I am writing about the new, cut from a solid block of aluminum Macbook Pro

I did some reading regarding the loose hinge on the Macbook Pro 15″. I found something very interesting. I had also thought that the hinge was too loose. I went to the Mac store and tested all the Macbook pro’s with the store manager, and the lid hinges all had the same tension. The problem is that the screen hinge tension is loose which causes the screen to move if the computer is moved around. It happens if the laptop is picked up too fast, or picked up and tilted. The interesting thing is, if you pick it up and tilt it towards you, the screen starts to close, seems dangerous… These are not cheap machines, and watching your expensive laptop screen about to slam shut and possibly take your thumbs with it is not a pleasant experience.
Surprisingly, as the lid picks up speed, and just as you think it will inevitably slam shut… it doesn’t. It just stops, about 3″ from close. My opinion after seeing this is, this is a new type of hinge mechanism, that by design is looser. Other posts talk about users positions while working on the laptop. Some people report working on their computers while laying down and have it resting on their knees at a slanted upward angle with the screen open wide. In this case the hinge is not tight enough to support the weight of the screen and will not stay open. I called and talked to a mac genus who had taken one apart. He described it as metal wrapped around a post with no way of tightening. I am now very curious to see what Apple’s response to this will be.

There is this now, a not so new commercial that lures people in and tricks them into thinking Microsoft has created a new operating system called Mojave. I watched this and thought to myself, “that’s what they have to do to get people to like Vista?”  Trick them into thinking it’s a new and better operating system?   As a support professional, I have considered dropping support for clients on Vista systems, I make more money since they are much slower then XP, everything takes twice as long. I know I would loose money, but I just can’t stand the aggravation that Vista causes. But, I digress, I think the commercial is a cheap trick, and if instead you had put a technical person in that seat, told them to test drive the new Mojave OS, they would have cried “This is Vista!”  The thing is, if you show someone that is unfamiliar with Vista OS most would think it’s nice, simply because it’s “pretty”.  Rather than pretty what I think was created, is visually distracting garbage. Icons, menus, windows are all designed to look nice but no thought was put into how intuitive, functional or clear it all is.  If anyone one of those people that were tricked to liking Vista had to use it in the real world, they would soon be calling me to support their, slow, confusing, incompatible, virus ridden computer.  If your wondering why Vista hasn’t taken, it’s because the people that matter have already used it and like me, highly recommend against it.

Ok, I have a great idea for one of those MAC vs PC commercials. Vista has this new security feature called UAC, user account control. It’s basically a nag screen that comes up if you try to do anything administrative. It’s not smart or secure for that matter like the system in place on all Mac’s. What happens is, if you go into the control panel and try to change your screensaver or wall paper for example suddenly your whole screen will turn black. A message then pops up asking if you are sure you want to do this. Personally, I think this type of security is an after thought to an inherently insecure operating system. But what do I know, I just fix PC’s all day that are terminally infected with some virus or spyware. Anyway, to the commercial, Vista comes into the room and MAC asks it a question. The lights dim suddenly and a security officer appears in the room. The officer tell Mac not to talk to Vista and turns to PC and asks if it’s OK for him to respond. PC agrees, and conversation continues for another second or two before Mac asks what just happened? Again the lights dim and the process starts again. This, I think will illustrate in real world way how ineffective and disruptive the UAC control has become. Steve, if you decide use the idea write me, I’ve wanted to talk to you since I switched to Mac. My payment will be the happiness that this commercial brings me.