Horas and konnichiwa untuk semua

I can’t really say I switched to Mac, since I used Mac for the first time in 1987, and even since I replaced my last Mac (a PowerBook 520) with a Sony Vaio in 1999, I still used public Macs at school (and at work I regularly use iMac and Xserve). But since 1999 my main machine has always been a Windows machine, so let’s just consider I just switched (back) to Mac, which is a MacBook Pro.
So first, my complaints:

1. The screen could not be tilted away deeper.
This is quite annoying, since when I put a notebook computer on my lap, the screen needs to be tilted low for clear viewing.
2. The power adaptor is bulky
It’s not just bulky but also heavier. And oh, it hasn’t changed since the 90s, the cable is thick! I am not sure if there is benefit of making power cable this thick, but it really is a nuisance.
3. Apple Mail can’t use vertical orientation
I can’t believe Jobs really thought users would be happy with horizontal orientation while current Apple notebook’s screen is wide. Fotunately, macnoto shared me this link that would just solve this problem.
UPDATE 2007/11/11: Letterbox has not been updated to Leopard yet, but there is an alternative here.
4. MagSafe power connector keeps disconnected
Am I too obsessed with using a lap-top PC (i.e., putting it on my lap)? The MagSafe power connector on the left side keeps getting knocked out by my lap.
5. Mac can’t hibernate
You may say there is “deep sleep” on Mac, yeah but it’s not deep enough. I like to preserve my workspace so I rarely shutdown my notebook computer. On Windows, putting it to hibernate cut power totally (thus saving battery power) and the notebook will never wake up on its own. But Mac only has sleep, no hibernation, and I have experienced twice already putting Mac to sleep and then put it into my bag, only to find it became very hot when I pulled it out since it woke up inside my bag!
UPDATE: Yes there is hibernate on newer Macs including this MBP, but still I can’t put the Mac to hibernate immediately using supported method. There is utilities like “Deep Sleep” but this is not using officially supported feature and not always worked in my situation.

Well, there are more, but that’s it for now. I am waiting for the Leopard disk to come to try the “300 new features” 😛
(BTW, though I am new switcher, I have been a Tiger user😉 )

It’s been quite a while since I naturally stopped dealing with Sun servers. Back in college I dealt with Sun SPARC servers, and in Fujitsu I used Fujitsu’s SPARC compatible with Solaris. After that, after a few months of using Solaris x86, I had no more direct interaction with Sun servers/operating systems for years. Until recently when I actually saw the details of Sun x64 servers (i.e., IA servers) whose pricing are not as expensive as I tought. I just set up a SunFire X4200 M2 and the first impression is it looks much closer to an Xserve now, but much noisier. When main power is on, it sounds like a jet turbine. I thought Dell’s rack mount server is the noisiest, but now I forgot the existence of Xserve and Dell servers when this X4200 M2 is on.
Nevertheless, current Sun servers look cool and powerful. I couldn’t wait to actually try the power of dual-core AMD Opteron 2220 2.8GHz.

"Ebony And Ebony Live Together In Perfect Harmony
Side By Side On My Work Desk…"

Apart from the price which is more than 3 times more expensive than Mac OS X Tiger, I thank Microsoft for making Windows so much similar to an OS X. Well, umm, actually I just opened the box but haven’t installed Vista yet. It doesn’t have the "Wow" like when getting a OS X Tiger, people says it’s similar …

(Hmm why Vista Ultimate’s box must be black?)