Mac Book Pro 15"

I have been in the market for a new laptop for a while.  The primary machine I had was a Lenovo w500 and before that a Lenovo t42p..  But both of those machines were property of IBM..  I didn’t own them, and I had to keep IBM software installed, as well as generally not use the machine for personal stuff..  It was time for a new machine.

Now I will say that the Lenovo machines were okay.  Not horrible.  But I did have a lot of issues with them, and the t42p just up and died one day.  It was only 3 years old when it died which I felt was an extremely short lifespan for a laptop.

I have a Sony Vaio that I got in 1999 that still works, it’s just really old at this point.  But that’s the kind of life time I expect of a piece of hardware like these. The only issue with the Sony is it’s age and it has a really small screen.. But still!  These are expensive machines and they should last.  It was completely unacceptable to me that the Lenovo’s didn’t even come close.  And most people I have talked to who had Lenovo’s of their own had a similar experience.

So, I splurged and purchased a 15″ Mac Book Pro.  This is a really nice piece of hardware.. I’m quite excited about it..  Everyone that I know that has a mac book is happy with it and they all say that hardware wise it’s easily the best laptop you can buy.. I have to agree.. It’s a rock solid laptop..

I went through and got all the software on it that I wanted and got my LAMP setup working so I can do some development on there..etc..  Good stuff..

BN.com Nook

So I have been in the market for an e-reader for a while.  I do a lot of reading and thought it would be darn handy to have a single device that could carry multiple books, and have the ability to order new books at any time, anywhere.  I like real paper books, but the ability to carry many books in one small device is appealing.  And despite what my sister in law says, I think they are generally a good idea and can only encourage reading..

Everyone I know swears by the Amazon Kindle, and while the device works just fine I just didn’t much like it.  I got my paws on a friends and it felt cheap to me, plus I really didn’t like that keyboard down there.. The Kindle DX looked really nice, but it’s big and really expensive.. I could have purchased an Apple IPad for the cost..

Which brings me to my I didn’t want an IPad..  Asside from fanboy snobbery turning me off of Apple, I didn’t want an IPad because I wanted a dedicated device for reading that was of a size as to not be unwieldy..   The IPad and the Kindle DX are, for me, too big for comfortable reading.  And the IPad with all its other features would distract me from what I want the device primarily for; reading..  yes I’m actually implying the IPad has too many features.. heh  For an e-reader anyway.. Plus the $500+ price tag is a tad steep..  And the other huge issue is that Apple doesn’t give us any sort of window into what books they offer to non-ipad owners..

And let’s be honest here.. You’re buying into a back end — the hardware really is immaterial..  I have always liked Barns and Nobles and generally go there first when I want a book, so when they announced the Nook I was interested from the start.. BN.com and the BN brick and mortar stores most likely aren’t going to go anywhere..  They are the largest chain of bookstores in the United States, and the BN store here in Austin is huge and is always crammed with people buying stuff — I’m pretty sure they aren’t going to go anywhere any time soon..

So they seem like a good company to offer an e-reader with a solid back end..  Plus their technology seems very solid and well glued together.. I like that I can purchase a book online through their website and it magically appears in my Nook ready to read with in a minute or two..

I also like that if I drop my Nook off the planet, I can simple buy a new one and have all my books still..  yay!  This really is a one stop shop for books in that I will never have to buy the same book ever again..  Plus, I like that I can attach another Nook to the same account so my wife can have access to my library..  Damn handy that..

The Nook hardware is extremely nice.  It has a good weight to it (being roughly twice the weight of the kindle) and is well built.  I have seen some people complain about cracked plastic around the outside but I have yet to see anything like that in mine and I don’t see how its possible without dropping it or throwing it at something..

And the best part is that it’s built on Android!!  So new updates come all the time..  More over apparently it’s extremely easy to root, which I have no intention of ever doing.. this e-reader is always going to be just my e-reader.. nothing more..

Complaints:

I do have a few complaints about the device that are really very minor..

1.  No internal backlight — In the interest of battery conservation they didn’t put a light in the Nook.  Their reasoning was that if it had a light it would chew up the battery very quickly and for some reason people think that if an e-reader can’t go a month without charging its not worth owning..  I say F to that.. It’s my device if I want to chew up the battery reading a book late at night using the internal back light so I don’t wake my wife, then I should be able to..  Give the users the option to use their device how they want to use it..

2.  Slow page turns — I think this is just the nature of the e-ink screens but they pages are slow to turn.  Now, when I say slow to turn I mean it takes all of a second, maybe a second and a half, once you click “next page” for it to actually show up.  This is a minor minor gripe at best, and may be due to some Android programming issue and as such is fixable.. But more likely its due to the e-ink screen just taking that long and I should get over it..

3.  The touch screen kinda sucks — the little LCD touch screen seems like a good idea but its very unresponsive.. Again I don’t know if this is an Android issue that will get resolved or if its a hardware issue but sometimes it just wont respond to input.. Or is very slow to respond..  I’m going to chalk this up to an Android issue that will get ironed out as updates are released..

And that’s it.. those are my complaints.. All really minor to be sure.. the thing works great.. I’m very happy with the purchase and at this point I have 7 books in there waiting to be read..

I think the problem now will be the growing line of books in my queue waiting to be enjoyed.. Ah what a problem to have..

LightScribe Label Example

Back in 2004 Hewlett-Packard engineer Daryl Anderson had the notion that if you can burn data on to a disc, why couldn’t use use that same technology to burn the label?  And thus the LightScribe burner was born..

I had always wanted to pick one of these suckers up and never got around to it because I already had a CD/DVD +/- burner and didn’t need a new one..  I couldn’t reason the cost of getting a second burner when I didn’t really use the one I had all that often..

Well about 4 months ago my old burner went off into the weeds and never came back, enabling me to buy a Lightscribe external burner and bid all my labeling woe’s goodbye! Sorta..

I don’t want to claim the label burning idea as my own, but I have to admit I had the same idea several times after many an hour of trying to get some form of “pretty” label into my CD’s without completely throwing them out of balance..   And I am opt’ing to review the technology as a whole, not an individual burner..  They will all work about the same..

So, with that I have to say the burner itself is excellent.. I have had zero dead discs (discs that just fail for no reason during the burn process) and it is pretty darn fast at burning the disk data..  My old burner would have dead discs all the time and was slow as hell by comparison..  This is likely just due to the new 16x burner being a generation (or two?) newer than my old one..

So.. the long and short of it is, when it comes to burning your data — it works just fine.  But that’s not the real reason I purchased it.. I want a device that can burn labels so that I don’t have to use stickers, a special printer or even (god forbid) a sharpie..

Stickers tend to throw the disc out of balance which at modern high drive speeds can be a bad thing.. Special printers can be pricey (though the new ones that print right on the disc do a nice job) and the require inks, and in some cases label stickers..  And if I have to resort to a sharpie no one will know what is on the darn disc cause my hand writing is horrible..

So this is where the technology is supposed to really shine and it does to a point but I have some complaints..

Firstly, let me say it’s awesome being able to photoshop up some labels and just burn them to the disc..  The Lightscribe folks have even put together a software package that allows you to cobble together labels from preexisting templates, with lots and lots of other templates downloadable off their website..

That’s nice..

But (complaint #1) it’s ungodly slow..  It takes something like 6 minutes to burn an ISO with this 16x burner? I don’t know the exact time but it’s pretty darn fast.. It then takes about 35 minutes to burn the label..  Why does it take so long?

That wouldn’t be too bad if it weren’t for the fact that (complaint #2) the label is extremely light or faded and hard to read.  Folks on one forum I browsed were joking that we have to wait for the “DarkScribe” burner to come out before the labels will be easy to read..  Frankly the contrast ratio is extremely poor..  For the amount of time it took, it should produce a much sharper image than it does.. Apparently this is something new to the 16x discs and the old 8x discs didn’t do this..

Also, I haven’t tested this yet but I’m told all you have to do is burn the label multiple times in order for it to be easier to read.. that means though that you have to suffer that 35 minute label burn several times.. Bleh..  Apparently around the center of each disc there is a barcode that allows the drive to know the precise rotational position of the disc, enabling multiple burns..

And finally, (complaint #3) apparently you have to take special storage precautions with the discs or else the labels will fade..  Seriously?!

I don’t know how bad the fading can get as the labels seem somewhat faded right out of the burner..  I think any amount of fading would render the label unreadable in fairly short order..

So.. there you have it.. I love the technology but the fact that it’s Slow as hell, Faded unless burned multiple times, and Can fade further seems like some pretty stiff drawbacks..

Suddenly the printer that can print directly on the disc, in color no less, seems like a better option..   (Yeah lightscribe can’t do color)..  One thing I was surprised by was the cost of the media..  Lightscribe discs used to be a lot more expensive than regular CD/DVD’s.. that isn’t the case any longer.. So yay for that..

All in all I’m happy with the purchase and would recommend the burner, but you have to understand that you will need to burn the label a couple times to get a good looking label with any contrast to it..

Sony DR-BT21G

In 1994 Jaap Haartsen and Sven Mattisson has a stroke of genius when they invented the personal area networking (PAN) protocol known today as Bluetooth for Ericsson phones.   By the year 2000 it was pretty widely known that Bluetooth was something hot!  A lot of major companies jumped on to the Bluetooth Special Interests Group with the intent of developing some really neat technology..  And ever since I heard about the protocol I immediately though, “they need headphones that use those!!”..

Well set the way forward machine to 2009 and I FINALLY have a set of stereo headphones that use the Bluetooth protocol!  Yay!   I know they have actually been out for over a year but it took me this long to find a pair that I thought would be worth having, AND I had a device that would actually support it.

I have at home a Mac Mini (which I love) that supports all the various Bluetooh profiles and can fully support these headsets, and I have an iphone which I thought could too..   I use these headphones with my Mac Mini to listen to all my streaming music as well as my Ventrilo machine when I’m playing games..  It works very well..  Upon discovery of the device the Mini installed 2 new sound devices for output, and one sound device for input.

Apparently these have to have a “headset” device and a “headphones” device depending on how you use them..   In headset mode you get mono audio output, and the mic (cleverly disguised as a hole) works too..  In headphones mode the mic doesn’t work.  At first I wanted to complain about this.. I mean you either get mono with mic or stereo, but no stereo with mic?!

Then it occurred to me that the only time I would use the mic would be with my phone (more on that in a second) or when talking in Vent. or Teamspeak… neither of which would use stereo anyway..  So stereo headphones AND a mic would be pointless..

The battery life seems good too.. The box says it’s rated for 11 hours of either headphone or headset(+mic) use and 100 hours of standby time..  I can’t talk to the standby time as I tend to charge things pretty often, but I believe the 11 hours of headphone time..  I have yet to actually run out of juice while using them so.. *shrug*

All in all I like them.. I think they were a good purchase and I would recommend them.. They are light and comfortable and fold up nicely when you want to store them..

Pairing is simple and works well, though I had an odd issue the first time I paired with my Mac.. For whatever reason I had to reboot my mac to get anything to work post pairing.. I think that was more due to the fact that my mac hadn’t been rebooted in like 4 months hehe.. It was starting to act wonky and I have all manner of stuff running on there so this was likely me, not the headphones..   Also it appears that “Teamspeex” doesn’t fully support these, though Ventrilo and everything else works perfectly.

My only real complaint about them is that they must have a wall charger instead of just a USB charger..  This is a really.. really minor complaint and I hesitate to even mention it..  I just thought it was odd that it had a wall charger instead of a computer one.. but it occurs that a lot of folks may never actually use this device with a PC, but rather entirely with a IPod like device or their phone..  At which point they are still near a computer..  *shrug* still its minor..

The other complaint I have has nothing to do with this device, but rather my iPhone.   I have the first generation iPhone and it can’t suppport the A2DP connection required to listen to music.. Which pisses me off..   Not because it can’t do it, but because it totally can do it and Apple has it turned off for the original phones in order to get you to upgrade to the newer iPhones.. (If you have a 3G or 3Gs it works fine)

Good job Sony..

Razer Mamba

Update (Jan 23, 2011) :: So several months ago the mouse optics just up and quit.. Everything else worked, but slowly over the course of a couple days the optics got less and less responsive and then finally stopped all together..   I had put the mouse in the closet on the shelf which is generally where hardware goes to die at my house..  Today I went in there to do some cleaning and putter around only to find that the mouse battery cover had been forced off by a battery that had swelled to more than double its original size!!

My opinion on this thing is back to “avoid at all costs”..  The level of support being what it was and the number of other folks who have similar issues tells me that this thing sucks bad.  Add to that the random deaths, the number of folks who have similar optical issues, the battery swelling issue, the very short battery life and it’s inability to work on some surfaces… yeah.. don’t buy this mouse.

Update (Nov 1, 2009) :: After all is said and done, I have the mouse back from Razer and it is working as I think it should.   It doesn’t do the sleep-death thing it was doing previously which implies to me that the old firmware was horribly buggy and the newer firmware is required for sure..  That was the number one issue previously and it appears to be resolved..   The Razer management team that I dealt with were nothing but professional and courteous though I am still concerned about the “standard” support they are providing as those folks didn’t give anywhere near the level of support that I got directly from the president and his main man (of course)..  My over all opinion on the device itself has gone from “avoid at all costs” to, “okay its not bad so long as you get the most recent version”.  I still find myself occasionally using the G7 which I still find telling but I am not sworn off Razer products as I was previously..  And no they didn’t pay me or make me say these things..

Now on to the original post ::  I was pretty frustrated and angry when I initially wrote this.  The tone is a lot harsher than it should be and for that I apologize, but the message is still basically what I want it to be..

As I have said previously, I’m a pretty hard core Logitech fan.  I use a lot of their hardware, and am always very happy with it..  I have used several Logitech mice in my day (corded and cordless) and up until fairly recently was using a Logitech G7.   The G7 is one of their cordless gaming mice and I have used it for a while.   I really like it, it’s a wonderful mouse and I highly recommend it.  My only complaint being that I wish it had 2 thumb buttons instead of one.. that was it.. my only complaint..  I managed to break the mouse wheel on mine though due to my own stupidity and being a bit rough with it, so it was time to replace it..

A buddy of mine has a Razer mouse and loves it, so when I was at the store and saw the Ferrari of the Razer mouse line; the Mamba wireless gaming mouse — I went ahead and picked it up..

At $129.99 I expected this thing to perform like no other..  In fact, at twice the cost of my Logitech G7, I expected it to perform twice as well..  It came in a really nice box, with a lot of high and mighty claims on the box so I was thinking I had a winner..

Let me be clear here – this mouse is the biggest piece of shit, I have ever.. and I mean.. EVER used..

I have been struggling and fighting with it for a while now, it’s beyond the time for me to take it back or I would.   I’m going to compare it to the Logitech G7, which I now know to be a superior mouse in every way except possibly the three listed below which has nothing to do with how I use the mouse;

• Packaging: The Razer folks took some queues from Apple on this one, the unboxing of the mouse is actually really impressive.  They use very high quality packaging.  Nice job.  I mean the packaging was so nice, I still have it all..(that’s not normally for me.. I usually toss the box asap)
• Dual Modes: The mouse can be used both in cordless or corded modes.  That’s a nice innovation and frankly I think all mice should adopt this.  Again.. Nice job guys.. I seriously like this and hope all mice do this in the future.. Quick! Patent it!
• 5600 DPI: The mouse has a very high resolution so I’ll throw this in as a plus but I never used it.. Frankly 5600 is way too high to be useful in my FPS games.. It’s twitchy as hell..  I usually used one click up from default.. (not sure what that resolution actually is)

Yeah.. that’s really it.. I’m trying to think of other nice things to say but I just can’t think of anything..  I have used this mouse from day one as a wireless replacement for my G7 and I expected it to perform as such.. Boy was I wrong;

• Battery Life: Their packaging states clearly that this mouse has a battery life of approximately 14 hours of continuous gaming or 72 hours of normal gaming usage.  Horse shit!  I mean it doesn’t even come remotely close to 72 hours of ANY kind of use.. 72 hours of sitting on the desk and it’s dead..  it doesn’t come close to 14 hours either..  If I get 8 hours of just “work use” I’d be happy..  14 hours of continuous gaming use?!  Bullshit..  This is just a marketing lie..  There is also only the one battery, and the only way to charge it is to put the mouse on the stand.   Fail.The G7 comes with two batteries, and you charge them via a charging station thats plugged into a USB port..  One G7 battery lasts a full day of constant gaming..  I would have to change the battery every day, but it takes a second to eject the old, and insert the new and have the old one fully charged again in no time.   Win.
• Sleepy Mouse:  I have never had a mouse go to sleep as often nor as quickly as this one does.  If you stop using it for 30 seconds (or less sometims), it goes to sleep.   It then takes up to 30 seconds for it to recover, IF IT RECOVERS AT ALL!So you get up to go to the restroom.. Yeah mouse goes to sleep..  Getting a quick drink from the kitchen?  Yeah sleep mode..Most of the time when the mouse came out of its self imposed torpor the buttons would work but the laser optic wouldn’t — so you couldn’t move the cursor.   I would be forced to turn the mouse off via the switch on the bottom, then turn it back on and hope it woke up.  Sometimes it would.. sometimes it wouldn’t..  Fail.This was an extremely common occurance too, it really made me wonder if I had a broken mouse..The G7 never sleeps.. or if it is sleeping it wakes up the absolute instant you move it.. Win.
• Responsiveness: Their claim to fame on the box is that the Mamba has a 1ms response time!!!  Further stating that other mice have 2ms and others have 8ms.. *gasp*Again.. Marketing shit.  Frankly the response times of this mouse mean nothing..   I am not sure exactly how long it takes my eyes to observe a targer, decide to react, tell my hand to move and my finger to click, and my muscles to actually perform that action..  but I’m pretty sure the difference of 1 or 2 milliseconds wont make a difference.More over, due to internet latency all that speedy mouse shit is completely lost in the noise of the intertubes..Further more, due to the sleep issue from above and the fact that it would take up to 30 seconds to recover half the time the mouse seemed incredibly unresponsive..  Epic Fail.Again, the G7 which might be one of those “other” mice and have a 8ms poll .. Bit it always performs perfectly.  And using it I still come in first on CoD Multiplayer more times than not.  Win.

Mouse Suicide!

I can go on.. The form factor took me a little getting used to but it wasn’t bad..  The clicks sound good and feel good, and the mouse wheel is okay if a little “mushy”.. (personal preference)  But its performance as a mouse left me wanting..  A lot.. And often..  The simple fact is the Mamba is extremely unreliable and quirky.. It may work fine as a corded mouse, but as a cordless it’s almost worthless..

On one of the forums I visit they suggested I update the firmware of the mouse to see if that helps..  So I did:  At which point my Mamba committed suicide.

Yeah not kidding.  (Firstly; why the hell does my mouse have a firmware?!  It’s a mouse!! )  I installed their firmware update software, followed their instructions to the letter.. And for my trouble got a paper weight.   The firmware updater erased the mouses brain completely, started its bootloader process then stopped working..  Now it doesn’t even work as a mouse and nothing I do will fix it..  The best part is, there is no hardware reset.

Seriously?! I mean I thought it was telling before that I was forced to leave my broken G7 on my desk for when the Mamba decided to go off into the weeds, but now its completely shit the bed and I’m forced to use the G7 entirely..

I can’t tell you how unhappy this makes me.. I’m so entirely and completely dissatisfied with this piece of hardware.. I’m seriously considering boxing it up and just sending it back to them with a letter to their president..  If this is the quality of their hardware, I will never ever buy a Razer product again.. Ever..  More over I will tell people of my experiences with it.. Ala this blog post, my forums and others..

At this point as my last ditch effort I have created a ticket with their technical support in the hopes that I get some help, but I’m willing to bet I wont get a response.   I also plan to call them tomorrow and see if I can get this straightened out.. I’m sure there is some way to reset the darn thing and I just don’t know how..   But again my hopes aren’t high..  I also seriously doubt the firmware update will fix the other issues this mouse seems to be plagued with..

I really wish I could write this as a personal letter to Robert “Razerguy” Krakoff..  He’s the president and co-founder of Razer and I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t make excuses for the experiences I have had..  So.. Mr. Krakoff, this is to you..

Your company  missed the mark by a mile on this one..  Now lets see what your customer service department does..  This can still be a complete win for your company if you do the right thing here..  Good customer service can still save my opinion of you, but at this point I’m frustrated with the Mamba to the point of not wanting it any more..

I’ll keep ya’ll posted.

Day 2 — Razer Phone Technical Support — (888) 697-2037

Razer email support did reply within the 24 hour period.. The response seemed somewhat canned but did ask relevant questions so it was just a way to start the ball rolling..  I wanted faster results so I decided to call..

It took me ages to find the damn phone number..   It isn’t on their website at all.. I had to get it off a forum where someone else did a bunch of research to get it..

Bob answered the call and asked me my name… I told him and at the same time told him that I thought this mouse was a hunk of junk and it was also extremely frustrating and hard to find a phone number for them..

He then mumbled ” ‘ats by design ” prior to asking at normal volume; “What phone number can you be reached at if we get disconnected..”

I stopped him and said “Wait, did you just say thats by design?”  He said “no no I asked for a phone number to reach you at..”.. what a tool.. I’m not deaf..

I’m using a stereo headset to make the call so I can hear you in both ears with perfect clarity..  I know what you said..   You should never say something like that to a customer, even if its true — which apparently it is..

Bob seemed nice enough if maybe a little snarky.. But as a Razer T1 Support monkey, I could tell he was just browsing the web looking for solutions and was out of his depth..

At one point he had me completely remove the drivers for it, then had me try to update the driver via the device control panel, to the driver installer.. Not the driver itself, but to the installer..   I told him that this wouldn’t work and why — he seemed completely confused and put me on hold..

I got put on hold 3 times over the course of the call, each hold period got progressively longer while he researched solutions.. (read the internet, or went to ask someone..etc..  I know how our support monkeys work..)

Later in the call I casually asked “So do you guys get a lot of support calls?”  He said “No not really.. “  I said, “Thats cause the phone number is so hard to find.. thats by design right?” to which he stated.. “Thats right! Its what we hope for…”

… Sure.. why bother supporting your products…  I can’t believe you admitted that..  Saying things like that to a customer can get you fired..

Bob of T1 support knew nothing about this product or how to support it other than what he could read.. After 35 minutes on the phone with him he admitted that “he might actually have to escalate this call to T2″..  Stressing the word actually, as if he was shocked.. I wasn’t..

In my own testing of the product prior to calling I did more trouble shooting and research than he did ..

At 42 minutes he came back and asked “Does the mouse light up?”  .. No it doesn’t.. The lights stopped working the instant the bootloader firmware update failed.. I’m pretty sure I mentioned that early in the call, but maybe not.. I was thinking it if nothing else..

To which he said; “Okay we are done.. we have to get you a new mouse!”  I’m thinking, Yeah.. I knew this yesterday.. I certainly knew it 45 minutes ago..

So now I’m supposed to wait for RMA notice in the email..

Day 2 + 45 minutes — Razer Email Technical Support — RMA’ing this thing

So I got the email pretty much as soon as I hung up the phone..  I have filled it out and returned it..  One thing they wanted was proof of purchase.. well.. I have the thing don’t I?  I have all the packaging too..

I stated on the phone that I didn’t have that so I’m going to assume for the time being that it will be okay..

So far I’m not blown away by customer support here..  It was painful to find and the person I found wasn’t all that helpful..

Lets see if they will RMA it without proof of purchase..

Day 2 + 3 hours — Razer RMA Process

Fail.  It appears they are refusing to RMA this defective piece of crap without proof of purchase.   I have the product in its full packaging, with the Fry’s Electronics label on the front.. but I don’t have a receipt thus they are saying:

1. They can’t verify that the product was purchased from an authorized seller of Razer products.
2. Can’t verify that it wasn’t previously “used”, it isn’t “counterfeit”, and not “gray market goods”.
3. Can’t verify that the product isn’t “defective”.
4. Can’t verify that the unit is still within the warranty period.

Wow..

1.  The product was purchased from Fry’s Electronics in Austin Texas.  I still have the packaging, and at this point I have put the mouse back in the box entirely..  There is a label on the front that is the Fry’s label.. I’m pretty sure their authorized to sell Razer products cause they have a lot of it..  So this is a BS excuse.

2.  I gave you the serial number of the product in the RMA request.  With that you should know if the product has been previously used, or if its counterfeit.. You should also know to which country the product was initially shipped..  Again.. BS.

3.  I can 100% guarantee you the product is defective.. Your software made it so..  That’s the whole point of this attempted RMA..

4.  Your website states that the Razer Mamba has a warranty of 2 years.  Since it was unveiled to the world at CES in Jan of 2009, I’m pretty sure we are still win the warranty period..

This was a canned response letter and is very likely the first thing they do..   Deny first..

Never mind that their product is BROKEN DUE TO THEIR SOFTWARE..  Yeah you heard me.. THEY BROKE IT.. Their update software killed my product, but its my fault and I’m just out the money and now the mouse..

So apparently the only thing I did wrong was to buy a Razer product..

I could be coming away saying; “Wow, I didn’t really like the mouse but their customer support was excellent.. they treated me really well and took care of me.. I’d do business with them again..”

Or, I could be coming away saying; “Wow.. what a bunch of asshats.. I will never ..ever.. ever.. buy from them again.. and now I’m going to tell everyone I know not to.. ”

Based entirely on the experience I’m having, its clear to me they want me to do the second..

More as it happens..

I have 2 main computers that I use at home (beyond my work laptop, my home server and my firewall proxy box).. One is my super uber game machine, and one is my catch all play around machine. The game machine is a windows box because I don’t have much choice — you want to play games, you use windows. Go Win-tendo!

The play machine was an Ubuntu box until last weekend when a thunderstorm killed it. We have surge protectors on all our machines and a dedicated circuit for this part of the house, but for whatever reason this machine didn’t weather the storm. It was a very old machine and it had been rebuilt many times over so really it was due.

So, I figured it was time to get a new machine. Originally I was going to get a “shuttle” machine which is a small PC but then someone else pointed out that the MacMini’s are perfect for what I am wanting to do..
I was intrigued. Firstly, I wanted to do some iPhone SDK stuff and didn’t have a mac, plus I wanted to get a small machine that wouldn’t be the huge honkin box it was replacing. The mini would be perfect!
I figured what the hell and made the splurge. It was only $600 after tax with my IBM discount so really I couldn’t complain — and let me tell ya, this little machine is great!

I really haven’t ever been a full time mac user, so I didn’t really know what to expect. Most of my mac experience comes from a machine I used for about a year back in 1994.. Quite a different animal, trust me. Leopard is fantastic. It really is very simple and intuitive. Plus now that it’s just a BSD machine it is amazingly simple to get stuff working.

My very first challenge was to get Synergy up and running so I didn’t need a keyboard/mouse attached to the box. Yeah.. that took about 20 minutes. The hard part was figuring out the “launchd” system which I wasn’t used to. But once I got that sorted out, it was cake!

So far everything just works. It reminds me of Ubuntu in that way.. I really have to wonder how Windows is still around.. And you’re reading the blog of a LONG TIME windows user.. I mean I went from Amiga to Windows 3.1.. I continued to use Windows NT long after it was popular to do so, and then used Win2k pro well beyond when XP was the standard..

I can honestly say that at this point, I’ll never go Vista. Why would I?! XP does everything I need for games, and for anything else I’ll use linux or now Mac. So far I’m very happy with the MacMini.

I do have one complaint about the hardware: it comes with Wifi and frankly, it’s not very good. The mac mini wifi seems to drop it’s connection or atleast work intermittently at best, even when the receiver is less than 3 feet away. I was pretty underwhelmed by that one aspect of the device.. Other than that its great!

And I do have one complaint about the software: the home and end key don’t work the way I think they should and no amount of remapping or fixing seems to make them work like they do on the PC. It’s annoying.

I would highly recommend it.