After months of development, I’ve finally arrived at a live Drupal content management system. It was developed on a MacBook Pro using a MAMP technology stack (Macintosh operating System, Apache web server, MySQL database, and the PHP scripting language).
I spent the past few days configuring Apache on the production server. Nothing seems to be configured as ‘on’ by default, for security reasons, I’m sure. Going with Apache and Drupal meant having access to a massive community knowledge base to help guide me through the process.
I’ll post the details soon!

If you are considering a laptop and can manage to spend a little bit more, than I must admit that the Apple MacBook Pro is hands down, the best decision you may ever make in a laptop purchase.

Construction
The first thing you’ll notice if you pick up a MacBook Pro (and you should) is that it’s solid. Thanks to the uni-body aluminium construction, it a tank. The body serves as a massive heat sink too and things do get hot.

Running Apps
I have run many high-end apps on it and it has hardly ever complained. Apps like those from the Adobe CS5 Master Collection (Photoshop, Flash, After Effects) and Autodesk Maya 2011.

Playing HD Movies
I hunkered down and spent the extra cash to get the 17″ display model which has a native resolution of 1900×1200. I can use it to play 1080p movies and display them on my HD television using the mini-display port and separately purchased cables. Note: Although you have many choices as to which kind of cable can connect to the MacBook’s mini-display port (VGA, DVI and yes, even HDMI), no audio gets passed out through that port, so you will have to settle for analogue and use the 3.5mm phono jack.

Snow Leopard Operating System
I’ve used Macs since before OS X, but clearly Snow Leopard is a huge leap forward. There is the clean, easy-to-look-at interface that has always been a hallmark of Apple design. It’s pretty common to hear people saying how they simple turned on their new MAC answered a couple questions, like your name and password, and that’s it. You’re ready to use it for anything.

Complaints

Sharp Edges
The first thing I noticed was how sharp the front edge was on my wrists. You can remedy this somewhat by purchasing a hard-shell cover. I picked up a nice soft-satin finish, all-black hard-shell cover from Spek.

Dents
Being a metal, it’s not very forgiving if something should bump into it. I immediately ordered my Spek hard-shell after I notice the first dent. Just remember to remove the cover at least once a month and clean out the debris, otherwise you’ll end up with scratches. Seems ironic, I know.

Heat
When working on something that pushes the CPU or Graphics capabilities, and if you have the MacBook sitting on your lap, it starts to get soo hot it’s really uncomfortable. Again, the hard-shell case greatly improves this situation and contrary to what you might think, it doesn’t insulate the computer enough to contribute to over-heating. When the MacBook needs them, it throttles it two mag-lev Sunon MagLev exhaust fans that force heat out the back just below the hinge. I was impressed to discover Apple used Mag-Lev technology to reduce wear and noise in the fans. When at full throttle, air rushing out of the case is all you hear, not vibration.

A blurb about the fans:

Sunon’s site says, “By using magnetic levitation force (MagLev), these fans feature zero friction with no contact between shaft and bearing. With excellent rotational stability, the MagLev fan eliminates vibration and typical wobble and shaking typically experienced in fan motors. MagLev also provides excellent high temperature endurance that results in long life.”

Battery Life
Although the battery life is among the best (8-9 hours), you really only achieve that if you don’t do much more than browse the internet or write some documents. If you use bluetooth devices and typically run more intensive apps, you could easily cut that battery life in half. So take your power adapter with you.

Magnetic Power Adapter Connector
The generation of power adapter that came with my MacBook Pro has since been replaced. You can see the difference here:

Older "T" Shaped Connector

New "L" Shaped Connector

Even though I think the magnetic latching system is a fantastic idea, when curled up on the couch, it’s easily knocked out when you change positions. The newer generation of power adapter connector will probably be an improvement in this situation. I talked to a local apple dealer who reported that other MacBook Pro owners were experiencing “braiding” with the older power supply cables. This is probably due to not always connecting the plug in the same orientation each time and therefore creating a twist over time, resulting in a braided cable.

I plan on picking up a newer power adapter for its new design and also to keep one at work and the other at home, so I never end up starting my day with low power and now way of recharging. That’s happened so many times already.

Must-have Assessories

Get a mouse!
Although the glass multi-touch track pad is genius, it gets hard on the wrist after a while and when using apps like Maya that make use of the middle mouse button, a wheel mouse is still a good idea.

Stand and Keyboard
If you are going to be using your MacBook Pro as the work-horse it is designed to be, you’re going to be spending many hours in front of it. Get yourself a stand and a bluetooth keyboard. I picked up Apple’s bluetooth keyboard and aside from the fact it’s not backlit like the built-in keyboard, it’s great. I picked up a sleek looking stand by Rain Design that mimics the stand used on the iMacs, complete with a hole in the back to feed any cables through. It holds the whole laptop up so that you are not staring down at your screen and presents the keyboard at a nice 45 degree angle, if you are not already using a cordless one.

External Hard Drive
I picked up one of Lacie’s Quadro drives made of a huge hunk of aluminum and designed like a massive heat sink. There are many storage capacities availbe, I went with 1 TB for just over $200 Canadian dollars. That’s enough to back up my entire 320 GB hard drive a few times over. The Quadro series boasts the four popular interfaces being used today, USB 2.0, Firewire 400, Firewire 800, and eSATA II.

So, as a professional in the 2D/3D animation and web/game development industries, I believe the MacBook Pro is a perfect fit. With so many of us using portable devices more and more each day, MacBooks and iPads are in my opinion, the future for sure.

Below are the Geeky details for those who are interested:

Model: MacBook Pro 5,2 (Unibody)

OS: Snow Leopard (10.6.3)

CPU: 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Memory: 4 GB 1067 MHz DDR3

GPU (PCI Bus): NVIDIA GeForce 9400M
GPU (PCIe Bus): NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT
GPU Memory: 256 MB

Hard Drive (SATA II): 320 GB
Optical Drive (SATA II): DVD-R

Other Notable Features:

Backlit Keyboard
Built-in iSight Camera
WiFi (Air Port)
Bluetooth
FIreWire 400/800
GigBit Ethernet
Express34 Expansion Slot (Which I use for eSATA Hard Drives)