Tag: MacBook Pro

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News

The New MacBook Pro with Retina display

On June 11, Apple introduced the new 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display. But what has changed? Well, the screen’s resolution is 2,880-by-1,800, which is about 5.1 million pixels on a 15.4 inch display. Compared to an HDTV, which has a screen resolution of 1,920-by-1,080, the Retina Display has a significantly larger amount of pixels. This gives the screen a clearer, crisper look. It can change the way you look at a computer screen when you see how finely defined the images are on the screen, and at a certain point, it can make you forget that you’re looking at a screen in the first place. Apple also noted that the new Retina display reduces glare, making it easier to see the screen even in the sunlight, which is very helpful in outdoor environments. The New MacBook Pro with Retina display is only 0.71 inch thin and 4.46 pounds, so it is lighter and thinner than previous MacBook Pros, which increases ease of portability by a significant amount. The only aspect of the new MacBook Pro that  you will have to watch out for is compatibility. There are still some applications and websites that aren’t suitable for the Retina Display which may look pixelated, but they will hopefully be updated to suit the capacity of the Retina Display.

The New MacBook Pro with Retina Display takes full advantage of the all-flash storage to make the MacBook faster, quieter, and lighter than previous MacBook Pros that used optical drives. The MacBook Pro with Retina display also uses the Intel Core i7, Intel HD Graphics 4000 and NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M with 1GB of GDDR5 memory. These components give it amazing performance and have the capabilities to produce vivid images, videos, and games on the screen. Although it is a high-performance notebook, it still packs a 7-hour battery life due to the large 95-watt hour battery.

What else is different? Well, the ports have definitely changed. On one side, we have the MagSafe 2 port. This poses a disadvantage to those who have the older MagSafe Power Adapter. Without a $10 MagSafe to MagSafe 2 Convertor, you are forced to use the new MagSafe 2 Power Adapter. Also, Apple got rid of the FireWire 800 port and Ethernet port, but it now has two USB 3.0 ports and two Thunderbolt ports. They also included an HDMI port and the SDXC card slot. The HDMI port is a great addition to the MacBook Pro with Retina Display, since adapters always had to be used to hook up previous MacBook Pros to HDTVs and projectors. To keep the MacBook Pro with Retina Display slim, they also removed the DVD drive.

When it comes to pricing, the MacBook Pro with Retina Display starts at $2,199.00 for the 15-inch compared to the 15-inch MacBook Pro, which is $1,799.00. That’s an extra $400 for the Retina Display. It does also come with 8GB of memory, compared to the 4GB of memory in the MacBook Pro. So you have to decide whether the extra memory, Retina Display, and flash storage is worth the extra money or not.

In conclusion, the new MacBook Pro with Retina Display has an amazing display that surpasses previous MacBook Pros, as well as better performance, while still having great battery life. The MacBook Pro with Retina Display does deviate from previous models, as the ports are very different, but mostly in a positive direction. OS X Mountain Lion will also really compliment the MacBook Pro with Retina Display, as will other applications when they are updated for the Retina Display.

Feel free to leave a comment or suggestion.

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News

How to: Change the Scrolling Direction in Lion

In Mac OS X Lion, you may notice that when you scroll up or down, using two fingers on the trackpad, the content of the page scrolls up or down, instead of the window around the content. Mac OS X Lion adopted the iOS approach to scrolling, so if you move your fingers up, the page is moved up. In many cases, this is more convenient and more natural, but for some, they may prefer the old way of scrolling instead. I will break down the process of how to change the scrolling. If you are not using a trackpad or Magic Mouse, go to the Mouse options and uncheck “Move content in the direction of finger movement when scrolling and navigating”. If you are using a trackpad or Magic Mouse, here is how to do it.

First, click on on the Apple logo on the top left of your screen.

Second, click in System Preferences…

Third, click Trackpad

Fourth, click Scroll & Zoom and uncheck the Scroll direction: natural

There you go. You are now free to scroll however you like.
Feel free to leave comments and suggestions on which way of scrolling you prefer.

Categories
Opinion

On the Fence About Lion


Okay, so I know OS X 10.7 Lion won’t be out for another month or so, but I’m already wondering if I’ll buy it or not.

What’s to like about Lion? Well, aside from the obvious fact that it will antiquate Leopard and make Snow Leopard look like yesterday’s news, the main attraction seems to be giving your Mac an iPad-like feel. Apps are all full screen, multi-touch gestures will be more robust, and Resume will save your work as you go. Now mind you, I haven’t played with any of the developer releases. If I got my hands on it, this article might be a different story.

At the moment, the main detractor is going to be price. If it’s more than $100 I think I’ll pass. Leopard was $129 when it came out, but it offered 300+ more features than Tiger, its predecessor. Upgrading from Leopard to Snow Leopard only cost $30 (the price was the same for upgrading from Tiger to Snow Leopard, but shhh). Considering that Lion is a full step up from Snow Leopard, rather than a half-step, it will most likely sell for over $129 or higher.

Then the question becomes is this update more about form or function? AirDrop is pretty cool, though DropCopy, a third-party app, can do the same thing. Some of the other features, such as the Mac App Store and FaceTime are already available in Snow Leopard. From near as I can tell, the main difference between Lion and Snow Leopard is mimicking the feel of the iPad (ie. form).

Getting a new OS mostly comes with getting a new computer. If I were to buy a Mac this summer, then yeah, I’d love Lion. Having to buy an upgrade for my current MacBook Pro? Again, price will be the main determination. I think I’d also like to see how well it tests with the first adopters. If I see whizz-bang-drooling-over-how-cool-Lion-is reports, then I might jump on sooner. On an side-note, it will be interesting to see how Lion is rolled out. Do you just download it from the Mac App Store like the developers have? Will it be a USB drive like the one for the MacBook Air?

No matter what, I’m sure Lion will prove to be the king of Mac OS X. But I guess I’ll let everyone else decide that for me before buying it.

You can read a previous in-depth article about Lion’s features here.

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Categories
News

Zoom! Zoom! MacBook Pro

It’s off to the races. Talk about fast, the new MacBook Pro’s are coming in at blazing speeds. To put this is an understatement for sure. The new top of the line MacBook Pro 2011 is faster than the existing Mac Pro desktop. Basically, the ‘low-end’ base MacBook Pro 2011 13” is just as fast as last years top-end MacBook Pro models. The MacBook Pro 13” with Intel Core i5-2415M 2.3 GHz (2cores), which is the “slowest 2011 MacBook Pro’ is almost as fast as the last years fastest MacBook Pro. Osxdaily.com put together some benchmark speed tests and it shows that the new MacBook Pros’ are extremely fast. Some of the new Mac Book Pros’ are almost 3x’s faster then last years models. That is an incredible feat by Apple. Some companies make their computers maybe just double their speed. Sometimes companies just focus on the looks of the computer. Not Apple though, they focus on what really matters. A computer is good until it starts to become slow. Apple’s new MacBook Pros’ are faster then many computers out on the market. There are only so many things you can actually do to a computer until you can’t do anymore. Apple hasn’t changed the design, granted that it looks extremely good so it is probably unnecessary to change the outerwear, but they have definitely changed the inside. Isn’t that what matters though? The outside appearance is only good until you figure out what’s on the inside.

 

Last year’s version of the MacBook Pro 13” with 8GB RAM and a 2.4GHz Core 2 duo got a score of 3128. The new MacBook Pro 13” in 2011 with Intel Core i7-2620M 2.7 GHz (2 cores) got a benchmark score of 6796. That’s double the speed in one year. From what I can tell, that’s a pretty decent score in just a matter of time. The fastest MacBook Pro is the 17” model with Intel Core i7-2820QM 2.3 GHz (4 cores) with a score of 10164. That is extremely fast and it triples the speed from the previous MacBook Pro. I’m still rather curious about the MacBook Pro and if it is actually faster then a Mac Pro desktop. Osxdaily.com says that the MacBook Pro’s are, but until I see some tests, I don’t really believe that. The Mac Pro’s are extremely fast and I definitely say that as an understatement. No other desktop can even compete with the type of speeds that the Mac Pro pushes out. Put all the crazy fast technology, all the talk about Intels SandyBridge chips being blazing fast, and it is all true. If you didn’t buy a MacBook Pro last year, or you just want to upgrade, I would definitely buy the new MacBook Pros’. Tell us what you think about these new MacBook Pro models.

 

Categories
News

Get ready to meet the new MacBook Pro line!

According to MacRumors, they have a reliable source that informs them that the expected release date for the new MacBook Pro line is February 24, 2011. With the MacBooks being updated with Intel Core i5 and i7 chips last year, it is about time for the MacBook to be more up-to-date with Intel’s latest Sandy Bridge processors. The new processors should be much faster and require less energy consumption. We are expecting Apple to release five new models. There will be two new 13-inch versions, two new 15-inch versions, and one new 17-inch version. Apple will most likely use the sleek design from the MacBook Air and bring it to the MacBook Pro. There are also many more rumors out there for us to go over.

There have been rumors about Intel having to delay the Sandy Bridge chips, which was true. Can we be sure that the delay affected the new MacBook Pro? No, because we aren’t even a hundred percent sure that the new MacBook Pro will even implement the new Sandy Bridge processors. As for rumors about the design, it sounds completely plausible for the new MacBook Pro to look very similar to the MacBook Air, as the MacBook Air is Apple’s latest model. With Apple changing their website color to a color similar to liquid metal, rumors have it that Apple may use liquid metal instead of aluminum. There are also reports that Apple will use liquid metal in battery cases. Since Apple has received the rights to LiquidMetal patents, it would make sense that Apple would use that technology on their products. Another rumor about the design is that it will be lighter if they use the stronger, lighter, and scratch resistant aluminum material. There are also claims that they will have a longer battery life, which is very likely. Battery life usually last longer then the previous model when Apple comes out with a newer model.

As for price, the prices for the new MacBook Pros are rumored to be:

$1499 — 13 inch

$1199 — 13 inch

$2499 — 17 inch

$2199 — 15 inch

$1799 — 15 inch

The rumors will be put to the test on February 24, 2011. If the MacBook Pro is released on February 24, we will be able to see all the new features of the new MacBook Pro. As a matter of fact, February 24 happens to be Steve Jobs’ birthday, what a coincidence. I am excited to see what Apple has developed this time. It’s time to save up for a new MacBook Pro.

Leave questions or comments below.

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