Wasted Continuum

Not even a full day later from when I ordered a new MacBook Pro does my old Sager laptop, a.k.a. JavaLappy, decides to retire early. I placed my order around midnight last night. This morning when I woke up. I found my JavaLappy rebooted and stuck on an IDE controller error screen. After multiple tries of rebooting, I called it. My notebook was dead. Most likely from a motherboard error, but this cannot be confirmed without a thorough computer autopsy. I can’t believe it couldn’t hold on until my MacBook was delivered. Luckily, I backed up everything important a couple weeks ago when I reinstalled Windows on it. This is why you should always back up! I hope Apple processes my order quickly and get it to me by Monday.

Goodbye my lovely JavaLappy. You have served me well over the years.

Yesterday, I declared to Twitter that if Apple released a new MacBook Pro, I would run out and buy one. Well, today, Apple released updated versions of both the MacBook and MacBook Pro lines. The new MacBook Pros are now loaded with the new Intel Core 2 Duo Peryn chips, backlit LED displays, multi-touch track pad (a la MacBook Air) and a few other things. You can go visit Apple’s site to see all the updates. Since the local store doesn’t have the 15″ MBP with the 200GB 7200rpm hard drive, I had to order it online. This is the configuration I ordered:

• 2.5GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
• MacBook Pro 15-inch Glossy WS
• 2GB 667 DDR2 SDRAM - 2×1GB
• 200GB Serial ATA @ 7200 rpm
• SuperDrive 8x DL
• Apple Remote
• BkLit Keyboard/Mac OS

I should be getting it sometime next week. Now comes the hardest part, waiting.

It’s been a long day and I’m not feeling well. I woke up with a sore throat this morning. Actually the whole week has been hectic. Projects are piling up at work. When I get off work, I have Chinese New Year stuff to do. On top of that, I’ve been trying to repair my dying laptop. I still think there’s a hardware issue and it may go soon. That would really suck cause I just spent about $900 on getting new tires for my car. I can’t afford to replace my laptop right now. It’s been bugging me a lot. It’s hard on a geek to know that his laptop is dying and there’s nothing I can do about it. The fun part is that I do get to research new laptop options now. It definitely is not in my budget right now to get one.

I went to check out the MacBook Air today for the first time. It is gorgeous. It is hands-down the most stylish laptop out on the market right now. Pair it up with a Gelaskins and you’ll have every head turning when you’re sitting in a cafe with it. I have to decide if it’s too restricted with the single USB port and 80GB hard drive. The screen is beautiful and the multi-touch track pad works really well. It’s very tempting. However, the MacBook Pro has been heavily rumored to be updated in a few weeks. I think that will probably be a better time for me to make a purchase anyway.

I also checked out the new iPod Touch with the 32GB hard drive. It’s pretty much the exact same as the old ones except with more capacity. I just wanted to check out the new apps that they added to all the iPod Touches after MacWorld. I think I’ll pull the trigger on that one as soon as they drop the price. I can work with 32GB. 16GB is just unacceptable.

Ok, I’m a few days late on this post, but my database server was down. There’s already a lot of coverage on everything that was announced at the keynote at MacWorld 2008 so I don’t need to go into details about everything. Here’s my quick take on the announcements. Continue Reading »

Nothing unexpected here. But it’s officially announced now. The big question is what is going to be announced. The only rumor going around is an ultra mobile laptop. That bodes well for me. I want apple to announce one so that I don’t end up buying the Asus Eee PC. As much as I want to buy that right now, I feel like if I do, Apple will announce the perfect laptop for me and I’d be kicking myself again. I did buy the last-gen Nano a month before the current one was released. I’m not too pissed at that, but a notebook would be different. Even if Jobs doesn’t announce a ultra mobile, an updated MacBook would work too. Something a little lighter and more powerful than the current generation. It’s time to update that line. I don’t really give a crap about a new iPhone, unless they release a 64GB, 3G, unlocked version. The big keynote is on January 15th, 2008. I’ll wait and see. It’s weird how there’s so little rumors flying about.

One of the biggest topics in the computing world is the newly released Asus Eee PC notebook computer. Everyone and their moms has written up something about it. So why the frickin’ buzz you ask? If you don’t know what the Eee is, it is an ultra-portable 7″ laptop. What’s cool about it is that it is a flash NAND based computer. Right now, there is a 4GB and a 8GB model. It’s also preloaded with Linux. It has a built-in camera and wireless b/g. It’s installed with OpenOffice, Skype and other software. The Eee is aimed for someone who’s on the go and does not need a laptop with tons of memory. Instead, you can throw it in your bag, go to a local wifi coffee house and blog about pointless issues for four hours before you have to plug in the tiny adapter that it comes with. The thing that gets most people excited is the fact that it costs only $399 (4GB).

So all of that would make a lot of geeks run out to get one. What’s got my attention is this little article that was posted a couple days ago on Uneasysilence. Someone actually loaded OS X Leopard on one and posted the tutorial for it. For $399, I’m really getting tempted. I guess I should wait until MacWorld Expo in January to see if a new MacBook is announced before I jump the gun.