Pondering a purchase...

My first Mac notebook was one of the first Intel based 17" core duo machines.

A lovely machine but just too big!

Don't forget, this was before the iPhone or iPad, and at that time, a notebook was the answer to your mobile computing. Wherever you went, you had to take the notebook with you.

The original thought process in selecting the 17" beast was that I needed the large screen for creating and editing my video ScreenCastsOnline whilst on the road. In truth, I can't remember ever actually using it for that. In the end, it was used as a general purpose notebook, basic email, surfing, the usual stuff.

Once I came to the realisation that my mobile computing needs were for something portable and lightweight, the obvious choice was the MacBook Air. So I replaced the 17" with the MacBook Air and it did sterling service for a good 14 months or so.

The MacBook Air was a delight to use - light, cool running, just perfect for portable general computing. Great for catching up in front of the TV too.

The only problem was that when I tried to use the macBook Air for the occasional serious task, performance was OK but the lack of screen real estate was a serious hinderance.

So twelve months ago, I replaced the MacBook Air with a 15" Unibody MacBook Pro.

I've been supremely happy with the 15" MacBook Pro, especially since installing an SSD drive. A great combination of portability, performance and a decent amount of screen real estate. Of course, whilst traveling, the MBP can be quite a load, especially if at a trade show or expo where you need to keep your notebook with you throughout the day. I've also changed my workflow slightly to turn the MacBook Pro into my publishing machine. It's this machine I use to update and publish the ScreenCastsOnline website (using Rapidweaver), update and publish my RSS feeds (using Feeder) and some other post production tasks I need to keep the weekly show going. I could try and share these tasks between the desktop and the notebook but it's problematic and just a lot easier to use the notebook for these tasks. Makes it really easy to publish from anywhere.

However, the whole area of mobile computing has been turned on its head with the introduction of the iPhone and iPod touch. On recent trips, I've found that the notebook has remained back at the hotel, and my true mobile requirements (access to email, surfing and twitter) is provided pretty well by the iPhone. Not perfectly, but enough to get by. The only exclusion to that is if I'm speaking or presenting, in which case, the MacBook Pro has to be carried with me throughout the day - a major PITA!

With the introduction of the iPad, it's now my belief that the iPad will fulfill probably well over 95% of my needs whilst out and about (including delivering presentations), although I'll still need a notebook back at base for video duties. Whereas I didn't use my original 17" MacBook Pro for video editing, I've started to do more YouTube and other video production when travelling, resulting in the need for a fairly powerful notebook back at my mobile base, as well as the publishing tasks mentioned earlier.

This change in working practices has brought about the realisation that the choice of notebook no longer needs to be restricted due to considerations of portability. When traveling, the notebook will remain in my carry on luggage, wheeled on and off the plane and decamped to the hotel on my arrival. There it will stay, acting as my temporary "desktop" to use for the processor intensive tasks required to edit and encode video.

The iPad and iPhone will suffice for my day to day computing whilst away from the hotel. Even though the current version of Keynote on the iPad is considerably "hobbled" compared to the desktop version, it's still good enough to do basic presentations and I'm sure that revisions to the app will come in time, making it just as powerful as the desktop version (or at least comparable).

With the introduction of the new MacBook Pro range (and some changes I'd like to make to my setup at the studio), I've been considering if it's time for an upgrade. My existing 15" MacBook Pro is still great workhorse, but the extra horsepower of the i5 and i7 processors are very tempting. Add in the faster graphics and the mind boggling screen resolution of that beautiful 1920x1200 screen, and it just might be time for an upgrade.

Besides which, I have my final Apple Developers discount to use before November which should give me significant discount.

Before making the final decision, I thought it wise to checkout the new machines at my local Apple store at Liverpool One. So off I popped, and was delighted to discover they had both the new i5 and i7 MacBook Pro machines on display, including the latest 17" models.

In fairness, it's impossible to tell them apart performance wise, especially just by trying them in the shop. The i5 and i7 processors are the mobile versions and whereas the latest iMacs have 4 core versions, the MacBook Pro processors only have two cores. Information on the difference between the i5 and the i7 is difficult to find, but it looks like as well as being faster, the i7 Includes some additional features such as Turbo Boost. Still, Apple are promising a 25% speed increase over the Core 2 Duo machines.

One big difference between both machines on display was the screen itself. One had the standard "glossy" screen, but the other one had the "anti glare" screen.

I'd not really considered the "anti glare" as an option as I've been using the standard "glossy" screen for a while now on the 15" MBP and it's not really caused me any issues. However, seeing both displays side by side, really shows the huge difference the "anti glare" makes. I'd seen an "anti glare" screen on the last generation of the MBP and have to admit, I thought the extra silver bezel around the screen was pretty ugly. I'm not sure if they've redesigned the bezel on the new model, but it now looks fine.

The "glossy" option provides a richer display which enhances movie viewing but the "anti glare" certainly looked a tempting option. I've still not decided, but I may go with the "anti glare" option.

So call me impressed with the new machines and based on my specific requirements, along with how I envisage the iPad will be the mainstay of my true mobile computing, I think I may just go with the 17" i7 MacBook Pro. As well as disregarding the need for portability, the 17" MacBook Pro is the only notebook in the range with the ExpressCard32 slot.

As far as configuration is concerned, I'll get the cheapest hard disk option and transplant my existing SSD drive into the new machine. The machine comes as standard with 4GB RAM which I think will be adequate. The faster processor and the SSD will make it fly anyway and I'm not sure I could justify the extra £320 for another 4GB RAM.

So that's the current plan.

I'll probably sit on it for a day or so before taking the plunge, so feel free to comment!

As regards the other changes to the studio I eluded to, I'll leave them for another post!

Update on Thursday, April 29, 2010 at 8:07AM by Don McAllister

Decided to put this on hold until after WWDC. It's quite an expense and now I've decided to go to EEDC, smething had to give. 

I still stand by my decision to go with the 17" although it will be interesting to see the 15" with the high res screen before making the final jump.

The upgrade is not just for the sake of upgrading!

I have some plans on rejigging the studio around and I have an need to free up the current laptop for Mrs Don. Hence my need to get a replacement laptop. More on the studio re-jigg another time.

Plan B

There's a problem with this week's show!

I can't record it.

The reason I can't record it, is I'm a bit poorly. Not dramatically poorly, just a bit.

Poorly enough, that if I was in a proper job I'd probably throw a "sickie" or "duvet day" as I've heard it called, but I'll survive.

The real problem is that I've a heavy head cold and cough which makes me sound awful. No issue with sitting in front of the Mac all day, but really, you wouldn't want to listen to me for 30 minutes and I really don't feel up to recording the necessary couple of hours of material needed to edit down to 30 minutes.

This creates a major issue for me as there is no plan B.

At least, not formally.

Each weeks show is usually recorded a couple of days before the publication day. That way I can keep things fresh and responsive, able to jump on any new developments or new software that comes out.

The downside is that there is no buffer. If there's a problem like this week, I have no fall back.

Yes, I know I should probably have a couple of shows in the can for times just like this, but I haven't - something I should address perhaps, or at least have one show in the can at all times.

I'll try and sort that out.

So what to do for this week.....

OK, so to completely contradict myself, I have a spare show... sort of!

It's not a normal show, it's a short tutorial that was commissioned by a previous sponsor of the show to put on their website for a new release of some familiar software. I completed the recording earlier this week, before getting sick. My original intention was to record a normal, Mac related show this week (important point!), publish the normal show today as usual, and then next week, publish this short iPad episode as a bonus show.

As there is no normal show today, I could either not post anything, or throw this short tutorial in the feed so you've got at least something to watch.

But there's another issue (stick with me, nearly there).

It's about some iPad software.

Not just any old iPad software, but the gorgeous new version of Things.

So where's the issue?

Well, I promised that this weeks show would be about the Mac, and that was my intention. I've previously posted that I would not go iPad crazy and as I mentioned earlier, the plan was to do a normal Mac based show this week.

I've had less than a handful of emails and tweets from viewers concerned about the lack of Mac content in the past two shows (but lets be fair, one was an iPhone show and one was the live draw for the iPad giveaway) but I always figure there are more viewers who think the same that don't reach out to let their feelings known.

What makes it worse, is the recent announcement of the months delay to the international release of the iPad. So a huge swathe of viewers can't even get the iPad, and here I am putting out another iPad related clip!

Yikes!

All things considered, I still think it's best to put something out, rather than go dark for a week.

It's still a great application and the Cultured Code guys have done a great job on rewriting Things to take advantage of the iPad. I have to say, I'm pretty delighted the way the video has turned out too.

So I'll just tie up a few loose ends and get the video finished and post it later today.

For those without iPads, I'm sorry, but at least you'll get to see some iPad software up close and personal!

Changes to the HD feed...

This post is for ScreenCastsOnline Extra! members.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I was disappointed that the current HD and ED versions of the show don't play on the iPad - a bit of a blow.  I've now found some settings that will enable me to encode the 1280x720 version of the show so that it will play on the iPad.

The good news is, that these look gorgeous on the iPad screen - very crisp and sharp, just how I intended.

The bad news is, I'm going to have to go back over the previous shows, encode new versions, and upload them.

This is not a trivial task in time, effort and expense. So I've had to come up with a plan.

As from this weeks show, if you're subscribed to the members HD feed, any shows you download from this point on will be playable on your Mac, Apple TV and iPad.  This new encoding format (still in 1280x720) will be indicated by having the  [HD & iPad] label at the end of the show title and will appear in iTunes just as usual.

So if you're happy with just receiving new shows to play on your iPad, no action required. Just sync the HD feed with your iPad and new shows from this week on will appear on your iPad.

If you want to access previous shows in iPad format, there are a few steps to take.

Initially, I'll convert all the 2010 shows and upload them. Because of limitations on my hosting plan, I'll start by uploading 4 shows as a trial - they will be:

SCO0233 - Drobo, Droboshare & DroboPro [HD & iPad]

SCO0234 - Mac Maintenance [HD & iPad]

SCO0235 - Pathfinder 5 [HD & iPad]

SCO0236 - Boxee Beta [HD & iPad] 

So how do you get these files?

Easy...

Go to iTunes and select your SCOnline HD - 2010 feed.

You should see these files but just with [HD] at the end of each title.

Delete the original entry for the episode you wish to re-download in the new format.

If you're running iTunes 9 or above, right-click on the podcast title and select 'show all available episodes'

Alternatively, refresh the podcast by selecting the podcast title and holding down the ALT or OPTION key, click on the the disclosure triangle next to the podcast title.  

After a few seconds, you should see a new entry where the previous version was, this time it will have [HD & iPad] in the title.

Click the GET button next to the episode to download it. 

Sync the podcast with your iPad in iTunes.

One thing to note is that the chapter list does not appear for some reason. You can still jump to chapters so the chapter marks are there, it's just that you can't access the list.  Once I'm happy that this is working OK, I'll take a look at uploading the rest of this years shows but it may take a while to upload them all.

Note to viewers of the Free versions - Only the iPod version of the free editions of the show will play on the iPad

ScreenCastsOnline and the iPad...

Just a couple of things for information.

I've seen a couple of tweets and had a couple of emails from people worrying if ScreenCastsOnline is going to go iPad crazy, based on the fact that the last two shows have been iPad focussed.

Absolutely not!

ScreenCastsOnline has always been (and will always be) focussed on getting the most from your Mac.

However, I see the Mac, the iPhone, the iPod touch and the iPad as parts of an ever growing Apple ecosystem that is tightly integrated. Invariably, Mac users are more likely to own some, or all of these products, and as such, it's valid that ScreenCastsOnline covers software and features that integrate across the platforms or where I see particular merit, on individual platforms. 

I've been very excited by the launch of the iPad and feel very fortunate that I was able to get my hands on one of the first ones and by doing so, felt obliged to feature the iPad in the show for the benefit of those outside of the US (and those within the US who didn't get one at launch).  My early exposure to the iPad, has only reconfirmed to me that the device represents a pivotal moment in computing, and the platform will be of huge importance as we move forward.

Whilst I appreciate that there are some people, that have no interest in the iPad (or the iPhone for that matter) , the vast majority of the ScreenCastsOnline are interested in new developments in the Apple space and look to the show for guidance and early exposure to new Apple products.

Reading back, I may be coming across a a bit defensive but that's not my intention. I've had less than a handful of comments from worried members. I just really want to put people's minds at ease that the iPad and my recent coverage does not indicate a change in emphasis in the show.  I'll still be covering the Mac in depth, but it would be foolish of me to exclude coverage of the iPhone or iPad, just because they are not strictly Macs. So expect to see the usual varied and hopefully interesting and stimulating range of topics you've come o expect from the show.

I'd probably would have had more negative responses if I'd not mentioned the iPad at all!

...and the winner is!

Brian Capewell of the UK

Congratulations Brian.

Thanks to all who participated in the live show and to those that sent video questions. Didn't have time to include them all unfortunately.

I'll just tidy up the high quality recording I made of the show and post it to the SCOn Extra members feeds later today.