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Why A 15-inch MacBook Air Looks Like A Lock
15 Years Ago Motorola Unveiled the PowerPC G3
Don't Kill Caps Lock, Learning to Love the iOS Keyboard, and an Adaptive iPad Keyboard
European PC Sales Meltdown In Q4 '11; Worst U.K. Decline in Five Quarters; Only Apple Achieves Growth
Apple Only PC Brand Making Progress In Europe (And That's Not Counting iPad)
MacBook Air EFI Firmware Update 2.3
MacBook Pro EFI Firmware Update 2.6
iMac EFI Update 1.8
Intel Claims Improved Speed and Reliability For New 520 Series Solid-State Drive
Carbon Copy Cloner Easy-to-use Backup/Cloning Utility Updated To 3.4.4
Canon U.S.A. Introduces Three PIXMA Office All-in-One Printers at Affordable Prices
Why A 15-inch MacBook Air Looks Like A Lock
CNET's Dan Ackerman reports that in a recent CNET reader poll of "most-anticipated 2012 laptops" at January's CES, the as-yet only a rumor 15-inch version of Apple's MacBook Air was the overwhelming popular choice, attracting a whopping 40 percent of the total vote, thereby more than doubling its nearest rival in, the glass HP Spectre which attracted a distant 17 percent)
Clearly there is strong demand for a 15-inch MacBook Air, Apple will certainly be aware of this, so is a 15" version of the Air inevitable?
For the full commentary visit here:
http://cnet.co/y2bcuv
15 Years Ago Motorola Unveiled the PowerPC G3
In the latest Low End Mac Roundtable, LEM staffers recollect that on February 6, 1997, Motorola unveiled a CPU codenamed "Arthur," but destined to be known as the G3 when Apple began using the CPU in November 1997.
Unlike earlier PowerPC CPUs, the G3 was optimized for the real world, especially the Mac OS and Mac software. Because of these efficiencies, the G3 provided almost twice as much processing power as a PowerPC 604e - the chip then used in top-end Power Macs - at the same clock speed. The end results were killing off the market for most 604e-based pro Macs and laying the foundation for the later G4 and G5 CPUs.
The original G3 (a.k.a. PowerPC 750) had been designed to replace the 603e CPU used in consumer and notebook Macs. Compared with the 603e, it had a faster system bus, larger onboard caches, added a second integer unit (which the 604e already had), improved floating point processing, and added branch prediction (also in the 604e). All of these contributed to its improved performance, and a side benefit was that the new CPU was also more powerful than the pro-oriented 604e.
LEM's Dan Bashur notes that 15 years have passed since the advent of the G3, and more than 14 years since the first Macs implemented the PPC 750, yet it can be argued that they are still relevant today, with 12-year-old Pismos are still in service running 400 and 500 MHz G3 processors. "Just ask Charles Moore, myself, Austin Leeds, or other LEM staffers and fans. The G3 was very stable and reliable, and in most cases was not soldered, providing access to G4 upgrades (such as the 500 and 550 MHz G4s still offered for the Pismo), further extending the life of the product."
Bashur further observes that many Mac veterans consider the G3 and G4 era to represent the "Golden Age" of Macs, and that given their age, incredible numbers of these Macs are still in service today and can still be quite useful running Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger.
Charles Moore recounts that moving up from a 100 MHz 603e to a 233 MHz G3 13 years ago was like crossing into another dimension, with the G3's most impressive attribute being its speed. You could actually multitask with it at reasonable levels of efficiency, and this was in the days before Mac OS X brought real preemptive multitasking to the Mac.
Simon Royal notes that having owned over 30 Macs and being a big low-end Mac user, the G3 range has given him some of his most beloved and reliable Macs, and while outdated, the ultra reliable PowerBook G3 range still make awesome superstrong portable writing machines, and an iMac G3 still looks awesome in any house.
LEM's Dan Knight summarizes that best of all, a lot of those old G3s can still be useful with enough memory and OS X 10.4 Tiger installed, and you've got some nice iMacs and iBooks to pick from, not to mention the beloved Pismo.
For the full discussion, visit:
http://bit.ly/ytcvzC
Don't Kill Caps Lock, Learning to Love the iOS Keyboard, and an Adaptive iPad Keyboard
Low End Mac's Charles Moore weighs in on the contention of Slate's Matthew J. X. Malady that everybody hates something about their computer keyboard, his pet peeve being the Caps Lock key, which he suggests getting rid of, along with four other adjustments he thinks would greatly improve the typing experience.
Moore disagrees, saying he finds the Caps Lock key indispensable when you need it, albeit occasionally annoying, and goes on to riff at some length about computer keyboards in general, including the virtual keyboards in iOS devices.
You can check it out at:
http://lowendmac.com/misc/12mr/dont-kill-caps-lock.html
European PC Sales Meltdown In Q4 '11; Worst U.K. Decline in Five Quarters; Only Apple Achieves Growth
PC shipments in Western Europe totaled 16.3 million units in the fourth quarter of 2011, a 16 per cent decline from the equivalent period in 2010, according to recent metrics from Gartner, Inc. For the year, PC shipments numbered 58.5 million units in Western Europe in 2011, also a 16 percent decrease from 2010.
The PC market in Western Europe has suffered four consecutive quarters of shipment decline. "Despite aggressive pricing and special holiday deals for PCs, consumers' attention was caught by other devices, such as smartphones, media tablets and e-readers," says Meike Escherich, principal analyst at Gartner. "Even though we saw a drop in prices, consumer PC shipments could not match the levels of previous years."
In the fourth quarter of 2011, the PC markets of Italy, Greece, Portugal and Spain were particularly hard hit, with year-on-year PC demand declining 30 per cent and more. The mobile PC market in Western Europe declined 17.5 percent during the quarter, while the region's desktop PC market decreased 12.1 percent.
"Uptake of professional PCs for migrations to Windows 7 remained subdued due to the troubled economic outlook," says Ms. Escherich. PC shipments in the professional segment declined 13.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011, but the consumer segment suffered a bigger decline, falling 18 percent.
HP not only maintained the No. 1 position for PC shipments in Western Europe, but increased its lead over Acer, despite a shipment decline of 15.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011 (see Table 1). Acer continued to decline, but steadied its shipment volumes quarter-on-quarter. Dell struggled with slow demand from large organizations and the public sector, while Asus won several major deals in the retail channel, which raised its total.
"Asus has successfully shifted its portfolio from mini-notebooks to the mainstream and managed to outgrow the market," notes Ms. Escherich. Lenovo's growth was partly due to its acquisition of Medion in Germany, which helped it secure the No. 5 position. Lenovo offered very aggressive prices, which made Western Europe one of its key regions.
"The impact of the hard-disk drive shortage was minimal in the fourth quarter of 2011, with local vendors feeling most of the impact. If general market conditions continue to deteriorate, we expect hard-disk drive shortages to be just one of many contributors to overall PC market contraction in 2012," Ms. Escherich says.
U.K.: PC Market Exhibited Worst Decline in Five Quarters
In the fourth quarter of 2011, shipments in the U.K. PC market totaled 2.9 million units, a decline of 19.6 percent compared with the equivalent period in 2010 (see Table 2). This was the UK's fifth consecutive quarterly shipment decline, and also its worst decline in five quarters. In 2011, as a whole, the U.K. market declined 15.9 percent, shrinking by nearly 2 million units from 2010.
"The UK market has been a prime illustration of the underlying weakness in PC demand across Western Europe," says Ranjit Atwal, research director at Gartner.
In the fourth quarter of 2011, the U.K. PC market was impacted by the economic upheaval and the growing popularity of smartphones, media tablets and e-readers. As a result, the consumer market continued to shrink, with a decline of more than 20 per cent year-on-year. The professional market was also weak as austerity measures hit the education segment. Mini-notebook shipments declined more than 50 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011, indicating the final stage in a shift away from these devices by PC vendors (in the third quarter of 2009 these devices represented over 30 percent of the U.K.'s total mobile PC market).
Four of the top five vendors performed poorly. Only Apple achieved growth, which consolidated its hold on the No. 4 position. "PC vendors face a long, uphill struggle to regain the interest of consumers. The introduction of Ultrabooks in late 2011 is desperately needed," declares Mr. Atwal.
France: PC Market Suffers Sixth Consecutive Quarterly Drop
PC shipments in France totaled 2.8 million units in the fourth quarter of 2011, a decline of 11.8 percent compared with the equivalent period in 2010 (see Table 3). In 2011 as a whole, PC shipments numbered 10.4 million units, a 12 percent decline from 2010.
"The PC market in France remained weak, with lower sell-in to the channel and a difficult economic environment that squeezed consumer spending," says Isabelle Durand, principal analyst at Gartner. As a result, the PC market in France recorded its sixth consecutive quarterly decline in shipments.
The consumer market declined 11.0 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011 as demand for mini-notebooks was lower than in the same period in 2010. "The last quarter of the year is traditionally driven by growth in the consumer segment, but Christmas PC sales in France were disappointing as consumers spent their money on other devices, such as media tablets and smartphones," notes Ms. Durand. The professional market declined 13 percent in the fourth quarter 2011, despite a number of deals being signed in the public sector.
In the fourth quarter of 2011, the mobile PC market accounted for 68 percent of total PC shipments in France, while shipments declined 9.5 percent. Desk-based PC shipments declined 16.5 percent. Shipments of mini-notebooks decreased 36.6 percent.
Of the top five vendors, only Asus and Apple grew in the fourth quarter 2011. Asus achieved the strongest growth and claimed the No. 2 position. HP regained the No. 1 position, while Acer's market share collapsed as demand for mini-notebooks diminished, causing it to fall to the third position.
"Overall, we expect the PC market to remain under pressure in the first half of 2012, and although shortages of hard-disk drives had only a limited impact in the fourth quarter of 2011, we expect substantial increases in average selling prices in the first quarter of 2012," Ms. Durand summarizes.
Germany: Demand for PCs Fell Again but More Slowly Than in Other Western European Markets
PC shipments in Germany totaled 3.6 million units in the fourth quarter of 2011, a decrease of 8.2 percent compared with the equivalent period in 2010 (see Table 4). This was the sixth consecutive decline for the German PC market. In 2011 as a whole, PC shipments declined 11 percent from 2010.
"Although PCs remain important devices for consumers, there are few compelling technological reasons for them to buy new ones, especially in times of economic uncertainty," says Ms. Escherich.
The PC market in Germany continued to suffer from poor sales of mobile PCs. Mobile PC shipments ell 9.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011. This decrease was steeper than that of the desk-based PC market, which declined 6 percent.
After three difficult quarters, Acer regained the No. 1 position in the fourth quarter of 2011. Lenovo nearly doubled its shipments through the Medion acquisition, which helped it stay ahead of HP. Lenovo's ThinkPad line, which used to have a high price premium, is now available at very attractive prices. In the consumer sector, Lenovo continued to expand its retail presence with its IdeaPad line.
HP had to battle aggressive pricing from competitors and deal with weak consumer PC demand during the holiday season, but it remained the leader in the desk-based PC segment. Asus continued to expand its notebook line, replacing mini-notebooks with mainstream mobile PCs, but it was competing against its own very strong shipments from 2010. Dell secured several large enterprise and government deals. It was the only top-five vendor to increase its shipments, aided by its lower reliance on the consumer business.
"Despite a sixth consecutive quarter of declining shipments, Germany continued to outperform most other Western European markets," Ms. Escherich notes. "Two consecutive instances of quarter-on-quarter growth could indicate that the PC market in Germany is stabilizing."
For more information, visit:
http://www.gartner.com
Apple Only PC Brand Making Progress In Europe (And That's Not Counting iPad)
9To5Mac's Christian Zibreg notes that according to the latest survey metrics from Gartner, only Apple and Asus made any meaningful progress with PC shipments in the Western Europe region during the holiday quarter, with Apple recording its strongest gains in France and the United Kingdom. The sole first-tier PC brand to grow sales in the United Kingdom during the holiday quarter, Apple's Mac business there grew 17.2 percent, enough to rank fourth with a 9.1 percent market share. Everyone elses business shrunk, and if you include the iPad (which Gartner doesn't), Apple easily beats its PC rivals across the board.
For the full commentary visit here:
http://bit.ly/wlIHxT
MacBook Air EFI Firmware Update 2.3
MacBook Air EFI Firmware Update 2.3 enables Lion Recovery from an Internet connection on MacBook Air (Late 2010) models and addresses an issue where the system could restart if the power button is pressed immediately after waking from deep sleep.
For more information about Lion Recovery, visit this website:
http://www.apple.com/macosx/recovery/
System Requirements
• OS X Lion 10.7.3 and later
For more information, visit:
http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1494
MacBook Pro EFI Firmware Update 2.6
MacBook Pro EFI Firmware Update 2.6 enables Lion Recovery from an Internet connection on MacBook Pro (Early 2010) models.
For more information about Lion Recovery, visit this website: http://www.apple.com/macosx/recovery/
System Requirements
• OS X Lion 10.7.3 or later
For more information, visit:
http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1492
iMac EFI Update 1.8
iMac EFI Firmware Update 1.8 enables Lion Recovery from an Internet connection on iMac (Mid 2010) models.
For more information about Lion Recovery, visit this website: http://www.apple.com/macosx/recovery/
System Requirements
• OS X Lion 10.7.3
For more information, visit:
http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1493
Intel Claims Improved Speed and Reliability For New 520 Series Solid-State Drive
Intel Corporation has announced what it says is its fastest, most robust client/consumer solid-state drive (SSD) to date, the Intel Solid-State Drive 520 Series (Intel SSD 520), a 6 gigabit-per-second (gbps) SATA III SSD produced using Intel compute-quality 25-nanometer (nm) NAND memory process technology. Aimed at delivering world-class performance for even the most demanding PC enthusiasts, gamers, professionals or small-medium businesses (SMBs), the Intel SSD 520 has fast throughput performance, new security features and unmatched reliability to meet even the most intensive user requirements.
Any consumer application requiring high throughput and bandwidth, low latencies and accelerated speed will benefit from the Intel SSD 520, Intel says. Software developers, architects, accountants, engineers, musicians, media creators and artists are just some of the professionals that will find that the Intel SSD 520s full package of features can make a dramatic impact on their productivity. With faster performance for graphic renderings, compiling, data transfers and system boot-ups, users can speed through multi-tasking or once-cumbersome application wait times with an Intel SSD 520 Series.
"We tapped Intel engineering to create a client SSD that delivers performance on all fronts with obsessively high reliability," says Rob Crooke, Intel vice president and general manager of the Intel Non-Volatile Memory Solutions Group. "The Intel SSD 520 once again raises the industry bar on SSD performance, quality and reliability to dramatically improve user experience."
Unlike a traditional hard disk drive (HDD) with spinning disks and moveable parts, an SSD is based on silicon, NAND flash memory specifically, to create a lower power, more reliable and drastically faster storage solution that can keep up with todays most demanding applications, Internet streaming and intense multi-tasking. Based on its own industry-leading 25nm Intel compute-quality NAND flash memory and a 6gbps SATA III interface, the Intel SSD 520 uses an LSI SandForce Flash Storage Processor with an Intel co-defined and validated firmware release, to create an SSD that sets new industry performance benchmarks. The Intel SSD 520 delivers up to 80,000 maximum 4K random write Input-Output Operations Per Second (IOPS) and up to 50,000 4K random read IOPS to speed through every day operations. High sequential read performance of up to 550 megabytes-per-second (MB/s) and up to 520MB/s sequential writes also markedly accelerate and improve user productivity. This is backed by thousands of hours of Intel testing and validation, including more than 5,000 individual tests, as well as a 5-year limited warranty.
"We worked closely with Intel to leverage their deep understanding of the NAND flash, ultimately providing a unique and optimized solution for client computing applications with the LSI SandForce Flash Storage Processor," says Michael Raam, vice president and general manager of LSIs Flash Components Division, formed by LSIs acquisition of SandForce. "Working through Intel's extensive validation process ensures the Intel 520 SSD will raise the bar in delivering top-tier performance and superior quality and reliability over the life of the drive."
The Intel SSD 520 will mark the high end of its client SSD offerings and include these new features: a wide range of user capacities from 60GB to 480GB, Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) 256 bit encryption capabilities and stronger password protection for added security in the event of theft or power loss. According to PCMark Vantage benchmarking, users of the Intel SSD 520 may see significant productivity gains through an up to 78 percent boost in overall PC responsiveness, and gamers will see an up to 88 percent jump in performance to enhance their gaming experience.(*)(*) Intel claims that IT professionals will not only provide this additional performance and productivity to their customers/employees, but find that the Intel SSD 520 also delivers on reliability, improved security, smoother operations and lower total operational costs.
"Our game development workflow involves a combination of large batch process and aggressive interactive pre-visualization, all highly parallelized to the point that the storage performance becomes a major bottleneck," says John Carmack, founder and technical director of id(*) Software, a gaming software developer and creators of Doom and Quake. "For many of our workloads, Intel SSDs have doubled throughput, and in some cases involving mapping tens of gigabytes of image data, we have seen an honest order of magnitude performance improvement, which is a rare and wonderful thing."
With a broad range of capacity choices, the Intel SSD 520 Series is priced as follows, based on 1,000-unit quantities: 60GB for $149, 120GB at $229, 180GB at $369, 240GB at $509 and 480GB at $999. It comes with a 5-year limited warranty.
For more information on Intel SSDs go to:
http://www.intel.com/go/ssd
Follow Intel SSDs on Twitter (@intelssd), and Facebook:
http://www.intel.com/go/ssdfacebook
or
http://communities.intel.com
Carbon Copy Cloner Easy-to-use Backup/Cloning Utility Updated To 3.4.4
Bombich Software's Carbon Copy Cloner 3.4.4 is a backup, restore, and clone utility that includes support for network volumes, the ability to restore to the startup disk, a Cloning Coach, and other features.
The key to a successful backup plan is to actually do the backups regularly. When left to a human, the task often gets tacked on to the end of a very long list of other things to do. When you eventually have a catastrophe, the data is simply gone. You know that feeling you just lost six years of family photos. Your kids being born, their first birthdays, their first everything. The answer to this is consistent and regular backups, placed on a schedule and handled automatically by your computer.
Carbon Copy Cloner offers fast, incremental backups that copy only items that differ from the last backup, as well as checksum analysis of your backed up files, archiving and archive management, and backup task scheduling. With CCC, you can back up to a locally-attached hard drive, to a network volume, or to another Macintosh across your network or across the Internet.
• Better Bootable Backup your data, the operating system's data, all preserved impeccably on a bootable volume, ready for production at a moment's notice
• Simplest method to migrate to a new, larger hard drive, especially if you have lost your original Mac OS X Installation DVD
Support for block-level disk-to-disk clones for super-fast upgrades
• Smarter & faster Subsequent backups copy only the items that have changed since the last backup
• Merciful default settings protect against accidental loss of files on the destination
• Back up to hard drives, network shares or to disk images
• Schedule backup tasks on an hourly, daily, weekly, or monthly basis
• Configure a backup task to run when the backup device is (re)attached to your Mac
• Convenient "Defer or Skip" features allow you to dynamically reschedule or skip a backup that occurs at an inopportune time
8• Email notifications keep you on top of your backups
• Back up to another Macintosh on your home network or across the Internet
• Back up to a disk image with optional encryption
• Back up to and from network shares
• Simple interface for indicating exactly what to back up
• Restore using the same process used for backup
• Backups are non-proprietary, so you can browse them or use them with Migration Assistant
• "Cloning Coach" offers proactive configuration advice and expert troubleshooting guidance when hardware or filesystem errors occur
New in version 3.4.4:
- Made several changes to the preset configurations. Both the wording and some of the settings have been changed in response to user feedback and typical usage scenarios.
- New feature: CCC now provides support for archiving and cloning the Mac OS X 10.7 Lion Recovery HD partition. Choose "Disk Center" from CCC's Window menu to find this functionality.
- New feature: Scheduled tasks can now be configured to wake or boot the system when the task is scheduled to run.
- New feature: For users with a Mac OS X 10.7 Lion Installer application in /Applications, CCC's Source menu now includes a handy "Create a Mac OS X 10.7 Lion Installer..." choice that will clone the Mac OS X 10.7 Lion Installation disk image onto a physical volume.
- Window positioning of the scheduled task helper application is now retained on a per-task basis, so you can move these windows around on your screen and multiple tasks won't be stacked on top of each other.
- CCC will now mention the lack of a Recovery HD partition in the Cloning Coach prior to running the initial backup task.
- The table of scheduled tasks in the Scheduler window are now sorted alphabetically by default.
- Fixed a scheduler issue in which tasks scheduled to run on the first (any weekday) of the current month would be scheduled to run in the following month.
- Fixed an issue in which CCC was not "remembering" the last preset that had been selected upon relaunching CCC.
- Fixed an issue with the German localization related to the application of a particular setting in custom presets.
- Fixed an issue in which a scheduled task had trouble mounting a disk image when uncommon permissions conditions were present (such as when a system is bound to an Active Directory directory service).
- The "This volume will be bootable" message is back, though with a caveat that I have to insist upon from a support perspective. Many external hard drive enclosures still manage to screw up the boot process, and it's impossible for me to determine if that is going to happen for any particular user from within CCC.
- When backing up to a subfolder, CCC now overlays an icon of the underlying volume on the folder icon in the task status panel.
- Scheduled tasks that specify a network volume as the destination are now aborted when CCC receives a sleep notification.
- Growl notifications should now work properly on Mac OS X 10.7 Lion with Growl 1.3.
- Email notifications now include the sender's full name.
- Fixed a couple minor bugs associated with email notifications.
- Fixed an issue in which the scheduled task window would be unresponsive while CCC waited for a response from an email server.
- Added support for sending email to servers that use a self-signed certificate. This support is disabled by default, see the documentation for details on enabling this functionality.
- Resolved a problem in which an errant filter would protect items in folders that were to be deleted, resulting in CCC reporting that it couldn't replace a particular folder or application.
- Fixed a minor 5-second shutdown hang associated with CCC scheduled tasks.
- Numerous tweaks to the advice that CCC offers for various error conditions.
- Fixed some Mac OS X 10.7 Lion-specific problems with the mounting of sparsebundle disk image files that are hosted on a network volume.
- If you're running an ad hoc task in CCC (e.g. click "Clone" in the main window), CCC will ask before deleting anything from the _CCC Archives folder. To avoid problems that would affect automation, this warning is not provided for scheduled tasks.
- CCC is more proactive about dealing with the 4GB file size limitation of FAT32 volumes. Files larger than 4GB will now be excluded by default, and you'll get a warning of this exclusion before running the task.
- Fixed a hang that would occur at the end of a scheduled task while CCC tried to unmount the destination volume (network volumes only, Mac OS X 10.7 Lion only).
- Made some cosmetic changes concerning ZFS support.
- Mail account settings on Mac OS X 10.7 Lion are now properly imported and populated into the email notifications tab of the scheduled tasks window.
- The path to a disk image file is now properly provided as the fourth argument to postflight scripts.
- Fixed a 30 second hang that would occur while saving changes to scheduled tasks on Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger. For every OS, though, saving scheduled tasks should be considerably faster.
System requirements:
• PPC / Intel, Mac OS X 10.4.8 or later
Carbon Copy Cloner 3.4.4 is donationware
For more information, visit:
http://www.bombich.com/index.html
Canon U.S.A. Introduces Three PIXMA Office All-in-One Printers at Affordable Prices
Canon U.S.A., Inc. has announced the addition of three PIXMA Office printers to the lineup: the MX512 Wireless 1 All-In-One (AIO), MX432 Wireless 1 AIO and the MX372 AIO. These new print, copy, scan and fax models help continue this tradition and are designed to provide users with the confidence that the final output will match the original concept.
Available for both new wireless models is the Canon Easy-PhotoPrint mobile app 2, for use with compatible Apple and Android smart phones and tablets, allowing documents to be scanned on the printer and sent directly to a compatible device. Users can print PDFs of documents that were created with the app directly from compatible devices, whereas in the past only photos could be printed.
With 802.11n Wi-Fi capability, the PIXMA MX512 and MX432 Wireless Office AIO Printer models are capable of a high-speed network transfer rate. Setting up a wireless network can be easily accomplished with the press of one button when using Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS). Canon U.S.A. offers its award-winning service and support online for all of its consumers looking to set up any of its wireless products at:
http://www.usa.canon.com/wirelesshelp
Here, customers have access to video tutorials and manuals to assist in setting up a wireless printer.
"With many people making the decision to work from home, it is more important than ever to have a printer you can rely on to produce high-quality prints no matter the project," says Yuichi Ishizuka, executive vice president and general manager, Imaging Technologies and Communications Group, Canon U.S.A. "Canon has recognized this trend and will continue to make products designed to satisfy the needs and wants of the end user."
When making the decision on which printer to purchase, an important factor that users look for is overall ease-of-use. Taking this into account, Canon has developed the FastFront system and an exposed user interface included on all three new printers. Located on the front of the printer, the FastFront system allows users to open the front panel of the printer to easily access both the ink and paper for easy replacement. Each printer utilizes the two-cartridge ChromaLife 100 ink system 3 one black cartridge and one color cartridge providing high-quality prints on plain paper, while still delivering high-quality photo prints. With the exposed user interface, the user can scan or copy important documents without having to worry about the document blocking the control panel and buttons required to perform the task.
Unlock Your Printing Creativity
Full HD Movie Print 4 software has been included on all three models, allowing users to produce clear images of frames from videos captured on compatible HD Canon EOS and PowerShot Digital cameras. With Easy-PhotoPrint EX software, consumers can unlock their creativity with a variety of fun filter effects such as Fish-Eye, Miniature, Toy Camera, Soft Focus and Blur Background. An added bonus included with these new printers is exclusive printable content through CREATIVE PARK PREMIUM 5 website. The content on this site includes projects users can print to enjoy with their family, such as Eric Carle greeting cards and photo frames as well as calendars to keep track of important business meetings and appointments.
Canon PIXMA MX512 Wireless, MX432 Wireless and MX372 Office AIO printers
The affordable and easy-to-use Canon PIXMA MX512 Wireless, MX432 Wireless and MX372 Office AIO printers deliver high-quality output whether on plain or photo paper at a maximum color resolution of 4800 x 1200 dpi 6. For the first time in a Canon printer at the $149.997 price point, the PIXMA MX512 Office AIO printer will feature a Dual Function Panel for easy navigation through menus, an Ethernet port for increased connectivity and Auto Duplex printing to help conserve paper usage. This new model also features a 2.5-inch TFT screen for easy viewing of menus and images while producing output at approximately 9.7 ipm for black-and-white documents and approximately 5.5 ipm for color 8.
The PIXMA MX432 Wireless Office AIO printer delivers output at approximately 9.7 ipm for black-and-white documents and approximately 5.5 ipm for color 8. The PIXMA MX372 Office AIO printer provides output at approximately 8.7 ipm for black-and-white documents and approximately 5.0 ipm for color9. All three printers can produce a 4 x 6 borderless photo 9 in approximately 46 seconds 10.
The PIXMA MX432 Wireless and MX372 Office AIO printers will have an estimated selling price of $99.997 and $79.997, respectively.
For more information, visit:
http://www.usa.canon.com/rss
Notes:
1 Wireless printing requires a working network with wireless 802.11b/g or 802.11n capability. Wireless performance may vary based on terrain and distance between the printer and wireless network clients.
2 Requires Canon Easy-PhotoPrint for iPhone app, available for free on the App Store, or Canon Easy-PhotoPrint for Android app, available for free in the Android Market. Compatible with iPhone 3G, 3Gs, 4, and 4S; iPod touch mobile digital devices; and Android devices running Android OS 1.6 or later.
3Canon cannot guarantee the longevity of prints; results may vary depending on printed image, drying time, display/storage conditions and environmental factors. See http://www.usa.canon.com/chromalife100 for additional details.
4 Full HD Movie Print allows printing from HD or Full HD "MOV" movie files created by Canon EOS Digital SLR or PowerShot digital cameras. From PC, or Mac with Intel processor. Print quality is determined by video resolution. Function does not upscale video resolution. Requires Canon ZoomBrowser EX 6.5 or later, or Canon ImageBrowser 6.5 or later.
5 To access CREATIVE PARK PREMIUM from a qualifying printer, all of the software and the full set of Genuine Canon Inks that came with the printer must be properly installed
6 Resolution may vary based on printer driver setting. Color ink droplets can be placed with a horizontal pitch of 1/4800 inch at minimum.
7 Availability and prices, of all products are subject to change without notice. Actual prices are set by individual dealers and may vary.
8 ISO/IEC 24734 define the default print speed measurement methods. Print speeds are the averages of ESAT in Office Category Test for the default simplex mode, ISO/IEC 24734, excluding time to print the first set. See http://www.usa.canon.com/ipm for additional details.
9 Supported paper types for borderless printing are as follows: Photo Paper Pro Platinum, Photo Paper Plus Glossy II, Photo Paper Plus Semi-gloss, Photo Paper Glossy and Matte Photo Paper.
10 Photo print speeds are based on the standard mode driver setting using photo test pattern(s) and select Canon Photo Paper. Print speed is measured as soon as the first page begins to feed into the printer and will vary depending on system configuration, interface, software, document complexity, print mode, types of paper used and page coverage. See http://www.usa.canon.com/printspeed for additional information.
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