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News & Opinion
MacBook Air Will Account for Almost Half of Apple's
2011 Laptop Sales
9 to 5 Mac's Seth Weintraub cites a Cnet report on a note by
Gleacher & Company analyst Doug Freedman, who reports that an
estimated 48% of Apple's laptops sold in 2011 will be MacBook Airs, and
that Intel unveiled and priced new Sandy Bridge processors for
ultraportable laptops (chips can overclock or turbo to higher speeds)
on Monday.
Link: MacBook Airs Will
Be Half of Apple's Laptops in 2011 and the New Version's Chips Just
Went on Sale
MacBook Air Could Be $3 Billion Business for
Apple
Forbes' Brian Caulfield reports that online services like Apple's
iCloud could help turn Apple's ultra-thin MacBook Air into a $3
billion-a-year business, even as sales of fatter notebooks and desktop
computers stagnate, J.P. Morgan analyst Mark Moskowitz wrote in a note
to investors Thursday.
Moskowitz predicts that the MacBook Air increasingly will be
recognized as offering users tablet-like functionality,
ultra-portability, thinness, and instant-on while offering an
integrated keyboard and a full computing applications suite to complete
professional work-related tasks.
Moskowitz noted that first quarter unit sales were five times those
of the year-ago period, thanks to the introduction of new MacBook Air models in
October, and that the new MacBooks represent a breakout product for
Apple, estimating that over the next 12 to 18 months Apple will sell
roughly 700,000 of the notebooks each quarter.
Link: MacBook Air
Could Become $3 Billion Business for Apple
Intel's New Sandy Bridge CPUs Aimed at MacBook
Air
AppleInsider's Daniel Eran Dilger reports that Intel has added three
new high efficiency 17 watt 1.7 GHz and 1.8 GHz dual-core Sandy Bridge
Core i5 and i7 CPUs to its product catalog, likely the chips Apple will
use in its next refresh of the light and thin MacBook Air. The
relatively low power consumption and thermal profile of these new chips
will make them ideal for the slim design of the Mac Book Air compared
with the standard Sandy Bridge chips used in Apple's Pro notebooks that
have thermal profiles of 25 to 35 watts, making them too hot for use in
the razor-thin Air models.
Link: Intel Lists New
Sandy Bridge CPUs Aimed at MacBook Air
Intel Launches the Processors Apple Should Put in
the Next MacBook Air
Hardmac's Lionel cites the new chips' clock speeds at 1.4 GHz to 1.7
GHz while citing the same part numbers, with the discrepancy likely
attributable to whether the overclock capability provided by the Turbo
mode of these processors is factored in.
Link: Intel Unveiled the Processors
That Apple Should Put in the New MacBook Air
Improving MacBook Pro Performance and Capacity with
Dual Drives
MacFixIt's Topher Kessler says there's no doubt that when compared
to mechanical hard drives, solid state drive (SSD) technology is by far
superior in terms of speed, noting that data access and throughput can
be more than four times faster than a contemporary mechanical drive.
Using a SSD as your main boot drive widens a major bottleneck,
resulting in exceptionally quick bootups, application launches, sleep
and wake events, and shutdowns. Beyond speed, SSDs offer additional
advantages, including cooler operation than most mechanical drives,
power efficiency resulting in longer battery life for laptops, silent
operation, and higher tolerance for abuse, since there's no need to
protect moving parts.
But they're expensive compared with hard drives, especially if you
need to maintain large volume storage capacity on your system.
One compromise option, Kessler suggests, is to create a hybrid SSD
environment to give yourself the best of both worlds: a small and fast
SSD to hold your system and applications, and a larger mechanical drive
to hold your personal data. Apple offers this as a configuration option
for new iMac and Mac Pro systems, but traditionally Apple's laptops
haven't been capable of holding more than one internal hard drive, at
least officially.
However, a workaround is to replace the internal optical drive with
a bracket that can hold a second hard drive in its place, enabling you
to take advantage of a small and cheaper SSD boot drive, while
maintaining a second larger mechanical drive in the system for data
storage.
It's a bit of a kludge, but Kessler discusses the associated issues
that you should consider before forging ahead and goes on to relate how
he decided to give this setup a try in his own MacBook Pro. He notes
that not only did the mod speed things up significantly, but by the SSD
taking the burden of system management off the mechanical drive made
the use of that drive faster as well, concluding that despite its
seeming complexity, this upgrade is definitely worth it, provided you
have the time, patience, and trust in yourself to install the SSD and
drive bracket, and then reconfigure your system to use both drives
properly.
Editor's note: And that you can happily get along with no internal
optical drive. cm
Link: Extending MacBook
Pro Speed and Capacity with Dual Drive Upgrades
Crucial M4 SSD Firmware Update for 2011 MacBook
Pro
Hardmac's Lionel says:
"Thanks to capetownMac for telling us about the new firmware 0002
for Crucial M4 SSDs:
"The update seems to have been made just to make the disks as
compatible as possible with the 2011 MacBook Pro.
"The update is available at this address: http://www.crucial.com/support/firmware.aspx"
Link: Crucial M4: A
Firmware Update Made Just for the 2011 MacBook Pro
Reviews
Size Doesn't Matter: A Review of the 11.6" MacBook
Air
forkbombr.net says:
"For the last several years, my basic computing setup has been the
same: an iMac at home and a work-provided MacBook Pro.
"Back in December, I wrote that I
was eyeing the MacBook Air as a personal machine, in place of my iPad.
I really wanted to have my own laptop again. I was looking at the Air
because its minimal form factor was attractive as an ultra-portable
writing machine. As great as it is, the iPad is a terrible device for
getting a lot of writing done.
"While I still have the iPad, a few weeks ago, I pulled the trigger
on the $999 MacBook Air model."
He notes that in many ways, the 11.6-inch Air is technically more
impressive than the iPad, and while he knows how AppleDesigns the
insides of its machines, and as good as they are at it, this notebook
still seems impossible.
Another observation:
"With a 1.4 GHz Core 2 Duo and just 2 GB of RAM, the MacBook Air
doesn't look a speed demon on paper. In reality, though, this machine
is crazy fast.... [and] despite the lack of ports, this thing is a real
Mac.... its my favorite out of all the Macs I've owned."
Link: Size Doesn't Matter: My Review of
the 11.6-inch MacBook Air
Thunderbolt MacBook Pro: 13" Looks Like Genuine
Value
PC Authority's David Bayon observes that while the new MacBook Pros
have beautiful design and now feature Thunderbolt technology, only
the 13" model
looks like genuine value to him, contending that despite its
acknowledged many strengths, the 17" model simply
can't justify its price, and whether the 15" MacBook Pro is
worth it's also hefty price comes down to your view of Apple, noting
that there are better-specified laptops available for the money, but
few that can match the MacBook Pro's near-perfect build and design.
However, Bayon opines (and your editor agrees) that of the three
MacBook Pro sizes, the 13" model is the real head-turner - "an
exquisite piece of engineering, its slim, sleek and portable chassis
packs in plenty of power while also lasting an astonishing 10 hrs 12
mins of browsing time in Mac OS X" and "the display
. . . is simply glorious" with a measured maximum brightness
of 312 cd/m2, a contrast ratio of 650:1, and an average
Delta E rating of only 3.6 - about as colour accurate as the testers
have seen from any laptop display - and the 13-incher just "feels" like
the best value of all the new MacBook Pros.
Link: Apple MacBook Pro:
We Review the Thunderbolt MacBook Pro
Products & Services
Kensington Wireless Mobile Trackball Built for
Precision and Comfort on the Go
PR: Kensington Computer Products Group today announced a new
wireless mobile trackball and an update to its free TrackballWorks
driver software. Trackballs have traditionally been designed for
stationary desktop computer users, but not anymore. With the majority
of new PCs sold today being laptops, contemporary trackball users are
demanding a comfortable and smart alternative to a mobile mouse. The
Orbit Wireless Mobile Trackball is consequently claimed to have been
built to fit the everyday working style of mobile professionals on the
go.
The Orbit Wireless Mobile Trackball's centered-ball
design, recommended by ergonomists, is claimed to deliver more
precision and comfort than conventional ball-under-the-thumb structured
trackballs. Kensington's trackball is built to accommodate either
right-or left-handed use and incorporates both a storable nano receiver
for convenient travel, and 2.4 GHz technology for optimal wireless
performance.
The new Orbit Wireless Mobile Trackball includes a number of
additional user-friendly features, highlighted by a midsize ball that
snaps in and out of place for easy cleaning, crisp and responsive
buttons for precise work, and a unique Touch Scrolling solution to make
navigating documents quick and smooth. The accompanying customizable
TrackBallWorks software helps users streamline functions and create
shortcuts that add efficiency to their workflow.
"Over the course of our twenty years producing innovative
trackballs, we've developed a very loyal and dedicated user community,
to whom we paid special attention as we created this product," says
Kensington's Senior Director of Global Product Management Dan Torres.
"Many professionals are not always working in a traditional office
setting, so our customers need a trackball to be as mobile and agile as
they are. We are delighted to offer a new wireless mobile trackball
that has been defined and refined by its users, built from the ground
up to get the job done wherever work calls."
Kensington Orbit Wireless Mobile Trackball (K72352US; SRP
$59.99)
The Kensington Orbit Wireless
Mobile Trackball offers a precise, compact and versatile input
experience with a centered-ball design. With no wires to tie you down,
the 2.4 GHz wireless with storable nano receiver works wherever you do
- at home or office while its unique touch scrolling lets you glide
through web pages and documents.
- Wireless operation with USB dongle
- Ambidextrous design for left-or right-handed users
- Works with TrackballWorks™ software for customized
experience
- Plug and play with no drivers needed
- Compatible with Windows 7, Windows XP, Windows Vista and Mac OS
X
Kensington TrackBallWorks Software 1.1 (Free)
Kensington TrackBallWorks helps customize the user experience with
Kensington's award winning trackballs for increased productivity and
comfort. The software delivers more freedom than ever to assign
functions or keyboard shortcuts to any trackball's buttons, so you can
work with trackballs the ways you've always wanted. "Chording"
functions allow assignment of additional key combinations of trackball
buttons. TrackballWorks is built to work with the latest versions of
Windows and Mac operating systems.
New Features in this version include:
- Inertial Scrolling (Momentum Scrolling) - Touch and scroll through
pages of content with an easy glide, so there are no more abrupt stops
when you reviewing documents or browsing webpages.
- Paste Templates - Programming a button and pasting text into a
document is made easy. Users can create a popup menu with up to ten
paste text options.
- More Clicks Capability - More functionality means more
productivity. Create advanced click capabilities for your trackball by
using the flexible command builder.
- Integration with Control Panel and Devices and Printers (Windows
Only) - Finding the TrackballWorks icon on your computer is easy; it
now appears within your Control Panel as the software is launched.
Kensington TrackBallWorks software is available for free download .
The Kensington Orbit Wireless Mobile Trackball is available for
preorder at Amazon.com, Kensington.com, and
other major retailers.
Link: Kensington Orbit Wireless
Mobile Trackball (currently $52.41 + shipping through Amazon.com)
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