A Fork On the Road

It has been more than 3 years since my very first post. It has been 3 happy years writing about what my geek heart is passionate about - geeky stuff.

I started this journey, documenting each step first as a hackintosh noob and then becoming not-so-newbie hackintosher and then finally quite knowledgeable hackintosher (in my own way at least ) perhaps let's rephrase that to a "seasoned hackintosh experiment participant who's always willing to present her netbook as specimen." 

Now, after moving to another country for work - I admit, the idea of more *dough* to spend on new netbooks was a huge factor in taking this decision to uproot myself from home base at first (not anymore) - and after neglecting this beloved blog, I've come to realize that I've come to this inevitable fork on the road.

I have to be honest that I most probably won't be updating My MacBook Mini as I don't do hackintosh anymore. 

My love for writing and technology will remain for as long as I am me perhaps so I'm thinking of not letting go of Saving For A Mac where I'm planning to write my "tech-lusting". Well, ok, I'll be honest again - I just don't remember my GoDaddy account details and can't figure out how to stop them from billing me yearly for automatic domain renewal (stupid me, really).

Also, there's this CloudWalker 360 thing that I recently started that talks about Autodesk 360 (Autodesk's "play-catch-up-with-the-rest-of-them" cloud offering). Don't get me wrong! I don't have grudges against the company itself but it is my hope that it can surprise and make everyone hold their breath with what it can do with its Autodesk 360. At the moment, it's still under development.

Let's just say, rather than being obliged, that I'm given the "chance" to self-learn and document this service offering from Autodesk.

Oh and I forgot, I'm now a mother of 2 violins which make me (pleasantly) occupied recently (but perhaps irritatingly disturbing to my 2 flatmates and HDB neighbors) and my babies take most of my time off work now.

Meet "Aubie" and my youngest "Rius":

Aubie

"Rius" - because he's a Strad patterned fiddle

Next Step

So after more than three years, I finally have my first Mac. I think that this really is the right time to get one: Core i5, MacBook Air and I also get to enjoy what I've always loved about netbooks - portability - so I and my 11" MBA are more than made for each other.
The question now is: What's next? What happens now to MacBook Mini?
I stand guilty of leaving MacBook Mini, though not neglected (it now shares MBA's Techlink Anti-bacterial MacBook Cleaner), untouched in a corner (actually, I transferred it another desk - my housemate's) for a week now.
Aside from running torrents, I don't think it would serve anything more as having been spoiled with Core i5, SSD and 4G DDR3 goodness even for only a little more than seven days has rendered me unable to go back to that Atom N280 abyss.
With the extra project initiative at work involving lots of Excel fiddling on top the papers for my masters that I just have to write using Word, I now admit that I do need my productivity software Office 2011 for Mac after all.

The sluggish performance of Office 2011 on the HP Mini 311 running Snow Leopard 10.6.8 had prompted me ever since to take care of my Microsoft Office needs with a Windows PC at home in the Philippines. And now, here in Singapore, I've found myself lugging my office issued HP EliteBook whenever I've needed to write my school stuff.
iWork is just not a viable option for me given the strict conditions specified for paper formatting for my MA.
And after discovering how MS Office 2011 for Mac works so effortlessly on the mid-2011 MacBook Air, I finally can leave that vile laptop in the office as it belongs there and not inflict torture on my scoliotic back.
My cousin will be coming here in Singapore and she'll be needing a laptop. I'm considering giving her the HP Mini 311.
Yep, that's not the MacBook Mini. She'll be using the machine primarily for editing her CV and tracking her online job applications. And though I'd totally love to infect her with that Mac or hackintosh fever, I just couldn't because she's an MS Office person and MS Office for Mac on the HP Mini 311 running Snow Leopard is just a pain in the @ss to use.
But before I reformat MacBook Mini (that's in March so there's still a lot of time), I hope I can update that installation guide to include THeKiNG's latest (and last, I think) development.

Apple Store Goodies

Remember that delivery for my MacBook Air got delayed for one business day?

The Apple care rep that got my call that last Friday when I had called to ask why my MBA was showing as stuck in a heliport in Hong Kong, called again on Tuesday, after I got my MBA on Monday.

He politely checked whether I did get my package and if I was happy with my purchase. He also mentioned again what he had said in passing that Friday; that they were giving me a gift coupon to compensate me for the wait. This time, he confirmed how much they were gonna give me: S$ 65

I should've upped the ante a bit more because he did ask me if S$ 65 was okay. Stupid me; I almost automatically quipped "okay". I'd like to chalk it up to that being the first time I was ever offered anything to compensate for waiting.

On hind sight, yes, not getting my MacBook Air 11" on Friday as indicated on the "ships by" info was an inconvenience. I now see the rationale as "what if I really needed the machine in my hands before the weekend?". I guess it's just that I've been inconvenienced all my life and so MacBook Airs that don't deliver on the communicated date has become the norm for me.

Perhaps my Singapore life will teach me to become more of those customers that are ever more irate and impatient by the day. "Wha' you wan' lah?!? You waisti' time lah!"

And so, without further ado and illogical paranoia of the gift coupon's March 16 expiration date, I present to you my Apple loot, procured with the help of that S$ 65 gift coupon:

To name the 3 items (clockwise) :

1. TechLink's "Keep It Clean" Anti-Bacterial Notebook Spray and Cloth - S$ 17
2. Moshi 11" ClearGuard Keyboard Protector for MacBook Air - S$ 39
3. Speck 11" SeeThru Case for MacBook Air (2nd Gen. - Clear) - S$ 69

Yep, if you think of it, that S$120 I saved by getting my MacBook Air during the Red Day Sale is more than reclaimed by Apple's sales through this S$ 125 spent on accessories. Since I got that S$ 65 coupon, my total spending was lowered down to S$ 60. 

I think I still can get that external hard drive if I want to. Not that I already need to; I've transferred all the files that currently live on MacBook Mini's internal hard drive to the MacBook Air and my SSD use is still showing as:

Plus I still have around 30 GB free space on my Seagate Free Agent Go 320 GB external hard drive where I keep movies, complete episodes of my fave K-drama and other chunks of files whose value to me I don't even remember anymore.

MC - Medical Certificate

I didn't get good sleep last night; my allergies were killing me. Before it takes on a full-blown asthma attack, I'm taking this issue to Dr. Lie at the neighborhood clinic. He's very accommodating - so much so that I get to diagnose my own self after the consultation. One time, I'd been running high fever coupled with colds for two nights and one day and when I went to see Dr. Lie, he just let me ramble on about my symptoms and we ended up like so:

Me: Do you think that I already have infection?
Dr. Lie: Yes.

And then he scribbled the usual doctor's scrawl on his prescription pad, paused, looked at me and confirmed that "You want a MC, right? I'll give you three days."

Well, today, I'll be seeing him again. I guess I should read up on asthma and aligue or seafood. I'd better be prepared or where would we be if I didn't take this initiative?

But that particular episode is for later. Being the good geekette that I am or aspire to be, instead of using this opportunity to study for my masters (yes, finally, I have my equivalent of undergrad diploma from Sorbonne - Paris 3 and am officially eligible for graduate studies, I'm on M1 now), of course I'm spending the first half of my day, well, geeking out.

First up, Geekbench


I've had my svelte little mid-2011 MacBook Air 11" for about 3 days now. My productivity apps are all installed (thank you to my previous company who gave me a free copy of Office 2011 for Mac), dropbox synching away happily in the background, in short everything seems like I've always had this particular MacBook Air all my life. Err...with the exception of my iTunes library and settings which I couldn't quite figure how to transfer over from my HP Mini 311 running Snow Leopard - I didn't use and have never liked Migration Assistant as I prefer starting fresh always.

My two housemates also sync their iPhones on the HP Mini 311 and we have successfully set up sync over Wi-Fi. I really want to just transfer those user settings over to the MBA, without using Migration Assistant, so we won't have to erase and re-sync all 3 of our iPhones.

Anyway, using Office 2011 for Mac was sluggish on the HP Mini 311 and so I've developed serious negative opinion about that Microsoft productivity suite. But that soon changed, in fact just 2 days ago. I was pleasantly surprised that Office 2011 for Mac was very very zippy on the MBA.

Curious, I thought I had to have a numerical representation of that difference in user-experience. Geekbench downloaded from Primatelabs, I ran the application on both computers. Here's the result:

1st Run:

I wasn't expecting the hackintoshed HP Mini 311 to beat the MacBook Air; it's a given that the outdated low-profile Atom N280 (though seemingly clocked higher at 1.67 GHz) is no match for the Core i5 (1.60 GHz) but I didn't think it would score lower than it ever did.

If you look at the HP Mini 311's Geekbench scores from a year or so ago, you'd see that disguising itself as a MacBook Pro 5,5 averaged at least 1,040 and now, it can't even get past the 1,000 mark. I can't help wonder what caused the change.

Is it my current hackintosh setup? I mean, it's no denying that there's been quite an overhaul from when MowgliBook was heading the development and when THeKiNG stepped in, that plus several other factors such as Mac OS X Snow Leopard itself; we're now running 10.6.8. And maybe even Geekbench's new version has something to do about the results - a lot of things could've contributed to the change in scores.

Made For Each Other

And fate, err DHL, has finally brought us together

>> Click here to read the story here :D

I'm So Excited. That I Just Can't Hide It..

And can't help blog about it.

And can't help but go on "addictus mode" and monitor every activity over at Apple's site and now DHL:

I may get feverish later for all I know.

:">

A dream come true. Finally.

I've just run out of words.

Surreal.

Oh, I so love the Lunar New Year from now on.

Xīn Nián Kuài Lè!

新年快乐