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News & Opinion
Give an Old MacBook a New Lease on Life
Wired's Brad Moon notes that while Apple trots out shiny new MacBook
Pros every year, and each model refresh brings more performance and new
features to the table, upgrading instead of replacing your old MacBook
Pro may be a viable and cost-saving option, especially if your budget
is tight or you can't rationally justify ditching your current unit
because, technically, it's still getting the job done, albeit perhaps
just barely.
A case in point is the 4-year-old 17" MacBook
Pro that's the subject of this how-to - awesome back in in 2008,
but totally outclassed today; still usable, but chugging along at
times. However a current 17" MacBook Pro starts at $2,799 and goes on
up from there.
In this case, the author invested two or three hours of labor, a few
minutes online, and just under $600 to make his old MacBook Pro look
and feel like a new machine, which arguably beats shelling out three
grand or more after tax for a new 17-incher.
The five upgrades employed in this case toward squeezing a few more
years out of any MacBook Pro are:
- System Optimization
- Max Out the RAM - "Maxing out the RAM on your MacBook Pro can do
wonders for performance, especially when multiple applications are
running."
- Replace the Hard Drive with a Solid State Drive - "The 240 GB SSD
that replaced my original 250 GB HD was priced at $349.99 (which
compares favourably to the $500 Apple currently charges for a 250 GB
SSD on a new 17-inch MacBook Pro); I consider it a good
investment."
- Replace Worn Components
- Buy a New Battery - "Even if your current battery still holds some
charge, a new battery gets you another three hours of cord-free
operation. And your current battery can be charged and set aside up as
a backup."
Publisher's note: Except for the battery, all of this applies
equally to desktop Macs, and you will undoubtedly see the biggest
difference from upgrading system memory if your Mac has 2 GB or
less RAM. If you can't afford a Solid State Drive and
have a 5400 rpm drive in your Mac, by all means look into a 7200 rpm
drive with an 8 MB or larger buffer, which can provide a real
performance boost for a lot less than you'll pay for a 120 GB or larger
SSD. Another alternative for those who want SSD performance but also
need a lot of storage space it to move your hard drive to the
SuperDrive slot, put your SuperDrive in a USB enclosure, and drop a
lower capacity SSD (perhaps 30-60 GB) into your MacBook's hard drive
bay. dk
Link: Reinvigorate Your
Aging MacBook Pro
Dennis Sellers' MacBook Predictions for 2012
MacNews' Dennis Sellers thinks the rumored 15" MacBook Air is coming
along with a 17" version and that in fact, the entire Mac laptop line
will evolve into Airs, with the 11" and 13" units to be dubbed MacBook
Airs, while the 15" and 17" versions will be called MacBook Pros, but
all models incorporating the current Air's svelte design nuances.
Sellers predicts that internal optical drives will be history with
the $79 SuperDrive available for those who can't get along without
optical disk support, and the Mac notebook lines will come only with
SSD storage across the board.
Power-wise, the next generation of Mac notebooks will all have
Intel's next-generation Ivy Bridge processor silicon, says Sellers, but
don't expect USB 3, which he says we won't see on any Mac, with Apple
betting on thunderbolt to become the future of connectivity.
No MacBook Airs running iOS either in his estimation.
Editor's note: I can't disagree with most of Sellers' forecast,
although I think dropping hard drive storage altogether - even as an
option - would be a bold move, maybe a bit too bold, and I'm not ready
to slam the door entirely on the possibility of an iOS machine in a
clamshell laptop form factor, although the greater likelihood is
continued convergence of OS X with the iOS features and
functionality wise. cm
Link: My Predictions for
2012: The Mac Laptop
Ultrabooks: Things That Could Make or Break the
Category
Larry
Dignan says what's unclear is how much market traction ultrabooks will
grab and how quickly, noting that, IHS iSuppli estimates that 43% of
notebook shipments will be ultrabooks in 2015, and that in 2012, about
13% of notebooks will be ultrabooks. Dignan thinks that 40% ultrabook
penetration for 2012 might be too ambitious and that several factors
will need to align in order for ultrabooks to be a commercial
success.
They include:
- Price, which Dignan suggests may be the single most important
metric for ultrabooks, and that it may need to be as low as $500 in
order to compete with tablets.
- Windows 8 needs to be huge, since Dignan thinks it will be the big
driver for ultrabook sales, a new OS designed to meld PC and tablet
experiences, and observes that ultrabooks with touchscreens and hybrids
could appeal to the masses.
- Apple created the category, and ultrabook success will depend
largely on Apple prices, Dignan noting that assuming they can handle an
11" screen, many folks will go MacBook Air at $999 over an
ultrabook at $800, and the challenge for ultrabooks is going where
Apple has been - not where it's going. Apple could cut prices, cook up
new designs, and offer more screen variety to fend off ultrabooks.
Link: Ultrabooks: Things
That Could Make or Break the Category
Will the Ultrabook be as Ultra as
Promised?
Computerworld's Barbara Krasnoff says that in speculation about the
upcoming CES trade show, the word everyone is tossing around as this
year's product to watch is the Ultrabook, and notes that up to 50 of
these new notebooks are expected to be announced at CES, leading her to
suspect that many will not be strictly following the Intel Ultrabook
rules.
Krasnoff observes that while the idea of a slim, lightweight,
comfortable-to-type-on full-featured notebook with a very long battery
life is extremely attractive, the initial crop of Ultrabooks aren't yet
quite the wonders that we'd like, partly because they are still using
the Intel Sandy Bridge processors, with more efficient Ivy Bridge chips
due later this year.
Krasnoff says she's curious as to how well the Ultrabooks will do if
the pricing remains, as indications seem to be, in the $1,000
range.
Link: CES 2012: Will the
Ultrabook be as Ultra as Promised?
What Ultrabooks Could Do to the Tablet Craze
Forbes Contributor Michael Humphrey notes that an Ultrabook must
weigh no more than 3.1 lb., be no more than 0.71" thick, and provide
five-plus hours of battery life, boast flash-based storage, and
incorporate Intel's Rapid Start Technology for speedy boot times.
Humphrey observes that based on personal use that he describes in
the article, it's occurred to him that the only reason to use a tablet
instead of an Ultrabook is that tablets are better for reading. But the
MacBook Air is more
comfortable for viewing, with its keyboard base propping the screen up
nicely. It's also fast, the screen is beautiful, and in terms of
mobility, the weight difference is negligible, especially if you factor
in an iPad cover. Plus, the Air is a fully functional computer for the
rest of one's needs.
Of course the same would apply to a PC Ultrabook.
Humphrey observes, as have many others, that tablets make sense as
an entertainment and mobility gadget and can work for some kinds of
business use, but not those that need intensive written input, while
ultrabooks offer a powerful alternative with all the functionality of
your old laptop with nearly the mobility of your tablet, so "why not
just one device?"
Publisher's note: There's a fundamental difference between using a
tablet and a notebook. With the tablet, you don't have to set it down
to use the keyboard or trackpad, giving a tablet or hybrid laptop a
real advantage over traditional notebooks in the field. dk
Link: What Ultrabooks
Could Do to the Tablet Craze
Reviews
MacBook Air Better Than Any Copycat
Business Insider's Dylan Love has posted an enthusiastically
positive review of the Core i MacBook Air, relating that he's been
using it almost daily for 138 days and doesn't think he'll be stopping
any time soon.
"It's been a total joy and a very welcome upgrade from my previous
laptop," says Love, and most anyone who's ever owned a 12" PowerBook G4 (like the one Love says he
"used and abused from August 2004 until August 2011") knows that's a
tough act to follow. However, when it came time to replace his elderly
PowerBook last August, he sprung for a Core i7 13" MacBook Air and has
never looked back, praising the Air's impressive combination of size,
weight, and battery life.
"Don't let its low weight and skinny profile make you think it's
some forgettable softie of a machine," Love assures. "I've never once
felt like I could break it, and I routinely get way more hours of use
out of the battery than I need. It's robust as hell . . . I
don't think twice about taking it somewhere . . . The
opposite of this."
What about performance? In a word, fast, Love confirms, observing
that "Computers this thin shouldn't be this fast."
Dylan concludes that the 13" MacBook Air is the best computer for
his needs that he's ever used - and he's used a lot of them.
Link: 138 Days with the
MacBook Air: It's Better Than Any Other Copycat Out There
Shootout: Dual Bay Notebook Drive Enclosures for
the 2011 MacBook Pro
Bare Feats' rob-ART Morgan says:
"A little less than a year ago, we did a shootout between various
dual bay notebook enclosures. Since then some new products have
appeared including a Thunderbolt dual bay notebook enclosure from
LaCie. We decided to do another shootout to see how much the new crop
exceeds the 200 MB/s barrier we encountered.
"Using the fastest 6 Gb/s solid state drives (SSDs) we sought to
test the limits of 6 Gb/s eSATA and Thunderbolt interfaces. We included
setups with HDDs and Hybrid drives for perspective. Some dual bay
enclosures require the two drives to share a single I/O port. Some
enclosures dedicated a port for each drive."
Main takeaway: Thunderbolt is the fastest option for Apple
laptops.
Link: Shootout: Dual Bay Notebook Drive
Enclosures for the 2011 MacBook Pro
Software
Free WLAN Site Survey Software
PR: Netspot is a new wireless survey program for Mac OS X.
Find out what your WiFi network is capable of right now, and it's free.
All you need to run your wireless site survey is your MacBook with
native WiFi/AirPort adapter. No special knowledge required. Simplicity
- only two steps to get your first reports: survey WiFi network and
apply sleek visualizations.
Link: Netspot
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