iPad News

People are counting down the days left till the iPad release. But Apple on the other hand are having a tough time in those last minute situations. With all those deals to handle about TV on the iPad and get it ready for it's release. Well a pretty shocking news came up and that is the fact that a Taiwanese chipmaker is suing Apple for using Muli-touch displays on their products. Their patent claims that all devices which have multi-touch capabilities are not part of the patent and therefore the Taiwanese company believes that the iPad should not be shipped in the U.S. Well everything is going wrong for Apple and if they do get sued then the iPod and iPhone line will also be affected. Many companies such as HTC and this Taiwanese company known as Elan Microelectronics believe that Apple is going above their boundaries. There is great war going on with Apple and at the wrong time as well. (Just before the release of the iPad) Will the iPad release in the US? we will have to see what happens by then. The iPad is set to be released this Saturday and more news to come soon.

The other news is the fact that updates on the iPad will cost money, just like how there was a $10 fee for upgrading the iPod Touch form OS 2.0 to 3.0 but hopefully like there are jailbreaks to get it for free, we might see one for the iPad as well. As for owners of the iPhone all updates for them are free. That's it for this post stay tuned for more updates in the future on 1-Mac.

Apple Announces Launch Of New Tablet Computer

Mac Mini Review- Part 2

The Mac mini continues to impress, considering it is my first Apple product and I expected that! Today I will continue on with the review of the Mac mini. Throughout the last post I focused mainly on the software part of the Mac mini but today I will give a review of the exterior.

Ports
The Mac mini comes with 5 USB 2.0 ports, a firewire 800 port, Mini display port, mini DVI, ethernet port and an audio and headphone jack as well as power and a kensington lock slot. 

That is one more USB port compared to the very big iMac! Overall for my needs I don't find that 5 USB ports is too less and actually I think for a device this small having five USB ports is more than enough. I have yet to try out the firewire port, which is said to be much faster than the standard USB port, and the Mini display port is tend to be used for certain displays, which I don't have. On the other hand the mini DVI doesn't really come in much use as many people don't have Apple monitors, so Apple supplies a mini DVI to DVI adapter which is nice. I use a mini DVI to VGA adapter which does cost an extra $20. A bit of a let down but I can handle it. 

What's inside the Box!
The Mac mini comes bundled with software installation disks and a simple "everything mac" and "everything else" manual, which I haven't even opened yet, since using a Mac is very simple! The Mac mini also comes with a huge power supply brick which is also kind of a let down because since the Mini is so small, Apple couldn't fit the power supply inside it, therefore it is external, and of course the Mac Mini and the mini DVI to DVI adapter. The Mac mini box itself is pretty much like a small cube and no one would believe me when I told them a computer is inside there! 

Exterior
The exterior of the Mac mini is so small around 6 inches side by side and is around 2 inches thick and weighs only around 3 pounds! It comes with a Superdrive at the front and a little IR receiver at the edge of the superdrive. On the front there is also a very minuscular indicator light to show that the mini is powered on. All the sides of the mini is made up of solid aluminum, which indicates that the Mini was made with quality products. The top has an Apple logo in the middle and it is plastic whitish at the top. I wished that the Apple lit up when the mini was turned on but unfortunately it doesn't light up. At the back there is a fan grill and ports are all located below it. The power button is also located at the back. 

I find the exterior very clean looking with curved edges and it looks very attractive! The bottom of the mini is rubberized so it won't move around on surfaces. The Mac mini is a very quiet computer and I could hardly tell if it is on without putting my ear close to it to hear a soft whirr. It is definitely one of the most quietest desktop's I have ever heard! Even though I use it for long hours everyday by using the internet and using different applications, the Mini doesn't ever seem to heat up! I found this to being a very reliable computer and a great start to my Mac experience! 

That is it for my review for now, but I will continue to keep you updated on all the things about the Mac mini throughout the future! Stay tuned for more only on 1-Mac!

For more information on the Mac mini click HERE


Overall Rating
Exterior: 10/10
Features: 9/10
Bang for the Buck: 8.5/10
Software/ OS: 10/10 

Apple introduces new Mac Mini & iPod Hi-Fi

Mac Mini Review- Part 1

Hello again everyone! It's usually not normal for me to write two posts a day but as you had read in my post before I had purchased a Mac mini and so far this little machine is a rocket! It is fast at multitasking and gets the job done better than my laptop PC. Setting up took nearly 10- 15 min and it was really simple! After firing up Snow Leopard you may notice slow downs in internet and programs opening up but that is just the system initializing and doing updates when you first buy it. 5 min later you boot the Mini again and it's extremely fast. A little comparison I did was the timing it took to boot up compared to my PC. So here is the comparison. First the specs:

My PC- Toshiba Satellite X200- 3GB ram and 250gb Hard drive and with a Nvidia Geforce 8800GT with 512MB as well as an Intel Centrino Processor running at 1.66ghz.

My Mac mini: 4GB ram, 320gb Hard drive with an Nvidia Geforce 9400m Graphics with 256mb. Also with an Intel Core 2 Duo Processor running at 2.53ghz.

Start up comparison speed
Mac mini: 0:33 seconds
PC: 1:18 minutes

Shut down comparison speed
Mac mini: 0:12 seconds
PC: 1:22 minutes

You could definitely see the difference in speed with the Mac mini and that is because of the Mac OSX and the less amount of hard drive space it uses.

Speakers: The speakers on the Mac mini are probably not the best I have heard but they are good for it's size. They do get loud but start to sound bad. On my PC the speakers were by harmon/kardon so between the PC and the Mini there is no comparison, the harmon/kardon is definitely way better.

Operating System /Software: Now this in my opinion wasn't hard to choose. My laptop PC had Windows Vista running and that was extremely slow in terms of boot timing and also opening normal applications. The Mac OSX is not only fast but also comes with some pretty nice software. The iLife suite. When comparing iMovie to Windows Movie Maker, iMovie hands down is a much better, easier piece of software to use and also comes with built in sound options and nice features. Quicktime X is also a nice add on to the OSX and Windows doesn't even come with a screen recording software. iPhoto on the other hand didn't impress me much, since it is good for storing photos and doing basic sharing but doesn't come near to the capabilities of Photoshop. Garageband is a software also on the Mac to make your own tunes and it is very fun to use in my opinion and you could end up making some professional songs on there and the capability of plugging in an instrument is also possible. iChat is also a nice chatting software on the Mac but I didn't use it much because, since I was using Windows for a while now I was used to Windows Messenger but that can be downloaded very easily on the Mac.

With this bit of a review, I can tell you one thing for sure and that is I would highly recommend any Mac product because of it's nifty OS and the iLife suite it comes with. For starters a Mini is perfect to get used to the Mac world and I am enjoying it a lot!
Keep in mind my laptop PC came with a sticker price of around $1499 CAN and the Mini is around $899 CAN so I would recommend the Mini even though you don't get a keyboard or mouse, the OS pretty much evens it out.
I've just scratched the surface with this review in the future I will review even more things that I happen to find on the Mini. I hope you enjoyed this review!

Apple CEO Steve Jobs Delivers Opening Keynote At Macworld

News update on iPad

The release for the iPad is almost here! I will outline how far the iPad has gone and all the other analysis. So far we can tell that 120,000 iPad's were sold on the first day of pre-orders but then stooped to 240,000 at the end of the week and numbers are averaging around that range this week as well. A good amount of iPad's could have been purchased by developers in search of making new apps! Hopefully iPad's and iPod's have the ability to be backward compatible and developers create games which both work on the iPod and the iPad.

Other news is pretty surprising, the fact that supposedly any questions e-mailed to Apple regarding the iPad are responded back by Steve Jobs! That is what others claim because of the fact Jobs has leaked a bunch of news on the new features coming on the iPhone and iPad! Some say he has responded saying that there is a chance of having multiple e-mail accounts on the iPhone and iPad and it is said some new iPad games have been leaked as well. Keep in mind EA is working with Apple to make games built for the iPad! Should be exciting! More news to come soon, only on 1-Mac. 

iPad release 10 days away!

The iPad is yet again causing a huge hype in the market because everyone wants to get hands on with it! The bulk of consumers though say they won't purchase one till later models. But what we may find is that the iPad is not only a full functional computing, and gaming device it might also change the business world as well! Most business companies are thinking of investing in the iPad because it will be a great new tool for communication all around. The iPad does come in many uses after all and it's form factor is what helps it most. Though most of us wished it came with OSX but adding that would boost the price. Don't forget the jailbreaking community! Many hackers might look into unlocking many features of the iPad and possible interface changes to make it look like OSX like the iPod Touch. If a jail break does appear then we could be expecting more sales which will make Apple a happy company. But for most people the iPad won't remain as an MP3 player largely because of how big it is which is also no surprise why it doesn't ship with any headphones. Maybe more of an MP4 player and this will make it better in terms where the iPod Touch couldn't succeed. Maybe people will keep the iPod Touch as an MP3 player device and the iPad as an MP4. Though with all the apps on the store. The iPad is capable of providing service to many businesses and students. Only 10 days remain till it is released in the U.S. and about a month till it is released worldwide! The news just keeps getting more exciting! Stay tuned for more only on 1-Mac.

Gift App option for App Store purchases

Apple's app store is growing and there are many different variety of apps all over the store. Now think of it like this, you have someone who needs a gift whether it be for a birthday, holiday or anything in general. The app store now has the feature of sending an app to a friend who is the owner of an iPod or an iPhone. Basically you have to purchase an app and before you do so it gives you the option whether you would like to send it as a gift to someone. This feature is also available on the iPad, considering it uses the same app store the iPhone and iPod Touch uses. Not incredible news but a nice feature to have when late for a birthday present or if a person prefers software considering there are some nice office software on the app store. Keep in mind this app is also on the iTunes store, (and was released on the iTunes store in late October of 2009) in the iTunes store it is known as "Gift this song."

To enlarge image click on it. 

iPad release is near!

The iPad is set to be released in the U.S. on April 3rd but Steve Jobs and the entire Apple company have a lot to get done before the release. They have been getting many offers from various companies who want to broadcast television on the iPad and Apple is trying their best to put forth as much content on the iPad as possible for a reasonable price but are in the process of negotiating. With only 13 days remaining a lot is to be done before the company can take a bit of a break. No news on Flash coming yet on the iPad which disappoints people still but HTML 5 could be the next thing to replace it. There are too many deals coming to the company for the iPad and Steve Jobs is trying his best to close down everything and have it set and ready. Online there are many companies as many of you could see who offer a free iPad giveaway because it will get them a lot of attention over the net and also because the iPad is proving to be a really popular product. Tomorrow I will see what more news comes up on the iPad, stay tuned!

A look at Quicktime X

As you all know Quicktime X is a screen recording software preinstalled in every Mac product. In this video below you could see that I did a test to see how the program performs. In my opinion being a free program I thought it was very good but when comparing to Camtasia Studio it lacks some features such as the automatic smart zoom capability, but then again Camtasia Studio comes with a $299 sticker price and Quicktime X is free on Mac. Keep in mind Camtasia also can record audio coming from the computer and Quicktime X can't, though it is possible to install a little software which allows audio! Using Quicktime X is very easy and user friendly and there isn't any lag when recording the screen. I am impressed overall with this software. The audio used in the video is thanks to the iLife suite and that was added later on using iMovie which is also very easy to use.

Here is a quick look:

 


*Note az100x is my YouTube username!

New Mac mini!

Well before remember how I had talked about how I was going to get a Mac mini or iMac soon. Well it just so happened yesterday, I was shopping at Best Buy and mind you sometimes they aren't so good at tech stuff when compared to the people at Apple but I talked them into a Mac mini with a 2.53ghz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 4gb RAM and 320gb Hard drive. The original price being $899 CAN but eventually after a lot of talking about how it's a bit expensive, the nice store worker decided to sell me it for $739 and obviously I was up for it and got my Mac mini! I have to say I am really impressed with the speed on this thing and how silent the computer is! I saved a whopping $160 and I have to say sometimes buying at Best Buy can be a good thing. Snow Leopard takes quite a less amount of space on the overall hard drive and the computer is twice as fast as my PC! The Mac mini doesn't include an SSD but imagine how much faster it would be more than my PC! I have only been using it for 8 hours now and honestly never want to go back to PC again! They are really right when they mention that "once you go Mac you never go back" All in all I am really happy with this tiny Mac mini which is a beast on the inside! I will let you know more about this and all the applications very soon! The iMac was going to be my second choice but I held off since there were issues going around with the screen and graphics problem and also I had another monitor at home but overall I am very happy with the Mac mini and I think I will keep it! Stay tuned for more news only on 1-Mac! 


Apple CEO Steve Jobs Delivers Opening Keynote At Macworld

Introducing low cost SSD’s

OCZ Technology is a company located in California. They are known for making flash based storage devices and is a worldwide company. As everyone can see SSD’s are making it’s way into the market and are a good way for keeping all your data securely store. Which means they will replace hard drives. Since hard drives store data but have moving parts inside them there is a good chance that those hard drives could at times fail and can cause to lose your data, especially if you have a notebook then you have to be careful because if your notebook experiences any sort of sudden movement it might affect the hard drive and cause it to lose data. Therefore the introduction of the SSD is very important because it keeps the data secure and has no moving parts therefore there is no way the SSD can be damaged and you have a very little chance of losing data. The problem though is SSD’s are quite expensive and a 128GB SSD can cost around $500 to $750 dollars. But the great people at OCZ introduced a low cost SSD which is a 32gb SSD for $99 and that is the first time an SSD has been made at such a low cost! OCZ has done a great job and wants to ensure the future will be that everyone will be using SSD’s. In my opinion in the next year or so SSD’s should be made standard in laptops but we will have to see how cheap they are by then. If I were to choose between a 100GB hard drive and a 32gb SSD I would easily choose the SSD because they also make the performance of your machine much faster and are secure. The great part about this SSD is the fact it can be installed into any desktop, laptop and netbooks! SSD's are said to improve boot speed's by half at times! So a PC which boots at around 1 minute with a hard drive will take around 30 seconds on a SSD but that also depends on the amount of data one has on their computer.

For more information on the SSD check out this site:

http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/permalink/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20100310005361&newsLang=en

iPad Sales Update

The boom of the iPad sales was going on for a while now, but most sources cited that many of the numbers told to people on the iPad sales were either wrong or Apple has lot a huge amount of consumers and sales. Quite the news because I had talked about how Apple had sold nearly 120,000 iPad’s on the first day of pre-orders but then everything happened to “die'” and Apple lost a huge amount of consumers and slumped to around 150,000 iPad sales at the end of the week and is a sign showing that the iPad could be a flop and is what many people were speculating about. Funny to see how news can change so quickly from a very positive perspective, now down to a negative one. Business is always full of surprises. Well if this continues Apple could be in for a tough period in their market, and not to mention the HP slate has caught many people’s eyes and the PC side of the rivalry are introducing unique tablet computers, whereas Apple has just stepped in the tablet computing industry. Where one point Apple was ahead in technology, now is very behind and it could prove costly in the future. More updates to come soon on 1-Mac. 

HTML 5 to replace Flash?

Many consumers are concerned because of the fact there is no flash on the iPad and Steve Jobs as well as the whole company is well aware of this fact. The main reason as to why flash is not on the iPad is because it affects the performance of the iPad in a negative way. It slows down the processor and according to many flash is built only for the bigger systems like laptops and desktops. Not to mention many of the games on the internet and videos use HTML as well as the new HTML 5 which can play video and is set to take over flash. Adobe are in a tight situation with many problems at the moment but if HTML 5 can outrun Adobe and be a faster performer we may just be seeing video in the iPad through future software and firmware updates! So valuable people who are thinking of purchasing of the iPad shouldn’t lose hope as their internet experience will change throughout the future and that Apple also knows that as well. iPod owners don’t really have to worry and iPad owners shouldn’t either because there is also built in YouTube which allows to display video, and YouTube generally has most videos offered over the net.

iPad Update

Well, in yesterdays post I had talked about how sources were giving an estimate that Apple will be selling a total of 25,000 iPad’s on the first day, well that has changed today estimates show that Apple sold nearly 120,000 iPad’s on the first day of pre-orders! This is huge and Apple is nearing yet another success in the market of tablet computing. The response is coming along very well, I have to admit the people at Apple have great marketing schemes to collect so many consumers! Just like how I had told you about my experience at the Apple Store, if Apple continues their successful customer service record then Apple will be nearing even more success in the future. It’s funny to see how many people were thinking negatively about the iPad yet the outcome is outrageous! and another thing which I discovered and this was some hell of a news. The people at Business Insider, claim that if your iPad battery dies, rather than replacing the battery, Apple will take a service charge and replace your iPad with another one! The cost is said to be $99 which is by far a new way of marketing and sure to shock many people! Well this has definitely caught my eye and is bound to catch many others. News for the iPad is just getting better and better. Stay tuned for more information only on 1-Mac.

Apple Announces Launch Of New Tablet Computer

Apple pre-orders for iPad available

Yes it's time, the pre-orders for the iPad is here! And sources say that Apple is doing very well in terms of pre-orders and expect to sell 25,000 iPad's a day! This is huge and if that is what the outcome happens to be then Apple would have hit the tablet market hard and they would continue on with their domination over the computer industry! Since people haven't really tried out the iPad, they don't have a real great idea as to what they might expect, but I believe the ad's and commercials by Apple clearly show the iPad's true face and really post no gimmick, so people should know what they will be expecting when they purchase one. But the question comes to mind when the HP slate or the Courier come will people still keep their iPad's? When all tablets are released that's when the actual battle between industries will start and that will determine the outcome for iPad sales. Since the iPad was released earlier than the HP Slate it might hold the upper hand, but still anything could happen. In my opinion the iPad will be more reliable than an HP since it's an Apple built product but it all depends on the consumers opinion. The iPad is set to hit stores on April 3rd for all people living in the U.S. and will be released at the end of April for all international countries, which is a bummer. I hope Apple Store's have one on display for everyone worldwide, because we all would want to get our hands on it, just like the people living in the U.S.

Stay tuned for more updates only on 1-Mac.

Microsoft and HP competing with the iPad

The iPad is set to be released on April 3rd but Microsoft and HP are looking to spoil all the fun with HP releasing their slate soon and the concept of the Microsoft Courier could take away some of Apple’s iPad fans. What makes these two devices an iPad killer is that the HP slate is said to feature flash and that for one thing is excellent! That means a fully functional internet experience on the HP Slate is available!  Also to keep note that more than 70% of the internet uses flash to show videos and etc. and as a consumer, everyone would be really happy with such a feature. Another thing is that the HP slate comes with connectivity ports unlike the iPad. The concept of the Microsoft Courier on the other hand will surely look to appeal to many with a revolutionary new design and a whole new way of using a tablet. Not much information is released on the Courier but to me it looks better than an iPad any day. Tell us what you think as well, feel free to leave a comment. More news to come on 1-Mac. 

A look ahead at USB 3.0

As you can see the standard, most used port in computers is usually the USB port. Whether it be printers, fax machines, scanners, digital cameras, iPods etc. You name it! The world of USB devices is constantly growing and it is the most well known amongst others. The standard USB port used in computers these days is USB 2.0 and Apple if you didn’t know have their own port known as the FireWire port, it is to compete with USB device ports and is said to be much faster. First there was the release of FireWire 400 and now standard in all Mac devices is FireWire 800. Well users of the USB port have another surprise their way and that is with the release of USB 3.0 It is said to be much faster than USB 2.0 and even faster than the predecessor USB 1.1 – USB 3.0 is not standard yet but we believe Apple will also jump into the USB 3.0 generation with new release of Mac’s in the future. There are few offered USB 3.0 devices out there, but this is a heads up to everyone as to show where technology is headed!

Apple iPad Commercial

If you hadn't seen the Oscars yesterday, then you didn't see the surprise commercial Apple had presented with their iPad. No really special news but finally a commercial on the iPad is here and on the commercial it claims the iPad will be released on April 3rd. Exciting stuff for everyone as Apple is getting lots of pre-orders for the iPad and it's a sign showing that people and consumers are indeed interested in the new iPad. We will take a closer look at the iPad once it's released.

For now here is the commercial and a special thanks to people at Engadget!



The iPad shown in the commercial, still disappoints people because of the fact that multitasking is not available yet and is just like the iPod Touch, this is where we believe the netbooks, out run the iPad in price and the ability to do some sort of multitasking. Still it hasn't been released in the market yet so we really can't see how it will perform in terms of sales.

Apple iPad release later than expected

Well, the excitement of Apple’s tablet is gone with the release of the iPad quite a while ago but you can remember me telling you that the tablet was going to be available in sometime March, and as it was said in the keynote. But today Apple changed that story and said there is a delay and the iPad could be released early April for people in the U.S. and late April for people living outside of the U.S. Not a huge difference in time but it is still marginal. Pre-orders for people living in the U.S. will be around March 12th. The delay could be due to the problem between Apple and Adobe, as we talked about before and how there was going to be no flash. But the choice of having no flash on the iPad hasn't really changed which is a disappointment, but anything can happen. The new iPad is set to be off in the market soon and we will look to see how it will perform at first we thought the iPad will be a decent performer, with a bit of drawbacks but then the crowd also were disappointed at how you can get more for the price. The price of $499 to most will sound great since it’s an Apple product but it has drawbacks, also after the iPad comes out we will also wonder how the iPod Touch will do in sales because the price range between the two isn’t much? This and more updates will come soon to 1-Mac. Stay Tuned.

Macbook Pro’s to see Intel Core i5 processors soon?

Well, if you haven’t known yet Apple had secretly introduced the i5 and i7 processors to the iMac’s a while ago but for some reason hadn’t made a really big deal about it. When you go on the Apple site the option for an i5 or i7 processor for the iMac is available but will be a bit more expensive and will provide you with a boost in performance. Now a long due rumour is going on about the release of a Macbook pro with an i5 processor, this rumour is another one of those along the lines of all the other Apple rumours we talked about. First there was talk about i5 coming to the Macbook’s but the idea was changed because the way Apple is looking at it they want to keep the Macbook under $1000 so adding an i5 would bring it to around $1400. Since this Intel processor is already here in the iMac and the other various PC notebooks there is no doubt Apple will be looking to bring it into their Pro line of laptops.

More rumours for new Mac Mini

Remember how last time I had talked about a rumoured Mac Mini with a different design, well more news has come in that now a new Mac Mini will come bundled with an HDMI cable! Which is great and what most people wanted because they hook it up to their big screen HDTV’s. The news was found from AppleInsider. Most people will most likely wait now if they were about to buy a Mac Mini because of this addition. I also hope there will be even more changes but only time will tell. What pictures show is that the HDMI cable will replace the DVI port since there wouldn’t be enough room at the back of the mini but with HDMI most people should be fine. This rumour to me sounds more realistic then the old one we had talked about before.
For more information on the rumoured Mac Mini check out:
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/03/01/apple_prepping_first_macs_with_hdmi_sources.html