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Create An SD Card Startup Disk For New MacBook Pros
Apple MacBook Pro Firmware Update Causing More Problems With Third-party HDDs
Side Effects of the MacBook EFI 1.7 Update
More Affordable iMacs Expected By Fall
Mac mini Uses MacBook Components, Carries $376.20 Bill of Materials - iSuppli
Apple's Profit Margin On Mac minis Slimmer Than Usual
Is Apple's Mac mini a MacBook inside?
Windows 7 versus Snow Leopard: How Much Do Upgrades Really Cost?
Windows 7 Priced Below Vista, To Allow Upgrades From XP
Microsoft May Be First To Offer OS on USB Drives
Mac Users Suffer Safari 4 Woes
Low-end Mac & Cheese
MacBook Pro Upgrade Project Complete
CreativeMac Reviews 13-inch MacBook Pro
Computers And Cars More Powerful, Cheaper Than 20 Years Ago
Copyfraud: Poisoning The Public Domain
Apple Beats HP and Dell in Customer Satisfaction, Study Finds
Open Source And Apple (Design) Envy
Apple's Latest High-end MacBook Air Slower Than Predecessor
Is the New Macbook Air Actually Slower Than the Last One?
The Tech Night Owl! Satellites Slowly Taking Over
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Create An SD Card Startup Disk For New MacBook Pros
Macworld's Roman Loyola has posted a Video tutorial on taking advantage of the new 13- and 15-inch MacBook Pros' Secure Digital (SD) memory card reader support to create a SD Card startup disk.
In this video, Loyola shows how to create a SD card startup disk for the 13- and 15-inch MacBook Pros using an SD card with a capacity of at least 8GB, and the OS installation disc that came with the laptop.
You can check it out at:
http://www.macworld.com/article/141401/2009/06/mwvodcast114.html?lsrc=top_1
Apple MacBook Pro Firmware Update Causing More Problems With Third-party HDDs
The Register's Chris Mellor reports that Apple's new firmware 1.7 upgrade, which restores the 3Gb/s Sata link speed to MacBook Pros, has also caused some 'unauthorised' hard drives to fail, with an Apple Discussion board thread logging multiple comments about the issue, which may occur when the Apple-shipped drive in the MacBook Pro is replaced with a third-party drive and the fast Sata firmware upgrade is applied. Some users report their Sata II drives work fine after the update. Others say they are having problems with stock Apple drives. One poster reverted to a 1.5Gb/s Sata drive and the problem went away.
The Firmware 1.7 release contains the disclaimer: "While this update allows drives to use transfer rates greater than 1.5Gb/s, Apple has not qualified or offered these drives for Mac notebooks and their use is unsupported."
For the full report visit here:
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2009/06/26/macbook_firmware_drive_failure/
Side Effects of the MacBook EFI 1.7 Update
HardMac's Linathael and Lionel report that while Apple's EFI Firmware 1.7 update has been a relief for many new MacBook owners, it seems to created new issues for some users who are experiencing problems after applying update, including random freezes, and delayed HD access, but one user reports that everything is working fine when running BootCamp
For more, check out thisApple discussion forum:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2054387&tstart=0
For the full report visit here:
http://www.hardmac.com/news/2009/06/26/side-effects-of-the-macbook-efi-1-7-update
More Affordable iMacs Expected By Fall
Appleinsider's Kasper Jade says:
Apple, which recently shaved down the cost of its popular Mac notebook lines, remains on track to pass on similar treatment to its all-in-one desktop line by this fall.
For the full report visit here:
http://tinyurl.com/mjds4w
Mac mini Uses MacBook Components, Carries $376.20 Bill of Materials - iSuppli
iSuppli says that Apple Inc.’s latest Mac Mini desktop computer demonstrates once again that Apple knows how to make computers better, smaller, and more attractive. Such an achievement, however, comes at a premium and bears higher component costs due to the Mac Mini’s use of parts designed for mobile PCs, according to a dissection conducted by iSuppli Corp.’s Teardown Analysis Service.
You can check it out at:
http://www.isuppli.com/NewsDetail.aspx?ID=20432
Apple's Profit Margin On Mac minis Slimmer Than Usual
Appleinsider's Slash Lane says:
Apple's latest Mac mini continues to demonstrate the company's capacity to develop personal computers that are both smaller and more attractive than those of its rivals, but achieving its sleeker design footprint comes at the expense of razor-thin profit margins, a new tear-down cost analysis reveals.
For the full report visit here:
http://tinyurl.com/n4mqrx
Is Apple's Mac mini a MacBook inside?
CNET's Brooke Crothers says that the premium pricing of Apple's Mac mini desktop is due to its laptop lineage, according to a teardown analysis by iSuppli, noting that though it's probably no surprise to Mac Mini connoisseurs, the diminutive desktop bears higher component costs due to its use of parts designed for mobile PCs, iSuppli said in a report released Friday. In short, inside the Mini is a virtual laptop.
For the full report visit here:
http://tinyurl.com/mu8v7k
Windows 7 versus Snow Leopard: How Much Do Upgrades Really Cost?
ZNet's Ed Bott says:
In one of its brilliant "I'm a Mac" ads recently, Apple lampooned the complexity of Microsoft Windows with a dizzying display of fine print that eventually filled up the screen and covered up both characters.
I thought of that ad when I saw Apple's recent announcement that it was going to make its next Mac OS X upgrade, Snow Leopard, available as a $29 upgrade. That sounds so much better than the broad range of prices that Microsoft is going to charge its customers for Windows 7 upgrades. Too bad the $29 upgrade is not that simple. In fact, according to my analysis of Apple's own sales figures, 57% of Apple's customers who bought and paid for new Macs in the past five years are ineligible for those cheap upgrades.
For the full commentary visit here:
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=1114
Windows 7 Priced Below Vista, To Allow Upgrades From XP
Appleinsider's Aidan Malley reports:
Microsoft tried to appease disgruntled customers on Thursday with news lower Windows 7 upgrade prices as well as a concession that lets owners of the now 8-year-old Windows XP move up to the new operating system at a lower price.
For the full report visit here:
http://tinyurl.com/lk4bfv
Microsoft May Be First To Offer OS on USB Drives
Electronista reports:
Microsoft is considering offering Windows 7 on USB flash drives to make upgrades easier for systems without optical drives, a source claimed on Friday. The unnamed contact explains to CNET that the company is looking at the move to make it easier to upgrade netbooks in particular, which currently need either an external drive or else the elaborate creation of a bootable USB drive....
For the full report visit here:
http://www.electronista.com/articles/09/06/26/ms.to.offer.win.7.on.usb/
Mac Users Suffer Safari 4 Woes
ZNet's Adrian Kingsley-Hughes reports:
A robust beta doesn't necessarily result in a robust final release. It seems that while the beta version of Safari 4 for Mac was robust and reliable, the final release is causing Mac users a lot of headaches.
For the full report visit here:
http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=4795
Low-end Mac & Cheese
Low End Mac's Dan Knight says:
Apple is the BMW of the computing world. Well engineered, good looking, not cheap, and built to last.
Windows is the McDonald's of personal computing. Volume does not equal quality.
Macs are Catholic; PCs are Protestant - at least that's the opinion of Italian author Umberto Eco.
These are just a few of the analogies people use to try to clarify the difference between Apple, Macs, and the Mac OS and Microsoft, PCs, and Windows.
It's a challenge to come up with good analogies, and I've spent some time dreaming up a new one not based in automobiles, restaurants, or religion.
For years I toyed with the idea of doing Low End Mac & Cheese on April Fool's Day, but the concept never got off the ground. (Ditto for Low End McIntosh, celebrating the apple. And let's not even go to McIntosh Labs, the high-end audio company.)
Over the past week or so, I've come to the conclusion that macaroni and cheese is a good analogy....
Windows PCs are like store bought mac & cheese. They do the job, they don't cost much, and the vast majority of people find them satisfactory.....
Macs are like homemade macaroni and cheese. The focus isn't on cheap and/or fast. The focus is on quality. Anyone can mix up a box of mac & cheese, but not everyone has the patience or is willing to invest the effort to prepare a better meal - or use a better computer.....
The article also includes a couple of Dan's wife Waverley's Mac & Cheese recipes.
For the full commentary visit here:
http://lowendmac.com/musings/09mm/low-end-mac-and-cheese.html
MacBook Pro Upgrade Project Complete
Thomas Fitzgerald reports:
I've been tinkering with a little project for a while now. I have a two and a half year old MacBook Pro that I've been slowly adding new parts to in an attempt to breathe new life into it. I started by upping the RAM from 2GB to 4GB a while ago. I then proceeded to replace the hard drive with a 500GB model, replacing the 160 that was in it. Along the way my motherboard failed due to the infamous Nvidia graphics failure, but the upside to this was a brand new motherboard courtesy of Apple. Finally, I have replaced the rapidly failing battery. I would normally have just bought a new laptop, but there was nothing really wrong with this one, bar the above.....
For the full report visit here:
http://www.thomas-fitzgerald.net/2009/06/27/macbook-pro-upgrade-project-complete/
CreativeMac Reviews 13-inch MacBook Pro
CreativeMac's John Virata says:
A week before the annual WWDC, I sprung for a 2.4GHz MacBook with 4GB RAM and a 250GB hard drive. I liked the form factor, and I've been using a Logitech G11 Illuminated keyboard for several years, so I knew the benefits that a lit keyboard brings to the table.
After running the system for several days, fully enjoying it, the system started to randomly just shut off. At first I thought, maybe it was a sleep setting, but the issue became more frequent until the system became unusable. A trip to the local Apple store, confirmed the unit was DOA, and with a subsequent call to Apple, the system was sent back for a refund. All this transpired on the day that Apple upgraded the "unibody" MacBook to "Pro" status. So after a few days, I put in an order for the 2.26GHz 13-inch MacBook Pro with 4GB RAM and a 160GB hard drive. I also bought a 500GB 7200RPM Seagate Momentus drive and installed it. Upgrading the hard drive is a painless installation by the way.....
The latest TV ads may tell you that Windows notebooks run on the same processors and can get the job done in the same way, and they can be had for $400 less than $1199 list on the 13-inch MacBook Pro. Well, I must say that those commercials are sort of bunk in that they don't tell you the differences in operating systems and the difference in how memory is used,...
For the full report visit here:
http://creativemac.digitalmedianet.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=786439
Computers And Cars More Powerful, Cheaper Than 20 Years Ago
The Forth Worth Star-Telegram's Ed Wallace says:
In two decades computers' capacities have advanced and their prices have fallen, just like some cars.
Twenty years ago I stopped using DOS-based computers and switched to Macintosh, when Apple introduced the first Mac Cx. It had one megabit of RAM and a 20-megabit hard drive (which lasted six whole months, and replacing the Apple drive cost over $3,000). That one computer, a 13-inch color monitor, an 8-bit scanner and a few pieces of key software cost $10,000 at the time. This past weekend, as I finished digitizing my collection of 300 DVD movies for playback on my Apple TV, it suddenly struck me just how far the computer industry has come since 1989.....
For the full report visit here:
http://www.star-telegram.com/ed_wallace/story/1456629.html
Copyfraud: Poisoning The Public Domain
The Register's Charles Eicher reports:
The public domain is the greatest resource in human history: eventually all knowledge will become part of it. Its riches serve all mankind, but it faces a new threat. Vast libraries of public domain works are being plundered by claims of "copyright". It's called copyfraud - and we'll discover how large corporations like Google, Yahoo, and Amazon have structured their businesses to assist it and profit from it.
For the full report visit here:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/06/26/copyfraud/
Apple Beats HP and Dell in Customer Satisfaction, Study Finds
eWeek Mobile & Wireless's Michelle Maisto reports that Apple customers were more satisfied with the outcome of tech-support calls than HP or Dell customers, according to a study from Vocalabs. For this reason, the firm reports, the Apple customers were more likely than Dell or HP customers to buy again from their respective manufacturers according to a new study from Vocalabs...
...58 percent of Apple customers reported they were "very satisfied" with the call, versus 46 percent of Dell customers and 43 percent of HP customers. Only Apple, Dell and HP customers were included in the survey, which lasted a year and ended May 31, 2009....
For the full report visit here:
http://tinyurl.com/ks9hj9
Open Source And Apple (Design) Envy
CNET's Matt Asay says:
Walk the halls of any open-source conference and you'll see a large percentage of attendees with ironically un-open-source Apple laptops and iPhones. I've commented on the reasons for this before, but a new thought sprung to mind while reading Matthew Thomas' excellent (and old) "Why free software usability tends to suck."
Open-source advocates like good design as much as anyone, but the open-source development process is often not the best way to achieve it.
For the full commentary visit here:
http://tinyurl.com/qzurb6
Apple's Latest High-end MacBook Air Slower Than Predecessor
Appleinsider's Katie Marsal says:
Taken at face value, the specifications tied to Apple's most recent MacBook Air updates imply the latest pair of ultra-slim notebooks should handily outperform their predecessors, but a new report claims this notion only holds true for the slower of the two models.....
As part of its review of the new models published this week, Macworld compared the notebooks to their predecessors introduced last October: a 1.6GHz model with a 120GB (then priced at $1799) and a 1.86GHz version with 128GB solid-state flash drive (then priced at $2499). The results? Perplexing at best.
For the full report visit here:
http://tinyurl.com/l8crp9
Is the New Macbook Air Actually Slower Than the Last One?
Gizmodo's John Herrman says:
Sluggishness was a consistent gripe with two prior versions of the MacBook Air, especially compared to the rest of the MacBook line. The latest version has speedier processor options, but according to recent benchmarks, might have gotten slower. Huh?
In their review of June's upclocked, marked-down MacBook Air, MacWorld noticed some odd benchmark results. Compared to the Late 2008 MacBook Air, clocked at 1.86GHz, the new top-end model, clocked at 2.13GHz, couldn't quite keep up....
Confirming their suspicions, they found the June 2009 1.83GHz Air to be markedly slower than the Late 2008 1.83GHz model, despite nearly identical specs. So, what the hell?
To read more, click here.
http://gizmodo.com/5302911/is-the-new-macbook-air-actually-slower-than-the-last-one
The Tech Night Owl! Satellites Slowly Taking Over
In the 1998 action thriller “Enemy of the State,” Will Smith portrays a mild mannered labor lawyer who ends up on the wrong side of a government plot that resulted in the death of a member of Congress. He is pursued by agents using satellites to track every move he makes.
Here's the link to this story:
http://www.macnightowl.com/newsletter/2009/06/newsletter-issue-500/#over
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