The New MacBook

One sequal that’s better than the original.

From the durable unibody enclosure to the radiant LED-backlit display, the new MacBook is the must-see notebook of the season.

Durable unibody enclosure.

A mere 2.74 cm (1.08 inches) thin and even lighter at 2.13 kg (4.7 pounds),¹ the sleek new MacBook cuts a slim profile on any desk (or in any backpack or briefcase). It features a new seamless, more durable unibody enclosure with rounded contours that make it easy to pick up and slide into and out of your bag. And it’s made of rugged polycarbonate that withstands the rough and tumble of everyday life — at school, at work or while travelling. Even the bottom of the new MacBook feels different. Covering its entire surface is a nonslip material that keeps your MacBook right where you put it, whether on a desk, table or airplane tray.

Quality screen time.

MacBook now features an LED-backlit 13.3-inch glossy widescreen display for an even more spectacular viewing experience. Documents, videos, photos and games look incredibly sharp and detailed. The LED backlighting delivers stunning colours and instant full-screen brightness the moment you open the lid. And its 1280-by-800 pixel resolution offers an outstanding balance of luminous colour and easy readability in a perfectly portable size.

Spacious glass Multi-Touch trackpad.

The new MacBook Multi-Touch trackpad has no button because it is the button. That means there’s plenty of room to move your fingers around, and you can click anywhere — left, right, centre and everywhere in between. The trackpad features a silky smooth glass surface that feels great to the fingertips. Use it to perform familiar functions such as right-click or two-finger scroll as well as Multi-Touch gestures: pinch to increase font size in a document, rotate your fingers to reorient photos, swipe to navigate through web pages, and more.

A comfortable keyboard your fingers will love.

MacBook portability doesn’t happen at the expense of key features. The keyboard is full size, with keys that are curved to contain your fingers and highly responsive to your touch. Its low-profile design integrates perfectly into the unibody enclosure, so you’ll get a comfortable experience whether you’re typing a quick email or writing a lengthy research report. The keyboard also gives you one-touch access to music and video controls and Mac OS X features such as Dashboard and Exposé.

Easy access to connections and ports.

The connections and ports on MacBook — MagSafe power, Gigabit Ethernet, Mini DisplayPort, USB and audio in/out — are all smartly integrated on the same side of the notebook. So your cables stay neatly organized, and connecting and disconnecting your devices is easy and convenient.

Clean, simple interior design.

MacBook is as well designed on the inside as on the outside. Turn it over and you’ll notice a seamless, sturdy, single-piece bottom case with no battery compartment. That’s because the lithium-polymer battery in the new MacBook is strategically built right into the enclosure. In addition to providing extra overall durability, this integrated design eliminates the space-consuming parts required by a removable battery. This allows more room for a larger-capacity battery that can run up to 7 hours on a single charge² — all in an enclosure that is just as thin and even lighter. When you remove the bottom case, you’ll discover a clean, simple interior layout that makes it easy to add more memory or a larger hard drive.

Friendly to the environment.

MacBook is designed to have less impact on the environment than most other computers. It’s energy efficient, free of many toxic materials and made of recyclable materials.

Apple's Tablet Keeps the World Guessing

We've got to hand it down to Apple. Every time they set their eyes on a new, innovative product concept - the world inspects it with magnifying glasses. The amount of attention it receives is possibly comparable to superstars like David Beckham or Sachin Tendulkar.
Exactly three years ago, the world cheered Apple as they launched their iPhone, which later went onto receive iconic success. But it's not like Apple has hit the nail on the head with every product they've launched. Products like the Apple TV or the Macbook Air weren't as well received, and appeal only to a small percentage of the audience.
On January 27, Apple will hopefully banish all rumours cluttering the internet by unveiling the Apple Tablet. Till now, the media has been keenly following any dope about this mystical product. So without further ado, let us look into what the fuss is all about.

The Name
Popularly searched on the internet as the Apple Tablet, this device could possibly be called the iSlate or iPad - following the "iProductName" nomenclature they've had for many of their computing devices.
What is it?
Steve Jobs had clearly mentioned a few years ago that they had no interest in creating cheap, under-powered devices like the netbook. Looking at Apple's portable computing devices, there's an empty gap in their portfolio between their iPhone and the entry-level Macbook laptop. Thus it seems that Apple would place the Apple Tablet in between these two.
Tablet computers are not a new invention. We've seen them in different avatars like the swivel-screened laptops or more recently, MIDs (Mobile Internet Devices). A tablet PC is a portable computer that uses a touchscreen for user input and is traditionally operated by a stylus. But knowing Apple, their device should be primarily usable with fingers.
Tell me more about the device
The Apple Tablet will supposedly be based on the same design concept as the iPhone or iPod Touch. Its face will be occupied by an eight to ten inch touchscreen. It will be thinner and lighter than a Macbook, and will hence be easier to carry in a backpack, but too large to be carried in the pocket. But it's not like people are cool with the idea of carrying PCs in their pockets anyway, right?
There was a big debate whether it will run a full-fledged OS X like other Macs or a stripped down version like the one in the iPhone. The balance now seems to tilt in the favour of the latter. That way Apple gets to have more control over the content being delivered on this device. You do know how they like to deliver the final judgment over what goes on the App Store and what doesn't.
There's again a difference of opinion between what internals will it possess. Will it be a typical Intel Core 2 Duo based platform used in Macbooks or an ARM-based processor used in the iPhone? Again, the scale tips towards the latter here - since it will be running an iPhone-like OS. It will sport a vastly higher resolution display than the iPhone and will connect to the internet via Wi-Fi or 3G (thanks to a built-in SIM card slot). GPS and Bluetooth modules can also be assumed to find their way into this device.
Another surprising but possibly sensible addition is a camera for video-conferencing. It is odd that Apple still didn't include one in the iPhone till now. But anyway, the tablet is not going to be a replacement for your cell-phone. Maybe Apple thinks that having this sort of audio-visual communication would set it apart from the iPhone.

Apple Mac Mini 2.53GHz

Apple's little tiffin box shaped Mac Mini has received another shot in the arm in the form of an updated hardware. Folks at Apple sent us the 2.53 GHz model for review and we ran it through our benchmarks to see how much better this new model is.

Bundle

• Mac mini
• Mini-DVI to DVI Adapter
• 110W power adapter and power cord
• Install/restore DVDs
• Printed and electronic documentation

Design & Construction
The Mac Mini design has largely been unchanged since its debut in 2005. It still remains one of the best-looking compact computers that you can find anywhere. The steel grey sides with milky white top and the large Apple logo look simple and elegant. It is difficult to believe that this is actually a full-fledged computer encased within something that looks like a fancy tiffin box.

The front side has the slot loading SuperDrive. As is usual for desktop Macs there is no physical eject button, which is in sync with Apple's philosophy of having the minimum number of buttons possible, and the only way to eject the disc is through the OS. On the right edge of the slot is a receiver for the wireless remote. Below that is a tiny white LED light that indicates the status of the Mini.

Now let us move to the rear side, as the sides are completely deprived of anything. The rear side has a plethora of ports, which includes 5 USB 2.0 ports, Firewire 800 port, mini-DVI port, Mini DisplayPort audio In/Out and power port. The 5 USB ports might sound exciting but it is important to remember that of these, two will be reserved for the keyboard and mouse. This means you'll be left with only three (unless you use a wireless combo that will have a single Bluetooth dongle, in which case you'll end up with four ports).

The rear location of USB ports is inconvenient, especially if you plug in or remove portable drives often. I assume Apple refrained from placing the ports at the front or the sides to have a clean and uncluttered design, a decision, which from the point of view of aesthetics, makes perfect sense but doesn't when you think of ergonomics.

The ventilation on the Mac Mini is placed at the back and at the bottom around the edges. The Mini runs surprisingly cool with the top and the sides always being lukewarm at the most, even during the most processor intensive activities. And then there is the time-honored Mac ability of running quiet as a whisper. The only sound it ever makes is of the drives kicking in softly when you turn it on or it comes out of Sleep mode.

Hardware & Software
The new Mac Mini comes in two variants. The lower model has a 2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor whereas the higher end model has 2.53 GHz Core 2 Duo. This is a major step up from the previous generations 2.0 GHz processor, on both the models. The older model had 1 GB and 2 GB DDR3 RAM respectively, but the newer version has 2 GB for the base model and 4 GB for the higher end model. Hard drive capacities have gone up from 120 GB to 160 GB on the base model and the higher end model retains the 320 GB hard drive of the previous higher end model.

The rest of the hardware remains the same with a NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics processor with 256MB of DDR3 SDRAM (shared with main memory), 8x slot loading SUperDrive, Wi-Fi 802.11n, Bluetooth v2.1 + EDR, built-in Gigabit LAN and a built-in mono speaker.

The new Mac Mini now comes with Mac OS X Snow Leopard, which includes iTunes, Time Machine, Quick Look, Spaces, Spotlight, Dashboard, Mail, iChat, Safari, Address Book, QuickTime, iCal, DVD Player, Front Row, Xcode Developer Tools, along with iLife '09, which includes iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, iWeb, GarageBand.

Performance
Here are the figures from the XBench and Geekbench benchmarks that we ran on our 2.53 GHz model. We have compared it to the previous generation Mac Mini, the MacBook and the base model of iMac.

Geekbench Scores (Higher values are better)

XBench Scores (Higher values are better)

The higher end model that we tested had performance that belied its size. Do remember that this is basically the same hardware that is found in the base model of iMac (except for the hard drive, which is 7200 rpm on the iMac). The fairly powerful processor ensured you can do processor intensive jobs like video/encoding, image editing and watching high definition movies with ease. Also, the abundance of RAM on the higher end model meant that you could run Photoshop with ease. That is some serious power for something that looks no bigger than your average internal DVD drive.
The Mac Mini also has a built-in speaker but considering the size and its internal location, it was not much louder than that of a mobile phone speaker.

For its size the kind of performance that the Mac Mini provides is quite respectable. Apple has updated the hardware and surprisingly kept the price similar to that of the previous generation model, which is not something you see others manufacturers do very often. This makes the new Mac Mini much better value.
The new Mac Mini is priced at Rs. 33,900 for the base model and Rs. 43,900 for the high end model. Many may say that they can assemble a computer at the same price and it would have a more powerful hardware and a monitor, keyboard and mouse included. However, there is no way you can assemble something that has the same small size and design simplicity as the Mac Mini. And nor would it be running Mac OS X Snow Leopard, which is a good enough reason to consider it over anything else. The Mac Mini won't be able to run all the fancy new games that a Windows based assembled PC can at that price, but it surely can do anything else just as well (and some even better), and at the same time look good while doing it.

Reinventing the MacBook Air

How will Apple redesign the ultraslim, seminal MacBook Air that launched dozens of me-too ultraportable laptops? Only Apple knows. But here are some gratuitous musings anyway.

Dell Latitude Z: a 16-inch laptop that's less than 0.8-inches thick and under five pounds.(Credit: Dell)

In a previous post, I said I wouldn't hazard any guesses on what Apple may do with the MacBook Air. And I won't. That doesn't stop me from looking at the most recent ultrathin laptop competition to see where Apple might be able to improve the design that turns two years old in January.

Enclosure: This will be a tough act to follow. The original design was good enough that Apple didn't change it for gen 2--aka Rev. B--of the Air. And the aluminum enclosure was a trendsetter, which all MacBook Pros (and other PC makers) eventually copied.

But that doesn't mean the Air is perfect. The razor-thin slab of aluminum provides little room for ports and connectors. (Apple's implementation is a flip-out set of USB, Mini DisplayPort, audio ports that retract back into the body.)

A design modification that the Dell Adamo uses (some say retrogressed to) was putting the ports on the back (behind the screen). This allows Dell to offer a fuller array of connectors.

Could Apple come out with a tablet version of the Air?(Credit: OLPC)

Hewlett-Packard, for its part, went another route: it just made its Envy 13 slightly thicker (at 0.8 inches) than the Air, allowing a couple more connectors (a second USB port and an SD card slot). HP also molded the base of the Envy in magnesium, which makes it lighter, according to HP.

Then there's just-announced Dell Adamo XPS. This is even thinner than the MacBook Air and puts the CPU-complex-plus-circuit-board (aka motherboard) behind the screen, not underneath the keyboard--standard design practice for all laptops.

Sony Vaio X is a good example of how small and thin a premium laptop can be: it has an 11.1-inch screen.(Credit: Sony)

Of course, there's the recurring rumor that Apple is looking at different materials to make it even lighter while maintaining its famous sturdiness. This could potentially be a combination of aluminum and something like carbon fiber. (Though, as stated above, HP claims that magnesium is the way to go.)

Other possibilities: make one model bigger (wider), a la the Dell Latitude Z, which offers a 16-inch 1600x900 WLED Display and at its thickest point is only 0.79 inches.

Or make it smaller. The Sony Vaio X is a great example of how light (1.6 pounds) and thin (0.55 inches) a premium laptop (technically it's a Netbook) can be.

Tablet? There is the remote possibility that a version of the Air becomes a tablet. And that would mean potentially a new enclosure and new silicon.

Graphics:. The second feature I'll touch on is graphics. A good graphics chip is tough to squeeze into ultrathin designs and this a major feature that set the Air apart from other slim designs, which use the Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD.

The Dell Adamo added a bump at the back, providing more connectors than the Air(Credit: Dell)

Apple, with the Rev. B of the Air, introduced Nvidia 9400M (aka, Ion) graphics silicon. This delivered decent performance and actually made the Air run cooler (I know, I've used both the original Air and Rev. B extensively.)

Let's be clear--the graphics on the original Air was poor. And the source of many gripes about the original design (which proves how important the graphics chip is now). Apple chose to go with Intel's X3100 graphics (they didn't have much a choice in 2007, when design decisions were made), which superheated the bottom of the unit when watching video. My Air would get so hot that I would have to place a large, flat picture book (in effect, a crude heat sink), between my lap and the MacBook Air.

So, what's next after the Nvidia graphics in Rev. B of the Air? There's Nvidia's upcoming Ion 2 graphics, which is still a mystery. I even queried an Nvidia executive about this recently in an interview, but mum's the word. I have confidence that Nvidia will deliver a solid solution that offers an optimal balance between power efficiency and performance.

Nvidia also offers the GeForce G 105M, which is used, for example, in the HP dm3t consumer ultrathin laptop.

My original MacBook Air (R) next to an HP 2510p business ultraportable.(Credit: Brooke Crothers)

Then there's the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4330 graphics chip, which Advanced Micro Devices describes as a "thin and light mobile graphics processor...delivering unprecedented performance-per-watt...while watching Blu-ray movies." (The Blu-ray aspect may be overkill for an ultrathin, especially in the case of the Apple, which does not offer Blu-ray drives in its MacBook line.)

This ATI chip has already found its way into an HP ultrathin laptop.

I won't dive into processors here. Suffice to say that Intel continues to expand its variety of low-voltage (e.g., SL9600) and ultra-low-voltage processors (SU9600). Maybe more enticingly, Intel will bring out low-power versions of the Core i series of mobile processors next year. Probably sooner rather than later. This is likely what Apple is targeting for any major revamp of the Air.

Apple MacBook Pro 2009

The good: New aluminum unibody construction comes to the 17-inch model; useful multitouch trackpad gestures; attractive edge-to-edge glass on display; dual graphics provide more power or more battery life.

The bad: All-clicking trackpad is a bit awkward; matte screen option costs extra; switching GPUs is not as seamless as it should be.

The bottom line: A little late to the party, Apple's redesigned 17-inch MacBook Pro joins the 15-inch model with a redesigned aluminum body, new trackpad with expanded functionality, and a dual-graphics setup for either longer battery life or better performance