A Month with a Mac - Part II: The Mobile Experience
by Anand Lal Shimpi on January 24, 2005 12:01 AM EST- Posted in
- Mac
The Keyboard and Mouse
Although I'm looking at the 15" PowerBook G4, one thing that Apple ensured was that the keyboard layout and size is identical across all of their PowerBook G4s. So the size, spacing between keys and layout of the 12" PowerBook G4's keyboard are the same as in the the 17" PowerBook G4. So, the comments that I make here are applicable to the entire line of PowerBooks.The keyboard layout on the PowerBook is particularly good, thanks to a couple of decisions by Apple. The biggest change is that the function keys are restricted to an incredibly thin row of keys at the very top of the keyboard. Since the function keys are often rarely used, this decision makes sense, except for one drawback - those who use Exposé's default keys (F9 - F11) will find the tiny keys a little cumbersome. I will get to what I had to do to get comfortable with Exposé again shortly.
There were more changes that were made - there are no separate delete/backspace keys, only a delete key that serves as both. The key naturally functions as a backspace key, but if you hold down the function key, it works as a delete key. You may wonder why the difference is a big deal, but for someone who uses Excel a lot, being able to highlight a group of cells and hitting delete to clear them is much quicker than having to do it through the Edit menu.
As usual, the function key is placed in the far lower left corner of the keyboard, right next to the control key, which can cause you to hit function whenever you want to hit the control key. The beauty of this design choice on an Apple keyboard, however, is that you rarely use the control key (the command/apple key is used more frequently, much like the control key on a Windows machine). So, although I hate the placement of the key in general, it irks me much less on the Powerbook.
I didn't give the one-button mouse a chance on the desktop, mainly because I'd used it before and couldn't stand it. Also, being used to a non-Mac computer, I was quite happy with my second mouse button and not having a wheel was just not happening.
With the Powerbook, I had no option - the trackpad that comes on all Apple notebooks features only a single mouse button.
To "right click" with a single-button mouse, you have to hold down control while clicking. You would think that for a keyboard junkie, holding a key down while using the mouse isn't a big deal, but for whatever reason - it is. For someone who has always had a right mouse button, now being forced to ctrl-click whenever I needed a right mouse button was beyond frustrating.
For example, thanks to the input of the many gracious AnandTech readers with Mac experience, I've grown accustomed to putting my Applications folder in the Dock, to give me Start Menu-like access to all of my programs. The problem with doing that is I need to right click on the Applications folder to gain access to my applications in the level below it, which is a pain for me on the single-button PowerBook. Update: Thanks to several readers for pointing out that for folders in the dock, you can simply click and hold to get the same functionality as right clicking.
Switching between the G5 desktop and the PowerBook ends up frustrating me more about the single button issue and, in turn, impedes productivity. At least on the desktop, I have the option of plugging in another mouse; on the PowerBook, I can't swap out the single mouse button for two. I could always bring along an external mouse with me, but that really eats into the portability aspect of the unit.
Remember my issue with the placement of the ctrl key on keyboards? Since you're forced to use the key to bring up secondary menus, it may or may not be a distraction for you depending on familiar you are with the regular mac keyboards.
From a PC user's perspective, the single-button mouse is the biggest issue with the notebook - but it's one that can thankfully be ignored most of the time.
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jsares - Tuesday, January 25, 2005 - link
Here's what I wrote on my blog:http://macmini.blogspot.com
Anand Lal Shimpi of AnandTech has a great second article about his experiences with switching to the Mac.
If you could say he liked the Mac in his first article you could say he loves the Mac in this article.
Some great quotes and my comments in italics:
"It took a lot of convincing (as well as some executive privilege) for the establishment of the Mac section, and then came the ... article "
Some of Anand staff didn't want him to write about the Mac.
"Within the first three days of publication, that little Mac article skyrocketed to becoming one of the all-time most popular articles ever published on AnandTech."
Windows enthusiasts are dying for something new.
"One problem with these types of articles is that they inevitably take much longer to put together, simply because there are no structured tests to run and analyze."
That's why this article is so good."
"At the end of the first Mac article, I came to the realization that what attracted me most to OS X was the way everything just worked the way that you'd expect it to."
Welcome to the Mac, Anand.
I don't want to give away too much so go read the article and give the guy some credit in the comments section and send him some nice emails.
Great article Anand!
CrankyTodd - Tuesday, January 25, 2005 - link
Hi Anand,Regarding Expose, especially on a laptop, you'll find yourself enjoying Expose MUCH, MUCH more if you dont use the function keys to launch it.
Under System Preferences, choose Expose, and use "Active Screen Corners" to activate Expose functions. I was reluctant to try it at first, but I was hooked within minutes, and cant imagine going back. I Set the lower left corner of the desktop to activate the "Application Windows" function, and the upper right corner of the desktop to activate the "All Windows" function. So as I'm using my Mac, as soon as I want to switch applications or windows within the current application, I just throw my mouse into one corner or the other, instead of having to actually go hit a button to activate either function. Once you try it, you'll see that its an incredible seamless way of navigating the system.
ugly - Tuesday, January 25, 2005 - link
"OS X Tiger...as well as the fact that in Tiger, every single pixel on the screen will ac-tually be rendered by the graphics card."
I thought some image "things" (I couldn't come up with a better word for what was in the core image demo) could be offloaded to the graphics card, but this statement makes it sound as if Tiger will be Quartz Extreme like it should have been.
Dualboy24 - Tuesday, January 25, 2005 - link
I loved the article. I was waiting for a new Mac read at anandtech. It seems like ages since the first one... I recently made a jump to a Mac Powerbook 17" a few months before the first article. The funny thing is I build/sell PCs on the side... but my main system is now the mac and of course I have 5 PCs running every MS-Linux but I must say that the Mac OS is the most advanced OS in terms of interface and it seems multitasking. Expose is a wonderful feature (I use an MX500 mouse with the exposes features mapped)Oh. Also you shouldn't forget the system wide spell checker. Such common sense I wonder if MS does not include this in windows in order to push some of their other products?
Anyway looking forward to the Mac mini review I am probably going to get one for the low noise and power factor.
miniMUNCH - Monday, January 24, 2005 - link
I 2nd the 5400 rpm HD for an extra $45...well worth it. Or you can upgrade the HD yourself or have MAc Shop throw in a 7200rpm HD, but for me the 5400 rpm HD is plenty.wilburpan - Monday, January 24, 2005 - link
Oops. What I meant to say was:Being a user of OS X, Linux, and Windows, I would say that the often cited lack of a two button mouse in OS X is not so much a flaw as it is a preference. Personally, I can move from the one button mouse in OS X to the two button mice of Linux and Windows and back again without much trouble. To complicate things further, two button mouse behavior is different in Windows and Linux. One can get right-click type behavior in many OS X applications by control-clicking the mouse, which does not seem to slow me at all compared to right-clicking.
Until someone can produce data or a usability study that shows that, say, editing an image in Photoshop is slower using a one button mouse than a two button mouse, this is all a matter of what one is used to. You might as well criticize a scroll mouse for the tendency for middle clicks to be interpreted as scrolling commands, or harp on the inconsistencies of menu shortcuts and menu item locations (e.g. does Preferences belong under Edit or Tools?) between applications.
pkthoo - Monday, January 24, 2005 - link
Great article!I consider myself as a neutral. This article sheds light on what I have been looking for; user experiences on using Mac.
Now, I am certain that I am going to be Mac+iPod user, hopefully by year's end.
Apple should make 512MB as minimum RAM amount, and bundle Mac mini with iPod Shuffle as a new 'wholesome' package.
wilburpan - Monday, January 24, 2005 - link
Snoozy - Monday, January 24, 2005 - link
I still think you are missing out on the complete mac experience by not using a launcher application.I run Butler (http://www.petermaurer.de/nasi.php?thema=butler&am... but there are many more: LaunchBar (http://www.obdev.at/products/launchbar/index.html)... QS as mentioned earlier, just do a search on versiontracker.com.
What these applications enable you to do is virtualy elimate the need for CMD+tab switching, using the dock, or using the Applications folder to launch things. Basically press CMD + Space (as I have it setup, you can go with whatever key combo you want!) and then type what you want - you can even teach them anacronyms for commonly used applications. For example if I do CMD+Space then type PS and hit enter it opens photoshop, or switches to it if its already open. The applications are infinitely configurable, I've got a shortcut for blog which runs an apple script that then pops open MarsEdit and opens a new post window for my blog (which is WordPress powered, MarsEdit contacts it via XML-RPC). Butler also has a built in dictonary, and multiple other widgets. Check it out.
I 2nd the suggestion on using sidetrack. I bought my PB (1st mac) in march last year and this was one of the first things that I had to have - makes it so much nicer.
hopejr - Monday, January 24, 2005 - link
#23, On OS X there is the Zoom thing in the Universal Access Pref panel, that allows everything on the screen to be zoomed at what ever zoom level is necessary. You can set it to follow the mouse, or keyboard focus. It's a nice feature. There's other good features in OS X that help with those who can't see too well.#28, I just tried that and you're right, it does (I tried in 2k3). Oh well, I use OS X more so it's more important to me there :P (although it's nice to know it works in Windows too, for the times I use it)