Alright Mac gamers (is there really such a thing?), the moment you’ve all been waiting for — Steam for OS X/Mac! As you can see, it doesn’t look all too different from it’s Windows counterpart. In fact, it’s the exact same UI. If you were hoping for something completely revamped and “Mac-ified”, your dreams will probably be irrevocably shattered. But we move on I guess…
Is your drool cup full after weeks of waiting for any new news regarding Core i5/i7 updated Macbook Air/Pros and Mac Pros? I just as much as anyone love a well put together computer with beastly internals to match. But a $400 premium for Intel’s “latest” Core i5/i7 chips? Ya, no thank you. The image above was captured from Austrailian site, PC Authority. Whether the prices listed are USD or not I’m not sure, which could explain the price discrepancy. If these are an early look at the new pricing however, it’s pretty disappointing.
The current Macbook Pro for instance jumped from a starting price of $1,499 to $1,899. If the only real changes are the Core i5/i7 chips, “rip-off” would be a good place to start with the descriptions. I mean, it’s not like a Core i7 980x is going in this thing. The Mac Pro could see the 980x and is of course an option with a heavy pricetag, but that shouldn’t effect the starting price much if any.
I’m still eager for the official new systems none the less. I’m just hoping (along with millions of other people) that Apple didn’t jack up the prices by $400 or more just for the new processors. If they do, will it change your purchasing decision one way or the other?
Update: After taking a quick job through the inter webs, it’s not Australia alone that’s displaying weird pricing. New Zealand is also getting in on the pricing inconstancies. At this point, I’m going to say it’s nothing more than a few people (myself included) forgetting about the whole price difference from land mass to land mass for a few seconds, getting all riled up. Though we should know the truth soon enough.
Send it to me, if that doesn’t work for you, why not get it running Snow Leopard and brag to all your lame arse friends that they didn’t do it first! Jake Howe took an old 1984 Macintosh 8mhz computer and upgraded most everything(without actually damaging it, incase he wanted to take it back to stock components) to get this beast running Mac OSX Snow Leopard, that’s a 200% upgrade on the processor speed! That would of cost ’OVER 9000′ bucks back in ’84
Without spending much money at all, using recycled parts, stuff he had lying around, he was able to turn this ancient Steve Jobs’ project into a working 2009/2010 computer. For a contest, Dead Computer Contest that is, Jake will be entering his creation. I will be checking out the other entries, but he will most likely have my vote, because any Mac mod is a winner in my books. I mean, travel over to the link I will post below, the serial ports are not USB ports, the CRT screen has been replaced with a LCD, the floppy slot houses a USB port as well as an SD card slot. This guy did a great job, I’d suggest taking a look and possibly giving him your vote.
If anyone has an idea of some amazing mod for either a 1st gen iMac, or possibly a G3 Powerbook, let me know, I’ve been wanting to do something with part of my collection, but not sure what to do…
I stumbled on a thought provoking article on MacDailyNews that really got my mental juices flowing…
Looking at the title above and taking into account the various bits of information surrounding a so called Apple tablet that has been beaten and flogged across the digital waves the last year would lead most to believe that any actual device would feature an iPhone-esque OS. I mean, why not? If you want to keep things simple and battery friendly while also tapping into the app store, staying inside of the iPhone ecosystem is a must.
On the flip side, I couldn’t find myself paying $600+ for a glorified (and bigger screened) iPhone/iPod Touch. Many others have this same feeling. With that said, would Apple see this problem and instead push OS X onto the “higher end” 10″ tablet that is also reported to be in development? You see, it’s a tricky thing to speculate on. Ease and apps or power and expandability?
Those hoping for both don’t have much to look forward to I’m afraid. Apple isn’t one to stratify their own products or cause undue confusion. A smaller 7″ iPhone-like device and a bigger 10″ OS X device would erect a large immovable barrier between the two sister devices, effectively killing any cross device support.
One other thing that I’ve thought about would be a revamped App Store, including not only iPhone/Touch apps but also these new OS X/Tablet inspired apps. Of course if the tablet runs OS X in full garb, would Apple move the entire library of OS X software into the App Store/iTunes?
It’s bittersweet. Having all Apple software for iPhone and desktop under one roof is highly beneficial. At the same time, iTunes needed a drastic weight loss multiple versions ago. Asking it to take on more makes me want to puke. Still, if executed correctly, the nausea can at least be dampened.
Personally, I’m on the fence. I would really like full blown OS X on a tablet device. Though the iPhone OS is a looker (if a bit dated) and is far more finger friendly. Guess I’ll just have to be surprised.
So which way is it going to go and how will Apple market/position the device(s)?
I’m a tinkerer by heart. I love to fine tune my gadgets and software until they break — then I do it all over again. Nature of the beast I guess. Mac OS X has usually been a rather simple more simplistic OS in that without help from 3rd parties, it is generally pretty involved to make any system tweaks. It doesn’t matter if you actually don’t know how or don’t have time, I’m sure if a solution existed to drastically reduce your time spent tweaking you’d be all for it. What about something that allowed you to access “hidden features” or those features which Apple had added at some point of the 10.6 development process only to remove from the final version. Again, such things aren’t hard to find online and re-add yourself. But why waste time?
Secrets, a cleverly named free download allows you to access all kinds of hidden Snow Leopard tweaks ranging from more utility based ones that change how things operate and function to UI based tweaks that let you tweak everything to and including the dock. Hate the 3D dock? Click a checkbox and bam, it’s done. Now changing the dock is rather simple as a short terminal command can achieve the same thing. Though searching for and entering the command is precious seconds wasted. Don’t like the login background? Bam, it’s done. There are a ton of settings and hidden secretes to unleash with “Secrets”. Snow Leopard isn’t Blacktree’s first venture into the underground of the Mac OS X OS mind you. Over the years, Secrets has garnered quite a loyal following bringing with them various other tweaks and hidden features that aren’t just specific to the OS, but other OS X apps as well. See, there is a ton.
If you are any type of tinkerer, you need this app. Oh and don’t forget, it’s FREE. Ya, that’s compelling isn’t it. Get goin’…
Oh the geek inside of me is giddy. News of quad-core mac’s are starting to trickle forth thanks to two new Macbook Pro model numbers referenced in the latest Snow Leopard 10.6.2 build seeded to devs. Such an update isn’t too far from reality as the last update bestowed upon these mobile workhorses was way back in June at the Worldwide Developers Conference. An update must be close if the Macbook Pro’s are to remain near the top of the heap. All fingers point towards Intel Clarksfield chips being integrated (read: Core i5/i7 chips) with better power management, increased performance, and the ability to kick any processor up a few notches when extra peeds are needed. Processors aren’t the only talk of the town though as out goes Nvidia in favor of ATI’s latest 4500 mobile GPU cards which should bring a rather nice increase to mobile graphics performance. It’ll be interesting to see how the use of ATI GPU’s affects the current power/battery saving scheme Apple has crafted by using both an integrated Nvidia 9400 GPU along with a dedicated Nvidia 9600GPU.
None of this has been confirmed yet, but again, such upgrades are highly suspected and are likely to happen relatively soon. Glad you held of on getting those new unibody MBP’s? I know I am. Core i7 equipped 17″ MBP here I come!
Those looking forward to a new storage format for OS X will be sorely disappointed. ZFS which was to be the successor to the current HFS+ sometime down the road appears to have been shelved indefinitely. As 9to5 Mac highlights a comment from
Whoops. Forgot the little guy in the other post. Since it’s introduction, the Mac Mini has often received updates and tweaks without much fan fare as it’s larger brethren such as Macbooks, iMacs, and Mac Pros often steal the limelight. Today is no different as it’s other siblings again overshadow Apple’s little niche baby. Still, if you’re in the market for just a computer and already have a screen and peripherals, the Mac Mini is even more attractive. The Mac entry line still starts at $599 but that anemic 2 GHz C2D proc now runs at 2.26GHz. Also included — 2GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive and an Nvidia 9400m GPU. A couple more benjamins will net your a still faster 2.53GHz C2D with 4GB of RAM and a 320GB hard drive. And perhaps the most intriguing version of the new Mac Mini is the Mac Mini “Server Edition”. Essentially, this version which tips the scales at $999 is the same exact unit as the the two previously mentioned Mini’s. The only difference being the Super Drive is kicked to the curb in favor of a second hard drive giving this little box-o-plastic a 1TB total capacity and of course, the inclusion of Snow Leopard Server edition. Those itching for even more space can always swap out their own drives if they so choose. Whistle wet?
So after seeing all the new goods, which is has your wallet’s attention? The newer, faster Macbook, beastly iMac, or little giant — Mac Mini?
Where to start. I guess we’ll lead of with the smallest and work our way up.
First on the line, the new Magic Mouse brings multi-touch/gesture to the mouse world. Operation is as one would expect, 2 finger swipes and pinches do all sorts of panning, zooming, and moving actions on your screen. The Mighty Mouse isn’t so mighty anymore (was it ever?)
The bargain basement Macbook, once $999, is still….$999. What happened to “newer” and “cheaper” products? To be fair, the new Macbook receives some respectable upgrades such as a Core 2 Duo bumped up to 2.26GHz, 2GB of RAM (upgradable to 8GB), an NVIDIA 9400M GPU, and a 250GB hard drive. Oh, Blue-ray hopefuls are out of luck, this one is packin’ the old school Super Drive. Wrapping it up, the plastic Macbook now includes that love it or hate it integrated battery. I’m sure some of the sting will be taken away when you realize you get true 7-hour battery life complete with outlet freedom. A pretty sweet deal for $999 don’t you think?
Ah finally, we make our way to the iMac. While a Mac Pro is arguably the top of Apple’s lineup, to be quite honest, a spec’d out iMac is plenty for me. Not to mention, that new 16:9 27-inch model packs a visual wallop at 2,560 x 1,440! If 27″ is too big, the smaller 20″ 16:9 21.5″ model should do the trick. I loved the size of the 24″ and can only expect the 27″ to be even more pleasing. Especially now that it’s a wider ratio. Oh yeah. This is sweet. The cherry on top though will require a tad bit more waiting. What’s this cherry I speak of? The top end 27″ iMac starts at $1,999 and will ship in November with a 2.06GHz 2.66GHz Core i5 Quad-core processor tag teaming your senses with either a Radeon HD 4850 512MB graphics too boot. (Good-bye Nvidia) Movin’ up even further, $200 more will bump you up to a Core i7 Quad-Core running at 2.8GHz. Speed…lovely speed. However, If all you’re looking for is the bigger screen, the 27″ comes in base config starting at $1,699 with a 3.06GHz Core 2 Duo and Radeon HD 4670 GPU.
Rounding up the bottom end, the 21.5″ begins at the same $1,199 for a 3.06GHz Core 2 Duo, NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics, 4GB of RAM and a 500GB spinner. Another aspect worth highlighting is the Multi-Display port. Your iMac can go it alone or buddy up with another display for dual screen action or become the display for your laptop/second computer. Simply awesome!
So the updates aren’t that big of a deal, though that Core i5 and i7 are looking mighty nice don’t you think? My money, heart, and all over being are fixated on the 27″ behemoth.
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When it comes to marketing your product it's essential to understand the visitor patterns in your shop. Heatmap software allows you to do just that by producing reports and visualizations that help you make the best decisions for your business.
