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Reviews
Apple Magic Trackpad – My Final Thoughts
Aug 18th
It’s been a few weeks since I picked up my shiny new Apple Magic Trackpad a product that I had been dreaming about since my first MacBook pro that came with the Glass Multi-Touch Trackpad, As soon as I got my hands on the gesture enabled MacBook Pro Trackpad I knew it was only a matter of time before they released a version of it for our desktop PC’s and just two years later my dreams came true in theory the Apple Magic Trackpad is exactly what I wanted it was a larger version of the MacBook Pro Trackpad with clickable feedback legs and a nice angle for use on the desktop and of course it was built amazingly well as all Apple devices are in my opinion but as soon as I started using my new Apple toy I thought it was perfect, Exactly what I had been waiting for It had Jitouch compatibility out of the box adding a plethora of new functionality in gestures and its size was perfect not to mention it looked amazing sitting next to my shiny Apple Wireless Keyboard and it matched it perfectly as if the two were destined to sit side by side and they are however fast forward just 2 weeks and as I look down at my desk I realize something my shiny new Apple Magic Trackpad is now laying almost out of reach entirely underneath my 30 inch Apple Cinema Display and its been replaced by my beloved Logitech Performance Mouse MX at first I thought nothing of it as I had only put my old Logitech mouse in that position to do some gaming as I had always known that no mater how amazing the Magic Trackpad was it would never be able to stand up to a gaming mouse when it came to gaming so I replace the Logitech mouse with my new Apple Magic Trackpad and then something happened I realized after using it for about 2 hours that the reason I hadn’t switched back to the Magic Trackpad after gaming was because my Logitech mouse is comfortable enough to use for 24 hours straight on those long endless nights programming (and playing games in between of course) however the Apple Magic Trackpad starts to hurt your wrist just a little and it begins to generally annoy you just enough to make you go back to your old trusty mouse after a few hours of use and all of the super cool gestures and shortcuts in the world can’t make an uncomfortable device comfortable so this being said I feel that the Apple Magic Trackpad does have its place especially when it comes to graphics editing and short term use for browsing and such but it will never be a true mouse replacement especially not when compared to a mouse as amazingly responsive, customizable and comfortable as the Logitech Performance Mouse MX.
THE BOTTOM LINE: The Apple Magic Trackpad is as perfect as a trackpad input device can be in my opinion and while it certainly has its place in the input device market it’s not for everyone and I believe that even the people it’s geared towards will find that even while they love their new Magic Trackpad most users will find themselves using their beloved mouse more than they do their new Magic Trackpad after a short period of time.
What are your thoughts on this subject? Speak up! 
Logitech Performance Mouse MX [$99.99]
Apple Magic Trackpad [$69.00]
Apple Wireless Keyboard [$69.99]
Jitouch [$5.99]
Hackintosh i7 Desktop Vs MacBook Pro i7 Benchmark Results
Aug 15th
I recently built a 2.8GHZ i7 intel Hackintosh and I wanted to benchmark it versus my 2.66GHZ i7 MacBook Pro, Lets see what the results look like but first some basic information on the two machines.
System 1: “Hackintosh i7″
2.8GHz Intel i7-860
4GB Ram DDR3 1333MHz
Complete Specs and Build Guide And Parts List Here [TUTORIAL]
System 2: “MacBook Pro i7″
2.8GHz Intel i7-860
4GB Ram DDR3 1333MHz
Complete System Specs And Reviews Can Be Found Here [CNET]
I’ve Been Playing Starcraft 2 For A Week Straight And It Kicks A$$
Aug 10th
As a fan of RTS (Real Time Strategy) games as well as a fan of Blizzard I’ve been awaiting the release of Starcraft 2 since the very first time I played the original Starcraft in March 1998 and even though I’ve been hyping it up to myself for 12 years the wait was worth it and the hype was all real, and then some. I’ve been playing this game for about 5 days straight now and I absolutely love it. When you get started in Starcraft 2 it will ask you if you’d like to play the tutorial and unless you’re a total n00b at RTS’s I’d say don’t waste your time with any of the tutorials except maybe the HUD tutorial (the tutorial mode gives you an option to play a number of tutorials) I suggest starting out with the Campaign before jumping into multi-player online games to get to know the game and besides that the campaign is amazingly fun which I honestly didn’t expect but the story line is great and in between battles and missions you can run around a number of rooms on your ship and speak with the people of the ship and upgrade weapons and research races it’s very fun and keeps the game from feeling uber repetitive, There are many, many hours of gameplay in the tutorial, I’ve been playing for almost a week and I play hours each day and I’m still not finished with the campaign. The multi-playing playing is VERY challenging even when playing against the computer you’ve got to take some time to get to know how to start your build properly so that you can build fast enough to defend the opponents first attack and the online playing is insanely intense and very difficult as many of the players have been playing the beta for months and are very good at the game so it will take you a LOT of time to get competitive in online vs mode. Overall this game is absolutely amazing and I highly suggest every gamer out there give it a try I even believe this game will certainly convert a lot of console gamers into PC gamers as well.
![IMG 0885 300x224 Follow Up Review Of Apples Magic Trackpad After 24 Hours Of Use [VIDEO]](http://www.mattbrandenburg.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/IMG_0885.jpg "Magic Trackpad Next To Wireless Keyboars")
![IMG 0884 300x224 Follow Up Review Of Apples Magic Trackpad After 24 Hours Of Use [VIDEO]](http://www.mattbrandenburg.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/IMG_0884.jpg "Magic Trackpad And Wireless Keyboard Flush Setup")
![IMG 0886 300x224 Follow Up Review Of Apples Magic Trackpad After 24 Hours Of Use [VIDEO]](http://www.mattbrandenburg.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/IMG_0886.jpg "Magic Trackpad And Wireless Keyboard Sky View")
Review Of Apple’s New Magic Trackpad [VIDEO]
Jul 27th
A brief review and opinion of Apple’s new Magic Trackpad released today July 27′th 2010 and a list of features and product functions.
Droid X VS Droid 2 A Brief Overview And Spec Comparison [Video]
Jul 21st
Summary: The Droid X and the Droid 2 are identical in hardware specifications such as CPU / Memory / GPU (Graphics) however the Droid 2 has a slide out keyboard which the Droid X does not have and the Droid X has an 8MP camera VS’s the Droid 2′s 5MP camera also the Droid X is 0.6 inches larger than the Droid 2 yet it has the same screen resolution, My choice would certainly be for the Droid 2 but the Droid X will certain appeal to some people over the Droid 2.
| Smartphone Comparison | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| iPhone 4 |
Droid 2 |
Droid X |
|
| Physical Dimensions |
4.54″x2.31″x0.37″ | 4.56″x2.4″x0.54″ (projected) | 5.02″x2.58″x0.39″ |
| Weight |
4.8 ounces | 6.0 ounces (projected) | 5.47 ounces |
| OS |
iOS 4 | Android 2.1 with Motorola BLUR | Android 2.1 with Motorola BLUR |
| CPU |
1 GHz Apple A8 | 1 GHz TI OMAP 3630 | 1 GHz TI OMAP 3630 |
| GPU |
Integrated into CPU | PowerVR SGX530 | PowerVR SGX530 |
| Screen Size/Resolution |
3.5″/960×640 IPS Retina | 3.7″/854×480 LCD | 4.3″/854×480 LCD |
| Keyboard | No (touchscreen only) | qwerty | No (touchscreen only) |
| RAM |
512 MB | 512 MB | 512 MB |
| Onboard Storage |
16 or 32 GB (depending on model) | 8 GB | 8 GB |
| Expandable Storage | N/A | 8 GB MicroSD included, expandable to 32 GB | 16 GB MicroSD included, expandable to 32 GB |
| Camera |
5 MP, VGA (480p) in front for video chat | 5 MP | 8 MP |
| Video |
720p HD capture | unknown | 720p HD capture |
| Outputs |
30-pin proprietary | USB (charging, data) | USB (charging, data), Micro HDMI (video) |
MattBrandenburg.com Tutorial Request :)
Jul 4th
Let me know what you’d like to see a tutorial video on, any software for windows or mac
Brief overview and review of Apple’s new iPad
Apr 14th
I’ve had a lot of people asking a lot of questions about Apple’s new iPad let me first start off by saying NO it is not an oversized iPod Touch and anyone who has used it for any period of time will agree with this, from a distance it certainly might appear as such but I can guarantee you this is not the case.
A lot of concerns were placed on the iPad’s processing power I had my own concerns with this as well but I can say without a doubt its processor is beyond sufficient for its configuration and the system is lightning fast no lag what so ever like you may have experienced on your iPhone 3G.
The iPad feels like its the perfect size and the onscreen keyboard fits nearly perfectly in your hand while holding the device and using both hands thumbs to type with, It doesn’t take long to catch on with a good amount of speed and accuracy.
The iPad’s battery life is amazing its every bit of Apple’s 10 hour video playback claims and I’ve personally used mine very consistently for 3 days and still had a little battery life to spare.
Overview:
The iPad is perfect for content viewing such as reading emails and surfing the web and has some pretty amazing games that take great advantage of the iPad’s accelerometer making it a very fun interactive gaming device however the iPad is absolutely not designed for content creation of any type, for content creation I would most certainly go with the laptop of desktop of your choice and avoid the iPad.
iPad Pros:
Amazingly lightweight
Comfortable
Amazing battery life
Great for games based off the accelerometer
iPad Cons:
Flash will never be supported on this device by apple (although a hack is in the works)
No iPhone internet tethering allowed by Apple (although a hack is in the works)
Which iPad to Choose?
I personally went with the most basic 16GB WiFi version and heres why first off I will only be using it for email and surfing the internet around the house unless I’m traveling in which case it will easily hold 10 compressed HD movies and hundreds of songs (who needs more than this for even the longest flight?) and I saw no point in getting the 3G model and paying a $30 (USD) service charge for the internet on it because I can just tethering my phone to the iPad (against Apple’s TOS you simple Jailbreak your iPhone and install the MyWi app on it and it makes your iPhone a WiFi hotspot that your iPad can connect to in turn using its 3G connection) hopefully this helps some of you in making your iPad choice.
