Archive for the 'Hardware' Category

New MacBooks Unveiled

October 14, 2008  (Jeffrey Kabbe)

Apple unveiled new MacBook and MacBook Pro models today. A few things that caught my attention:

  • The 13″ MacBook and 15″ MacBook Pros are all new. The 17″ MacBook Pro received a small bump, but is based on the old architecture. The MacBook Air was “refreshed” also.
  • The appearance of the MacBook and MacBook Pro are now identical apart from the size difference. No longer do we have the plastic MacBooks and aluminum MacBook Pros.
  • Ok, that’s not totally true. The white MacBook lives on as a sub-$1000 model. It’s not very compelling from a spec perspective (only 1GB RAM and an Intel GPU), but it does make Macs seem more affordable. I am curious to see how well it will sell.
  • Apple spent a lot of time at the launch talking about the new production process. The new models are crafted from solid blocks of aluminum. I assume that means fewer screws.
  • The new MacBook and MacBook Pro models have a larger glass trackpad that supports multi-touch.
  • No more antiglare displays. The new models have glossy LED displays. This isn’t a big deal to me, but I know it is for many people.
  • No more Firewire 400 on the MacBook Pros. It’s Firewire 800 only.
  • No more Firewire on the MacBooks – at all. It’s USB only. Color me shocked. Apple always seems to find a way to differentiate their consumer models from their pro models. I guess this is one way they are doing it now.
  • No Blu-ray. Steve said Blu-ray is a “bag of hurt.”

I am impressed with how large hard drives are getting in laptops. My first generation MacBook Pro isn’t that old, but these new laptops have 2-3 times the hard drive capacity. It’s getting to the point where a laptop is having enough storage to be a primary work computer for creative types (some would argue that has been the case for a while, but I have found the disk space lacking).

This time the “one more thing” from Steve came at the beginning. Apple also announced a new Cinema Display with built-in USB hub, iSight, microphone, and speakers. Most interesting is the combined cable with plugs for the display, USB, and (the surprise) MagSafe power to hook up your laptop. The MagSafe plug is a nice touch, meaning I wouldn’t have to crawl under my desk to plug in a power cord.

Update: Apple Insider has posted a photo set of a tear down of the new MacBooks. It’s amazing how few pieces there are when it’s all disassembled.

Laptops on the Horizon

October 9, 2008  (Jeffrey Kabbe)

After much speculation and numerous rumors, Apple has confirmed that it will be announcing new laptops on October 14. To be fair, Apple didn’t exactly confirm that new laptops are coming, but the press invitation is highly suspicious. A lot of attention has been placed on the rumored new manufacturing process, but hopefully there will be more to the new MacBooks than a slight speed bump and fewer screws.

Macworld Roundup

January 17, 2008  (Jeffrey Kabbe)

A few interesting tidbits from Macworld this week:

1. Time Capsule

Steve Jobs introduced Time Capsule in the keynote speech on Tuesday. Time Capsule is Apple’s new wireless network storage device that is intended to be used with Time Machine. One thing troubles me, though. Before Leopard was released, the developer versions of Leopard allowed Time Machine to be used with USB hard drives connected to an Airport Extreme. That functionality is not present in the release version of Leopard.

At first, many people thought there must be a technical reason – perhaps it required more testing. Now, it seems, that the motivation was purely financial – encouraging people to buy Time Capsule. I bought an Airport Extreme in anticipation of being able to use it to backup the computers in my house. Now it looks like I might have to use something other than Time Machine. Perhaps I’ll buy Chronosync licenses for the rest of my computers.

2. There be Dragon(s) Here!

One of the big names in speech recognition is Dragon Naturally Speaking. Many lawyers use Dragon while drafting letters, pleadings, motions, and other documents. Unfortunately, Dragon hasn’t been available on the Mac … until now.

MacSpeech, makers of iListen, announced a new product at Macworld – MacSpeech Dictate. MacSpeech iListen has received good reviews, but many have reported it being a little slow at times. For Dictate, MacSpeech licensed the Dragon speech recognition engine from Nuance. Simply put, Dragon is fast.

If you have been interested in dictation software but have been disappointed with the options available on the Mac, you may want to take a look at MacSpeech Dictate. You probably won’t be alone, either – Dictate won a Best of Show award at Macworld.

3. Ntractive Elements SBM Nnounced at Macworld

Tuesday at Macworld, Ntractive announced Elements SBM, their entry into the CRM software market (SBM stands for Small Business Management). Elements is a Web 2.0 application, meaning it utilizes advanced web application technologies. Because of this, Elements’ strength seems to lie in the ability to access your data from anywhere. Still, from the information available on the Ntractive website, it appears that some desktop integration is present. Ntractive is currently accepting sign-ups for their public beta. There is no word on when the beta is likely to begin, though. I am not sure that the Web 2.0 thing fits our needs, but I will still be signing up to take a look.

4. Fujitsu ScanSnap S300M

At Macworld, Fujitsu announced the ScanSnap S300M, a portable version of its popular ScanSnap scanners. The two main things you need to know about it are: 1) it runs off USB power; and 2) it doesn’t come with the full version of Adobe Acrobat. The ScanSnap S300M is expected to ship in March.

Edit: How could I forget the ScanSnap?

MacBook Air First Impressions

January 15, 2008  (Jeffrey Kabbe)


The MacWorld San Francisco keynote speech was today, and, as expected, Steve Jobs introduced a new Mac sub-notebook called the MacBook Air. I won’t go into all the details of the MacBook Air because you can learn everything you need to know at the Apple website and the Apple Store. Instead, I just want to share a few impressions and surprises:

  1. As rumored, the MacBook Air has an optional external optical drive. What surprised me was the price – $99 – which is very competitive with everything else on the market.
  2. The Big surprise regarding the optical drive was Remote Disk, which allows the MacBook Air to share the optical drive of another Mac or PC on the same network. I think we should expect to see few sales of the external optical drive because the MacBook Air seems like a much better second computer than a primary personal computer.
  3. The multi-touch trackpad was a nice feature. Rumors had suggested some kind of multi-touch capability on a new Apple product, but people weren’t sure whether the rumors were linked to the sub-notebook or some other product being developed. I don’t see much need for the extra multi-touch features. I already use two-finger scrolling on my MacBook Pro. Rotating and zooming makes sense on an iPhone, but how often do people need to do that on their computer?
  4. The MacBook Air ships with 2GB of RAM and isn’t upgradable. It’s nice to see Apple ship a laptop with a reasonable amount of RAM, but design considerations probably drove the decision more than generosity (if you can call “not price gouging” on RAM upgrades generous).
  5. According to Steve, the MacBook Air gets 5 hours of battery life. If this is true and unaffected by the Steve Jobs Reality Distortion Field (see, e.g., Wikipedia), I’ll be pretty excited. I regularly got 2+ hours out of my 12″ PowerMac with the wireless on. Getting 5 hours of wireless use without adding ugly external batteries (I am looking at You, Michael Dell) is quite an accomplishment.
  6. There was some concern over the fact that the battery was not user-replaceable. However, many sites are now reporting that Apple will replace the battery for $129 (parts & labor included in the price). That’s a tidy sum, but paying $129 every 1-2 years to keep your laptop going is a small price to pay for the size and convenience of the MacBook Air.
  7. Finally, we come to the price. I was hoping the MacBook Air would come in a little cheaper (in the $1600-1700 range). Having watched the keynote, though, I can understand the price point. A lot of engineering went into the MacBook Air, and, judging from the reaction of the crowd, I think Apple will have no trouble selling many, many MacBook Airs at $1799.
  8. MacBook Air

  9. The big shock came from seeing the price of the 1.8GHz model with the SSD drive. One of the benefits of SSD drives is their superior reliability. If that’s the only benefit, I don’t think many people will find the price justifiable. I look forward to seeing battery life and performance tests for the new drives. Hopefully Bare Feats will get their hands on one soon.
  10. I am confused about Apple’s choice to list two models. Both the 1.8GHz processor and the SSD drive are upgrades on the base MacBook Air. They could just as easily have had a single model and make everything an upgrade of that model, like they did with the Mac Pro.

I look forward to the day I can visit our local Apple Store and see the MacBook Air in person. If they’re shipping in two weeks, that day can’t be too far off …. can it?

Poll: External Optical Drive For Your Sub-notebook?

January 2, 2008  (Jeffrey Kabbe)

Rumors of a sub-notebook computer from Apple have been floating around the Internet for quite a while. Last month, rumors indicated that Apple was going to announce the sub-notebook at Macworld, which takes place next week. Recently, a new twist to the rumor has appeared. Like many other sub-notebook manufacturers, Apple will apparently be offering an external optical drive for the Mac sub-notebook. The one thing the rumors haven’t made clear is whether the external drive will be an option or come standard. That ambiguity, combined with my own personal interest in the outcome, makes that a great first Apple Briefs poll question.

I am considering getting a smaller notebook than my current MacBook Pro. I have wondered myself a few times if I am better off getting a MacBook instead of the new sub-notebook (MacBook Mini?). Previously, I was drawn to the pro laptops from Apple because the graphics chips and keyboards were vastly superior to those in the consumer models. Now, however, the keyboards are mostly comparable (I love my new iMac keyboard, which was seems based on the work done for the MacBook). The graphics chip in the sub-notebook is also likely to be closer to that in the MacBook due to heat and power-consumption issues.

Ultimately, I think I am not likely to want an optical drive in a sub-notebook. If I was going to use it frequently, I would probably just get a MacBook. However, I don’t think I would want to use it frequently. In that case, it would be spending most of its days in a drawer in my office. Undoubtedly, whenever I wanted to use it, the optical drive would still be in that drawer in my office – safe, but unusable. But, that’s just what I think. Let everyone know what you think by voting in the poll!

Do you want an external optical drive included with the rumored Apple sub-notebook?

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