My MacBook Pro is arriving tomorrow according to DHL’s website, and I’ve been having some fun getting caught up with all things Mac OS X again. I haven’t been completely out of the loop, I’m on my Mac every day. I just haven’t been as devoted to reading Mac sites about the latest and greatest and knowing about every little utility out there as I used to be.

Here’s what I’m most looking forward about going back to a single computer again after nearly 3 years with my hands on two keyboards:

• Desk space! Once I wean off the Dell, I’m going to get at least 2′ of space back that is currently occupied by the computer, its external keyboard, mouse, USB hub and external drive.
• Syncing my iPod while traveling. I currently sync my iPod with my G5. When I’m traveling with the monster, I bring the iPod’s power adapter to keep it charged, but no updating of podcasts until I get home. Not anymore.
• A fresh start. The Dell is starting to get creaky. Funky errors here and there, random weirdness. There’s something nice about starting with a fresh, clean system without all the accumulated junk. So no migration tools…I plan to reinstall applications from original CDs. Takes longer, but I always like the results better.
• Easy printing. I never got sharing of my HP printer to work right, so it’s connected to the PC (much better driver for the PC than the Mac). When I want to print something off the Mac, I create a PDF of it, get it over to the PC and print that. Messy, but it works. I plan to try this to get printing from both sides of the fence.
• Built-in iSight camera. One less thing to pack, and the Mac version of Skype does pretty decent video.
• Dual monitors. When I’m home, I’ll likely put one OS on the Cinema Display and the other on the MBP’s display. Until I figure out a way to replace Outlook with something on the Mac side, and that day may never come, I’ll be jumping back and forth a lot.
• Bluetooth. With only 2 USB ports (yikes!) it may be a good idea to look at the Bluetooth keyboard/mouse. Still can’t stand the mighty mouse, though.
• Terminal is so much better than CMD in Windows.
• Next time I get an email to make a change to an InDesign file and I’m on the road, I can make the change instead of writing back that the file is on the other computer and will have to wait until I get home.
• With a good Spyware sweeping application (Webroot Spy Sweeper) and a good Windows spam filter (Cloudmark Desktop), I’m thinking I can do without ZoneAlarm. I can’t remember the last time it actually caught anything worth catching, if it ever did. We’ll see.