125 lines
6.3 KiB
Markdown
Executable file
125 lines
6.3 KiB
Markdown
Executable file
Title: back beyond green rolling hills...
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Category: MACHINES
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Date: 2013-06-30 22:07
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Slug: back-beyond-green-rolling-hills
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Tags: geeksauce, english
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Thumb: /library/newPC.jpg
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...of "[bliss](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bliss_(image))"
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My beloved MacBook Pro 4,1 (early 2008) started to become a bit flaky in
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the last weeks and the transitions from PAL to HD and full HD video
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material in my work left me more and more frustrated with render times,
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so i began to think about a replacement for my slightly aged digital
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companion.<!-- PELICAN_END_SUMMARY -->
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The new MacBook pro models i've had my hands on a few times seemed to be
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perfect machines. Super slim, amazingly powerful, and with stunning
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retina display option. But it wasn't just the price that gave me
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headaches. If i really have to spend more than 2K on a laptop i want it
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to last as long as my old one (min. 5 years). Would it? As far as i
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remember i had to replace hard drives twice in the last years, also two
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new batteries, upgrade RAM, and so on. The usual stuff. Looking at the
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tech specs and service manuals of the new MacBook Pro models i really
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started to worry... [soldered RAM? a glued battery? sealed
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chassis?](http://appleinsider.com/articles/12/06/13/teardown_of_retina_display_macbook_pro_finds_soldered_ram_propreitary_ssd)
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From my experience a battery [doesn't really survive longer than two to
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three
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years](http://www.sparepartswarehouse.com/blog/post/main-factors-that-affect-a-laptop-battery-life.aspx)
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in heavy duty use and mobility and if I really need to spend that much
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cash on a new machine it should be maintainable.
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I have to admit, i am a bit of an Apple fanboy, not hardcore evangelist,
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but i always liked Apple's mix of cutting edge technology, software
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innovations, service, and their consideration of digital media
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professionals. With the release of OS X in 2001 i switched to a Mac
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after 10 years of PC and Windows 95/98/2000/XP frustration, endless days
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of re-installating a broken or trashed OS, driver incompatibilities,
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hardware failures, and so on. I was amazed by the revolutionary step
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from the almost dead MacOS 9 system to a full scale UNIX system with a
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new approach of a graphical user interface. I switched and never wanted
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to go back. PC technology developed so quickly, following Apples
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inventions and computers got better and better, but Microsoft seemed to
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be stuck in a dead end, even with their releases of Vista and Windows 7.
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From a media professional point of view Linux is not really an option so
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I always stayed a happy Mac user. Apple created version after version of
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better and better systems and my computer seemed to be faster with every
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new release.
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Now in the need of new hardware and also a bit frustrated by Apple's new
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approach on sealed and soldered hardware (clearly as consumer products
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and not pro gear) i was forced to really pay attention to the market and
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also dare to look beyond the Apple basket. I plunged into the quest for
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PC notebooks in the same range of speed, memory and features as the
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MacBook Pros, read through countless hardware reviews, and looked at
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models in different stores. Eventually I found myself looking at three
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different Notebooks by
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[Dell](http://www.dell.com/de/unternehmen/p/precision-laptops)and
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[Lenovo](http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/)that looked
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amazing from a technical point of view and fairly nice from a design
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point of view (yes i admit i care about that). But \*sigh\* ...
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Windows....seriously?
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During my work in the last months I stumbled over Microsoft's new
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Windows 8 that colleagues had running on their computers, and i was
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really surprised! A well designed new operating system without drop
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shadows, semi transparent window borders, weirdly placed and hidden
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system settings, annoyingly long loading times, what happened???
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Compared to the new look and feel of Windows 8 even MacOS seemed a bit
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dated...
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Eventually I dared...
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I switched back! Back to the PC world, back to Windows!
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The computer that convinced me the most was the [Lenovo ThinkPad
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W530](http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/w-series/w530/)
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workstation model. A multicore i7 CPU, up to 32 gigs of RAM (!!!),
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Nvidia Optimus switchable GPUs, up to three Hard Drives, a [spillwater
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proof drainage system](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7cvi00OZDM), one
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button to remove the battery, one screw to get to the main hard drive,
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one lever to release the optical UltraBay drive and replace it with
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another hard drive while the system is running, Full HD Screen with
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hardware color calibrator, all combined with the great Thinkpad typical
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80s sci-fi matt black japanese lunchbox design. Price: under 2K.
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Definetly upgradable and maintainable in the next years. An amazing
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piece of professional hardware.
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So far i really love it. Especially in combination with Windows 8. I can
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totally not relate to the online shitstorms of hardcore Windows users
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complaining about the missing Start button, confusing gesture control
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and "Metro" design annoyances. It took me five minutes to read through a
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help file to figure out the gestures and keyboard short cuts to feel at
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home in the system and about 1 hour playing around to figure out the
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overall concept and look and feel.
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Do I miss MacOS X? Hmm...not really. A bit. But just a little. Nah...
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Having been on Mac for the last 10 years, here are some things I
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noticed, being (back) on a Windows system:
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- From Finder to Explorer: Cut and paste of files actually works!
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Opening ZIP files without third party software too! And so much more....
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how was I actually able to work with Finder?
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- I miss the very simple layout of the MacOS settings. Windows has
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improved A LOT in making the settings more intuitive (especially with
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the new "Spotlight" style search system) but it still feels a bit weird
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to get around the sections.
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- Transition from Alt/Command to Ctrl/Win/Alt button layout: it was
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really hard to not accidentally hit Alt or Win just from the habit of
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thumb-shooting the Command key. Now after a week, i am almost used to
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it, just the Photoshop shortcuts will probably take another few weeks to
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fully master.
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- Right click? Oh what a pleasure! More than one mouse button! Nuff
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said...
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- Multitouch gestures on the trackpad: totally works the same way as on
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a Mac
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- to be continued in the next weeks...especially how the switch will
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affect my media arts / VJ life...
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