April 20th, 2011

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

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… → Read More

April 5th, 2010

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

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. → Read More

December 8th, 2008

Something nasty in Apple's lappy juice?

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… → Read More

November 18th, 2008

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

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… → Read More

November 11th, 2008

MacBooks ruling 33% of US notebook roost

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. → Read More

October 31st, 2008

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

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… → Read More

October 22nd, 2008

Apple: No 9600M GT capabilities for you!

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… → Read More

October 16th, 2008

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

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… → Read More

October 16th, 2008

Netbooks and Apple dominating Amazon's tech top 10

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… → Read More

October 15th, 2008

NVIDIA drops a little more info on the new 9400M

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… → Read More

October 14th, 2008

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

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. → Read More

October 14th, 2008

Apple rumor postmortem: what didn't happen today

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… → Read More

October 12th, 2008

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

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. → Read More

September 8th, 2008

Spore incompatible with older MacBooks

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. → Read More

May 19th, 2008

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

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… → Read More

May 17th, 2008

Is this WiMAX card destined for MacBooks?

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… → Read More

March 7th, 2008

MagStay Pro makes your MagSafe stay Magged

[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… → Read More

January 5th, 2007

Add a Second Hard Drive to Your MacBook, MacBook Pro

, 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… → Read More