Tough test for any computer

Tech

Rumor on the street said that the Apple Stores were going to have some of the Dual Core iMacs in stock on January 17th. So, yesterday, it was raining and I decided to have lunch at the mall and, incidentally, stop by the Pioneer Place Apple Store to see what’s up.

The sales guy near the door recognized me (I forget his name) and I asked him if they had any of the new tech to play with. He pointed me to the one display model they had, a 17″-er.

I walked up and checked “About This Mac” – sure enough, Intel-based. Nothing was open yet.

I recalled seeing someone post a hands-on with a Mac Book Pros where they tried to run every application on the machine to test its speed. Dan Lurie, the author, wrote that the machine bogged down for about 30 seconds, then all was right with the world and he could switch among all the running applications with no perceptible performance hit.

That sounded awesome.

So I tried it with the iMac. I figured, hey, it’s the same processor. Should give me the same result, right?

The machine chugged away, dutifully opening everything… the Dock got longer and longer, more icons appeared… icons were bouncing up and down as the programs launched… I noticed several of the Pro apps in there, like Logic or Soundtrack… whoa, they’ve loaded this machine down, haven’t they? The Adobe CS applications launched… Photoshop CS, Illustrator CS… the machine got slower and slower… the Dashboard slid in like molasses… icons stopped bouncing…

Yeah, this wasn’t working. It completely locked up after about a minute. No response. I tried bringing up the Force Quit menu and no go. I tried to Cmd-Tab to the Finder. Um, no.

Hmmm. Maybe this would have worked with just the shipping applications installed. But with all the other stuff added, no way.

BTW, I forgot to check the memory on this bad boy.

On the other hand, when I restarted it, the machine came up to the desktop in about 20 seconds. So, yeah, it boots fast.

Another sales guy came over and asked me if I was finding what I needed. With a huge grin, I told him of what I’d just tried. He told me that that was a pretty tough test. “I’m not even sure that one” pointing to the Quad G5 “would be able to do that.” I agreed but admitted it had been fun to watch it (not) happen.

He said he could do me one better. He walked over to a Dual Core G5, and explained that Adobe Illustrator CS, while a great program, was a huge memory hog. He showed me that it had 4 GB of memory installed. He proceeded to pull a photo from iPhoto, and open it in Illustrator. He explained that there’s a feature in Illustrator that will convert a bitmapped image into a vector-based image.

He opened Activity Monitor and then proceeded to make this conversion. It happened fairly quickly, and soon the image on the screen was full of literally thousands of those little Bezier curves, with their little square “handles”.

The Apple Store sales guy then explained that there are now operations one can perform on this vector-based image… but it requires a lot of memory and processor power, because the program has to load all of these curves into memory at the same time, then recalculate, and then apply those calculations to the image. I was with him and couldn’t wait to see how it handled it. What is it about blowing things up (in this case, metaphorically) that’s so fun?

He started the process, attempting to change one specific color in the image. Illustrator dutifully started making the change… slowly. Activity Monitor showed Illustrator taking 99.6% of the processor power, and over 1 GB of the actual memory (over 14 GB of virtual memory, whoa). At one point it spiked to over 100% of processor power… due to the machine having two processors (cores, same thing). The memory requirements kept creeping up…

He said it would probably stop at over 2 GB and then sit there for a while until it was done. So, to make it more interesting… he started launching more programs. Soundtrack, Logic, iDVD, Final Cut Pro… “Now, obviously, this isn’t a real-world test. No one would have this many programs open at once, seriously…” he said.

“Oh, I don’t know,” I laughed, “deadlines are deadlines!” He laughed, too.

And, again, the machine chugged and chugged… Several applications showed that they were not responding… he said that, eventually, Illustrator would come back, but it would not be able to finish the operation. The memory usage kept climbing, 2.1 GB, 2.2 GB…

Finally, sure enough, Illustrator gave up. “Unable to complete the operation requested. There is not enough memory.” But, amazingly, none of the applications actually crashed. The system was still stable, and every launched application was now usable, though a bit slowly. Illustrator even did part of the process requested, so that we could try again if we wanted to.

Amazing machines… I so want one. Someday…

A choice to make

exercise

Exercise update:

I had a choice to make tonight. Today marks exactly two weeks since I last ran. I had to decide whether to continue my non-impact aerobics and strength training, or start running again. I opted for another week of not-running. I just want to be absolutely certain that my plantar fasciitis (right foot) and ankle (left foot) are completely healed before starting to train for the spring. Plus, to be honest, I’m enjoying the break. My breathing and sinus troubles have abated somewhat – running puts a huge strain on the cardiopulmonary system, and even though I’ve been pushing hard on the elliptical trainer, I know that it’s not the same as actual running.

So, tonight, the gym wasn’t quite so crowded. I hope that the New Year’s rush of people has finally subsided, and now I can be assured of getting my favorite machines once again. I did 35 minutes on the elliptical, and managed an indicated 3.17 miles in the first 30 minutes – wish I could run that fast! That’s about a 9:27 pace.

A girl on one of the machines next to me (another elliptical but with handles that swung, also) kept looking over at me while I worked, and I smiled back at her a couple of times. After I finished my 5 minutes of cool-down and started to jump off, she hopped off her machine and asked if I was done. “Oh!” I said, “were you waiting for this machine?”

“Yes,” she replied, “this one doesn’t get tough enough for me.”

“You’re too strong for that machine!” I told her. She laughed and agreed.

Then I did my normal strength training – upper body, core, legs; 3 sets of 10 for each body section; 3 times through; weight for each exercise set to about 70% of what I can lift maximum with perfect form. Instead of two stomach/abs workouts for my core exercises, though, I did two for my back and only once for my abs – incline situps, ugh. And I’m afraid I over did it for my biceps, setting the weight too high at first and backing down a bit for each set of 10. I’m going to be sore on Thursday. So be it. Big biceps look good, even if they don’t really help a runner much.

Games with Smacky

Smacky

There’s a spot in my kitchen, where, because the floor isn’t exactly level, I can kick a golf ball and have it roll back to me, pretty much.

I spent a half-hour last night doing that, while Smacky watched me in rapt fascination. If the ball went near him, he would reach out and smack-y it back to me. It was almost meditative.

The year of hot vampires

Movies

This just in: 2006 is now officially the year of the hot vampires.

I know I’ve already posted about “Underworld: Evolution”, due to be released January 20th. I got all drool-y over the thought of Kate Beckinsale once again wearing leather bodysuits and being vampirish.

Imagine my shock at finding out this morning about “Ultraviolet”, a vampire movie featuring Milla Jovovich in leather bodysuits. G’head. Imagine it. Oh, here, I’ll help you:

Do you think the producers of “Ultraviolet” chose a movie title that will deliberately confuse viewers looking for the “Underworld” sequel? Duh.

Now imagine a Kate Beckinsale / Milla Jovovich vampire-gun-kata cage match. I know, I know… you can’t. Because your head exploded like 3 minutes ago, already. Poor thing.

Running and strengthing

exercise

Exercise update:

Went to the gym, did 30:00 of elliptical, then did an abbreviated version of the strength training I’ve been doing. Only did two circuits instead of three. I got to the gym later than I wanted (it was almost 11:00 AM), and was meeting someone at 1:00 PM and still needed to get some food beforehand. I’m bummed that I didn’t do the extra circuit but I still feel a bit sore tonight so maybe it was enough of a workout.

While I was there, there was a tall bald white guy and a short Asian girl in the workout room, doing Tai Chi moves with actual swords. Tai Chi is amazing to watch, and I’ve long been fascinated by it. I wasn’t sure if the two of them were a class, or if they were just using the workout room to practice on their own. When I was done with my workout, they had finished and I asked them about it.

Turns out that the guy is a Tai Chi instructor and that he gives a regular “empty-handed” Tai Chi lesson on Saturdays, and then invites students to work with him afterward if they’re interested in working with the weapons. Hell, yeah, I’m interested. He suggested that since I’ve never done it before I should try the empty-handed class first. So that’s what I’m doing next Saturday.

Did not beat the crowds

exercise

Exercise update!

Even though I got to the gym a half hour earlier than usual, hoping to beat the crowds, I didn’t. Ugh. All the elliptical machines were taken. And today, I wanted to do the elliptical. So I waited it out, and after about 10 minutes, got one. Did 30 minutes, not too intense, then did my normal strength circuit. Had a tough time with the inclined stomach crunches. Ugh. But the rest went normally, by which I mean, I’m gonna be sore on Saturday (I’m usually sore two days after, rather than the day after).

Call me when they’re in

Tech

I did it. After work I marched down to the Pioneer Place Apple Store, and I bravely… put my name on a list to be called when they get the new MacBook Pros in stock.

I didn’t go crazy – I didn’t actually put any money down. But they are going to reserve one for me. That gives me until… whenever… to save up and decide if I’m going to upgrade. Apple says they’ll ship in February, but who knows with Apple.

Of course, one of the reasons given for Apple’s slipping ship dates on new computers has been the slow production of chips from Motorola and IBM. Now that they’ve got Intel supplying their chips and chipsets, hopefully, those days are behind them. We shall see.

One thing to worry about is battery life. If you go to the tech specs page for the new MacBook Pros, you will see that the battery is listed as a 60-watt-hour lithium-polymer battery. But nowhere does it give any idea, y’know, how long that battery will actually last under normal usage. There’s a footnote at the bottom of the page that explains that “battery life depends on configuration and use”. Duh. And water is still wet.

The PowerBook tech specs show battery life, even if it is in the marketing-speak of “up to 5.5 hours” (my emphasis added). C’mon, Apple, throw us a friggin’ bone here. The marketing page shouts “More power, using less power” but these Intel chips are brand-new (rumor has it that they’re the chips Intel code-named Yonah – I’m going to have to dig into that at a later date) so all we have is what Intel and Apple are telling us. There’s no real-world experience yet. Should we be worried about the damn thing not being able to play a movie all the way through? Or are we going to be so awed by the MagSafe connector that we just won’t mind having to plug the damned thing in every hour or two? Although I have to admit, that MagSafe connector is freakin’ cool.

(By the way, does anyone else find the page design a little… um… hard to read? Gray letters on a black background may be sexy and all, but on my CRT at work (oops!) it’s dim.)

And… the 15″ and 17″ PowerBooks have a dual-layer SuperDrive… it appears the 15″ MacBook Pro doesn’t.

And… I’m also worried about getting bit by the Version 1.0 bug, the stuff that no one foresees. These are brand-new. By being one of the first to buy them, I might be paying a good chunk of money to be Apple’s beta tester. Oh, well. Such is life on the bleeding edge of technology.

Oh, well, at least it appears that there ain’t gonna be no fugly Intel stickers marring its beautiful aluminum frame. Thank goodness for small favors.

Resolutioners

exercise

Gym again tonight. Damn New Year’s resolution-ers – it’s still crowded. Did 30 minutes on the recumbent stationary bike, then three circuits, 3 sets of 10 each for arms/chest, abs/back, and legs.

This might be my shortest exercise update ever.

Intel is coming

Tech

Holy crap! All the Apple rumors sites were predicting Intel-based Mac minis, or maybe Intel-based iBooks.

…but today Steve announced both Intel-based iMacs and Intel-based laptops!

Dual-Core Intel-based iMacs and laptops.

I don’t necessarily like the name “MacBook Pro”. Ugh. They’ve been Powerbooks for a long long time. Like, since the beginning. But, whatever. It doesn’t make them less sexy.

Me… want…

Anyone want to buy a 3-year-old iBook? 🙂 Oh, hell, I’ll probably keep it around for a while.

No running (dammit)

exercise

Hit the gym tonight. No running (dammit) but I did do 30 minutes on the recumbent stationary bicycle, and another 30 minutes on the elliptical. It was an all-aerobic night.

On a side note, I can’t wait for February, when all the folks who made a New Year’s resolution to hit the gym have given up again, and it gets less crowded. On the other hand, with all the people in the gym tonight, there was a lot more eye candy than normal.