Compiled by Charles Moore
and edited by
Dan Knight
- 2005.09.02
This Week's PowerBook, iBook, and Notebook News
General Apple and Mac desktop news is covered in The Mac News Review. iPod news is covered
in The iNews Review. News about
Apple's transition to Intel CPUs and other Intel developments is
covered in The Macintel Report.
All prices are in US dollars unless otherwise noted.
News & Opinion
Reviews
Products and Services
Tech Trends
News & Opinion
Tiger Runs 'Books Hotter - Back to Panther
Om Malik's Broadband Blog says:
"I am an early adopter - be it a new phone, a new music player
or a new operating system - I am first in line to snap up that
gizmo. It was this lust for new that prompted me to switch to Apple
Tiger almost instantly. A clean install, and seamless transition to
Tiger OS X was great for about an hour. After I had gotten
over the joy of iSyncing 6682 and 6620 with iCal and Apple Address
Book, I realized that I should not have been so eager to
upgrade.... The biggest problem was that my PowerBook 15 and
PowerBook 12, both after upgrades were running so hot that you
could cook an egg on them.
"I tried everything - turning off dashboard, turning off
spotlight, and well, everything that I could do. I could not figure
this out, and then problem only got more acute with fans running
all the time. (It was the fan-issue that resulted in a iMac G5
meltdown earlier this year!) The screen started to flicker. (I was
told that since Tiger offloads a lot of vital tasks off to the
graphics chip, normally if you have an older generation graphics
chip, it cannot do the task and causes some screen related
problems.)
"Unable to figure out what to do, I decided perhaps it was time
to switch back to Panther....
"To make sure that it was not a hardware issue - I left my
PowerBook 12 (which has been switched back to Panther) for the
entire day. 20 hours later, the machine is lukewarm. It is brisk,
and well feels like a real comfortable Mac I have been used
to...."
[Editor's note: I've noticed similar phenomena with my iBook and
PowerBook (550 MHz G4), although not nearly as extreme. Both
machines run hotter with Tiger than they did with Panther.]
Henrico County Battles Malware on Dell
Laptops
The Times-dispatch's Olympia Meola reports:
"Never in the history of Henrico County's laptop program have
the students' Apple iBooks fallen victim to a fast-spreading virus
or worm.
"Apples were not as prone to them, said Lloyd Brown, director of
technology for the Henrico school system....
"The Henrico school system will distribute Dell laptops to high
school students this year, a change from the past four years with
iBooks. That also means a switch from a Macintosh to a Windows
operating system that has been more prone to viruses.
"Student e-mail accounts, where many viruses spread, are not
being used."
Editor's note: "Not as prone"? There are no viruses or worms for
Mac OS X. "More prone to viruses"? Nearly 100% of viruses and
worms target Windows exclusively. I guess this is what they wanted
when they chose to replace their iBooks with Dells. dk
Intel's New Power Frugal Chips
Fairfax Digital's Garry Barker says:
"Rumour mongering reminds me of our cat. It's half Siamese and
possesses a special kind of feline evil. It will sit beside my easy
chair with a paw raised and fix me with a steely yellow eye. 'No,
cat. Not again!' I plead....
"Launching rumours is like that but, what the heck, raise the
paw and let's begin, recognising that good rumours need some facts
and, in this case, they are coming fast.
"Last week Intel released details of its new microchip;
power-frugal and allowing processors with four or more cores -
running cooler but working harder.
"How cool is in Intel's claim that its most economical chip will
draw only half a watt. A small torch draws about five watts, a
Pentium 4 about 95, as much as an average room light. Imagine
battery life on half a watt!
"Intel has since said it will port a complete set of compilers
and performance-enhancing libraries to Apple's Intel-based version
of Mac OS X for both single and multicore processors, matching
Windows and Linux. The tools will work as plug-ins to Apple's Xcode
development environment.
"The new chips mean the Pentium is history and Wintel geeks and
server farmers will have to find new ways of frying their breakfast
eggs.
"The first Intel PowerBooks look likely to use Merom, a notebook
chip due next year. The standard chip will consume five watts, but
that will drop to the aforementioned 0.5 watts with the
introduction of an ultra-lean version at the end of next year.
Pentium M chips draw up to 22 watts and in notebook form 5.5
watts.
Reviews
Grooving with Apple's iBook
Scripps Howard News Service's James Derk says:
"I've got kind of a funny story this week. Some of you may
recall that I told the story of my purchase of a gleaming new Apple
iBook in last week's column.
"Well, that column was picked up by MacDailyNews, which
suggested that every Mac reader send me a note welcoming me to the
Apple fold.
"Nice sentiment,
but I wasn't aware of this welcoming gesture when I was sitting in
my computer repair shop and decided to check my e-mail (using a
Windows machine, naturally) and received so many emails that
Outlook Express choked on its own lunch and died a horrible,
flaming death.
"So thanks for the nice notes, even if I have to FTP in and
manually retrieve them one by one someday.
"I am enjoying my iBook and am undoing my years of Windows
programming. I have found most of my applications, even.
"One of the first things I did was install a 1 gigabyte memory
chip from Crucial.com, which triples the installed memory of the
iBook. I would not say this would be required for most applications
because the iBook is plenty peppy out of the box, but I plan on
using the iBook for a couple of memory intensive applications going
forward."
12" iBook G4/1.33 GHz
Notebook Review's Jarrett Bato reports:
"I am a switcher, and this is my first Mac ever. In fact, the
last time I used a Mac was in high school and in a college physics
lab....
"My reasons for buying the iBook were complicated, to say the
least. Coming back from my first year of college, I wanted a laptop
to take advantage of the wireless Internet access abundant on
campus. I currently attend UC Berkeley, and there are tons of
hotspots around campus, and many more in local coffee shops andbookstores. I really wanted to take advantage of that, but I didn't
want that to be my only reason for buying a laptop. I thought there
were other ways of taking advantage of Wi-Fi, such as with modern
PDA's for example. I am accustomed to desktop computing, and my
current desktop, a Compaq with a non-64 bit AMD chip, will be
cherished for a long time. I have been accustomed to Windows, and
have had XP for about 3 years now.
"So why the Apple iBook?....
"Well, one reason is that I've already seen one beforehand, and
am very aware of its sturdy construction. I've never owned a laptop
before, and I decided that if I ever were to own one, it had better
be darn sturdy. In the dorms of Berkeley, there are iPods and
iBooks galore. So much so that my vision sometimes transforms to
high-definition while dance music fades in, then someone starts
dancing with the patented white earphones swinging about and an
iPod in hand. Then the music stops, and you realize a bum stole
someone's iPod and he was dancing around listening to Jeff Buckley
right smack in the middle of Telegraph. Who knew? Anyway, a lot of
people I personally know own an iBook. And coincidentally they all
sleep on the top bunks in their dorm rooms. I have witnessed the
dropping of an iBook numerous times from someone on their bunk bed
who fell asleep watching a streaming Astronomy lecture. This
happens repeatedly of course, since they're lazy and refuse to go
to lecture. And after all that, the iBook works like nothing
happened. So I am convinced of its sturdiness, in contrast to the
PC laptops I have used. The HP and Dell machines are hardly sturdy.
I just love how I can hold the iBook from its corner and be
confident nothing will break."
[Long and detailed owner review CM]
Products and Services
'Handmades' Protect Your 'Book from
Scratches
PR: Dear Mr. Moore,
I'm an Austrian student who produces bags to protect iPods,
notebooks and mobiles from scratches. Originally I made such a bag
for my friend's iPod and then we had the idea... we started with an
easy HTML-site and a post in my friend's favourite forum. Since
Monday we have a new online-shop:
http://handmade.kerstinberg.com
Daystar Announces End User Pismo G4 Upgrade
Kits
PR: Daystar Technology, an Apple Authorized Reseller and
Mac Technology Integrator, today announced the expansion of its
MAChSpeed G4 Pismo product offering.
Previously limited to "system based upgrades", where the user
had to send they PowerBook to Daystar for installation, the company
now offers complete upgrade kits. The kits allow Apple Techs or
technical end users to install the XLR8 MAChSpeed G4 Pismo, onsite,
without having to send their unit to Daystar .
Zero Downtime.
The new product offering allows customers to upgrade in a few
minutes, without any substantial downtime. No need to send their
systems out, no need to ship their existing card out.
The XLR8 550 MAChSpeed G4 Pismo Upgrade Kit. The kit includes
all components and tools needed for completing the upgrade
onsite.
- XLR8 Upgraded 550 G4 CPU Card with 250 MHz Cache (refurbished
service module, tested and upgraded with all new parts).
- XLR8 MAChSpeed Control CPU Software.
- Daystar Modified High-Performance Metal Heat Sink.
- Daystar Modified High-Performance EMI Shield.
- Torx, Flat-Head and Philips Screwdrivers.
- Arctic Silver Premium Thermal Compound.
- Instruction / Installation Sheet.
- Daystar Rebate Form (for returning your CPU/EMI/Heat Sink if
desired).
- Free Telephone Installation Information (live installation
assistance available at an additional charge)
Customer rebate for sending old components to Daystar: The kit
includes a rebate, form which allows customers to send the old CPU,
EMI Shield and Heat Sink back to Daystar. In return, Daystar sends
them a rebate check for $85 US.
The Total Cost of the Upgrade is $399
(Users can take advantage of the $85 rebate after upgrading... a
net cost of $310).
"We're happy to expand our offerings yet again," said Gary
Dailey, president of Daystar. "With the MAChSpeed being the only
true, low-voltage Pismo upgrade design to date, users are assured
of at least 10 years of continuous CPU life!"
Additional information on Daystar Technology and XLR8 can be
found via the Daystar website.
Logitech V20 Notebook Speakers
PR: Road warriors: you needn't deny yourself the comforts
of home when you're on the road.
Now you can enjoy great sound with a simple setup from your
laptop! The Logitech V20 Notebook Speakers offer a convenient,
high-quality speaker system for your laptop with rich, full sound
and deep bass - all in a lightweight, portable design. The USB port
provides power and digital quality audio - no other cables are
necessary! Convenient multimedia controls provide easy access to
track forward/back, play, stop, mute, and volume buttons that work
with many software applications.
- Optimize your sound. High dynamic headroom circuitry offers
greater volume with less distortion - and combined with the 2"
Max-X™ high-excursion drivers and 3" pressure drivers,
maximize bass response.
- Take them with you. The Logitech V20 Notebook speakers have a
lightweight, portable design that folds away easily in the
protective travel case.
- Plug and play. USB provides both power and digital-quality
audio. No other cables are necessary, and there is no AC adapter to
pack.
Technical Specifications Package Contents
- Total RMS Power: 2 Watts (1W + 1W) into 4 ohms at 1 kHz at 10%
total harmonic distortion (THD)
- V20 notebook speakers
- System THD: less than 0.05% THD, before clipping
- Integrated USB cable
- Signal-to-noise ratio: >70dB
- Protective travel case
- Frequency response: 70Hz - 20 kHz
- Quick start guide
- Driver size: 2" high-excursion driver with 3" pressure
driver
- 2-year limited warranty
- Dimensions: 6.44" x 6.25" x 1.5" HWD (combined)
- Weight: 1 lb. 3 oz.
System Requirements
- Available USB port
- Windows 98SE, ME, 2000, XP or higher
- Mac OX S or higher
Price: $79.99
Tech Trends
Samsung 19" 'Laptop' Sighted
Laptop Logic reports:
"We've heard rumors that Dell is considering a 19" laptop, and
perhaps they're going to buy it from Samsung, but regardless of who
makes this it this sure is one beast of a machine.
"The screen itself is going to be the true beauty of this beast.
Supposedly the 19" Samsung panel will have a resolution of 1680 x
1050, 600:1 contrast ratio, 280 nits brightness, and a 10ms
response time."
Bargain 'Books
Bargain 'Books are used unless otherwise indicated. New and
refurbished units have a one-year Apple warranty and are eligible
for AppleCare.
There are two different versions of WallStreet running at 233
MHz, the cacheless MainStreet
version and the later Series II
with a level 2 cache. It's not always possible to determine from
the vendor's listing which is being offered, so we've included
links within this paragraph to the two models. The same goes for
the PowerBook G4/667 (VGA) and
G4/667 (DVI), the titanium vs.
aluminum 15" PowerBook G4 at 1 GHz, and 1.25 GHz to 1.5 GHz 15"
PowerBooks.
- 12" iBook G3/500, 128/20/CD-ROM, $345
- 12" iBook G3/500, 128/20/CD-ROM, AirPort, $409
- 12" PowerBook G4/867, 512/40/Combo, $819
- 15" PowerBook G4/500, 256/20/DVD, $599
- refurb 12" iBook G4/1.2 GHz, 256/30/CD-ROM, $799
- refurb 14" iBook G4/1 GHz, 256/40/Combo, $899
- refurb 12" PowerBook G4/1.33 GHz, 256/60/Combo, AirPort
Extreme, $1,099
- refurb 15" PowerBook G4 1.33GHz, 256/60/Combo, AirPort Extreme,
$1,499
- 15" PowerBook G4/400, 256/20/DVD, $689.99
- 12" iBook G3/300, 96/6/CD-ROM, $279.99
For more deals on current or recently discontinued models, see
our Best PowerBook G4 Deals,
Best iBook G4 Deals, Best PowerBook G3 Deals, and Best iBook G3 Deals.
