Tag: Hardware

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Technology

The Rumored Retina 13″ MacBook Pro

Mac Rumors is reporting that the Retina displays for a new 13″ MacBook Pro are now in production, but I still have my worries about such a machine … and I’m a huge fan of the 13″ MacBook Pro.

  • Are they going to bring a new case into play like the 15″ MacBook Pro with Retina display? If they do, what about battery life on such a device, or heat, or fitting the needed graphics power into such a machine?
  • This muddies the waters a little bit as far as my “clean MacBook lineup” idea of only the following: 11″ MacBook Air, 13″ MacBook Air, 15″ MacBook Pro, 17″ MacBook Pro … or something similar. Of course, the 13″ form factor is a great form factor, but the differentiation will be interesting. What will the Retina 13″ MacBook Pro NOT have in the future that the Pro will carry?
  • I’m still worried about the big three: battery life, heat, and video performance. Those were being pushed to the limit by the 15″ MacBook Pro with Retina display … will they be able to fit a quad-core processor with discreet graphics and still have decent battery life on the machine?

Still, I’d buy one.

Categories
Technology

What I Got from Apple

Looking back at my last post, this is the final tally:

  • Obviously, Apple released Mountain Lion and I’ve been running it on everything that I have my hands on (including my mom’s machine as well) and have been very happy with it. A lot of small tweaks make for a larger update than I was expecting. I’m going to be using Reminders quite a bit in my everyday work and personal life.
  • No iWork ’12 (or whatever), but iWork 9.3 was pushed out yesterday bringing the two features I was most interested in: Retina graphics and iCloud support. That’s not too bad. I still hope that they will bring out a larger upgrade in the future, but this takes care of the two huge holes in iWork for the moment.
  • No Mac mini or iMac update. Sadness.

That’s about it. I need to use Mountain Lion a while longer before I can form any concrete opinions about it but initial thoughts are all good.

Categories
Technology

What I Want from Apple

Apple released its quarterly earnings today, but they are boring (you can find more here … but they made a lot of money again). The real news, for me, is that Mountain Lion is going to be released tomorrow (July 25)!

Well, at least I know what my weekend is going to look like.

Here are some other things I wish Apple would release tomorrow:

  • An updated Mac mini so that I can finally start trying to convince my wife that I need a development machine. I’ve been waiting on this little guy since WWDC because I would really like for it to be a little faster than the current 13″ MacBook Pro that I have and it would be nice to have USB 3.0 as well. I can wait, however, and I really doubt that Apple is going to release it tomorrow (even though it would only be a minor update).
  • If the Mac mini would get an update, you could probably expect an iMac update as well. It would be along the same lines because they will be holding out any cosmetic changes for the iMac until they can throw a Retina display in there. That won’t be for a little while yet, but a boost in speed and USB 3.0 would be nice additions.
  • Can we please get iWork ’12 (or something)? I would love to get iCloud support (and Retina for those who want it) so that I could move more of my work to the iPad. iWork ’09 is still my go-to application for word processing or spreadsheet wrangling, but an update is needed.

That’s really it. iLife could probably use a refresh soon, but I would expect that to be released later this year, probably around October or so (much like it was refreshed in later 2010 when the MacBook Air was unveiled again). I’m really holding out for small updates to the desktops tomorrow and then … let the dealing begin!

Categories
Technology

Microsoft’s Surface

Not much to say because there hasn’t been much really shown yet.

The hardware looks decent and it is a huge step for Microsoft to build their own hardware. No one has really used it all that much and a lot of details are still missing.

Reserving judgement until I can actually see and touch it.

Categories
Gaming

The Wii U

Wii U

Nintendo pulled back the curtain a little more on their next game console at E3 this year, and I still don’t know what to think of it.

The Wii U is, on hardware terms, basically a better Wii. Go ahead and just read all of the other relevant information from other sites. I’m going to go ahead and just post some random thoughts … as I usually do.

  • It is HD, but how much is the system going to really be able to push? It sounds like, at best, we are talking Xbox 360+ … maybe. Of course, new engines should take advantage of the system, but is it enough graphical power to propel Nintendo for the next 5 years?
  • So many control options! Along with the Wii Motion Plus and the new Wii U Gamepad  was announced the Pro controller. How much will these things cost? What games will use the controllers? Will just the Gamepad come with the system or will they toss along a Motion Plus controller or two?
  • I’m most excited to see future games. The hardware is obviously more powerful, and supporting any kind of HD output is going to be a huge plus, but really it is going to come down to the software and the use of the Gamepad more than anything else. Software is more important for Nintendo than any other console manufacturer right now.
  • I just don’t know what I’m going to do. It will probably end up a lot like the Wii for me … I’ll wait until it drops in price and the great titles from Nintendo are out.