Although it has done so subtly, Apple Computer has slowly been addressing issues with its new MacBook Pro notebooks and now appears to be shipping a fourth minor revision of the Intel-based computers. While the MacBook Pro has been receiving praise and stellar reviews from mainstream media outlets, its earliest adopters have had some quibbles. On a related note, Newsforge has a review of Camino 1.0, the Gecko-based Mac browser from the Mozilla Foundation.
I dont mean to slight Firefox, its a great browser on Windows, but its so out of place on Linux sometimes, and even moreso on Mac.
Main reason? The widgets it uses for radio boxes / check marks. On Windows, it uses the native ones that the OS uses. On GNOME (it IS a GTK application after all) or KDE it uses the default – and ugly – controls.
Of course, you can hack around this (for example http://emps.l-c-n.com/articles/94/ replaces them, but its not a native theme. On Linux it causes issues, such as having to click three times on a drop down list to choose anything). But its not very user friendly.
Camino is great though, wasn’t there a move to make a similar browser on QT for KDE? I know that there is K-Melon for Windows, but that one isn’t really progressing due to lack of interest(?). I mean, its gone from 0.9 to 0.9.12 in a year (almost a year and a half).
Whilst that is true, Firefox is hard to beat for a webdesigner because of indisposable tools like Firebug, Venkman, WebDeveloper toolbar and many more. I remember the years of coding in IE, with only IE’s completly wrong javascript errors to go by, and no alternative *cringe*
The controls being different isn’t the end of the world when you get used to it.
Main reason? The widgets it uses for radio boxes / check marks. On Windows, it uses the native ones that the OS uses. On GNOME (it IS a GTK application after all) or KDE it uses the default – and ugly – controls.
Firefox uses XUL as its toolkit, therefore it only emulates the looks of the native widgets. It is actully quite successful at doing this, especially when compared to Java (Sun, please pick up your slack and incoporate WinLaf)
This is a before/after picture of widgets on the Mac:
http://www.macworld.com/2005/10/images/content/spin_goodform.jpg
From this page: http://www.macworld.com/2005/10/features/powerfirefox/index2.php
They do not bother even trying to emulate the native widgets, they just use the default X11 (?) widget set. Very ugly.
At least for Gnome, there is Galeon (which isn’t worked on anymore) and Epiphany.
Despite being unstable (it managed to restart with all pages open again after every crash though), Galeon for many people was simple “the best browser of the world”. I use Galeon, but it’s getting outdated etc. and I can just say Firefox stinks compared to galeon.
Good thing I was not an early adopter…as nice as those systems are.
Apple is good at hyping their new product lines unless it makes them look bad, I find it amusing their “revised” MacBook Pro’s aren’t receiving the same fan fare.
Excellent Work Apple, Your PR Engine is Working Perfectly.
The bit “According to DailyTech, some MacBook Pros get so hot they can barely be handled or placed on a bare lap. The notebooks are especially hot in the area above the F keys and underneath the notebook itself.” makes me laugh given my experiences with the ‘apple quality’ people always tout so loudly that I just have never seen. To me their construction and layout has ALWAYS been rinky and poorly thought out – typical of proprietary hardware bases.
Remember, we’re talking the company that on the early G3 iBooks put 400mhz rated chips in them, then underclocked the CPU to 266 so they could leave out the heat sink and fan to make room for the modem board (which if you open up one of those old iBooks usually has scorch marks on the bottom)
Oh yeah, Apple QUALITY, RIGHT.
…and they have their fan base apparently upping their scores NOT for content, but for the fact that they just pick some reason out of a hat to slam Apple.
I think it should be commended that they are addressing issues that users have encountered and not making a big deal out of it.
As for the heat issues… I never have owned, and don’t plan on owning a laptop, just not my thing. But it I would expect laptops to get hot. I thought the real (original) point of a laptop computer was for it to be portable… not literally to have it sit on your legs all of the time. That would cause serious neck and arm injury because a lap is NOT an optimal place for a computer…
>> …and they have their fan base apparently upping their scores NOT for content, but for the fact that they just pick some reason out of a hat to slam Apple.
Proof enough apple folks can dish it out but can’t take it. If these same comments were made about a Dell or HP running windows it would be lauded to the rafters, but god forbid someone say something negative about the all-mighty boat anchor.
>> As for the heat issues… I never have owned, and don’t plan on owning a laptop, just not my thing. But it I would expect laptops to get hot. I thought the real (original) point of a laptop computer was for it to be portable… not literally to have it sit on your legs all of the time. That would cause serious neck and arm injury because a lap is NOT an optimal place for a computer…
Spoken like someone who doesn’t use laptops.
As I said in my post which you no doubt read “I never have owned and dont plan on owning”… but thanks for clarifying that.
>> As I said in my post which you no doubt read “I never have owned and dont plan on owning”… but thanks for clarifying that.
Hence the joke, by way of sardonic wit… hence the reason I reiterated what I quoted; Sarcasm is SO lost on some people.
As Ducky would say, “It’s called a sense of humor, you should get one, they’re nice!”
That’s not sarcasm!
Sarcasm: The use of irony to mock or convey contempt.
How is that ironic? There is no irony if I already admitted the fact.
irony: The expression of one’s meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite, typically for humorous or emphatic effect.
humor: 1) the quality of being amusing or comic, especially as expressed in literature or speech. 2) the ability to perceive or EXPRESS humor or to appreciate A JOKE.
Hmmmm… who needs a sense of humor? Or at least who needs to learn what sarcasm, irony and humor mean?
Altho’ I would admit that I need a mood enhancer of some sort. I’m feeling rather bleak at the moment.