MacBook

OS X Lion Turns Your Laptop Into the Best Desktop Ever

9to5Mac had an interesting post earlier today regarding a seemingly minor change in the upcoming OS X Lion release. As they explain, Among other subtle changes, in Lion when you shut your MacBook’s screen while connected to an external monitor, the machine no longer goes to sleep but instead switches immediately to external monitor-only view while staying active. To flesh it out a bit, when I have my 13″ MBA connected to an external monitor, mouse and keyboard and I close the lid the external monitor goes blank and the MBA goes into sleep mode. If I want to use…

Gear Bits

Mobile Computing as It Was Meant to Be

I can think of far worse work stations than this! Take one gorgeous spring day, an 11″ MacBook Air and Rain Design’s awesome laptop stand and you get one rather nice place to work. Elana has never raved about a computer as much as she does her 11″ MBA and being able to edit a business proposal for someone while looking out at the lake is pretty darn nice! I think THIS is what mobile computing was made for! 🙂 And speaking of mobile computing… Posted from my RIM Playbook!

Gear Bits

The Cruel March of Technology

I tend to keep my Mac laptops for two ‘generations’, which allows me to extract maximum value from them in terms of return on investment before trading them in or selling them. At that point there is still solid performance and decent value remaining. When the iPad 2 launch was approaching, I decided to look at the possibility of trading in my 2008 Macbook Pro. Lately I have used Gazelle, as they give a reasonable value and their process is so quick and painless that it is worth taking a little bit less because of the time savings. But as…

Editorials

As 2010 Comes to an End We Ask: Was it a Good Year in Tech? And We Answer… Nope

As 2010 comes to an end we ask… Was it a good year in tech? And we answer… Nope Nope??? Nope! It was a great year in tech. That’s right. 2010 finally saw some of the key things we have been hoping for come to fruition. iPad Baby!! First and foremost 2010 gave us the iPad. The iPad wasn’t significant just because of what it did for Apple but because it finally showed that a tablet form factor can and will work… And be loved by consumers… if it is done right. Think about it for a minute–the iPad is…

Reviews

AUTUM Straight Jacket Review: An Insanely Simple Leather MacBook Air Sleeve

Dan mentioned a little while ago that AUTUM was releasing Straight Jackets for the new MacBook Airs and the iPad, which he soon followed with a review of their iPad Straight Jacket. Because Dan and I are now the owners of new MacBook Airs, we have been sent a couple of AUTUM’s MacBook Air Straight Jackets to review as well; I was sent the 11″ version, and Dan has Both the 11″ and the 13″. The picture above shows all three; the 13″ is on the bottom, the 11″ is in the middle, and the iPad is sitting on top….

Editorials

Eenie Meenie Miny Moe… MacBook Airs but Which Way to Go?

When Apple announced the new MacBook air this past Wednesday I knew immediately that I would be ordering one. The question was – which one? Dan- Let me go back a few years. I have always wanted a thin and light computer that allowed me to do everything but was simple to lug around. When my arthritic wrists became increasingly painful the need for a light notebook grew significantly. As a result I ordered the first MacBook Air as soon as it was available. In fact, mine came in the very first day the computers were hitting the United States….

Editorials

Mac Mini Updated and Priced to Sell iMacs, that is

Image courtesy of GeekyGadgets By now you have likely heard that Apple did a refresh on the Mac Mini, greatly overhauling the internal and external hardware and enhancing the overall specifications … and the price. The basics are as expected – more or less a copy of the 13″ Macbook Pro with more desktop-like set of connectors. The big new features include the addition of a HDMI port, upgrade of the graphics chip, and the sleek new look. Here are some details: Most notable is the new aluminum unibody enclosure, which stands just 1.4″ tall and features an easy-to-access memory…

Reviews

HyperMac External Battery Review

Every once and a while a product comes along that really catches my eye. Such was the case when I spotted an advertisement for the HyperMac external battery in a tech. magazine last month. The HyperMac is currently the only external battery available for use with Apple’s line of Mac Book computers. And with the new unibody Mac Book Pro and its built in battery the HyperMac might just be a must have for the true road warrior. Hyper Shop, the company behind the HyperMac, was kind enough to send me a HyperMac 150Wh battery for review. I’ve put it…

How to Do It Yourself!

Monolingual: Delete unused language packs on your Mac.

I personally use only one language on my Mac computers, English. Unless you’re multi-lingual or unless you’re like Judie and plan on taking up another language, chances are you only need one language on your computer as well. The Mac comes preinstalled with several language packs. These packs includes fonts, and other things which all take up hard drive space. That’s where Monolingual comes in. Monolingual is a free application (donations are accepted) which allows you to selectively remove any language pack from your Mac that you choose.

Gear Bits

Giving the 17″ MacBook Pro Laptop a Try

I’ve been greatly enjoying the HP dv6 that I recently upgraded to Windows 7, and that got me wondering about Snow Leopard (OSX 10.6). Dan was evil kind enough to send me a link to the latest Apple refurb sales last week, and I couldn’t help myself…after perusing the wares, I bit.

Reviews

Comparing MacBooks – Mine is Better than Yours

I’ve had a Mac laptop since 2006. I love my notebook and carry it just about everywhere I go. That’s part of my problem. The contents of my Gear Bag My Gear Bag holds just about everything that I might need in my portable office. I have my 13” Unibody MacBook, my MSI Wind, a copy of Windows Vista Ultimate Windows Vista Business, Office 2007 Ultimate, various other CD’s, miscellaneous paperwork, a 320GB USB hard drive and charging bricks and cables for all of the above. The bag weighs near 40 pounds. This weight is the major reason why, when I…

Editorials

Moving Back to Windows from Mac: Why I made the Move to Mac

I bought my first modern Mac in February, 2008, a 15″ MacBook Pro. At the time I was frustrated with the laptop I owned – a 17″ Toshiba X205 – which was running Windows Vista Ultimate in what seemed like a most underpowered way. I was tired of being told that there were no drivers yet available for my gear, I was tired of seeing notifications pop up asking me constantly if I was sure that I wanted to do something, and I was basically ready for a change. It didn’t help that I had already seen Mitchell and Vincent‘s…

How to Do It Yourself!

Swapping the Drive On A 13″ MacBook Pro

Yesterday Mitchell posted a first look at his new 13″ MacBook Pro. In his terrific overview he showed a few pictures of his swapping out the installed drive for a mammoth 500GB drive. As luck would have it the 120GB Solid State Drive I ordered from NewEgg earlier in the week arrived while I was reading it. As a result, the iPhone 3G S that is “Out for Delivery” isn’t the only piece of “zipper” Apple Hardware I’ll be enjoying. Instead of taking some shots of the install I figured I would grab my Flip UltraHD and film it. So…

Reviews

My First Impressions of the 13″ MacBook Pro

Since Dan posted his thoughts on the new 13” Pro compared to the previous 13” non-Pro, I thought I’d throw together the thoughts I’ve had in my first day of ownership as well. I bought my very first Mac back in 2006 and I have never looked back. It was a second generation 15” MacBook Pro, the first of the Core 2 Duo models, and it was fantastic. Beautiful screen, super fast, looked great and ran an OS that I would become very happy with. Today that laptop headed off to its new owner as yesterday I took delivery of…

Reviews

The Speck Products See Thru Slim Hard Shell Case for MacBook Air Review

I usually keep my MacBook Air nekkid as a jaybird because I love its skinny form factor, but the scratches I’ve begun to notice appearing on its metal shell have been causing me a bit of consternation lately. In an effort to keep my svelte beauty’s skin unblemished, I agreed to give the Speck Products See Thru Slim Hard Shell Case for MacBook Air a try.

Reviews

Macally BookShell Pro2 Review

I’ve always been interested in protecting my baby MacBook Pro, but I didn’t like the look of the plastic hard cases, and I used an elastic neoprene sleeve for a while. I then searched the internet again, in the hopes of finding a cover for my MacBook Pro that was protective, and at the same time stylish. However, all I could find were really variants of the plastic case model. Until I stumbled across Macally.

Reviews

Waterfield’s Suede Jacket Sleeve for MacBook Review

So you got your new MacBook (gorgeous isn’t it?) and you really want to carry it with you everywhere. You could throw it into a large, super protective notebook case. The problem is, but that would just weigh you down after Apple was kind enough to shave half a pound from it. You could carry it in a highly protective laptop sleeve, such as the one that I use from Waterfield. It works great and offers a fair amount of protection. But what if you want to carry a work briefcase and don’t feel like having two different cases? What…

Reviews

The Tom Bihn Ristretto Messenger Bag Review

One of the many conveniences I’ve encountered while owning a MacBook Air has been the ability to slip the ultra-slim laptop into almost any bag for a quick carry solution; this includes larger laptops bags as well as some of my roomier purses. There are times however, when I’ve wished that I had a bag made to specifically transport the Air: something slim, streamlined, but still large enough to carry any peripherals and doo-dads I might need. Tom Bihn has released just such a bag; similar in style to their Cafe line, the Ristretto Messenger Bag is built with different…

Editorials

Is 64bit Vista Ready for Prime Time?

There’s been a big push by Microsoft to get everyone to cross over to the 64bit version of Vista. Are you and your hardware ready for it? I’ve got a MacBook Pro. I purchased the notebook in December of 2006. It’s the low end unit, with a 2.16 GHz C2D processor, 4GB of RAM (yes, Leopard will see and use all 4GB of RAM, despite what you might think, or are told), and a 120GB hard drive. It’s not a bad unit; and has treated me well in the almost 20 months that I’ve been using it. The biggest problem…

Reviews

The DecoCases EcoDesign Case for MacBook Pro Review

I tote two different laptops between locations these days, switching them out (or sometimes bringing both) depending upon what my needs will be once I’ve arrived. For the most part, I’ve been content to slip my MacBook Air into a bag, a sleeve, or the Agent 18 shell that Dan recently forwarded to me, but I hadn’t yet found a similar slim and protective MacBook Pro shell. Bear in mind, the type of transport I usually do involves grabbing my laptop, throwing it into my Louis Vuitton Alto tote (along with a couple days’ worth of clothing), and then driving…

How to Do It Yourself!

Fixing the Empty Wireless Cone on My MacBook Air

There has been an issue which has been bugging me for the last couple of days, and tonight Mitchell and I found a solution. I thought I had better post about it, as I’ll bet that others have run into the same… When I bought the MacBook Air I restored it to the MacBook Pro backup copy I had stored on Time Machine, and the restore went without a hitch…but for one exception: I had an empty wireless cone in my menu bar. Instead of showing a wireless signal indicated by bars, the cone was completely empty – even when…

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