The littlest MacBook Pro finally gets all the features of its larger brethren, making it pound for pound one of the most impressive laptops on the market today. For starters, the aluminum unibody construction is solid to an extreme: There’s no wiggle or shimmy when you lift up this laptop. It’s a high-tech brick that, if you gathered enough of, you could probably pave your driveway with.
I couldn’t agree more. From my review of the machine back in August:
At the core of that legal issue, according to Mr Huang, is that Intel wants to standardize the technology that computer manufacturers use and computer manufacturers, like Apple, wants to differentiate. Mr Huang said “Apple wants to differentiate. So inside your MacBook is a NVIDIA chipset. Because Apple wants to build fundamentally different computers than just the Intel platform. They want to add value.”
Mr Huang said that in his home they’re “all Apple.” According to him “Apple uses the best technology for their [computers]. Apple says to their customers: if you buy a computer from us you can be sure we have selected the best technology inside for you. That is their promise to consumers. Their promise to consumers isn’t we’ve selected the best technology for you with the exception of what Intel allows us to use. That’s not their promise. And that’s why Apple uses the best technology where they want whenever they want. And that’s why I’m all Apple! At home it’s just Macs everywhere. It’s NVIDIA’s technology in all of them but I use Macs. My son has two Macs, my daughter has a Mac, there’s an extra Mac just in case and my wife has a Mac. It’s just Mac, Mac, Mac! Because I know it’s got the best stuff inside.”
Back in May 2006, as Apple was transitioning to Intel processors, the company announced the MacBook, a 13-inch notebook to replace the 12- and 14-inch iBook G4s (and maybe the 12-inch PowerBook G4). The new machine came in white or black plastic, sported a glossy display, a built-in iSight, and a brand new “sunken” keyboard design.
The machine was a huge hit. Starting at $1099, the machines were far more powerful and feature-packed than the aging machines they replaced — and cheaper.
Apple, in an email to customers:
Dear Customer,
If you’ve installed the Apple TV 3.0 software update, you should immediately update to version 3.0.1. This prevents content from temporarily disappearing until it is resynced.
To update your Apple TV software:
1. Reboot your Apple TV (unplug the power cord and plug it back in)
2. Select Settings > General from the main menu
3. Select Update Software
4. Select Download and Install
Wired’s Dylan Tweney, on why he’s not switching to the Droid quite yet:
The second big reason is that I’ve grown dependent on two iPhone apps: Instapaper Pro and Tweetie. I also occasionally use RunKeeper, Stanza, Pandora and a handful of games, but Instapaper and Tweetie are the killer apps. They’re the things that, together with e-mail capability, make the iPhone useful to me.
Tweetie I could probably learn to live without: There are plenty of Twitter apps for Android, and the most popular one, Twidroid, seems to work fine, even if it lacks Tweetie’s elegance and speed. But Instapaper’s ability to collect, reformat and display news articles and blog posts I want to read — even if I’m offline — has made it an indispensable commuter and downtime companion. I would sorely miss it.
The i Mac G3 intro video:
Sorry for the low quality — it’s the best I could find.
Objectified is a film about industrial design, from Gary Hustwit, the same guy who did Helvetica. Here’s a clip from the new film, in which Apple’s Jonathan Ive discusses the MacBook Air and Apple’s unibody construction process.
It makes me happy he carries a white iPhone. When people ask me why I didn’t buy the more popular black version, I’m going to start referencing this clip.
John Carmack has a long history working with Apple on gaming products, not all of it positive.
“My relationship with Apple has been long standing, but it’s a roller-coaster ride,” he told Kotaku. “I’ll be invited up on stage for a keynote one month and then I’ll say something they don’t like and I can be blacklisted for six months.”
[…]
Carmack thinks the run-ins with Apple are because the company, the highest people in the company, look down on games. But the popularity of gaming on the iPhone has forced Apple to try and come to grips with that, even if they’re not happy about it.
With Reserve and Pick Up, you can make sure the top things on your list are definitely under the tree. Reserve an iPod or Mac online today and it will be waiting for you to pick up and purchase at an Apple Retail Store from December 15 to 24. You can even have many products wrapped. It’s just another way we make it even easier to get through the holiday crowds — and your gift list.
