MacSwitching.com > Intel-based Mac

The changes were made to all three consumer MacBook models, Cupertino, California-based Apple said in a statement today. Prices for the 1-inch-thick machines start at $1,099.

Some had speculated that the computers would run off flash-based memory or have brighter, energy-efficient screens, but the new machines have only minor adjustments: the lowest-end one will now come standard with 1 GB of RAM and an 80-GB hard drive, instead of 60 GB. It will run at 2.0 GHz instead if 1.88. The higher-end MacBooks receive similarly small bumps: from 2.0 GHz to 2.16, and each of their hard drives jumps up 40 gigs, to 120 (white) and 160 GB (black). Their Super Drives will also become a little bit faster, from 6x to 8x with dual-layer support.

Sales of the consumer MacBook and higher-powered MacBook Pro notebooks accounted for 60 percent of Apple’s computer revenue last quarter.

The European Connection

Italians who received news of the spring 2007 MacBook update directly from Apple may have also been tipped off as to a change in the 13.3-inch displays used for the systems.

In its announcement, Apple Italy listed a 250cd/m2 brightness figure for the top 2.16GHz black model. The company has previously refrained from mentioning the display’s specifications in the past, suggesting that the brightness was a selling point for at least the top system.

Europe as a whole also saw the price of the systems drop despite the change, with each system dipping 70 Euros to 1,049, 1,249, and 1,449 Euros respectively.

Final Cut Studio 2 shipping delayed

Apple has given signs that its Final Cut Studio 2 video editing tools will slip past their intended May release window.

Visitors to Apple’s online Apple Store who place new orders are told that both the full version and its two upgrades will ship within 2-3 weeks, putting deliveries into early June. And despite showing an intended release date of May 15th, Amazon as of this writing is currently listing a 1-3 week shipping timeframe for new buyers.

A loud fix as well…

Apple vows to fix speaker issue

“Not all Apple users enjoy being blown away by their systems nor are they from the generation that believes “loud” is the norm,” said one report. “There has been no explanation as to why Apple took the direction it did in regards to this issue.”

Skype-lovers to-do list:

– go & check on www.skype.com,
– log in with your account data (unless you’re already logged in or you use Firefox)
– get some minutes (or SMSs) for FREE!, should be 15 minutes (but check effective call rates!)

As stated on Skype web site, this will work on Fridays for the full month of December!

Mac users only 😉

Update: some users pointed out that this offer may be related to selected countries only.
UK, France & Italy seem to be working fine…

It’s been exactly one year.
Check here…
On November 9th, 2006 I had the opportunity to trade in my (trusted) old G4 1.67 GHz PowerBook in favour of a brand new MacBook Pro 2.16 GHz, with Core 2 Duo processor, 2 GB RAM and so on…
Thanks to Enry & Donato for this…

Why am I writing this only now?
Because I got very little time to use it, and had even less time to save all my data/software to ensure a smooth transition from one Mac to another.

I’ll be writing more about this direct experience on Universal Binary, Windows on Mac & so on…

Following the recente MacBook Pros with Core 2 Duo processors, Apple renews the MacBook family with the same new Intel processor.
Apple says it’s up to 25% faster than previous MacBooks.

Not much changes, beside the priceline.
Same configurations, 1.83 and 2.0 GHz for the white model, 2.0 GHz for the beloved black one.
Same RAM, starting from half a Gig up to 2 Gigabytes, same disk configurations,same 6x dual-layer SuperDrive for two out of three configurations.

Maybe there will be some disappointment about the graphics card, it’s still the same Intel GMA 950 used in previous MacBooks.

Rumors have been talking about enhanced graphics chipset but it simply didn’t happen.

Prices range from the 1.83 GHz white MacBook US $1,099, to the 2.0 GHz white MacBook for US $1,299, up to the 2.0 GHz black MacBook, for a suggested retail price of US $1,499.

Let’s move from Core Duo to Core 2 Duo!
Apple announces the new MacBook Pros: 15″ and 17″ with 2,16 GHz or 2,33 GHz Core 2 Duo processors, X1600 with 128 and 256 MB (even on the 15″), Dual Layer SuperDrive and Firewire 800 back on board!

Same specifications as before: Front Row, built-in iSight and much more but, as it seems from first these MacBook Pros show off a new logic board as well.

The only remaining issue is about heating problems: are they now solved?
Is now the coolest notebook computer on earth even a cool device in Farenheit/Celsius???

In early 2007, the recently-announced Apple iTV will debut but right now we’re able to have a look at it and time to think what we will with it!
In short, could the iTV be considered just like a well-grown-up version of the Airport Express, in terms of streaming (video) content wirelessly from iTunes?
Check out for yourself: as far as it concerns myself, I’m looking forward for some smart hacking of this cool device.

Click here to watch the CNET first look video on Apple’s iTV

Three new models: 17″, 20″ and a gorgeous 24″, Core Duo 2 64 bit processor ranging from 1.83 GHz to 2.33 GHz.

Up to 500 GB hard disk and three different graphics board: from Intel’s GMA 950 to ATI’s Radeon X1600 up to NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT with 128 MB of DDR3 memory.

Prices from US$ 999 up to US$ 2.249 for the high-end 24″ with 2.33 GHz model.

Check the new iMac specs on Apple’s web site.

As a Mac-switcher (and still using/owning some Windows PCs) I’m always looking for stuff I can use on my Powerbook G4 and iMac too.

Benq keyboard model X530 got my attention while walking in one of those retail stores for its sleek design and, quite clear, its low price, less than $20.

A wireless keyboard with optical mouse just like thousands others you may have seen; light keyboard with a good touch with USB connection and a split PS/2 connector for older PCs.

Strangely enough the box says it’s just for Windows 9X/2000/XP: funny I bet on this error and won.
Plugged it in the Powerbook and boom (just like Steve says) it worked. No driver, just a dialog box asking what kind is the detected ‘external keyboard’.

I’m still arguing why most products never state they work with Macs too.

Check Benq web pages for more details.

News.com reports on Virtualization software manufacturer VMware has announced a product designed to enable Mac OS X users to run multiple PC operating systems simultaneously without needing to reboot the computer. [here for the full story on VMware on Mac]

VMware is a long-time well-known software for Windows and Linux users, which has allowed virtualization of almost any OS running on Intel processor.

Right now, Parallels has estabilished a good beachhead with its VM (virtual machine) software running on Intel-based Mac as we reported here and, since Leopard will feature Boot Camp, multiple OS running on Intel Macs will be a really hot topic in the near future.

A short (and obvious, I admit it) personal story (much like a hands-on case-study) about really working Mac-switching and Windows interoperability.

I attended a (quite) long business meeting last week in a wonderful hotel.

The meeting room was not so wonderful: no Internet connection and few AC outlets… nice furniture but not so biz-oriented.
I was the only one with a Mac (Powerbook G4 1.67 GHz), all other guys were carrying Win-portables (I still do have an XP box, I confess); the scenario: 10 notebooks, plenty of paper and a Coffee pipeline.

What happened at 10.30 AM was ridicolous: the Excel spreadsheet we were working on has so changed so much from the original (9.30 AM) printed version that we decided to share the (only one) digital version across all participants.
I’ve been told to participate just as a ‘technical viewer’, I had no opportunity to prepare, setup and think a smart solution… before the meeting.

The first solution was to pass it over all other 9 notebooks with USB pendrives.
Thank God, we almost immediately realized it was going to happen several times throughout the day.
Thank Apple (and me) I suggested sharing the Excel file through the obvious: a wireless LAN.
All notebooks had Wi-Fi (mostly were Centrino-equipped) but quite a few guys never used it.

What I did:
– plugged my Airport Express in, just the power plug [no Ethernet/WAN needed 😉 ]
– used Airport Admin to remove (my) usual MAC address filtering and security features so that the AE was completely open and available,
– set up my Powerbook as a FTP server, copying the Excel file in the default FTP directory from the dreaded USB pendrive.

Then, I wrote on a Post-It the FTP address and asked all people to switch their Wi-Fi device on, check that my AE was in the available wireless LANs, log in that address with Internet Explorer (no one using Firefox, sigh).

Just typing

ftp://10.0.0.2/theholyexcelfile.xls

did the magic for all people.

My Powerbook eventually became the pseudo-server of the meeting: the money-and-figures guy moved on it and worked on it (telling me “Wow, it’s a lot like Excel on Windows!”…) the whole day.

Biz-meeting mission accomplished: apart from biz-related results, it was clear to most people that a little white box with an apple on it IS DEFINITELY NOT JUST FOR Mac (OR iPod) users.

Lesson learned:
– biz guys are really accidental notebook users: some never noticed F2 is the ‘edit-key’ in Excel,
– wireless LANs are easy to setup, provided you don’t worry that much about security…
– unlike free meals, Mac-Win interoperability exists,
– always check for Windows and Norton Firewall and, just for the working session, disable it,
– with a USB printer shared through Airport Express, success would be complete!
– Airport Express hasn’t reached a lot of potential users (AKA buyers), most people think a hotspot is a heavy device and cannot come from Apple…
– most people looked at the AE thinking it was an iPod power supply…
– there has to be a better way for biz meetings than sharing paper-digital-paper Excel files,
– I know that collaborative tools for cooperative spreadsheet working are available, but this was a quick-and-not-so-dirty solution!

Remember, just like your parents, you can’t choose biz-meeting people!

It may sound weird, but running Windows on a Mac has become a worldwide sport.

You may already know (don’t you?) about Apple’s Boot Camp and Parallels, until now the only two way to get a ‘Start’-based OS into your Mac.

Enter Wine, a quite old solution, well known to most Linux users, to have just a few Windows apps running under Mac OS X.

[…] Though the move to Intel has already opened up Windows options for Mac users, the planned release of CrossOver Office highlights the fact that Apple’s systems are becoming far more compatible with the Windows world.

“That’s why it is so hard, and why not so many applications work,” White said. […]

Check here for the News.com full story.

A MacBook surprise?

New test data between Apple’s black and white Intel-based MacBook systems has revealed unexpected results, showing numerous speed differences favoring the white model. “Testing the white 2GHz MacBook and comparing the results to the published scores of the black model, we saw small performance differences in many of the tests, with the edge going to the white model in most cases,” Macworld wrote. The iMovie and Compressor MPEG-2 Encoding tests appeared to favor the white MacBook more than other tests, according to the report.

So what?
More tests, which included swapping the hard drives inside both Macs, suggested that the hard drives accounted for the differences.

http://www.macnn.com/articles/06/06/13/macbook.test.data/