Hardware Update

Who won? The ThinkPad or the MacBook Pro?

Neither.

That’s right: I haven’t upgraded my notebook yet. And for very non-Randy like reasons.

I start a new job a week from Monday. Since it requires campus specific resources – like a 360 Development Box and restrictive network access – I don’t even know how effective I will be, while not on campus. In the past I’ve been able to leave my office a little early and then pick up any immediate issues from home, at all hours of the day… if going on a slacker vacation, I didn’t have to worry about having a strong backup because I could simply VPN in and fix problems. A strong notebook was a requirement.

In addition to the change in work processes that I’ve gotten used to, the new group mentioned that they’d have a notebook for me to use. True it will probably be an 8 pound brick, but it’s still mobile, especially for moving meeting to meeting. Will I carry it to and from work every day? Doubtful. Take it on vacation? Depends on the item above: that will tell me if I’m going to expect to simply read email or actually fix internal stuff while offsite.

Then there’s the conflict over the MacBook Pro itself.

Steve and I have been arguing for weeks over this. We both agree: getting the ThinkPad means more of the same, only faster. He sees this as a bad thing; I see it as a good thing. Time will tell on that… I think I’ve fulfilled my burning desire to be a Switcher with my PowerBook years ago and with my Mac mini (that I use as a video appliance).

The MBP has been getting kicked around a good deal, due to heat “problems”. No one seems to know if the heat “problem” causes burnt machines or if it simply causes burnt theighs… either way, I don’t like hot notebooks. There’s been a bunch of threads running around – this one is the one I’ve read more often – including some that appeared on Apple’s own forums… and then got pulled. The net result is that people are claiming that the thermal grease has been applied very sloppily and that by “fixing” it, it lowers CPU temperatures by 20C, external/case temperatures by 30-40%, and seems to do a better job of triggering the fans.

Again, this is typical: there always seems to be just “one more thing” to get through with Apple notebooks… this one is ugly though: if you break something while reapplying the thermal grease, you void your warranty. At $2500, that’s a steep repair. If you ask Apple to fix it, they will reapply the same grease in the same sloppy way. And yeah, once the heat issue gets sorted out, there will be another thing to work through. That’s been my feeling since the PowerBook 12″ – it doesn’t seem to have gotten any better.

The ThinkPad may have the same issues. This is now a Lenovo built product, rather than an IBM built product, so who knows what may have changed. I’ve stopped into a couple of Office Depots but they don’t have T60’s in stock yet. They also don’t mention if the T60 will be supported by Vista, which doesn’t help matters any.

Add to this that my car lease is ending in 6 months and that I have a seperating Pergo floor that needs replacing (probably with more expensive ceramic tile) and… well.

I balk at having to make this decision now.

Oh, I’m still digging on the Intel based Mac’s. I’ve even toyed with the idea of unloading my G4 Mac mini for a Core Duo Mac mini. That would upgrade my appliance with something faster and more modern for a hell of a lot less than $2500. I also think it’s a good time to unload the G4-based hardware – waiting longer will only lessen the price. Would also let me test a bunch of stuff in a pre-MBP purchase, if things get better there. One thing is certain: if I didn’t pull the trigger while in one of four different Apple stores, something definitely isn’t sitting right. And on the ThinkPad, that would involve an online order and weight period: that helps quell impulse buys.

We’ll see, I guess.


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