Andy Laub

• Day -1200: Buy Powerbook G4.
• Day -900: Buy 20″ Apple Display (aluminum).
• Day -600 to Day -90: Decide on an iMac for next machine. Write a number of times bitching about said iMac and how it doesn’t match the Cinema Display.
• Day -90: Finally decide to commit to a Mac Pro, thanks in part to fledgling freelance aspirations.
• Day -30: Mac Pros updated a week before Macworld San Francisco.
• Day -9: Order 2 500 GB hard drives in preparation for new machine.
• Day -7: New hard drives show up. Break down and order quad-core Mac Pro and new 20″ Apple Display.
• Day -6: Display ships.
• Day -4: Display arrives. Computer ships. Order 2 GB of RAM.
• Day -3: Computer arrives in Wisconsin.
• Day -2: is a Sunday. Nothing happens on Sundays; that’s not even a real day.
• Day -1: Computer arrives in Mosinee and sits 20 minutes away from me the entire day. RAM is delivered.
• Day 0: Computer is delivered. Angels sing out (Louise) from the heavens. New hard drives and RAM installed. Initial setup begins. Migration of files from laptop and external hard drive. Delete initial admin account in favor of the admin account imported from old machine. Worry about how long it takes and how it doesn’t seem faster than the old machine. Lament that the displays are not the same color.
• Day 1: Realization that deleting the admin account pretty much screwed the permissions of every file on the new computer. Grapple with options for getting around this. Worry about noise from machine, but then realize it’s actually just the external hard drive.
• Day 2: Post pictures of new setup on Flickr. Immediately afterwords, wipe everything and start from scratch. Fresh install from provided discs. Import admin account directly as the main account (instead of doing it later). All is good. Install Windows via Boot Camp.
• Day 3: Finish up with the initial re-setup, and start actually using the Mac Pro for work. Realize that yes, it is indeed faster (duh). Install Parallels. Uninstall Parallels and install Fusion.

Impressions

I like it, obviously. It’s fast and more than capable of handling everything I give it. I no longer dread working on print-resolution Photoshop files, and I can actually browse Flickr without locking up the browser.

The new keyboard takes a little getting used to but it’s very nice. The decision to move the hotkeys around is kind of strange, especially since the keys used by the volume controls are also the keys used by Expose and Dashboard by default, a problem easily fixed by reassigning the Expose keys. Still though, it’s a strange decision because they overlap and impede functionality in a way not everyone would know how to overcome. With the recent Macbook revisions, all of the keyboards now follow this standard, so maybe we’ll see this addressed in a software update.

Beyond that, there’s not much to say. It’s like my old computer but better in every way, and I can run Windows on it. I’m not sure there’s a downside here once you get past the price.

I’ve spent all of 2008 thus far slowly working my way through the annual cache of holiday-acquired games. I’m just about to finish up with DiRT, the offroad/rally racing game that I’ve mentioned before, and yesterday I started the latest installment in the venerable Call of Duty franchise.

While both of these games seem about as different as can be (and gameplay-wise, they certainly are), they share a common thread in that their graphic design has been impeccable. This is more readily apparent in DiRT, as you’re enveloped by Helvetica as soon as you load up the game. I’m serious; be prepared to budget an extra ten minutes or so just playing around in the menus; they are amazing. My favorite part has quickly become the metallic sheen on the gold/silver/bronze portions after you win races. There’s something remarkably special about it, and the menus as a whole are the icing on what is already a very strong game.

You’ll have to look a little further to be truly amazed by Call of Duty 4. Once you get to the cutscenes and mission intros, you’ll be treated to some blockbuster-quality footage. Honestly, and this may not sound great, but think of a Michael Bay movie. Not the blowing-stuff-up parts, but the exposition parts. And also Enemy of the State, that Will Smith movie. It’s just incredibly high-caliber work, and all I can think when watching is that Infinity Ward (the developers) must have been chomping at the bit to make a game that wasn’t set in 1945. Boy, did they kick some ass. All of this after the relative disappointment that was the previous installment (from a different developer), and the result is a disc full of awesome.

There seem to be an awful lot of those lately, and as a gamer, it delights me to be living in a time where games are becoming more and more powerful as a type of media. I love that so much effort and time has been into delivering not just good gameplay, but a good experience as a whole.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to go fire up the 360.