You won't believe I bought a new MacBook Pro

After my last MacBook Pro kept blowing up batteries, and my two previous Powerbooks suffered horrible defects which caused the power couplings to rip off the motherboard (the area near the power cord is very weak due to too many ports right next to it, so it is no good for say airplane overhead cargo storage), and obnoxious customer service, I swore off Apple. I buy a new laptop on average every 3 years. I always get the top end because screen resolution is everything. I had planned to buy a Dell this time. For one it is easier to put on our company credit line with them. However, when looking at the top end with the features I wanted, I realized it would cost more than the 17" MBP.

I was in a hurry because my old 17" MBP (1,2 for those who know what that means) broke its keyboard again (by blowing up the battery). I noticed the latest 17" has a total redesign. The screen won't get marked by the keyboard, the battery lasts 4-8 hours. It runs cooler (the original had a problem that made it run hot anyhow). It even seems like the finish may survive my acidic skin. The battery is built in, which gave me pause, but I decided that the distribution and everything made that desirable.

So I did it again. So far, I'm elated with how Ubuntu Ibex runs on it...minus two things. I haven't figured out how to map page-down/up keys and the sound doesn't work. I've tried most of what is out there but this model is 5,2 and most of the instructions are for the 5,1. This model is significantly different with NVidia everything including integrated sound card from what I can tell. Hopefully, someone else figures that out soon, but I can survive a few weeks with no sound.

• acoliver's blog