MacBook Pro

[kainoa]

I finally received my new MBP 15 and immediately installed Bootcamp/WinXP. I also installed Fusion, but I don't see myself using it very much (if at all) as I'll be using Win about 99% of the time.

 

So far, it's been awesome. Not only is the industrial design far superior to anything in the PC realm, I was able to load up all my critical software without a hitch (AutoCAD'08, 3DSMax9/Vray, Sketchup6, AdobeCS3, etc.). Everything is very speedy, even the whole Bootcamp partition/install process was a cinch. I've built many a custom PC and nothing has ever gone this smooth.

 

However, there are some small limitations. Some of which I hope will be addressed soon, or at least in the final version of Bootcamp.

 

• There is no good docking solutions yet. There is one made by BookEndz but it's rubbish and it's expensive. I hope Apple comes out with one soon.
  
• I can't get my trackpad to do a right-click. The website says to hold the right command button while pressing the trackpad but mines does not work. This is ok for me as I use a BT mouse most of the time.
  
• Delete, Home, and End buttons on the keyboard require you to hold a Function button to use. May not be a big deal to some, but I use these buttons ALL the time so it's a bit of a pain that i need to get used to.
  

 

Other than that, I'm thoroughly happy with my decision. I was looking at the Dell M1330 laptop and was considering waiting for the new Dell Tablet PC, but the specs sounded abysmal for workstation type duties.

 

Anybody else have any rants/raves about their MBP/Bootcamp setup?

[AJLynn]

I think in the latest version of Bootcamp you right-click by putting two finger on the trackpad then clicking the button with you thumb. I could be wrong about that. I used to use Bootcamp (I only use OSX on mine now) and the Apple keyboard mapping annoyed me too so I used a program called Keytweak to reassign things like the CMD, extra Enter and F11 and F12 keys. The mapping I ended up using was, IMNSHO, better than what Apple introduced when they put key mapping in the second beta.

[Jeff Mottle]

I I also installed Fusion, but I don't see myself using it very much (if at all) as I'll be using Win about 99% of the time.

 

 

Yeah while I find the Mac OS pretty good, I did not find any overwealming reason to use it exclusively. Even with Fusion, accessing applications on the Windows partition was still not that convinient.

 

I can't get my trackpad to do a right-click. The website says to hold the right command button while pressing the trackpad but mines does not work. This is ok for me as I use a BT mouse most of the time.

 

If you push two fingers on the trackpad at the same time (index and middle finger) and then press the button, you will get a right click.

 

Delete, Home, and End buttons on the keyboard require you to hold a Function button to use. May not be a big deal to some, but I use these buttons ALL the time so it's a bit of a pain that i need to get used to.

 

There are a number of keyboard remappers out there. I remapped the delete key to the Right windows button. You could remap other less used keys similarily.

 

Anybody else have any rants/raves about their MBP/Bootcamp setup?

 

I seem to be running into a random issue rigth now where the keyboard wants to remap its keys to something else when I'm accessing a system via remote desktop. The other day, everytime I pressed "R" it woudl launch the "Run" dialog box and "G" would exit remote desktop. The keys worked fine on either OSX or in XP, but Remote desktop seems to be an issue. I don't know why, but it's a REAL problem.

[kainoa]

It works! Great tip, will also take a look at the Keytweak app.

 

Cheers!

[Jeff Mottle]

This is the remapper I was using: https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=9d467a69-57ff-4ae7-96ee-b18c4790cffd&DisplayLang=en

 

It's the "remapkey" app.

 

One thing that neither Keytweak or remapkey do is allow you to program key sequences. For example. On the MBP print screen is Fn+F11. I'd prefer if F11 alone was print screen. I found this app that seems to allow this functionality, but it's not free. If I look harder maybe there is another app that is free. http://www.kbdedit.com/ There are probably keyboard macro creators that could do the same thing as well.

[kainoa]

Thanks Jeff - will look into them. Do you use a docking station for your MBP?

[Jeff Mottle]

Thanks Jeff - will look into them. Do you use a docking station for your MBP?

 

No I only use my MBP when I travel or at nights to remote desktop into my workstations and servers while watching TV.

[kainoa]

OK....so i just spent over an hour downloading and testing out various key remapping software and discovered that none of them is able to remap the 'function' key.

 

You see Apple, like many other laptop manufacturers (Lenovo, Gateway, Compaq, etc), for some god-forsaken reason thought it wise to place the 'fn' key at the bottom left corner of the keyboard where the 'control' key would normally be. I can live with the other keyboard layout odditities but this was driving me nuts.

 

After doing some research it seems trying to swap the FN/CNTRL keys has been a hotly contested issue for some years now with no real fix out there - for PC laptop users that is. For MBP users there is good news. I found a freeware app that takes care of this problem specific for MBP users.

 

http://www.olofsson.info/index.html?inputremapper.html

 

The options are not as robust as other keymapping softwares out there, but it does exactly what I needed it to do - swap the FN/CTRL keys. It also provides a fix for Remote Desktop issues (i havn't tested yet). Anyhow, for other MBP users who are going nuts with the weird keyboard layout, I hope this helps.

[Jeff Mottle]

I found a freeware app that takes care of this problem specific for MBP users.

 

http://www.olofsson.info/index.html?inputremapper.html

 

Sweet does pretty much everything, including programming Print screen to a single key.