Briefly: 10.4.5 fixes Front Row issues, MacBook Pro in stores
The Mac OS X 10.4.5 Update released yesterday fixes some issues with Apple's Front Row software running on Intel iMacs. Meanwhile, the company's first Intel-based notebook computers are already arriving in retail stores across the country.
Commenting on the release of Mac OS X 10.4.5 in a research note released early Wednesday morning, American Technology Research analyst Shaw Wu said, "What caught our attention is that this update fixes the well-publicized video glitch with FrontRow software on an Intel-based iMac Core Duo, in-line with our expectation that this would be a software fix and not a hardware component problem that many feared would require a recall."
After installing the update on a 2GHz iMac Core Duo, AppleInsider correspondents said the entire system became significantly more responsive. As noted in our review of the 2.0GHz iMac Core Duo, Front Row suffered from an unresponsive interface and overall sluggishness. With Mac OS X 10.4.5, these problem seems to have been resolved. Now, every input from the infrared remote is recognized by the machine, and load times seem much more reasonable, even with the stock 512MB of RAM, these correspondents say.
Meanwhile, visual artifacts affecting interface elements in Mac OS X have been an ongoing issue for owners of iMac CoreDuo models with a 256MB ATI Radeon X1600 video card. The Mac OS X 10.4.5 Update has been unable to rectify this problem completely.
"So far, we've only noticed them in Safari, but that was a focal point for many visual bugs prior to the update," correspondents said. "When scrolling, some images randomly become scrambled, sometimes leaving so-called artifacts outside of the image container. It's not clear if the update will prevent other video glitches, but, to our disappointment, the most annoying bugs remain."
MacBook Pro
Also in his note released Wednesday, Wu said that his proprietary checks with industry and channel sources indicate that Intel's microprocessor yields have improved, enabling Apple to ship more high-end Core Duo systems.
"In addition, our checks indicate that MacBook Pros are in stock at key distributors and many Apple stores while others are en route to fulfill pre-orders," Wu wrote. "We continue to believe that Apple's fundamentals remain sound and arguably among the strongest in technology, but negative investor sentiment and its weak technicals may indicate further share price downside."
Absent of technicals, for longer term fundamental investors, Wu says he would take advantage of the pull-back to build and/or add to Apple positions.
16 Comments
Mac Book Pro in stores already? is that only the 2.0 GHZ model? I'd be pissed if some screwball off the street got an 1.87GHZ before I did, seein' as how I ordered mine upon being announced
Why are Shaw Wu's research notes released to the general public? Call me ignorant, but isn't someone paying for this information, and why would it benefit the employer of this researcher to "leak" it to the general media?
Just curious about who & what's being bought and sold here.
What's with AppleInsider's CMS system? I replied right after this article was posted, and my reply (which has been replied to by two other users: http://forums.appleinsider.com/showt...686#post878686) isn't shown here. Strange. So, here's a repost of my comments:
It's irresponsible for AppleInsider to claim that "visual artifacts affecting interface elements in Mac OS X have been an ongoing issue for owners of iMac CoreDuo models with a 256MB ATI Radeon X1600 video card", implying that all owners are affected. This is plainly not true. I've not had a single problem in any application (not even FrontRow), and I have a 20" 256MB model.
Edit: Add URL to original posts
Why are Shaw Wu's research notes released to the general public? Call me ignorant, but isn't someone paying for this information, and why would it benefit the employer of this researcher to "leak" it to the general media?
Just curious about who & what's being bought and sold here.
All firms that do analysis, release the basic information from their research. What they don't release is the report itself, which contains much more detailed analysis, with the numbers that companies in the business need to make their decisions.
Mac Book Pro in stores already? is that only the 2.0 GHZ model? I'd be pissed if some screwball off the street got an 1.87GHZ before I did, seein' as how I ordered mine upon being announced
Ditto here (ordered 2 hours after announcement) -- and I am getting the 2.0GHz model. My ship date was moved from Feb 15th to Feb 28th after the upgrade. Now I hear that it's going to be in stores? What's the point of letting people pre-order if you can get it in stores sooner?