Articles tagged MacBook Air.

Autumn has finally arrived in North America. While that means the college football seasons begins as well as school starts as well as cooler morning air bringing a change to the leaves, we Apple aficionados also know that means October is just around the corner.

October means a couple of things. First, a new fiscal year for Apple. We'll get to hear 4th quarter results and annual results in mid-October. This let's us know whether Apple is on track or has slipped somewhere. Second, it usually means new products of one sort or another.

The New Macbook Airs have been out for a couple of weeks, so it is time to check their performance scores and see how they compare with previous models and other MacBooks.

As an owner of a 13" MacBook Air, one of the surprising benefits of upgrading to OS X Lion was the speed difference. Snow Leopard was nice, but wow, Lion took opening windows, using spotlight, launching apps, to entirely new level. This was not something that Apple touted (a faster OS), but from my experience, it's one of the best things about Lion, especially for those with the older Intel Core 2 Duo processor.

That said, there is a price I seem to be paying for that speed improvement — fan noise.

From the days of ThinkSecret or macOSrumors, to today's AppleInsider or MacRumors, Apple Inc. has always had a great rumor mill following, and quite often where there has been smoke we have seen fire. The constant drumbeat of rumors surrounding the MacBook air is nearly off the charts - or so it would seem.

Virtually every day brings forth a new MacBook air rumor. But many sites are conducting mere re-broadcasts of original information, making it appear as fresh information. Thus, we wanted to go back to the sources of these rumors and build a comprehensive list of original sources.

According to Apple Insider, Apple won't be shipping any new Macs until Mac OS X Lion is available. The rationale is that "Apple management is so pumped up over the advantages presented by its forthcoming Mac OS X Lion operating system that the company has been holding back the release of at least one new Mac refresh until the software is finalized". In addition, Computer World reported that Apple has announced all new Macs purchased after June 6, 2011 will receive a free OS X Lion upgrade.

The reason we must wait for new hardware — the spin goes — is because Apple is so excited about Lion its holding back hardware releases, we think there may be more of a practical side to this decision.

A long time ago I had the opportunity to accompany a friend to an Alcohol Anonymous meeting. It was a very sobering experience (pun intended). The building was old and the room looked like a beat up classroom. Light from outside peeked through the curtain drawn windows and smoke filled the air (this was way before any indoor smoking laws had hit the books).

I learned a lot that day. I learned that if not careful, anyone can slip into addictive, self-destructive behaviors. I learned the power of a support group and accountability. I also learned most of the people in the room were seemingly addicted to something else in place of alcohol. The smoke filled room was one clue. Another was "Bill" who needed to go from one support group to the next in order to stay sober. You may be asking, what does this all this have to do with Apple?

I've been a MacBook Pro owner since the Titanium PowerBook G4 days (think 2002). I remember making the jump from a G4 Gray Blue Tower to the portable, sleek and "less powerful" but "more portable" PowerBook G4. It was a scary leap. What if I couldn't run Photoshop or InDesign fast enough? What about other general tasks? Nothing drives me nuts more than to see my computer struggling to keep up with me (and I'm not that fast!). But when the PowerBook G4 arrived it was, in Steve Job's words, "magical"! It was so cool, so sleek, so portable. I didn't have to sit at my desk. I could work on the couch or at the kitchen table or take my work with me when I traveled. All was well until...

The MacBook Pro 15-inch has a 16% larger screen and is 24% heavier than its smaller MacBook Pro 13-inch sibling. This extra weight makes it difficult to carry around by its palm rests while open, which is significant as a majority of users don't leave their computers on the desk anymore. While the 15-inch is twice as fast in Geekbench scores, most users will not notice the difference unless performing CPU intensive tasks.

The 13-inch is the perfect size for most users. It has just the right amount of screen real-estate while maintaining its true portable nature. Mac OS 10.7 full screen mode, which will be coming out this summer, will help maximize its screen. Apple offers three different 13-inch MacBooks for different customers: MacBook, MacBook Pro, and MacBook Air.

How does the newly released iPad 2 compare with the first iPad and base model MacBook Air? Apple claims it is twice as fast as the first iPad, but does real world testing support this? Testing performance is a difficult task, as it varies depending on what task is being performed. One computer can be faster at editing video and slower at playing games than another. Apple's overall control o the iPad also makes it more difficult to fully test.

Geekbench has put together a comprehensive set of benchmarks to test a computer's performance. It is available on a wide range of platforms including Mac OS X, Windows, Linux, and the iOS. While the tests are not perfect, it is one of the best measuring sticks when comparing two computing devices. Time to look at some comparisons.