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While working last weekend, I was finally struck by the “spinning beach ball of death” that broke the camel’s back. Originally, I was planning on waiting until this summer to pick up a MacBook Pro, but I just could not wait any longer. However, at the moment I cannot justify spending $2,500 on a MacBook Pro, so I compromised with a $1,500 MacBook to get me by for a while.

Unless I really like this MacBook, I will probably hock it in the fall and pick up a MacBook Pro.

However, my first impression is quite positive. Considering how picky I am, it says a lot that there is only one thing that I don’t like about it: the screen. Obviously, it is pretty small, especially since I am used to using a 15.4″ display. However, I think after a while I should be able to get used to it. It is basically the same resolution as I was used to, to it isn’t that much of a change. The real problem lies with the lighting. The screen seems to be fairly low quality, in that there is a dramatic difference between the lighting at the bottom and at the top. I was really surprised by this, considering that it was not that much of a problem on my PowerBook. Also, there is the issue of glare, which isn’t nearly as bad as I initially thought that it would be.

At this point, I would rank the machine as highly usable, but I still want to get a MacBook Pro.

The actually purchase of the MacBook was kind of annoying. After verifying that I would regret getting a white macbook, I went up to the front of the Apple store and asked the girl at the counter for a MacBook in black.

It was pretty obvious that the in store manager was “watching” her for whatever reason, so she had to go through the whole process of trying to sell me stuff that I did not want. Normally, I would just fight through that crap, but I at least let her go through the motions:

Me: I would like a MacBook, black.
Girl: A MacBook.
Me: Yes.
Girl: What are you going to use it for?
Me: Developing applications for the web.
Girl: So…you will be running stuff like Dreamweav…
Me: No, TextMate, CSSEdit, etc…
Girl: I am not familiar with those.
Me: …
Girl: I just want to make sure that everything you want to run will work on it
Me: Well, I am upgrading from a 1gz PowerBook.
Girl: So…everything that worked on that will work on this?
Me: Pretty much.
Girl: Are you familiar with .Mac?
Me: Yes?
Girl: Do you have an .Mac account?
Me: No
Girl: Would you…
Me: No
Girl: Ok, so you wanted a MacBook?
Me: Black.

Some of you may know that I recently terminated the life of my iPod. Granted, it was not intentional, it just succumb to four years of fairly continuous use. Considering the fact that it lasted so long, I suppose that I should be happy. But replacing broken/defective electronics is never enjoyable, and I seem to be doing a lot of it lately.

As you can see by the image above, Apple apparently believes that I am some kind of common thief. And, that their simple warning “Don’t Steal Music” will prove to be a powerful deterrent. The interesting thing is that it does not say “Don’t Pirate Music” which is completely different, and what most people do.

Anyway, I now have a shiny new black 30 gb iPod that I have named “Serenity,” and which contains 4.87 gb of audio files. I am not sure what I am going to do with the extra space (videos are pretty much out of the question). I am more concerned with this thing lasting me as long as the last one diligently did.

Now, if Rhapsody of Fire, and Apocalyptica would just release some new albums I would be in business.