), I did two OS upgrades, 10.2 (I got it with 10.2 and OS 9) to 10.3 to 10.4, and each time the computer responded great, running a bit faster, especially boot time. I have always been impressed with this fact, that Mac OS upgrades run faster even on older hardware (try that with Windows!). However, I have been gun shy in upgrading to Leopard because of the Intel code found within. I was worried that things would run slower on my G4 Powerbook.

So what is your experience? Are things snappier or slower? Are the features of 10.5 worth it? I use Quicksilver pretty heavily as my application launcher, but I would love to use Spotlight instead, and I hear Spotlight on 10.5 is significantly faster. Is that your experience? Is Leopard worth it? Is your 1.33 G4 running faster or slower under 10.5. Just an FYI I have 1.5 gigs or RAM, how much do you have installed?

Your feedback and user experience/input would be greatly appreciated.

Dave

___

Hi Dave;

Good to hear from you.

Leopard certainly isn't faster than Tiger on my old 1.33 GHz G4 PowerBook, but it's not dramatically slower either. Startups take a bit longer, and if you tend to keep a lot of stuff on the Desktop the indexing for Quick Look takes a bit of time.

However, I haven't seriously considered going back to Tiger on this machine (I still have it installed on another partition) since about ten minures after booting up Leopard, even back with the really buggy performance of the first couple of revisions. OS 10.5.4 really stabilized things and as I noted in the article, 10.5.5 seems even better. Spaces got me hooked early on, and I'm now very addicted to it, and Spotlight is (mostly) improved too, although I depend greatly on Spotinside (freeware) for more nuanced and efficient searches.

I have 1.5 GB of RAM as well.

I still use Tiger 10.4.11 on my Pismos and my wife's G3 iBook though.

Hope this helps.

Charles

*************************************************************

Re: Leopard on a G4

From David Anasco

Thanks for your input. I now feel I can make the upgrade to Leopard. I will be going to Manila in a couple of weeks and will hopefully purchase a Leopard install DVD then.

***

From The Archive Learning To Love Leopard

Taking a cue from David Anasco's query, I've chosen for this week's "From The Archive" a column that actually first appeared on MacOpinion's siste site, Applelinks, on November 23, 2007, shortly after I first installed OS 10.5 Leopard on my PowerBook G4.

However, a few supplementary notes are in order. Apple did eventually address some of the Stacks feature shortcomings with the OS 10.5.2 release in February, adding a List view option, a Folder view option, and an updated background for Grid view. I still prefer the old-school Dock folder support in OS 10.4 and earlier, but I can live with the enhanced Stacks.

WindowShade X support was eventiually restored by Unsanity Software, much to my relief. Spaces worked as a kludge substitute in the interim, but wasn't a really satisfactory substitute for WindowShading, although I absolutely love Spaces for other reasons and have become addicted to it.

Unfortunately, the POP 3 and especially SMTP email throughput bug has never been squashed, although email performance did improve a bit with the most rwecent OS 10.5.5 update.

CM

___


Learning To Love Leopard [Originally Published, Novamber 23, 2007]

Now that I've been working with OS 10.5 Leopard for a couple of days, some impressions are beginning to gel.

First, I really like the new interface look, which I definitely prefer to previous versions of OS X. I'm especially fond of the new, simpler, classic-looking folder icons, which remind me a bit of the ones in my aesthetically favorite-ever Mac OS GUI, System 6. I'm even partial to the revised Dock's appearance, which I like better than the old OS X Dock aesthetically.

What I don't like about the new Dock is its lack of support for conventional folders. Stacks just don't do it for me, and I've been obliged to revert to aliases on the Desktop for some frequently-referenced folders that have dozens of files in them, and for which I absolutely need support for default List View in alphabetical or chronological order. I have many folders with hundreds of files in them, and folder icons just will not do. Consequently, Stacks have to be considered a retrograde development, arguably part of the "dumbing down" of the Mac OS with this version that some have complained about. Not cool. Hopefully, some of the inevitable third-party hacks to remedy this shortcoming will prove an acceptable fix.

However, probably the most jarring thing about Leopard for me is that Windowshade X doesn't work. I knew about this, but hoped that Unsanity Software would have a patched version of its Application Enhancer (APE) that plays happily with Leopard out by the time I upgraded. No such luck.

The lack of windowshading is frankly driving me nuts, and it's almost enough to make me go back to Tiger until Unsanity gets a Leopard-friendly version of the Window-shade X/APE tag-team out the door. Window-shading has been intricately integrated into my workflow habits since the feature was an add-on third-party hack for System 7 back in the mid-'90s. I usually have up to two-dozen or even more documents from various applications open and window-shaded on my Desktop, and that works for me better than any other mode I've attempted to use. I'll never forgive Apple for leaving windowshading out of OS X, because there is nothing - absolutely nothing - that even comes close as a satisfactory substitute, especially the pathetic collapse-to-the-Dock.

Consequently, I'm getting my baptism in Leopard's Spaces early on, and I really like Spaces, although again it's no replacement for windowshading. Getting comfortable in Spaces will take some getting used to, but I think it's really great. It does help with the Windowshading deficiency, although it's not a panacea. For example, the way I use Eudora is to keep the In and Out and Personalities windows, plus usually a couple of others, open and windowshaded all the time. Even with a Spaces environment dedicated to Eudora, this just doesn't work gracefully without windowshading. You have to be constantly digging to bring the required window to the foreground. I'm grateful for the expansiveness of this 17" display.

Even with Spaces, one more annoying aspect with version 10.5.0 was that when you opened another document in an application with one or more already open, the latest one didn't come to the front by default, so you had to go rooting through the Window menu. Clumsy and slow, and the whole business banefully inelegant and un-Mac-like. Happily, one thing fixed with the version 10.5.1 update is that the most recently opened document now comes to the front.

I also miss Classic Mode support. I was aware of and mentally prepared for its absence in Leopard, and I've settled for now on using Opera with the images disabled as a substitute for the Classic-only WannaBe text browser. Opera has a particularly convenient facility for toggling images on and off, but even with them off it's woefully slower to load pages than WannaBe. I was actually warmed up to this for a week or so after updating Tiger to OS 10.4.11, as that seemed to break Classic Mode's ability to access the Internet.

Then there's email. While dial-up seems well-supported and problem-free for securing basic connections, POP 3 email performance is definitely a lot poorer than with Tiger. The worst problem encountered so far is that in version 10.5.0 neither of my POP 3 standbys - Eudora or Nisus Email, could send messages through my main email address on my ISP's SMTP server. OK, neither of those programs is still being developed, but I can't get Leopard's own brand new built-in Mail email client to work with my ISP's email service at all - incoming or outgoing, although interestingly Opera Mail does work for both. After installing the OS 10.5.1 update, I was able to send messages through the ISP's SMTP server with Eudora, but the send proceeds as slowly as the proverbial molasses running up hill in January. Mail and Nisus Email still won't work at all with those servers. The trouble is that I'm joined at the hip to Eudora, and definitely not of a mind to give it up, and Opera, while it works, just isn't an adequate substitute. I don't like either Mail or Thunderbird, and Mail doesn't work anyway. I haven't tried T-Bird with Leopard. Eudora seems to work reasonably well with Gmail and Lavabit, so I don't know what the deal is with my ISP's SMTP server (and POP server with Mail), but at this point it's obviously not compatible with Leopard. Hopefully this will eventually be addressed by someone.

Overall, POP 3 email performance seems distressingly flaky in Leopard. As noted Gmail works, but response is depressingly sluggish, and I also had an attachment I sent to myself (to my ISP account) fail. Indeed, attachments seem near hopeless, even with Gamil. I tried sending a small (36k) onr this morning and gave up after a 10 minute stall in Eudora. Sent it from the Gmail Webmail interface in Safari with no fuss or bother other than the hassle of getting Gmail loaded via dialup.

This all seems a bit bizarre. Email is about as fundamental as it gets on the Internet. How hard can it be to get it working right? If I wasn't having problems with Leopard Mail I would somewhat grudgingly resign myself to the fact that things evolve, and older, no-longer-developed programs can't be expected to work forever. For example, the Nisus Email quick send floater also seems to be going AWOL sporadically in Leopard, requiring program restarts, although that's more forgivable given that the program hasn't been updated since probably Jaguar days. But there's no excuse for the problems with Apple's own latest version email program.

However, these complaints notwithstanding, as a general observation, I have to agree with my daughter, an old Mac OS hand who's been running Leopard on an Intel machine for several weeks now. She said the vibe she gets from Leopard reminds her of the OS 8 release back in 1998. It just feels good and "right" from the get-go, notwithstanding that Leopard is evidently the most buggy OS X release since version 10.1, which was essentially a late beta. It took me a while to warm up to Tiger. I felt comfortable in Leopard from the first boot-up, notwithstanding the gripes outlined above and some more I will get to in a moment.

Much of this is intangible "feel," although the pleasant aesthetics don't hurt, and it's why I'm inclined to affirm that the likelihood of my going beck to Tiger, which I still have installed on another partition of my hard drive, while I'm not entirely running it out due to the email troubles, is not terribly high provided nothing else unexpected crops up.

In that context, I would say that at least on this G4 PowerBook, Leopard so far seems like a happier camper than the early builds of Tiger were on my iBook and Pismo which were my front line production machines back in '05 when OS 10.4 was first rolled out. The Leopard install was completely smooth and undramatic - it "just worked."

Indeed, given that Leopard's Finder feels distinctly and decidedly more responsive on this 1.33 GHz G4 than OS 10.4.11 does, I'm now pondering whether I will try an unsupported install on one of my Pismos. If I ever do that, it will be some time hence, when more of the bugs and angularities have been wrung out of Leopard, and for now I'll concentrate on getting in the Leopard groove on this machine.

I should mention that prior to installing Leopard, I did run AlSoft Disk Warrior and repaired some (very) minor directory issues, and also repaired permissions and ran the cron maintenance scripts, which hadn't been done for about a month. You can't prove a negative, so it's hard to say whether things would or would not have gone as smoothly had I just plunged ahead with no disk and system preparation, but I do suspect that my belt-and-suspenders approach to system upgrades and updates may not be coincidental to the fact that I've never really experienced much in the way of problems with system upgrades. The OS 10.5.1 update installed without drama as well, although there was a very long wait on the reboot while the boot caches were updating, or so the dialog that appeared said. Unlike the last half-dozen or so Tiger version updates, the 10.5.1 install only reboots once after the install.

Getting back to using Leopard, it's definitely not all sweetness and light. While I like the new folder icons, some of the Dock icons are hard to decipher, and for some reason all my Tex Edit Plus document icons (of which I have thousands, maybe tens of thousands) have all (save for a very few) gone generic. Even more peculiar, on the first reboot after installing the OS 10.4.1 update, the TE+ Texas lone star flag icons reappeared momentarily and then immediately reverted to generic text icons. This may be a TE+ issue that will be corrected in time.

It's not a bug, just a change, but I don't much like the way remote volumes mounted over a network no longer appear on the Desktop, but have to be accessed from a window sidebar. I'm heavily Desktop oriented in the way I interact with computers, and I know Apple has been trying to wean us away from Desktop dependance, but I intend on having to be dragged kicking and screaming every inch of the way. I like the Desktop metaphor, I find it more efficient and convenient to the way I work and my mind addresses things, and I'm not prepared to abandon it without a fight.

Another thing I've noticed is that program stability in Leopard is definitely not up to what I've come to take for granted in Tiger, and I've had a more application crashes in two days than I've probably experienced in the past six months with Tiger. Some might dismiss this as less than optimum program optimization for Leopard, but that doesn't explain the Finder locking up, and Pixelmator 1.0.2, another app. that has proven crash-prone in Leopard, was just released last week. And those aren't the only ones that have crashed. I'm becoming a lot more re-acquainted with the Dreaded Spinning Beach Ball of Death than I ever wanted to be.,

Then there's the heat. With Tiger, the PowerBook's cooling fans cycle more than enough for my taste, but if you;re just doing light-duty stuff, they stay fairly subdued. Or at least they did until I recently updated to OS 10.4.11, which seems to heat things up a lot more the previous Tiger builds did. However, Leopard is definitely worse, with fan cycling pretty much relentless once you're past the initial warmup. Makes me wonder what the service life of those noisy little fans is. I should note that after I updated to OS 10.5.1 last evening, the fan cacophony eased off somewhat, so perhaps there is hope.

I also have to say a bit about Spotlight, although I haven't really had a chance yet to explore its changes extensively, but it does seem substantially improved, although why-oh-why did they get rid of the returns count dialog at the top of the results window? More dumbing down? I quickly became addicted to Spotlight in Tiger, but the Tiger version was buggy, cranky, and suffered manifold usability shortcomings. The Find dialog in Leopard also appears to be an improvement, with file name searches possible again without tedious configuration. Unfortunately, Leopard Spotlight is still prone to going into paroxysms of non-response and the DSBBoD.

I do also very much like the speed and quick startup time of Safari 3, which I had begin to get used to in OS 10.4.11.

Cover Flow I haven't checked out yet, and ditto for Time Machine, although I'll get around to hooking up my big, 500 GB external USB drive soon and letting it do its stuff. There's plenty more to learn and explore, and I'm looking forward to the upcoming release of David Pogue's Mac OS 10,5 Leopard: The Missing Manual. In the meantime I have those email bugs to try and work around and trying to adjust to living at least temporarily without windowshading. The Odyssey is joined in earnest again.



***



cmoore@macopinion.com

Note: Letters to The Road Warrior may or may not be published in The Road Warrior Mailbag at the editor's discretion. Correspondents' email addresses will NOT be published unless the correspondent specifically requests publication. Letters may be edited for length and/or context.

If you would prefer that your message not appear in The Road Warrior Mailbag, we would still like to hear from you. Just clearly mark your message "NOT FOR PUBLICATION," and it will not be published.

CM

Early Days Yet, But OS 10.5.5 Feels Like A Winner On My Old G4 PowerBook

I finally got around to installing the OS X 10.5.5 update on my G4 PowerBook over the weekend. I had wasted no time downloading the Combo Updater file, which for me involved driving to the nearest (not very fast) WiFi hotspot 12 miles away and an hour and a half of watching the progress bar creep ever-so-slowly as the 601 MB compressed disk image downloaded. Then anti-climactically I sat on it for two and a half weeks before finally running the updater.

Part of the reason for my procrastination was simply time, or lack of it. I'm not one to just blithely hit the Install button without some preparation first, which I will get to in a moment. Secondly, there seemed to be rather more than the usual volume of bug reports from early adopters of the 10.5.5 update, which I suppose was to be expected given the magnitude of bugfixes and (hopefully) refinements in this one.

However, that initial tide has ebbed, and I hadn't noted anything raising particular flags for G4 PowerBook users, so on Sunday I finally got down to it. As is my custom before installing system upgrades or updates, I ran a set of maintenance routines - Repair Permissions, the daily, weekly, and monthly cron job scripts, and some cache dumps using OnyX. I know that some suggest doing so is a waste of time, but while you can't prove a negative, my degree of success in running OS X updates without unwanted drama or hassle over the years is at least circumstantial evidence that cleaning up your existing system before upgrading may help avoid unwelcome outcomes. I figure it's worth the bit of extra time invested in the interest of avoiding potential problems with what for me is a vital tool of my trade. I don't believe the world would come crashing down around my ears if I neglected to execute these preparations, but I like to proceed with things in an orderly and unhurried fashion if possible.

I also chose to go with the Combo Updater (the one that can update any OS 10.5 install to version 10.5.5) for this update, even though I was only moving up one notch from OS 10.4.5, which has been a reliable performer on my old PowerBook. I used the incremental "Delta" upgrade when I moved from OS 10.5.3 to OS 10.5.4, so especially given the proliferation of changes in 10.5.5, and since the OS 10.5.5 "Delta" is a whopping 316 MB, so I figured I might as well go for the only-twice-as-big Combo installer even though for me that involved probably 45 minutes longer download wait boredom. For those fortunate enough to have a speedy broadband connection, the Combo Updater should be the no-brainer choice even for one point-number updates. As for using Software Update, I wouldn't even consider doing an operating system upgrade without at least shutting down all other applications. Now, I expect millions of Mac users will opt to just let Software Update to its staff, and the vast majority of them will achieve perfectly successful results, but then there are those who will encounter contretemps like the variety of post-upgrade issues that get reported on MacFixIt, MacInTouch, and other forums, including Apple's, after every OS upgrade or Security patch release. Maybe I would have done just as well using Software Update, but the thing about precautionary principles is that you take pre-emptive action before there is a problem in hope of preventing problems. If all goes well, as it has for me taking this approach, at least one has done no harm. I remain strongly convinced that for the best prospects of a hassle-free upgrade outcome, the best policy is the one I use - system maintenance followed by the freestanding Combo Updater, with the machine offline.

Actually, I used to also do disk optimizations or even defragmentation runs using AlSoft's highly-regarded Disk Warrior utility before running major system upgrades, but I haven't been doing that for the past couple of years, and so far so good. With today's larger hard drives, the time investment involved with that sort of disk maintenance has become more daunting.

Some also recommend booting the Mac into Safe Boot Mode (hold down the Shift key during a reboot before running the installer); note that starting up in Safe Boot Mode takes a long time because it runs a media scan during the bootup process, so be prepared to wait about five minutes or so before the login screen appears, which it will in Safe Boot even if you have automatic login configured, - I have to admit that I'm usually a bit lazy about that last one, as I was with this install, and I settled for a fresh normal reboot after the OnyX maintenance run), I can only repeat that my anecdotal success with Mac OS X upgrades and updates has been excellent, although I can't affirm categorically that my precautionary approach has been key or just coincidental to that.

This time I found that on my old 1.33 GHz G4, the upgrade process took about half an hour or more. I'm not sure exactly how long because I just set it up and went away to do other things while the installer did its stuff. The installation was declared successful, followed by the now-familiar double-pump reboot and some passage of time while the system sorted out the changes.

I haven't noted anything really dramatic in terms of differences from OS 10.5.4, but so far it's been all good. Finder response seems a bit snappier, and it seems that POP 3 and SMTP email throughput has been significantly improved, although it's still more sluggish than with OS 10.4 Tiger and previous OS X versions. However, crappy email performance has been perhaps my biggest complaint about OS 10.5 Leopard for nearly a year now, so any improvement is welcome now that they've evidently gotten around to it.

Sometimes there's just an intangible, je ne sais quoi "feel" about an OS version update that provides the impression that it's a good one (more common in the higher point number updates). Its slightly early days yet, but all indications are that my old PowerBook is going to be a happy camper running OS 10.5.5 .

***

Appendix: Changes In the OS 10.5.5 Update

If you;re interested, here's Apple's official changelog list for the OS 10.5.5 update. I expect that there's a lot more under the hood, but these are the high spots, so to speak.

General

• Includes recent Apple security updates.


• Addresses stability issues with video playback, processor core idling, and remote disc sharing for MacBook Air.


• Addresses an issue in which some Macs could unexpectedly power on at the same time each day.


• Resolves a stability issue in TextEdit that could be found when accessing the color palette.


• Improves Spotlight indexing performance.


• Fixes an issue in which contacts might not sync properly with PalmOS-based devices.


• Improves iPhone sync reliability with iCal and Address Book.


• Includes improvements to Active Directory (see this article for more information).


• Improves Speech Dictionary.


• Fixes Kerberos authentication issues for Mac OS X 10.5 clients that connect to certain Samba servers, such as Mac OS X Server version 10.4.


• Includes extensive graphics enhancements.

Address Book

• Addresses stability issues that may occur when creating a Smart Group.


• Resolves a printing issue with address cards containing information that spans more than one page.

Disk Utility and Directory Utility

• Improves reliability when rebuilding a software mirror RAID volume in Disk Utility.


• Improves reliability of server status displayed in Directory Utility.

iCal

• Updates iCal to more accurately handle repeating events.


• Improves performance when choosing meeting attendees.


• Resolves an issue in which the "Refresh All" option may be dimmed ("grayed out") in the contextual menu for certain calendars.


• Fixes issues with read-only calendars.


• Addresses an issue that prevents an invitee from moving an event to a different calendar.


• Resolves an issue with syncing published calendars.

Mail

• Addresses performance issues related to displaying IMAP messages.


• Resolves an issue with SMTP settings for AIM, Compuserve, Hanmail, Yahoo!, and Time Warner Road Runner email accounts.


• Addresses stability issues that may occur when dragging a file to the Mail icon in the Dock.


• Addresses an issue with the "Organized by Thread" view in which the date does not appear when the thread is collapsed.


• Resolves an issue in which RSS feeds could temporarily disappear from the sidebar.


• Improves Mail robustness when sending messages.


• Improves reliability when saving drafts that have attachments.

MobileMe

• Improves overall sync reliability.


• Improves Back to My Mac reliability.

Time Machine

• Improves Time Machine reliability with Time Capsule.


• Addresses performance issues that may affect initial and in-progress backups.


• Fixes an issue in which an incorrect alert message could appear stating that a backup volume does not have enough free space.


• Time Machine can now back up iPhone backups that are on your Mac, as well as other items in (~/Library/Application Support).

I'm certain there is more than that, and I'm hoping for some more general refinement as well.

Mac OS X 10.5.5 Combo Update - 601MB
Mac OS X 10.5.4 Update Delta - 316MB

Mac OS X Server 10.5.4 - 341MB
Mac OS X Server Combo 10.5.4 - 729MB

Download site:
http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/
or
http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/macosx1055update.html

For more information, visit:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2405



***



cmoore@macopinion.com

Note: Letters to The Road Warrior may or may not be published in The Road Warrior Mailbag at the editor's discretion. Correspondents' email addresses will NOT be published unless the correspondent specifically requests publication. Letters may be edited for length and/or context.

If you would prefer that your message not appear in The Road Warrior Mailbag, we would still like to hear from you. Just clearly mark your message "NOT FOR PUBLICATION," and it will not be published.

CM

Which PowerBook? - From The Road Warrior Archive

Nearly a decade ago, on December 10, 1998, I posted the Road Warrior column republished below, which provides an interesting sanpshot of the state of Apple laptops ten years back. Aside from the particularities of the hardware, much of my commentary still holds up I think, especially on the matter of timing one's system upgrades. I'm also amused at how accurately I predicted the then-forthcoming Lombard and one more G3 Series PowerBook speed bump (Pismo) after that.

Incidentally, I eventually did buy a 233 MHz G3 Series "PDQ" PowerBook a couple of months after this column went up. It was a great machine and in fact was recently put back into service by my daughter after her ThinkPad PC died.

***

Which PowerBook? [Originally Published Decamber 10,1998]

In the computer world it is all too easy to get so bedazzled by the latest and greatest that one's vision becomes clouded. Currently the latest and greatest PowerBooks are the G3 Series II "PDQ" models, and they are indeed fabulous machines.

However, it is profitable to ponder how short a time it has been since something else was the latest and fastest PowerBook, and how soon today's G3 "PDQs" will be yesterday's news. It seems incredible, but the grayscale display PowerBook 5300 I'm writing this column on was the fastest Powerbook model that had ever been built at the time I purchased it 25 months ago.

Unless you have *very* deep pockets, it is impossible to stay at the cutting edge of personal computer technology for more than a few months at the most. Even if you just bought a full-zoot G3/300 with a DVD-ROM kit, "Lombard" will debut in 1999 and the G3 Series will almost certainly be speed-bumped at least one more time for the latter part of its production life, which for Powerbooks from the 500 series on has averaged somewhere between a year and 18 months.

It used to be rule-of-thumb conventional wisdom that you needed to upgrade your computer at least every three years in order to remain reasonably current vis-a-vis support for the latest software. The Mac would usually carry you a bit farther than that. However, over the past 25 months (the lifespan of my PowerBook) we have witnessed a roughly 11-fold speed increase in Mac portables, plus the introduction of vastly larger monitor screens, CD-ROM support, and now DVD-ROM support, as well as various other bells and whistles that make one salivate to move up long before the requisite three years have elapsed.

Still, the obscene rate of computer depreciation, especially on high-end machines, makes early upgrading an absurdly expensive proposition. When you pay multi-thousands of dollars for a piece of equipment, having it become somewhat obsolete and lose 86 percent of its market value (PowerBook 5300ce) inside of three years is a bitter pill to swallow.

A more rational approach is to carefully consider how much computer you really need to perform the tasks you want it to. That doesn't mean that a new G3 necessarily wouldn't be your best choice -- you may be able to put all that speed and the big display to good use, but one the basis of *need,* a lesser and cheaper 'Book might well be able to do the job for you. Feedback I received from readers responding to last week's column about the PowerBook 5300 indicates that I'm not the only one still getting excellent and useful service from these slow and "obsolete" machines.

"Hear, hear!" wrote Steven. "I too am a 5300 devotee'. I have had mine for over a year and I love it. My only complaint is that it is so solid, I cannot justify a new G3. Sigh."

PowerBook road warriors who have convinced themselves that they absolutely must have a G3 300 to do word processing and Web surfing on might find this letter from Joe Williams, who works at NASA's Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston, a bit of a reality-check.

Joe writes:

"Charles -- I read your column on the 5300 Revisited with great interest.
I purchased a 5300cs about three years ago. (At the time, I wanted
color, but I didn't want to shell out the big bucks for the c or ce
model--$2700 was plenty for me.)

"Other than a broken mouse and monitor hinge problem (all fixed under warranty), I've used my machine faithfully every day at work at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. In fact, as I am writing this to you on my 5300 cs, I'm sitting on console supporting the current Shuttle mission. I can do pretty much everything with this machine in support of my role as a Rendezvous Guidance and Procedures Officer. I salivate over the new G3 PowerBooks, but since my 5300cs has served me faithfully, I'm going to wait a while before stepping up -- maybe another generation, possibly two."

Wow, I thought upon reading this. The poor old 5300 gets about as much respect as Rodney Dangerfield, but there it is out in the real world supporting the Space Shuttle mission to begin assembly of the International Space Station. Very cool!

"My division's Administrative Assistant is supportive of our use of
existing Macintoshes," says Joe. "Besides my PowerBook 5300, I use a Power Mac 7500/100 obtained from excess from the Air Force (which was getting rid of Macs in favor of Wintel boxes -- their loss was my gain!). I was also using a Mac IIfx, but replaced it recently with a PowerMac 7100/66. I host our group's website on the 7500, running Web Sharing and FMPro as information servers."

"Most of the information about PowerBooks I see elsewhere on the Web are G3-centric," Says Joe. "I was pleased to see your article on the 5300 series, and I wish there were more to be found. Many of us (as you know) continue to work hard with older PowerBooks, and squeezing that extra bit of performance is always good. I saw your note about using SpeedDoubler to improve your performance, and that has inspired me to get a copy for my machine."

Connectix will be pleased.

Indeed, I think most PowerBook users, including me, would have a hard time objectively justifying the *need* for a 'Book more powerful than a 3400c, which, as you may recall, was "the fastest laptop (not just PowerBook) ever built" just a little more than a year ago.

So is a 3400c what I recommend to prospective PowerBook buyers who ask my sage advice? Not necessarily. It really depends both on what you plan to do with the 'Book now, and what you might anticipate doing with it in the future. For some users, an old 100 series 'Book for a couple of hundred bucks might make perfectly good sense, if all you need it for is a bit of low end word processing, email, and a portable backup for your desktop machine.

Need more speed and features? The 500, 5300, and Duo series are very capable machines that sell for bargain prices.

If you want a bigger display and CD-ROM support, the rock-solid 1400 series is your minimum choice. It is a testament to the 1400's desirability, despite its relative slowness, that leftover, used, and refurbished 1400s sell for remarkably little less than 3400s. One reason for this phenomenon is that the 1400 can be souped up to G3 speed with a Newer Technology or Vimage upgrade daughtercard, while there is no practical upgrade path for the 3400c.

A sleeper is the cool little PowerBook 2400c subnotebook built for Apple by IBM Japan to very high quality standards. If you plan to lug your 'Book around a lot, this is the one for you. Some reviewers have complained about the 2400's undersized keyboard, but feedback from 2400 users affirms that once you get used to it, the 2400's scissors-action keys (same keyboard technology as on the G3 Series 'Books) work slickly and are quite satisfactory. The standard 2400c essentially gives you 3400c/180 performance in a subnotebook package, including a full set of PowerBook ports (unlike the Duos). Like the 1400, the 2400 will support a G3 processor upgrade. The 2400's downside includes no internal CD-ROM support, an external floppy-drive, and a relatively small 10.4" TFT display (the same as the 5300c and ce). There are still some leftover new 2400s available for under $1,500. Try SmallDog Electronics.

If you need more notebook power for a relatively modest price, the 3400c (used, refurb., and there are still a few leftover new ones around) is a lot of full-featured laptop for the money, including