Hardware
LaCie iamaKey USB Flash Drive
These look pretty darn cool. Since a lot of these things have a key ring anyway, I’m surprised it took someone so long to make one that actually looks like a key. You can get them is 4GB ($17.99) and 8GB ($27.99) models.
via swissmiss
Apple’s first phone, from 1983
I guess I missed this when it made the rounds last year, but apparently this is Apple’s first pass at a phone, way back in 1983.
17″ Macbook Pro – Glossy vs. Matte
When Apple first announced that they were moving all of their displays to glossy, I was, in a word, horrified. I’ve always preferred the matte displays and I didn’t like this move at all.
When Apple announced the new 17″ Macbook Pro at Macworld 2009, they said we would actually still have the choice on this model to go with glossy (default) or matte finish (now called “anti-glare”). I jumped for joy because I buy the 17″ model anyway, so this meant I could keep using the matte display.
While I was at Macworld I had a chance to view both screens side-by-side, and even though I’ve always preferred matte, I’m not so sure I like it on the new model. The picture above doesn’t really do either justice, but I can tell you that in person, the glossy looked so much better. It actually wasn’t so much that the glossy looked good, but rather the matte looked bad. At first I thought the brightness on the matte model was turned way down, but it wasn’t. The new matte display is just dim, and rather flat. Even though Apple offers the 17″ model in matte, I may be forced to go with glossy.
One caveat to this is, the Apple guy on the show floor said these were “pre-production” models. They could actually change when they start to ship at the end of January. I’ll hold my final review until I see them in the Apple store.
On a related note, Macworld has an article about a company that will physically swap a matte display for the glossy one in 15″ models.
Prevent cables from falling behind your desk with “CableDrop”
One of the coolest things I saw at Macworld this year, was actually one of the cheapest, and smallest. They’re simple little doohickeys (technical term) from a company called, Blue Lounge. They call them CableDrops, and as the name implies they keep your cables from falling off the back of your desk when you disconnect your device.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t buy any CableDrops right now, as they won’t be available for another 6 weeks. I did get a couple free samples, and they’re pretty cool. They’ll sell 6 for $10 when they come out. Check the site around the end of February.
Why we can’t replace the battery in the new 17″ Macbook Pro, and can we still get to the hard drive?
One of the great things about the new 15″ unibody Macbook Pro is the ease at which you can get to the battery, RAM, and hard drive. You simply flip a latch on the underside of the computer and a panel opens up giving you access to everything. In previous generations, the hard drive was not considered a user-replaceable part, and was a pain in the ass to access (for those who dared).
As I mentioned in the last post, the battery on the new 17″ model is not considered user-replacebale, so that left me wondering how easy it was to get to the RAM and hard drive, because the panel on the bottom doesn’t exist on the 17″ model.
I don’t yet have a definitive answer, but it looks like you can get to the RAM and hard drive relatively easily by simply taking out the screws on the bottom of the machine, and removing the whole bottom case.
Apple has posted a video about the new battery in the 17″ model, and why it isn’t user-replacable. It basically comes down to space. You can make the battery bigger if you don’t have to worry about the average user being able to take it out. In that video, they show the bottom of the machine with the cover off, and it appears as though the hard drive would be easily accessible. I hope that’s the case, because Apple just doesn’t offer large enough options on hard drives in their notebooks, at least not for me.
For those interested, it has also been confirmed by Gizmodo that the battery can be replaced at any Apple Store for $179. That’s a bit steep, but supposedly the new batteries last 5 years, so the average user may never have to get a new one.
UPDATE (1/08/2009): I’ve confirmed with Apple that the hard drive (and RAM) are considered user-replacable. You simply remove the screws on the bottom, like I thought.
Apple’s 2009 Macworld Announcements
If you haven’t already read this at a hundred other Mac sites, here’s what Apple announced today at Macworld:
17″ Aluminum Unibody Macbook Pro
Starting at $2799, the new 17″ Macbook pro will ship in late January. The good news is this thing can take up to 8GB of RAM. The bad news is, rumors were true… the battery is no longer a user-replacable part. That just sucks. Although, Apple is saying that this new and improved battery will last 8 hours on a single charge and can be recharged 1000 times (5 times the industry standard). Apple is also saying this new model is the slimmest and lightest 17″ notebook available.
It should also be noted that while the 17″ version uses the same Glossy display now used in its 15″ cousin, Apple is offering a $50 upgrade to an “antiglare display”. I thought they use to call this “matte”, so I’m not sure if this is the same option as previous models. Also, the new native resolution is 1920×1200, up from 1680×1050. In the previous 17″ model, it was a $100 upgrade to the higher resolution display. When I was shopping for my current 17″ Macbook Pro, I actually thought 1920 was a little too much for 17 inches.
You can read all the specs on Apple’s site.
iLife ‘09
iPhoto now has face-recognition and geotagging built-in. It can also link with Facebook and Flickr. It actually looks pretty cool. Too bad I’m not really using iPhoto anymore. I’ve started moving everything into Adobe Lightroom.
iMovie has several new features bringing it back a little closer to iMovie ‘06, instead of the radically different iMovie ‘08.
There’s new versions of Garage Band, iWeb and iDVD as well. iLife ‘09 will ship at the end of January. Read all about it on Apple’s site.
iWork ‘09
I like iWork, but there’s nothing terrible exciting to talk about… seems like mostly basic improvements and refinements. iWork ‘09 ships today.
iWork.com
Apple is starting iWork.com. Currently in beta, this will be a site for sharing and collaboration. It’s free while in beta, but Apple will charge for it in its final release.
DRM Free Music, Price Changes, and Purchase via 3G
Apple is moving away from $0.99 songs. Instead, there will now be a tiered structure of $0.69, $0.99, and $1.29 per song. Starting today they will offer 8 million songs as DRM free. The entire catalogue will be DRM free by the end of the quarter. You can also now buy music on you iPhone over the 3G or Edge networks, instead of wi-fi only.
My Thoughts
I didn’t think there was going to be any huge announcements today, but I am a little disappointed at what was announced. There were a few things that I would have bet money on:
- New Mac Mini
- New Apple TV
- iPhone 2.3 software update (with ToDos!)
- 32GB iPhone and 64GB iPod Touch
Oh well, I guess we’ll have things to look forward to in 2009. I’ll be heading over to the Expo after Lunch. I’ll write about any must-haves that I find.
Don’t change your Mighty Mouse batteries before you have to
If you use an Apple Wireless Mighty Mouse, you’ve probably seen this battery warning at some point. I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s a little premature in when it tells you to change batteries. I sometimes get 2-3 weeks of additional use after I get the warning before the batteries actually die. And that’s using my mouse all day, every day.
Ignore the warning. Don’t change the batteries until they actually die.
Griffin Simplifi: iPhone and iPod dock with built-in Media Card Reader and USB Hub
Right now I have an iPod/iPhone dock, a USB hub, and a Media Card Reader sitting on my desk. Apparently, those three things could all be replaced by the Griffin Simplifi.
This is an awesome looking little device. I totally see one of these in my future. I’ll probably wait to see if Griffin has any show specials at Macworld, in January. if you want one of these, you can get it for $69.99 straight from Griffin, or $65.99 from Amazon.
via TUAW
Aluminum Macbooks unstable after 3rd party RAM upgrade
Back in October I wrote a post about how you could save over $500 by buying 3rd party RAM instead of buying Apple’s incredibly overpriced RAM. That was good advise for the previous generation of Macbooks and Macbooks Pros, but it may not be the best thing to do for the new (late 2008) Aluminum Macbooks / Pros.
According to this article at TUAW, A lot of people are experiencing significant problems after attempting to use 3rd party RAM with the new laptops. It’s worth checking out if you’re about to buy one of the new machines.
Fortunately, when Apple introduced these new Aluminum models, they also dropped the price of their own RAM by several hundred dollars. It’s not so painful to just by the RAM from Apple now.
Apple’s new high-quality earbuds now available… as a suppository?
Those new Apple earbuds that Steve Jobs announced back in September are finally available for order on the Apple Store. I am actually interested in getting these. I’ve never been happy with the quality or the fit of Apple’s standard earbuds. These have 2 sound drivers for higher fidelity and come with 3 sizes of silicon tips, for best fit. They also have an inline remote and microphone.
The new earbuds retail for $79 and are currently listed as shipping in 7-10 business days. As of this morning the product page still says, “Coming Soon”, but if you click the Coming Soon button in the lower right of the page you are taken to the store.
Right now the new earbuds are only listed as being compatible with iPods, and not iPhones. This seems like a big oversight, and I’m hoping that changes with the next iPhone update. It’s been suggested that most of the remote functions will probably work with iPhones right now, but Apple typically doesn’t say things like, “mostly compatible”. I’ll probably wait until the first reviews show up online before I grab a pair.
On a side-note, Anne Marie saw me looking at the image above and said, “I don’t like that packaging… it looks like a diagram of a uterus and a suppository.” :)
via AppleInsider
UPDATE (12/08/2008): Here’s more info about compatibility with various iPod/iPhone models.
UPDATE (12/15/2008): AppleInsider has published a glowing review.
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