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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RMSistight - Monday, January 24, 2005 - link
Hey Anand, make sure you check your video links. One of them doesn't work. Also, when are you going to release a full review of the Mac Mini? I'm dying to see it's performance and also what it looks like piece by piece under the hood.billsuspect - Monday, January 24, 2005 - link
When it comes time to review the mini, please please please keep focused on the fact that it's a Grandma Machine!Entropyq3 - Monday, January 24, 2005 - link
That iLife comment above - what I've found, silly as it may sound particularly from a middleaged man, is that Llife really encourages creativity in its users.Just about everyone I know that has gotten in touch with the programs have gotten more interested in some creative area - be it making tracks in GarageBand, using their digital camera much more since it's so easy to keep track of your pictures in iPhoto, getting back into music due to iTunes, or actually doing something with your videos in iMovie so that they can be shown to and actually enjoyed by other people.
Just seeing them as lightweight "getting started" apps misses the effect of them being so damn accessible that even my elderly mother can use them. And she finds surfing the web difficult. If you have a latent interest or talent, the iLife suite will let you get your feet wet and try things out. And that's important.
Entropyq3 - Monday, January 24, 2005 - link
Interesting to see your takes on the mac - as a long time user of many platforms I'm gratified to see a representative of the PC hardware reviewing community opening up to what other platforms can offer. Although it is a bit galling when a newbie on a platform you have used for a long time comes up with nifty features you weren't even aware was there. :)If you are going to review the Mac mini, then having a look at the iLife suite is nigh on unavoidable - it makes up such a large part of what the user experience of the Mac mini would be to many general users. But then, that would probably make the review take longer, and the suite is not at all specific to the mini.
goates - Monday, January 24, 2005 - link
Great article.If only more PC users were this open minded about using other platforms.
Chuckles - Monday, January 24, 2005 - link
#6: You can set the trackpad to click when tapped without Sidetrack.Anand: Nice article again.
habibbijan - Monday, January 24, 2005 - link
If you want to try to avoid using the mouse as much as possible, you should take a look at Quicksilver.http://quicksilver.blacktree.com/
This little freeware app allows you to launch any program or navigate your filesystem with just a few keystrokes.
Hikari - Monday, January 24, 2005 - link
Good article!However, I sort of disagree on the screen. I think Macs have an even bigger need for higher resolutions. I hope the Powerbooks get 1400x1050 or some similar widescreen resolution soon, but that might not be until the next OS version which has resolution independence I think.
I owned a Pbook 867. :D
hopejr - Monday, January 24, 2005 - link
Great article! Learnt a few things in that I didn't know about before (e.g. the fn+delete thing - not having a proper delete key on my iBook G4 always irked me, but now I know I had one all along!, oh, and the drag folders into the save window thing - that's really nice).I think I'm going to be even more productive on my laptop than I already am! (I use it as my main system too :P)
vmajor - Monday, January 24, 2005 - link
I just bought a an iMac for my elderly neighbout that has never used a computer before. There really wasn't any other choice. A PC just would not work as well - the viruses and trojans would have brought the system to its knees within a week.What surprised me was how much I liked the iMac! The machine is truly fantastic! I am a hardcore PC user - having built all my PCs over the past ten years or so. But I can really see myself owning a nice Mac with a huge wide screen (or two) sometime in the near future, and keep my XP Althlon 64 (FX) box for games.
All of you really need to play with MacOS X and admire the achievement... simple and nice and it still has a fully functional UNIX shell...