The iPhone 6 broke with Apple’s traditionally small displays to keep the iPhone competitive with the larger Android smartphones that dominated the market and were cutting into iPhone sales. The iPhone 6 moved to a 4.7″ display from the 4.0″ of the iPhone 5 family, while the 6 Plus was a substantial 5.5″. The iPhone 6 is […]

The Mid 2014 Retina MacBooks is essentially a speed bumped version of the Late 2013 model with the base model also boosted from 4 GB of system memory to 8 GB. As with all Retina MacBook Pros, this one is built around SSD technology for enhanced speed and ruggedness, not to mention allowing for a slimmer, cooler running […]

Nine months after the Late 2013 MacBook Pro with Retina Display, Apple moved forward with more power and twice-as-fast Thunderbolt 2 technology in July 2014. The MacBook Pro with Retina Display (a.k.a. Retina MacBook Pro) remains the thinnest MacBook Pro at 0.71″. That’s MacBook Air thin, but unlike the Air, this model doesn’t have a wedge design. Also […]

Original article by: Daniel Jansen Arthur, legendary King of England, became the code-name for the third generation PowerPC (PPC) processor, eventually named the 740 and 750. The successor of the 603e, these third-generation CPUs were optimized to run real software, not for some theoretical ideal. Early benchmarks show the 750 outperforming the 604e, making it look like […]

Original article by: Daniel Jansen First available in the Power Mac G4 in late 1999, the G4 processor is to the G3 as the 604 was to the 603 – and then some! Like the 604, and unlike the G3, G4 is designed for multiprocessor operation. It also runs about 25% faster for basic floating point math […]

Original article by: Daniel Jansen The biggest change in the Apple product line prior to 2006 was the transition from Motorola 680×0 CPUs to the PowerPC (PPC) family of CPUs. Designed by a consortium of Apple, IBM, and Motorola (a.k.a. the AIM Alliance) and based on IBM’s POWER architecture, PowerPC became the most widely used RISC […]

Original article by: Daniel Jansen The second generation split the PowerPC (PPC) line into entry level 603 and power user 604 chips. The 603 has only 1.6 million transistors, draws about half as much power as the 601, has two smaller caches (8 KB for instructions, 8 KB for data vs. a 32 KB unified […]

Original article by: Daniel Jansen The “power user” second generation PowerPC (PPC) CPU was the 604, unveiled in December 1994 along with the 603. Containing 3.6 million transistors, drawing twice the power of the 601, and with a dual L1 cache (16 KB for instructions, 16 KB for data), this workhorse could deal with four […]

In what appears to be a step backward, Apple has added a new, lower cost, entry-level 21″ iMac as the least expensive model added to the Late 2013 line. The new model uses an ultra-low-power 1.4 GHz dual-core Intel i5 CPU with Turbo Boost to 2.7 GHz – the rated clock speed of the previous entry-level […]

The earliest personal computers used 8-bitCPUs (central processing units). Apple, Commodore, Rockwell, and Atari designed their computers around the MOS Tech 6502; Radio Shack’s Color Computer used the Motorola 6809; and most others, including the Radio ShackTRS-80 and all CP/M computers, used the Zilog Z-80 or Intel 8080. All ran in the 1-4 MHz range and […]

Apple took a big step when it introduced the 68020-based Mac II in March 1987. The new computer was modular, not an all-in-one design like the first four Macs. In addition to 6 expansion slots, a huge power supply, color support, and room for two floppy drives and an internal hard drive, the Mac II runs its […]

Apple introduced the Mac IIx, which has a 16 MHz 68030 CPU, in September 1988. The 68030 incorporates the memory management unit (MMU), which was a separate chip for the 68020, giving the ‘030 the ability to use virtual memory (VM) with third-party software, although Apple didn’t include VM as part of the Mac OS until System 7 in […]

The Quadra 700 and 900 introduced the 68040 in 1991. In great part due to a much larger L1 cache (4 KB for data and 4 KB for instructions vs. 256 bytes in the 68030) and parts of the CPU running at twice clock speed, the 68040 provides 2.5-3 times the performance of the 68030 at […]

Apple previewed OS X 10.10 Yosemite on June 2, 2014, at the Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC). In addition to a lot of new features and a whole new level of integration with iOS devices, Yosemite looks like the most beautiful version of the Mac OS to date. Redesigned Interface Just as Apple overhauled the look […]

The Early 2014 MacBook Air (MBA) gets a speed bump and is rated at 12 hours in the field – and if you don’t use your MBA regularly, it has 30 days of standby power. Built around 4th-generation low-power Intel Core i5 and i7 processors, the Early 2014 MBA has Intel HD Graphics 5000. And with Power […]

Once again the MacBook Air (MBA) takes a step forward with more processing power and improved battery life. The 11″ model is rated at 9 hours in the field, and if you don’t use your MBA regularly, it has 30 days of standby power. Built around 4th-generation low-power Intel Core i5 and i7 processors, the Early 2014 MBA […]

Although it received some relatively minor updates in 2012, the previous Mac Pro received its last real update in 2010, and by the time the 2013 Mac Pro shipped in December 2013, that model was well over three years old. The 2010/2012 Mac Pro was the last Mac to run OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, […]

The Late 2013 Retina MacBooks have embraced Intel’s latest energy efficient Haswell technology, which provides more processing power per GHz with reduced power consumption. Additionally, the Late 2013 13″ Retina MacBook Pro is a bit thinner and lighter than the Early 2013 model. As with all Retina MacBook Pros, this one is built around SSD […]

Eight months after first upgrading the MacBook Pro with Retina Display, Apple moved to the Intel Haswell chipset in October 2013. The MacBook Pro with Retina Display (a.k.a. Retina MacBook Pro) remains the thinnest MacBook Pro at 0.71″. That’s MacBook Air thin, but unlike the Air, this model doesn’t have a wedge design. Also like the MacBook Air, the Retina […]

The Late 2013 iMac takes last year’s slimmer than ever design and powers it with Intel’s energy efficient Haswell Core i5 CPU (with i7 build-to-order options). 27″ iMac is the slimmest yet. CPU speeds on the 21.5″ models are the same as in last year’s iMacs, but the 27″ model gets a boost to 3.2 […]

The iPhone 5S marked the beginning of 64-bit power. While the Android world was going with 4-core 32-bit processors, Apple raised the bar with its dual-core 64-bit A7, which has about twice the power of the A6. The iPhone 5S also introduced a built-in fingerprint sensor in the iPhone’s home button known as Touch ID. […]

Although the iPhone 5 had been a runaway success, there were some problems with the case bending, as well as battery issues with units built through January 2013 (see the iPhone 5 page for more details). The iPhone 5C was designed to address bending with its thicker plastic polycarbonate enclosure. The 5C was essentially the […]

The big breakthrough for the 2013 MacBook Air (MBA) is improved battery life. The 13″ model is now rated at 12 hours in the field, a huge jump from the 2012 model. And if you don’t use your MBA regularly, it has 30 days of standby power. Built around 4th-generation low-power Intel Core i5 and […]

The big breakthrough for the Mid 2013 MacBook Air (MBA) is improved battery life. The 11″ model is now rated at 9 hours in the field, a huge jump from the 2012 model. And if you don’t use your MBA regularly, it has 30 days of standby power. Built around 4th-generation low-power Intel Core i5 […]

Four months after introducing the first 13″ MacBook Pro with Retina Display, Apple introduced a slightly faster version with 2.5 and 2.6 GHz dual-core i5 CPUs. As with its 15″ sibling, there’s no built-in SuperDrive and no hard drive. The Retina MacBook Pros are built around SSD technology for enhanced speed and ruggedness, not to mention […]

Nine months after introducing the first MacBook Pro with a Retina Display, Apple has speed bumped its top-end notebook. The MacBook Pro with Retina Display (quite a mouthful) is the thinnest MacBook Pro ever at 0.71″. That’s MacBook Air thin, but unlike the Air, this model doesn’t have a wedge design. It is almost 1/4″ […]

Slimmer than ever, the Late 2012 iMac is the first iMac ever not to include a built-in optical drive. Apple has also managed to make the iMac’s glossy screen 75% less reflective than before. 27″ iMac is the slimmest yet. Another iMac first: You can’t upgrade memory. If you order your iMac with the base […]

The 2011 Mac mini Server was a normal Mac mini with two hard drives, a quad-core i7 CPU (vs. dual-core CPUs in regular Minis), and OS X Server installed. The 2012 Server is essentially the same as the top-end consumer model, but with OS X Server installed and two hard drives instead of one. You […]

“Way more power” is Apple’s claim for the Late 2012 Mac mini, and that’s certainly true for the top-end quad-core i7-based model. It has the highest Geekbench score yet for a Mini at 10642 (vs. 6741 for last year’s 2.7 GHz dual-core i7 model), which is an impressive 58% better. However, at the entry level, […]

Four months after introducing the 15″ MacBook Pro with Retina Display, Apple introduced the 13.3″ Retina Display MacBook Pro, making Retina technology available in a smaller, lighter, less expensive package. As with its 15″ sibling, there’s no built-in SuperDrive and no hard drive. The Retina MacBook Pros are built around SSD technology for enhanced speed and […]

A lot smaller and just half the weight of a full-sized iPad, the iPad mini squeezed the features of the iPad 2 into much more portable package with a 7.9″ screen. Unlike other iPads introduced after the iPad 2, the iPad mini used the same 1024 x 768 resolution as the first two generations of […]

With the iPhone 5, Apple left behind the 3.5″ display every previous iPhone had used, replacing it with a taller (or wider – in landscape mode) 4″ screen displaying 1136 x 640 pixels, the same 16:9 aspect ratio of HD TV. That’s 18.3% more pixels. The iPhone 5 runs Apple’s more powerful A6 processor, introduced […]

The 5G iPod touch uses the same 4″ widescreen display as the iPhone 5 and the same dual-core Apple A5 CPU as the iPhone 4S. It was also the first iPod touch available in colors other than black and white and the first to use the Lightning port. Overall, the 5th generation iPod touch had six color […]

For the first time, Apple has Macs with built-in USB 3.0 support. The improved USB specification is over 10x as fast as USB 2.0 and has half the bandwidth of Thunderbolt. There are already a lot of USB 3.0 drives on the market, and they are far more affordable than Thunderbolt drives. Best of all, […]

For the first time, Apple has Macs with built-in USB 3.0 support. The improved USB specification is over 10x as fast as USB 2.0 and has half the bandwidth of Thunderbolt. There are already a lot of USB 3.0 drives on the market, and they are far more affordable than Thunderbolt drives. Best of all, […]