My Apple Macbook laptop is my first mac and has a very special place in my heart. I’ve used it for school, blogging, graphic design jobs, and even just to mess around. Without my Macbook I would have never started r3fresh.com or taught myself the Adobe Creative Suite. Tomorrow I will be receiving a brand new Macbook Pro and my old Macbook will be sold.

Anyone looking to switch to a mac should consider buying a Macbook. It’s one of the cheaper macs, but it will provide the computing power you need for most projects. I’ve had my Macbook for almost two years and it has just now starting to show it’s age especially with pro apps.

The Macbook is smaller than a standard laptop; making it easy to take on long trips or even just a trip to the coffee shop. When I had first gotten my Macbook, I had people asking me what it was and “How could it be so small?.” The white plastic outside was the biggest concern of mine because of fading and dirt, but after two years I’ve had no problems a little Windex can’t fix. The battery life is okay and will allow for a couple hours of online work or music listening.

The Macbook has been an amazing laptop, especially for a student like me. It’s relatively cheap, but has a lot of power inside the box. I’ve made a list below of my favorite and least favorite parts of the Macbook.

The Good:

• Bang for your buck
• Chiclet keyboard takes getting used to, but is better than the regular style
• Large trackpad
• Small size
• Very quick (non-pro apps)
• Easy to add external monitor
• Easy to change out memory
• Mag-safe
• Front Row (w/ remote) makes watching movies and listening to music a theater experience
• High quality overall

The Bad:

• Palm rests tend to get dirty quickly
• Integrated graphic card has trouble running games or flash
• Overheating
• Back-light is touchy, especially on battery power
• Speakers are weak, especially with music

The iPhone 3G may have taken all of the attention away from Apple’s computer line, but later this year all eyes will be back on the macs. What to expect in a few months:

-Blu-ray drives will be available on every mac computer (including Mac Mini). Blu-ray drives with burning capabilities available only on Macbook Pro and Mac Pro (at first).

-The Macbook Pro will lose the old style keyboard for the new chiclet style similar to current Macbook. RAM maximum will be increased to 8GB.

-Macbook will get a full refresh. New look, still no metal like Macbook Pro. RAM maximum will be increased to 6GB.

-Macbook will get the multi-touch track-pad like Macbook Pro and Air.

-iMac will get its specs updated.

-Macbook Air will get specs updated. Larger hard drive. Quicker. Same price. External USB drive won’t have Blu-ray.

-Cinema Displays will still be expensive and will remain unchanged.

-Going off topic, iPod Touch will see a price drop of about $50 dollars. iPod Classic won’t be updated.

The five applications Apple released in an upgrade for the iPod Touch are not free. They aren’t even reasonably priced. They are however overpriced at $20. I still bought the upgrade, not because I needed it, but because I must have the latest and greatest.

The apps included are maps ($.63), weather ($.15), stocks ($.12), notes ($.68), and the only one I use, mail ($.86). So I spent $20 on a mail application that I really didn’t need? I thought so, until I dug a little deeper and found features that make it worth it better. (Also included a break down of what they really are worth)

New “Hidden” Features:

• Web Clips- Like apps, but are slower and only work when connected to wifi ($.53)
• Custom Screen Layout- You can now put any app, anywhere, there’s even more pages ($.02)
• Location Lookup- Google maps can find your location, but good luck having it work on an iPod Touch ($.31)
• Document viewer- the iPhone can view common files like .doc and spreadsheets, and it’s now on the Touch ($1.oo)
• Minor tweaks- just looking at the interface you’ll notice minor layout changes, animations, and a few new buttons ($.47)

The upgrade should be priced at $4.77.

*The “estimation” is not based on anything and for good reason.

Doing some last minute shopping, for myself, on Amazon and I was looking through the software. While I was going through the “Movers & Shakers” section of Amazon I found this:

Now when I saw this I became quite frustrated. The already shady Norton is now cashing in on new unknowing mac users. Those of you who are new to the mac world and aren’t tech savvy, you need to know that virus software isn’t needed when running Mac OS X. Don’t waste $50 on crappy software that will just take up space on your hard drive.

The “Product Information” on Amazon:

 

• Automatically detects and removes viruses Offers automatic protection against the latest threats with set-and-forget convenience
• Scans and cleans downloaded files and email attachments Delivers continuous, up-to-date protection via fast updates
• Protects against attacks that target software vulnerabilities Provides advanced protection against software and Internet vulnerabilities
• Works with new Mac OS® X v10.5 Runs natively on Intel® and PowerPC® based Mac® systems
• Includes an all-new Norton AntiVirus dashboard widget

The information is repetitive, but the dashboard widget sounds innovative. Right?

Is this the beginning of so called “problem solving” windows software moving to the mac? I can’t wait for the release Windows Movie Maker and disk defragmenter early next year.

I asked the internet community to vote on what I should do with my broken iPod. I didn’t listen and decided to fix it. Since then, my iPod Touch has become my main player and the old, but still working iPod had been pushed into the corner to collect dust, but before it could I found BuyMyTronics.com.

BuyMyTronics.com, which used to be BuyMyBrokeniPod.com, buys old and/or broken iPods, Zunes, and even game consoles, and pays you through PayPal. To submit a “tronic” you’ll go through a few pages of information about the condition of the item you’re wanting to sell and if you have the original accessories and manuals (the more stuff you’ve, got the more you’ll get). When submitting my iPod I also included the box and I ended up making $120. Not bad considering the iPod wasn’t in the best condition and it was the previous generation. My luck on eBay is laughable and BuyMyTronics was the best way for me to make money without having to (attempt) another auction.

The whole process was very simple. Instructions on sending your iPod in were emailed to you quickly, but shipping to BuyMyTronics is on your tab (and it’s wise to include Delivery Confirmation). The newly redesigned website is also easy to navigate and it’s ad free.

In the future, BuyMyTronics will be buying laptops, cell phones, cameras and “camcorders” (I wonder if they’re talking about the huge black cameras from the early 90’s?). This will be interesting to see how they price the dozens of different types of phones and cameras.

BuyMyTronics is the best choice for those who want to get money for their electronics, but don’t want to hassle with eBay. The procedure is simple and you’ll come out with a full man purse.

www.BuyMyTronics.com

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Every year Macs are becoming more popular. Windows users are flocking switching to Macs rather that attempting to try and update to Microsoft’s interesting operating system known as Vista. But if there is one reason not to switch to the Mac, I have it.

On a Windows computer, I have found it to be the perfect place for getting work done including school papers, blog posts, and even just checking/writing my email. With a Windows computer you’ll start something and usually finish it in a respectable amount of time. I would like to say I could do the same on the Mac, but I can’t. Writing an English thesis paper on my Macbook will look promising at first, but then I’ll find myself navigating through the iTunes Store or reorganizing the files in my documents folder. No, I don’t have an attention disorder, but maybe I’ve psychologically made my Mac a computer for “fun stuff” and my Windows computer for “work stuff.” Is it because I grew up on a PC during most of my childhood education? I thought it to be true until I noticed that I wasn’t the only one with this problem.

Searching through the pages of (the now hacked) MacApper, I found dozens of “Getting Things Done” or GTD applications specifically to end my problem. The only problem with these GTD applications is that they take more time away from your work, especially when trying to set them up. I’ve spent a couple hours on a GTD app only to delete it the next day.

I then (now wasting time) tried to give this condition a name. Mac Attention Deficit Disorder, MADD, is already been taken. Any ideas?

Back on topic, if you’re going to get a Mac you need to know that you won’t get as much work as you once did on your Windows machine. Why? Mac OS is too pretty, has animated everything, and it could even be a psychological thing. They say creative people use Macs, possibly because the Mac can be the doodle on the side of your page or writing on your hand.

Writing this post I have replied to five Pownce messages, downloaded a new song on iTunes, attacked a zombie (and lost) on Facebook, and emailed an old classmate. 

Apple’s iPhone and iPod Touch both come with the Safari browser. The Safari browser on these products is suppose to work exactly the same as on the computer. I don’t like using the Safari browser on my iPod Touch because I don’t like waiting for ads and sidebar items to load. When I was reading Leo’s Laporte’s Life of Leo blog I noticed an iPhone Optimized button on his site and found iwPhone.

iwPhone is a WordPress plugin that optimizes your blog for the iPhone and Touch. The plugin is pretty simple. Anyone using Safari on the iPhone/touch will be presented with an optimized theme for quick loading and easy reading. The iwPhone plugin is free and can be downloaded here (not a direct link to download).

Want to test it out before you put it on your blog? Go to r3fresh on your iPhone or iPod Touch.

Yes, I know it’s been a while and I don’t have an excuse. What I do have is my first impressions of the new Apple OS know as Leopard, which was released on Friday.

Shiny and Ripe:

• Theme stays consistent throughout every app
• The end of the futuristic brushed metal look
• Finder finally found itself and it’s good
• The dock is pretty, very pretty
• Preview is even better
• Time Machine ends my pack-rat days
• Stacks makes getting to files, much easier (perfect for multiple piece projects)
• Mail.app could be seeing use again
• Front Row is faster and now something I’ll use (you can finally get to it in the applications folder)
• No bugs encountered…yet?
• No trouble running older apps

Soft and Rotten:

• Coverflow in Finder. Really Apple?
• I still despise Dashboard
• Wireless connection settings/information is still useless
• iChat will once again never be used
• Runs sluggishly on my 2GB MacBook Core Duo
• Only one Leopard space wallpaper
• No spine-tingling new features