As of May 15, 2008, I have switched to the Apple camp. Yes, that is what I mean. Yes, I am now a Mac user. Here are the specs with a few added on specials:

15.4″ MacBook Pro with Multitouch
2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU (Penryn)
2 GB PC5300 DDR2 RAM
200 GB Hard Drive
nVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT with 256 MB VRAM

22″ NEC Widescreen display
Apple Wireless Mighty Mouse
Apple Keyboard

Even with the awkwardness of getting used to OS X’s interface, I have found that Apple has indeed made their product remarkably user friendly. Not only is Leopard’s Aqua UI stunningly beautiful, so many processes occur without you knowing when you’re setting stuff up that you almost feel that it knows exactly what you want. Yes, I have had an application crash a few times, but compared to Windows, OS X Leopard is very resilient. Moreover, it does so much for you but it is still so fast. I have installed Quicksilver, the ever-handy keyboard-oriented launcher application, but it does not at all seem to drag the system.

On a small sidenote, I have setup Boot Camp and thus have a OS X Leopard and Windows XP dual-boot setup. Though the ingroup bias extant with being a Mac user is developing quickly, I still need Windows for some purposes. However, I have found that many of the hardware features (like multi-touch and my bluetooth mouse) do not work well with XP. There are certainly at times more steps needed to set up things in Windows when compared to Leopard. But in any case, at least everything works great for the time being.

My March desktop. I decided to call it “Requiem” because of the wallpaper and color scheme and thought that this name would be cool. =D

Anyway:
OS: Windows XP Media Center Edition - my fresh install
VS: VistaXP
Rainlendar: Lucid

Alright, I bought a new power supply for my exploded PC last week.

Today, I finally took the power supply out of the box, unplugged the wires noting where they go to, and removed the old exploded one, and tried to fit the new power supply in the empty space where the old one used to be.

All was well until the last step.

The new power supply, although the guy at Fry’s Electronics said that it was “standard-size” and that it should work, turned out to be the wrong size. While it should work theoretically, the physical dimensions of the device makes it impossible to secure it to the system unit and prevent it from moving or, even worse, detaching and crashing down through the five expansion cards below it.

So…I have to now take it back to Fry’s, return it, and show the dude my old power supply and see if they carry those as well.

No PC for another few weeks :/

~DC

Well, I got my new power supply today from Frys. I still have to carefully remove the broken one and note what wire goes where. Since my computer is about a decade old, there is still the question of compatibility in terms of the connectors and such. Anyway, when I get around to installing the new power supply, I will finally know if the power supply was the only component damaged in the epic frying last week. We’ll see.

~DC

Well, my nearly decade-old comp just died on me. I was doing my usual work when a loud BOOM came from the system unit and the machine shut off. My first thought was, oh crap! power surge. But then, I went down there to see what was wrong and I smelled the dreaded stench of burning plastic.

While I couldn’t find anything apparently wrong at first glance after opening the tower, the burning plastic smell seemed to be coming from the power supply. If the mobo/CPU or power supply are the parts damaged, I will be able to sleep. Yes, I know, my comp’s dead but right now, I am most worried about the hard drives because in the past with my messing with OS’s, MBR, etc., I made sure that I preserved my data as its pretty much my soul :D. Dead mobo, I can live with since I’m getting a new machine soon. Lost data will give me MANY sleepless nights.

Well..for now, I am on a borrowed machine with my trusty USB-stick-lifeboat with a backup of my website stuff, the files I need for work (which I would usually sync with my comp), and my faithful handful of portable apps. Hopefully, I can either fix my machine or figure something else.

~DC

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