iMac

Is the MacBook Air the new mainstream MacBook?

The White MacBook is dead. The cheaper, plastic $999 legacy to iBooks and PowerBooks of old has finally been removed from the spectrum of Apple laptops, and suddenly the decision spectrum has narrowed to two choices: the MacBook Pro, and the thinner MacBook Air, updated this morning with a faster processor and preinstalled with OSX Lion.

The MacBook Air has walked an interesting path since 2008, first as a high-end executive plaything, then a more attainable but still specialty interest ultraportable. Last year's MacBook Airs debuted in October, well after back-to-school shopping.

This year, however, the new Airs have emerged in late July, perfectly timed for students planning their computer purchases. The MacBook Pro, meanwhile, last saw an update back in February.

A $999 MacBook still remains; the 11-inch Air's base model costs the same as that older white MacBook. Its 1.6GHz Core i5 processor feels far zippier than last year's Air, but its limited storage (64GB of flash memory) presents a limit to hold-everything-on-your-hard-drive people. On first boot-up, 48GB of drive space was free to use, which limits what you'd permanently keep on your computer. That 64GB of storage can be expanded up to 256GB at the time of purchase, but that drives the price up, too, by several hundred dollars.

Or, does that matter anymore?… Read more

With the arrival of Mac OS X Lion, a lot of folks are going to discover that Apple's latest operating system is more of a memory hog than Snow Leopard and that a little RAM boost may be required.

Regardless of whether you're upgrading to Lion or not, upgrading your RAM is good idea because it's one of the most affordable--and easiest--ways to speed up your machine. Also, for anybody looking to buy a new iMac, we strongly recommend upgrading the RAM yourself, because you can save a good bit of money by not ordering extra RAM … Read more

Apple's new high-speed Thunderbolt technology is still in its infancy, and as a result its initial implementations have had a few minor bugs and performance issues. Apple has released a firmware update to address some bugs relating to the new I/O technology.

The update requires OS X 10.6.8, and is for all Mac systems that have Thunderbolt ports, which so far are the latest MacBook Pro line, and iMac systems (21.5-inch and 27-inch models).

The firmware update should be available via Software Update for these systems, but can also be downloaded from the Thunderbolt Firmware Update Web site … Read more

For some users who have the latest iMac (mid-2011), startups have been rocky, including getting stuck at a white screen or dealing with the appearance of vertical lines across their screen. In this case, you must install the latest iMac firmware update, version 2.0.

If you have not installed the iMac Graphic Firmware Update 2.0 and find that your iMac is unresponsive during startup, you should reinstall the firmware update. Remember that firmware updates are different than normal updates and require some interaction with your machine.

Download the iMac Graphic Firmware Update 2.0 and follow the instructions … Read more

Apple has released a firmware update for iMac systems that addresses problems where iMacs have been hanging during start-up or when waking from sleep. Unfortunately Apple has not specified which specific iMac models are eligible for this update. The contents of the updater file show the Flasher utility is for ATI graphics, though this does not narrow the systems down by much because most-recent iMac models except for the early 2009 ones have used ATI graphics.

Because of the lack of specifics about the eligible models for this update, even though the updater is available as a standalone installer, we … Read more

Apple's new iMac systems came with a little surprise, which was the inclusion of the new Z68 chipset from Intel. This chipset supports a number of enhancements over the previous versions used, and Apple has already enabled some of these with a recent firmware update that unlocked SATA III capabilities in the new systems. Beside SATA III, however, the chipset does boast another speed-enhancing technology called SSD caching, but unfortunately for now iMac owners will not be able to use this.

SSD caching is a technology that uses up to 64GB of a high-speed SSD device to store frequently … Read more

In 2008 when Apple released the mini-DisplayPort connection in its systems, the port at first seemed like a redundant technology with no implemented benefit over the mini- and micro-DVI offerings that Apple had in laptop systems. Nevertheless, as Apple started using DisplayPort in more systems, its extra features started being implemented, with one being the ability to use an iMac as an external monitor in Target Display mode.

To use Target Display mode, all you have to do is connect an iMac to another DisplayPort-enabled Mac and then press Command-F2 on the iMac's keyboard. After doing this, the second … Read more

Speed matters. It's why faster 4G data networks are gaining in popularity; it's why we buy new computers with better processors. This is the appeal of Thunderbolt, the Intel-developed high-speed data port that's popping up on new Macs in 2011. So far, it's in 2011 MacBook Pros and iMacs.

Thunderbolt is lightning-quick, as the name suggests. Transfer speeds are 10Gbps--twice as fast as USB 3.0--and it works both ways, into and out of your computer. HD video and data can be carried back and forth over the same tiny cable, with a connection port that'… Read more

The iconic iMac aluminum enclosure houses a bevy of noteworthy upgrades, including Intel's and Advanced Micro Devices' latest silicon and the latest Intel-Apple interface, as iFixit's teardown of the 21.5-inch iMac ably reveals.

Let's look at a below-the-radar item first since there's already been plenty of ink devoted to the marquee features.

Intel Z68 chipset: This is Intel's freshly minted chipset. New enough that you won't find it--at least not prominently--on Intel's Website because it hasn't been officially released. The Z68 supports SSD caching: that is, using a relatively small-capacity, solid-state drive as a "cache" for a larger magnetic hard disk drive (see photo below). Interestingly, this SSD-HDD configuration is widely used in transaction-heavy businesses such as banks, where the top of the storage pyramid is composed of SSDs that act as a cache for the larger-capacity, and slower, magnetic drives.

Intel, in fact, is expected to bring out SSDs targeted specially at this kind of application.

Intel desktop-class Sandy Bridge processors: In the model torn down by iFixit, the processor is a 2.5GHz quad-core Sandy Bridge Intel Core i5-2400S. This is a pure 32-nanometer processor (previous-generation Intel silicon with graphics integrated into the same chip package was a 50-50 split, the processor was 32nm but the graphics was 45nm). … Read more