I'm a PC guy

Mac OS X from a Windows user point of view

There’s a saying, ‘old habits die hard’, that applies perfectly in this situation. Once you’ve used Windows for 10 or more years, there’s hard to switch to something completely different. You’re used to the problems Windows has, and you already know how to solve them. Once you get on an issue with Mac OS X, like the Radeon 4850 video card not working (or working only in safe mode) you don’t know how to solve it and the few guides on forums that address your problem don’t help much.

I’m sure Mac OS X works flawlessly on Apple hardware (or at least 99%, as there are problems on dedicated hardware too), but using it on a PC which doesn’t have the same configuration as a Mac is a mistake, as OS X isn’t that supported by manufacturers from drivers point of view and you won’t get it to work as it was meant to. Let’s face it: Mac OS X isn’t too flexible when it comes to hardware configurations, that’s the truth. Here’s where Microsoft shines.

Why I love Windows more than other OSes?

1. I’m used to it and I accept its flows
2. I know how to do things fast in Windows, which greatly helps productivity (but I admit you can get used to any OS after a period of time)
3. It’s flexible enough to accept any new hardware you throw at it
4. Want to do something? There’s an app for that (and is probably free or has free alternatives)
5. Windows it’s free in my country (or at least that’s implied in a country where home user piracy is over 90%)
6. Hardware is cheaper and there’s tons of components to choose from, more of them way too powerful compared to Apple hardware
7. Games are great on a PC, not so much on a Mac
8. A lot of guides on Internet help you when something goes wrong or doesn’t work from the first time

Those are the things that will make me stick to Windows for a long time. If none of them changes on the long term I don’t believe I’ll switch to Mac OS X, but you never know. So, how about you, what’s your take on this matter?

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iPod equals MP3 player for many years

I think there are quite a few cheaper and fully featured MP3 players that can take upon the all mighty iPod, even if they’re not so popular. This post will try to answer the above question by making a short list of MP3 players that sell well and offer a good bang for the buck.

Samsung P3

Samsung P3 8GB – 230$

Samsung P3 is all about style, as if features a very clean design, helped by a brushed aluminum case. Controlling the Samsung P4 is done through the all touchscreen interface with haptic feedback, so that you won’t miss any menu option you press. The P3 features a 3 inch 480 x 272 pixels screen, FM tuner and recorder, built in speakers if you want to share tunes with friends, Bluetooth and audio recording features.

All is hosted in the aforementioned aluminium case which is only 1 cm deep. Storage capacity is a little low the these times, at only 8 GB, but that should be enough for most users. The Samsung P3 knows a lot of audio and video codecs, not only MP3, but also WMA, OGG, WAV, AAC, FLAC, JPEG, Bitmap, PNG, SWF, WMV, H.264, MPEG. One interesting additional feature is the JPEG photo playback and a few built in games which should be great during commuting. P3′s internal batter can support up to 30 hours music playback and 5 hours of video.

Sansa Fuze comes in 5 colors

SanDisk Sansa Fuze 8GB silver – 70$

The SanDisk Sansa Fuze is three times cheaper than the Samsung P3, but it does music very well: 24 hours continuous playback, almost enough to listen to the 2000 tracks that can fit inside the 8GB internal memory (there are also 2 and 4 GB versions), which can be extended through a microSD card slot (that’s a very nice feature).

If you’re radio fan, there is FM tuner function with 40 channels presets plus voice recording via a built in microphone, if you like the karaoke style or you’re a journalist like me and don’t carry around a paper notebook with you. The 1.9 inch screen of the Sansa Fuze is a little too small, but you can use it to watch occasional video clips if you’re in the mood for that, as the Fuze knows the following formats: MP3, OGG, FLAC, WMA, secure WMA, WAV, Audible, MPEG4.

Creative Zen PMP

Creative Zen 32 GB Portable Media Player (Black) – 180$

Creative is one of the oldest names in the music for PC industy, but lately come to a halt in growth, but this doesn’t means it doesn’t know how to make MP3/PMP players. Zen is one of the best MP3 players Creative has to offer and is advertised like a Portable Media Player, and looking at specs I can see why.

The Creative Labs Zen feature 32 GB of internal memory (expandable with an SD card slot), a big 2.5 inch QVGA screen (320 x 240 pixels), 30 hours continuous audio playback, FM tuner and multiple file format compatibility: MP3, WMA, non-protected AAC, WAV and Audible 2,3 and 4, JPEG and (with transcoding–GIF, TIFF, PNG and BMP), MJPEG, WMV9 and (with transcoding–MPEG1 and 2, MPEG4-SP, DivX 4 and 5 and XviD), which is impressive when you add functions like Album art, voice recorder, clock and alarm, 8 EQ settings.

Zune HD really looks good

Zune HD 32 GB Video MP3 Player (Platinum) – 290$

This is the third iteration of Zune, Microsoft’s MP3 player which is getting better and better every time, and plans to beat Apple’s iPod someday (that remains to be seen). If offers a gigantic 32 GB of internal memory, enough to store 8000 songs, 48 hours of standard defition video or 10 hour of high definition video.

The HD in the name comes from the 3.3 inch 480 x 272 pixels screen which Microsoft says it’s almost HD compared to other MP3/PMP players, but the truth is that the Zune HD is far from HD standards, but unlike other MP3 players knows how to handle WMV and MPEG-4 files. That doesn’t mean that we’re told lies, as HD is supported as output on a HDTV via a Zune HD AV Dock dock, sold separately.

Sony Walkman

Sony Walkman 8 GB black – 93$

Sony still does good MP3 players, but that’s pretty much it: no really serious PMP, high screen size or capacity, as this 8 GB Walkman shows us. It’s still capable of 45 hours of music playback and 8 hours of video on a single charge, and that’s I think a record (at least that’s what Sony states).

The 2 inch screen is medium size and resolution (320 x 240) but it’s LED backlit. The Sony Walkman supports the following audio/video formats: MP3, WMA, AAC-LC, and Linear PCM; supported video formats: AVC(H.264/AVC), MPEG-4, Windows Media Video 9 and can store up to 1850 songs or 30 hours of video, before you need a bigger player.

The gorgeous Cowon S9

Cowon S9 32 GB touchscreen – 263$

This is the best newcomer, as Cowon is not a big name in the audio PC industy, but after I’ve seen the S9 at work I’m pretty sure they mean business. The S9 is by far the only MP3 player that gets close to Apple in terms of design, all comming from the flush 3.3 AMOLED touchscreen that’s on the same level with the external case.

The AMOLED screen with a 480 x 272 pixel count is responible for the lower power consumption that helps achieve an astonishing 55 hours of continuous music playback and 11 hours video playback. Cowon S9 both supports audio/video/still images formats: MP3, WMA, OGG, FLAC, WAV, and APE audio formats; AVI and WMV video formats; JPEG image formats. The 32 GB internal memory can store up to 8000 songs, almost double my current music colection, so keep this in mind.

Archos 5 Internet Media Tablet

Archos S5 250 GB Internet Media Tablet – 265$

Even if Archos says it’s an Internet Media Tablet, at root is an PMP player with very good MP3 playback capabilities: 145.000 songs can be stored (I don’t even know it there is so much music on this planet). Alternatively you could store 300 movies or 2.5 million photos on the Archos 5.

The screen is really impressive: 4.8-inch TFT LCD touchscreen, 800 x 480 pixel resolution and 16 million colors. Video support in this case is a must, and Archos took care of this, adding compatibility with MPEG-4, WMV, and M-JPEG plus audio support: MP3, WMA, Protected WMA, WMA pro 5.1, WAV formats.

One other thing that makes the Archos 5 special is the WiFi connection that allow the Media Tablet to connect to Internet using Opera Web browser with Adobe Flash 9 video support plus you can view files with a PDF viewer, and even check your messages with an Email client.

I think this concludes my list of iPod alternatives, but if you have another alternative in mind feel free to leave a comment at the end of the post and I’ll try and update this article.

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At the oposite corner lies Mac OSX 10.6 (aka Snow Leopard), announced at WWDC at the beginning of this summer and that was it, not too much buzz except the fact that won’t cost Mac users too much (29$ to pe precise).

Price alone and the fanaticism of Mac users will make Snow Leopard a success, I’m sure of that. But price is not the only thing to look up in Snow Leopard, so let’s see what it brings to the table:

• A more responsive finder search
• New looks and features for Expose and Stacks
• Faster backups through Time Machine
• Faster boot, wake up, shut down times
• Quicker wireless network join time
• Faster installation time for Snow Leopard
• Less space occupied on disk
• A new generation of Quick Time software
• More reliable disk eject (so they admit it at last)
• More efficient file sharing in your home network

Too much marketing bullshit in the motto

I think those features make Snow Leopard an upgrade good to have, but not so much a must have, but I’m no Apple fan-boy, so I wouldn’t know. How about you?

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• Apple preparing a 10 inch tablet

One of the speculations, that seems to came true is the one about Apple’s 10 inch tablet, a bigger version of an iPod/iPhone that will come by default with 3G connectivity, allowing users to access the Internet while on the move. Of course Apple didn’t confirm any information about this device, but sources seem to indicate Apple is trying to launch its 10 inch tablet PC in September, together with new members of the iPod family.

Apple tablet artistic rendering concept

As you can imagine I don’t know any more details that already surfaced, like the fact that the hardware architecture inside Apple’s tablet will likely be an ARM based one, not an Intel Atom as previously speculated. Testimony to this is last year’s 278M $ buyout of PA Semi, a microprocessor company, specialized in low power architectures.

It’s said that Steve Jobs personally supervised the product’s development, as it always did with special products like the iPhone, so I expect it to be a pretty out of ordinary device. So let’s break it down to what we can expect from it:

What to expect from the 10 inch Apple tablet

• multi touch delight: imagine a 10 inch iPhone which can recognize up to 10 fingers moves. This will get iphone covers manufacturers to get new models on market soon
• amazing games for a portable console, but not at PC experience level
• operating system derived from iPhone’s OS
• at least 6-7 hours of operation with WiFi or 3G connection on
• price between iPhone and cheapest MacBook Pro (subsidized price, as it seems Apple will only sell it with a contract)
• simple design with not so many buttons, so no QWERTY keyboard (I don’t like that)
• small weight, under 2 lbs and thin body (maybe thinner than MacBook Air)

So that’s my take on the 10 inch Apple tablet. What do you expect from it? Do you think it will be a winner or just an Apple fanboy must have?

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They’ve posted a short video on Youtube showing that Apple iPhone contains chemicals that are not well regarded in European Union. On the other end comes Nokia, Sony Ericsson and Motorola who managed to get green products for some time already.

That strikes me is that Apple made a statement a few months ago saying that they are really surprised to see they meet environment regulations, unlike other companies. Maybe they weren’t aware of the iPhone, as it was launched after that statement… yeah right.

See the video after the jump

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