Multiplex - a comic strip about life at the movies
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Archive for January, 2014

 

Late 2013 Retina MacBook Pro review

The late 2008 MacBook Pro I had been using since early 2009 had started to show its age. Adding 8GB of RAM and an OWC Mercury Electra SSD extended its life for a bit longer, but it was time.

I was tempted by the first generation Retina MacBook Pros, but talk of laggy UI performance and my old laptop performing well enough for Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign — my main programs — kept me from pulling the trigger. (OSX Mavericks has supposedly alleviated much of that lag.) But I’ve been doing more and more video and animation work in grad school, and that’s where my late 2008’s performance really suffered.

So I waited for the second generation, and when it was announced and released, I jumped. (Thanks for the Apple Friends & Family discount, Andy. My student loans are paying for this guy, but it was nice to save a couple hundred bucks.) Here are the specs of the model I got:

• 15″ MacBook Pro with Retina Display
• 2.6GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7 processor (upgraded from the stock)
512GB SSD for storage (stock)
• 16GB of RAM (stock)

It’s in my greasy little hands now, of course — or, rather, sitting on my desk — and I’ve used it for a couple of months, so here’s how it’s been doing for me so far:

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First Patreon milestone goal reached! And a word about Book 2!

The first milestone goal in the Patreon project has been reached!

Because funds are collected at the beginning of the month, the leaderboard ad will be disappearing for the month of February… and hopefully for every month thereafter (assuming nobody cancels, of course)! In the meantime, of course, more patrons are welcome. I’m totally excited that we’re raising as many as we are, and I’d be perfectly happy if we don’t raise much more than what we have right now — but would love for the site to be completely ad-free!

In the patrons-only Activity Stream, so far there are a handful of comics that only Book 2 (Kickstarter/PayPal) backers and Patreon patrons can read, with Jason reviewing a handful of movies. There will be more stuff soon, too — sketches, more review comics, and the first Google Hangout!

Thank you VERY MUCH to everybody who has signed on to support the strip so far!

Speaking of Book 2, I understand that the Multiplex: There and Back Again shipment will be arriving sooner than I had expected, and I will get the pre-orders for the book opened up in the next few weeks. I want to get the Kickstarter books and rewards out the door before I can add to my to-do pile, because it has already been so delayed. (Sorry! And thank you again, for your patience!)