iBetrayal

In the last months there has been a silent and progressive change in my family. A slow revolution that has overruled every rational economic decision and forced us to buy Apple computers (I refuse to cite the usual “PC vs. Mac” thingie since it's just not true: Macs are overpriced PCs!).

So, after my brother bought a Mac Book Pro when he left for his school, my mother followed with another Apple laptop. Still justifiable, since both of them do computer design and after all every self-respectable designer wouldn't suit for nothing less than a Mac. But then... we inexcusably also bought a 27 inch iMac!

Unpacking our new 27' iMac.

We started using it in the kitchen to watch movies most of all — a rather underutilized piece of hardware until now. Still, the screen is absolutely gorgeous and watching movies on it is a pleasure.

Anyway, I was “keeping it real” and was standing by my PC-only principles... that is, until the finishing blow struck. For the last months I have been working at some new project for the University of Urbino. The professor I'm working with went on a “we got money, we gotta spend it” buying spree (not really, but quite) and bought some new hardware for the lab I work in. One of those machines was indeed a Mac Book Pro 13, which has then been assigned to me. Yuppie.
An offer I couldn't refuse of course.

My Mac Book Pro sitting on a table in the terrace.

It's the older model (not the recently released one), but the aluminum chassis is just perfect and the screen is awesome. The feel is super-solid: it doesn't bend, the screen moves smoothly and it rigidly stays in the angle you set it to (just the opposite of my old laptop). The keyboard is comfortable, even if the strange Apple layout requires a bit of getting used to it. Especially the lack of proper Home/End and Delete buttons makes writing code a bit less easy. The multitouch trackpad on the other hand is just genius!

Battery life is impressing so far and I love to use the Mac Book around the house. All in all, a great laptop that is worth the extra-price in my opinion.

The Mac Book with the church tower of Bevagna on the background.

That being said, I'm still not completely sold on Mac OSX. It's cool, it's quick and easy to use (most of the time), but is has a lot of strange quirks (coming from a Windows perspective anyway). And, for some strange reason, the “perfect” Mac Book Pro and the iMac, even if blessed by Steve Jobs, have some really serious issues with WiFi connectivity (a quite common problem it appears from looking at some forums). SMB shared folders too don't work all too well.

But my problems with Mac OSX probably deserve another post... I'll be installing Windows 7 over Snow Leopard very soon anyway. Nonetheless, a really great laptop with the best chassis you can get (components are sub-par for the price, but I didn't pay for it directly... I'm satisfied and, as you can tell from the pictures, I'm in love ).