Mac

The 404 290: Where both Natali and Justin are suspiciously absent

Dr. Michael Breus, the Sleep Doctor, gets snowed out of New York today, and Justin Yu and Natali Del Conte are both suspiciously absent. We thought they were joking about the whole getting married thing. We didn't actually think they would hook up. Anyway, Heavy fills in today and does an admirable job of explaining why people get migraines. Essentially, Justin needs to take some Midol.

So what the hell is this Facebook ad supposed to mean? Jeff can't figure it out, but Heavy is heavy on the case. As usual, Jeff has a hater opinion on the … Read more

New Mac Minis: Still too expensive

First off, an admission: I've always wanted a Mac Mini. Sort of like I've always wanted a Mini Cooper convertible. But then I take a look at the price tag and it always seems too expensive. Call me cheap, but when you're at $600 (for the entry-level Mini) you start to ask yourself: what can I get for a few hundred bucks more--aside from the step-up $799 Mac Mini?

The answer is always a laptop. Now, the Mac Mini, of course, is basically a laptop without the screen. It uses laptop components. This new base system features … Read more

Nvidia chips score big in Apple Mac lineup

Updated at 11:50 a.m. PST with additional information on Nvidia and ATI graphics in Mac Pro

Apple's rollout of new Macs Tuesday was a vote of confidence for Nvidia: its graphics chip have now become as ubiquitous as Intel's processors across the Mac line.

Apple's entire Mac lineup now features Nvidia GeForce GPUs. "If you go into a retail store, it's (Nvidia) top to bottom," said an Nvidia spokesperson today. "The message is that Apple is differentiating itself, investing in the GPU," he said.

The GPU, or graphics processing unit, … Read more

Apple overhauls iMacs, 24-inch models more affordable

Editors' Note: As of October 20, 2009, the iMac reviewed here has been replaced by 27-inch iMac models.

In addition to updating its Mac Minis this morning, Apple has new iMacs. Each of the four default models received an update, so we'll break them out below list-style for convenience, with new specs in bold.

$1,199 iMac

2.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 2GB 1,066MHz DDR3 SDRAM 320GB hard drive

256MB (shared) Nvidia GeForce 9400M graphics chip 20-inch LCD

$1,499 iMac

2.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 4GB 1,066MHz DDR3 SDRAM 640GB hard drive

256MB (shared) … Read more

Apple polishes its desktop line

Updated 8:25 a.m. PST with analyst note.

As expected, Apple announced desktop updates on Tuesday with a focus on energy efficiency.

There are new Mac Pro high-end desktops powered by Intel's Nehalem-based Xeon processors, new and more graphics-intensive Mac Mini machines, and updated iMacs that offer the lowest price yet on these consumer desktops.

All the new machines meet the requirements for Energy Star 5.0 certification, which kicks in this summer.

The new Mac Pro is priced at $2,… Read more

Apple finally refreshes Mac Mini with updated specs

Looks like the rumors were true. This morning Apple updated both the iMac and the Mac Mini. The Mac Mini in particular was long overdue for a refresh, having relied on the same specs since August 2007.

The updated Mac Mini has new default configurations, although the prices remain the same, at $599 for the low-end model and $799 for the step-up version. The $599 system gets a new 2GHz Core 2 Duo processor, the same 1GB of RAM, and a larger 120GB hard drive. The $799 model also retains its 2GB of RAM and the same 2.0GHz Core … Read more

MacOS iPhone Project: Mac OS 7 for iPhone

Mac OS 7 which, also known as System 7 (Wikipedia), has begun a port process to the iPhone.

According to the Web site: "Welcome to the MacOS iPhone Project! We are Dedicated to putting MacOS on the iPhone. We hope to be launching the code soon, but we are wanting [sic] to complete something before fully releasing stuff, so please bare with us! But heres [sic] what we have [been] working [on] so far."

The team goes on to describe some of its work. The most difficult issue so far: getting the System 7 cursor working with the … Read more

Signs building toward March iMac launch

It's as clear as it gets in the Apple rumor business that if you're in the market for one of the company's iMacs, it's probably worth waiting a few weeks.

Several rumors flew across the Internet over the weekend and Monday, hurled by World of Apple and others, that Apple is finally gearing up for the long-awaited refresh of its all-in-one iMac desktop sometime later this month. Such an overhaul is long overdue in the minds of many Apple watchers, who have been hearing about a potential iMac refresh since last November.

Surprisingly, few details are available about what changes Apple is planning to make to the iMac, which could suggest that the changes will be under the hood rather than design-related. The Nvidia integrated graphics chipsets used in last October's MacBook refresh are a decent bet, perhaps combined with the 9600M discrete graphics card as Apple did with the MacBook Pro.

Maynard Um of UBS put out a research note Monday saying that one sure bet for the new systems are Intel's Nehalem processors. The server version of those chips is scheduled to be out relatively soon, which means Apple will probably also have a new high-end Mac Pro soon, as OSX86 contributor Netkas (via Ars Technica) has uncovered.… Read more

Ubuntu 'stagnation' is really innovation

Linux guru Keir Thomas, in a blog post for PC World, argues that the Linux distribution and Mozilla's Firefox browser have forgotten themselves in the rush to popularity. Or, rather, they've forgotten their core values which, in both cases, translates into forgetting the importance of end users.

I can't agree.

Thomas' biggest complaint about Firefox is that it has slowed down, which seems an odd complaint, given how much faster Firefox 3 is (and Firefox Minefield is mind-numbingly fast).

But his complaints about Ubuntu seem even wider off the mark:

It seems there will be almost no … Read more

Can tony Apple stores survive a down economy?

Are Apple stores elitist? You bet--and that's not a bad thing. Unless the U.S. economy keeps going south.

How do I know Apple stores are high rent? I live in Southern California, and every Apple store within 50 miles of me is in a tony, upscale neighborhood. A new store, for instance, opened in September near my home in the swankiest shopping center in the area--bar none. No Best Buy, Radio Shack, or Circuit City could touch this real estate.

Ditto for the East Coast. The Apple store nearest the town where I grew up is in one … Read more