Tag Archives: macbook

Speck laptop cover

My biggest complaint with my MacBook Pro has always been the sharp front edge. When using it for extended periods of time without an external keyboard (which I do perhaps 2 or 3 days a week, working in the living room or dining room) it begins to cut into my forearm quite painfully. Yes, I know, I’m not supposed to rest my wrists on the laptop. But I’ve been typing this way for almost 30 years, and am unlikely to change now.

I read a few sites that talked about grinding off that sharp corner, but somehow I think that my employer might frown on me voiding my warranty in that particular way.

So, last week I picked up a Speck laptop cover. Yes, they are expensive, but I figured it’s tax deductible, and it’ll save me some pain.

Turns out that it has a sharp corner on it, too. But, it’s plastic, and grinding it down doesn’t void the warranty on my MacBook. So, with a little work with sandpaper, I now have a front corner of my laptop that doesn’t make me bleed, and I can work comfortably just a little longer.

What I’d really like to see is Apple taking heed of this complaint that’s persisted through several generations of this hardware, and make that corner a little less painful. But, failing that, this is an acceptable solution.

The only negative here is that the part of the cover that goes on the screen is a little heavy. The screen/lid of the MacBook is pretty well balanced, and adding even a little weight to it causes it to fall open quite violently when leaned too far back. The cover provides just that needed weight, and picking it up by the base while it’s open can cause the lid to slam all the way open. I’m concerned that one of these times it’s going to snap the hinge.

MacBook Pro – Initial Impressions

I got a new MacBook Pro today. (Long story. I wasn’t supposed to get one for another year. Lucky me.)

The screen is, at least initially, the biggest disappointment. It’s very glossy, and at the office, under fluorescent light is extremely reflective. On the other hand, here at home, it’s not reflective at all, so I guess it has a lot to do with the light. From what I’ve read, it’s pretty good in outdoor sunlight, too, but today hasn’t been an outdoor kind of day.

The transition from my old laptop was, as always, painless. This time, I did the transfer from a Time Machine backup, which was even less painful than the FireWire cable transfer last time.

The click-anywhere trackpad took almost no time to get used to. I had heard and expected bad things about it, but it’s very nice, and matches the way that I think about a track pad anyways – click where your finger happens to be at that moment. The multi-finger shortcuts are also very cool. I think I’ll get used to that pretty quick.

The speakers are considerably louder than the ones on the previous generation. That’s nice for us, since our DVD player broke several months ago, and we watch all our movies on the laptop.

Unfortunately, the DVI connector is now a mini-DVI connector, so I need to go buy new widgets to connect to my other widgets. Fortunately, these widgets are all pretty cheap, but it’s still annoying. On the plus side, it means that all of the ports are on one side of the laptop, so I will no longer have cables sticking out of both sides when I’m docked at work.

On the whole, very pleased, and I think I’m going to enjoy it.