Phone Review: Motorola RIZR Z6tv

Back in November I purchased a new phone, and I promised I would review it. While this will be no spectacular review, here are my thoughts on my new phone.

I absolutely love the RIZR Z6tv. Although the Z6tv has nowhere near the functionality of the iPhone (I have an iPod touch for that), it functions just fine as a traditional cellular headset. The features are great, all Bluetooth profiles are enabled, the new Verizon user interface is a welcome improvement, and the reception is marvelous. In fact, I would say the reception is the best “new” feature of the phone. I’m seeing coverage in areas where I previously had little to no signal, and I’m picking up EVDO in areas where I previously had a weak 1x signal. If you’re in the market for a traditional cell phone with Verizon, I would not hesitate picking up a Motorola RIZR Z6tv.

FreeNAS Revisted

Early February, Paul Stamatiou managed to generate some buzz with his 200 Dollar PC series. I took the bait and ended up significantly upgrading my FreeNAS box. While I had originally planned the upgrade purely around saving space with the Mini-ITX form factor, a few weeks later I found myself completely overhauling the storage as well. I’m glad I did, as my FreeNAS box is now my central storage hub. I backup with Time Machine, rsync website backups, connect remotely over FTP, and store nearly every season of my favorite television shows directly to my small, slick server. Here are the specs to get your geek on:

• Apex MI-100 Mini-ITX Case
• Intel BLKD201GLYL Mini-ITX Motherboard with Integrated Celeron 215
• Kingston 512MB DDR2 RAM
• 3x500GB Western Digital Caviar Hard Drives in 1TB RAID5
• Secondary NIC for Wireless and Wired Backups
• External USB 320GB Seagate Barracuda (Time Machine)

WordPress 2.5

I’d like to now give an awesome shout-out to the WordPress commit crew and Happy Cog for a great release of WordPress 2.5. I’ve upgraded my blog earlier this week and couldn’t be happier. I thought WordPress 2.3 was amazing from a developer standpoint, but you blew that out of the water with an even better user release. Here’s to many more.

With that said, earlier in the week I completed my plugin and theme upgrades to WordPress 2.5. All plugins that I currently support should now work fine under WordPress 2.5. However, WordPress 2.3 users be weary. I dropped support for WordPress 2.3 in the majority of my releases to help speed up adoption of WordPress 2.5.

Funny Moment of the Week

I’d like to bring this post to close with perhaps the greatest moment of this South Park season so far. I don’t want to spoil the funny, so just sit back and enjoy the next two clips. If you like what you see, watch the full episode.

I, on the other hand, cannot understand the madness. MacBook Pro owners using only a six-month old MacBook Pro are dumping their “old” notebooks in favor of the new model. For what, minor upgrades? To fully understand my side of the story, I need to first describe my current notebook:

• MacBook Pro 15-inch Santa Rosa
• Intel Core 2 Duo 2.2GHz Processor
• G.Skill 4GB DDR2 667MHz RAM (2×2048)
• Western Digital Scorpio 320GB 5400RPM Hard Drive

Now with that said, I will begin enumerating the stupidity.

Minor Speed Bumps

Everyone always brags about the speed of new machines, but I have started asking myself is it really needed? Processors have become powerful enough for just about any task, so that the normal Mac user will never notice the difference from a 2.0GHz Santa Rosa Core 2 Duo to a 2.6GHz Penryn Core 2 Duo. The only people who will notice the increased speed are video professionals. In that case, is the extra 2 seconds gained rendering a half hour long file really worth the price? I don’t think so.

Multi-touch Technology

Alright, I admit that the new multi-touch capable trackpad is cool, but is it useful? I could see myself occasionally using the trackpad in iPhoto, but beyond that it would have no use. Not to mention, myself and most of the notebook owners I know dock their notebook to a monitor, keyboard, and mouse, thus making the trackpad useless in those scenarios.

Increased Storage

Yes, the new MacBooks and MacBook Pros have increased storage capacity, but again, is that a big deal? Nothing has changed in the past few years with magnetic hard drive technology, so even the oldest Intel notebooks can be upgraded to a 320GB hard drive, a size that Apple doesn’t even offer as a BTO option. Oh, and for those who say the MacBook Pro’s hard drive is not upgradable, performing a drive swap is not that difficult.

The New Keyboard

Fair enough. The keyboard function keys have been rearranged for more optimal use. So, people are dropping $2000 on some ink placed in a different spot? I never thought the MacBook Pro’s function keys were that bad. Even if they are, the MacBook Pro has an extra programmable key that can come in handy. By the way, I don’t like the keyboard’s new blue glow, so I think my MacBook Pro’s white glow is superior.

A Decent Package

You got me. The new MacBooks and MacBook Pros are amazing machines and certainly worth the upgrade if you have an older notebook. I just think the upgrades are not substantial enough from the Santa Rosa models for anyone to rush out and purchase a Penryn-based notebook. The Santa Rosa platform has more life left than people think, and we have not even reached the memory caps (64GB) or hard drive caps (infinity) yet. Although, if people want to waste their money that’s fine by me. Just don’t forget to order the now optional Apple Remote for $19, while I enjoy my Santa Rosa MacBook Pro for a few more years.

Longing for the iPod touch, last night I made the hour drive to my closest Apple Store (King of Prussia, PA), purchased one of their ten remaining 16GB touches, and canceled my pre-order on a display MacBook on my way out. While it’s quite a hassle to make the trip (thankfully this will be my last as the Lehigh Valley gets an Apple Store next month), I’m glad I did.

The Experience

First up, the iPod touch is an engineering marvel. It’s slim, functional, and easy to use. I showed my mom the iPod touch, and she was using it in seconds without me saying a word. Oh course, this is to be expected using the same interface as the iPhone.

While the iPod touch shares the same interface, it does have a couple of new tricks up its sleeve. Double clicking the home button brings up music controls in both sleep and other applications, and double tapping the space bar now adds a period to the end of sentences. These are both welcome additions, and I’m sure the iPhone will receive the same treatment in the next firmware update.

iTunes WiFi Music Store

Of the new iPod touch features, my most anticipate feature was the iTunes WiFi Store. The new iTunes WiFi Store features an easy to use interface that fits perfectly with the touch. In seconds I was searching for music, previewing tracks, and downloading songs. Due to the sheer simplicity for the WiFi Store, I purchased a number of albums last night. While the regular music store is certainly easy to use, it’s no match to relaxing on the sofa and purchasing a track in two clicks. Without a doubt, the WiFi Store is going to make Apple a ton of money.

Rumored Problems

After every Apple release there are always people pointing out flaws, and the iPod touch is no exception. I’d like to briefly run down the list of current “problems” and give you my take on them.

• No Mail App – Don’t need it as I use Gmail.
• No Calendar Editing – A real bummer, but I know the hackers will solve this soon.
• Audio Hissing – Don’t hear a thing with my Sony MDR-EX81s. I’m going to go out on a limb and say the touch is the best sounding iPod I’ve ever used.
• Negative Blacks – I am experiencing this. It’s very annoying, but since this appears to affect every iPod touch, I’m sure Apple will have a firmware update or a replacement batch soon.

I CAN HAS TOUCH?

Overall, I’m loving my iPod touch. Once Apple fixes the screen issue and hackers jailbreak the touch, this will possibly be my best purchase is a long time. I know my touch will get hours and hours of use having the “real web in my pocket”, and when I get “real apps in my pocket” I’ll have a functional PDA as well.

If you’re on the fence regarding an iPod touch purchase, pull the trigger. Unless you won’t use the included functionality, I find no reason to hold back a purchase. The touch is everything a geek could want and more.

I purchased my first PDA back in eighth grade (2001) and used PDAs until my senior year of high school. I first owned a Palm m100, then upgraded to a Sony Clié, with my final Palm being a Zire 72s. I used to love PDAs until I started having to carry more devices. At one point my pockets consisted of a PDA, an iPod, and a cell phone. Not the most comfortable situation, leaving me to drop a device (the PDA).

Why an iPod is the Solution

I know this sounds like I should be talking about the iPhone, but hang with me a moment. To me, a smartphone is not practical. I don’t need to check my email anywhere; I’m more than content waiting to break out my laptop. I also don’t want to pay the ridiculous data fees cell phone companies charge.

However, I want to enter in appointments wherever I am or check my task list for the day. I think breaking out a notebook for something that simple is stupid. Therefore, I feel if Apple can deliver an iPod with basic PIM functionality (this must include data input), Apple will have my perfect all-in-one device.

What the Next iPod Needs

While Apple’s next iPod could be the perfect all-in-one, Apple needs to do it right. The iPhone raised the bar for what portable devices are capable of, and if Apple delivers anything less, people will be disappointed.

First, Apple’s next iPod needs to be widescreen. With more and more videos being sold in the widescreen format, a standard definition screen would look dated. Apple’s key competitors are all embracing widescreen devices, and if Apple does not also, they will quickly fall behind.

If Apple chooses to go widescreen, a touch screen is logical. Anything less would end up confusing, or leave the dimensions of the iPod looking awkward. The iPhone’s touch screen proved fingerprints to be a non-issue, so there is no reason not to use touch screen technology.

A touch screen clickwheel just won’t cut it anymore.

Before the iPhone, a virtual clickwheel would have been accepted on a touch screen iPod. I don’t think Apple could get away with that anymore. If the iPod’s interface is anything less than the iPhone’s, people will complain. I don’t necessarily think the iPod needs multitouch like the iPhone; it just needs a simple interface that fits the intended functionality.

Finally, the next iPod needs more storage. If the next iPod goes the hard drive route, anything less than 60GB on the base model will be frowned upon. The high end model will need at least 100GB to keep those users satisfied. If the flash route is chosen, the size will have to be larger than the current iPhone sizes. Apple would need a base model size of at least 16GB and a high end size of 32GB or more.

What Could Go Wrong

The next iPod could be the perfect all-in-one, but I fear Apple may get caught up in stupid features. While CoverFlow is certainly a nice feature, I don’t think it’s the feature that will get me to upgrade. The same goes for OS X. Apple seems to be pushing OS X onto every device, but if it’s doesn’t bring any enhanced functionality, I don’t care.

I also fear Apple may be looking in the wrong direction for the next iPod. I fear the “fat nano” may be the 6th generation iPod. While smaller is sometimes better, I’m personally looking for more features, not more portability. I think the “fat nano” would make a great addition to the iPod lineup, but it should not be the top-of-the-line iPod.

Conclusion

Regardless, I know Apple’s not one to disappoint, and I look forward to whatever they have in store for Wednesday. I just hope the long wait for a new iPod is worthwhile and doesn’t land us with some minor upgrade.

I always liked my MacBook’s keyboard, so naturally I love the new Apple Keyboard. While the low profile does take time getting used to, having the keyboard at the same height as the wrists feels natural. The limited travel of the keys seems to speed up typing, and while the keys are flat, they are easier to press (especially for the fat-fingered). Those used to typing on laptops will feel right at home with Apple Keyboard.

Rearranged Keys

The new special function keys are a nice addition, but I feel Apple placed them incorrectly. I’m used to pressing F9 for Exposé and F12 for the Dashboard. Their new placement at F3 and F4 feels awkward. Furthermore, I can no longer easily access the desktop via F11 without having to hold in fn. Sure, I could reassign Exposé Hide to one of the 19 available function keys (Apple, do we really need 19 function keys?), but then hiding would be messed up on my MacBook Pro. There is no perfect solution in this case, and most likely I will be forced to learn to use fn.

While the keyboard may be small, Apple’s packaging certainly is not.

Wired or Wireless

Regarding wired vs. wireless, my decision was interesting. While some people are choosing wired due to the full size keyboard, that did not affect my decision. I never use the number pad and the middle buttons always appeared quite useless to me. I picked the wired keyboard because I wanted the extra USB 2.0 ports. I also prefer to leave Bluetooth off on my MacBook Pro, so having to turn Bluetooth on and off between battery uses would have been a pain.

Conclusion

If you’re in the market for a new keyboard, look no further than the Apple Keyboard. It’s relatively cheap, looks stylish, and feels great. As long as the new function keys don’t bother you, the Apple Keyboard truly is another engineering marvel and will look good on just about any desk.

Last week, Acer found out about my dissatisfaction with stuck pixels on their monitors and offered me a free LCD for review. They sent me an AL1916W and claimed their new manufacturing process nearly eliminated stuck and dead pixels. Skeptical about the claim, I took Acer up on their offer.

First Impressions

On Tuesday, my new Acer AL1916W arrived from UPS. For you spec lovers, this a 19-inch widescreen running at a native resolution of 1440×900 (same resolution as my MacBook Pro). Its response time is 5ms, has a 700:1 contrast ratio, and a brightness rating of 300 cd/m2. It supports VGA and DVI, and does not bare a power brick due to an internal power supply.

A gorgous monitor on my cluttered desk.

Upon unpacking and hooking up the monitor, I was thoroughly impressed by the picture right out of the box (this can be attributed to OS X’s color profile for the monitor). The AL1916W definitely looked better than any other non-Apple monitor I’ve used. Unfortunately, the default color profile still did not satisfy my color liking, so I ran a quick expert-setting color profile calibration. After calibrating, I could tell the monitor natively displays more in the red range, but nothing too out of the ordinary.

Acer’s controls are simple and easy to use.

Does Acer’s Claim Holdup?

I know, what about Acer’s claim on stuck pixels? Well, I regret to inform you my AL1916W indeed has a stuck or dead pixel. Roughly one-third from the right and one-third from the bottom of the screen is a dimly-lit pixel that appears a dark purplish color on certain backgrounds. I believe the green sub-pixel is either stuck or dead since pure red, blue, and black colors appear normally. More than likely the sub-pixel is dead, since I’ve never heard of an always-off pixel coming back to life.

Approximate location of the stuck pixel.

Unlike my previous stuck pixels, this pixel is dark in color and less noticeable. Since the pixel pitch of the AL1916W is 0.284mm, the pixel is smaller and harder to see. I only notice it when I’m looking at a pure white background with little near the pixel. If I decide to use this monitor as my main one, I’m confident I can tolerate the pixel.

However, receiving a stuck pixel tells me Acer’s “new manufacturing process” is a load of bull. Their replacement policy still remains at four dead or stuck pixels, so regardless of any improvement in manufacturing, people will still get bad monitors. Unfortunately, that’s just a reality with all LCD monitors.

To be fair to Acer, I should disclose that every LCD monitor I have ever owned, with exception of my MacBook Pro (knock on wood), has suffered from some pixel anomaly. My first Acer monitor had a blue stuck pixel, my replacement Acer had a red stuck pixel, and my LG has a light blue stuck pixel on the far right of the screen. Even my MacBook had a blue stuck pixel at purchase, but I managed to rub the pixel to life, never seeing it again. I just seem to have bad luck with LCD monitors.

Final Thoughts

Excluding the pixel trouble, I feel this is a wonderful monitor. The color is sharp, it reaches a decent brightness level, and the features are numerous for a budget monitor. If you don’t mind the risk of a stuck pixel or two, I would highly recommend the Acer AL1916W as your next monitor.

• 4:40p: At a LAN party. Woot!
• 5:39p: Vista has failed me. Currently installing XP so I can play games.
• 5:40p: Fucking XP mountmgr.sys. XP install keeps on failing. Not looking good.
• 5:52p: XP install disc is corrupted. Damn.
• 7:30p: XP installed. Almost ready to play games.
• 7:57p: Game is still crashing in XP. What the heck is going on?
• 8:24p: Found that my graphics card fan is melted to my GPU. That would explain my crashing. Currently running with a box fan next to my computer.
• 11:38p: Box fan is keeping GPU cool. Was actually able to game for a little.

The fan managed to keep my computer cool for a night of gaming.

So, there you have it. Vista was not the problem at all. Somehow prior to last night’s LAN, my graphics card fan melted to my GPU. It’s the weirdest problem I’ve ever heard of, but at least it happened to my secondary machine.

This past week I decided to join great bloggers like Paul Stamatiou, Derek Punsalan, Alex King, Glenn Wosley, Matt Brett, and James Mathias and purchased myself Logitech’s MX Revolution. I was planning on giving this mouse a thorough review, but judging from the number of bloggers who own this device, I think that’s been covered. Instead, I’m just going to go over my basic impressions of the mouse.

The Difficult Packaging

First off, no one seems to mention this; Logitech packaged the MX Revolution in the worst packaging they could find. Opening up my MX Revolution took nearly fifteen minutes due to the layers of cardboard and tape inside the box. The worst part of the whole ordeal was getting the mouse out of the airtight layer of plastic. Logitech gives instructions, but the instructions were not much help. I had to use excessive force on the plastic, praying that my new $100 toy would not go flying across the room.

The Horrible Mac Driver

After fighting my way through the packaging, setup was simple – until I had to install Logitech’s driver. While OS X recognizes the basic mouse functionality out of the box, all the extra buttons do not function without a driver. Logitech provides a Mac driver, but it’s the most horrible driver I’ve ever used. I found the Logitech driver does not recognize the receiver if it’s plugged into a USB hub, forcing me to plug the receiver directly into my MacBook. After recognizing the receiver, I had to configure the mouse quickly since the Logitech Control Center crashed often. Configuring it quickly was out of the question as any new application profiles had to be configured completely from scratch. Yeah, no default configuration here. Oh, I didn’t even mention LCC installs Unsanity’s Application Enhancer but hides the program from use. That would not be a problem if APE stopped recaching drivers on every reboot, and Logitech uninstalls APE with the driver.

As you can probably guess, I hate Logitech’s driver. After realizing my mistake, I saved myself the trouble and purchased SteerMouse. SteerMouse recognizes the receiver no matter what USB port I plug it into and does not crash or install extra bloat like Logitech’s driver. SteerMouse also offers greater flexibility in configuration, allowing me to assign any button to anything. Not to mention it natively supports the MX Revolution, giving me full control over the MX Revolution’s scroll wheel. Yes, I know the software costs extra and Logitech should provide a working driver, but I paid $100 for this mouse. I might as well spend a little extra to get the mouse to function correctly.

Conclusions

Barring setup, this mouse truly is wonderful. I know that’s hard to believe after my long rant, but I only need to setup the mouse once. The MX Revolution feels comfortable in my hand, the redesigned scroll wheel is natural, and the wireless functionality offers no noticeable lag. As far as battery life, I seem to get 4-7 days of battery life. The included docking charger is simple to use, making recharging the mouse not an issue. As far as productively, I setup my mouse identical to Matt Brett, which offers me lighting fast application switching.

Sure, the MX Revolution is expensive, but if you spend as much time on a computer as I do, investing in your number one input device is worthwhile. Just don’t make the same mistake I did; ditch the Logitech Control Center drivers before they cause you pain.

I was hoping Apple TV would allow additional codecs, and I have a feeling Apple would love to support them. Unfortunately, Apple can’t ship the Apple TV with codecs such as Xvid. Shipping them would cause problems with licensing and most importantly, keeping the content providers on board with the iTunes platform. However, Apple can make installing codecs as easy as possible in hopes the device will becoming a modder’s dream. Unlike devices like Microsoft’s Xbox, Apple is not selling the Apple TV at a loss, so if people are buying them for the sake of modding that’s only more money in Apple’s pocket.

Depending on how the Apple TV modding scene matures, I could easily see myself picking up one down the road. I’m avid podcast/vidcast subscriber and always searching for a method to bring that content into the living room. My current solution is Xbox Media Center, but with more and more content being pushed out in H.264, the Xbox’s 733 MHz Pentium III can’t keep up. While the Apple TV would satisfy my podcasting needs out of the box, it would not satisfy my TV habits. I need the Xvid codec for my shows, which the modding scene will certainly make a reality.

While the approval of the Draft 2 standard does bring 802.11n closer to final ratification, a long road is still ahead. The IEEE expects a Draft 3 later this year, but most likely won’t approve it until 2008. After that, no further revisions are expected. However, the final ratification of 802.11n will not occur until March of 2009.

Am I the only one who is sick of all these changes? Just ratify the standard. Devices are already being made; altering the spec is only going to cause incompatibilities between products. Incompatibilities will cause a major headache for end users, far outweighing any benefits the frequency alterations bring.

While I’ve been a loyal iPod user for years, even I can’t help but notice the Zune. The screen looks gorgeous, the buttons are simple, and the features are numerous. It’s like it wasn’t made by Microsoft. Sure, the color choices of the Zune are a little different, but when you see them up close (and I have), they’re actually very attractive. It makes the device stand out, which is what I think Microsoft is hoping for.

While I do like the appearance and functionality of the Zune, I know for sure I won’t be getting one. The iPod is still the MP3 device for me. However, I’m hoping the Zune is a success. It will bring more competition to the market, in turn causing Apple to work harder on the iPod. If Apple feels the threat of the Zune, we might finally see the widescreen video iPod or WiFi in an iPod. Competition is only going to enhance the MP3 player market.

Part of the problem might be our mindset. It’s easy to think that the Worldwide Developer’s Conference is for consumers. While consumers certainly benefit from the conference, the main focus is developers. If you look at it from that sense, Apple delivered everything developers wanted. They released professional-grade machines and showed off features of Leopard which are important to developers. Leopard features like a new Finder or virtualization technology are things which can be added later with very little effect on developers, and the existing Macs can easily get a Core 2 speed bump with just a simple press release.

The Hardware

Now that we’re in the right mindset, it’s time to talk about what was announced. Apple released some amazing new hardware. The Mac Pros are insane powerhouses, with the Xserves getting a huge speed bump over previous hardware. While I won’t be purchasing a Mac Pro, the prices are perfect. Apple’s standard configuration is perfect for just about anyone’s needs, and it doesn’t break the bank either. What’s even better is the price when you downgrade some components. If you change the dual 2.5 GHz processors to dual 2.0 GHz processors and only get a 160 GB hard drive, combined with the student discount, it’s only $1950. That’s not bad at all considering a slower MacBook Pro is right around that price.

Finally, I’m very impressed with Apple’s build-to-order options on their new machines. Apple has always stuck with pretty much standard configurations across their product line since there wasn’t very many options with the PowerPC chip. Now that Apple is on the x86 platform, they have a more room for flexibility, which is showing through in the amount of configurable options on the new machines. I’m looking forward to seeing what other options Apple will provide for their other machines in the future.

Leopard

While nothing too groundbreaking was announced with Leopard, I’m still very exited. First of all, I can’t wait for Time Machine. I don’t backup enough, and when I do backup, I don’t have a great method. I’m dragging files to an external drive or CD, just like Steve Jobs mentioned. Having a Subversion-like solution for OS X will just be amazing. There have been times where I have accidentally overwritten files, so selective restoring will be perfect for me. There has also been times where I’ve wanted to do a complete restore, so that functionality of Time Machine will rock also. Apple seems to have created the perfect backup solution for anyone with external storage.

The other major feature that Apple has announced is Spaces. I’m not too excited about Spaces at all. I’ve always found multiple desktops confusing, so it’s a feature I probably won’t be using. However, Apple does seem to have a couple of great ways to try and prevent it from getting confusing. Spaces exposé seems like a great way to easily see where everything is, and if you’re really lost, clicking on the application’s dock icon is perfectly for jumping to the “space” which contains that application. Maybe Apple’s approach will finally get me to use multiple desktops, but for now, I’m not jumping for joy.

Finally, hearing about updates to Mail, iCal, Spotlight, Dashboard, iChat, Front Row, and Boot Camp is certainly getting me excited. I’ve tried Apple’s Mail in the past, and never could switch to it. This upcoming version looks like it will finally bring me onboard. In regards to iCal, that’s another application which I haven’t really touched. Depending on how well it integrates with Mail, I might find myself using that application also.

Advanced searching and application launching with Spotlight is something that should have been there from the beginning, so it will be a welcome addition. The new ways to create widgets are looking great for Dashboard, especially how easy it will be for anyone to create a widget. The new iChat also sounds great, especially sporting its new Unified interface. From the previews of it, it looks like it will finally have a combined buddy list for different services, a welcome addition. Finally, while we don’t know what’s coming for Front Row and Boot Camp, just hearing that they’re going to be updated is music to my ears.

Conclusions

While this year’s WWDC Keynote was a disappointment for many people following the rumor sites, if you were trying to stick with reality, I think it was perfect. The new professional-grade hardware is blowing the competition away at a cheaper price, and Leopard’s new features are already ahead of Vista. Things are only going to get better from here.

Apple has laid the frameworks for a great operating system, and when they report on Leopard at Macworld in January, I’m sure they’re going to have some more great features and enhancements to tell us about.

An Intel/Nvidia Partnership

If I was Intel right now, I’d want to make sure I have a good graphics solution for the higher end markets. Sure, Intel has their Graphics Media Acceleration technology, but that is nowhere near as powerful as a dedicated graphics card. So, if I was in Intel’s shoes, I would be making sure that Nvidia is on our side. If Nvidia falls to Intel’s side, this can cause a major problem for AMD. All of AMD’s high end motherboards are based on Nvidia’s nForce chipset. So, if Intel would decided to stop making AMD versions of those boards, AMD would be without a high end motherboard. While this certainly wouldn’t put AMD out of the race, it would cause them to have to pull some resources together quickly to make up for that gap.

This scenario would also lead to a fairly polarized market. If you want an Intel machine, you have to go with Nvidia graphics. If you want an AMD machine, ATI is your only option. This won’t be fun for people who love to build their own machines. Choices would be limited, and would take away the fun of mixing and matching components to build the ultimate gaming machine.

An AMD/ATI/Nvidia Partnership

While this next scenario may be a little unlikely, I think it’s a possibility. Since AMD and Nvidia have worked together in the past, AMD may be able to keep Nvidia on their side. This would insure that AMD has great motherboards and would give AMD users a choice in graphics cards. This would also cause a major problem for Intel. Intel would either have to give in to the competitor and allow their graphics cards to work with Intel CPUs, or Intel would be completely out of the high end market. It would take Intel years to mature their GMA technology to the likes of ATI and Nvidia, causing massive loses in sales. Sure, Dell might still be buying Intel CPUs with integrated graphics, but anyone smart enough to want some performance out of their computer will go with AMD.

What About Apple?

And this brings us to another interesting matter, Apple. As I’m sure you know, Apple has been sleeping with Intel. However, Apple has also been sleeping with ATI most of the time. Depending on how deep the Apple-Intel relationship is, Intel may want Apple to stop using ATI graphics cards. This would essentially force Apple to use Nvidia cards for their higher end systems, something I’m sure Apple wasn’t planning for with the switch to Intel. I doubt Apple would put up a fight with Intel, but it certainly wouldn’t get the Apple-Intel partnership off to a great start.

Conclusions

If you were able to follow what I was saying, you’ll see that this AMD-ATI partnership may have a bigger effect than meets the eye. Of course, nothing may happen also, other than AMD CPUs and ATI graphics cards possibly getting better by using each other’s technology. I for one hope that things can remain peaceful between Intel and AMD, because if things don’t play out well, consumes will be screwed. Let’s just hope for the best.

Coolgear’s enclosure is about the cheapest you’ll find at the moment. However, that doesn’t mean it’s crappy. The enclosure comes with a carrying bag, a screw driver for installation, its special USB cable, and a driver disk for older Windows computers. The enclosure looks very sleek also. The combination of aluminum and plastic gives it style, and makes the enclosure feel very solid.

I know, I know. You don’t care about how it looks; you want to know how it works. Well, installation was fairly easy. You can probably figure it out without the instructions, but I read over them just to make sure I didn’t screw something up. To install a drive in the enclosure, you just slide the aluminum cover off, slide your drive in, flip it over and screw it down, cover it back up with the aluminum cover, and screw the cover down with a screw.

Alright, it wasn’t that easy. I did run into a few trouble spots. First of all, there is an inconsistency with the instructions. The instructions tell you that the cover screw should already be screwed in when you receive it. Instead it was in the bag with the rest of the screws. While that sounds like it’s no big deal, it does matter a little. The cover screw differs from other screws very slightly, so you won’t catch the difference until you’re trying to screw the drive down and the screw isn’t working. It’s a minor inconvenience, so be sure to look for the screw which is slightly different from the rest.

The other problem I encountered was getting the drive to fit. There are two small plastic pegs on the inside of the enclosure, which are meant to stop you from pushing the drive in too far. Well, I pushed the drive in as far as those plastic pegs would let me, and when I went to put the cover on, it wouldn’t close completely. It was close, but there was maybe a millimeter left before the cover would be completely shut.

Looking at my hard drive closer, it appeared that the pegs were meant to allow the drive to go a little further into the enclosure. Unfortunately the Seagate drive that ships with the MacBook has a small piece of plastic on the one side, thus preventing the drive from going all the way in. After trying to force it to go that little extra space, the one peg broke. It’s no big deal, since the peg really only serves as a guideline, but it’s something to keep in mind. I’m not sure if it’s the enclosure’s fault or my drive, but one of them definitely has a minor design flaw.

After dealing with the minor installation issues, I sealed the drive up. Once the assembly was complete, I just plugged the enclosure into my MacBook, and my drive was instantly recognized. Now there is something you should know about plugging it in. You’ll notice the included USB cable has two plugs on it. The extra plug (the red one) provides additional power to the drive if needed. If you’re using a 7200 RPM drive or a more power hungry 5400 RPM drive, you’ll want to plug in the additional USB cable. My 5400 RPM Seagate was able to work fine with one plug, but other drives may require more juice. If using an extra USB port is a problem, the enclosure does have a spot to plug in a 5V power plug, but you’ll need to find a suitable plug yourself.

Overall, I’m very satisfied with this enclosure. While there were some minor problems with the installation, the assembled unit performed as expected, and just looks great also. If you’re in the market for something to enclosure your MacBook or laptop SATA hard drive in, this is the enclosure to get.

One of the biggest issues which MacBook owners have reported are the heat issues. While my MacBook certainly does get hot, in my opinion it’s nothing out of the ordinary. My MacBook will idle around 55C and get up to 80C depending on how much processor power I require at the time. While the temperatures certainly are a little toasty, it hasn’t stopped me from using my MacBook on my lap in shorts. Sure, the first day I used it I thought it was a little uncomfortable, but since then I’ve either gotten used to the heat, or the first day damaged my skin cells so I can no longer feel pain. Either way, it works out in the end for me.

One of the other major problems with the MacBook in white has been discoloration. Fellow 9ruler Derek Punsalan has been raising awareness of the issue ever since it happened to him. In his unfortunate case, he went out of his way to cover up his MacBook to prevent discoloration, and was only rewarded with an ugly yellow finish. Due to his campaign against discoloration and the hundreds of bloggers who supported him, I can say that I don’t have the issue at all. Since Apple was made aware of the issue, they have changed the plastic to a much smoother material; one which doesn’t change with time. Since I have a later MacBook build, I have been lucky to get the new plastic and avoid the issue completely. For the unlucky MacBook owners with an ugly top case, Apple is replacing the affected portion with no questions asked, so be sure to get that done.

Out of the other well known issues, I have experienced none of them. I have yet to hear the mooing of a cow coming from the back of my MacBook, so I’m safe on that front. As far as AirPort reception goes, it couldn’t be better for me. I’ve taken my MacBook to previously thought WiFi dead zone in my house, and have been surfing with ease. I’ve also avoided power adapter humming and the ever so popular melted MagSafe. So, on the well known fronts, I’ve been good so far.

I’d wish that I could say I haven’t experienced any issues at all, but I can’t do that. I have experienced some very minor issues which aren’t that well known. One of the first issues which became apparent to me is crappy sleep times. While most of Apple’s laptop fleet can stay days in sleep while only loosing a few percentage points, my MacBook looses about 10% of its battery every eight hours. While it’s nothing that will greatly affect my battery life, since I’ll either be plugged in or shut off, it’s a minor inconvenience. Unfortunately there isn’t much I can do, as I’ve been told by the great people over at Broadband Reports that the extra 2GB of RAM installed is drawing more power than normal. Oh well.

Another minor issue which I have experienced has been insanely long Lead-Out times when burning a DVD. When burning a 2-3 minute DVD, my Lead-Out step can take as long as 6-10 minutes. That’s roughly 4x longer than it takes to burn the DVD. Luckily I’ve gotten some help from the Apple support forums and I have a few things to try for my next DVD. If I can’t resolve the issue, it’s nothing I’m going to worry about since I don’t burn DVDs that often.

In the that affects every manufacture category, my screen developed a stuck pixel a few days ago. Within minutes of noticing it I was able to successfully rub it out, only for it to reappear later that night. After seeing it a second time, I rubbed it out again, this time while playing one of the stuck pixel videos. Since then I haven’t seen it again, but if it decides to come back I feel confident that I’ll be able to take it down once again.

In the that’s freaking weird category, I’ve on occasion smelled some sort of burning chemical coming the MacBook. I initially thought it was just the MacBook’s “new car smell,” but since I don’t smell it all the time, and I still smell it almost two weeks after my purchase, I have a feeling that it’s not normal. Apparently a few other people have noticed this problem, claiming it irritates their nose and throat. It hasn’t irritated me at all; in fact, I think it smells quite good. Maybe I’m just a druggie at heart.

All in all, my MacBook has been wonderful. I’ve avoided all the well known major and minor issues, but have experience a few issues of my own. Luckily none of my issues have dramatically affected my MacBook, so it’s nothing which makes me doubt the MacBook and Apple’s quality control. If I can never find a solution to my problems, I will still love my MacBook for years to come.

So, if you’ve been reading all the issues about the MacBook Pro and the MacBook, and are thinking to yourself that every unit is broken, think again. Apple has at least one customer with a working MacBook with no complaints to file. I just think what we’ve been reading about these laptops is only the opinion of a small minority, much like Microsoft’s issues with its 360. Sure, a few people have units which are complete crap, but the majority of people’s MacBooks are working perfectly fine, giving them no reason to tell anyone about it.

I have several options for configuring my MacBook, and I honestly haven’t completely made up my mind yet. One thing for certain is I’m not going to purchase the black edition. Being a PC user for the majority of my life, I’m looking to embrace Apple’s famous white designs and not look like a regular PC user. That leaves the CPU/DVD, RAM, and hard drive, all fair game for configuring.

Since the MacBook comes in either a 1.83GHz Core Duo model with a Combo drive (DVD/CD-RW) or a 2.0GHz Core Duo model with a SuperDrive (DVD±RW/CD-RW), I have to make this decision together. My current PC has an AMD Athlon 2500 processor, and my current Mac (Hackintosh) has an Intel Celeron running at 2.5GHz. Given those specs, either MacBook processor would be a huge upgrade. Since I’m happy with my current speeds on both my Mac and PC, I don’t feel the difference in processor speeds is going to matter that much. However, when it comes to drive options, I actually think this might be an issue. I’m quite spoiled with my DVD±RW drive in my PC, and since I’m looking for the MacBook to become my main machine, a DVD burner will be important. I’m just not sure if an extra $200 for an integrated DVD burner is worth it when for $50 I can get an external one. I don’t think I’ll have a need to do mobile burning, so I could probably get away with an external drive. Any comments on this issue would be appreciated.

On the RAM front, I’m not going for anything less than 1GB. OS X is RAM hungry, and I know I’ll need at least that much. My current Mac has 1GB of RAM and I get away with that just fine. Apple’s price to upgrade to 1GB is actually cheaper than doing it myself, so at 1GB it makes sense for an upgrade. However, over 1GB and Apple’s prices are more expensive than buying some RAM yourself. Given those facts, I’m fairly certain I will be ordering 1GB of RAM, and then possible upgrading sometime down the road myself.

The hard drive is the final configurable option on my mind. Apple’s stock hard drive in the MacBook is 60GB, which would probably serve me well if Boot Camp didn’t exist. Since I’m planning on using Boot Camp, I need to figure for extra space for a Windows partition. Another thing to keep in mind is my hard drive usage. My current Mac only has a 40GB hard drive, but that’s because it’s a Hackintosh, and I don’t trust storing anything important on it. My current PC has an 80GB hard drive, plus an extra 60GB drive for storing “downloads”. A quick look at my hard drive reveals that the majority of stuff on it is archived things, such as old projects or photos. That leads me to believe if I would need an external hard drive down the road, I could easily load archived things on it, and not have to lug it around with me. With that said, Apple’s $50 upgrade to an 80GB drive sounds like the most logical choice for me. I could easily manage with that storage size, and if more space would be needed down the road, an external hard drive would work for me. Besides, the next hard drive size up is 100GB and it would cost $150 to upgrade to it, making it not worth it in my book.

With all that said, it looks like my MacBook will turn out to be a 1.83GHZ Core Duo with a Combo drive, 1GB of RAM, and an 80GB hard drive. After adding a DVI adapter to hook it up to my LCD monitor, my final total for that model would be $1,201. If I would opt for the faster processor model with a SuperDrive my final total would be $1,351, $150 more. Do you think an additional $150 is worth it for a faster processor and a SuperDrive? While I’d like to keep my purchase as cheap as possible, I don’t want to miss out on a great value upgrade if it makes sense. Any comments on this issue would be greatly appreciated.

So, yesterday the monitor arrived. I was a little nervous since this was my first LCD purchase, and I was hoping I had picked the best monitor for my situation. After spending about an hour cleaning up a massive cable mess, I finally installed the monitor. A big sigh of relief came over me; the monitor worked perfectly. At first I wasn’t too happy with the quality of the color, however, that was do to my previous monitor’s settings. It took me around another hour to fine tune my color settings in both Windows and Mac OS X so they would match. Once that was done I could finally enjoy the monitor

So far I haven’t had any grips about the monitor, besides one thing which I’ll address in the next paragraph. The color looks perfect, the text is sharp, the increased screen space comes in handy, and the monitor is made of high quality parts. I was a little worried about refresh times in games since LCDs tend to have a problem keeping up, but that hasn’t been an issue. The 8ms response time has done its job keeping up with my fast-paced visual usage.

However, there is one problem with my monitor, and I’m sure this is going to come as no surprise. I have a stuck pixel. The pixel is cyan and it’s on the bottom right of the screen. It shows up constantly unless the image is white. It’s not noticeable on certain colors, but a close inspection reveals it’s still there. I was well aware about dead/stuck pixels when I made my purchase, and I was hoping that wouldn’t be a problem. Unfortunately I got one, and there is nothing I can do about it. Newegg’s policy is eight pixels or more and Acer’s policy is four or more pixels. So, I’m just going to have to live with it.

I have tried fixing the stuck pixel myself. I ran a few of those color flashing videos, but none have worked yet. I’ve also tried rubbing the pixel back to life several different ways, and that’s failed also. I’m not going to stop, though. Every night I’m going to run a color flashing image until the pixel is gone. I’m also going to try and rub it out every once in awhile. Hopefully persistence will pay off eventually.

Excluding the stuck pixel, I’m very pleased with the monitor. Sure, it’s annoying knowing there is a stuck pixel on the monitor, but I don’t really notice it during most of my computing. I’m sure eventually the pixel will correct itself, so I would still recommend it to anyone who is in the market for an LCD and is short on cash. Stuck/dead pixels are a common thing with LCDs and we just have to live with them. Maybe one day LCD manufactures will up their quality control and we can all have error-free LCDs. Until then, we can come up with methods to fix the manufacturers’ errors. So, if you have any techniques to jump starting a stuck pixel, please let me know.

I now have a new issue. Instead of getting a distorted image when switching between computers or turning my monitor off, I have a doubled image on the screen. It started out being real faint and not noticeable, but throughout the day its progressively gotten worse. It’s now at the point where I can see the image doubled from about five feet away, which means it looks horrible up close.

I’ve decided it’s time to stop fooling around. I need to get a new monitor before this one completely dies on me. As you may remember last time, I wasn’t sure if I was going to get a CRT or an LCD. I now know I’m going to get an LCD. Also, since I’m going to have to spend a fair amount of money towards a new one, I’m going to treat myself and get a 19-inch, as the cost between a 19-inch and a 17-inch is about $30. The only thing left to decided is what brand to get.

I’ve been looking at a BenQ model, a Rosewill model, and a ViewSonic model. All three monitors have roughly the same specs, so it only comes down to build quality and price. Both the BenQ and the Rosewill models are similarly priced, if you ignore Rosewill’s rebate. The ViewSonic is the most expensive of the bunch, but it has the best reputation as a company. As far as reviews go, the BenQ has the best of the three, with the ViewSonic falling close behind at number two.

Unless someone tells me something specifically that will sway me, I think I’m going to go with the BenQ. It easily fits my budget, looks nice, and appears to have a very high build quality. I was debating about the Rosewill, but there are just too many refurbished models on Newegg, leaving me to believe a lot of people have issues with them. So, if you were in my shoes, which monitor would you get?