Macworld has some interesting, contrarian advice about buying a Mac these days.
A couple of years ago, pro users would never consider a low-end iMac or MacBook portable for work: it just wouldn’t be powerful enough.
But because Apple is using powerful dual-core Intel chips across its entire line, the difference between machines is blurring.
After running a battery of tests, MacWorld concludes that for most people, a new iMac or MacBook Pro is good enough — pro, power users included. The savings add up to $1,000 or more.
… for most mainstay applications, the high-end iMac and MacBook Pro models are plenty fast (the 3.06GHz build-to-order iMac even beat the Mac Pro in some of our tests). Even Adobe Photoshop, a heavy-duty program that conventional wisdom has long argued should be run only on a high-end system, works acceptably well on just about any Mac (unless you’re editing gigantic files).
Written by Leander Kahney on May 8th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Hardware and iPod.
A new limited-edition, Europe-only R2-D2 DVD Projector now has an integrated iPod dock for projecting the Star Wars saga onto your living room wall. Earlier versions of the Artoo didn’t have an iPod dock. The projector is limited to 4,000 units, and costs € 2799 — about $4,300.The dock is compatible with the 1G and 2G iPod nano,* and 5G iPod with video.*(Facts corrected, thanks to reader Mario Panighetti)Link.
Written by Leander Kahney on May 8th, 2008 with no comments.
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If you’re a road warrior who relies on having a phone/email device on you at all times, then you know there’s nothing worse than a dead battery, especially on the iPhone, where you can’t swap it out for a fresh one. There have been plenty of top-up solutions that use the 30-pin dock-connector port on the the iPhone, but many of those were originally designed for use with the iPod, and they offer only limited charging capability.
Mophie has released the first battery extender to garner “Works with iPhone” certification from Apple. The Juice Pack contains a rechargeable lithium polymer battery that will boost your iPhone’s battery life by up to 250 hours of standby, 8 hours of talk, 6 hours of Internet access, 7 hours of video playback, or 24 hours of audio playback. Or some really obscure number of hours of those features combined. Also keep in mind that it will add some extra bulk and heft to your slim iPhone, and you won’t be able to use it with most cases.
The device also has four LEDs on the back that tell you how much of the Juice Pack’s capacity is left, and a 30-pin dock-connector port on the bottom that lets you still sync the iPhone without having to take it out of the sled. It’ll cost you about $100 from Mophie’s online store or at retail locations.
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Written by Dan Moren on May 7th, 2008 with no comments.
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Okay I know it’s an oxymoron, but work with me here.
link to the full video
Mac|Life reports that a OQO user has managed to get Leopard up and running on his hand-held, complete with a pretty impressive video on YouTube. Ordinarily, I could give to shakes for some beige box running OS X, but the OQO device is actually cool enough that I’d actually buy one if we can get OS X on it stable.
Whats notable from the video is that OS X Boots Sloooooooow, and runs Slooooooow on the device. But I’m pretty sure there are some clever folks out there who work out a way to speed it up. And besides, OQO was founded by ex-Apple folks, so the design is pretty slick, too.
So the utter blasphemy of a Hackintosh aside, this really reinfoces the fact that consumers want something more than an iPhone, but less than a full-on Mac.
What do you think? If someone offered this thing commercially (Hopefully Apple) would you buy one?
Written by Leigh McMullen on April 30th, 2008 with no comments.
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Filed under: Still Speculating, just not wildly.
My inept Photoshop skills aside, Leander’s post below and the prevalence of the OSX86 project and similar efforts really speak to a single problem within the Macintosh lineup: The Tweener. That is, the Mac that is in between the Mac Mini and the MacPro. Apparently there are a WHOLE lot of folks who are desperate for this machine. Why it doesn’t exist is a mystery. Not only is there apparently a huge market for this kind of machine, there is an even larger market for “Certified Mac” after-market parts.
It’s a wonder that being the “Salesy” part of a duo that built their first computer in a garage, Steve doesn’t seem to get that enthusiasts want a computer they can “tinker” with.
As always I am gratuitously soliciting your comments as to what you’d like to see in this machine. My specs follow after the break
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Written by Leigh McMullen on April 17th, 2008 with no comments.
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