17” MacBook Pro: Billeted With Balls

After six weeks with my new MacBook Pro I am as enthusiastic about recommending it today as I was the first week I owned it. This beast isn’t for everyone and sometimes even I (a completely butched-up Texian type guy) wish it were just a tad more portable, but if you need a laptop capable of virtually any task a desktop machine can handle, this beauty is as good as it gets.

This machine:

3.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
4 GB 1066 Ram
256 GB Apple SSD

has all the guts one could ask for in a portable computer but the build quality of this “unibody” laptop is its most impressive feature. People who claim this 6.6 pound 17” version of Apple’s latest MacBook Pro line is too big to be “really portable” are often the same jackballs that gladly carried a 15” Dell D series Latitude (the most popular laptop ever) a couple of years ago. That machine was a full 1 pound heavier and 50% thicker than this new 17” MBP. If you can carry a 15” HP (6.1 lbs.) you wouldn’t even notice the difference if weight were your only concern. When you compare this Mac to the current 17” offerings from Dell, HP and others, it is the most portable 17” on the market, by far. Dell’s “Studio 17” starts at 7.9 pounds, gets incrementally heavier as you add features and uses a “brick” style power adapter that’s 50% bigger and heavier than the Apple equivalent. When I consider what I need to put in my bag to be truly portable, I always include the power adapter. I mean, really? Do you ever leave the house with your computer without some way to power it? The afore-mentioned Dell system weighs in at 10 pounds when you consider the machine and the “brick” needed to keep it charged. The 17” MacBook Pro setup weighs just 7 lbs. and you could arguably leave the power adapter at home given the new non-user-replaceable battery will last over six hours (my real world experience).
Sculpted, not stamped.
Apple has done what was once considered nearly impossible. With the switch to the unibody manufacturing technique they created a sturdy 17” portable computer with all the horsepower 99% of users will ever need in a package less than one inch thick. The key word here is sturdy. This thing looks and feels like a solid slab of aluminum when closed and when opened the fit and finish of the new MBP is the most precise I’ve ever seen. When I buy parts for my Harley, the machined type or "billeted" parts machined from a solid piece of metal (like the MBP’s unibody) are double the price of their forged metal equivalent but look infinitely better and last twice as long. By comparison, my previous (late 2007 17” MBP) laptop, while quite a nice computer, seems almost flimsy.
Prepare for ludicrous speed!
When you add an SSD to this new configuration, you can add the words “rugged” and “f-ing fast” to the list of adjectives used to describe it. I’m still amazed by this Mac’s 38 second boot time (with all my startup apps included) and most all other apps launch instantly. For example, when I start Mail, iCal, Address Book and many others it feels more like I’m un-hiding them. Double-click an app’s icon and pop, it’s there. I’ve never used any computer that feels so responsive. Apple’s SSDs don’t offer the extremely high read and write speeds of some other brands, but in the real world, random read speed (multiple small reads scattered across a disk) is what really counts when booting or launching apps and the near-zero latency typical of all SSDs (Apple’s included) is where most users see real performance gains. Now, when I use my 24” iMac (Late 2008, 2.8 GHz, 4GB) it feels almost sluggish by comparison. It’s still difficult to justify the $650 price tag for the 256 GB SSD upgrade, but I’m spoiled now and don’t want to live without it. I’m convinced that adding a SSD is by far the single, best way to increase a machine’s performance, if you can stomach the cost.
As for other performance aspects, the 1066 MHz front-side bus and memory coupled with the latest top o’ the line Intel meat grinder is as good as you’ll find in any laptop. Benchmarks aren’t my thing, but the ones I’ve seen put this box right at the top of the heap. The keyword here is laptop, so it doesn’t make sense to think you can render hours of 1080p video that would choke an 8 core Mac Pro, but there’s little else this portable won’t do. I certainly don’t hesitate tackling any chore normally reserved for my iMac.
Wide open spaces.
Lets face it, the 1920 X 1200 display is really why you buy the 17” model and nobody offers anything comparable in a package nearly as compact as the unibody MBP. Screen “real estate” is always a concern of mine and I frequently don’t have the luxury of hooking up an external monitor. While only 2” bigger (measured diagonally), the 17” MBP provides 44% more screen (pixels) than its 15” little brother and the extra space really comes in handy. I chose the default glossy display because my machine is used almost exclusively in an office environment where glare is not an issue, but I also think the color saturation and sharpness of the glossy display is far superior to the $50 anti-glare (matte) “upgrade”. (I’ve always wondered why the pixel density of laptop displays is so much higher than what you can buy in a comparably sized desktop LCD. The best resolution I can find in a 17” wide format desktop model is 1440 X 900. Just curious. If anyone has a good explanation for this, please leave a comment.)
It costs a little more to go first class.
If you’re from south Florida or if you just couldn’t tell, I’m absolutely in love with this machine. It is beautifully constructed, aesthetically pleasing, rugged and blazingly fast. At $3449 it is not cheap by any measure, but when I consider the two desktop machines it replaces, that price doesn’t sting quite so badly. Besides, if price were my primary consideration, I’d be like one of those goobers in a “I’m a PC” commercial shopping for a plastic laptop at WalMart. Is this a machine for the masses? Of course not, but if you’re searching for a desktop replacement with more ponies than you can harness, in the most beautiful, well-built package available, this 17” MacBook Pro will get you there fast and in fine style.

Is Any iPhone App Worth $70?

Two weeks ago I did something I NEVER thought I would do. I paid $70 for an iPhone app! I have always wished for a turn-by-turn solution for the iPhone and held off buying a stand-alone Garmin or TomTom for my car. I settled for using the built-in Maps app when I needed to find something. Since the aforementioned purchase of MobileNavigator by Navigon AG, (iTunes link) I’ve been glad I waited.

Paired with Kensington’s LiquidAUX car kit ($80 list, $50 on Amazon), the iPhone 3GS is a complete in-car solution for phone, internet, entertainment and now, navigation. For example, my family and I were driving through an unfamiliar state last weekend being directed by MobileNavigator while my daughter was surfing on her tethered laptop as the wife and I listened to our favorite podcast (NoAgenda). The iPhone handled the load just fine and the Kensington car kit kept the battery at 100% and held the screen at a good viewing angle, easily within reach. The steering wheel-mounted iPod controls worked flawlessly though I found myself wanting a couple more controls. The RF remote that comes with the Kensington car kit has buttons for play/pause, skip forward, skip back and shuffle.

MobileNavigator is a very well done implementation of Navigon’s turn-by-turn and POI system used on their standalone devices. The look and feel is almost identical and the 3GS does an excellent job acquiring satellites and updating the screen. I haven’t seen the actual specification but by my observation the map screen updates multiple times per second in both 2D and 3D modes. No, the 3D graphics aren’t the best I’ve seen, but that sort of thing is just fluff anyway. If you spend time to admire all the pretty pictures on your nav, you’ll probably wind up in a ditch or attempting to occupy the same space as the car ahead of you. For me, the nice female voice telling me when to change course is good enough. Finding things with MobileNavigator is easy too. Like any nav, you can enter a street address or search for points of interest (POI) and Navigon’s database is as complete as any I’ve used. So far I’ve tested MobileNavigator in and around Houston and all over Kansas (from Wichita to Abilene to KC) on a recent family reunion outing. Even in the middle of B.F. Kansas, including some unpaved county roads, the MobileNavigator maps were accurate and concise. The only trouble I had with the app was finding a Tex-Mex restaurant in Kansas. Turns out, there aren’t any!

So, did I spend my $70 wisely? I think so, especially when you consider the cost of even the cheapest standalone nav. Navigon, Garmin and TomTom all offer devices with similar features to MobileNavigator for about $150, but that’s one more device to plug in that I’d rather avoid. I always have my iPhone with me and I use it for entertainment in my car so much I can’t remember which stations my radio buttons are for. MobileNavigator, in combination with the Kensington car kit lets me use some of the phone’s iPod functions while navigating as long as I load a playlist or audio track first. If Apple would stop playing “phone Nazi” and allow some degree of multitasking things would work even better. For now, changing a playlist or selecting different media means exiting MobileNavigator, selecting media then restarting MobileNavigator after the new audio begins playing. To avoid that procedure I tend to select longer playlists or podcasts. Consequently, my butt usually wears out when driving long before one of my playlists is finished. An incoming phone call forces MobileNavigator to exit, but it restarts as soon as you hang up. There is only a few (about 10 on the 3GS) second delay as the app restarts so it isn’t too annoying. If you were navigating a route, the app picks up where you left off without bothering you.

MobileNavigator is no lightweight when it comes to sheer size. The download is 1.3 GB and the install size is somewhere around 1.6. It obviously packs its maps and POI database, unlike the phone company’s offering. AT&T has their own turn-by-turn navigation app and the (2.3 MB) app itself is free. The privilege of using it costs $10 per month and is an add-on to the already ludicrous AT&T contract. If you have an iPhone 3G or 3GS and need a nav, MobileNavigator’s $70 price tag is money well spent.

Why the Term “Enterprise Mac” is a Joke

Before I begin, I’d like to make this disclaimer: I LOVE MY MACS!
That being said, there are some very good reasons why Apple has a long way to go before being considered a serious player in the enterprise market. I’ve worked for three Fortune 500 companies over the past 25 years as a software developer, sysadmin and IT manager. Over that span I’ve witnessed the move from mainframes to minis to the client/server environment that’s dominant today. While most CIOs and IT directors would love the usability and security of OS X, several things need to change before Macs are seriously considered for widespread enterprise use.

Apple doesn’t offer suitable enterprise desktop hardware. The same gaping hole in Apple’s product line-up that spawns companies like Psystar is the type of product most IT professionals look for when purchasing desktop hardware. They want a serviceable, small to medium sized computer with “middle of the road” specifications. The only user serviceable machine Apple makes is the Mac Pro. Its’ $2500 starting price is enough to buy three Dell or HP desktops with adequate specs. Before you fanboys start shaking your fist, I know the Mac Pro is a lot more machine, but IT managers don’t make those comparisons. They just want a new machine to fit their specification and they need the ability to replace parts themselves when necessary. That requirement eliminates the Mac Mini and iMac. While both can be taken apart when necessary, it requires a skill set not usually found at most businesses and (even if an IT department had the skills) the procedure to replace parts on either machine takes entirely too long. If Apple were truly serious about the enterprise market they would produce a desktop machine with a tool-less chassis and iMac-like specs.

OS X and Mac apps need more compliance with industry standards. Apple is taking a big step forward with their upcoming release of OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard). MS Exchange support has been one of the tallest speedbumps in the road to enterprise acceptance of Macs. It remains to be seen just how well Apple’s Exchange integration performs, but assuming it works as advertised, a major show stopper for thousands of IT departments will disappear. I’m glad Apple finally gave in on this one. Another truth in the enterprise world: MS Office rules. Office 08 for Mac is 80% there in terms of compatibility, but until VBA is supported (Microsoft’s fault) untold millions of “home grown” business applications won’t run on a Mac. It is a bit disingenuous for Microsoft to claim cross platform compatibility.

No Mac versions of many software titles. There are a multitude of business-centric applications for which no Mac version exists or the Mac version is sorely lacking in features and functionality. Intuit’s Quick Books instantly comes to mind. This is a huge player in the small business market and one I have personal experience with. I migrated Quickbooks ’09 Pro from Windows to Mac about six months ago and I’m still finding missing features on the Mac version. These aren’t trivial differences either, there are key features for expense tracking that are completely missing from the Mac version as well as any useable form of payroll integration. Keeping my business books on a Mac is something I’m doing out of sheer stubbornness and probably would not be repeated by most small business owners. Many other common business systems (Older versions of SAP, Novell, etc) don’t directly support OS X and third-party solutions are spotty at best.

You can’t dock a MacBook Pro. The percentage of portable computers in business is growing rapidly. It’s been my experience it normally runs about 20%, but as laptops get cheaper and more powerful they are becoming more suitable for a bigger slice of the employee pie. In all my years as an IT manager I never once bought a laptop computer without a docking station. Users have come to expect them and IT departments don’t want the hassle of dealing with four or five different connections to each laptop being connected and disconnected every day. This isn’t a huge point of contention, but in a fictitious business world where Macs are dominant, portable computers will still be docked.

But the real reason for so few Macs in the enterprise:

APPLE COULDN'T CARE LESS! Even if OS X and Mac applications are suitable for a particular business, no self respecting IT manager would ever buy machines for wide distribution from Psystar and they probably wouldn’t buy a bunch of iMacs either, but for a very different set of reasons. Psystar’s stability is dubious and iMacs are too difficult to service (you either ship it to a service center or go to a Genius at the mall). I would love to replace every PC at my worksite with a Mac but unless Apple decides it really wants to compete in the enterprise market they will remain a small player. Last quarter results indicate Apple’s revenues are up and they own the $1000 + computer market. Dell and HP would both trade spots with Apple in a nanosecond if they could. Obviously, the better business model was crafted in Cupertino.