Amongst the updates iMacs and Mac Pros today, Apple also announced a refresh to the Mac Mini. I know there is a lot more beside just the upgraded 9400M graphics, but where the heck did the cheap Mac Mini go. Now the base model is £499, but the next one up is £649 for a larger hard drive and 2GB of RAM (as opposed to 1GB). Before the update we had prices of £391 and £488, so a price hike of over £100 for the base model and £161 for the top end model. C'mon Apple, there is a recession going on.
Apple Store down - new iMacs and Mac Minis
The Apple Store has gone down, likely for the rumored updates to the iMac, Mac Mini and Mac Pro lines. This is very exciting for me, as a new purchase was imminent in the form of a MacBook or Mac Mini, so I will be watching with interest. Details will be posted as soon as they happen, but for now the rumors are below.
Rumored iMacs
MB417LL/A - IMAC 20" 2.66/2GB/320GB/SD/MSE/KB-USA
MB418LL/A - IMAC 24" 2.66/4GB/640/SD/MSE/KB-USA
MB419LL/A - IMAC 24" 2.93/4GB/640/256/SD/MSE/KB-USA
MB420LL/A - IMAC 24" 3.06/4GB/1TB/512/SD/MSE/KB-USA
Rumored Mac Minis
MB463LL/A - MAC MINI 2.0/1X1G/120/SD/AP/BT-USA
MB464LL/A - MAC MINI 2.0/2X1G/320/SD/AP/BT-USA
Rumored Mac Pros
MAC PRO 2.26_8CX/6X1G/640/GT120/SD-USA
MAC PRO 2.66QCX/3X1GB/640/GT120/SD-USA
Orange brings Blackberry 8120 PAYG to UK
Orange announced last week that it will be bringing the BlackBerry® Pearl™ 8120 to its Pay As You Go (PAYG) customers. The smartphone, which provides exceptional phone; email, messaging, organiser, web browser and multimedia capabilities, will be priced at £145, with customers now able to take out a BlackBerry® Internet Service that provides email, messaging and web access whilst on the move. The new offering comes as a result of the growing demand for a BlackBerry® smartphone with PAYG service.
The BlackBerry Pearl 8120 allows users to connect to Facebook®, MySpace®, Flickr™ and Windows Live Messenger (MSN® Instant Messenger), meaning you’ll never miss out on a friend’s update or party invitation. Webmail users are also catered for, with easy access to Hotmail®, Yahoo!® Mail and Gmail®.
To take advantage of the Orange PAYG BlackBerry smartphone offer, customers must first purchase the BlackBerry Pearl 8120 for £145, which is exclusive to Orange in indigo. They can then choose one of Orange’s existing PAYG Animal packages, offering a choice of free rewards before taking out Orange’s PAYG BlackBerry Internet Service for just £5 per month, on a monthly rolling subscription. I am new to the Blackberry service, but will be picking one up to try. Also hoping that the £5 per month gets me unlimited use of Facebook, Flickr and Messenger. I have also asked Orange when this will be available to order, as the website still says coming soon. I will update this post when I have the info.
My thoughts on Macworld 2009 - Apple goodies
Yesterday's keynote was for me a mix of missing Steve and really wanting that 'One More Thing' to be a Mac Mini Tower. Everyone comes away from Macworld or from watching the keynote with some sort of complaint, but on reflection it was pretty sound.
Steve Jobs not being there was a big shame. All I really want to say on the matter is that my thoughts go out to you Steve. I hope you are fighting fit real soon and carry on as CEO at Apple for a long time to come.
iLife 09 was really nice to see. Expected, yes, but the content was very good. Face recognition and Places in iPhoto is worth the upgrade alone. Add to this the added functionality in iMovie, where we get better editing modes for more accurate clips, plus lots of nice candy thrown in too. The new version of iMovie keeps it simplicity and adds back some of the timeline features that we missed in iMovie HD without Apple admitting they were wrong making such radical changes to the app last year.
iWork 09 is another nice upgrade. I like the idea of Keynote being controllable with such style from the iPhone. The iWork.com announcement is also very very cool. When it comes out as a full version I hope that Apple add the ability to give editing writes to certain people. Yes, I know they could download the Pages document (for example), make changes and then re-upload a new version. But making online edits or local edits, with true version tracking would be a really powerful combination. Although not of great interest to me personally, the new Numbers and Keynote features are also very good too.
The new 17-inc MacBook Pro had some things to like and others to question. The questionable inclusion is the lack of user replaceable battery or hard drive. Yes, the reasons were explained and eight hours battery life is awesome. Power users will no doubt complain that they need to carry a spare battery with them. Much more positive is the anti-glare screen option. It seems like Apple listened that not everyone likes gloss. Whilst I don't expect this to filter down to the MacBook, I would be very surprised if we did not see this as a CTO option on the 15.4-inch pro version pretty soon. Apple would sell a lot more if they added this to the 15.4-inch MacBook Pro sooner rather than later.
The final iTunes announcements were a nice round-off to the whole event. At last DRM has been kicked into touch and we can now enjoy moving our music downloads around as and where we wish. Well done Apple.
In closing, it really saddens me that there will be no Apple next year at Macworld. No Apple Expo Paris and certainly no appearance by the company at MacLiveExpo London. I just hope that they more than make up for this by holding at least one special event for new products every year... on their own schedule of course.
Letter from Apple CEO Steve Jobs - Re Macworld keynote
Today, Apple released a letter from Steve Jobs detailing exactly why he will not be giving his usual keynote speech at Macworld 2009. This is very nice to hear and reassuring that Steve is going to be OK. It reads as follows...
Dear Apple Community,
For the first time in a decade, I’m getting to spend the holiday season with my family, rather than intensely preparing for a Macworld keynote.
Unfortunately, my decision to have Phil deliver the Macworld keynote set off another flurry of rumors about my health, with some even publishing stories of me on my deathbed.
I’ve decided to share something very personal with the Apple community so that we can all relax and enjoy the show tomorrow.
As many of you know, I have been losing weight throughout 2008. The reason has been a mystery to me and my doctors. A few weeks ago, I decided that getting to the root cause of this and reversing it needed to become my #1 priority.
Fortunately, after further testing, my doctors think they have found the cause—a hormone imbalance that has been “robbing” me of the proteins my body needs to be healthy. Sophisticated blood tests have confirmed this diagnosis.
The remedy for this nutritional problem is relatively simple and straightforward, and I’ve already begun treatment. But, just like I didn’t lose this much weight and body mass in a week or a month, my doctors expect it will take me until late this Spring to regain it. I will continue as Apple’s CEO during my recovery.
I have given more than my all to Apple for the past 11 years now. I will be the first one to step up and tell our Board of Directors if I can no longer continue to fulfill my duties as Apple’s CEO. I hope the Apple community will support me in my recovery and know that I will always put what is best for Apple first.
So now I’ve said more than I wanted to say, and all that I am going to say, about this.
Steve
Apple's Board of Director's added;
It is widely recognized both inside and outside of Apple that Steve Jobs is one of the most talented and effective CEOs in the world. As we have said before, if there ever comes a day when Steve wants to retire or for other reasons cannot continue to fulfill his duties as Apple’s CEO, you will know it. Apple is very lucky to have Steve as its leader and CEO, and he deserves our complete and unwavering support during his recuperation. He most certainly has that from Apple and its Board.
I am sure you will all join me in wishing Steve well and hoping to see him gain that healthy weight back during 2009.
Happy New Year to All
Happy New Year to all of my readers! I have some interesting announcements for you all too. You have probably noticed that there has not been many new postings over the Christmas period. Well, I took a well earned break and spent some time playing with my kids and their gadgets. It also gave me a chance to really get some hands-on use of some new bits of kit too. I have reviews of the Sony NWZ-S639 MP3 player coming up, where I look at just how well it integrates with the BBC iPlayer service and how you can get it working with Windows on the Mac.
Keeping with the Mac goodness though, I have plenty of reviews lined up. The Kodak Zi6 HD handheld camcorder for starters, followed by a roundup of snazzy sleeves to keep your MacBook, MacBook Pro and iPod touch nice and cozy. Not only will they protect your kit from bumps and scratches, but also keep them nice and warm over the winter months (yes, the first snow of 2009 fell over Kent last night). I also have a couple of Broadband Router tests coming up, including a budget model from Buffalo Technology. So plenty to keep me busy and to keep you informed. Thanks for sticking with us, I hope you enjoy the Geekanoids website throughout 2009.
Toshiba Satellite X200 - thoughts on another PC
I always like to keep an open mind when it comes to my computing. A few years back, anything outside the Apple platform would not even be allowed in my house or office. I have been tempted on many occasions to take advantage of one of the free laptop offers that are available with mobile broadband contracts. Well, since the Geekanoids website has become so popular, I felt I owed it to my readers to let them know if the grass is greener on the Mac side or not. I didn't go and get one of the freebie offers, instead the guys (and gals) at Toshiba kindly loaned me a Satellite X200 laptop... not for a full on review, rather for a play with for a month and just let your readers know what you think of it, well here goes.
First of all, it is important that I let you know my general thoughts about Vista. It has improved a lot since the release of Service Pack 1. A lot of the previous problems have been fixed and it also seems to run a little smoother. That said, it is still so convoluted to use. So many clicks and confirmations to perform even the simplest task. Add to that the constant updates and start up time long enough to eat a three course meal (OK, probably only a cup of tea) and you can see where my Vista frustration comes from. Now I have vented my thoughts on the OS, I can concentrate on the X200.
When I first opened it, I was very impressed by the screen real estate. A resolution of 1440x900 on the 17-inch display may not sound like much, but it felt like the right combination. You also get a 2.4GHz Core2Duo processor, 4GB RAM (only 3GB accessible), a beefy 256MB NVidia 8700M GT graphics card, 250GB of hard drive space and a nice 1.3MP webcam above the gorgeous screen. The optical drive reads and writes CDs and DVDs and also plays HD-DVD's which is a nice touch. The trackpad also impressed me with its smooth tracking, though the multi-touch areas for scrolling and shortcuts was a bit annoying at times. Sometimes it behaved itself, other times it was a pig to get working.
The X200 is big though. You would not want to carry this overgrown laptop around. It is destined to be used in a home or office and not venture outside. It is even too big to use on your lap, so needs to be situated on a desk really. At the base there are large vented heatsinks and they throw out a lot of heat. The fans seem to be on all the time, so that warm air is pretty annoying. The screen, although impressive, is glossy and in comparison to the new MacBook and MacBook Pro range, it uses a different finish. I found it a lot more difficult to get the right angle to avoid reflections. Battery life was useless too, just over two hours and the unit started chirping at me. Performance was good though, the 2.4GHz processor and graphics card compbination delivered enough power to eat through my Photoshopping and satisfied on the gaming front too. I guess that with that power you should expect the heat issues.
So, I was impressed. The X200 is a nice bit of kit and for someone who is a Windows Vista user, this could be a good desktop replacement choice. It has a nice powerful processor and would serve you well as a work or multimedia machine. For me, I will stick with my MacBook Pro. Better power, nicer styling, not bulky and runs very cool without any annoying fan blurting out warm air all the time.
Stuff Live 2008 Exhibition Gallery
The Stuff Live 2008 exhibition took place a couple of days ago at London's ExCel. It was packed solid of really exciting stands, showing some of the gadgets and gizmos that will be under Christmas trees this December. There are too many great products to mention here, so check out the further articles that will appear on Geekanoids over the next day or so. Highlights of the show included some superb new netbooks from Asus, the Evoke and Avanti Flow internet/DAB/FM/wireless radios from Pure and the superb wireless multi-room music system from Sonos who were showing their added iPhone and iPod touch application for controlling your tunes. I also really liked the iOplay system, which brings together complete control of your iPod, iPhone (or other mobile phone) and TomTom for really smart in-car use. All of the photos were taken with the Ricoh GX200 digital camera and the gallery is sponsored by Clifton Cameras. More photos can be viewed by clicking the link just after the seventh photograph.
HP also announce the Compaq Mini 700 Netbook
In a double whammy of announcements, HP also released details of the Compaq Mini 700. Featuring a sleek casing adorned with the new ‘Unity’ checked design, the Compaq Mini 700 is an eye-catching digital companion at an affordable price. The Compaq Mini PC offers an entertaining mobile Internet experience with a built-in webcam(2) and microphone, WLAN(3) , Bluetooth and optional WWAN(4), extending your social networking(2) opportunities and taking video chat(2) and video conferencing(6) from the home to places like the park, pool or airport.
With a 10.2-inch diagonal BrightView display and a large keyboard, you can comfortably access the web for information(2), communication and entertainment from anywhere. The ease of use and light weight of the Compaq Mini 700 make it an excellent choice for students or professionals looking for a second PC. This little wonder is available as of mid-December at an estimated starting price of £299 inc. VAT.
(1) Weight will vary by configuration. (2) Internet access required and sold separately. (3) Wireless access point and internet access required and sold separately. Availability of public wireless access points limited. (4) Broadband use requires separately purchased service contract. Check with service provider for coverage and availability in your area. (5) HP Mini Mobile Drive available with SSD configuration only. (6) Requires a separately purchased Internet service and VOIP service contracts. (7) Actual price may vary by country.
HP Announce Mini 1000 Netbook
HP today announced the HP Mini 1000 which has an exquisite onyx casing featuring a compact swirl design and a 10.2-inch widescreen display. At 25.2mm thin and weighing just 1.1kg(1), the sleek HP Mini 1000 melds striking form and function. With the Intel® Atom™ N270 processor, a choice of 8/16GB Solid State Drive (SSD), as well as a wealth of connectivity options including a built-in webcam(2), microphone, WLAN(3) and Bluetooth, the HP Mini 1000 is feature-rich as well as stylish. It will be available as of mid-February at an estimated starting price of £399 inc. VAT.
HP is debuting a new Mobile Internet Experience software and HP MediaStyle on the HP Mini 1000, which enable one-stop entertainment through a single interface that lets you easily watch video, view photos, listen to music and more. The all-you-need dashboard interface allows you to split your desktop into your favourite categories such as Internet applications, websites, video, music, email and other content at your fingertips. The web section can be customised with your four favourite websites. All dashboard applications are always on, minimising start-up time with immediate access to Internet browsing, email, online video and video chat. Local storage conveniently lets you take your content with you offline.
An optional USB-based HP Mini Mobile Drive(5) enables up to 8GB of additional storage capacity and allows you to transport and retrieve personal documents, pictures and audio/video files.
(1) Weight will vary by configuration. (2) Internet access required and sold separately. (3) Wireless access point and internet access required and sold separately. Availability of public wireless access points limited. (4) Broadband use requires separately purchased service contract. Check with service provider for coverage and availability in your area. (5) HP Mini Mobile Drive available with SSD configuration only. (6) Requires a separately purchased Internet service and VOIP service contracts. (7) Actual price may vary by country.
MacLiveExpo 2008 London - Academy Class
If you need to brush up on your skills in one of the many print & design, web, CAD or perhaps video pro application, then you need to get yourself down to the MacLiveExpo. The guys and gals from Academy Class are their in force, giving a massive 50% discount on courses booked at the show. With training facilities at London, Manchester, Devon, Glasgow and Leeds they have pretty much all of the UK covered. You can check out their website or give them a call on 0800 043 8889.