March 14, 2010 By 9 Comments

My Macbook Killer

I should have made this post back in February when I got my gorgeous new laptop.  Yes I have a Macbook Pro and as much as I tried to love it, like a red headed step-child it was just…unlovable. I really tried to make a connection with it. I loaded it up with Screenflow and other supposedly “superior” applications and went to work, and …..petered…..out. I grabbed a game or two to see if that would light the spark…nada

For months it sat under my bed, used only for watching DVDs when I wasn’t feeling well enough to get up. All that hard earned…for a DVD player?

Everyone told me it would be a life changing moment and that I would wonder how life was before it. I felt GUILTY that I had no feelings for my pomaceous partner. The nothing feeling changed to exasperation after its battery died after 56 charges. Then disgust after the replacement battery refused to charge.

When my daughter started to use it with her screen touching fingers and eating-food-while-MSNing, I didn’t bat an eyelid. The MBP was dead to me and I felt no remorse at all.

Yet I needed a laptop.  Especially for the Coming Home Seminar that was to be held in Melbourne. I could have taken the icky-sticky MBP and tried to smile through the pain, but I was determined to feel as comfortable as possible so I could take in as much information as I could.  The hunt began for the best-of-the-best-of-the-best.

My criteria were

  • quad core i7
  • HDMI compatible
  • gaming grade video card
  • upgradeable
  • 15 inches

All of my dreams came true in the form of the HP ENVY 15-1050NR 15.6-Inch Laptop (Magnesium Alloy) (ewwwww HP my subconscious still screams).  I LOVE it, I slobber over it. NO ONE is allowed to touch it without my express permission (not even the cats!)

hp envy

This was the love I was looking for in the MBP, the love it’s cold brushed metal surfaces just could not provide.

The Envy is not perfect, but is any long term partner truly perfect? I say no! The 120 degree max screen tilt can make for some unusual positions in bed, and the shiny screen takes some getting used to, yet the LED screen is bright, so bright that keyboard lighting is not required.  I don’t miss the internal optical drive at all as most of my media I stream across our internal home network.

The other surprise was my first contact with Windows 7.  Not bad, not bad at all.

Of course I also bought a nice slice battery to go with it and now in every way it outlasts, out performs, and out loves any MBP on the market.

Blatant affiliate link because I LOVE this machine (and around the office here at IBM that is sacrilege )

Filed Under: Projects Tagged With: , , , , ,
March 5, 2010 By 8 Comments

Sticky as a Really Sticky Thing*

  • make new mistakes today, repeating old ones is not productive
  • good iteration is like walking through mud. Each step takes you forward using what learned with the previous steps, while leaving what doesn’t work behind (like your boots and socks)
  • the shittiest product that people want, will out sell the perfect product that no one has a use for.
  • you don’t need to be a crazy person to believe your own reality. Best check in with other opinions as often as possible.
  • there’s more than one way to fly first class. Some flight attendants do it every day. If it’s the lifestyle you want, maybe a job will do the job?
  • Never believe a fact you haven’t researched yourself
  • McDonalds Castle Hill drive- thru has an 85% order failure rate for me, yet I still use it.
  • in astronomy sometimes you need to look out the corner of your eye at things to see it better. In business life use other people for that perspective.
  • somebody has to win the lottery, not buying a ticket ensures it isn’t you.  The act of starting buys you that ticket. Not following through with constant effort is putting the ticket through the wash. Could have been a winner…

iteration mud boots

(*apologies to Devin Townsend and SYL)

Filed Under: Me-anderings Tagged With: ,