Apple Store“I just took delivery of my new Mac Pro, which is a workstation — not a computer — that’s designed for serious film editing or Photoshop gymnastics,” Leander Kahney reports for Wired News. “I’ll use it mostly for e-mail and photos of my kids, and I’m wondering if I’ve overindulged my needs. But what’s ‘needs’ got to do with it? I’ve wanted this machine for a long time. I’ve been waiting for the Intel upgrade since Steve Jobs said it was coming about a year ago.”

“This is as slick a toy for adults as can be had, and it’s the most beautiful computer I’ve ever owned,” Kahney reports. “The machine speaks power. Fashioned from thick, sturdy aluminum, it has a weapon aesthetic, like an expensive handgun. I abhor guns, but I admire how beautifully they’re made. Same with this full metal Macintosh. Every component is precision tuned.”

MacDailyNews Take: First, why does Kahney “abhor” guns? “Abhor” means to “regard with disgust and hatred.” So, Kahney hates an inanimate object? Maybe he means he abhors “gun violence?” Now, that would be understandable, even if still a totally irrelevant statement to include in a computer review.

And secondly, does this combination of statements mean that he “abhors” Mac Pros, too? Kahney writes, “same with this full metal Macintosh” directly after writing “I abhor guns, but I admire how beautifully they’re made,” so we’re naturally a bit confused. It sounds like he “abhors” Mac Pros, same as with guns, but admires their design and quality of manufacture.

We have to wonder, does Kahney really “abhor” guns or is he just trying (consciously or subconsciously) to interject some measure of political correctness and therefore needlessly confusing his point? Our point isn’t that “guns don’t kill people, people kill people.” Our point is that perhaps Kahney should leave politics out of computer hardware reviews, if his real purpose is to review computer hardware. Otherwise, as we’ll all probably see below, the hardware review will be buried by the author’s unnecessary inclusion of some irrelevant “belief.”

Kahney continues, “The machine starts up super fast; it seems like 15 or 20 seconds. IPhoto is very fast and zippy. Photos are sucked up from the camera in a flash (gotta love USB2), and tens of thousands of pictures whip smoothly up and down the screen. My old G5 used to stutter.”

“However, I’m disappointed at the speed of Safari, which often takes forever to load a page. In fact, it’s a dog. It can be painfully slow. This may be my cable connection, but it’s probably not. My PowerBook, sharing the same connection via Wi-Fi, isn’t as slow. I haven’t yet had a chance to try Firefox or tweak my settings with a tool like Broadband Optimizer,” Kahney reports.

Full article here.

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