Shane Life

I’m so excited.

I’m a nerd when it comes to new stuff from Apple Computers. Two weeks ago (or so…I can’t remember) was the latest Macworld keynote speech

The new Mac stuff looks totally sweet. I am most looking forward to the new release of iLife ‘06. I’m still on iLife ‘04, which I love, but I am totally looking forward to picking up iLife ‘06. The thing that I am most psyched about is the iPhoto update. I use iPhoto more than any other program in the iLife suite. One thing that is heinously missing from my current suite of iLife (but has been in subsequent releases) is subfolders for albums. My album list is ridiculously long and I like things nice and neat (although my office at home or my desktop would not suggest that).

Other interesting things:

…the new MacBook Pro…

one of these days, when I have some mad money, I’m going to pick up a laptop to kick around with. I have a feeling that in the next couple months, we’ll see just a standard “MacBook” to replace the iBook and it will have an Intel chip and be a little cheaper (although who knows for sure?). I just want something to take on trips and to Panera on a lazy Saturday morning.

…new iMacs…

This seems to be about the 4th time in the past 12 months that the iMac has been updated. I got a 20″ iMac G5 when they were the new hotness and I still feels like it is new. But it has since received:

1. a processor bump
2. an integrated iSight
3. a remote and a new program (Front Row)
4. a sweet program called Photobooth
5. another processor bump (due to the new Intel DuoCore chip)

That’s quite a bit in a year. It’s hard to keep up.

Overall, I really expected to see Apple drop their prices on their hardware considerably so that they would be able to keep up pace in the cheap cheap CHEAP (cheap) market of PCs. I think that a lot of folks out there would buy a tiny little Powerbook…err…iBook…err…MacBook if they were at least COMPETITIVE on price. But with what you can get something to kick around with on Dell’s web site…it’s hard to make that decision (without factoring in the whole “having to learn a new OS” and “I have to buy all new software” stuff).

For me, I just want a laptop for very minor stuff, so I’m not going to spend an exorbitant amount of money on it. I have a great desktop machine at home and a rockin’ new dual processor AMD64 custom build at work. I just want something for the small amount of traveling I do and, again, for just kicking around.

I wish I had the money to buy a “just kicking around” laptop, but until topFIVEdesign really takes off, I’m probably won’t. Plus, there is a lot of other stuff that I need to buy before I even CONSIDER getting a laptop. But that’s another discussion.