Yesterday was the debut of the new Mac OS and for the first time in years, I really looked forward to it. Being in technical support for well over 14 years, new things tend to mean new headaches for everybody involved. It’s a natural reaction with most humans because we all get accustomed and complacent with tools we’re comfortable with and understand. Not so with Snow Leopard, aka Mac OS X 10.6. I had the opportunity to receive more hands-on experience by being a beta tester. The exposure for me and my co-workers was a very positive thing; by giving us advanced exposure, we had our concerns and perceptions addressed well before it shipped. I’m confident we helped make it better too.
If you have an Intel-based Mac, I highly recommend moving forward with it. In the past, I usually waited a month or two before upgrading my own personal equipment. Not out of fear or bad news but from the annoyance which came with the shift: Do I have a back up? How long will I be offline? Which third-party stuff I paid for will be incompatible? The list goes on. Time Machine being integral in 10.5 makes this less of a hassle and some of the more “intelligent” (machines aren’t intelligent as humans are) software disables suspect plug-ins or applications. My current MacBook performs noticeably better under it.
I won’t know how much of an improvement Snow Leopard will provide though, it’s getting replaced tonight with my new MacBook, an aluminum unibody! The current 13″ model is now called a Pro because it received some modifications: FireWire 800 port, faster processor and a longer battery life immediately come to mind. I managed to score the previous model from Apple’s clearance section on store.apple.com at an awesome price, close to what I paid two years ago on this plastic one. My sixth portable Mac arrived yesterday but I had to make all the critical preparations before I deploy it, namely buying a new orange-colored case to protect it, finding Bugs Bunny stickers to tag it and a different video-out adapter. I can’t wait to work with the LED-backed display! The video-out chip set can drive a larger external display yet I’m content with the 23″ Viewsonics Somara and I scored in June. We haven’t be able to use them courtesy of Operation: Alexandria delays. Fear not, we’re close.
Meanwhile, Jose committed to buying my fifth portable. I won’t be tacky by posting our agreed price. I will only say that a few people missed out on a great price and if you bought a PC instead, I wish you luck with the upcoming Windows 7. May it not be as frustrating as Vista was.
Stay tuned for pictures of Bugs Bunny IV, it’s not VI because my first portable (a PowerBook 140) was called Lester Stvee and my second (5300c, the New York Mets of Macs) was Trent Walker.