Updated 1/11 after Carl Longino commented that I incorrectly described his post
Kudos to Steve Jobs and Co for pulling off the transition to Intel chips faster than most expected. At today’s MacWorld show, Jobs unveiled an iMac and a new laptop, dubbed the MacBook Pro (will iBooks soon be renamed MacBook amateur?) running with Intel chips. I’d certainly recommend staying away from these machines for a while if for no other reason than to avoid the inevitable software bugs and lack of native apps (Remember my OS X Tiger warning). They may offer amazing theoretical speed advantages over current chips, but those advantages will clearly be curtailed when you run existing software under emulation. And in this case, there will be hardware and software glitches as part of the double transition.
I’m also worried about a few choices in the new MacBook – no built in modem, no industry-standard PC Card slot and no battery life estimate. Sometimes on the road of life, there is no ethernet and there is no wifi. You need a modem. I’m not so interested in having to carry around a dongle modem. Blah. And while it’s great to jump to the latest and greatest add-in card slot, are there any cards yet available for the MacBook’s new ExpressCard slot? None at the Apple Store or other online folk like Newegg or even CompUSA.com. I use my PC card slot for my Verizon mobile broadband card made by Novatel – no way I could go to a laptop without that. I also use it as a memory card reader. Seems simple but I can’t find any Expresscards even for that.
Carl Longino wants built in mobile broadband capability that’s not tied to any one wireless company but I’m not asking for that – why be tied to one provider? There’s no chance of that in the United States – Cingular and Verizon are walled garden, pay $2+ for a song, we don’t need no stinkin’ badges types. All laptops in the US offered with built-in wireless are locked to one provider. If I want to dump Verizon someday I have to dump my $2K laptop too? Forget it. Finally, why is there no estimate of how long the battery lasts on the new MacBook? Wasn’t that supposed to be one of the great advantages of the new Intel-based line? Paul Thurott is also suspicious and he notes other issues like the disappeared Firewire 800 port and S-video ports.
Now a speedier version of iPhoto? That sounds just grand.
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