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Any idea of when MacIntel laptops will arrive?


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The first crop of Intel equipped laptops, which have the unfortunate name of MacBook Pro, are shipping now and people have been receiving them (even from such places as amazon.com). The reports are coming in and the reviews have not been totally positive by any means. A good site for current information is Macintouch  ( http://www.macintouch.com/ ) particularly if you want to read the worst of the worst. Macintouch seems to attract ALL the people that have had any problem that annyone can have (and also seems to be populated with those who really like to complain even if there isn't too much to complain about). I really don't like to mis-trust any of the Mac sites (or Mac users in general) but in the 5 years that I have been checking the Macintouch site (and this is 5 years out of the 22 years I have been using a Mac), I have rarely had any of the problems people seem to report. That said, Macintouch is a good site to get very current info on what's shipping and so forth.

Note: if anyone else out there would like a useful list of links to really good and thorough Mac info, I can post that here for anyone's use.

Regards,  Jeff Wexler

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I read that the early G5 iMacs had very noisy fans, or fans that would become noisy.  I guess this was more of an isssue than on the (very noisy) G4 towers, since the IMac sits right in front of you.  Anyhow, these complaints seem to have died down.  I was wondering if you'd heard of any fan noise issues w/ the Macintel Imacs?  I actually need a new office machine--my location-audio Powerbook is only a few months old so I'll stay with that for awhile.

Philip Perkins

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I think fan noise (and hard disk noise which was an issue) have pretty much gotten under control in the new iMacs. The 2nd generation iMacs, the so-called table lamp model, had small fan and reasonably good heat dissipation, so they were almost as quiet as the original iMac (which had no fan). I think when the new form factor iMac came out (everything in the screen) heat was a real problem (prompting Apple to increase the fan routines and hence the noise). Watt for watt as Steve Jobs kept telling us, the Intel processor(s) used in the new iMac generally run cooler than the G5.

Regards,  Jeff Wexler

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I'm typing this from a Mac Mini Duo, which now sits on my desk in the office, next to my PC. I can certainly see this box being used on a cart for a variety of utility/playback, and recording activities.  Sebsky runs, a little slower than on a 1.6 PB, FCP isn't yet native, but is expected ~NAB. Our USBPre doesn't connect, we need to rewrite the driver, and the 7-Series plug right in.

It's smaller than a notebook, silent, and less expensive than a notebook (if you already have screen/keyboard/mouse). Great mechanical package, too.

Jon Tatooles

Sound Devices, LLC

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Good to hear that you have a new Mac Mini up and running at Sound Devices. Most applications have been going native very quickly but many of the pro apps that people need to use are going to take a little longer. It is the history of Digidesign and others to be quite slow (or cautious and thorough as they like to call it) getting their programs upgraded even when there has been operating system upgrades. You mention your USBPre as being non-functional and this is the other key area where the transition to Intel processors has been a little rocky --- drivers. Lots of people are finding that even simple peripherals like printers and scanners are non-functional. Fortunately, Apple these days has more than enough visibility and clout that I believe these drivers will become available very soon.

Also, it seems that the Mac Mini is gaining favor over the use of laptops (PowerBooks in the past, now MacBooks) on sound carts, mostly because of form factor and cost. The cost issue often turns out to be almost a wash unless on the cart you are utilizing a monitor that is doing multiple tasks (displays video assist camera images AND serves as the computer monitor). The one drawback, and this is where the laptops are preferred, is the powering schemes. I have looked into the power requirements for the Mac Mini (as have many others starting with those who have installed the Mac Mini in automobiles) and it is not a difficult task. I have asked Glen Trew to look into producing a product that will allow easy connection of the Mac Mini to any nominal 12 vdc source. We'll see what happens.

Regards,  Jeff Wexler

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I thought a lot about a Mini for my location computer, but my set up changes all the time to meet the needs of various jobs, and I liked the all-in-one-ness of the PB.  On solo jobs I can park the PB on a table or on the front seat of the van to burn the DVD while I'm wrapping up my little setup, on cart jobs w/ a boom op I like knowing that my Metacorder setup can stay hot for about 2 hrs per PB battery powering the computer, the Traveler (on bus power) and an external drive (also bus power) if there is no AC or I have a cart battery problem.  The Mini might be the ticket for me for a new office/internet/FCP computer though.  I'll be interested to hear if Remote Audio etc can come up with a DC solution for the mini.  Seems like it should draw a lot less DC than the PB.  I've heard of some 24VDC  options for direct DC powering the PB, but haven't seen on in the flesh.  (UK "Monster" battery?)

Philip Perkins

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