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News & Opinion
eBay Launches Apple Certified Refurb Store
Apple Certified Refurbished products feature:
- Full one-year warranty
- Returned to like-new condition
- iPads/iPods include a new battery
- Receive complete burn-in testing
- Original OS reinstalled
- Repackaged with manual and cable
- Final quality inspection by Apple
Apple Certified Refurbished savings examples:
13.3" 1.7 GHz MacBook Air, 4 GB SDRAM, 128 GB - Full One Year
Warranty | Apple Certified Refurbished
- Regular List - $1,099.00
- Certified Refurbished - $919.00
iPad 3rd gen Black 64 GB WiFi - Full One Year Warranty | Apple
Certified Refurbished
- Regular List - $699.00
- Certified Refurbished - $549.00
Apple Certified Refurbished Products undergo a stringent
refurbishment process before being offered for sale.
Each Apple Certified Refurbished Product is:
- fully tested (including full burn-in testing).
- Returned to like new condition (including a brand new battery for
iPods and iPads).
- given a new refurbished part number and serial number.
- placed into a Final QA inspection prior to being added to sellable
refurbished stock.
- repackaged (including appropriate manuals, cables, new boxes,
etc.).
- shipped with the original OS offered with that system.
What to expect from an Apple Certified Refurbished Product:
- Substantial savings
- A fully functional unit with complete documentation
- The assurance that the unit meets Apple's premiere quality
standards
- AppleCare Protection Plan for Apple Certified Refurbished
Product:
- All Apple Certified Refurbished products are covered by Apple's
One-Year Limited Warranty. See individual listings for details.
Apple Certified Refurbished products purchased at the eBay store are
shipped to you free via standard ground shipping. You will receive
detailed shipping information after purchase. Faster shipping options
may be available. You have 14 calendar days to return your Apple
Certified Refurbished product, if you wish. Contact and return
information will be included with your shipment.
Link: Apple Certified
Refurbished eBay Store
The Perfect MacBook? Depends on Your Wallet and
Priorities
Tech Crunch's MG Siegler says that for the past six months he's been
hearing the same thing over and over again: "The MacBook Pro with the
Retina screen looks amazing. I want that screen on a MacBook Air. That
would be the perfect computer." Well, says Siegler, "we're almost
there. Not quite. But for some of you, we're now close enough."
Siegler is referring to the 13" MacBook Pro with Retina
Display, noting that two years ago, he ditched the MacBook Pro as
his main machine and switched to a MacBook Air, but changed up again
with the release of the 15" MacBook Pro with Retina
Display, which has become his iMac replacement on his desk at home,
but has found it not quite portable enough for his tastes. However,
after testing out the 13" Retina MacBook Pro (RMBP) for a few weeks
now, he finds it a great combination of power and portability.
Siegler also takes a shot at the old school non-Retina 13" MacBook
Pro (MBP), which he notes is still somewhat oddly on sale.
Not so odd really, given that the non-Retina MacBook Pro has been
Apple's best-selling Mac system overall for some time. The reason,
Charles W. Moore writing for AppleTell notes, is that the non-Retina MacBook Pro
"offers bona fide superb value at a base price of $1,199 - possibly the
most bang for your buck that Apple has offered in a Mac system ever.
For $500 less than the new 13" RMBP, the old-school 13" MacBook Pro
gives you the same CPU and GPU performance, similar battery life,
greater versatility and connectivity with built-in FireWire 800 and
ethernet ports, an SD Card slot, an optical drive, and serious storage
capacity with a standard 500 GB hard drive. Yes, the hard drive is
slower than the RMBP's SSD, but for the sort of stuff most of us do
with computers most of the time, any Mac with an Intel dual-core CPU is
wicked fast for the vast majority of real-world use. The non-Retina 13"
MacBook Pro is also, of course, thicker and heavier than the RMBP, and
has a nice, but low-resolution 1280 x 800 display, which is arguably
its most serious shortcoming."
Moore observes that at $1,699 with its very modest entry-level spec,
he would rate the 13" RMBP's prospects of filling the old-school
MacBook Pro's boots as best-selling Mac as approximately zero. It's a
nice laptop, but value-wise it just doesn't deliver the goods from his
perspective.
It's a question of priorities, which aren't the same for
everyone.
For those who prioritize lightness, compactness, and
high-resolution, Siegler says the 13" RMBP comes close to being a
Retina MacBook Air, being just 0.07" thicker than the 13" Air at its
thickest point, and actually narrower in footprint than the Air, but
concedes that you'll have to decide if the Retina Display, slimmer
design, and one pound less weight is worth an extra $500 to you as
opposed to either the non-Retina MacBook Pros or 13" MacBook Air, which
both start at $1,199.
Siegler thinks it's a no-brainer. Moore asserts that the 13" RMBP is
too expensive to displace the $1,199 machine as Apple's top seller.
Different priorities and a conundrum that will eventually
self-resolve as Apple adopts Retina displays across the board.
Link: We're Getting Very
Close to the Perfect MacBook
Tech Trends
Longtime Mac User Switches to ThinkPad X1
Carbon
Gravitational Pull blogger Aaron Pressman
reports that he has ended his decade plus using a Mac as his main
computer and switched to the Windows side, lured by the all-black,
super-lightweight Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon.
Pressman says he loves the feel of the X1's carbon fiber body,
nicely grippable and an attractive matte black, 
and that it reminds him of
his all-time favorite Mac laptop, the PowerBook G3 (left) he had in the
late 1990s, though it probably weighs less than half as much.
He also notes that the X1's screen is gorgeous, clear, and bright at
14" diagonally with 1600 x 900 pixels resolution, that the keyboard
works great, and the touchpad is also among the best. Compared with his
erstwhile 13" MacBook Pro and a MacBook Air he used as his main machine
on the road last summer, Pressman says the ThinkPad has a better screen
and keyboard as well as superior battery life, and he also much prefers
the ThinkPad's carbon body to the Air's slippery, sharp aluminum shell.
However, he rates the Air's trackpad better and notes that it had fewer
of the ThinkPad's software hiccups.
As for Windows 8, Pressman says it's intriguing but with annoyances
[see this week's Mac News Review
for more on Windows 8 frustration], and that that every time
he has to deal with Lenovo, he longs for Apple, plus there's the
depressing pile of crapware, sort-of-helpware, and failware that comes
preinstalled.
However, he says part of his reason for the switch was the many
flaws creeping into Mac OS X, noting that Mountain Lion is just awful for
him, from the insane iCloud file scheme to the anorexically thin scroll
bars to the Finder that needs an complete overhaul that's about 8 years
overdue.
Link: A Longtime Mac User's First
Impressions of the ThinkPad X1 Carbon
Thunderbolt Penetration on PCs Stalls on Cost
Fairer Platform says that while Intel Thunderbolt I/O technology is
demonstrably superior to USB 3, only a small number of vendors are
building it into portable and desktop Windows PCs, and very much like
Apple's FireWire before it, Thunderbolt looks set to fizzle due to cost
issues, with only about 10% of Windows PCs shipping with it.
Link: Intel Thunderbolt
Penetration Stalls on Cost
11.6" Becoming Niche-market Size for Notebooks
DigiTimes' Aaron Lee and Adam Hwang note that as global netbook
sales have plummeted due to competition from tablets, 11.6" has become
a niche-market size for notebook panels, according to Taiwan-based
notebook supply chain makers.
Up to recently they observe that 11.6" and 13.3" notebook screen
sizes have accounted for a relatively small proportion of total
shipments, according to their sources. Apple would, of course, be an
exception to this, with its 11.6" MacBook Air having taken over as the
company's volume price-leader notebook and main education market
offering, and the 13.3" MacBook Pro having been the best-selling Mac
system overall for some time now.
However, Lee and Hwang note that Samsung Electronics and Acer have
launched inexpensive 11.6" Chromebooks and Asustek Computer has
launched its 11.6" VivoBook touch-control notebook, so an increasing
number of 11.6" PC notebooks are available for sale.
They also report that despite generally shrinking sales, demand for
netbooks still exists, especially in emerging markets, but their
insider sources suggest that 11.6" notebooks are likely to see
increasing demand in the global market.
Link: 11.6-Inch Becoming
Niche-market Size for Notebooks, Say Taiwan OEMs (subscription
required)
Bargain 'Books
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