Early 2011 MacBook Pro notes

[This is just some random thoughts/reactions to Apple's latest updates. Thanks to the excellent MacRumors community for some of these points!]

• First off, LightPeak! Or should I say Thunderbolt! Sure, it's overkill for the average consumer, but without such innovations, technology would not evolve at the rapid pace at which it is evolving today.
• Note that in order for computers to have support for Thunderbolt, a controller chip must have direct access to the graphics subsystem and PCIe channels, i.e. be on the motherboard. Therefore, old, non-Thunderbolt computers cannot be upgraded via an expansion card to support Thunderbolt.
• Can we make Thunderbolt PCIe x4 expansion cards that just have a data connection?
• People were fussing about high security privileges that Thunderbolt devices have. I would like to see this clarified, even though I'm not a security person.
• Apple has not clarified whether the new laptops support triple displays (two externals + internal). I'd wager yes: one 2560x1600 and one 1920x1200 for the 13" and dual 2560x1600 on the 15" and 17".
• Quad cores in 15" and 17" units! I'm ecstatic to see this, but I'm not sure how Apple can manage the increased 10W TDP. The 13" got a decent upgrade, starting with an i5 on the low end and an i7 on the high end. (yay, no i3!) Hopefully these units will not get as warm as the first generation MacBook Pros. 
• The low-end 15" unit sees a graphics downgrade to an AMD Radeon HD 6490 and the high-end 15" unit sees an upgrade to an AMD Radeon HD 6750. I'm also surprised and delighted by this move, but not as much as with the 13", which now uses the on-die Intel graphics.
• The MacBook Pro 13" did not get a higher-resolution panel. I suspect the integrated Intel 3000 graphics did not deliver high enough framerates at the higher resolution for Apple to think it is worthwhile. Sure, people who plug in an external display will discover this flaw, but considering that much of the 13" consumers would be fine with a white MacBook, we can ignore this issue. In addition, the 13" still does not have an optional matte screen.
• Mac OS X Lion has been and is still advertised on a MacBook Air. Previously, with Snow Leopard, the poster Mac was always a MacBook Pro. I (and many others) believe that Apple is pushing the MacBook Air, instead of the [13"] MacBook Pro, as the mainstream Mac, relegating the MacBook Pro to its upscale position.
• The battery ratings reflect the results from the new battery testing methodology used by Apple first seen on the MacBook Airs. I'm iffy on the 15" and 17" ratings since the chips have a higher TDP.

Must...touch...new...hardware...

New [Old] Hardware!

A couple of days ago, I decided to put my hacked Apple Studio Display to work, so I spent an hour cleaning most of the things off my desk. I then connected the monitor, but unfortunately it displayed no image, so I thought that Linux was being annoying and rebooted into Windows. It worked! I then booted back into Linux, which caused X to initially freak out (by reverting my 1080p screen's resolution to 640x480, which sucks, but you probably knew that already), but after a bit of terminal work and some button clicking, it worked! I deemed this setup to be enough (for now) and will hold off on buying the remaining parts for my quad 1080p setup. ;)

It works! (and my desk is a mess)

P.S. Apologies for the dearth of blog posts; I always end up squandering my time with Minesweeper (and now Freecell)!

Formality

makes me want to get a job at Dropbox and move to Fourth West.

Apple CSS Fail, Take II

Remember this? Well it looks like Apple is in the process of upgrading the website to be HTML5 compliant, but didn't implement the new CSS sliding window trick yet, as one can see below:

[EDIT] Woah, that was fast! The website is now fixed!

Why do people want to own a Canadian?

Beats me.

IAP Goals…or not

After not being hosed (okay, maybe I was extremely tired after the last week of straight coding) first semester, I started planning out my IAP and came up with the following list of things to do:

• Learn 18.03
• Pokerbots
• TA 6.096
• Case mod the Quicksilver Power Mac G4 I found 
• Direct USACO Feb11
• Pongmegrenades
• Port Pongmegrenades to Android, i.e. figure out drag and drop, besides other things
• Build an audio input/output switcher
• Speed up the raytracer
• Add some more shortcuts and features to EvilWM
• Facebook Hacker Cup
• Techfair chores, etc.
• …and possibly a bit of bridge

However, I soon found out that I was squeezed for time. I immediately came back to my list and scratched off a bunch of things:

• Learn 18.03: I'm almost there! Just 1/5 of the material left…chug chug chug choo choo!
• Pokerbots: I'm not exactly obligated to do it, but it seems worth it.
• TA 6.096: I'm obligated to do this.
• Case mod the Quicksilver Power Mac G4 I found: I went to Home Depot to buy plexiglass and cut out the old IO port sections…does that count as nontrivial progress? Dremelling was fun (and very sparky) though =D
• Direct USACO Feb11: Not an obligation, but it'd be cool to contribute to each of the monthly contests =D
• Pongmegrenades: I got sound to work (by virtue of copy & pasting code…does that count?
• Port Pongmegrenades to Android, i.e. figure out drag and drop, besides other things: Not enough time T_T
• Build an audio input/output switcher: The bus switch that engadget mentioned on its AV switcher is no longer stocked by DigiKey :( I got all the other parts from MITERS, though.
• Speed up the raytracer: Uhhh about that…
• Add some more shortcuts and features to EvilWM: About that too…
• Facebook Hacker Cup: Dunno if Facebook will get its act together
• Techfair chores, etc.: I'm obligated to do this.
• …and possibly a bit of bridge: Bridge? Uhh…do I still know how to play?

Humming to a Song

Recently, I find myself always singing aloud with a song (fast-forward to 0:45) that I found this past summer when it always comes up on my iPod. I easily determined that my parents, at least, get annoyed pretty quickly. Oh, how fun it is to annoy people. I must say it's the easiest empirical way to find people's limits. :) Now to counter me when I start murmuring "doh-oh-oh-oh-oh Steve Jobs // Steve Jobs // Steve Jaaaaaaahhhhhh-ahhbs, my dad insists that I'm saying "Steam Jobs," as if I were hungry and wanted to steam a cabbage to eat.

And here are the lyrics for you to sing along:

As business men go he is a legend
surviving exile returning as king
if that sounds like Moses it's no accident
the cult of Macintosh is a religion
we bow down to products that make us weep
the beauty of simplicity the Shepard and his sheep
we defend all attackers with fervent zeal
in each operating system some new truth is revealed

his violent temper, his strict beliefs
his singular vision make him adored
we try our best as we make our way
through the pipeline of products we can't afford
in his guarded temple there's a beating drum
and it's made of glass and of aluminum
on every surface a mysterious brew
a reflection of desire is forged anew

Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs
Steve Jaaaahhaahh
Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh
Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs
Steve Jaaaahhaahhbs

when he speaks we all listen
lovers and haters
the excitement that i feel when he walks out on stage
it's not just what he's revealing but the way he reveals it too

Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs
Steve Jaaaahhaahh
Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh
Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs
Steve Jaaaahhaahhbs

Five Years of Intel Macs

Whew, I almost forgot that Steve Jobs announced the first batch of production Intel Macs five years ago on this day at the 2006 MacWorld Keynote! Here's to another great five years of x86 (yes, I'm including the possibility of AMD-based machines) Macs!

Specs of each machine:

MacBook Pro 1,1:

• 15.4" 1440x900 Matte
• Intel T2500 Core Duo "Yonah" 2.0GHz 667MHz 2MB
• 2GB DDR2-667 PC5300 RAM
• 160GB Intel X25-M SSD
• 256MB ATi Mobility Radeon X1600
• Dual-link DVI port
• 2 USB 2.0, 1 FireWire 400, Gigabit Ethernet, Digital/Analog Audio In/Out
• iSight
• ExpressCard/34 slot
• Kensington lock
• Old style backlit keyboard
• Scrolling trackpad + button

MacBook 2,1:

• 13.3" 1280x800 Glossy
• Intel T7200 Core 2 Duo "Merom" 2.0GHz 667MHz 4MB
• 1.5GB DDR2-667 PC5300 RAM
• 80GB Toshiba HDD
• 64MB (shared) Intel GMA 950
• Single-link Mini-DVI port
• 2 USB 2.0, 1 FireWire 400, Gigabit Ethernet, Digital/Analog Audio In/Out
• iSight
• Kensington lock
• Chiclet keyboard
• Scrolling trackpad + button

MacBook Air 3,2:

• 13.3" 1440x900 Glossy
• Intel SP9400 Core 2 Duo "Penryn" 1.86GHz 1066MHz 6MB
• 4GB DDR3-1066 PC85000 RAM
• 121GB Toshiba SSD (7GB reserved for garbage collection)
• 256MB (shared) Nvidia GeForce 320M
• miniDisplayPort
• 2 USB 2.0, Analog Audio Out
• iSight
• SD card slot
• Chiclet keyboard
• Multitouch glass trackpad

Apple Price Discrepancy Fail

Here is Aperture's page on the App Store. Notice the rather low price of $79.

Here is store.apple.com's listing of Aperture.

$120 for a box, CD, and some instruction pamphlets? Really, Apple?

Untitled

Doing math never felt so cathartic before, especially in the library at night.