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News & Opinion
Global Notebook Shipments Down 4.5% in 3Q12, but
MacBook Sales Skyrocket 30%
DigiTimes Research senior analyst Joanne Chien, reports that while
the global notebook market as a whole suffered poor shipment
performance in 2012's third quarter - with 4.5% drop in sales
sequentially and 11.6% drop year-over-year, Apple roared through the
the quarter with a sequential growth of nearly 30%, with its new and
updated MacBooks (announced in June) receiving critical acclaim and
good feedback from the market, and the company able to maintain a
stable orders each month in the quarter.
Chien attributes the downturn on the PC laptop side to inventory
adjustments in retail channels and consumers' wait-and-see attitude to
PC purchasing due to Windows 8's upcoming launch, noting that Acer,
Asustek Computer, and Toshiba suffered the most severe shrinkage at
15-25%, with Asustek's previous ranking as the fourth-largest vendor
worldwide falling to fifth.
Link: Global Notebook
Shipments Decline Sequentially 4.5% Overall in 3Q/12 (subscription
required)
Why Is Solid-state Storage So Flimsy?
The Register's Alistair Dabbs notes the baneful truth that no matter
how much storage space you get, and no matter how much you free up
later on, it always gets stuffed to the gills, saying he's worried that
he under-specified the hard drive in his new notebook at half a
terabyte, which is all the SSD capacity he could afford, leaving him
reliant on a couple of USB portable drives to manage data overflow.
However, Dabbs says what's worrying him now is that "SSD storage
probably isn't as rock-solid and reliable" as he had imagined, and that
despite all the advantages that SSD enjoys compared with a spinning
hard disk, it has one serious disadvantage (besides astronomical
prices): "if something major goes wrong with the drive, the result for
your data is nothing less than catastrophic."
Adding to the grim outlook, Dabbs notes that Flash memory has a
fixed lifetime, or at least decreasing performance over time.
In the meantime, he observes, internal hard disks are getting easier
and easier to swap out as well as cheaper and cheaper, leaving him
wondering why he was "so stupid as to put all my faith in a storage
technology that's so fragile, short-term and expensive?"
Link: Why Is Solid-state
Storage So Flimsy?
EPEAT News & Opinion
EPEAT Fudges Standards So It Can Bless Thin
Notebooks
Macworld's Martyn Williams reports that An EPEAT (Electronic Product
Environmental Assessment Tool) investigation of five thin or ultrathin
laptops made by four companies, including Apple's latest MacBook, has
resulted in no products being removed from the EPEAT registry.
However, it looks like the EPEAT folks have chosen to fudge the
standard that had previously required products approved under the
standard to be "upgradeable with commonly available tools" and
arbitrarily decided that an "upgrade" doesn't necessarily require
access to the inside of the computer, which has become problematical
with recent Apple products that have proprietary
Pentalobe screws fastening case covers, both CPUs and RAM soldered
to the logic board, and batteries glued to the housing.
Williams notes that EPEAT has decreed that so long as a product
contains externally accessible ports, such as a high performance serial
bus or USB, they are capable of being upgraded by adding a hard disk,
DVD, floppy drive, memory, and cards and are now deemed to satisfy the
EPEAT requirements for "upgradability".
Publisher's note: USB 2.0 was introduced over a decade ago, and
practically every PC made since 2002 or so includes it as a standard
feature, thus making even the wimpiest netbook with USB 2.0 good enough
to meet the revisionist EPEAT standard - and thus making it
meaningless. dk
Link: Thin Laptops,
Including MacBook Air, Meet Eco-Standard
Greenpeace Unhappy with EPEAT's Revisionist Rating
of Ultrathin MacBooks
Macworld UK's Karen Haslam reports that Greenpeace isn't happy with
EPEAT's revisionist rating of Apple's laptops, claiming that as a
result of the green standards group's changes to the criteria, the
world's electronic waste problem will grow, EPEAT's product
verification committee having arbitrarily decided that being able to
upgrade a laptop doesn't necessarily require access to the inside of
the computer, declaring, "Products containing externally accessible
ports such as a high performance serial bus or a USB are capable of
being upgraded by adding a hard disk, DVD, floppy drive, memory and
cards, and therefore conform to this criterion."
Link: Greenpeace Unhappy
with EPEAT's Revisionist Rating of Apple's Ultrathin MacBooks
Retina MacBook Pro's 'Gold' Rating Makes EPEAT
Certification Meaningless
Last June, iFixit called the 15" MacBook Pro with Retina
Display "the least repairable, least recyclable computer [yet]
encountered in more than a decade of disassembling electronics," what
with super-strong glue fastening the battery to the chassis,
hard-soldered memory, a proprietary SSD hardware interface and
proprietary screws fastening it closed making it virtually impossible
to repair, replace, or upgrade the laptop's battery, upgrade RAM, and
so forth.
That's why Apple voluntarily withdrew its products from eco-friendly
consumer electronics EPEAT standard last summer, then did U-turn after
a public outcry, even though the Retina MacBook Pro remains distinctly
un-green - a clear case of what iFixit CEO Kyle Wiens calls
"greenwashing."
In a caustic essay, Wiens fulminates that giving the Retina MacBook
Pro an EPEAT Gold certification renders the EPEAT "standard"
essentially a bad joke - or at best, the interpretation of the EPEAT
Gold standard laughably out of touch, for example claiming that Apple's
proprietary Pentalobe screwdrivers are "commonly available tools" and
deeming a USB thumb drive to constitute an "upgrade". At worst, he
says, it may mean that recyclers a decade from now will be confronted
with a mountain of electronic waste they can't affordably recycle
without custom disassembly fixtures and secret manufacturer
information.
Wiens observes that the social and environmental price of
manufacturing electronics is high, so it's critical that products last
as long as possible, but Apple's products emphatically are not green
thanks to its trending toward glued-together, essentially throwaway
products with batteries that may fail after 12-24 months, and hardware
designs that make repair so difficult that people rarely replace the
batteries, opting instead to buy a replacement device.
Wiens notes that taken aback by the degree of public outrage over
its EPEAT pullout, it reversed the decision and publicly apologized,
but of course changed nothing about the Retina MacBook Pro design,
which falls miserably short of three EPEAT supposed standards:
- "Product shall be upgradeable with commonly available tools."
- "External enclosures shall be easily removable by one person alone
with commonly available tools. Hard disk, digital versatile disc (DVD),
floppy drive can be changed or extended. Memory and cards can be
changed or extended."
- "Circuit boards >10 square cm (measured on the largest face),
batteries, and other components - any of which contain hazardous
materials - shall be safely and easily identifiable and
removable."
As Wiens observes, reasonable assessment would deem that a product
assembled with proprietary screws, glued-in hazardous batteries,
nonupgradeable memory and storage, and several large,
difficult-to-remove circuit boards would fail all three tests.
So a fudge was in, altering and watering-down interpretation of the
standard to allow Apple's flagship laptop to clear the much-powered
bar, and rendering EPEAT certification virtually meaningless.
Where is the public outrage about that? Are consumers really so
dense and gullible as to accept that what EPEAT has done really "fixes"
anything, or are so-called "green" standards just an exercise in
feel-good?
Link: The Retina MacBook
Pro Was 'Verified' EPEAT Gold, but It's Not Green
Did the EPEAT Environmental Registry Cave on
Apple's Retina MacBook Pro?
ReadWriteWeb's Brian Proffitt notes that the computer industry's
Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) environmental
standards program granting "Gold" status to Apple's Retina MacBook Pro
has gotten a lot of folks angry, including both Greenpeace and
iFixit.org, which have both accused EPEAT of watering down its
standards to accommodate what they describe as Apple's decidedly
non-environmental hardware.
Proffitt notes that EPEAT is sponsored by grants from the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) supplemented by annual fees from
computer manufacturers based on a company's sales and revenue in an
evaluated product's category, and that the Retina MacBook Pro has
become an exemplar of Apple's avoidance of green standards, iFixit
noting that there's a lot of glue to fasten the display, case, battery,
and internal boards together, making the machine very difficult to
service and recycle.
In a blog posted this week, iFixit's CEO Kyle Wiens called Apple's
Retina MacBook Pro "the least repairable, least recyclable computer I
have encountered in more than a decade of disassembling electronics,"
and maintains that EPEAT's decision to certify the Retina MacBook Pro
"Gold" - along with four PC ultrabooks - demonstrates that the EPEAT
standard has been watered down to an alarming degree." Examples include
accepting Apple's proprietary Pentalobe case closure screws as commonly
available tools, deeming USB sticks as hardware "upgrades," and passing
lightly over the sticky issue of the glued-in battery, which iFixit's
teardown found was virtually impossible to remove without rupture and
release of potentially hazardous chemicals.
Proffitt also cites Greenpeace IT analyst Casey Harrell telling PC
World that "Apple wanted to change the EPEAT standards when it knew its
MacBook Pro with Retina Display would likely not qualify for the
registry in July of this year - now EPEAT has reinterpreted its rules
to include the MacBook Pro and ultrabooks," adding: "It's unclear why
EPEAT caved in, but the impact is that EPEAT has confused consumers and
businesses who want to buy green electronics that can be repaired and
will last a long time, and sets a dangerous trend for the burgeoning
market of ultrabooks."
Proffitt also cites EPEAT spokespersons, including CEO Robert
Frisbee, disputing that analysis, and arguing that standards must be
kept relevant to rapid changes in hardware design, which sounds an
awful lot to your editor like watering-down objective standards to
accommodate design trends and fashions. But what do I know?
Publisher's note: Read that second paragraph again. EPEAT is not
objective; it has a vested interest in keeping Apple as a member
because Apple not only had growing sales in a stagnant PC market, but
its revenues put all other PC makers to shame. According to EPEAT IEEE
1680.1 Subscriber Fee Schedule Effective for New or Renewing
Subscribers July 1, 2010 (PDF),
losing Apple as a member would cost EPEAT $115,000 per year. That's a
significant chunk of
its $1.5 million budget. dk
Link: Did the EPEAT
Environmental Registry Cave on Apple's Retina MacBook Pro?
Rumor Roundup
13" Retina MacBook Pro 'Confirmed' for Apple's
Tuesday Event
9 to 5 Mac's Mark Gurman reports that alongside the smaller iPad
mini, Apple will launch a 13" MacBook Pro with Retina Display on
Tuesday, October 23rd, according to what he says is a consistently
reliable source at a high-profile US retailer.
Gurman says the word is that new 13" MacBook Pro will be sold in two
configurations, made available for purchase soon after introduction and
that the the current non-Retina display 13" model that was updated with
faster processors and USB 3.0 in June will continue to be available as
well, at least for the immediate future.
In a separate report, Gurman says Apple also plans to announce an
upgraded Mac mini in two standard configurations, with a third model
that runs OS X Server to begin shipping immediately after announcement.
Anticipated for the minis are Ivy Bridge CPU silicon and USB 3.0.
Link: 13-inch MacBook Pro
with Retina Display Confirmed for Apple Event
Link: Apple Also Planning New Mac minis
for Launch Alongside Smaller iPad
13" MacBook Pro Retina to Debut with iPad mini at
Tuesday Apple Event
AllThingsD's John Paczkowski says that wile the anticipated smaller
iPad will be the star of Apple's rumored Oct. 23rd invitation-only
event, sources inform him that a 13" MacBook Pro with Retina Display
will be unveiled as well, projected to feature an ultrathin chassis,
all-flash storage drives and a 2560 x 1600 resolution display.
Paczkowski adds that there may be a new Mac mini announced as well,
which would make sense since the current mini is long overdue for a
refresh.
Link: Let's Get Small:
13-inch MacBook Pro Retina Will Join iPad mini at Apple Event
Tech Trends
Toshiba's New 500 GB 2.5" Single Platter Hard Drive
for Thin Laptops
The Register's Chris Mellor reports that Toshiba has joined Seagate
and WD in offering a single platter 500 GB drive for thin notebooks and
other compact devices, noting that the company's new MQ01ABF hard drive
is essentially half of its MQ01ABD product - a 2-platter 2.5" drive
with 1 TB capacity, and similarly spins at 5400 RPM, has an
8 MB cache and a 6 Gbit/s SATA interface. However, unlike the
9.5mm MQ01ABD drive, the MQ01ABF is 7mm in thickness and weighs 92
grams.
Mellor reports that he MQ01ABF, which comes in 250 GB and 320 GB as
well as 500 GB variants and has a low noise level and good vibration
resistance, and is to compete with Seagate's single platter Momentus
Thin (which offers a 7200 RPM 320 GB model along with a 5400 RPM 500 GB
unit - both with a 16 MB cache) and Western Digital's 500 GB
single-platter, 5400 RPM Scorpio Blue with 6.8mm z-height. WD's Hitachi
GST subsidiary also offers a Travelstar Z5K500 with 500 GB on a single
platter spinning at 5400 RPM and a 7200 RPM Z7K500 with a 32 MB
cache.
Editor's note: I would very much like it if Apple offered this type
of ultrathin hard drive as an alternative to SSD storage in MacBook
Airs and the new Retina MacBook Pros, but I'm not holding my breath.
What have I got against SSD storage? See Why Is
Solid-state Storage So Flimsy? above. cm
Link: Tosh Grabs
2.5-incher, Heads for Single Platter Party
Products & Services
Targus Chill Mat+ Laptop Cooling Stand with 4-port
USB Hub
PR: Turn your laptop into a workstation with the Targus
Chill Mat+ with 4-port Hub. The Chill Mat+ combines a Chill Mat with
its dual fans help keep your laptop running cool and a 4-port USB hub
allows you to connect your USB peripherals, plus the unit's adjustable
height allows you to use it as a laptop stand. Use it flat, or at
the highest setting with an external keyboard for better line-of-vision
ergonomics. To keep all your cables organized, Velcro straps help keep
everything nice and neat.
Features
- USB-Powered: Fans are powered using a standard USB connection that
can be connected to your laptop or computer using a mini-USB
cable.
- USB 2.0 Hubs: Includes a USB hub to help share the USB connectivity
used to power the built-in fans.
Functionality
Dual fans to help keep you and your laptop cool; 4-port Hub for
connection to peripherals; Adjustable height (4 levels) lets you use as
a laptop stand with external keyboard; Bottom ledge keeps laptop in
place; Velcro™ straps keep peripheral cables neat
Specifications
Color -
Black- Exterior Dimensions: 1.0" H x 10.25" W x 14.0" L
- Warranty - Limited One Year
- Weight - 2 lb.
The Chill Mat+ with 4-Port Hub retails for $49.99 and is designed
for laptops up to 17".
Link: Targus Chill Mat+
with 4-port Hub (currently
$21.99 at Amazon.com)
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