Macopinion

The Road Warrior Mailbag - September 24, 2007

Rumors on new aluminum MacBooks

From Jacek A. Rochacki

Dear Charles:

Rumors on new aluminum MacBooks published here:

http://www.macworld.co.uk/mac/news/index.cfm?newsid=19173

http://9to5mac.com/apple-to-release-new-aluminum-macbooks-7456543

Seem to be of real interest for my colleagues active at the Polish Mac Users Group Macplug discussion forum - http://www.macplug.org , not to mention myself.

Therefore if you know something more on this matter then we, on "antipodes"know - please, maybe rise up this subject in one of your caming columns.

As always

Jacek in Poland
Pismo Users Club - http://puc.santee.pl

Hi Jacek;

I have no knowledge of an imminent MacBook subnotebook release, but I'll be surprised if there's not one between now and Christmas. A TheStreet report on Friday says:

"...people inside the company and those close to Apple's plans say there will be a big announcement regarding a so-called subnotebook Mac. The ultra-thin device will have a 10 inch-to-12 inch screen, sleek rounded edges and weigh less than 2 pounds.

The subnotebook's introduction is planned for next quarter, and the product is expected to be available for the holiday sales season."

If there's any actual substance to TheStreet's report, it sounds like it might be the "iPhone MacBook" with possibly solid state memory, but what do I know?

Charles

Kensington si750m Notebook Wireless Laser Mouse

From nike lover

Hi, Charles.

How to buy the Kensington si750m Notebook Wireless Laser Mouse?

Hi nl;

If you're in thr U.S., the Kensington online store page is here:
http://us.kensington.com/html/9645.html

If you're in another part of the world, go to: http://www.kensington.com/ and select your country from the pull-down menu on the spalsh page, and then find the store link

Charles

Smelly computers

From Jay;

My mother in law struggles with MCS. Her (and her husband's) home based insurance business is becoming more computerized. Right now they have an MSN TV based Internet browser that doesn’t bother her, but also doesn’t allow any actual storage or applications.

They also have a Dell Axim X51 PDA for running some applications that is OK, but that is really not a substitute for a PC. I’ve been looking at Tablet PCs a bit thinking that the lack of fan may help. I’m trying to get as close to a home PC as possible without ruining their home.

Any helpful suggestions? Just seeing this article was uplifting. I’ve been looking for days and thought I was all alone in this subject.

Jay

Hi Jay;

Personally, I've found that externally-force-vented isolation cases have been the best solution for me. While laptops are more amenable to this because of their small physical size and self-containedness, there's no reason why a desktop machine can't be segregated in the same manner. As long as you have a powerful enough exhaust fan and adequate air intake, cooling should not be a problem.

As for tablet computers, I have no first-hand experience. In general cooler-running machines will be a better bet than hot ones, and having no fan blowing chemical fumes out into the work environment is a plus, but even fanless equipment can be impossibly smelly. I've found some keyboards to be especially problematical, due to the close proximity on is obliged to keep with them. A disadvantage of the tablet would be that you have to keep it close to you to use it as well, and all those internal circuit boards are going to warm up and stink, fan or no fan.

Another alternative is to use older computers that have thoroughly gassed off. My first Pismo PowerBook, which I purchased used in October, 2001, was still too smelly for me to tolerate at first, but after about three years in the isolation case it had gassed off to a degree that it was no longer problematical for me, and I've been using it up close and personal for several years now with no ill effects. My second Pismo, which I obtained last spring, was fully gassed-off when it arrived. While these old machines are well short of the cutting edge, they've both been hotrodded with more RAM and processor upgrades, and still acquit themselves respectably running Mac OS X 10.4.

On the other hand, the rate of off-gassing is neither dependable or predictable. My G3 iBook spent 2 1/2 years in the isolation case before it had gassed off to an acceptable degree. My 17" PowerBook G4, which was originally manufactured sometime between September, 2003 and April, 2004, and which was purchased as an evidently unused Apple Certified Refurbished unit in February, 2006, is still emitting too high a level of chemical fumes for me to tolerate outside the case without a charcoal respirator on, compounded by the fact that its internal cooling fans run frequently. I'm becoming less optimistic about its gas-off potential.

Hope this helps a bit.
Charles

MCS Computing Solution Sought

From David;

Hi Charles,

I hope that this post finds you well. Thank you for your excellent and helpful articles. My wife suffers from MCS, and her condition seems to be getting worse, to the extent that she can no longer use our computers or tolerate them being used in the house. She was greatly heartened to read that she was not alone in her adverse symptoms resulting from exposure to our computers (Apple Quicksilver tower and PowerBook G4 aluminum), as she has had similar reactions of disbelief to the ones you described.

Your isolation cabinets inspired me to design one for the Quicksilver, but which would also contain two printers which may also be causing reactions. This cabinet would be approximately H 62” X W 24” X D 24”, with slatted shelving, on casters and open at the bottom. I plan to build the cabinet from (neutral) spruce lumber, with solid sides and double access doors at the front and rear. I wonder if you would be willing to describe the process and materials (exhaust fan and ducting) you used to vent your cabinets. Your pictures are helpful, but a little more detail would help this novice.

In our case, we cannot vent anywhere within our house, as that would still cause my wife distress. The window option does not seem very practical in our case either, just because of awkward locations. Our house has double-brick walls, so venting that way would also be problematic. The best solution would seem to be to vent through the roof, especially since we are about to have our roof covering redone.

I have found a roof dryer vent which looks promising. A flexible hose would run as straight as possible up from the exhaust fan in the top of the isolation cabinet, through the ceiling, and out through the dryer vent—a distance of about ten feet.

Do you have any recommendations, based upon your knowledge and experience, about what power/capacity exhaust fan would be appropriate? If you think there might be a preferable solution, do not hesitate to offer your thoughts about that.

With thanks for the guidance you have already provided.

David

Hi David;

Sorry to hear about your wife's MCS.

I think you;re on the right track building an isolation case for your computers. It really has been a great solution for me - literally the facilitator that has allowed me to continue working.

The only limit to what you can do in terms of building custom isolation cases is your imagination. What you're proposing for the QuickSilver sounds fine. I built a fairly large case back in '91 for my G4 Cube and a hulking great NEC CRT monitor. Unfortunately I never took any photos and disassembled the case after I traded the Cube for a Pismo, but it was basically constructed on the same principles as my laptop isolation cases - seasoned spruce and lots of glass panels.

Venting upward through the roof would in many ways be ideal, since you should get a degree of chimney updraft extraction effect. It really doesn't take a very powerful fan to keep the chemical fumes at bay; all you need is any movement of air at all in the right direction, however, for adequate cooling you'll need a substantial volume of air movement, especially with a large desktop machine like the QuickSilver.

I use 12 volt fans scavenged out of old desktop Macs, and have found that my laptops run cooler inside the case with hot air being scavenged and exhausted by the ventilation fan than they do outside the box. Ideally, a slow-turning, large diameter fan would be preferable for quietness.

As for ducting, whatever works in the particular situation. One of my installations uses a length of rigid plastic (ABS) 3" plumbing pipe exhausting into the basement, I've found that square-section ducting custom fabricated and glued up (using non-smelly white paper glue) from moderately light cardboard (Bristol-board weight) works well for me and is adaptable to a variety of configurations, is cheap, and doesn't have off-gassing issues like some plastic ducting does. Metal ducting is good as well. Really, it's what works best for you in your particular circumstances.

Hope this helps.

Charles

CM