Apple’s recent firmware updates were famous for preparing the company’s latest Thunderbolt-equipped Macs for the upcoming Thunderbolt Display. However, they also enabled one feature than Apple didn’t tell you: SATA 6Gbps support.
Following the release of an EFI firmware update for its latest MacBook Air earlier this week, Apple has also prepared its Thunderbolt-equipped MacBook Pro and Mac mini with an EFI firmware update of their own. Now available through Software Update, the updates resolves issues with the upcoming Thunderbolt Display, and signals its release isn’t far away.
Mac sales are showing continued growth in the most recent business quarter of 2011, according to a new report from esteemed analyst Gene Munster.
As noted by market research firm NPD, Apple’s Mac sales are up 22% year-over-year in the third quarter of 2011. Strong sales are mainly attributed to the introduction of the new MacBook Air and Mac Mini models released in July.
Dying to get your hands on an iPad 2 before the weekend? Don’t order one from the Apple online store, then, because a whole host of Apple’s gadgets have had their shipping times mysteriously extended.
These BlackBox cases are some of the most stylish cases I’ve seen for our Apple gadgets. Available for the iPad 2, the MacBook Air and the MacBook Pro, they’re all made from beautiful bamboo and provide you with ultimate protection and a super sleek design.
Unsure of how Intel’s “Ultrabook” laptops will compete with the iPad and MacBook Air, manufacturers are “testing the water” by ordering less than 50,000 units for later this month. Acer, Lenovo, Toshiba and Asustek are reportedly uncertain how the revamped laptops will be greeted by consumers shifting to tablets and cloud computing. That sounds to us like they’re giving up and conceding victory to the MacBook Air before they even got started competing with it.
This is one Mac setup you don’t see every day. Deep in the heart of the Amazon Rainforest, Chief Almir can be seen surfing the internet on his 11.6 inch MacBook Air. He leads the Suri people of Brazil, and he helps his tribe utilize technology to protect the Amazon from extinction.
A “one of a kind” MacBook Pro prototype, which has been listed for sale on eBay, reveals Apple’s work on a notebook with built-in 3G connectivity. It’s the first MacBook Pro we’ve seen with an antenna built into the side of the display, and a SIM card slot beneath the memory cover.
If you’re still banking on Apple releasing the iPad 3 this October, this might disappoint you: there’s just no chance that an A6 SoC will be ready this year. In fact, if there’s going to be a quad-core chip at the heart of the iPad 3 at all, we might be looking at an iPhone 5 sized delay between tablet generations by the time the next iPad comes around.
Samsung has just announced the successor to its PM810 solid-state drive which is a super-speedy 6Gbps SATA 3 that boasts read speeds of up to 500MB/s and write speeds of up to 350MB/s. A custom version of the PM810 is currently used in Apple’s MacBook Air line lineup, so there’s a good possibility its impressive successor — the PM830 — will also hit the ultraportables.
Acer founder Stan Shih has opened his mouth and said something extraordinarily stupid: the ultrabook and tablet form factors are nothing but a stupid fad with no future. Someone should tell Apple that, so they can stop selling iPads and MacBook Airs to a throng of millions of excited customers.
Responding to their customers’ garish ineptitude in trying to outprice the $999 MacBook Air, Intel has decided to do notebook makers’ work for them and put together a reference bill of materials on how to build cheap ultrabooks capable of competing Apple’s superslim ultraportable.
Apple has introduced new recovery features available through a combination of new hardware and software. One of these new features is called Lion Internet Recovery which will allow you to start your 2011 MacBook Air or Mac Mini directly from Apple’s servers.
The recovery process starts when the Command+R option doesn’t work or when you install a brand new blank hard drive.
Here is a tip that will let you force your 2011 or later Mac to launch Internet Recovery on startup.
As you stare lovingly at your new MacBook Air before you go to bed tonight, caressing its smooth aluminum shell, know this: its Thunderbolt port is inferior when compared to that of its cousins.
Having watched Mark Malkoff’s hilarious video earlier this week, we now know it’s possible to have a pizza delivered to your local Apple store, take your pet goat to check out the latest Mac minis, and get your iPhone repaired while you’re dressed as Darth Vadar. But will a real Apple store help you troubleshoot your knockoff MacBook Air?
This is one in China did!
The MacBook Air has ushered in a new era of powerful netbooks that function more like prosumer computers. In our review of Apple’s latest 2011 MacBook Air, it’s obvious that the Air now packs a punch and accompanying price tag that most notebooks of similar size haven’t been able to dream of for years.
The PC market is looking to level the playing field between the Air and its competition, with Intel announcing a new platform called the “Ultrabook.” The Ultrabook is the PC industry’s proposed MacBook Air killer, but these upcoming notebooks will also have an ultra-price tag that’s higher than the Air’s. Apple’s entry-level MacBook Air retails for $999.
Do you have plans to purchase one of Apple’s brand spanking new MacBook Airs? Well then you may want to hold off on ordering from Apple’s online store.
Amazon is currently offering the entry-level 11-inch MacBook Air at a 5% discount off Apple’s retail price, so you end up saving about $50. Also, there’s free shipping.
Did you just get a beautiful, new MacBook Air? Apple’s new notebooks are super-slim, and they work great with OS X Lion.
However, installing Snow Leopard on a 2011 MacBook Air may not go over so well, as Apple’s older cat doesn’t apparently play nice with its newest notebook. Luckily, Apple has published a KnowledgeBase article to help you fix Snow Leopard on your brand new MacBook Air.
Hot on the heels of the new MacBook Air, Apple looks to already be working on a mysterious, “ultra-thin” 15-inch Macbook to add to the mix.
Not much is known about what this upcoming notebook from Apple will be like, but the MacBook Pro line hasn’t seen a refresh since February. Could it be an Air-style MBP?
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vN1yw67hyc&feature=player_embedded
TwelveSouth is famous for its selection of beautiful products that lovingly accompany our favorite Apple gadgets. Just recently we reviewed the elegant BookBook case for the MacBook Air, and now there’s an iPhone 4 case to match.
If you haven’t already, stop reading this and check out Buster’s awesome review of the new MacBook Air. The machine is absolutely gorgeous. And powerful, too.
One of the MacBook Air’s main draws is its lightning-fast solid-state hardrive. An SSD outperforms traditional hardrives because all storage and data transfers happen virtually, instead of having to travel across a physical platter.
Apparently, Apple is shipping some of these brand new MacBook Airs with the same SSDs from older notebook models.
Apple’s line of MacBook Airs never shipped with an optical drive and now the Mac Mini has joined the party. The new Mac Mini, released this week, no longer includes one of these drives either. If you want an optical drive to use with these Macs you have to purchase an external USB SuperDrive. Now the arrival of the new MacBook Air and Mac Mini herald the death of the USB thumb drive.
You might be surprised to find out that neither these systems ship with a set of DVDs or a USB thumb drive that you can use to restore, repair or reinstall Mac OS X.
Instead Apple has come up with something new.
Apple’s new 11-inch MacBook Air is simply incredible. Of course you probably already knew this puppy was light, and gorgeous, but the power that this tiny machine packs is truly breathtaking. Optimized for speed and portability, the new MacBook Air improves on its predecessor to prove that it’s the best notebook computer Apple’s ever made.
The boys over at iFixIt have started their teardown of the 2011 13-inch MacBook Air, and while much of the construction is similar to last year’s models, there is some good news for DIY upgraders: contrary to rumors, the SSDs have not been soldered to the board, meaning that you can upgrade your Air’s storage down the line.
Otherwise, iFixIt doesn’t have much to report this time around, except for an explanation of the omission of a FaceTime HD webcam in the Air: the thinness of the display makes it pretty much impossible to put a beefier camera in there at this time. Good to know.
Now that Apple has released new MacBook Airs, you might be tempted to buy one of them (we recommend this one because of the blistering performance that an SSD provides. You should be: once you start computing on an SSD, you’ll never want to go back, and the MacBook Air is a wonderful introducing to the powers of solid state storage.
That said, if you’re used to have a 500GB or 1TB hard drive to play around with on your laptop, you might be worried that it’s hard to live in a small 64GB or even 128GB footprint.
Don’t sweat it. I’ve been using a 64GB MacBook Air as my main work machine for the last nine months, and I’ve found it very easy to live within that space, after having learned a few tricks. Here’s how to make the most of your MacBook Air’s SSD.