After a full month on Youtube my faux unibody MacBook Pro review has broke 7,000 views and has garnered over a hundred interesting comments. I didn’t know exactly what to expect when I posted the clip, just days after the notebook arrived in my hands, but I knew my review would stir the waters with its unorthodox mix of facts, fantasy and pure flame bait!
A few people seemed to have grasped that it’s impossible to take my review seriously if you actually consider what I’m saying and doing in the video (like ‘docking’ a load of Apple crap onto the display!), but apparently many others are completely oblivious that my piece is purposely ridiculous. Indeed, I didn’t want things to be too obvious. Where would the fun be in that?
What I was hoping for was to bait a variety of emotional responses, and judging by the vociferous nature of the comments posted thus far, I’ve certainly succeeded. From barely legible insults to congratulatory praise, I think I’ve heard it all. But the best comments are those that scold my incorrigible parlance to butcher the names of various Apple products and my inability to recognize that the English pronunciation of ‘aluminum’ is the exact same element used to make pop cans and car frames.
Right now I’m sort of torn between continuing with this series of misreviews or just keeping my content straight and honest (as it is with anything that I write for this blog). Having said that, it’s kind of hard to stop when I’m having this much fun and apparently entertaining a good portion of viewers as well!
A game that’s sure to get a lot of play on the PC this holiday season is Call of Duty: World at War (COD5). The multiplayer beta has been available for a few days, and already I’ve logged a good couple of hours in online matches.
COD5 is an excellent test for the late 2008 MacBook Pro’s discreet graphics chip. Overall, I found the nVidia 9600M GT to perform quite well, rendering the game with a high amount of detail at comfortable frame rates.
For the deathmatch purist, having beautiful graphics is a distant second to having silky smooth frame rates. For my tests, I kept this in mind, but I was also thinking about the single player aspect, where graphical detail is important for providing an engrossing experience.
Starting at the highest resolution, a native 1440 x 900, the game felt a bit choppy and textures looked flat and lifeless at their lower settings. Dropping down to 1280 x 720 and having the details maxed out to ‘extra’ produced a gorgeous palette of colors and textures, but the frame rate took a noticeable hit any time the scene had to render a lot of objects. Working down to 1152 x 864, I found this to be the lowest acceptable resolution for the MacBook Pro’s 15.4” screen; any lower and the graphics looked too blocky, muddy and aliased. At this resolution, I chose a combination of medium and extra detail settings. The result produced acceptable frame rates for online play with graphics still pleasing enough to showcase the 9600M GT’s abilities.
Further tweaking and running the final code of the game may produce even better results. I can’t wait for Call of Duty: World at War to be released now that I’ve tried the beta. It might just give COD4 a run for its money!
After a month of daily use, I’ve decided to post another video giving some thoughts on my now battle hardened iPod Nano 4G. There’s a few things to like, but plenty to hate of Apple’s newest sharp looking (and feeling) pocket player. I hope you enjoy my video review and creative commentary.
Last week, I mentioned the loud click noise the trackpad made on my new late 2008 MacBook Pro. I even posted a video comparing the sound to an older, quieter model. Today, I think I may have found a solution.
On YouTube, a user commented on my video and mentioned how stuffing paper between the trackpad and battery could dampen the clicking noise. After trying this, I found that I could reduce the loudness of the click, but at the expense of stiffening the clicking mechanism; it’s actually quite difficult finding the perfect balance between click noise and click resistance.
My solution uses layered pieces of Kleenex that are sized to cover the underside of the trackpad, directly underneath the battery (no tools required). It’s something that takes a bit of trial and error, as you’ll need to put the battery and case cover back in place each time to accurately test any changes that you’ve made.
In the end, I settled with around 6 squares of Kleenex to made the click quieter than my early 2008 model MacBook Pro. The resistance to depress the click pad has been increased a tad, but it’s nothing my thumb can’t handle. So long as the paper doesn’t catch on fire (let’s hope your battery never hits 451 F), this fix has tackled one of my biggest gripes with Apple’s new unibody laptops.
In the future, I want to use some proper sound proofing material to see if I can further quiet the trackpad without increasing click resistance. I’m sure there are better materials to use other than toilette tissue, but right now, this is a very cheap and easy solution to try. Give it a shot and let me know how it goes.
