mac

Could Apple be getting closer to a leadership transition?

That's what Sam Diaz at our sister site ZDNet thinks. In this video, he argues that Apple's decision to have CEO Steve Jobs share the spotlight at Tuesday's notebook event with other executives such as COO Tim Cook and Jony Ive, senior vice president of design, means that the company is trying to showcase those executives ahead of an eventual departure by Jobs, whose health has been the subject of much bottom-feeding speculation this year.

I wasn't at the event, having flown back East to attend the … Read more

Just a day after Apple showed off its new MacBooks, Other World Computing (OWC) announced on Wednesday its 4GB DDR3 memory upgrade kit for the computers.

The kit includes two matching 2GB modules of PC3-8500 DDR3 memory designed specifically for Apple's new MacBook 13-inch and MacBook Pro 15-inch models. It costs $140 but you'll get a discount for trading in your current Apple standard memory modules.

The company's trade-in program offers $7.50 cash back per GB of old memory, which is a savings, but not such a good deal considering the new kit costs about $35 … Read more

It's true that we only think of you as a close friend, but that doesn't mean we don't appreciate your support! On today's show, we attempt to sell off Jeff's old busted G4 Powerbook, make fun of Don Cheadle's awful British accent, fan out over the new Avengers movie, and do our impression of some of the most popular video game quotes. If nothing else, listen to this show for Jeff's spot on Mario!

So after yesterday's Apple announcement, Jeff and I have finally agreed to shed our ancient G4 Powerbooks for one of the new Macbooks. The question that I'm sure other people are asking right now is which one should we get? We both want to spend less than $2,ooo, so it's a toss-up between the $1,600 Macbook and the $1,999 Macbook Pro. Is the slightly larger screen and dual-video cards worth the $4,000 price difference? We've both gotten so comfortable using a 15 inch screen that it seems difficult to adjust to a 13 incher. And what about that giant one-piece track pad? There are so many questions to answer about the design, but we'll be getting both models into the office tomorrow, so that's when the deliberation will begin. Is anyone else in this boat with us, trying to decide between the two? For me, it's less a question about performance and more a deliberation about screen size. I don't travel much and don't do image or video editing (I don't even have Photoshop!), so maybe all those extra features aren't worth it for my purposes. Help!!

I couldn't be at the Tuesday morning Apple launch event for the new MacBook and MacBook Pro systems, but I've had a chance to review the announcements.

Normally I focus on the technology in new products, but this time, I have to say my first impression is dominated by the appearance of these systems. These are some good-looking laptops.

The most dramatic change is the new display surround, black glass that goes right out to the edge of the upper case just like on an iPhone. The lower case also looks significantly cleaner now that the old gray … Read more

As you've perhaps heard elsewhere on Crave, Apple on Tuesday held a pretty broad-reaching laptop event in which it updated its entire line of portable computers.

Sure, there's new tech and spec bumps to talk about, but the really interesting part is that Apple dramatically simplified its line. While the 17-inch model is still around (with a modest upgrade to the included RAM), the real stars are the new MacBook and the 15-inch MacBook Pro, as well as the lust-worthy MacBook Air. If you're in the market for a new OS X portable, you've got some choices to make.

Each laptop is geared toward a certain kind of user. These users, in turn, each likely have a primary feature they want out of a laptop: portability, power, or price. While it'd be nice to have all three, that's unrealistic, though these machines are all fairly close to each other on all three fronts. … Read more

If Tuesday's news of new, more-powerful, Mac laptops wasn't enough to stoke the fires of the Apple faithful, I've got even more to offer.

Tuesday afternoon, the producers of the forthcoming film, MacHeads, released a new trailer. The film is scheduled for a fall release. No word yet on how it will be distributed.

The film, as noted here in January, will take a close look at what Wired writer Leander Kahney has termed the "cult of Mac."

The new trailer doesn't shed much more light on the contents of the film, but for … Read more

Editors' note: As of June 2009, the product reviewed here has been replaced by these updated models.

The MacBook Air started the unibody trend earlier this year, and, thus, it doesn't receive much of an upgrade. Physically, it's the same as the original Air, but Apple squeezes a mini DisplayPort connection under the flap that hides the lone USB port and headphone jack.

As with the MacBook and MacBook Pro refreshes, the new MacBook Air ditches the Intel chipset for Nvidia and features integrated GeForce 9400M graphics. It also increases the front-side bus from 800MHz to 1066MHz, while … Read more

While Macs have long been the preferred computer of the creative class, gamers have generally looked at the machines and said, essentially, thanks but no thanks.

That tech truism could be on the verge of disappearing forever in the wake of Apple's announcement Tuesday that the newest high-end MacBook Pro model will have the graphics processing firepower--thanks to the inclusion of the Nvidia GeForce 9600M GT chip--to finally give hard-core video game players what they want.

"It's more of a gaming machine than the old MacBook Pro," said Mike Schramm, a blogger who writes for both … Read more

Editors' note: As of June 2009, the product highlighted here has been replaced by these updated models.

Of Apple's MacBook Pro lineup, only the two 15-inch models received the complete workup today. By now, you're probably aware of the design changes, which include a new "unibody" chassis, new buttonless multitouch trackpad, the addition of a mini DisplayPort, and the subtraction of the FireWire 400 port. Let's take a closer look at the changes under the hood.

Pricing remains the same, with $1,999 and $2,499 default configurations. Aside from slightly larger hard drives, the … Read more