I grabbed the MacBook Pro to collect and edit photos from a couple of cameras from last night’s Iron Maiden/Dream Theater concert while another computer was updating this web site.  When I went to stick the first SD card into get the photos, I noticed that this particular MBP doesn’t have any slots for SD cards or any kind of memory stick.  The MBP does have several USB connections, but that’s not quite the same.

I am, actually, somewhat disturbed by this discovery.  I’ve had this MBP for nearly two years now and never previously noticed the lack of memory stick slots.  The physical hardware to accomodate memory sticks can’t add that much to the price of an MBP.

The really surprising thing, to me at least, is that Apple did not see fit to include memory stick slots on this computer.  Apple prides itself on the capabilities of the Apple platform for editing digital media.  It seems such a gross oversight.  Every Windows laptop I have purchased for the last five years has come with a full set of memory card slots.

Lesson learned:  handling any item on a memory sticks will have to start on a Windows  system.  But that also means that I will be less likely to continue working with the item on the MBP as it means having to transfer the item to another medium that the MBP can access.

Finder Crashed

This is extremely unusual (for me).  I thought Mac’s didn’t have crashed applications?  I’m not really sure what to make of this.  Many other people seem to have had this issue since upgrading to Snow Leopard (which I did a week ago).  But since I don’t use the applications or external devices that seem to be associated with their reports of problems, I’m lost.

MBP Temps

It’s interesting that the enclosure base is reported as 101F.  It sure seems hotter than that.  But on bare skin I suppose that is hot enough.

P.S.  The cool little app that reported the temperatures is iStatPro.

Finder Crash

At least when Windows craps out during a file copy, the copy dialog goes away without having to kill the Explorer process.

The really crappy thing was that it happened at the end of an hours-long file copy operation.  

If it happens again, I’ll be sure to get the error dialog.

The only real reason to purchase the MBP was to experiment with it.  I’ve used so many Microsoft products (and the occasional Linux system) for nearly 20 years that I decided it was time.  Plus, I have an iPhone and I want to explore writing applications for it.

The MBP is a big adjustment after all the Windows notebooks.  There are keys missing from the keyboard!!  How do Mac programmers get along without “Home” and “End”?  And the track pad only has one button!!!  Whoever heard of having to put two fingers on the track pad and then click the mouse button?

The biggest problem I’m having at the moment is figuring out how to attach to a printer on a Windows XP Pro system.  It just isn’t intuitive.  The setup process for the MBP didn’t ask me about what printers I wanted to use.  That seemed a bit odd as well.

This shouldn’t sound like I’m bashing on the MBP; I’m not.  It’s just a big adjustment.  There are things I like.  For example, it is lighter than my comparable HP notebook.  I also think I might like the feel of the keyboard better.  The dock (or whatever the thing at the bottom of the screen is called) seems cooler than the the Windows taskbar (including the improved Vista taskbar).

It’s really too early to tell what I think about this computer.  I expect that I will write much more about my adventures with the MBP.