Other Sites
Leopard 10.5.7 Causes Freezing, Overheating Issues?
50% Of IT Professionals Surveyed Considering Dumping Windows
Hard Disk Vs. Solid-state Drive - Is An SSD Worth The Money?
Did Apple Downgrade The New MacBook Pro's SATA Interface?
Macworld Reviews MacBook Pro 15-inch, Mid 2009
Safari 4's Best Improvements Are Under The Hood
OS X: Apple On The Road Ahead
Apple Acknowledges Lack Of "Ignore Trackpad" Options For Some Laptops
6 Ways to Correctly Delete Applications
Can Apple Survive its Move Toward Mass Market?
Engadget's In-Depth MacBook Pro (mid 2009) Impressions
Lombard PowerBook: Almost a Pismo for Less
The Mac Night Owl: So Maybe Apple Didn't Cave on Pricing
Leopard 10.5.7 Causes Freezing, Overheating Issues?
inquisitr.com says:
The latest update to Apple's Leopard operating system 10.5.7 is causing widespread problems with Mac products including regular OS freezing and overheating issues (both possibly related.)
I know this because my two year old Macbook Pro has been constantly freezing since I installed the update, and when I started searching for a solution it took about 5 seconds in Google to discover that I was far from alone.
For the full commentary visit here:
http://tinyurl.com/nda6z4
50% Of IT Professionals Surveyed Considering Dumping Windows
CNNMoney's David Goldman notes that Windows 7 is coming soon, but anticipates that a correspondent PC sales rebound coming with it seems unlikely....
Despite the positive reviews, says Goldman, most analysts say Windows 7 alone is not enough to jumpstart lackluster PC sales. While Windows 7 will be shiny and new version of the world's No. 1 OS, the operative question is whether are consumers will be willing to give Microsoft a second chance after the debacle of Vista.
Particularly interesting is that Goldman cites a a survey of more than 1,000 IT professionals by Dimension Research that found 50% saying they were considering leaving Windows altogether rather than switch to Windows 7, with Mac OS X the OS they're most likely to switch to.
For the full commentary visit here:
http://money.cnn.com/2009/06/12/technology/pc_sales/index.htm
Hard Disk Vs. Solid-state Drive - Is An SSD Worth The Money?
Computerworld's Lucas Mearian poses the question:
"Hard disk vs. solid-state drive -- is an SSD worth the money?"
Mearian notes that Solid-state disk (SSD) drives are all the rage among techies but are are also much more expensive than hard-disk drives which offer 300GB of capacity or more for less than $100, and that while most consumer-grade SSDs from leading vendors now cost around $3 per gigabyte, traditional hard drives are far cheaper, costing about 20 to 30 cents per gigabyte for 2.5-in. laptop drives and 10 to 20 cents per gigabyte for 3.5-in. desktop drives, so should you buy a high-capacity HDD for little cash or plunk down hundreds of dollars more for a fast, but lower-capacity, SSD?
You can check it out at:
http://tinyurl.com/mrr4xq
Did Apple Downgrade The New MacBook Pro's SATA Interface?
Computerworld's Lucas Mearian also notes that while Apple's latest MacBook Pros come with a number of upgrades to processor speeds, RAM and hard drives, and reduced price tags, Apple also reduced something else: the serial-ATA (SATA) drive interface, which dropped from 3Gbit/sec on earlier MacBook Pros to 1.5Gbit/sec. on newer ones.
For the full report visit here:
http://tinyurl.com/nf8yrw
Macworld Reviews MacBook Pro 15-inch, Mid 2009
Macworld's Jackie Dove reports:
The 15-inch MacBook Pro has historically been the most popular model in Apple's pro notebook lineup. It s certainly easier to tote around than its more powerful and hefty 17-inch big brother, though its feature-to-price ratio compared favorably. Now, with Apple's debut of a 13-inch MacBook Pro, the standard-bearer is now relegated to the middle ground. While this update to the 15-inch category delivers better value and even more specification options, the upgrades to this newly appointed mid-2009 model are more nuanced than flashy.
For the full review visit here:
http://tinyurl.com/l7fgzt
Safari 4's Best Improvements Are Under The Hood
Macworld's Nathan Alderman says:
Remember the DeLorean from Back to the Future, leaving tracks of flame in its wake as it shot into another era? That s the impression one gets when comparing Safari s performance to that of its closest rivals.
For the full review visit here:
http://www.macworld.com/article/141191/2009/06/safari4.html
OS X: Apple On The Road Ahead
Apple has posted a paper outlining where its going with OS X. A few snippets:
Since 2001, the breakthrough technologies and rock-solid UNIX foundation of Mac OS X have made it not only the world s most advanced operating system but also extremely secure, compatible, and easy to use. Snow Leopard continues this innovation by incorporating new technologies that offer immediate improvements while also smartly setting it up for the future.....
64-bit computing used to be the province of scientists and engineers, but now this generational shift in computing gives all users the tools to apply the power of 64-bit to speed up everything from everyday applications to the most demanding scientific computations. Although Mac OS X is already 64-bit capable in many ways, Snow Leopard takes the next big step by rewriting nearly all system applications in 64-bit code and by enabling the Mac to address massive amounts of memory. Now Mac OS X is faster, more secure, and completely ready for the future.
OS X And The Exploding Power Of Graphics Processors
Over the last few years the performance of graphics processing units (GPUs) has grown exponentially as measured in gigaflops....
With graphics processors surpassing speeds of a trillion operations per second, they re capable of considerably more than just drawing pictures. OpenCL in Snow Leopard is a technology that makes it possible for developers to tap the vast computing power currently in the graphics processor and use it for any application....
OpenCL automatically optimizes for the kind of graphics processor in the Mac, adjusting itself to the available processing power. OpenCL provides consistent numeric precision and accuracy, fixing a problem that has hampered GPU-based programming in the past....
OpenCL stands for Open Computing Language. It's a C-based programming language with a structure that will be familiar to programmers, who can simply use Xcode developer tools to adapt their programs to work with OpenCL.... OpenCL is an open standard that s supported by the biggest names in the industry, including AMD, Intel, and NVIDIA.
To read more, click here:
http://www.apple.com/macosx/technology/#opencl
Apple Acknowledges Lack Of "Ignore Trackpad" Options For Some Laptops
MacFixIt says:
Many people have noticed that on newer MacBook and MacBook Pro computers, the option for ignoring trackpad input when typing is missing. In a recent knowledgebase document, Apple acknowledges the lack of this feature and discusses the reasoning for its removal.
For more information, visit:
http://www.macfixit.com/article.php?story=2009061810251015
6 Ways to Correctly Delete Applications
AppStorm's Joshua Johnson says:
Have you ever deleted an application from your Mac by simply dragging it to the trash? It turns out there s more to most applications than what you see in the Applications folder. Many apps spread system files all over your hard drive that can be a pain to track down. This means when you simply throw an app in the trash, you re leaving behind associated content that unnecessarily eats up space on you Mac.
Fortunately, there are several third party solutions that save you the work of hunting down and deleting all these stranded files. Here s a quick rundown of six of them, let us know which ones you use!
You can check it out at:
http://tinyurl.com/m3vsly
Can Apple Survive its Move Toward Mass Market?
IT Management's Adrian Kingsley-Hughes says:
At the recent Worldwide Developer Conference 2009, Apple deviated from the norm and announced some very significant price cuts on selected products. Has the economic downturn made the Cupertino giant shift stance from high-end luxury to selling to the masses?
For the full commentary visit here:
http://tinyurl.com/l7by2w
Engadget's In-Depth MacBook Pro (mid 2009) Impressions
Engadget's Nilay Patel riffs on the new MacBook Pros, saying he's a little perplexed, observing that Apple didn't really make enough changes to warrant a whole new review of the unibody lineup, and that using one of the new machines feels pretty much like using most any recent Mac, while on the other hand it's becoming clear that all the seemingly minor changes will have a big impact down the line - especially the move to sealed-in batteries across the board, in which Patel agrees with my own assessment that it's a decision that will have decidedly mixed consequences.
Patel thinks these changes impact the 13-inch and 15-inch models quite differently -- the $1,199 13" configuration still essentially being an entry-level consumer machine, and consumers and professionals don't have the same needs.
For the full commentary visit here:
http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/18/macbook-pro-early-2009-in-depth-impressions/
Lombard PowerBook: Almost a Pismo for Less
Low End Mac's Phil Herlihy says:
The PowerBook G3.... Lombard I own was sourced from eBay. It came with a new battery, 2x DVD-ROM drive, 128 MB RAM, and a 400 MHz G3 (1 MB L2 cache) processor. No AC adapter or hard drive were included. It ended up costing $60 including shipping fees....
The "UFO" style AC adapters that originally come bundled with this system [Editor's Note: strictly speaking, the Lombard shipped with the compact rectyangular AC adapter that cane with the earlier WallStreet, but was replaced with the UFO adapter in a recall program). are known for fraying and shorting out internally, and they are usually expensive. I snagged an eBay after-market adapter for $15 with free shipping. It's cable is thick and has held up well to abuse so far.....
I purchased a 5400 rpm 60 GB hard drive for $25 from another eBay vendor. Adding two sticks of 256 MB PC66 RAM for another $25 and a Belkin PCMIA Wireless Adapter for $10, the machine was completely maxed out. The Belkin adapter has a natively supported chipset, so it's viewed as a normal AirPort Card.
The grand total: $135....
For the full commentary visit here:
http://lowendmac.com/ed/herlihy/09ph/lombard-powerbook.html
The Mac Night Owl: So Maybe Apple Didn't Cave on Pricing
I really find it humorous to read some of the chatter about Apple Inc. that suggests they were forced kicking and screaming to slash prices on their uber-expensive notebooks at the WWDC. The theory goes that Apple looked at the sales reports and concluded that potential customers were rebelling at paying an Apple Tax, particularly in a down economy. So they went back to their number crunches, pulled out their calculators or whatever, and decreed that they must make their products cheaper to keep sales moving along at a good clip.
Here's the URL for today's commentary:
http://www.macnightowl.com/2009/06/so-maybe-apple-didnt-cave-on-pricing/
Notes: You can also access our new RSS feed, available at:
http://www.macnightowl.com/rss
Or our new Atom feed at:
http://www.macnightowl.com/atom
Tags: News ď Tech-Industry ď
