New and Noteworthy: Consumer Reports: PowerBooks Have Fewest Repairs; Apple upstages Microsoft at VSLive conference; more

Consumer Reports: PowerBooks Have Fewest Repairs of all laptops Apple's iBook and PowerBook portables have the fewest reports of repairs and the best technical support of any laptop PC on the market today, according to the March issue of Consumer Reports magazine. Linux Insider reports "Using data similar to that released last December in its desktop ratings report, the Consumers Union (CU) said Apple had the fewest repairs of laptops, at 16 percent. Toshiba and Sony were second and third, at 17 percent. Gateway had the worst laptop repair ranking among more than 57,000 CU members, at 23 percent." More.

Apple upstages Microsoft at Visual Studio conference CNET reports that the iPod played a large role at Microsoft's recent VSLive conference, with several exhibitors giving away the devices, and others offering add-on products. "One of the more interesting booths was that of Fort Collins, Colo.-based Otterbox, which offers waterproof and water-resistant cases for a variety of tech gadgets including Apple's popular music players. The 12-person company began in 1996 with a basic plastic box for carrying goods underwater. They expanded to offer a line of cigar humidors before finding a niche making weatherproof cases for tech gadgets." More.

Previously on MacFixIt

• .Mac mail: Missing body content (#2)
• iPhoto 5.0.1 (#8): Other applications finding/using images
• 2005 PowerBook G4s (#3): Slower trackpads, workaround; Brighter screens; more
• Performing screen captures in Apple's DVD Player
• Safari (and Mozilla, Firefox) domain name spoofing vulnerability
• Odds and Ends: Another Mac OS X combo updater rescue; Knowledge Base Updates

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