You Can't Do That - Final Mix

Lessons learned:  Recording is tedious work. Mixing is even more tedious. MacBook Air works great as a GarageBand machine (even the lowly 1.4 Ghz Processor with 2GB RAM).  The hard drive is what makes it zing.  I really like the iRig, both as a headphone practice amp with my iPhone and iPad, but also as an input device for GarageBand.  I hope you enjoy my tune. Please leave a comment if you have any suggestions. Thanks for listening!

 You Can't Do That - Final Mix by Taxman45

You Can't Do That (Version 3) by Taxman45

It's been awhile since I revisited my GarageBand Project. I moved the file over to my new MacBook Air 11.6" and GarageBand 2011. I replaced the last MIDI track (other than drums) with a lead guitar track that I recorded using my IK Multimedia iRig hardware with my MacBook Air using the amp emulator and stompboxes built in GarageBand. I'm no Lennon and McCartney, but I think the tune is shaping up. Your thoughts? You Can't Do That (Version 3) by Taxman45

11" MacBook Air: It Ain't Heavy, It's My Notebook

Since the announcement, I've been trying to convince myself that I didn't *need* another computer.  I had a perfectly good MacBook (soon to replace my daughter's aging MacBook at college), plus my 24" iMac at the office.

Still, the 11.6" MacBook Air was what I've been wanting from Apple for years.  My favorite Apple notebook of all time was the 12" PowerBook.  This new 11.6" MacBook Air is the reincarnation of that classic Mac form factor, but so much better.
My new baby has the 1.4 Ghz processor and the 128GB flash drive.  I debated getting the build-to-order upgrade to 4GB RAM but decided to buy at the retail store after visiting two local Apple Stores for extended hands-on sessions with the object of my desire.

The new 13" version will be the preferred model for many, but I yearned for something smaller. I tried netbooks (3 of them) and none of them were the right device.  The Atom processor just didn't have enough "umph" for my needs.  Plus, 1024 x 600 screen resolution was like looking at my computer through a porthole.  Speaking of screens, I was worried that the 11.6" screen would be too small for my over-40 eyes.  My wife was skeptical about this too.  "You're too old for such a small screen", she thought.  But, she came with me to the Apple Store on one of my visits and she immediately got it.  "The screen is so bright. The text is so sharp!" she immediately remarked.  If you are wondering, the screen is easy to read and displays more information than my 13" MacBook does.  At 1366x768, it's a really nice screen.

I'm moving from a 250GB hard drive, so I couldn't just migrate my existing files to the new MacBook Air. I prefer to start fresh anyway, taking stock of what I actually used on the old Mac, and not migrating apps and documents that are no longer relevant.  Plus, I decided to move my iTunes library to an external drive attached to my Airport Extreme Base Station so it can be shared by other computers on my home network.  That saved me about 40GB of stuff.  Out of the box, the 128GB drive has about 109GB free.

It used to be that when I bought a new Mac, I needed to buy VMWare or Parallels and install some version of Windows.  I depend on several Windows applications in my CPA practice. You know, stuff like QuickBooks and Sage FAS 100 Fixed Assets, BNA Tax Planner, and my tax return software.  What I've learned during the past year, is that I really only need one Windows installation on my office iMac.

All I really need on my notebook is an Internet connection, a browser, and I can remote access my Windows installation from wherever I am.  I accomplish this using either Log Me In or Microsoft Remote Desktop Connection.  I've discovered that I really like Microsoft's RDC so much better than Log Me In.

I discovered this solution by accident after I finally learned how to configure a VPN for my office network. VPN is "da bomb".  I love being able to click on the little icon on my menu bar to establish an instant connection to the VPN.  Then, I can mount my network file server in Finder just like a local hard drive.  Files are easily dragged and dropped between the local Mac and the remote server.  Plus, with the VPN running, I can use Microsoft's Remote Desktop Connection to control Windows remotely.  I like the way Windows looks and responds better with RDC than with Log Me In or Back to My Mac (which is too flaky to rely on in my experience).

Another decision that I've made (at least for now) is to load only iWork on my new Mac.  Pages and Keynote work great for my needs. I prefer using Keynote over Powerpoint for  my slide presentations when I teach continuing education classes.  Numbers isn't the best when you have to share the resulting spreadsheet with clients running Excel, but it works fine otherwise.   I  have two alternatives if Numbers doesn't work for me. One is Google Docs, the other is my remote access to my iMac.

This new MacBook Air is going to be my portal into the cloud.  Both my personal cloud (as described above) and the real cloud with SAAS applications becoming more popular.  I can't wait for the Apple Mac App Store to become a reality.

My final thought on the MacBook Air is don't be a spec sheet critic, who reads the specs and concludes the MacBook Air can't be a good computer.  You really need to head over to an Apple Store or Best Buy or Microcenter and go hands-on with this device. It's truly amazing how fast the flash storage makes the entire computing experience.

If you have any question, please leave a comment.  I'll be checking in on my MacBook Air.

MacBook Air: Just try It!

The MacBook Air is not for everybody. We've established that.  On the other hand, I'm beginning to realize that there is an important difference between product reviewers and product users.  To illustrate, imagine you are shopping for a new TV. So, you go to Best Buy and there's a big wall of beautiful LCD TV's on the wall, all turned up to super-brilliance and showing an endless loop of HD nature scenes and sports.  It's all overwhelming.  Does the picture on this Samsung look better than the picture on that Sony, which one has more inputs or outputs or pixels, or whatever.  This is what product reviewers do. They compare and contrast and put them side-by-side and suggest one, the other, or wait for something better.

What happens next? You buy a TV, you bring it home, you set it up in the den.  You say, "look at that great picture!" "This is so much better than the old TV". Then, you watch TV.  You are now a product user. You don't continue to compare your TV to the Sony or the HP or the Toshiba or whatever. You don't care. You are happy with what you have. It suits your needs. You watch your shows.  Meanwhile, the product reviewer is still at Best Buy, looking at the wall.

I'm a product user. My MacBook Air works extremely well. I love that it is so light and thin. I use it at home, at the office, at clients, and in-between. I've used the optical drive exactly once to do a fresh install of OSX when I got it.  I haven't needed two USB ports at the same time.  I've used the little ethernet dongle with no issues.  It connects great with my Sierra Wireless card for a truly wireless experience.  Battery life isn't all day but it's not 2 hours either.  More and more reviewers that are trying it are liking it. It's a good machine.  Not everyone would like a Sony TZ machine either.  But if you like this sort of thing, you'll love the MacBook Air. 

Holy Trinity Blues

I had so much fun playing around with the isight camera and QuickTime Pro on my MacBook Air that I instantly reached for it to record this impromptu song idea.  So, why not post it for the entire world? :)  Seriously, having this handy to capture song ideas in an easy and convenient manner is proving to be not only fun but instructive too.

WAN Driver built-in to MacBook Air

I restarted my MacBook Air with the Sierra Wireless Card still in the USB slot (yeah, the ONE USB slot...)  Usually, I run a program called Sierra Watcher to recognize the card and provide wireless access on my Mac.  Lo and behold, when my Mac restarted, I got a dialogue saying that I had a new network device installed.  I clicked on the link to network preferences in the dialogue and found that all my AT&T information was already entered so I just clicked on a button called connect.  Guess what? It worked!  I did not realize that my Mac would natively support the Aircard without the Sierra Watcher program. Is this a new feature? Am I the only one who didn't know? Does this work on other Macs too?

Update:  Thanks to Kevin Tofel at JK On The Run I learned that native OSX support for the Sierra Wireless card has been a feature since Tiger.  Color me clueless!

No spin: Ars reviews the MacBook Air with solid state drive

Ars Technica got their hands on a solid state drive version of the MacBook Air and have performed a lot of analysis to answer the question, "What does an extra $1300 really get you?"  I'll send you their way to see the answer to the question.  Their battery life measurements continue to baffle me. They say that they are adjusting screen brightness. Are they also adjusting the energy saver optimization settings?

No spin: Ars reviews the MacBook Air with solid state drive: Page 1

MacBook Air: Real World Battery Usage

OK, I've been reading all those tests saying the MacBook Air has really crummy battery life. Yesterday, I got my Air. When I left the office at 6:30PM, I unplugged the Air and closed the lid, putting it to sleep. After dinner, I opened up the Air as American Idol began at 7:00 PM. I've been connected to wifi and running tax software in Windows XP under Parallels (not particularly memory friendly) and working in Excel. I've also been running go-to-my-pc to access some files at my office. It's now 10:29 (3:29 later). I have the read line on the battery but it says 0:24 remaining as I type this message. 

One thing I noticed was that Apple doesn't set the MacBook up to maximize battery life by default. On battery, the screen is set for maximum brightness and the power option is "normal", not the "longer battery life" setting.  In a well lit room at night, I can comfortably use the Air at the lowest screen setting, one click above dark.  I also reset the power saver option to "longer battery life."  Now, I'm not watching a DVD or rendering video, but I think some of these battery tests may be running using Apple's default battery settings.  

It's a good point that the sealed battery is an inconvenience for travelers and may be a non-starter for some "road warriors." On the other hand, I think people ought to give the computer a chance in real usage scenarios before declaring it a bust.  I'm quite happy with my computer, which I've named "Thin Air."

Your mileage may vary.  I don't own Apple stock. I am a fanboy.  

It's all good!

Yesterday was a better Monday than most. I was working at a client away from the office and around 11AM I called to check my messages at the office.  First up, was a message from my buddy, Wanda, at the Apple Store at Northpark. Wanda and I have spoken nearly every day the past couple of weeks about when they would receive a shipment of the MacBook Air.  This morning, Wanda called me. "I came into work and we received 16 Airs," she says.  Fortunately, I was able to go by the Apple Store during lunch and secure my prize. 

I really wish all shopping experiences were as fun as getting what you want at the Apple Store. I always figure that one of the black shirts walking around the store answered the phone when you called. Not true, I learned. The Apple Store has special telephone associates that don't normally meet with customers in the store.  Well, when I showed up to claim my MacBook Air, Wanda emerged from the inner sanctum of the back office to greet me and personally give me my new MacBook.  Then, she introduced me to Bill who would actually sell it to me.

Bill told me that this was only the second unit that they sold and the first one had only just left. Next, he said that if I wanted to open it at the store that was okay, because many of them hadn't seen one in the packaging.  I was more than happy to hold an impromptu unboxing at the store.  All in all, it was a very pleasant shopping experience.

So what did I get?  The 1.6Ghz base model with 80GB HD. I also bought the external drive and the ethernet dongle thingy. Don't tell me how much faster the SSD is. I'm sure it's amazing but I'm not doing it.  

First impressions?  I'm loving the form factor and the weight.  I even had room in my inCase bag that formerly snugly held a MacBook to stuff some papers in with the Air.  I am only just starting to use it so I will wait to comment on other stuff.

Setup took longer than I'd hoped. I ran migration assistant from a Time Machine backup. I've done this before and it worked great, but I migrated something that "Thin Air" didn't like so I couldn't ever get past a blue screen on reboot.  So I erased and re-installed and put everything back on it one at a time.  It's probably better that way.  

Anyway, it's here. I can stop obsessing and get on with tax season.  I'll post more later.

One more thing...the Sierra Wireless 875U card fits just fine without an extender. 

You can touch it, but you can't take it home...

The introduction of the MacBook Air seems like a strange one.  Announced with big fanfare at Macworld, deliveries on time out to pre-order customers, then they send a few machines to each Apple Store for display only with no information as to when they will be available for sale. Interestingly, most of the display units are of the faster SSD variety. Meanwhile, the people who pre-ordered THOSE are still waiting for theirs to ship.  If they only had so many SSD machines to go around, shouldn't they have sent them to the people who pre-ordered them?  

If you are watching this situation with the same obsessive behavior that I seem to be displaying, the MacBook Air forum at MacRumors is a great source for entertainment and information.  A user on that forum pointed out that on the Apple Retailer link within Apple's website there is this little goody:

Is it a bad sign?

Is it a bad sign that I keep checking the Apple Store waiting for this button to change from "Pre-order"? What does that say about my sanity and my productivity?

Apple Acknowledges Shipping Air

You've probably seen dozens of posts already about Apple's press release that it has begun shipping the MacBook Air.  My daily chat with "Wanda" at Northpark went as it has for the past several days..."So, Wanda, is today MacBook Air day?" "Sorry, not today. Soon."  or something like that.  Me and Wanda, we're like this "".   If you want to have some personal fondling time with the Air before you make your "buy" decision, Wanda says you can make an appointment with one of the Apple Store's personal shoppers.  

It isn't mine but it's a good sign...

Looks like MacBook Air is starting to ship...

MacBook Air - I want one!

Not that there is anyone besides me who cares, but I'm checking expectantly on the Mac Support Discussions page every day waiting for the status of this product to change from "pre-release". According to a report on Engadget, they could be in stores on Tuesday.  I was just at the Northpark Apple Store and all they would say was "this week."

I did not pre-order a MacBook Air after the keynote. I figure that there are 4 Apple Stores in the Dallas market, and I could probably get one as quickly by going there.  I also want the chance to fondle the real deal before I buy.  I've read all those mixed reviews like you guys have. I know the limitations:  too expensive, no optical drive, sealed battery, slow processor, slower hard drive, too few ports and unfriendly port design.  

I have several computers that I use in my business already, so this wouldn't be my only Mac. Still, I carry a computer to work and home every  day and I travel frequently to clients and out of town. I want a small, light computer. I want it to be a Mac. I can run Windows on a Mac. I can't run OSX on a UMPC or small Windows machine.  I'm going to buy the 1.6Ghz MacBook Air with the 80G HD.  If it doesn't work for me, my wife will love it as a replacement for her now aging 15" PowerBook G4.  So, bring it on. I'm ready.

UPDATE: 1/28/08 I made my daily call to Northpark and Willow Bend.  Both stores say this week but they don't know when.  They didn't know anything about banners hanging tonight and geniuses getting trained.  Or, at least they're not talking. 

Lessons From "Vintage Technology"

I've been reading with much interest all the early comments about the MacBook Air.  Some say it's underpowered or doesn't have enough ports or disk drives or whatever.  I'm looking forward to seeing them in Apple Stores so I can make my own call.  In the meantime, I've recently had a computing experience that reminds me to take all these comments with a grain of salt.

This weekend, my daughter came home from college to swap computers with me. She's been using a 12" PowerBook 1Ghz with 768 MB RAM. It has served her well for 2 1/2 years at college, but she's finally hit the wall. In her advanced Calculus class she's using Excel to write formulas and apparently she needs to use the Windows version of Excel.  So, I offered her my MacBook with Vista running in a Boot Camp partition.  I'm back to using the 12" PowerBook while I decide what my next notebook will be.  I say "back" to using it because this was my computer originally. I have had 3 others since then: a 15" PowerBook G4 1.67 Ghz that my wife uses, a white MacBook that my youngest daughter got when her iBook died, and the BlackBook that I sent to college with my daughter. 

I'm thinking about getting the MacBook Air but I'm waiting until I can hold it and decide for myself.  I don't do video editing. I mostly use Safari, Microsoft Office, and QuickBooks. My tax software runs on Windows and I also need to run both the Mac and Windows versions of QuickBooks. For the moment, I'm running all the Windows apps on my office iMac and connecting to it using gotomypc.com when I need to run a windows app on the PowerBook.  

Using this device is reminding me that my needs are simple.  I remember how much I enjoyed the form factor of the 12" PowerBook when I first had it.  I wish that Apple had not retired it and I was hopeful that the MacBook Air would be the reintroduction of the thinner AND smaller computer.   What I'm also realizing is that even with the slow processor and not enough RAM, Leopard runs great for small tasks and  all my stuff (except Windows) is fitting on 60GB with 21 GB to spare.  I've read a lot about the EEE PC and other small computers. If you can find a 12" PowerBook in good condition, it probably is more powerful than Asus EEE PC and has a more usable keyboard and screen.  It probably doesn't cost much more than the EEE PC either.  

What this computer tells me about the MacBook Air is that it is definitely not underpowered for my needs and I can probably make the 80GB HD work.  As much as I'd like to have the SSD, I just can't see dropping another grand right now.  I'm sure that my re-infatuation with the PowerBook won't last and as I keep reading about the Air my gear lust will take over. But, for now, at least, I'm enjoying the time spent with an old friend, my 12" PowerBook.  What's your favorite computer of all times? Leave me a comment or catch me on Twitter as Taxman45.