Samsung has introduced a 256GB solid-state drive that promises to kickstart the industry with twice the storage and twice the speed of earlier disks while also costing less to manufacture than past models — and having a chance of landing in future Apple notebooks.
Apple plans for all of its MacBooks to use LED-backlit displays by 2009, completing a transition across its notebook lines away from mercury-laden panels that began last year with an update to its MacBook Pro.
Apple in a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday discussed in detail some of the catalysts behind its industry-leading PC growth, expenditures for Steve Jobs' private aircraft, rising real estate and R&D costs, and its budget for impending capital asset purchases.
Apple has extended the early registration discount period for its upcoming developers conference. Meanwhile, ATI is reported to be prepping the release of its Radeon HD 3870 for all-generation Mac Pros. And one MacBook Air owner has installed a stripped-down Verizon USB727 Aircard for dongle-less EVDO connectivity.
Apple on Monday asked its developer community to begin testing yet another build of its 10.5.3 Leopard update, which packs a slew of new fixes. Meanwhile, Intel has once again tweaked some of its processors at the Mac maker's request. And STEC will reportedly supply flash drives for the next MacBook Air revision.
In its determination to deliver the world's thinnest notebook, Apple admitted to sacrificing some speed and versatility, but a new analysis suggests that it may have given up some early profits as well.
Apple on Tuesday released several fixes to improve the reliability of its Macs based on Intel's mobile platform as well as its newer aluminum keyboard. Also, beta 3 has surfaced for the iPhone developer SDK along with a new firmware beta.
Further fueling talk of a 3G-capable iPhone this spring, a research note from Bank of America claims knowledge of next-generation Apple handset production beginning in May, and warns that past sales predictions have been timid.
Two independent reports claim to know when the iPhone will be available in Mexico and the Netherlands. Also, a report says Cirrus Logic has likely been tapped for the audio in future iPods, an inside job at an Apple store briefly stole 332 iPhones, Adobe released Photoshop Express, and a MacBook Air was first to fall in a major hacking contest.
If solid-state drives like that in the MacBook Air take off, Seagate may file a patent lawsuit that brings them back to Earth, according to the storage company's chief. Also, Adobe is shipping the latest Mac version of Photoshop Elements, Sirius and XM are a step closer to a merged entity, and Mozilla is criticizing Apple's attempt to "push" Safari.
Apple this week released a small software update to the MacBook Air's system management control (SMC) that it hopes will put an end to intermittent freezing issues that have plagued some early adopters of the ultra-thin notebook.
Intel next quarter will introduce several new high-speed solid state drives (SSDs), including a 160GB model that will more than double the amount of storage capacity that Apple could offer customers of its SSD-based MacBook Air.
Apple has eclipsed Dell as the No.1 supplier of notebooks to higher education in the United States. Meanwhile, thin supply of MacBook Airs suggests demand remains high for the super-slim notebook a month removed from initial availability. And the entry level Penryn-based MacBook is reportedly slower than its predecessor.
Interest in Apple Inc.'s new ultra-thin and lightweight MacBook Air is running high, but demand for the new sub-notebook is noticeably less than that of the first Intel-based MacBook launched in May of 2006, according to a new report.
In this fourth installment of our MacBook Air review series, we pit Apple's standard hard disk drive (HDD) model against the standard solid state drive (SSD) configuration in a set of battery and benchmark tests to gauge the performance and power saving capabilities of each. Videos are used to demonstrate a side-by-side simultaneous boot, as well some application launch tests.
The MacBook Air ships with software tools that allow users to do without the external drive option for most purposes. Remote Disc, Remote Install, and related technologies that enable the Air to share a network host's optical drive both for reading files, installing software, backing up data, and even booting over the network. Here's a look at the Air's SuperDrive and how well early adopters can expect Apple's software to actually work as an alternative to carrying around a physical SuperDrive.
Any time a car or computer is released with a significantly new design, there are certain to be issues found with its engineering. The more changes, the more likely there'll be early adopter problems to manage. With the MacBook Air, Apple traded FireWire, an optical drive, and Gigabit Ethernet to save a few pounds and shed a few millimeters. Here's a look at problems users face while trying to cope without those once-standard features, and how well the workarounds Apple provided actually work.
The Wall Street Journal's Walt Mossberg (SSD) and AnandTech's Anand Lal Shimpi (HDD) have each issued reports on the battery performance of Apple's new MacBook Air models after putting the notebooks through some extensive real-world tests.
Prior to completing our look at the MacBook Air, we asked readers to contribute questions and concerns about the new model in "What's wrong with the MacBook Air?" The response was overwhelming, and helps underscore the fact that the Air has captured the attention of customers both with its new form factor and with its controversial design tradeoffs engineered to deliver its thin profile and light weight.
The MacBook Air just began shipping in limited quantities that quickly sold out of the retail stores that had any units available for purchase. All stores received a small number units for window dressing and hands-on display purposes, but only select stores received enough to have any extra available for sale. We snatched the final remaining unit at the store we visited, as Apple public relations representatives congratulated the first few buyers and took promotional photos.
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Katie Marsal
AppleInsider Staff
Slash Lane
Aidan Malley
Prince McLean
