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Rig of the Day: Rockin' the Cube
I'd very much like to own a Cube some day. Apple's Tissue Box may have lived a short life, but I think it's a very desirable machine, with its sweet design and upgrade options. Flickr user mrgaskell notes that he recently swapped his Cube for a Mac mini, which is ok, as that seems like a logical progression. This shot also features a Powerbook on a stand, an iWork '05 installer CD, a cool OS X mousepad and an (empty?) bag of fruit snacks. It would seem that a number of TUAW readers like to snack while they're at their Macs."My now old set-up with fruit snack goodness" by mrgaskell.If you'd like to see your own rig featured here, simply upload photos into our group Flickr pool. We'll select an image every day to highlight.
Mix Master Mac
If you've been following all the good news about Sundance Film Festival over at Blogging Sundance and Cinematical, then you've probably already spotted the news that Mix Master Mike was ripping up some cool tunes at last night's party for The Beastie Boys' film that James Rocchi reviewed for Cinematical.James went to the party last night, and shot the picture accompanying this post with his camera. Check it out: Mix Master Mike, cutting with a PowerBook. Nice. James said the cuts were off the hook, and I was very jealous that he got the pass to go to the party, but didn't get a plus one for yours truly. Fortunately, James is an awesome guy and hooked me up with some nice Beastie Boys schwag that he scored at the party, as well as the picture and title for this post.ps—Beasties rule!
Widget Watch: Carpenter's level
Now this is a cool widget. The Carpenter's Level is a Dashboard widget that responds to your (so equipped) iBook or Powerbook's built-in motion detector. Tilt your laptop to the left or right and watch the bubble move. This widget has been written to go to "sleep" when Dashboard is inactive, so don't worry about it continually monitoring your laptop's position in space. I don't have an iBook or Powerbook that I could try this with, so if you do, please post your experience in the comments. If you're a carpenter who actually gives this a try on the job site, we definitely want to hear from you.[Via Daring Fireball]
Rig of the Day: Drool
Today's rig of the day has us drooling. This shot by Flickr user The Real Dexta features two 30" cinema displays, an iSight, a 15" Powerbook, a 1TB LaCie RAID (yikes), a dualie 2.7 G5...and an iPod sock. It's the sock that puts it over the edge for me (mostly because I still use my grey one, too). There are more goodies buried in there, click around the plethora of notes to see what you can find."dexta_computers" posted by the real dexta.If you'd like to see your own rig featured here, simply upload photos into our group Flickr pool. We'll select an image every day to highlight.
Funeral for the Powerbook
The Powerbook served the Mac faithful well for 15 years, and it is now time to say our goodbyes and lament the loss of this piece of computing history. Supr.c.ilio.us is holding a funeral for the Powerbook today in San Francisco at the House of Shields. Check out the Upcoming entry for more details.The Powerbook is dead, long live the Macbook Pro![via Laughing Squid]
MacBook Pro Value Proposition
NotebookReview.com has an interesting article on the new MacBook Pro that at once takes a preview look at the Powerbook replacement (albeit a non-hands on preview) and compares it to other PC laptops running the same Intel chipset. It's interesting because it is the first time that Apple laptops have been so easily comparable to PC laptops due to the shared technologies between the two devices. No more special magical algorithms to determine the proper PPC to Intel Mhz conversion. The article is basically tackling the age old question—are Macs overpriced?—and seems to be asking a lot of the right questions. If you're considering getting a MacBook Pro, it's definitely worth a read. Check it out.
Rig of the Day - Livin' Large
Today's TUAW Rig of the Day entry (the inaugural entry, at that) is Flickr user visualseed's killer multi-display set up. We're talking about three 30" Cinema Displays, one smaller display, a Powerbook and a DV camera with three lenses, each the size of my leg. A G5 sits in the corner, as well as an iSight, a tablet and...what's that...a Dell?!? We'll just let that slide. I guess a pro photographer needs to diversify."Mac set up and more" uploaded by VisualSeed.If you'd like to see your own rig featured here, simply upload photos into our group Flickr pool. We'll select an image every day to highlight.
Hands on: Macbook Pro
I also had a chance to get my hands on one of the Macbook Pros today, and I was impressed by the responsiveness of this machine. It is the fastest Mac portable I have ever used, which makes sense but I was impressed by just how much faster it seems.The construction is solid, and the screen is much brighter than my stupid old Powerbooks (sorry, Ambrose!).I do have one complaint though, and it doesn't really have to do with the MacBook Pro. I wanted to pop the battery out and take a picture or two but I was told rather brusquely that I couldn't do that, nor could I even close the lid of the Macbook. What's up with that?Overall though, this thing is very cool
Comparing the MacBook Pro to other laptops
Lots of people have been throwing out their thoughts and opinions about the new Macbook Pros (I'm still not used to that name), but Tristan has gone to the effort of creating a chart comparing the new MacBooks to the Powerbooks of yore (i.e. last week) and to an Acer laptop.How did the MacBook measure up? You'll have to read his post to see
New Intel Macs are first with a new chip but not a new design
In the "random observation" category, I noticed something about the new Dual Core Macs that is a break from Apple's traditional practices: they're the first Macs, at least in the last five years or more, to receive a completely new chip (from a completely different company, no doubt) and yet not receive a redesign. The PowerBooks had one with the G4, the PowerMacs with the G5 and the iMac when it too went G5.But not this time around. From all the photographs, it seems as though both machines have retained their previous form - and no, an iSight at the top of the MacBook Pro (does anyone like that name yet?) doesn't count. I'm not saying I was hoping for a redesign - I think the present forms of these machines are at the top of their game. But with a move as huge as Intel, I was half expecting at least something.
Survey: what will Intel-iBooks be called?
So now that we know Apple has changed the naming scheme of their PowerBook line to MacBook Pro, the question begs to be answered: what will the iBooks be called once they get Intel Inside Leap Ahead? Will the name shift to iMacBook? MacBook mini? Something else? Post your thoughts, and lets have some fun trying to guess Apple's next marketing move.
First Macbook Pro, next up Mac Pro?
Well, we all know that the MacBook Pro is the new and improved Powerbook, because there's no more PowerPC chip in them anymore. Intel, baby!My bold prediction for the PowerMac line? It will be renamed the Mac Pro to solidify the naming convention across the board.I have no inside information on this, it just makes sense.
15-inch aluminum PowerBook battery update
Apple has released a Battery Update specific to the 15-inch Aluminum PowerBook. I'm not sure if that includes all of the 15-inch Aluminum books, but it showed up in Software Update, and my book is one of the latest DL SuperDrive models out there. Straight from Sotware Update, this 820 KB update "aids the 15-inch Aluminum PowerBook battery in performing at full capacity."I haven't really heard of any issues, though I always suspected I wasn't getting the most out of my fairly new battery. Since I typically have a lot of apps running that pummel my WiFi and hard drive, I wasn't going to make a stink out of it. Regardless, I hope this update does some good for all you 15-inch aluminum PowerBook owners out there.[thanks meatmcguffin!]
On power adapters, PMUs and the new PowerBooks
As I was using my one month old PowerBook yesterday, I was alarmed to see the charging light on the power adapter randomly shift between orange and green. I came up empty handed after some googling and searching Apple's Support pages, so I started plugging the adapter into other outlets in the apartment. No go; my adapter was still putting on its own little glowstick show for me. I then decided to look up Apple's support document detailing the procedure for resetting a PowerBook's PMU (Power Management Unit), which brings me to the first lesson I learned: Apple changed the PMU reset procedure for the most recent 15" and 17" Dual Layer SD PowerBooks, so definitely check it out if you go down this same road.Unfortunately, a PMU reset still didn't solve my dilemma. Getting nervous, I finally decided to take advantage of Apple's insulting "90 days of complementary support" to see if they could bail me out. Fortunately, after some troubleshooting, I learned my second lesson of the day: PowerBook and iBook adapters, if left plugged into a wall for too long, might need to actually be reset. This can easily be done by unplugging both of an adapter's ends for at least 60 seconds. We didn't delve into the inner workings of these power adapters for an explanation, but I've kept one plugged into a specific outlet in my apartment for probably at least a month or two, and I guess that might be just enough to make a power adapter a little confused in the head. So kids, remember: don't be like me. Keep your power adapter happy and light-show free by unplugging it from time to time.
A Day on a PC running Windows
Subtitle: I feel dirty.So today, the wireless was dead. All day, and with no cable or good spot for me to plug in my Powerbook. So, I used one of the many Dells available where I work. I'm running Firefox for the browser (so not too foreign) and Trillian for the chat. Gmail for email in Firefox, and RSS feed reading in Bloglines. Not horrible. Just trying to ignore the Windows bar and Start icon at the bottom. I even downloaded and tried Google's GTalk client. Pretty cool. I like it. Too bad they haven't bothered to code one for Mac yet. The situation is workable, but...I hate it. There's no Expose, which I keep trying to call up. There's no Spotlight. The Dell's keyboard doesn't have the nice solid feeling of my PowerBook's keys. I just don't like it, and I cannot believe that Russell switched back although I think that it is hilarious that Yahoo! launched Yahoo! Go! featuring a 12-inch PowerBook as the PC. *sigh* I love Mac-using graphics departments, and companies that greenlight things like this without realizing what they've done. It even has a Windows screen pasted in. So funny.
Apple notebook reliability study, courtesy of Macintouch
MacInTouch has released a comprehensive, in-depth report on the reliability of Apple's portables throughout the years. They apparently logged over 10,000 notebooks from 41 models, covering the gamut from iBook G3's to the latest Aluminum PowerBook family (basically anything that can handle OS X), as well as thousands of reader comments. Their survey included what years a notebook had to be repaired, how many times or if something broke down and the owner simply decided to deal with the situation, such as an optical drive they no longer need.Their results are very well summarized and broken down into groups such as most/fewest repairs and most common failures from specific models. MacInTouch also tackled the ever-prevelant topic of Applecare, asking whether those surveyed purchased it, if they felt it was worth the money or if they went with an outside insurance plan (like myself) that covers hardware defects as well as accidents.I'd like to spoil the results, but I honestly feel they did one heckuva job here and would hate to ruin all their hard work. Swing on by and check out everything they put together, and scroll to the bottom for the cliff notes.[via MacSlash]
10.4.3 Bluetooth Firmware update
Apple has released Bluetooth Firmware Update 1.2 for the iMac G4 (Gooseneck), 12" Titanium PowerBook, 15" Titanium PowerBook, iMac G5 and the Mac mini. The Different District, where I found this, thought Apple might have meant the Aluminum PowerBook instead of Titanium, but I'm not so sure. The update supports both D-Link USB Adapters and Apple's internal bluetooth modules for the listed computers and, as usual, "improves Bluetooth performance and reliability issues." If you have one of the aforementioned Macs, you should be able to snag the update via Software Update or at Apple's site.
Mac personalities talk about their Macs
Giles Turnbull recently spoke to some Mac personalities about their Mac rigs. He found out what Leander Kahney of the Cult of Mac uses, Jonathan Rentzsh (he of the Red Shed), Michael Tsai (SpamSieve), Joe Kissel (author), and Andy Ihnakto.It is worth a read, though sadly I wasn't included. Luckily I can just write about what I use right here!I have a brand new 20 inch iMac G5 (named Vercingetorix. Yes, named after that Vercingetorix) which is my workhorse machine, and a neglected G4 Powerbook by the name of Ambrose.
Is Apple first in line this January for the Yonnah?
Engadget picked up on a post from ThinkSecret claiming that Apple could announce portables at Macworld '06 that just might be the some of the first available on the market to have Intel's new Yonah chips inside. Getting this close to Macworld there's no shortage of buzz and rumors flying around about which move Apple's going to take in light of this Intel switch. But ever since I blogged Intel's announcement of the new chips over on DownloadSquad last August, I was willing to put money down (if I had money, that is) that Apple wasn't switching for the Pentium 4 (how old is that chip now?) or even the M or Centrino chips. Apple's after what Intel has cooking in the pot, and I'm willing to throw down (Monopoly) money that Macworld is where they'll whip out those new Intel chips, especially since Macworld Boston is no more. Things also look positive for a Yonah iBook/PowerBook since Engadget also notes that NEC has officially announced a Yonah portable, sans shipping date, however.So could Apple (ironically) beat other PC manufacturers to the punch with brand new chips from Intel, come Macworld '06? To me, that sounds like a play straight out of Jobs' book.
1.7GHz Powerbook G4s before the Intel Switch?
File this under: Rumor / I doubt it.
