October 15th, 2008
R.I.P. Apple matte screen displays
The thing that bums me out the most about yesterday’s MacBook announcements is Apple’s move to all-glossy displays. I’ll make no bones about it – I loathe glossy displays – especially on a notebook computer.
Apple will spin it that blacks look darker and colors are more saturated, blah, blah, blah. It’s a load of garbage. How are we expected to read the screen when the glare is practically blinding? (Don’t even get me started on fingerprints).
Notebook computers are designed to be used in different locations, and like you I frequently use my matte-screen MBP outside. The glare from a glossy display (especially on a sunny day or if you’re wearing a white shirt) makes the computer more difficult to use outdoors, or even in a car. Apple’s choice of fashion over function is completely unacceptable and it needs to offer a matte-screen option if they’re going to win me back.
You can see the awful, mirror-like glare for yourself in the new MacBook video that Apple posted (screen shot above). I thought that they’d try to hide it but it’s almost like they’ve gone out of their way to promote the glare on the screen. It’s horrible!
I first wrote about my disdain for glossy displays back in January with the announcement of the MacBook Air. What started as an option on the MacBook Pro, became the only choice on the MacBook. Then the iMac. The MacBook Air. Now Apple’s gone 100 percent glossy across their entire line (as I warned they would several times): notebooks, desktops and monitors. Bah! If you need a notebook and detest glossy as much as I do, the only remaining options are the leftover white MacBooks for US$999 or the old MBP17.
Related:
Does the glossy screen of the new iMac suck?
Death to the glossy display!
Loading …October 15th, 2008
MacBook Air gets Penryn and MBP17 gets minor bump
Although they didn’t get fancy glass trackpads or unibody aluminum frames (like Apple’s other new notebooks) the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro 17-inch received minor speed-bumps when Apple announced its new MacBooks yesterday.
The MacBook Air went from:
- 1.6 GHz Intel C2D, 800MHz Front-Side Bus, 2GB 667MHz DDR2, 80GB HDD - US$1,799
- 1.8 GHz Intel C2D, 800MHz FSB, 2GB 667MHz DDR2, 64GB SSD - US$2,598
to:
- 1.6 GHz Intel C2D, 1066MHz FSB, 2GB 1066MHz DDR3, 120GB HDD - US$1,799
- 1.86 GHz Intel C2D, 1066MHz FSB, 2GB 1066MHz DDR3, 128GB SSD - US$2,499
The new 120 and 128GB capacity options are sure to be popular with potential buyers of the MacBook Air but it was the faster front side bus (up from 800 to 1066MHz) and memory (up 667 to 1066MHz DDR3) that caught my interest the most. I can’t wait to see real-world benchmarks of the new MBA to see how the increased bus frequencies test out.
Update: Intel has confirmed that Apple quietly replaced the processor in the MacBook Air with the latest 45nm Penryn processor. (Apple had previously been using a custom 65-nm Merom chip.)
But new Intel processors did make a debut in the refresh of the MacBook Air. Instead of the Small-Form-Factor (SFF) 65-nanometer Merom chips, Apple has gone with with the more advanced 45-nanometer Penryn SSF processor. Penryn chips typically boast either 3MB or 6MB of cache memory versus the 2MB or 4MB that the older mobile procesors offer. (Cache memory speeds performance.)
The Penryn processor in the MBA comes with 6MB of cache memory (up from 3MB) and uses a more power-efficient design. (Tip: MacRumors).
I’m disappointed that the MBA remains stuck at 2GB though. Everyone knows that 4GB is practically the minimum amount of RAM you need these days – especially if you use virtualization.
The MacBook Pro 17-inch got even less of a speed-bump, going from:
- 2.5 GHz Intel C2D, 2GB , 250GB HDD - US$2,799
to:
- 2.5 GHz Intel C2D, 4GB , 320GB HDD - US$2,799
The “new” 17-inch MacBook Pro retains the same 800MHz frontside bus and 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM as its predecessor, so it’s unlikely that it will be much faster overall. Apple appears to have excess 17-inch (and white MacBook) inventory on hand that its trying to sell before releasing a new 17-inch design to match the new MacBooks and MBPs that were announced yesterday.
One upside to the MBP17 is that it’s still available with a matte display, which Apple now refers to as “antiglare” unlike all of its other notebooks which are now 100 percent “glossy” screens. Ugh.
Update: AppleInsider reports that the revised 17-inch MBP “missed the boat” from China and won’t be arriving until early in 2009 due to optical drive and display issues with the new machine.
What’s your take on the new MBA and MBP17?
October 15th, 2008
MacBook (Late-2008) unboxed and disassembled
That madman of disassembly, a.k.a. Kodwarisan, has already unboxed and completely disassembled the new MacBook (Late-2008) that was announced yesterday.
He has posted 20 excellent pictures of everything including the easily removed hard drive (above), logic board, centrifugal fan, right down to close up shots of Nvidia and Intel chips (below) which dominate the tiny logic board.
Update: CNet’s Crave TV has posted a video review of the new MBP.
October 14th, 2008
More on Apple’s new Mini DisplayPort (updated)
One of the announcements coming out of Cupertino is that their MacBooks now ship with a new video out port called the Mini DisplayPort (complete with funny capitalization and lack of space between the words). It means that you’ll have to remember to bring a US$30 dongle/adapter with you everywhere you go.
Part of the next-generation DisplayPort industry standard, the new Mini DisplayPort can drive up to a 30-inch widescreen display and is designed to complement HDMI. The Mini DisplayPort is just 10 percent the size of a full DVI connector.
From Wikipedia:
DisplayPort is a digital display interface standard (approved May 2006, current version 1.1 approved on April 2, 2007) put forth by the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA). It defines a new license-free, royalty-free, digital audio/video interconnect, intended to be used primarily between a computer and its display monitor, or a computer and a home-theater system.
DisplayPort has an advantage over HDMI in that it is royalty free which makes it cheaper to implement (the HDMI royalty is 4 cents per device). DisplayPort’s largest supporter is Dell which has released two computer monitors that support DisplayPort and HDMI.
Adapters are available from Apple for using the MacBook’s Mini DisplayPort with older generation VGA ($29), DVI/HDMI ($29) and Dual-Link DVI displays.
Update: Ann R. Thryft wrote a detailed comparison of DisplayPort and HDMI for Electronics Design News (EDN) last month.
Loading …October 14th, 2008
New notebooks: What Apple didn’t announce
While Apple delivered a lot of new features in the new MacBooks today (glass trackpads, unibody contruction) and they also removed one – Firewire from the MacBook. There are some other key features that that were rumored to arrive in Apple’s new notebooks that just didn’t pan out.
- Blu-Ray. Jobs answered this in the Q&A segment by saying “It’s great to watch the movies, but the licensing of the tech is so complex, we’re waiting till things settle down and Blu-ray takes off in the marketplace.” Apple would rather have you rent movies and TV shows from iTunes than on an optical disc from someone else.
- Touchscreen display. With the move to Multi-touch trackpads on the MacBook and MacBook Pro, some people extrapolated that Apple might move to multi-touch screens as well. The problem is that touchscreens are expensive (especially 13, 15 and 17-inch ones), so it probably won’t happen for a while. When asked about touchscreens, Jobs responded “so far it hasn’t made a lot of sense to us.”
- HDMI. When asked why Apple chose the Mini Display Connector port over HDMI Jobs responded that HDMI is limited in resolution. Phil Schiller responded that for typical computer use, display port is the connector of the future.
- Mini-DVI. It was rumored that Apple would replace the full-size DVI port with a Mini-DVI port, but instead opted for Mini Display Connector port.
- $800. A super-low, US$799 price point was rumored for the low end MacBook, but that didn’t work out. The new entry level MacBook is US$999, US$100 lower than the previous model.
- Netbook. A question came up in Q&A about if Apple would create a “netBook” commonly defined as a small, light, low-cost, subnotebook optimized for Internet access and word processing. Jobs called the netbook “a nascent market that’s just getting started.” I find this question curious because Apple already has a thin and light MacBook in the Air and I don’t see them adding a fourth notebook model.
October 14th, 2008
Confirmed: MacBook drops Firewire
It’s confirmed. Apple has dropped the Firewire port from the new MacBook.
The port lineup for the new MacBook (L to R):
- MagSafe power port
- Gigabit Ethernet port
- Two USB 2.0 ports (up to 480 Mbps)
- Mini Display Port
- Audio line in
- Audio line out
- Kensington lock slot
The previous MacBook ports (above):
- MagSafe power port
- Ethernet port
- Mini DVI
- Firewire 400
- Two USB 2.0 ports (up to 480 Mbps)
- Audio line in
- Audio line out
- Kensington lock slot
What do video professionals think about this?
Loading …October 14th, 2008
MacBooks: out with the old, in with the new
Apple today completely revamped their MacBook and MacBook Pro notebooks and they’ve clearly taken the enclosures up another level. The new unibody aluminum enclosures look sleek and professional and the black bezel around the monitor makes the notebooks match the latest iMacs. The new, aluminum MacBook is especially nice compared to the previous model’s cheap-looking, polycarbonate case
Let’s take a look how they look at Apple.com:
Old MacBook:
New MacBook:
The old MacBook Pro:
The new MacBook Pro:
What are your thoughts on Apple’s new notebook iron? er, aluminum?
October 14th, 2008
Highlights from the Apple notebook event
Highlights from the Apple notebook event at Apple headquarters in Cupertino.Steve Jobs takes that stage and introduces Tim Cook who discusses Apple’s 2-3x the market growth, Vista and their retail successes.
- US retail market share grows from single digits to 17.6%
- From 15 - almost 50% penetration at Universities
As Jobs begin talking about notebooks, Jonathan Ive (SVP Design) comes out to discuss the previous MBP design and the new “Brick” fabrication technique where they start with a 2.5 pound block of aluminum whittle it down to around a quarter of a pound. Ive calls them “uni-body” enclosures.
“We discovered if we started with a thick piece of aluminum we could make a lighter and stronger part. So we make it from a solid piece of aluminum.”
Steve comes back to discuss Nvidia and their new NVIDIA GeForce 9400M GPU.
- Chipset and GPU on one die
- 70% of the die area is the GPU
- 16 parallel graphics cores
- 54 Gigaflops of performance
- up to 5 times faster than Intel integrated graphics
New Multi-touch glass trackpad
- 39% larger area
- Multi-touch for gestures
- Glass surface
- Entire trackpad is the button
- Multi-button via software
- Four-finger gestures
October 13th, 2008
Raw meat iPod case
Now I’ve seen everything.
This raw meat iPod case is from a Japanese company called Solid Alliance. It’s not made of actual raw meat but it sure looks convincing.
October 13th, 2008
MacBook revision could drop FireWire port
There’s a very spirited discussion going on at MacRumors about the new aluminum MacBook’s port lineup. If purported spy shots of the unreleased machine are to be believed, Firewire could missing from the complement of ports on its left side.
The downside of this configuration is that you might not be able to use Ethernet and Firewire at the same time. And like the move to Mini-DVI on the MBP, it means that you’ll have to carry a dongle.
SponsoredWhite Papers, Webcasts, and Downloads
- Next Generation Mobility Now Sprint
- The Road Ahead for Business Process Management SAP
- Yankee Group: Exploring the Benefits of 3G Wireless Integrated into Business-Class Routers Sprint
Recent Entries
- R.I.P. Apple matte screen displays
- MacBook Air gets Penryn and MBP17 gets minor bump
- MacBook (Late-2008) unboxed and disassembled
- More on Apple’s new Mini DisplayPort (updated)
- New notebooks: What Apple didn’t announce
Most Popular Posts
- Rumor Mill: Some juice on the new MBP (updated)
- Toxic Mac Pro's emitting benzene?
- Would you buy an all-screen notebook computer?
- Apple notebooks to be fabricated from a solid "brick" of aluminum
- New MacBooks and MacBook Pros: $800 and Mini-DVI (updated)
- iPhone software 2.2 beta sports UI tweaks; no push
Top Rated
- Toxic Mac Pro's emitting benzene?+33 votes
- Would you buy an all-screen notebook computer?+20 votes
- The mother of all notebook hard drives: Scorpio Blue+15 votes
- Rumor Mill: Some juice on the new MBP (updated)+11 votes
- Podcaster done for now+9 votes
- New MacBooks and MacBook Pros: $800 and Mini-DVI (updated)+9 votes
- iPhone developer makes $250k in two months+9 votes
- Apple notebooks to be fabricated from a solid "brick" of aluminum+8 votes
Premier Vendor Content Whitepapers, webcasts & resources from our Power Center Sponsors
Archives
Favorite Links
Blogroll
ZDNet Blogs
- A Developer's View
- All About Microsoft
- The Apple Core
- Between the Lines
- BriefingsDirect
- Collaboration 2.0
- Community, Incorporated
- The Core Truth
- Dev Connection
- Digital Cameras
- Ed Bott's Microsoft Report
- Emerging Tech
- Enterprise Alley
- Enterprise Anti-matter
- Enterprise Web 2.0
- Feeds
- Forrester Research
- Googling Google
- GreenTech Pastures
- Hardware 2.0
- Home Theater
- iGeneration
- Irregular Enterprise
- IT Facts
- The IT Grind
- IT Project Failures
- Laptops & Desktops
- Lawgarithms
- Linux and Open Source
- Managing L'unix
- The Mobile Gadgeteer
- On Sustainability
- Rational Rants
- The Semantic Web
- Service Oriented
- Smartphones and Cell Phones
- The Social Web
- Software & Services Safari
- Software as Services
- SOHO Networking
- Storage Bits
- Team Think
- Tech Broiler
- Tom Foremski: IMHO
- The ToyBox
- The Universal Desktop
- Virtually Speaking
- The Web Life
- ZDNet Education
- ZDNet Government
- ZDNet Healthcare
- Zero Day
- BNET Industries
- Check out BNET's newest resource for managers and executives. Need to do research on your competitors? Don't have time to read every trade pub? BNET Industries is the new source for daily news, insights, and research on 11 major industries and 9,000 public companies.
-
- The technology industry from a different angle
-
- See what's hot in the auto industry
-
- Stay on top of the energy industry
