Shiny new object in my office...

April 17 2009

Look what's sitting in my office...

Looks like I'll be having some fun this weekend with my new MacBook Pro.  Yes, this is going to be my primary work laptop.  I'm very excited about going all Mac.

Ed Brill Highland Park, IL USA Category:  Machead  Add/View Comments [41]

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  1. 1  Darren http://www.dadams.co.uk | 4/17/2009 9:06:50 AM

    Jealous.

  1. 2  Bruce Elgort http://elguji.com | 4/17/2009 9:14:35 AM

    Congrats on the new machine. Use it well.

  1. 3  Stuart McIntyre http://blog.collaborationmatters.com | 4/17/2009 9:17:02 AM

    Have fun with the new machine, Ed

  1. 4  JT http://recycledpapyr.us | 4/17/2009 9:25:00 AM

    Excellent choice!

  1. 5  MacDork http://www.macdork.com/ | 4/17/2009 9:29:33 AM

    Congrats, Ed. You're gonna love it. I've still got an eight year old model kicking around as my browsing machine. It refuses to die.

    <Insert obligatory admin/dev client on OS X jab here>

  1. 6  Henning Heinz  | 4/17/2009 9:34:52 AM

    I own one too. I am not so impressed about the new Macbook Pro. The NVidia chipset can get very, very hot especially if you run Bootcamp/Vista and playing games sometimes cause random lockups (possibly due to airflow/heat issues).

    I do like case, display, Mac OSX and the overall performance.

    Have fun.

  1. 7  Scott Joyner  | 4/17/2009 9:46:57 AM

    I got mine 4 weeks ago - it made me remember why I fell in love with computers.

    I'm refusing to use bootcamp - it's like a carbuncle on a crystal ball.

  1. 8  Keith Nolen http://www.knproductions.com | 4/17/2009 9:47:19 AM

    Sweeeeeet!

  1. 9  Bill Geimer  | 4/17/2009 10:08:34 AM

    I love mine, Too bad I cannot get them to let me use it at work.

  1. 10  Bill Geimer  | 4/17/2009 10:09:44 AM

    @7 - I know what you mean.

  1. 11  Palmi  | 4/17/2009 10:49:06 AM

    I have OZ X (10.4) on my T61 and loving it

  1. 12  David Vasta http://www.davidandkelly.com | 4/17/2009 11:03:59 AM

    The world of desktops are changing!

    Ed, now can we get an Admin and Dev Client for Mac.....Pretty Please! Or just make it for Linux and we can hack it over to Mac!

  1. 13  Mike Robinson http://www.invcs.com | 4/17/2009 11:19:46 AM

    I saw someone with Mac OS 10.5 on a Dell Inpiron 9 mini. all solid state disks....it was pretty sweet and yes it was a licensed copy of the OS :)

  1. 14  Theo Heselmans http://blog.xceed.be | 4/17/2009 11:22:22 AM

    Way to go Ed.

    Welcome to the real world ;-)

  1. 15  Paul Robichaux http://www.robichaux.net/blog | 4/17/2009 12:02:21 PM

    Congrats, Ed! I've had a Mac as my primary travel machine for a long while. I think you're going to enjoy it. One thing to watch out for: it's very easy to get keyboard marks on the screen if there's any kind of weight or pressure on the top lid. Get one of those microfiber screen protectors and you'll be laughing.

    @13 no it wasn't, as Apple's EULA explicitly prohibits running it on non-Apple hardware.

  1. 16  Brian McDowell http://brianmcdowell.net | 4/17/2009 12:07:29 PM

    Nice. That is the best Christmas present I have ever received.

  1. 17  Jonathan Sidhu http://www.ibm.com | 4/17/2009 12:09:29 PM

    Very cool. I am almost 4 years with my T60p and should be due for a refresh soon. Did you buy it personally or did IBM provision it for you?

  1. 18  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 4/17/2009 12:12:26 PM

    @15 actually it came with a microfiber screen protector. So you're saying to pretty much put that in there every time I close it up for a road trip? Thanks.

  1. 19  Seth Spergel  | 4/17/2009 12:18:06 PM

    It's funny... I'm finding that any time I pull mine out in an IBM meeting, at least one person in the room will reach over and pet the smooth metallic surface.

  1. 20  Bilal Jaffery http://www.Bilal.ca | 4/17/2009 12:23:35 PM

    Congrats! Now, how do I get IT here to issue me one here?

    lol

  1. 21  Michael Pyle  | 4/17/2009 12:48:06 PM

    Sweet ! My home Dell is over four years old and won't charge so I'm using my wife's MacBook Pro. 8.5 rocks on the mac and I don't want to go back but as a notes admin/developer I need the admin and designer client.

  1. 22  Christer Eklundh  | 4/17/2009 1:54:50 PM

    My wife and myself just ordered our first Mac, a MacBook Pro 15", can't wait to start playing around with it and of course install Lotus Notes 8.5... :-)

  1. 23  Paul Robichaux http://www.robichaux.net/blog | 4/17/2009 2:58:25 PM

    @18 yes (though I think that might be a cleaning cloth, not a protector-- the protectors are a bit thicker). One of the things I really miss in the MacBook line is the bezel around the rim of the ThinkPad screen. That separates the two halves of the laptop enough to prevent the keys from ever touching the keyboard. The rim on the unibody MBP is about 1/8" and that's just not enough.

  1. 24  Nick Hortovanyi http://blogs.toasttechnology.com.au/roller/hortovanyi | 4/17/2009 4:08:25 PM

    You'll love the Mac and I think be amazed at how easy it is to go Microsoft free.

    Hope you are using Lotus Symphony and not Microsoft Office on the Mac? :)

  1. 25  Paul Mooney http://www.pmooney.net | 4/17/2009 4:10:31 PM

    Enjoy it Ed - although OSX is not without its problems, its a much nicer experience then windows. Macs made me like using computers again.

    You need to personalise your MBP though... ;)

    { Link }

  1. 26  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 4/17/2009 4:12:16 PM

    @24 well, Symphony is one of the products I'm responsible for at IBM. If I wasn't using that on my Mac, I'd probably be in a very uncomfortable position :-)

    I will be 100% Microsoft free on this Mac.

  1. 27  Henning Heinz  | 4/17/2009 4:39:39 PM

    "I will be 100% Microsoft free on this Mac."

    Then I think it is right time to start coding again (thinking about comment (12)).

  1. 28  Emilio Penedo  | 4/17/2009 6:31:15 PM

    Mmm, I guess you are gonna miss the Lotus Quickr Connector for Notes , not available on Mac nor Linux :(

    You are gonna find out that Sametime Webconferencing and Quickr web acces have limited funcionality on Mac.

    Please push within IBM that all Lotus collaboration portafolio run on Mac and Linux.

  1. 29  Bill Geimer  | 4/17/2009 10:01:41 PM

    Could this word from Forrester have anything to do with it?

    { Link }

    Also, unfortunately, nothing is really Microsoft free. Just minimal. To much cross licensing. Perhaps Microsoft CAL free, which is there it will get to them.

    Also, Microsoft Mice and keyboards work fine on the Mac Pro, including the wireless ones.

  1. 30  alan lepofsky http://www.alanlepofsky.net | 4/18/2009 8:16:09 AM

    Ed, yes take the microfiber with you. I put mine on top of my keyboard when I close the screen, otherwise I get terrible fingerprint marks on my screen.

    As you know, I have a love hate relationship with my Macbook. I've found that people feel they have to be Mac fans in public, but almost everyone I know has privately admited to me many of the annoyances they have with theirs. That ranges from issues of hardware failure (extremly common) to UI gripes (not just from Windows users)

    Still, I feel "cool" using mine, and do enjoy it. I hear the new ones don't run as hot, which I hope is true, because at times I actually feel like mine is contributing to melting the polar icecaps.

    I like how easy Mac mail handles multiple accounts, but don't like they way it handles attachments, and miss tables. I find iCal extremly limiting and frustrating to use compared to the Notes calendar. I love Dock and Expose (using hot corners), and I suggest Skitch or Jing, but really miss SnagIt. Too bad you just missed the MacHeist bundle.

    I look forward to hearing your report when I see you in just over a week.

  1. 31  Volker Weber http://vowe.net | 4/18/2009 8:40:25 AM

    Alan, you are posing as cool. Which is uncool. :-)

  1. 32  Alan Lepofsky http://www.alanlepofsky.net | 4/18/2009 9:53:00 AM

    Nope, I'm just cool by default.

  1. 33  Arne S Nielsen http://www.mynotesblog.com | 4/18/2009 11:28:55 AM

    Congratulations, Ed! I´ve been using my MacBook Air as my primary IBM handgun for a while now. A litte slow maybe, a little too much beta (yet) maybe, but no good solution for using Siebel (yet). Let us know how things develops and let us share the knowledge. Don´t forget to share via Mac@IBM..

    -arne :-)

  1. 34  Dvir Reznik http://dvirreznik.blogspot.com | 4/18/2009 2:39:04 PM

    Congrats Ed!

    Went down to our Apple Store last month (yes, we have one in Israel - the dist built it, not Apple itself), played with the Macs a bit - loved it!! The 2 fingers scroll - amazing!

    I hope you're writing that thing we talked about with the Mac.. ;-)

  1. 35  Stuart McIntyre http://blog.collaborationmatters.com | 4/18/2009 4:16:37 PM

    @18 I use and reccomend the Crumpler iSlip for protecting your Macbook Screen - worth every penny/cent... { Link } Also, with your interest in photography, check out their laptop/photo bags { Link }

  1. 36  Ben Poole http://benpoole.com | 4/20/2009 6:35:02 AM

    @35: TWENTY QUID for a bit of fabric to sit 'twixt keyboard and screen???

  1. 37  Pete Wilson  | 4/21/2009 6:10:33 AM

    Hi Ed,

    Try out built in OS X email client and see how nice a simple email client can be :-) It might give you some suggestions you can pass onto your developers.

    Pete

  1. 38  Darren http://www.dadams.co.uk | 4/21/2009 4:23:23 PM

    @37 - Pete, if people wanted simple e-mail clients they wouldn't keep handing us big lists of feature requests ;o)

  1. 39  Darren http://www.dadams.co.uk | 4/21/2009 4:28:18 PM

    @36 - Ben, it's not just any ol' bit of fabric. It's a bit of fabric that goes in an Apple Macbook*. Please be marketed to like everyone else.

    * Yeah, I know they're not just for Macbooks, which is a shame because that would have justified the elitism.

  1. 40  Volker Weber http://vowe.net | 4/21/2009 4:36:24 PM

    Darren, be careful with those feature lists. I know some of your customers. And I know some of the people some of those customers send you. And they are not necessarily representative of the people who hate working with the software.

  1. 41  Darren http://www.dadams.co.uk | 4/21/2009 4:46:28 PM

    Volker, there was a smiley face at the end of that comment. The increased focus on usability means that sanity checking happens. I made the comment with a hint of irony... like the time a customer complained about feature bloat and followed up the next day with a list of 20 things he'd like to see in the product.