My Mac 'Lola' Turns One Year Old
One year ago today, I bought my very own Mac after spending excessive amounts of time playing with Mac OS X on other machines, and after realizing that OS X was more in line with my computing needs than Linux.
My new computer was a Macbook Pro that I affectionately called "lola", thanks to Lorraine's suggestion. It was the perfect match for my computing needs - from its UNIX core and attention to UI details in OS X, to its matte-finish screen, to the trackpad finger gestures and superb quality keyboard.
Sure, I knew I was paying a premium for OS X and hardware design, but when I spent such a large percentage of my daily life at the computer, I was willing to shell out a bit more for something I'd love using everyday for the next half decade.
Furthermore, the fervor that fellow owners and developers on this platform share has arguably been one of the leading forces driving the community of impressively usable and powerful applications written for it. My coworker referred to a statement that if you make a product inspiring, it will attract talent and encourage people to write just as inspiring software for it.
In fact, it was OS X more than anything else that made me switch. I had been trying it since I first played with it on Griffin's PowerBook when it was called Jaguar, up until my "Hackintosh" phase, where I used a high-maintenance hacked version of OS X on my Intel-based desktop computer in the preceding months leading to the purchase date.
The turbulent ups and downs of my previous fifteen Windows years notwithstanding, there's still a place in my heart for Windows, as well as the UNIX-based Linux flavors I've learned to like over the past couple years. But ultimately, with my increasingly hectic life schedule, I really needed something lower maintenance that 'just works', but was still powerful and well-built under the hood. This was it.
To celebrate Lola's first-year birthday and raise some awareness among those who think Mac beauty is only skin deep, I took a look at all the little details I love about Macs and OS X, and picked out my 52 favorites, one for each week of the year. In no particular order...
52 things I love about OS X, the Macbook Pro, and its world of apps:
1. spring-loaded folders
2. Spotlight + built-in calculator and dictionary functions in search bar + boolean logic
3. Expose
4. UNIX + SSH access to your own box
5. screen typeface rendering and anti-aliasing techniques in all languages
6. QuickLook
7. built-in save to PDF + built-in PDF file viewers
8. rename separate from file extension by default + renaming busy files
9. help menu search bar in file menu's "Help" searches everything in the menus
10. Aqua GUI
11. resolution independence (partial thus far)
12. OS X system sounds + volume down/up keyboard sounds
13. the bundled zooming/panning photo screensaver
14. Bluetooth File Exchange interface
15. Internet Airport sharing
16. Screen Sharing
17. screenshot grabber
18. screen zoom
19. the "nuh-uh-uh" headshake reaction to an incorrect login
20. OS X typefaces, including Monaco, Lucida Grande, and American Typewriter
21. smart dual screen detection and arrangement options + unique systems preferences on each monitor
22. hot corners
Mac Apps
23. Coda
24. Transmit
25. Adium
26. Transmission
27. Expandrive
28. Growl
29. Versions
30. Twitterific
31. NetNewsWire
32. Crossover Mac + Crossover Games
Mac Built-In Apps + Utilities
33. Safari + Inquisitor + SafariStand + Developer menu
34. Mail.app
35. FileMerge
36. iSync
37. Stickies
38. Dictionary
39. Terminal.app
40. Font Book
41. Photo Booth
The Hardware
42. layout of ports on the side by increasing size
43. multitouch trackpad gestures
44. reliable sleep and wake + pulsating LED sleep indicator
45. MagSafe magnetic power connector
46. backlit keyboard with ambient sensors
47. green LED battery gauge on the underside
48. slot loading disc drives
49. range of the omnidirectional microphone
50. feel of the anodized/powercoated aluminum surface
51. keyboard minimalism: caps lock / num lock LED indicators on keys themselves removal of keys like scroll lock, break, and pause
52. lid's magnetic latch
And lastly, one thing that doesn't quite belong on this list is the professional customer care from Apple, or at least the care and service I've experienced so far in my couple trips to the Apple Store Genius Bar. I mention this because beyond the vocal minority of abrasive evangelical "fanboys", there's a community of generally friendly Mac users, from the retail store Genius Bar to the online community forum to the colleagues around you, who share the same enthusiasm and willingness to help each other. And that 'just works' for me.
My new computer was a Macbook Pro that I affectionately called "lola", thanks to Lorraine's suggestion. It was the perfect match for my computing needs - from its UNIX core and attention to UI details in OS X, to its matte-finish screen, to the trackpad finger gestures and superb quality keyboard.
Sure, I knew I was paying a premium for OS X and hardware design, but when I spent such a large percentage of my daily life at the computer, I was willing to shell out a bit more for something I'd love using everyday for the next half decade.
Furthermore, the fervor that fellow owners and developers on this platform share has arguably been one of the leading forces driving the community of impressively usable and powerful applications written for it. My coworker referred to a statement that if you make a product inspiring, it will attract talent and encourage people to write just as inspiring software for it.
In fact, it was OS X more than anything else that made me switch. I had been trying it since I first played with it on Griffin's PowerBook when it was called Jaguar, up until my "Hackintosh" phase, where I used a high-maintenance hacked version of OS X on my Intel-based desktop computer in the preceding months leading to the purchase date.
The turbulent ups and downs of my previous fifteen Windows years notwithstanding, there's still a place in my heart for Windows, as well as the UNIX-based Linux flavors I've learned to like over the past couple years. But ultimately, with my increasingly hectic life schedule, I really needed something lower maintenance that 'just works', but was still powerful and well-built under the hood. This was it.
To celebrate Lola's first-year birthday and raise some awareness among those who think Mac beauty is only skin deep, I took a look at all the little details I love about Macs and OS X, and picked out my 52 favorites, one for each week of the year. In no particular order...
52 things I love about OS X, the Macbook Pro, and its world of apps:
1. spring-loaded folders
2. Spotlight + built-in calculator and dictionary functions in search bar + boolean logic
3. Expose
4. UNIX + SSH access to your own box
5. screen typeface rendering and anti-aliasing techniques in all languages
6. QuickLook
7. built-in save to PDF + built-in PDF file viewers
8. rename separate from file extension by default + renaming busy files
9. help menu search bar in file menu's "Help" searches everything in the menus
10. Aqua GUI
11. resolution independence (partial thus far)
12. OS X system sounds + volume down/up keyboard sounds
13. the bundled zooming/panning photo screensaver
14. Bluetooth File Exchange interface
15. Internet Airport sharing
16. Screen Sharing
17. screenshot grabber
18. screen zoom
19. the "nuh-uh-uh" headshake reaction to an incorrect login
20. OS X typefaces, including Monaco, Lucida Grande, and American Typewriter
21. smart dual screen detection and arrangement options + unique systems preferences on each monitor
22. hot corners
Mac Apps
23. Coda
24. Transmit
25. Adium
26. Transmission
27. Expandrive
28. Growl
29. Versions
30. Twitterific
31. NetNewsWire
32. Crossover Mac + Crossover Games
Mac Built-In Apps + Utilities
33. Safari + Inquisitor + SafariStand + Developer menu
34. Mail.app
35. FileMerge
36. iSync
37. Stickies
38. Dictionary
39. Terminal.app
40. Font Book
41. Photo Booth
The Hardware
42. layout of ports on the side by increasing size
43. multitouch trackpad gestures
44. reliable sleep and wake + pulsating LED sleep indicator
45. MagSafe magnetic power connector
46. backlit keyboard with ambient sensors
47. green LED battery gauge on the underside
48. slot loading disc drives
49. range of the omnidirectional microphone
50. feel of the anodized/powercoated aluminum surface
51. keyboard minimalism: caps lock / num lock LED indicators on keys themselves removal of keys like scroll lock, break, and pause
52. lid's magnetic latch
And lastly, one thing that doesn't quite belong on this list is the professional customer care from Apple, or at least the care and service I've experienced so far in my couple trips to the Apple Store Genius Bar. I mention this because beyond the vocal minority of abrasive evangelical "fanboys", there's a community of generally friendly Mac users, from the retail store Genius Bar to the online community forum to the colleagues around you, who share the same enthusiasm and willingness to help each other. And that 'just works' for me.
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