Tweaking my MacBook Pro Set-Up
While I wrote about figuring out how to use my MacBook Pro as a desktop using my present equipment, I never could get 100% comfortable with that setup. I felt like it was a bit more hassle than I could sustain, so I began looking at how I could change it up to make it work better for me. I also began realizing that I did want to set up my Macs so I had one to use while the other was involved in video editing or encoding.
I could accept working on the MBP’s 15 inch screen, but it wasn’t optimum, especially when I wanted to run one of my flight simulators. My wife solved that problem by giving me an Acer 22 inch widescreen LCD and a small monitor stand as “early” Christmas presents. These let me build a “workstation” for my MBP that sits at a desk immediately adjacent and perpendicular to the desk holding my dual G5 PowerMac. The MBP location has its own keyboard, mouse, Ethernet cable, and sound system hook-up. Sitting next to it now is a SIIG Firewire 800 case holding a 160GB Maxtor hard drive that contains my “extended Windows XP partition” and a Maxtor One Touch III 300GB hard drive that serves as a backup to the boot disk on the PowerMac and as a data drive for the MBP. All my large and not routinely used Windows applications (like Microsoft Flight Simulator X, Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator and Combat Flight Simulator 2) are loaded on the SIIG drive. To use them, I simply plug in the SIIG drive to my MBP’s FW800 port, turn it on, and then boot the MBP into Windows. Likewise, if I’m using OS X, I plug in the Maxtor to the MBP’s FW400 port and access the data on the drive, later using the Maxtor One Touch software to synch it up with what’s on the PowerMac. (This way I only have to maintain one data set, and the Maxtor drive serves as a data drive for the MBP and still backs up the PowerMac. I keep a 40GB IOMEGA FW400 2.5” hard drive to use as a data drive on the road, just manually copying data to or from the PM or the Maxtor as needed.
The Acer monitor is pretty sweet, though it took three tries with the Apple Display Color Calibration to get it to look the best under OS X. After using it a little, I do not think it’s color calibration is as good as the 20 or 23 inch Apple Cinema Display; but then they are both significantly more expensive than the Acer. For me, right now, the 22 inch Acer is the right choice.
The other thing I’ve done to tweak the set-up is to replace my Logitech wired mouse with a MacAlly BT Mouse. This Bluetooth mouse only cost me $50, and it includes a charger that the mouse sits in when not in use, as well as an “ON/OFF” button that helps with battery conservation. It’s been working well with both OS X and Windows XP, though the mouse functions are simplistic (i.e., left mouse button, right mouse button, and basic scroll wheel) which also explains why no drivers are provided for either OS. The Bluetooth connection is fairly solid, though I sometimes have to cycle the mouse “off” and “on” after the MBP goes to sleep to get it to re-recognize the mouse. Battery life seems to be fairly good, and I can’t tell any difference in response between this mouse and my old wired one.
I’m still using a wired Apple keyboard, but I’m going to replace it with a wireless (Bluetooth) Apple keyboard. Using it with the MacAlly BT mouse frees up both USB 2.0 ports on the MBP, and I need them both when running flight simulators.
Once I buy the Apple keyboard, I will have made all the big computer purchases I’m going to make for a while.
I’m pretty happy with this set-up. In fact, I’m so happy with it that it opens a question about whether I may eventually decide it will eventually become my main desktop also. If that’s what I do, then I won’t be buying a Mac Pro next year; I’ll simply keep my G5 PowerMac and use it for video editing and encoding and the MBP for everything else and video editing on the road, if I ever do any.
I could accept working on the MBP’s 15 inch screen, but it wasn’t optimum, especially when I wanted to run one of my flight simulators. My wife solved that problem by giving me an Acer 22 inch widescreen LCD and a small monitor stand as “early” Christmas presents. These let me build a “workstation” for my MBP that sits at a desk immediately adjacent and perpendicular to the desk holding my dual G5 PowerMac. The MBP location has its own keyboard, mouse, Ethernet cable, and sound system hook-up. Sitting next to it now is a SIIG Firewire 800 case holding a 160GB Maxtor hard drive that contains my “extended Windows XP partition” and a Maxtor One Touch III 300GB hard drive that serves as a backup to the boot disk on the PowerMac and as a data drive for the MBP. All my large and not routinely used Windows applications (like Microsoft Flight Simulator X, Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator and Combat Flight Simulator 2) are loaded on the SIIG drive. To use them, I simply plug in the SIIG drive to my MBP’s FW800 port, turn it on, and then boot the MBP into Windows. Likewise, if I’m using OS X, I plug in the Maxtor to the MBP’s FW400 port and access the data on the drive, later using the Maxtor One Touch software to synch it up with what’s on the PowerMac. (This way I only have to maintain one data set, and the Maxtor drive serves as a data drive for the MBP and still backs up the PowerMac. I keep a 40GB IOMEGA FW400 2.5” hard drive to use as a data drive on the road, just manually copying data to or from the PM or the Maxtor as needed.
The Acer monitor is pretty sweet, though it took three tries with the Apple Display Color Calibration to get it to look the best under OS X. After using it a little, I do not think it’s color calibration is as good as the 20 or 23 inch Apple Cinema Display; but then they are both significantly more expensive than the Acer. For me, right now, the 22 inch Acer is the right choice.
The other thing I’ve done to tweak the set-up is to replace my Logitech wired mouse with a MacAlly BT Mouse. This Bluetooth mouse only cost me $50, and it includes a charger that the mouse sits in when not in use, as well as an “ON/OFF” button that helps with battery conservation. It’s been working well with both OS X and Windows XP, though the mouse functions are simplistic (i.e., left mouse button, right mouse button, and basic scroll wheel) which also explains why no drivers are provided for either OS. The Bluetooth connection is fairly solid, though I sometimes have to cycle the mouse “off” and “on” after the MBP goes to sleep to get it to re-recognize the mouse. Battery life seems to be fairly good, and I can’t tell any difference in response between this mouse and my old wired one.
I’m still using a wired Apple keyboard, but I’m going to replace it with a wireless (Bluetooth) Apple keyboard. Using it with the MacAlly BT mouse frees up both USB 2.0 ports on the MBP, and I need them both when running flight simulators.
Once I buy the Apple keyboard, I will have made all the big computer purchases I’m going to make for a while.
I’m pretty happy with this set-up. In fact, I’m so happy with it that it opens a question about whether I may eventually decide it will eventually become my main desktop also. If that’s what I do, then I won’t be buying a Mac Pro next year; I’ll simply keep my G5 PowerMac and use it for video editing and encoding and the MBP for everything else and video editing on the road, if I ever do any.
posted by Andy Foster at
7:07 PM
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