TechCrunch » macbooks

Behind Apple's Blowout Quarter: iPhones, MacBooks And China

Erick Schonfeld — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 22:28:13 +0000

It is difficult to understate what a run Apple is on right now. Look no further than the blowout earnings Apple reported today for its second fiscal quarter ended in March. Revenues were up 83 percent to $24.7 billion, and profits grew even faster, up 95 percent to $6 billion. Growth was strong across the board (with the exception of iPad sales which suffered from supply constraints and built up “the mother of all backlogs,” according to CFO Peter Oppenheimer).

But if you dive into the numbers (click table to enlarge), you will see that three areas drove the overall growth more than any others: iPhones, MacBooks and China. The iPhone now makes up half of Apple’s revenues, or $12.3 billion in the quarter. Sales grew 126 percent in dollar terms, with unit sales up 113 percent. In the U.S. alone, iPhone sales were up 155 percent. Bringing Verizon on board helped goose the numbers, but AT&T wasn’t exactly complaining either.

As fast as U.S. sales of iPhones keep growing, it is not the fastest growing region. In “Greater China,” iPhone sales were up 250 percent. Sales of all products across Asia Pacific were up 151 percent to $4.7 billion. In contrast, Europe is a $6 billion region for Apple, and the Americas is $9.3 billion. “Greater China” (which presumably includes Hong Kong, Taiwan and other Asian markets, could soon become Apple’s second largest region.

Finally, Apple’s MacBook sales were up 59 percent to $3.5 billion in the quarter. Those MAcBook Airs are very popular. Half of all Macs (both portable and desktop) sold were to new customers switching from Windows. Sales from its own retail stores were up 90 percent overall in the quarter to $3.2 billion. And the iTunes store (which is all music, movies, and apps) is now doing $1.4 billion a quarter.

So what happened to the iPad? Apple sold only 4.7 million iPads, compared to 7.3 million in the December quarter. To some extent consumers delayed purchases in anticipation of the iPad 2, which came out at the end of the quarter. Apple sold every iPad 2 it could make, but supply issues impacted how many it could manufacture. Apple says the iPad supply issues are now resolved, at least for this quarter.

And what about Steve Jobs (who is on medical leave and was not on the earnings call)? Asked about Jobs’ active role in the company, acting CEO Tim Cook responded: “We do see him on a regular basis. He is involved in major strategic decisions. I know he wants to be back full time as soon as he can.”

Apple's latest patent: Macbooks with built-in projector

Matt Burns — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 13:40:34 +0000

Apple recently filed patent for a pico projector to be integrated into their notebooks. Like the sun-lit display we wrote about a few days ago, it’s probably too early to expect much. Nonetheless, this is an interesting idea and I can see it being useful for projecting presentations or pictures when you don’t have access to an external projector.

From the patent, it seems like the projector could be placed either in the back of the notebook or one the side. Either way, it would enable you to make your boring business presentation even less exciting by reading every word of your PowerPoint slide. The filing also includes some sensors that would be used to detect the position of the surface so that the image can be adjusted accordingly. While I would like to see this on a Macbook soon, I’m certainly not getting my hopes up.

Something nasty in Apple's lappy juice?

Contributor — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 03:00:34 +0000

Just bought a shiny new MacBook? Ready to slap a 3rd party memory upgrade in it? Not so fast, sunshine.

Turns out that some of the users on the Apple Support Discussion forums are finding out that the approved 3rd party memory upgrades are causing instability and lock-ups. Reports seem to indicate that only Apple brand RAM is working properly. Which is fine, if you are drinking the cider and don’t mind paying the premium for the Apple logo (as much as double the street price for DIMMs).

Of course, at the moment you can’t even buy the official Apple memory since they are out of stock.

So the best thing to do at this point is to sit and wait, or keep swapping out RAM until you find a set that will work (not dangerous at all). Either way, probably not the user experience Apple wants you to be having. Or is it?

[via jkOnTheRun]

MacBooks enter a golden new age of anti-piracy cruft: HDCP for all

John Biggs — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 09:45:50 +0000

It has come to pass that HDCP – High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection (or, in this case, DisplayPort Content Protection) – is now built into the new MacBooks to protect iTunes Store media. Most of the content is not protected but it seems some newer videos are, which means you can’t play them over a non-HDCP compliant TV or monitor.

While many of us just use the screen or iPods to watch the potentially protected films, this could have ramifications for those wanting to connect their laptops up to TVs without HDMI or DVI ports – namely TVs with only VGA or component/composite ports. It could also have ramifications on the Apple TV in situations where users have odd TV set-ups.

What is HDCP? It’s essentially a digital standard that tells your OS what you can display content on. If you connect your device to a project, as one high school teacher discovered while trying to play an iTunes video, the HDCP system will stop video from streaming to that device. If you connect it to an HDCP-compliant monitor then you’re in luck.

As someone who often and with great gusto downloads from the iTunes store – I have to pay for something sometime, right? – HDCP is just one more thing that will make me rethink this plan. As a Mactard, I’ve found that iTunes is the easiest way to grab goodies but with Amazon coming up behind I might be swayed. Oh, and the video in question? Hellboy 2? Do a quick search on ThePirateBay. I’m sure you’ll find it in non-HDCP encrypted format.

CrunchBase Information

Apple

Information provided by CrunchBase

MacBooks ruling 33% of US notebook roost

John Biggs — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 11:09:10 +0000

Well isn’t that nice: 33% of people surveyed by ChangeWave who intended to buy a laptop in the next 90 days would pick an Apple. Most interestingly, they’d probably pick up a MacBook Pro rather than an entry level machine.

Twenty-six percent of respondents reported planning on buying about an Apple desktop – considerably less than Dell’s 37 percent. Respondents said that Dell was a “great value.”

via Electronista

Tablet BrickBook! Third party, of course, and expensive as hell

Devin Coldewey — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 22:45:03 +0000

If you really like explaining things to strangers, you’ll love having one of these. Because every passer-by will stop, think, and then ask the obvious question. And you’ll have to talk about where you got it and how much it cost and why hasn’t Apple done this yet, blah blah blah. If you’re prepared for that, this looks pretty hot. They’ll take the brand new aluminum MacBooks (not MBPs yet, I think) and turn them into the kind of tablet you wish was already on offer.

It’ll cost you $1300 for the privilege, though — and that’s not including the laptop you have to buy. I guess that’s the price you have to pay to be the coolest kid on the block. That is, until the real multi-touch sub-$1000 Mac tablet hits the market. So basically forever.
[via the Register]

Apple: No 9600M GT capabilities for you!

Devin Coldewey — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 02:55:10 +0000

Back when we announced ahead of time that Apple was switching to an NVIDIA chipset, you might have taken a look at what was then already suspected of being the new laptops’ GPU. Notice if it promises anything the MacBook Pro doesn’t have? Like say some major selling points like Hybrid SLI and on-the-fly switching between the two GPUs? That’s funny; other laptops can do it!

Apple has confirmed that the chipset and GPU are capable of working together, and of switching between modes without logging out, as well. They can’t yet, though, and no explanation was really given. Did it not work right but shipping time was upon them? That’s my guess, as a solution that requires the user to log out is incredibly annoying and very unlike Apple. Let’s hope they fix it with a firmware upgrade — you know, like they enabled my MacBook Pro’s H.264 hardware decoding.

5 reasons damaging your MacBook is a worse idea now than ever before

Devin Coldewey — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 21:58:05 +0000

Let me preface this by saying that I have a first generation MacBook Pro that has endured like a champ, going around the entire world with me, twice. It’s survived heat, cold, humidity, and when I left my bag in a bush somewhere in the hills of Luxembourg during a rainstorm, it shook off the wetness like a Portuguese water dog. So this isn’t about the durability of Macs in general. But this new generation seems to carry a little more risk with it. So here are a couple reasons why you might want to be a little more careful with that new Mac.

1. The glass screen is irreparable if broken (obviously)
We have no reason to doubt the strength of Apple’s glass display covers (iPhone and iPod Touch breakages were far below what everyone expected), but think about this: say a rogue spoon at a coffee shop puts a crack in your glass, but the screen works fine. You can’t just replace the glass; it’s fused with the entire upper half — inseparable from the LCD screen. So instead of replacing a $30 pane of glass, you’re repairing a $500-$600 display. Oops!
Estimated cost: $500

2. The unibody design means you can’t just replace the dented bit
Remember the white MacBooks that turned yellow when you used them? Luckily, you could replace the plastic top panel for a pretty low cost. With my MBP, a ding on the right side meant a similarly low-intensity solution. Now, the new manufacturing process is fantastic, and guarantees a more rigid and durable frame, but if something should happen to it… well, either you’re hammering it out or you’re paying for a whole new “brick.” And somehow I doubt they switched to this new process because it was so cheap.
Estimated cost: $250 (arbitrary)

3. It tells on you if you spill
There are moisture sensors at the bottom of the keyboard and the top of the trackpad, right where you usually spill your coffee. If they’re tripped, it’s a dead giveaway when sending it in for repairs or reselling it that it’s had a wet past. I spilled on mine once, screamed at the coffee shop, and flipped my MBP over in time to get most of it out. I then pried off the keys and sopped up all the rest. I’ve had absolutely no problems with it since then, and it may as well have not happened. And speaking of spills…
Estimated cost: 1/4 of the resale value, or the cost of a replacement

4. The keyboard is nearly impossible to fix or replace
Check out this great teardown of the MacBook Pro. Certainly takes them a while to get to the keyboard, doesn’t it? Oh, it’s the last page. That’s because between you and the keys is every single other component in the laptop. Get some grime in there? Some tea? Hope you like screws, because there are about 80 of them to take out and put back if you want to wipe that sucker down.
Estimated cost: $150 or you can do it yourself and break it trying

5. You’ll go down in history
The first guy to crack his nice MacBook screen with a Wiimote or whatever (why not) is going to be laughed at forever. Similarly the first guy who botches a keyboard replacement or sits on the thing and bends the chassis into a butt shape. Every gadget and catch-all site on the internet will have you, your name, and your photo up within hours, with headlines like “This is why we can’t have nice things” and “What a nerd!!!” Is that what you want? No? Then for god’s sake, be careful!
Estimated cost: Whatever your dignity is worth to you

So. Scared yet? Personally, I’m not letting the threat of expensive damages hang too heavily over my head. After all, as I mentioned, my currently lappy has taken abuse of every kind and is still going strong — although the battery is shot. It’s always been an costly proposition buying a Mac, and the prospect of losing a little more cash isn’t going to scare anybody off.

But god damn am I going to laugh when you sit on that thing next week.

Netbooks and Apple dominating Amazon's tech top 10

Devin Coldewey — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 16:35:56 +0000

How exciting! I’ve always been skeptical of the actual popularity of netbooks, but I think this makes them out to be actual successful products and not just industry darlings. I don’t think anybody is surprised at the new MacBooks being on the top 10 in computers and hardware, but I am surprised that the white ones and the last-generation MacBook Pros are still selling better. I expected a lot of opportunistic buying of the old models, but more than the new ones? I’ll list the top ten here, you know, just in case all our traffic takes Amazon down.

1. Acer Aspire One (white)
2. Acer Aspire One (blue)
3. Old MacBook Pro (cheap)
4. EeePC 1000H (10-inch)
5. White MacBook
6. Old MacBook Pro (expensive)
7. Samsung T260HD 26″ LCD
8. New MacBook (2.0GHz, 160GB)
9. EeePC 1000HA (10-inch)
10. New MacBook (2.4GHz, 250GB)

NVIDIA drops a little more info on the new 9400M

Devin Coldewey — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 23:13:16 +0000

If you’re wondering about those new MacBooks and what exactly it is that NVIDIA contributed, they’ve got you covered. There’s not a lot of testing yet (we’ll cover it as soon as it happens), but it’s enough for them to say that the 9400M is a huge improvement over the last generation MacBooks’ integrated graphics. “Industry-Changing” is, I think, somewhat of an exaggeration considering laptops have been doing high-powered graphics and gaming for years, but the 9400M certainly is a good solution for a MacBook-type computer.

Video walkthrough of the new MacBooks [Update: Keynote video is live]

Devin Coldewey — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 21:15:37 +0000

Apple has provided video in case our hands-on and previews didn’t hit the spot. You get a look at the manufacturing process, the multitouch stuff you may not be familiar with, and a lot of floating MacBooks. Like, a million of them.

If you want more hi-def stuff, there’s more here or you could just order one and get it in super-hi-def.

Update: Watch today’s press conference here.

Apple rumor postmortem: what didn't happen today

Devin Coldewey — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 19:20:27 +0000

Love it or hate it, the time before an Apple announcement is a time for rumors. They flutter about the flame of credibility, at the very boundary of reasonable doubt, and then, come the event, are cruelly incinerated by the harsh heat of truth. Actually, it’s not nearly so picturesque; it’s more like “people want pageviews so they propagate the most fanciful BS ever to hit the tip line.” So in the wake of Apple’s eventful announcement today, let’s see what was floating around in past weeks that did not come to pass.

The Amazing $800 Apple
I had hopes like everyone else, but in the back of my mind lurked doubt. Was it to be a netbook? A tablet? Just a cost reduction for a basic MacBook? Nobody knew for sure, but for some reason the number 800 just stuck in people’s minds. We heard otherwise towards the end. As it turns out, they kept the same pricing scheme almost exactly — and really, $1000 isn’t that much more.

Touchscreen Trackpad
How awesome/retarded would this have been? This kind of hybrid isn’t Apple’s style, but that doesn’t mean we won’t see the idea used somewhere else. I could use a little touchscreen to complement my desktop, so why not include one stuck onto my laptop?

The “Mystery Port”
Ha! I totally nailed this one. Everyone was freaking out about this ambiguous-looking port on the front left corner, saying oh it’s a dock, oh it’s a robot port, etc. Only I was a bastion of skepticism, saying it was nothing at all. Only I! And some commenters, I guess, who I got the idea from. Actually, it’s a battery indicator thing, so it’s not exactly nothing, but it sure ain’t what all them folks said it were.

Blu-Ray all up in there
I can’t believe anyone took this one seriously. Apple is about downloads. They’ve capitalized so much on the iTunes store and the digital distribution model so much that to make a commitment to a new disc format would be ridiculous. Furthermore, people don’t want Blu-Ray on their laptops. Not only is the better picture less appreciable than on a big screen, but most people still want to make regular DVDs of their iMovies and such. They don’t need, or want, the capability to write 50GB to a disc over like half an hour.

Other than that, the other rumors turned out pretty much right. Brick manufacturing process, no 17″ update, new MacBooks (with black/metallic color scheme), new Cinema Display.

So… what’s coming in January, then?

Mystery port on the new MacBooks: Dock? Snack drawer? Band-aid?

Devin Coldewey — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 02:14:26 +0000

By now you must all have seen the Chinese MacBook body spy shots, generally agreed upon by the internets as being genuine. The shot above has generated a flurry of speculation as to what that little taped-up port could possibly be.

I think the idea of a dock-display is interesting but ultimately kind of fanciful. It would heat up like crazy, and the display would be quite difficult to engineer (not to say impossible, but possibly in the “eh, never mind” realm of difficulty), not to mention expensive as hell. Furthermore, all the ports are on the left-hand side. That leaves a “docking” solution three options to make those ports available to the user:

Have all the ports connect inside the dock to extenders — male ports connected to female ports on the exterior of the monitor. Verdict: no way, a single crooked pin and the whole interface is borked. Alignment would be hard as a mofo.
Have the ports “pass through” — i.e. the dock slot is open on both sides. Verdict: not likely, it’d be ugly first of all, and second, ergonomically it’s bad to have people pushing on the side that is docked.
Have ports on the dock/monitor and pass the information through just the dock connector. Verdict: no chance, the connector is barely big enough to pass all the display information through, to say nothing of powered USB, Expresscard data and so on.

Don’t get me wrong, here — it’d definitely be cool; I just don’t see a way they can make it work.

Personally, I’m in the camp of those who think it’s just a piece of tape. It’s ergonomical suicide, they say, to have anything coming out of the laptop so far towards the front (and I agree). So, lacking an obvious answer and dismissing the dock idea as pie in the sky, take a close look at it. Doesn’t it actually look like something taped on, not over? Like a little RFID security tag, or just a little pad that might be stuck on to prevent rubbing during transport? At any rate, we’ll find out Tuesday.

Spore incompatible with older MacBooks

Peter Ha — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 20:15:10 +0000

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but if your MacBook is equipped with an Intel GMA 950 graphics chipset then you’re SOL. If you’re unsure then go to “About This Mac” and trickle down to the “Graphics/Displays” tab. If you have a GMA X3100 or a MacBook Pro then you’re okay. However, if you’re running Boot Camp then things seem to be fine. Just thought you should know.

PC SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
FOR WINDOWS XP
* 2.0 GHz P4 processor or equivalent
* 512 MB RAM
* A 128 MB Video Card, with support for Pixel Shader 2.0
* At least 4 GB of hard drive space, with at least 1 GB additional space for creations.

FOR WINDOWS VISTA
* 2.0 GHz P4 processor or equivalent
* 768 MB RAM
* A 128 MB Video Card, with support for Pixel Shader 2.0
* At least 4 GB of hard drive space, with at least 1 GB additional space for creations.

When launching the game, some Microsoft Vista users may receive a warning about running out of address space along with a link to the Microsoft Knowledge Base. If you see this message, it is recommended that you follow the instructions and go to the website listed in the message to update your system.

For computers using built-in graphics chipsets, the game requires at least:
* Intel Integrated Chipset, 945GM or above.
* 2.6 GHz Pentium D CPU, or 1.8 GHz Core 2 Duo, or equivalent.
* 768 MB RAM

Supported Video Cards
NVIDIA GeForce series
FX 5900, FX 5950
6200, 6500, 6600, 6800,
7200, 7300, 7600, 7800, 7900, 7950
8400, 8500, 8600, 8800
9600, 9800, GTX 260, GTX 280

Intel® Extreme Graphics
GMA 950, GMA X3000, GMA X3100

ATI Radeon™ series
9500, 9600, 9800
X300, X600, X700, X800, X850
X1300, X1600, X1800, X1900, X1950
2400, 2600, 2900
3450, 3650, 3850, 3870,
4850

Laptop versions of these chipsets may work, but may run comparatively slowly. Standalone cards that are installed in vanilla PCI slots (not PCIe or PCIx or AGP), such as some GeForce FX variants, will perform poorly. Intel integrated chipsets featuring underclocked parts, such as the 945GU, GML, and GMS, will not perform adequately.

Integrated chipsets such as the ATI Xpress and the NVIDIA TurboCache variants will have low settings selected, but should run satisfactorily.

Please note that attempting to play the game using video hardware that isnt listed above may result in reduced performance, graphical issues or cause the game to not run at all.

The NVIDIA GeForce FX series is unsupported under Vista.

MAC SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Spore requires at least the following:
* Mac OS X 10.5.3 Leopard or higher
* Intel Core Duo Processor
* 1024 MB RAM
* ATI X1600 or NVIDIA 7300 GT with 128 MB of Video RAM, or Intel Integrated GMA X3100
* At least 4 GB of hard drive space, with at least 1 GB additional space for creations.

This game will not run on PowerPC (G3/G4/G5) based Mac systems (PowerMac).

For computers using built-in graphics chipsets, the game requires at least:
* Intel Integrated Chipset GMA X3100
* Dual 2.0GHz CPUs, or 1.7GHz Core 2 Duo, or equivalent

Supported Video Cards
NVIDIA GeForce series
7300, 7600, 8600, 8800

ATI Radeon™ series
X1600, X1900, HD 2400, HD 2600

Intel® Extreme Graphics
GMA X3100
This game will not run on the GMA 950 class of integrated video cards.

via Kotaku

Apple blows up in over-$1000 computer sales: 66 percent!

Devin Coldewey — Mon, 19 May 2008 18:15:06 +0000

Good show, old bean! Everyone knows that Apple is gaining market share in pretty much every sector, but even in their niche (the luxury market) who knew they had such a commanding lead? Fortune reports via Apple Watch (or vice versa) that Cupertino has increased their share of the $1000-plus computer market from 15% in January of 2006 to 66% by last count.

What could have precipitated this incredible growth over the last two years? If you ask me, or any child on the street, you’d be told “It’s the MacBooks, stupid.” Yes, the phenomenally successful MacBook was launched in May of 2006, priced at near enough as to be exactly $1000, and its big brother the Pro was released several months earlier.

I tend to give Apple a lot of flak for their cooler-than-thou marketing, heavy markups, and absurd fan base, but they make great computers and I’m glad they’re reaping the benefits (of fools and their money).

Is this WiMAX card destined for MacBooks?

Devin Coldewey — Sat, 17 May 2008 19:30:15 +0000

Intel doesn’t want you to know, but the FCC made this public anyway. That company they call Chipzilla is releasing a new Wi-fi/WiMAX combo card with the same form factor as the one in current MacBooks — you know, the ones due for a refresh soon. Coincidence?

At the moment, these cards have no way of functioning in OSX because there are no compatible drivers. That can be fixed quickly by Apple and Intel, and my guess is that a driver release is how we’ll find out whether the new MacBooks will have ‘em.

MagStay Pro makes your MagSafe stay Magged

Matt Hickey — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 21:00:03 +0000

[photopress:MagStaySmall.jpg,full,center]

I like a company that says “not everyone’s going to need or even understand our product” and is up-front about it, especially if it’s a product I really don’t get. The MagStay Pro is just such a product.

I think the MagSafe power adapters Apple built into its portables is just great, but some people apparently find themselves unplugging their laptops when they don’t mean to. Sure it’s a little annoying, but some folks just get livid. This the MagStay.

It attaches to the USB port next to the power port and holds the power cable firmly in place, so you don’t accidentally unplug it.

Kudos to ThoughtOut for coming up with this, and also for not talking down to those of us who don’t “get it”.

MagStay Pro [Thoughout.biz]

Add a Second Hard Drive to Your MacBook, MacBook Pro

Matt Hickey — Sat, 06 Jan 2007 00:56:14 +0000

, laptop drives top out at about 200 GB, one-fifth the capacity of a desktop. MCE Technologies, however, has come up with a way for MacBook and MacBook Pro users to push the envelope.

By removing the optical drive from your Mac portable, MCE’s OptiBay makes room for a secondary hard drive with capacities of up to 160 GB, for a theoretical maximum of 360 GB. Pricing starts at around $250, and includes the hard disk and an external enclosure for your displaced optical drive, so save for a little portability, you really lose nothing in the modification.

We’re not sure exactly what this would do for your Mac’s warranty, we’ll leave that up to you to research. But if you’re looking for a way to optimize your Mac’s storage, this is an interesting place to look.

OptiBay [Product Page]