I recently wrote about some Core 2 Duo Macs not being able to boot to a 64-bit kernel (see More Macs Left Behind by Developer Preview 2 of OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion), and since then I have done some further research. After my article was published, I was contacted by a fellow reader who […]
Tag Archives: OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion
I recently purchased a MacBook – an Early 2009 model – on the premise that (based on the Developer Preview at the time) it met the requirements for the forth coming Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, which is due out this summer.
In my previous column, I suggested putting a slider keyboard on a tablet. Alert reader Jacob J. Holtman points out that Asus makes just a beast, the Asus EedPad Slider SL101.
I spent all day arguing with my fellow local Mac group members about Apple’s decision to release another version of OS X less than twelve months after Lion – and the rapid pace at which Apple is making Macs outdated. Then it suddenly struck me: Why am I bothered? I’m not going to be in the […]
Since first posting this article, we’ve heard from several readers and learned from other websites that our list of the oldest Macs that should work with Mountain Lion is on the optimistic side. It looks like all Late 2006 iMacs, all MacBooks without Nvidia graphics, all Mac Pros released before June 2007 (2006 and 2007 […]
Same small size, same small price, same SSD options, but a whole new CPU – and lightning-fast Thunderbolt to round things out. That pretty much summarizes the July 2011 update to the MacBook Air.
Last year’s Mac mini Server was just a 2010 Mac mini with two hard drives and no SuperDrive. This year’s Server is actually a much more powerful computer with a quad-core Intel Core i7 CPU, twice the number of cores found in the consumer Mini. The 2011 Server ships with OS X 10.7 Lion Server […]
For the first time since the original G4 Mac mini was introduced in January 2005, there’s no optical drive in the Mac mini, which also helped Apple trim $100 from its base price – and $200 from the faster version. The 2011 Mac mini can use the same $79 USB SuperDrive as the MacBook Air. […]
Apple made some significant changes with the Mid 2011 MacBook Air – adding Thunderbolt, moving from Intel Core 2 Duo CPUs to Core i5 (with an i7 option), switching from Nvidia GeForce graphics to Intel HD Graphics 3000, and bringing back the backlit keyboard that disappeared with the 2010 model. The 11.6″ and 13.3″ models […]
Same small size, same small price, same SSD options, but a whole new CPU – and Thunderbolt to round things out. That pretty much summarizes the July 2011 update to the MacBook Air.
For 2011, the entire iMac line goes quad-core with Core i5 CPUs (and even faster i7 build-to-order options), moves to Intel’s Sandy Bridge chipset, gets Turbo Boost 2.0 technology, adopts the next generation of AMD Radeon HD graphics processors, and gains the Thunderbolt technology introduced with the Early 2011 MacBook Pro models. The 27″ iMac […]
The Early 2011 15″ and 17″ MacBook Pro models moved from dual-core CPUs to quad-core, which makes them a lot more powerful despite lower clock speeds. As with last year’s models, these CPUs support TurboBoost, which lets individual cores run beyond their rated speed, and hyperthreading, which lets the each core appear to the operating […]
The Early 2011 15″ and 17″ MacBook Pro models have moved from dual-core CPUs to quad-core, which makes them a lot more powerful despite lower clock speeds. As with last year’s models, these CPUs support TurboBoost, which lets individual cores run beyond their rated speed, and hyperthreading, which lets the each core appear to the […]
Apple took some big steps forward with the refreshed 13.3″ MacBook Pro. The Early 2011 model migrates from the dated Intel Core 2 Duo to Intel’s newer Core i5 and i7 CPUs. These dual-core mobile CPUs have a 3-4 MB Level 3 cache shared by both cores and, thanks to Turbo Boost architecture, should be […]
Apple made some significant changes to the MacBook Air in October 2010, introducing a new 11.6″ model and moving the line from tiny hard drives to solid state drives (SSDs) exclusively. Apple claims its SSDs are up to twice as fast as conventional ones.
With the new 11.6″ form factor and the lowest speed CPU ever used in an Intel-based Mac, the smaller version of the 2010 MacBook Air enters netbook territory – but with a dual-core processor, a real graphics processor, better screen resolution, a full-size keyboard, and support for up to 4 GB of memory.
Say good-bye to hard drives with the 2010 models of the MacBook Air (MBA). Solid-state drives (SSD) are standard across the board – and they’re built onto the motherboard. Apple claims this makes its SSDs twice as fast as conventional ones. Battery life is rated at “up to” 7 hours.
Apple has now moved the entire iMac line to Intel’s Core “i” family of CPUs, including the dual-core i3 and i5 as well as the quad-core i7. All CPUs used in the 2010 iMac support Hyper-Threading (on last year’s model, only the i7 versions supported Hyper-Threading). CPU speeds start at 3.06 GHz for dual-core models […]
It’s been over 15 months since Apple rolled out the 2009 Mac Pro, and the 2010 Mac Pro is yet another big step forward: every configuration uses quad-core Intel Xeon Nehalem or quad-core and even hex-core Westmere CPUs for even more power. Each core has its own 256 KB Level 2 (L2) cache, each quad-core […]
For the first time since the G4 Mac mini was introduced in January 2005, Apple came up with a new form factor for its smallest desktop. Where all previous Minis had been 6.5″ square and 2.0″ tall, the new model measures 7.7″ square and just 1.4″ high. It also uses unibody construction like Apple’s notebooks. […]
This is the first and only update to the white unibody MacBook. The CPU speed gets a bump from 2.26 GHz to 2.4 GHz, it now has the same Nvidia GeForce 320M GPU as the current 13″ MacBook Pro, and its rated battery life jumps from a very good 7 hours to an impressive 10 […]
The 15″ and 17″ Mid 2010 MacBook Pro models have lower clock speeds than the models they replace. However, because they use the mobile Intel i5 and i7 CPUs instead of the older, less efficient Core 2 Duo chips, they are more powerful despite lower clock speeds. These CPUs brings something new to Apple’s portable […]
The 15″ and 17″ Mid 2010 MacBook Pro models have lower clock speeds than the models they replace. However, because they use mobile Intel i5 and i7 CPUs instead of the older, less efficient Core 2 Duo chips, they are more powerful despite lower clock speeds. These CPUs brings something new to Apple’s portable line, hyperthreading, […]
Apple introduced redesigned MacBook Pro models in April 2010. They all use new Nvidia GPUs and claim to increase battery life – in the case of the 13″ model, from 7 hours to an impressive 10.
The big news: Apple has introduced new screen sizes and a new display aspect ratio. The Late 2009 iMac comes in 21.5″ and 27″ sizes, and the displays have the same 16:9 aspect ratio as HDTV (the Early 2009 iMac had 20″ and 24″ 16:10 aspect ratio displays). The smaller iMac has the same 1920 […]
The big news: Apple has introduced new screen sizes and a new display aspect ratio. The Late 2009 iMac comes in 21.5″ and 27″ sizes, and the displays have the same 16:9 aspect ratio as HDTV (the Early 2009 iMac had 20″ and 24″ 16:10 aspect ratio displays). The 27″ beastie provides an incredible 2560 […]
The big news: Apple has introduced new screen sizes and a new display aspect ratio. The Late 2009 iMac comes in 21.5″ and 27″ sizes, and the displays have the same 16:9 aspect ratio as HDTV (the Early 2009 iMac had 20″ and 24″ 16:10 aspect ratio displays). The smaller iMac has the same 1920 […]
The original polycarbonate Mac notebook got a design overhaul, the first since the original MacBook was introduced in May 2006. Although it’s still white and appears to be made of plastic, the lower case uses a unibody design carved from aluminum – but covered with a rubbery white material.
Just seven months after overhauling the Mac mini, Apple made some small improvements: The base speed is now 2.26 GHz, 2 GB of RAM is the norm, and the 160 GB hard drive holds more data than the 120 GB drive found in the previous version. And for power users, there’s now a server version […]
Just 5 months after introducing the first 17″ Unibody MacBook Pro, Apple improved it by moving to a 2.8 GHz CPU – and making a 3.06 GHz CPU a build-to-order option.
