:: TheOneAndTheOnly.com – Andrew Buckman ::

It’s back! $779 buys you 24″ of 1920×1200 real estate on your desk!

Use coupon code D8Q403R9G4FJ32 for 35% off.
Update: WFQ9X9GW1VT?2R for 35% off.
Update again: 69$8KC79D53S2H for 35% off.

Final update: I’m guessing that’s it for this quarter.

Dell 2405FPW

First Intel CPUs and now a “four button” mouse from Apple? I must say it’s about time somebody used a ball for the wheel, hey look a mouse with a trackball! 🙂 I’m starting to think Apple really is serious about courting Windows users over to their camp this time. Slick little reasonably priced computer? Check. Two (or more) button mouse available? Check. The same Intel processors available with Windows so fights over speed are nearly pointless? Check (soon). Change your mind and decide you can’t live without Windows, reformat to Windows-only or dual-boot? Sounds like it, check.

Wowsers. So I bought one of the Dell 24″ monsters (2405FPW) and it arrived this week. Just plain crazy, the thing absolutely dwarfs everything around it. I LOVE IT! Best thing I’ve bought computer-wise in ages. When I saw it for $779 (the best deal I’ve seen on it yet, and so much cheaper than Apple’s 23″ Cinema Display) I just had to snap one up. If you’ve got $800-900 lying around, treat yourself to one of these monster LCDs from Dell, regret it you won’t.

I of course happen to have an HDTV card in my computer and can watch over the air broadcasts. Back at 1280×960 on my old monitor I could really only see 720p at full resolution, now at 1920×1200 on the monster I can see full 1080i in all its glory, and glorious it is. If you’ve got a reasonable fast computer and a high-res display, be sure and check out the High Definition WMV files from Microsoft at their WMV HD Showcase. Available downloads at 720p and 1080p that are a sight to behold. Apple also has an HD Gallery for their new QuickTime 7 format (still in beta for Windows-based computers), also gorgeous, though they don’t appear to let you try 1080p on Windows (yet?).

Just a quick note announcing an update to my WordPress Plugin, Editor Search, now at version 1.3.

Word searching now wraps in both Firefox and Internet Explorer. I also made a small usability improvement (I think) in this version, when you click in one of the input boxes, the other will clear. Now you won’t be searching for ‘Firefox’ and still have the line number 5 in your other entry box. It was annoying me so I fixed that.

I’ve also added the option to include the javascript externally, though it is off by default. For more details and to download the plugin, head on over to its permanent home with the link below.

Editor Search Plugin for WordPress

So Apple admits the unthinkable, they really have been compiling and running MacOS X on Intel all these years, just in case. With the talk about reduced power consumption, I’d think they must be looking at the Pentium M chips as the Pentium 4 & Pentium D don’t exactly sip the power. Two dual-core Pentium M chips in a PowerMac could be quite the screamer and I’d bet still lower power consumption than a current single-core G5. One has to wonder if they aren’t looking at AMD also, as I recall, the Athlons use quite a bit less power than the P4s, though I don’t recall how they compare to the Pentium Ms.

Rosetta. Running PowerPC-compiled apps on the Intel. I can admit to having tried the impressive PearPC, but slow didn’t even begin to describe the initial experience. Admittedly I tried it again a few months later with a newer build and it was significantly faster but still barely usable in my book.

One potentially huge benefit would be VirtualPC. If the switch enables VirtualPC to run WinXP on OS X as fast as VirtualPC currently works on a Windows-based PC, that’d be pretty cool. What I’d really like to see is another Apple branded technology announced for 10.5 basically building in VirtualPC technology. Running Windows apps directly without actually loading a VirtualPC-type Windows XP system? Despite the potential security issues, that would be impressive and really eliminate a major reason for the average consumer to shy away from the Mac platform. Alas, no announcement on any such thing today, hopefully they’re just keeping that one a secret until 10.5 is closer. 🙂

So, a completely new lineup of dual-core Intel-based PowerMacs coupled with another release of MacOS X (10.5 Leopard) in time for Longhorn. Could Apple actually be giving Microsoft a serious run for their money?

Interesting tidbit from MacRumors.com… Developer transition kit – 3.6Ghz P4, for select and premier developers only $999. Tack on $500 for the Select Developer membership, not bad at all. Cheaper than even the bottom-rung PowerMac Single 1.8ghz G5 in the developer program at $1199 (+$500), I can’t wait to see the full specs and how it compares in speed.

Update: Bummer, you have to return the development P4 unit “by 2006” when I’d imagine the true Intel-based units will be available.